Backchannelmedia

New Straits Times

WITH almost 44 per cent of the world's population living across 12 key Asia-Pacific markets, it appears that hair care marketers are recognising the true potential of investing heavily in markets of the region.

According to Nielsen Media Research estimates, US$3 billion (US$1 = RM3.68) was spent on advertising in the hair care sector in the 12 months ended March 2006. This represents more than US$1 for every head of the region's 2.9 billion residents.

Taking the lion's share was China, comprising over two-thirds of the total spending in the category, followed by the Philippines. Malaysia's advertising expenditure on hair care category amounted to US$33.4 million.

"The hair care sector is highly competitive and the battle is on to wash the hair of the world's most populous region, as shown by the year-on-year growth in the category's ad spending of 17 per cent," Nielsen Media Research (Malaysia and Singapore) executive director Rebecca Tan said in a statement.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) invested the most in main media advertising in the hair care sector, bringing in the top three brands - Rejoice (RM2 billion), Pantene (RM1.4 billion) and Head & Shoulders (RM1.3 billion).

In Malaysia, the top three advertised brands are Sunsilk, with ad spending of RM28 million, Pantene RM27.5 million and Rejoice RM16.2 million.

Meanwhile, estimated advertising spending on television, newspapers and magazines across 12 key Asia-Pacific markets reached a record US$71 billion.

In Malaysia, newspapers garnered the lion's share of the total advertising expenditure with 60.6 per cent, followed by TV with 28.8 per cent.

(c) 2006 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.