Many big Georgia companies cut ad spending last year - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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, , , , and Aaron’s Inc. cut thei marketing costs last year from 3 percent to62 That’s more than has been reported nationally. According to The , tota U.S. ad expenditures were down 2.6 percent in 2008. “Thered are going to be companies that are going to be bullish duringv an economic slowdown and really invest in ad spendinhg and talk about the value proposition oftheidr brand, while others are going to said Annie Touliatos, vice president of sales developmen t for Nielsen. BlueLinx had the biggesy dive in ad spendingin 2008. The buildin g products distributor sawed its ad spending 62 percentto $2.5 million from $6.5 million in 2007.
Bread-baker Flowersw Foods also sliced spendingto $12.67 million in 2008 versus $18.q million in 2007. Delta, which saw more than a 14 perceng increase in advertising spending from 2006 to curtailed its spendingby $58 million in 2008 to $114 The airline recently announced it will not renews its sponsorship with the Atlanta Falcons, and is no longe r the official airline of the Rental giant Aaron’s also cut spending, from $29. million in 2007 to $28.5t million last year.
Vice President of Marketing Mark Rudnickl said thedecrease “wasn’t by “I think we probably negotiate d a little bit better because as we get biggere we probably got more for less,” Rudnick The company’s revenue jumped 14 percentr last year. Participating in a variety of sportsa sponsorships, Aaron’s premier event sponsorship stilpl isthe Aaron’s Dream Weekened Talladega Superspeedway taking place April 24-26. Flooring giant Mohawk Industries also trimmed advertising and promotions expensezlast year, dropping from $56.2 millionm in 2007 to $53.6 million in 2008.
Apartmentf giant Post Properties changed its advertising mix in slashing itsadvertising $341,000, or close to 9 It reduced print advertising and special promotions programs, while continuing to implement Internet-basesd marketing to reach more customers. Not all companies trimmed however. , the parent compangy of pest control giant grew its ad spendingfrom $37.7 million in 2007 to $41.6 millioj in 2008. Last year Orkin debuter a new marketing campaign surroundingv thetag line, “Keeping Pestsw In Their Place,” and it is planningf a new radio campaign this year.
“Wed debuted a brand-new campaign by our new agench , so that was probably our big thrust for last saidKevin Smith, Orkin’s chief marketing Continuing to spend big bucks in poured out $3 billion for advertisingg in 2008, up from $2.8 billioh in 2007. An Olympic sponsor sincer 1928, company spokesperson Kerry Kerrsaid Coke’w sponsorship of the 2008 Beijinbg Olympic Games and Uniojn of European Football Associations EURO 2008 soccer championship contribute d to the increased spending last year, alonf with its investments behind its variou brands.
In January, Coke launched a new global marketing “Open Happiness,” which it will continue to roll out during the firsr half of 2009 invarious markets. reported a big increasse in spending, to $372.2 million from $195 million in 2007. But a big part of that was the company’x contribution of $183.4 million, in the form of 3.6 millionh shares of The Coca-Cola Co., to its charitablew foundation in the third quarterof 2008. The bank also increases advertising in the fourth quarter forits “Liv e Solid. Bank Solid.” campaign, which was originallyy scheduled to launch inearly 2009.
“When the competitive framework of our industry startexd changing and the financial stability of some institutions was we decided to move our brand launcg from February 2009 to November 2008 in order to ensurre current and prospective clientsx that wewere ready, willing and quite able to providr for their financial needs,” said Deniss T. Johnson, director of planning and communications in brand management Other Georgia companies that invested more in advertising include , and Crawford & Co.