Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey - Trust, Value and Engagement in Advertising

Advertising plays a very important role in promotion of any product. It is a form of communication used to help sell product and services. Advertising drives consumer choice, promote competition and help in getting better value for money.  

But is that how the average consumer perceives the benefits of advertising? 

NIELSEN’S annual ‘Trust in Advertising’ study shows that consumer trust in advertising is low. Public discussion of advertising tends to focus on its alleged contribution to societal problems. In response, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) launched in 2008 a global industry campaign to champion the value of advertising. The aim is to ensure that lawmakers and key opinion formers better understand the benefits of advertising and that these are better reflected in the policy making process. 

Respondent Profile: 25,000 consumers across 50 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East

Objective: To find out customer attitudes toward trust, value and engagement of advertisement.

The objective of the survey was to provide a better understanding of consumer perceptions of the benefits of advertising.Survey Analysis said that 

• A vast majority of consumers see advertising as playing a key role in the economy:
• 80% of the world’s consumers believe that advertising helps create jobs
• 72% say advertising contributes to economic growth. 
• 68% of the respondents believe it helps to reduce prices by stimulating competition. 
• A clear majority of consumers across all markets also understand the importance of advertising and sponsorship as a critical source of funding for sports, the arts and the media.

The survey reveals interesting discrepancies between attitudes by region.

• Europeans are more skeptical about the informational and entertainment value of advertising. 
• Only 50% of Europeans agreed that advertising is a useful source of information, compared to 81% of consumers in Latin America, 75% in Asia-Pacific and 71% in North America. 
  

Overall, the results show broadly consistent, largely positive consumer views about the economic benefits of advertising. Europeans are the most hesitant, in clear contrast to the emerging markets across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

Consumers realize advertising “pays the bills for much of the content they enjoy -- and, for that matter, that it helps the economy to function." - findings of a newly released global survey by Nielsen.

You can download the report here

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/trustinadvertising0709.pdf

For more information visit www.nielsen.com