by: Jennifer Rice
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 Advertisers continue to rely on outdated tactics, but the market has changed.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.
Original Post: http://brand.blogs.com/mantra/2004/05/advertising_ove.html
