The Malay Mail Online
August 15, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 ― Putrajaya spent over RM500 million in its advertising blitz ahead of Election 2013 ― as much as the next four advertiser categories combined ― to dominate the list of top spenders for the first half of the year.
According to a report on local advertising growth by Vizeum Media, an international media-buying agency, the next closest contender was women’s beauty products, which laid out RM163 million or less than a third of the RM530 million spent by the government.
“[The General Election] drove government spending to a historical high of RM531 million, accounting for 9 per cent share of the advertising market or one-third of ADEX within the top 10 spending categories in 1H 2013,” Vizeum said in its July report.
The amount was a 160 per cent increase over the same period last year.
Of the over half-billion spent, the Prime Minister’s Department took up the lion’s share with an outlay of RM264 million for the first six months of the year or five times more than it did in 2012.
“Jabatan Perdana Menteri accounted for 50 per cent share of all government spending during the same period,” the report continued.
The sum was enough the make the PM’s Department the country’s second-largest single advertiser, losing out to multinational consumer goods firm Unilever Malaysia which spent RM286 million. Continue reading “Putrajaya blew over RM500m on pre-polls ad offensive”