Consumers May Be More Trusting of Ads Than Marketers Think
Each time, when participants were asked what they thought of modern advertising
techniques, they answered with words like “credible,” “fair” and “good.”
The study, done by Mr. Grayson and Mathew Isaac, a professor at Seattle University,
and published in April in the Journal of Consumer Research, surveyed 400 participants regarding 20 common tactics used in television and digital ads.
“People have said, ‘I don’t trust advertising.’ The truth is, there is a lot of advertising that they do trust.”
Certain tactics, such as offering to match a competitor’s low prices, reporting a high rating on a site like Amazon or Yelp or mentioning
a recent ranking by a third-party source like U. S. News & World Report, received the most positive reactions from participants.
Jake Sorofman, who analyzes marketing trends as a vice president and chief of research for Gartner for Marketers, a research and consulting firm, said brands should already be recognizing
that the “persuasion by way of manipulation” approaches of the past were not going to work on modern consumers.
“Across the industry, we’re seeing brands evolve their marketing communications
to be more engaging, more participatory and, ultimately, more personalized.”
Mr. Shani said the study reaffirmed his contention that people were looking foremost for authenticity from companies.
