Less than a quarter of advertising agencies believe Brexit will offer opportunities for international growth
Less than 25% of the UK's advertising agencies believe Brexit will offer opportunities for international growth, according to figures from industry thinktank Credos.
Less than a quarter of advertising agencies believe Brexit will offer opportunities for international growth
The group, which is part of the Advertising Association, surveyed 195 relevant companies around the impact of the UK's vote to leave the EU on employment, business opportunities, and investment decisions of the marketing sector.
As well as finding that only a quarter of marketers were enthusiastic about international growth opportunities in the current political climate, the data also shows that 22% of companies surveyed have already lost business or contracts as a result of Brexit.
In the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum the advertising industry scrambled to assess both the damage and advantages of the result. UK marketers quickly put the brakes on ad spend, but shortly after giant WPP upgraded its industry forecasts and described the short-term affect as “negligible”.
In December the network's Group M said its global ad spend would hit $547bn in 2017, conceding that the upgrade of 4.4% year-on-year was "modest" and adding that “advertising budgets have not yet been impacted” by the voting outcomes in the US and UK last year, even though the financial markets had.
The report also listed some of the potential perks of Brexit, which respondents said could include lower exchange rates. In the months after the result the slide in sterling was perceived by some small and independent agencies as being a potential silver lining of exiting the EU, thanks to a weak pound rendering standalone shops more competitive in the European market overnight.
Better trading outside the EU and fewer EU regulations were also listed as some of the potential bright spots for British firms following the separation.
Further details of the survey will be discussed at the Advertising Association's Lead 2017 summit, which will feature a keynote address by the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Karen Bradley.