The Recommended Agency Register recently took a look at the spending habits of the UK’s top brands and, using the most recent full year figures, set about analysing who was spending what and on what media. Here we take a look at the findings for Scotland.

The RAR Brand Spend Benchmark Report analyses the marketing spends of the biggest clients in Scotland, the North West, Yorkshire, the Midlands and the South West, and over the space of the next week we will be providing a snapshot of the key findings, starting with the Scottish region.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of financial and drinks clients to the marketing and media industry in Scotland. Accounting for a whopping 46% of Scotland-based clients total spend, these two sectors include top spending clients such as RBS, Sainsbury’s Bank and Heineken.

The next top Scotland-based spenders were the retail stores, automotive and travel categories, with clients in these sectors collectively making up 24% of Scotland’s marketing spend.

Surprising perhaps is that, for all its supposed dominance, the public sector represented only 6% of the overall media spend.

Business & industrial made 3%, while other sectors individually accounting for less than 3% of the total spend made up the remaining 23% of marketing spend for Scotland-based clients. These include charities, clothing, confectionery, cosmetics & toiletries, education & vocational, entertainment & leisure activities, food, gaming, home improvement, household furnishings, household supplies, leisure products, luxury goods, mail order retail, medical, office & home computing, pharmaceutical, property, publishing & media, retail services and sport.

Scotland’s top 10 spending brands were:

THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP (incl. NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK)
Sector: Finance
Marketing spend 2009: £31,409,184                
Radio: £5,162
TV: £13,390,215
Press: £8,296,141
Outdoor: £4,476,902
Cinema: £218,619
Internet: £933,325
Direct Mail: £4,088,820
Agencies worked with: Carlson Marketing Ltd, CHI & Partners Ltd, DBD Media, Direct MediaCom, glue Isobar, Harvest Digital Ltd, Just Media Ltd, Lambie-Nairn & Company Ltd, M&C Saatchi Digital, M&C Saatchi Plc, Media.Com – a member of the Beyond Interactive Network, MediaCom Career, MediaCom Edinburgh Ltd, MediaCom Holdings Ltd, MediaCom Out of Home, Momentum Ltd, PSI Ltd, SapientNitro, Synergy, TBWA\Manchester Ltd, The Bank, The Communications Agency Ltd, twentysix London Ltd

HEINEKEN UK
Sector: Drink    
Marketing spend 2009: £24,301,031    
Radio: £3,378,401    
TV: £11,771,760    
Press: £1,328,995    
Outdoor: £6,475,208    
Cinema: £1,329,561    
Internet: £17,107    
Direct Mail: £0
Agencies worked with: Adam & Eve Group, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, BEcause, CHI & Partners, Karmarama, M&C Saatchi Digital, St. Luke's, Starcom MediaVest, TBWA\London

KWIK-FIT (GB) LTD    
Sector: Automotive    
Marketing spend 2009: £8,752,647    
Radio: £1,038,312    
TV: £5,155,887    
Press: £657,152    
Outdoor: £868,955    
Cinema: £0    
Internet: £0    
Direct Mail: £1,032,341
Agencies worked with: BigMouthMedia Ltd, DDB UK Ltd, Media.Com – a member of the Beyond Interactive Network, MediaCom Holdings Ltd, MediaCom Out of Home, merle Ltd

SAINSBURY'S BANK PLC
Sector: Finance
Marketing spend 2009: £7,874,868
Radio: £3,179
TV: £2,470,874
Press: £554,646
Outdoor: £877,837
Cinema: £0
Internet: £907,570
Direct Mail: £3,060,762
Agencies worked with: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Dare Digital, Lambie-Nairn & Company, PHD Media, Tullo Marshall Warren, UM Manchester

TESCO PERSONAL FINANCE LTD    
Sector: Finance    
Marketing spend 2009: £7,599,235    
Radio: £75,791    
TV: £2,600,203    
Press: £909,452    
Outdoor: £20,685    
Cinema: £0    
Internet: £663,037    
Direct Mail: £3,330,067
Agencies worked with: 77 PR Ltd, Arena-Quantum, Fishburn Hedges, Initiative Media London Ltd, International Poster Management Ltd, Ruby Integrated Ltd, The Red Brick Road, Whippet UK Ltd

THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
Sector: Government/Social/Political    
Marketing spend 2009: £7,528,456    
Radio: £2,277,569    
TV: £2,451,162    
Press: £590,347    
Outdoor: £1,966,257    
Cinema: £103,297    
Internet: £139,825    
Direct Mail: £0
Agencies worked with: Avian Communications Ltd, Family Advertising Ltd, MediaCom Edinburgh Ltd, The Bridge (Advertising) Ltd, The Gate Worldwide Ltd, The Leith Agency Ltd, The Union Advertising Agency Ltd

VISITSCOTLAND    
Sector: Travel    
Marketing spend 2009: £5,672,200    
Radio: £195,239    
TV: £2,497,215    
Press: £337,949    
Outdoor: £18,830    
Cinema: £1,837,128    
Internet: £179,115    
Direct Mail: £606,724
Agencies worked with: Curious Design & Architecture Ltd, Family Advertising Ltd, MediaCom Edinburgh Ltd, The Union Advertising Agency Ltd

OPTICAL EXPRESS LTD    
Sector: Medical    
Marketing spend 2009: £5,103,731    
Radio: £476,714    
TV: £3,178,961    
Press: £149,464    
Outdoor: £0    
Cinema: £0    
Internet: £1,053,932    
Direct Mail: £244,660
Agencies worked with: Attinger Jack Advertising Ltd, Direct Marketing Lead Solutions Ltd, MediaCom Holdings Ltd, MediaCom Out of Home

POSTCODE LOTTERY LTD    
Sector: Gaming    
Marketing spend 2009: £4,478,903    
Radio: £487,310    
TV: £2,037,660    
Press: £234,692    
Outdoor: £562,192    
Cinema: £0    
Internet: £0    
Direct Mail: £1,157,050
Agencies worked with: Arena-Quantum, Feather Brooksbank – A Division of Aegis Media Ltd

SCOTTISH FRIENDLY ASSURANCE SOCIETY LTD    
Sector: Finance
Marketing spend 2009: £4,121,670    
Radio: £0    
TV: £0    
Press: £70,634    
Outdoor: £0    
Cinema: £0    
Internet: £0    
Direct Mail: £4,051,036
Agencies worked with: Rapp Media Ltd, The Union Advertising Agency Ltd, Touchdown Integrated Marketing Ltd

We will be releasing snapshots of each of the key regions throughout the course of the week, and you can purchase the full RAR Brand Spend Benchmark Report giving an overall review of the power brands based in the UK regions by visiting http://agencyregister.co.uk/pages/benchmark-report.