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Two numbers from the same quarter, moving in opposite directions. UK marketing budgets grew by a net 6.9% in Q2 2026, according to the IPA Bellwether. Almost a quarter of firms raised their spend. Over the same three months, the share of those firms expecting better financial prospects at their own business fell from +0.6% to -9.6%. So companies put more money into marketing while feeling worse about their own year. That is not as odd as it first sounds, and it matters more t

75% of UK consumers say the marketing they receive is irrelevant to them. That comes from Optimizely's Marketer's Survival Guide, published at the start of August, which surveyed 1,000 UK consumers alongside 100 UK marketers. Alongside that headline figure: 69% receive duplicate or generic messages, 61% feel overwhelmed by the volume, and 35% unsubscribe after a single poor experience. One caveat worth stating up front. Optimizely sells personalisation software, so read the d

Half of UK adults have ignored a message from a legitimate company because they assumed it was fraudulent. That figure is from MaxContact's Voice of the UK Consumer 2026, which surveyed 1,000 UK adults who had dealt with a company's contact centre in the previous eighteen months. Alongside it: 69% always or often screen calls from numbers they do not recognise, and only 22% strongly agreed they can tell when unexpected contact is genuine. Two caveats. Everyone in that sample