The data: Through much of 2022, the biggest US financial brands continued to spend heavily on advertising—particularly as a slowing economy and soaring inflation made consumers more financially anxious. But even then, well before the regional banking crisis, there were signs advertiser’s budgets were constricting, according to Ad Age’s 68th annual Leading National Advertisers Report.

The report tracked spending by the 200 leading national advertisers across all industries, and included a look at those whose US ad spending pivoted sharply during 2022.

The biggest movers: As interest rates rose and business slowed, financial institutions have sought to cut expenses. Because their marketing budgets have grown in recent years, some may have decided to pause or even scale back in 2022.

The only financial services brand that made the Top 10 among firms with the greatest increases in spend from 2021 to 2022 was Ally Financial, taking ninth place with an estimated 52% increase in US ad spending during that period, for a total estimated spend of $366 million.

By contrast, within the list of marketers who curtailed their ad spending the most between 2021 and 2022, financial services brands were well-represented.

• Allstate and the Rocket Companies cut their spending by 25% and 24% respectively, ranking at No. 4 and No. 5 in the Top 10 of firms with the greatest year-over-year (YoY) spending reduction, at $942 million and $946 million.
• Right behind them, at No. 6, was GEICO, which cut its spending by 22%, to $1.3 billion.
• Rounding out the top 10 were Wells Fargo, at No. 8, which cut its US ad spending by 16%, to $505 million, and Charles Schwab, at No. 10, which cut ad spending by 14%, to $419 million.

By the numbers: But financial institutions that have confidently spent on advertising continued to do so. The biggest spenders in 2022 include four financial services brands.

• American Express was the sixth-biggest spender, with $426 million in US-measured media ad spending and total estimated marketing expenses of $4.275 billion.
• Capital One Financial Corp. entered the top 10 this year, with estimated US marketing spending in 2022 rising about 40%, to $3.8 billion, far exceeding its prepandemic level. However, the credit card issuer trimmed its marketing spending by 2% in Q1 2023 YoY.
• At No. 13, JPMorgan Chase’s estimated marketing expenses reached $2.94 billion, including $551 million in US-measured media ad spending.
• And Progressive weighed in at No. 23, spending $2.033 billion in advertising overall, from which $1.370 billion accounted for US-measured media ad spending. In an effort to improve profitability, it cut ad spending in 2021 and 2022, after almost two decades of annual increases. But this year, its ad spending swelled again by 23% in Q1 2023, YoY.

Our take: Digital ad spending in the US faces its slowest growth rate in over a decade, even though almost $20 billion more will be spent this year than in 2022. Marketers in financial services aren’t likely to see their ad budgets return to pandemic rates soon. Our March forecast predicts single-digit worldwide ad spend growth of 5.8% in 2023, and recent downgrades from groups like Dentsu argue that ad spend growth is an illusion driven by inflation.