Trust-building ad campaigns improve business outcomes, IPA research finds
Advertising that significantly increases brand trust is highly effective at driving business growth.
That is according to new research conducted by the IPA examining the IPA Effectiveness Databank, which found that 93% of for-profit advertising campaigns that reported “very large” increases in brand trust also reported at least one very large business effect (i.e., substantial growth in sales, market share, or profit).
The most effective trust-building campaigns were found to be 27 percentage points more effective at generating these effects than the average across all for-profit campaigns in the Databank.
Such campaigns were also shown to be more than twice as likely to lead to substantial changes in perceptions of brand quality and brand loyalty metrics.
The report notes that trust-building advertising is also linked to other “collateral effects”. These include a higher likelihood of receiving quantity or favourability of press or TV coverage (48% versus 37% on average), a greater desire on suppliers’ desire to do business (20% versus 16% on average), and “halo” effects on other related brands or products (13% versus 7% on average).
“While there are many ways to make your advertising effective, this new research provides a strong business case for the benefits of investing in trust-building campaigns,” commented IPA director of effectiveness Laurence Green.
“As more advertisers set an objective of increasing trust, the long-term evidence from the IPA Effectiveness Databank makes it clear that investing in trust is not only the right thing to do for many brands, but a proven way to drive sustainable growth”.
The IPA’s analysis is based on 812 awarded and non-awarded ad campaigns within its Databank, submitted between 1998 and 2024 as part of the IPA Effectiveness Awards. A subset of 103 for-profit camapigns were singled out for recording “very large” increases in brand trust.
How to develop an effective trust-building campaign?
What sets the most effective trust-building campaigns apart?
The IPA found that such campaigns explicitly set trust-building as a primary or secondary campaign objective.
In addition, they generally devoted 60% of the budget to brand advertising and 40% to activation — a slightly higher activation share than the average campaign in the Database (34%).
Such campaigns also used a slightly larger number of channels (10.7 compared to 9.9 on average).
Creative strategies varied, though trust-building campaigns tended to adopt “slice of life” approaches (38% versus 27% average). Animation, testimonials, and celebrities also featured somewhat more prominently. In contrast, the most effective trust-building campaigns used less humour.
The findings come amid a renewed focus on trust in advertising driven by the industry’s trade bodies. The IPA, alongside Isba and the Advertising Association (AA), will be promoting the topic heavily during the annual LEAD conference in London next week.
The report also aligns with the publication of the forthcoming book, Trusted Advertising: How to Harness the Power of Trust in Your Brand, co-authored by the AA’s communications director, Matt Bourn, and CAP and Credos chair, James Best.
AA CEO Stephen Woodford called the IPA’s latest analysis “game-changing” and “the most compelling evidence yet that driving greater trust through advertising delivers sustained and powerful competitive advantage, bringing significant gains to the bottom line.”
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