The advertising impact for a brand of combining print and digital and with an emphasis on news brands is greater than using social media or print alone. And that impact is greater for new brands than the positive effect of the combined approach for established brands.
The key factor that research – commissioned by Newsworks and IPA Databank – uncovered is trust. When consumers trust the medium where that ad is placed, the impact is magnified. And it has stood the test of time. The research looked at the period 2012-2016 and then from 2016 to the present. This has been a period of turmoil and a rise in social media, unchecked commentary and the arrival of new publishers, some online only.
Some of these promised much, but have failed to deliver, leading recently to closures and huge shrinkage. Newspapers and their websites, while suffering a decline in print revenues, have remained strong.
The research published as Trust, a Newsworks Report, says that established brands have fared better because they have earned the trust of their readers. This has a halo effect on the brands that advertise with them because the advertising shares in the trust that the news brand conveys.
Companies using news brand titles noted a 32% uplift in the effectiveness of their spend in 2012-2016 and a 52% uplift between 2018-2022, a period where Covid and the invasion of Ukraine led to consumers seeking trustworthy sources of information.
It was this realisation that spurred the IPA Databank/Newsworks survey into trust and the factors that influence it. The more nuanced measure will also identify areas that publishers need to work on. The report was built on on work with 150 brands, some well established, some new companies. The report looks at four elements leading to a true score; familiarity, fame, competence and risk associated with dealing with the news publisher that an advertiser can use to decide how to place a media spend. “This helps existing brands; it helps new brands even more,” says that report. Humans, it says, do not like to think any more than necessary. “Trust is important to us as trust allows us to think less,” it says.
A further report repeats the finding that a combination of digital and physical is more effective than online alone. A report call The Long and Short of It, focusing on how to build brands says that out of home advertising is important for new brands to migrate into mainstream brands which is not possible with mass market messaging alone.
An analysis of 5,350 individuals attempted to understand the impact of outdoor advertising. It looked for evidence of cut through, salience and neuro penetration for any brand. The latter measure is the most important as it measures the availability to act on the message.
The report that emerges finds that large format advertising has real cut through and increases the recall of brands, increased when a consumer sees multiple instances of that outdoor advertising. In short, large format advertising is effective at building brands.
