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Marico Lifts FY26 Ad Spend to Rs 1,300 Crore, Digital Leads

Ad Tribe! Bureau2 min read
Marico Lifts FY26 Ad Spend to Rs 1,300 Crore, Digital Leads

Marico has raised its advertising and sales-promotion (A&P) spend by 15% year-on-year to Rs 1,300 crore in FY26, up from Rs 1,128 crore in the previous fiscal, taking the A&P outlay to 9.6% of sales. The company attributed the higher brand investment to a structured cost-management framework that helped offset inflationary pressures during the year.

  • FY26 A&P spend: Rs 1,300 crore, up 15% from Rs 1,128 crore
  • A&P as share of sales: 9.6%
  • Digital: over 55% of core ad budget
  • Digital-first portfolio run-rate: over Rs 1,100 crore, targeting 2.5x by FY27

Marico's Digital-First Push

More than 55% of Marico's core advertising budget is now directed to digital media, underscoring a decisive shift in how the company allocates brand spend. Digital-first brands under its portfolio, including Beardo, Plix, Skinetiq, Cosmix and True Elements, receive 100% digital marketing support, reflecting a deliberate strategy to build these newer businesses entirely through online channels rather than traditional media mixes. This digital-first portfolio exited FY26 with an annual revenue run-rate of over Rs 1,100 crore, and Marico has set a target to grow this segment 2.5x by FY27, signalling that digital spend will likely continue to expand as a share of overall A&P investment in the coming fiscal.

Cost Management Offsets Inflationary Pressures

Despite the increase in absolute A&P spend, Marico credited a structured cost-management framework for enabling the higher brand investment while managing inflationary headwinds. The A&P-to-sales ratio of 9.6% suggests the company is maintaining a disciplined approach to marketing intensity even as it scales spend in rupee terms. By channelling a majority of its core advertising budget into digital media, Marico appears to be optimising for both reach and cost efficiency, particularly as its digital-first brands are built without reliance on conventional above-the-line media. The FY26 numbers indicate that Marico's brand-building strategy is increasingly weighted toward digital-first execution, both for its established portfolio and its newer, fast-growing businesses, as the company works toward its stated FY27 growth target for the digital-first segment.

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