Dynamic Logic: Beyond the Click

This issue of Beyond the Click shares findings from Dynamic Logic's AdReaction 5 Survey - a study that gauges consumers' opinions towards advertising. We will be highlighting some of the key U.S.-based results over the next few issues of our Beyond The Click newsletter.

Consumer Perceptions of Advertising Formats Vary

When asked about their overall attitudes towards general advertising formats, consumers in Dynamic Logic's AdReaction 5 research study feel very differently about the various media platforms. Certainly, if asked, most people will never say they would like to have more advertising in their lives. However, the results show that there are certain types of advertising that people may be more receptive towards.

More interruptive or intrusive formats, such as telemarketing and SPAM (Non-opt-in email) are at the bottom of the list in terms of consumer appeal. Print advertising (Newspapers and Magazine) as well as TV and Outdoor advertising rate most positively. What is surprising is the breadth of feelings about different advertising formats. This research shows there is a significant difference between how consumers feel about Telemarketing (85% negative) versus Newspaper ads (11% negative).

Source: Dynamic Logic's AdReaction 5 Survey, n=933 U.S. respondents, fielded Sept 2007

New formats included in the fifth-year survey were online search ads and ads on mobile devices. While initial research focused on measuring the effectiveness of ads on mobile WAP sites indicates that they can be highly effective among certain audiences, this research suggests that consumers may not yet see the value in mobile ads at this stage. The perception may be that ads on mobile phones will be intrusive and interruptive, like SPAM; therefore, there is an opportunity for advertisers and brands to change this perception by connecting with their audience when the message is relevant. It is also likely that many of the people have not yet seen mobile ads, so this perception may vary with exposure.

Online search ads fall among the middle of the list, perhaps because search remains a relatively new ad format compared to Newspaper and TV (where people are trained to expect advertising). Search ads — designed to be informative within an information-seeking environment — tend to strive for relevancy, thus one might expect for that reason alone to see search higher on the list of consumer preference.

Relevancy is playing an important part in overall opinions of the ad formats. According to AdReaction 5, the more relevant people feel the ads are to them, the better their opinions of the format. Newspaper, TV and Magazine ads were found to be the most relevant, while ads on mobile devices, non-opt-in emails and Telemarketing were least relevant. To an earlier point, it will be up to mobile advertisers to get creative in terms of technologies and methods to reach a more relevant audience. Surprisingly, even when ranking on relevance, online search ads placed in the middle of the list — perhaps because many consumers do not realize that some of the search results they see are in fact advertising.

Overall, online advertising has fallen slightly compared to its ranking in earlier AdReaction surveys. This may be in part because the Internet still suffers from its history of the early days of online advertising, and people may still associate it with the annoyance of pop-ups and a cluttered media environment. According to this survey, people perceive that the amount of advertising on the Web is increasing. Two-thirds (66%) of U.S. respondents said that there are more ads on the Internet compared to the past 6 months. AdReaction results also reveal much variance in perceptions of online ads when people were asked specifically about formats, such as video and banner ads.

More to come on this topic in the next Beyond The Click.