Enthused by the feel-good Q2 results, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) majors are boosting their advertising budgets to drive volumes in an increasingly competitive market.

For instance, the Godrej group is hiking its advertising spend by 30 per cent across all companies in its fold this year, while ITC Foods is increasing its ad budget by 70 per cent to woo new consumers. Last year, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GPCL) and Godrej Industries had spent over Rs 68 crore on advertising, while ITC Ltd’s ad spend stood at Rs 225.73 crore.

Yet another FMCG major, Marico, is also planning to increase its ad spend from 8 per cent of total sales to 12 per cent this year. Rival Dabur India, too, is hiking its budget 15 per cent to pump up volumes. Last year, its ad spend stood at Rs 151 crore. Clearly, companies are vying to gain visibility in this overcrowded sector. The Rs 69,000-crore FMCG industry has registered healthy sales growth across categories in Q2 of the current financial year.

According to analysts, the big companies are hiking their ad budgets to further boost sales. “Compared with the last financial year, ad budgets now seem to be on the rise. We expect an average 25 per cent hike this year,” an analyst said.

On the company’s ad strategy, Ravi Naware, divisional chief executive, ITC Foods, said, “With our new product launches, we are increasing our ad spend by 70 per cent this year. We are gearing up to launch a multi-media ad campaign (featuring Sachin Tendulkar) to announce the launch of ‘Sunfeast Sachin Fit kit’ within three months.”

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