Pessimistic view taken by Scottish marketers on state of the industry
The latest survey carried out for The Chartered Institute of Marketing has found that four fifths of Scottish marketers believe the economy is headed for recession, while more than a third expect business for the organisation to worsen.
It won’t come as much of a surprise to the industry to learn that the survey conducted by Ipsos MORI found an extremely pessimistic view being held by the Scottish marketing industry towards the UK economy and that there was increasing concern about the outlook for their own companies.
According to the survey, when asked about whether the UK would be in a recession in the next 12 months, 78 per-cent agreed that it would be – this was the highest figure recorded across the UK. Only five per-cent thought the UK would avoid a recession.
Apparently only 23 per-cent of Scottish marketers believe that business for their own organisation would improve over the next 12 months, in contract to 58 per-cent recorded last year. In fact, 38 per-cent now said that they now expect conditions for their firm to deteriorate in the next year.
69 per-cent of respondents did say they did not expect to see a change in the number of marketing staff currently being employed, although 18 per-cent did admit that staff numbers would be reduced.
David Thorp, director of Research and Information at The Chartered Institute of Marketing said, “Although marketers in Scotland are right to be pessimistic about the UK economy, professional marketers will be looking to the opportunities a recession brings. Professional marketers have a vital role to play in helping their organisations to not only survive but thrive in these challenging times.”
A total of 1,259 marketing professionals completed the online questionnaire which was hosted by the independent market research organisation, Ipsos MORI, between 2 October and 27 October 2008