After spurning many forms of marketing over the last 15 years, discount retailer ALDI Australia is more than making up for lost time, almost doubling its advertising spend in 2015 as larger rivals Coles and Woolworths cut back. 
Coles' marketing spend fell 25 per cent to $53.6 million last year and Woolworths supermarkets cut back by 5.3 per cent to $87.9 million, according to Nielsen's latest Advertising Information Service figures.
In contrast, ALDI Stores' total spending across metropolitan and regional TV, metro and regional press, magazines, radio, out of home, cinema, online and direct mail reached $28.9 million, according to AIS, up from $15.0 million in 2014.
When ALDI first arrived in Australia 15 years ago it had a policy of not spending money on television advertising, preferring to spruik its range of private label brands and "special buys" in weekly catalogues.
After changing tack about four years ago, ALDI is now winning awards for its quirky and humorous TV ad campaigns, including "Like Brands. Only Cheaper", which features a brown bear spruiking Aldi toilet paper.
The ad campaigns are developed in conjunction with creative agency BMF, which has been working with ALDI for 12 years.
The "Like Brands. Only Cheaper" ads originally aired in the UK, but were adapted for Australia after they proved successful.
According to the AIS figures, ALDI spent $24.3 million on metropolitan and regional TV in the 12 months ending   December, compared with $7.7 million in 2014.
At the same time, Coles cut back on metro TV advertising in 2015 (down 19 per cent to $25.1 million) but spent more on regional TV ads (up 10 per cent to $6.5 million), while Woolworths' metro TV budget fell 12 per cent to $39.8 million and its regional TV spend plunged 46 per cent to $6.3 million.
ALDI, which has annual sales of more than $6 billion, is now spending less on metro and regional press ads (down 72 per cent) in favour of television.
Analysts say the headline figures highlight intense competition in the $90 billion supermarket sector, where ALDI has been gaining share, forcing Woolworths and Coles to cut costs to invest in price reductions.