UK direct marketing spend rises

- Annual direct marketing expenditure increased by £1 billion last year to reach £7.2 billion, according to figures just published by the Direct Marketing Association. The DMA figures show that direct marketing expenditure increased by 15 per cent last year, in spite of increasingly stringent definitions of direct response advertising. And the DMA estimates that companies' annual spend on direct marketing will grow at an even faster rate in 1998. The latest figures show that companies spent almost as much on direct mail in the first six months of this year as in the whole of1997, itself a record year. Colin Lloyd, chief executive of the DMA, said: "Direct marketing is now well established as the leading form of marketing communications in the UK. The techniques and methodologies at the heart of direct marketing are being applied in new business sectors and media every year. With the advent of digital and interactive television, this is a trend that will continue well into the next century." The three biggest growth areas for direct marketing in 1997 were outdoor/transport, contract magazines and new media. Direct marketing in new media has almost doubled since 1995, reaching £90.65 million last year. Telemarketing overtook direct mail in 1997 to become the largest direct marketing medium with an annual spend of £1.8 billion compared with £1.6 billion on direct mail. The DMA says it expects digital and interactive broadcasting to be the main growth areas in direct marketing over the next few years.