Trust in advertising: Paid, Owned and Earned: Nielsen Study

In a recent Nielsen global study, all forms of paid advertising—TV, print, digital, radio—showed a gap in the “trust factor,” with a majority of respondents reporting that they don’t trust each type much or at all. Conversely, and not surprisingly, “recommendations from people I know” scored highest on trust, with 92 percent of consumers trusting this source completely or somewhat. Owned media, such as brand websites, scored higher than paid advertising but lower than social recommendations. Yet advertising as a medium continues to thrive, with ad dollars on the rise globally and in many markets around the world.

 

Trust in Advertising – Q3 2011

Now What? The Convergence of Paid, Owned and Earned

Now that we’ve demonstrated what many of us already knew, what should we do about it? Does trust in advertising matter? If so, can we even do anything about it?

2. Paid Digital Advertising Drives Owned Usage

	Brand A	Brand B	Brand C	Brand D
% of those exposed to the online display campaign that went on to visit a brand’s website post-exposure	4.7	5.2	1.0	1.2
% of those not exposed to the online display advertising who visited a brand’s website	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.3

3. Owned Can Work Harder Than Paid

 

The Opportunity – Putting it All Together

Addressing the truth deficit in advertising is more than just making ads that are, well, true. It’s also about how to use paid, owned and earned media to your brand’s advantage.

Using the example above, why not build social into your paid advertising (where possible), use your paid ads to drive consumers to your website and optimize your site to drive maximum on or off-line purchase? Why not experiment with the myriad ways to engage your consumers across the paid, owned and earned continuum?

Overcoming the trust deficit in advertising isn’t about making ads that aren’t misleading or exaggerated. It’s about adding in social and owned media experiences in ways that give paid media more legitimacy,  enabling it to work harder for your brand. | by Randall Beard, Global Head of Advertiser Solutions, Nielsen

The article was published in nielsenwire