Sentiment slows among marketers

July’s index of global marketing budgets came in at 51.5, with only the Americas contributed to the positive reading with an index value of 55.5.

Asia Pacific’s marketing index fell 5.5 points to 50.0 after five months of budget increases, although Europe slightly improved from 48.3 to 49.7.

The headline GMI stood at 54.3, positive but a dip from June’s 55.9 and expectations weakened most sharply in Asia Pacific with an index of 54.6, a fall of 3.6 points.

The America’s index also fell to an eight month low of 56.8 while Europe flatlined at 52.9.

Despite individual territory slowdowns, the index of global trading conditions performed strongly on 56.4 with the Americas slightly weakening at 58.5 while Asia Pacific’s index slowed 3.3 points to 56.6 and Europe fell 1.3 points to 53.0.

Staffing levels also saw a 2.1 point fall in July to 55.0 with the America’s falling 4.1 points to 55.1 Asia Pacific down 1.9 points to 57.3 and Europe down 1.7 points top 53.0.

Warc data and journals director Suzy Young said: “There was a slowdown in the headline global marketing index in July suggesting that the outlook for global marketers is less optimistic than we’ve seen in recent months.”