Investments of lenders in advertising increased by 20-30 percent year-on-year, due to more relaxed conditions for granting loans, more players on the market, the evolution of insurances, and especially budgets for promoting the mandatory and optional pension systems (to be posted at the end of 2007).
Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), Romania’s largest lender in terms of assets, makes up for one third of that investment.
The company, which is the most important bank investor in advertising, allocated €26 million for promotion, more than the combined allocation of its top five competitors.
Credit Europe Bank ranks second in terms of investment in advertising. The main reason for the €8 million spent by the bank on promotion is the rebranding process which took place in the spring of 2007, for which the company set aside €1 million.
Of the net value that lenders invested in advertising, €46 million were allocated for TV commercials, according to Teddy Dumitrescu, General Manager of the Publicis Romania communication group. He said that a 65 percent share of advertising spending usually goes to TV commercials. Of its total advertising budget, BCR allocated more than €23 million for TV.
ING, another major player on the Romanian market, ranks fourth, after Banca Transilvania, with a €6.5 million investment. BRD, the second lender in terms of assets, invested €1.4 million in media in H1 2007.
The Initiative media agency estimates that the net value of the media market will reach €5.5 billion this year (a 34 percent increase from 2006). Lenders may account for 3.6% of beneficiaries of the media market by the end of 2007.
The telecom segment was the largest investor in advertising in 2006 (more than €233 million in gross value), increasing its advertising budgets by 20-30 percent in 2007.
