• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 10, 2009

The world's largest advertiser grew considerably smaller during the first quarter of 2009. Procter & Gamble, which is about to get a new CEO who is expected to trim the packaged goods giant's advertising expenditures even more, slashed its overall advertising budget by nearly 18% during the first quarter to $674.1 million, according to estimates being released this morning by TNS Media Intelligence. That still puts P&G well ahead of No. 2 ad spender Verizon's $577.1 million during the quarter, but P&G's rate of erosion was more than three times greater than the average of the 10 largest advertisers (-5.7%), and was even higher than the overall 14.2% decline in measured U.S. media ad spending, according to TNS MI.

 

Some marketers, however, appear to be bucking the downturn, and maybe using recessionary cutbacks of rivals as an opportunity to increase share. Verizon's spending was up 3.1%, for example, while Johnson & Johnson jumped 28.9%, and Spring soared 30.3% during the quarter.

Jon Swallen, senior vice president-research at TNS MI, said Johnson & Johnson's spending growth was all "organic," and reflects "higher spending across a broad spectrum of their OTC remedy and health and beauty aid brands."

The top 10 advertising categories, meanwhile, was down largely due to cutbacks in automotive spending during the first quarter, falling 13.6% vs. the first quarter of 2008. "The aggregate drop was skewed by the reduction in auto category expenditures, which nose-dived 28.4 percent to $2,309.0 million. Auto manufacturer spending was off 15.2 percent and dealer advertising was down a stunning 48.9 percent, paralleling a 38 percent decline in new vehicle sales during the period," TNS MI said.