Throw
another ad spending title on pharma’s growing pile.
Advertising Age’s annual ranking of the 200 leading national advertisers in the U.S.
found that pharma industry spending rose more than any other category,
increasing overall by 15.6% last year.
And
it was way ahead of the rest, too. Travel came in second at 10.1%, while
the apparel industry came in third with total ad spending rising by 6.9%.
Spending across all categories increased almost unanimously; only the food
category dropped, down 2.7%.
And
on Ad Age’s top 10 list of the fastest-growing spenders for the
year, half were pharma companies. Novo Nordisk ranked highest of those at No. 4
with a 195% spending increase year-over-year to reach $261 million. Valeant
Pharmaceuticals was No. 5 with an 88% increase to $441 million, followed by
GlaxoSmithKline at No. 6 with a 56% increase to $948 million in ad spending.