Consumer Advertising Still Viewed As Most Important Marketing Approach
A new report suggests that the majority of businesses identify effective advertising as an important element in success. The same findings showed that while consumer advertising is still percieved as the most important element of marketing, businesses are less confident in judging whether advertising investment is money well spent.
ISBA director general, Malcolm Earnshaw, said: “The purpose of the survey, the fourth in a biennial tracking study conducted by the IPA through the ISBA membership, was to monitor awareness, attitudes and understanding of the IPA Advertising Effectiveness initiative and seek advertiser opinion on how to take it forward, and to track levels of interest in and experience of wider effectiveness issues.”
The survey, conducted among members of ISBA, found that 86% of respondents regarded advertising effectiveness as an important issue in respect of their company’s business. However, only 16% felt “very satisfied” in their ability to measure the effectiveness of consumer advertising, while 42% felt “quite satisfied”.
Within the marketing mix, consumer advertising was regarded as “very important” by 92% of respondents, followed by public relations, acknowledged by 56%, direct marketing by 44%, sales promotion by 32%, trade advertising by 12% and sponsorship 12%. A comparison with the same figures collected in 1994 shows a 16% increase in the perception of consumer advertising’s importance since then.
Earnshaw continued: “The results of this study emphasise that the industry has done much good work over the past few years to underline the fundamental role that advertising has to play in successful business practice. Whilst nurturing creativity is crucial to the industry’s future success, for client companies it remains a means to an end. The more accurately that advertisers can link advertising spend with business success, the more able they are to justify their spend.”
IPA: 020 7235 7020 www.ipa.co.uk ISBA: 020 7499 7502 www.isba.org.uk
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