Advertising Overload

Thanks to The Bold Approach for the Yankelovich research on advertising and marketing. Nothing surprising, but it's nice to have stats:

• 60% of consumers have a much more negative opinion of marketing and advertising now than a few years ago
• 61% feel the amount of marketing and advertising is out of control
• 65% feel constantly bombarded with too much marketing and advertising
• 53% of consumers polled said that spam had turned them off to all forms of marketing and advertising
• 36% of consumers polled said that the shopping experience is less enjoyable because of pressure to buy
• 53% said that for the most part, marketing and advertising does not help them shop better.
• 59% feel that most marketing and advertising has very little relevance to them
• 64% are concerned about practices and motives of marketers and advertisers
• 61% feel that marketers and advertisers don't treat consumers with respect
• 65% think there should be more limits and regulations on marketing and advertising
• 69% are interested in products and services that would help them skip or block marketing
• 33% would be willing to have a slightly lower standard of living to live in a society without marketing and advertising

Just more reinforcement that the mass-market model doesn't work anymore. Advertisers continue to rely on outdated tactics, but the market has changed. Consumers don't want to be 'talked at' anymore; they want to be part of the process. I like Rob's thought on open-source business and I think it's a good description for the future of marketing, where "open-source marketing" is a collaborative process between all stakeholders (customers, employees, marketing, operations, execs, shareholders, etc.), and not a static end-product like a web site or TV spot. It's a fluid and dynamic process in which control is relinquished and transparency reigns. To do this, companies must be supremely confident in the value they're offering... although I read a statistic somewhere that indicated that a majority of CEOs don't believe they're offering good value to their customers. Sad but probably true. It seems that the pendulum must start swinging back towards quality, relationships and trust from its current position at the peak of quantity, control and manipulation.

For more on the love/hate relationship between consumers and advertising, read this New York Times story that recaps the findings.

Comments

[Rick Carufel]

I am suffering from advertising overload with the Gico commercials. They have bought so much airtime that it would seem that 1 in 3 tv commercials I see is a Gico commercial. This has made me feel that I would never ever get insurance from that company simply because of the constant aggrivation they have input into to my everyday life.

[dab]

*Laughing*

Youknow Antone, I wouldn't put it past them.

[Antone Roundy]

61% feel that marketers and advertisers don't treat consumers with respect

Nowhere is this more true than beer ads, most of which imply that beer drinkers are dumber than their dogs, are 100% hormone driven, etc. Perhaps when they did their focus groups for the ads, the schedule was something like this:

10:00: Check in
10:15: Sample 12 new beer flavors (limit: 2 cans of each per person)

11:00: Watch advertisements
11:15: Discuss advertisements

By 11:00, all ads were hilarious and effective.