The figures show that moret han half of the marketing budgets reported for 2005 so far have been set higher than actual spend last year.
The Institute of Practioners in Advertising reports that this figure is the highest since the first quarter of 2000, with companies citing improved business confidence and an upturn in economic growth as the major reasons, along with new product launches.
At the same time, the report said that across-the-board growth for the last quarter of 2004 was also strong, at 6.3%.
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the WPP Group, said that the findings of the report, which is compiled by NTC Research, matched those of his company's own research.
"The IPA Bellwether Report confirms our view. The recovery that we have seen in the second half of 2004 in the UK (and Western Europe) continues, driven especially by growth in non-traditional marketing services areas, such as direct, internet and interactive," he said.
However, he disagreed with the findings of the report that spending on traditional media had, on average, fallen during the last quarter of 2004, with the Bellwether Report showing a 4.5% decline on average.
"The one divergence would be that media advertising was not as weak as the IPA Bellwether Report suggests. We too, at WPP, believe that 2005 will see further improvements, although relative growth may not be as strong as the quadrennial 2004 over 2003," Sprrell said.
The Bellwether Report sees traditional media having the highest growth rate over 2005, followed by direct marketing.
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