Banks pull back on advertising, weathering the royal commission storm

Australian Financial Review 01 Feb 2019 4:40 PM

Max Mason

Australian bank spending on advertising has become the latest scalp of the Hayne royal commission, dulling what was a record year for media agency spend – but a campaign to rebuild public trust could see the financial services sector advertise more this year.

Standard Media Index figures, which measure media agency spending, show that after massive increases in advertising in the first three quarters of 2018, spending by domestic banks, largely the big four, fell off a cliff in the final three months of the year.

With the top brass from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ in the witness box in the final months of last year, financial services tightened advertising budgets as they weathered the storm of public outrage.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, domestic bank spending dropped 23.4 per cent, compared with the same period the previous year.

Despite the drop-off in the fourth quarter, domestic ad spending by local banks was still up 11.6 per cent across 2018 compared with 2017 – a record outlay for the category at $340.3 million.

Domestic bank ad spending rose each month for the first eight months of last year, with the February spend up 65.9 per cent and April surging 56.6 per cent compared with the corresponding months in the previous year.

"The year 2018 began incredibly strongly, driven by advertising related to the financial services royal commission, but then also one-offs like the Commonwealth Games," SMI Australia and New Zealand managing director Jane Ratcliffe said.

Sharply negative result

Since then the market has slowed, with the trend accelerating to produce a sharply negative result in the fourth quarter, largely driven by the banks' drop in ad spending.

But as the big-four chief executives had their turn at the royal commission, spending tapered off. Year-on-year ad spending by local banks dropped 22.9 per cent in October, 17.1 per cent in November and 33.2 per cent in December.

Overall, agency spending across all categories and mediums grew 1.9 per cent to a record $7.02 billion. Agency advertising spending on metropolitan TV for whole year was up 0.3 per cent to $2.25 billion.

However, although the banks turned off the tap in the final quarter of 2018, financial institutions will look to rebuild trust after Kenneth Hayne's final report on the royal commission is made public on Monday.

"The report will be fascinating because it will determine the degree to which banks are going to have to build trust with their customers," Ms Ratcliffe said.

Banks will have to improve their daily interactions with customers, but marketing will also play an important role.

"It's perception and, to the degree that advertising can positively impact perception, you would think we might see renewed growth in bank ad spend," Ms Ratcliffe said.

In December, agency ad spend dipped 4.8 per cent, with all mediums experiencing year-on-year declines except outdoor, which was up 10 per cent, and radio, which lifted marginally.

Cinema saw the greatest drop in December, down 38.1 per cent, with no Star Wars franchise film – unlike in the previous three years – to draw patrons into theatres.