5 interesting stats to start your week

Marketers say marketing always first to see cuts when businesses are squeezed
Half (50%) of marketers believe their function is always one of the first to see cuts when budgets are tight, but despite this, pressures and expectations tend to be just as high.
A similar proportion (47%) of marketing leaders believe budget cuts will make it harder to achieve their goals in 2025.
Despite this, there are still marketers willing to invest in particular areas. These areas include content marketing, where 56% are planning to invest more. SEO and digital PR are two further areas set to see increased investment from 51% and 50% of marketing leaders, respectively.
There may be little sign of impressive growth for the wider economy on the horizon, but, perhaps surprisingly, half of marketers are confident the UK economy will recover this year.
Source: No Brainer
One in five UK-listed companies issued a profit warning in 2024
Just under one in five (19%) companies listed in the UK issued a profit warning last year, according to EY-Parthenon’s Profit Warnings report.
A total of 274 profit warnings were issued in 2024, including 71 in the fourth quarter. The most common factor behind these profit warnings last year was contract and order cancellations or delays, cited in over a third (34%) of warnings. Increasing costs triggered nearly one in five (18%) warnings in the last 12 months.
Some 20 FTSE retail companies issued profit warnings last year. This equated to 38% of retail companies issuing a profit warning, down very slightly from 39% in 2023.
Three in four (72%) FTSE personal goods companies and over half (52%) of FTSE household goods and home construction companies issued warnings in 2024, underlining the ongoing pressure on discretionary spending.
Source: EY-Pathernon
Young people drive up trust in advertising
Trust in advertising has risen from 36% to 39% over the past 12 months, primarily driven by young people, according to new research from the Advertising Association (AA).
Trust in ads has grown across all age groups, with a notable 16-point increase among 18- to 34-year-olds since 2022. In contrast, trust among those aged 55 and older has risen by just three points, highlighting that 18- to 34-year-olds are nearly three times more likely to trust advertising than those above 55.
UK advertising think tank Credos attributes this trust gap to a “generational digital divide”. Younger audiences increasingly trust online advertising, while trust among older generations remains low.
Over half (51%) of 18 to 34s trust online ads, compared to 34% of those aged 35 to 54 and just 14% of over-55s. Only 7% of those aged over 55 trust social media and even less (6%) trust influencer advertising. By comparison, the research finds 47% of 18 to 34s trust social media, while 45% trust influencer marketing.
Across the board, trust in all media channels increased, with TV and cinema remaining at the top of the list, according to Credos. For those aged 35 to 54 (49%) and over-55s (31%), TV is the most trusted medium. Cinema tops the list for 18 to 34s (56%), signalling investment in brand advertising remains essential to help build consumer trust.
Source: Advertising Association
Nvidia’s brand value almost doubles as AI boom continues
The world’s 500 most valuable brands grew their brand value by 10% in the last year to $9.5trn, a figure that outpaced global economic growth which stood at 3%.
Nvidia’s brand value has grown 98% in the last year, putting it in the top 10 of worldwide brands for the first time, according to Brand Finance’s Global 500 2025 research.
The technology firm was founded in 1993 as a computer chip business and has since capitalised on the AI boom, with its chips often seen as market-leading. According to Brand Finance, Nvidia has a brand value of $87.9bn, up from $44.5bn last year, and far ahead of its 2020 brand value of $4.7bn. It now sits as the ninth most valuable brand.
While much of the growth of Nvidia is driven by AI, it also has strong connections with the gaming space, and is seen as a major tech player in much the same way as Microsoft or Google despite its relatively rapid growth.
The top four global brands remain the same as they were in 2024, with Apple holding the top spot for the second consecutive year with a brand value of $574.5bn, up 11% from 2024. Microsoft is in second place with a brand value of $461.1bn, up from $340.4bn, an impressive jump of 35% driven by its AI investments.
Google sits in third, with its value climbing by 24% to $413bn, while Amazon sits in fourth, with a brand value of $356.4bn, a 15% jump in value.
Source: Brand Finance
Plummeting consumer confidence brings fresh challenges for marketers
The new year has brought with it gloomy news for marketers hoping for a more optimistic consumer, with the overall consumer confidence score dropping by five points in January, according to GfK’s Consumer Confidence Barometer.
The overall index score, which brings together five different measures of consumer confidence, decreased by five points to -22 in January. This means the UK’s consumer confidence has fallen back to where it was at the end of 2023, when the economy had freshly emerged from a period of very high inflation.
Of the five different scores that make up the overall index measure, all of them declined in January’s Consumer Confidence Barometer. The most notable declines came in consumer attitudes to the overall UK economic situation. Consumers are both more negative about how the economy has fared over the past 12 months, and more downcast in their expectations of how it will perform over the coming 12 months.
The index covering the general economic situation of the country during the last 12 months fell seven points to -46, down five points from January 2024. While expectations for the year ahead declined by eight points to -34, a hefty fall of 13 points versus the same period last year.
This downbeat attitude among consumers extends to their own financial situation. The index measuring changes in personal finances over the past year is down three points at -10. The attitude to personal finances over the next year has also slid into negative figures, down three points at -2.
Source: GfK
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