ISBA’s Phil Smith
As public favourability towards advertising declines, a new paper from the industry’s Trust Working Group has identified practical steps advertisers can take to counter the problem.
Improving The Public’s Advertising Experience, published as part of the annual ISBA conference this week and issued in partnership with the Ad Association, shows the top drivers of public negativity – with ad bombardment and retargeting topping the list.
The paper, which is aimed at all manner of marketers, from SMEs to big name brands, leads with a plea to make advertising “welcome in people’s lives”.
Additionally, brands are asked to place “business effectiveness above efficiency”; achieve full visibility of where ads go; ensure “every impact and exposure matters”; and deploy the necessary resources to track, measure and manage such strategies.
Working with industry thinktank Credos, the five actions were developed by industry stalwarts Nick Manning and Derek Morris through a review of data and interviews with some of the UK’s biggest advertisers, their agencies and leading media owners.[advert position=”left”]
Writing for Mediatel News ahead of the report’s release on Thursday, Manning said it should now be the job of individual companies to take the appropriate action and reduce ad bombardment within their organisation – something he argued can only happen if the whole industry recognises the problem and then addresses it within each organisation.
“There is no ‘one-size’ solution, and all players in our industry need to share the collective responsibility,” he said.
ISBA is also launching an ‘Advertising Experience MOT’ for every advertiser seeking to secure “greater value and efficiency” as a result of improving the public’s experience of their campaigns.
The MOT is described as an independently verified test of a company or brand’s approach to safeguarding the consumer, avoiding advertising bombardment and wasted investment.
“Public trust in advertising is finely balanced,” said Phil Smith, director general, ISBA and Co-Chair Trust Working Group.
“People still appreciate entertaining and relevant advertising, but they can also feel ‘bombarded’ by too much irrelevant, obtrusive and repetitive advertising and they are switching their attention off. The more the balance tips towards the negative, the less welcome advertising will be in people’s lives.
“By ensuring that people are receptive to our advertising and improving consumer trust, we will create better value for our investment.”
Credos data shows that while public trust and favourability towards advertising has seen an uptick over the last year, it still lags behind other comparable industries.
Overall favourability towards advertising increased from 50% to 65% from December 2018 to December 2019, but the gap between the number of those favourable towards advertising, versus the average of those favourable to other industries, increased from 19% to 21%.
