Advertising Effectiveness

IMJ, JULY 2010 – EIMEAR FAUGHNAN / JAMES McCOMBE

One of the challenges facing advertisers is how to make their brand stand out for consumers in a crowded marketplace. Latest TGI data show that half of Irish adults feel ‘bombarded’ by advertising and 36% find advertising a waste of their time, up sharply from 30% in 2008. Almost 60% ‘always choose’ that their name is not included on mailing lists. At a time of diminished ad-revenues, marketers and their agencies are having to work harder than ever to build relationships with consumers whilst cutting through the clutter.

The good news is that consumer scepticism seems to be directed at unwanted advertising rather than advertising per se. The proportion of adults ‘tempted’ to buy products they’ve seen advertised has increased since the downturn, and now stands at 37% – up from 33% in 2007. Over the same period the proportion who ‘sometimes send off for goods, services or information packs’ seen advertised in the media has risen slightly, up 30,000 to 16% of the population.

Many consumers still rely on advertising – but they have less time to assimilate it. The proportion of adults who think it is important to juggle various tasks at the same time has jumped from 50% in 2007 to 65% today. In this context it is hardly surprising that the number of people who think a ‘clever’ poster says it all with a picture and a couple of words has reached a new high of 69% – up from 62% in 2008. This suggests that while today’s consumer remains happy to be informed (or entertained) by a commercial message, he or she is reluctant to invest more than the bare minimum of time for the privilege.

This does not necessarily mean that the key to advertising effectiveness is speed. It does mean, however, that advertisers need to play to the strengths of each platform. Traditional media remains relatively strong. Twenty-eight per cent of adults think television advertising is the most useful type in helping them make purchase decisions, and a further 28% find newspaper adverts most useful – compared to only 7% for online. Part of the reason for this disparity may be that online advertisers have yet to get the formula quite right – and, in today’s world, it is all too easy for the consumer to switch off.