Trust in Ads Is on the Rise

Advertising has long been a core way for brands to spread their message at scale, and convince people to buy or believe. It has faced many forms of evolution over the years. From print advertising to the boom in TV, to omnichannel digital advertising; we have experienced it all, and so it is no surprise that our ways of communicating quickly become obsolete, falling on deaf ears.

People have become weary of promotional content, and depending on the market, very ad-savvy and suspicious of brands being too pushy for them to take action. Efforts by brands to win over audiences and get them to do what they want have become more difficult. Advertisers need to work smarter to hit an audience when intent is at its highest, building holistic campaigns with several user touch points and multiple channels, in the hope that they subtly drive their audiences to take desired actions. The deprecation of third-party cookies, has presented an even more difficult challenge, sparking a rise in publishers and platforms investing heavily in alternate strategies, such as contextual layering, to navigate a soon-to-be cookieless world.

Recent research from The Advertising Association has shown trust to be one of the strongest drivers of a brand’s profitability and effectiveness, proving the importance of a brand’s need to be genuine and organic in approach, with selling or promoting on the back burner. Disclosed in their Value of Trust report, The Advertising Association has also revealed that for the first time in a decade, advertising is no longer the UK’s least trusted industry, having been overtaken for the top spot of distrust by the government. It’s also made known in this report that brands which didn’t invest in their long-term trust-building strategies, instead prioritising shorter-term sales wins as a knee jerk reaction to Covid-19, had felt a harsher impact in terms of profitability and business effectiveness, than those who chose a slower and more organic route.

There is a significant generational digital divide, according to the Value of Trust report, with the huge difference being that 50% of Gen Z stating they trust the adverts they hear or see, compared to below 25% for those who are over 55. TV remains the most trusted advertising channel, with online advertising seeing a recent spike in trust among younger generations. In fact, Gen Z are four times as likely to trust online advertising compared to the over 55 cohort.

The report states that enjoyment of advertising content is indexed as the biggest factor for trust. So does this mean that adverts are becoming more enjoyable? A surge in more human, less polished content, with more relatability and engagement are certainly a big contributors. By recognising the need for multiple touchpoints during the decision-making process for consumers, brands have become less promotional and more natural in their advertising communication, to make the user feels like they are not being sold to.

This is great news for advertisers all round. There is a heightened appetite to consume and enjoy ads. If we move away from the hard sell and focus on relatability and trust, with an engaging multi-touchpoint approach, we will successfully convert ads into sales.