Consumers prefer traditional advertising to online adverts Adobe research discovers
Consumers still prefer traditional advertising over online according to Adobe’s Click Here: State of Online Advertising research.
The research found that UK consumers preferred print adverts to all other forms of advertising (39 per cent), including TV (23 per cent) and websites (12 per cent).
3,004 consumers and 752 marketers across the UK, France and Germany were consulted in order to compile the research.
Over two thirds of consumers in the UK (70 per cent) also said that they believed that TV advertising was more important than online adverts, which were described as ‘annoying’ by 62 per cent of respondents.
68 per cent of respondents said that they preferred an advert that told a story, no matter which medium that used, with John Lewis and Guinness proving the most memorable campaigns.
Humour also proved to be an advantage, with 92 per cent claiming that funny was more effective than ‘sexy’ adverts, and 21 per cent said that user generated content was now an effective form of advertising.
Of the two thirds of consumers which use social media in the UK, 44 per cent are reported to have ‘liked’ something related to a brand, while half (49 per cent) said that they would ‘like’ a brand they bought from in order to share their tastes and interests with friends (52 per cent) and in order to make a recommendation (40 per cent.)
Despite this, 49 per cent also said that they wanted to see a ‘dislike’ button introduced too.
Amazon, eBay and Tripadvisor were highlighted as the top online brands that used personalized product and service recommendations.
Mark Phibbs vice president of marketing for EMEA at Adobe, explained that after decades spent perfecting traditional advertising methods, creative agencies were still getting to grips with online platforms.
“It’s not wholly surprising that online and digital isn’t resonating to the same degree – not only is it is still relatively in its infancy as an advertising channel, but the digital landscape and the corresponding opportunities for brands are constantly changing. It’s seems to be a matter of now figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Nevertheless, it’s clear from our research that brands have a lot of work to do to capture consumer attention in the digital world,” he added.
“Our research is an important wake up call to brands. For marketing and advertising, digital is a new world and calls for new ways to attract customers. In reality, both brands and consumers are still getting used to the fact that, while physical advertising has traditionally been about broadcasting messages, online now affords the opportunity to engage with customers directly. The brands that harness this possibility will ultimately win in the digital world.”
The research also discovered that print advertising was the preferred format in France (31 per cent) and Germany (28 per cent).