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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Diane Lewis
Media Director
GráficaGroup
908.879.2169 x173
New Jerseyans Not Negative About Advertising
Television and magazines score highly in survey, while Web cited as key research tool.
When it comes to advertising, women are "intelligently impulsive" and men are "logically lazy."
Chester, New Jersey (November 9, 2004) — A survey of New Jersey-based consumers revealed that the majority (46 percent) generally has positive opinions about advertising, while only a small minority (12 percent) harbors negative opinions about advertising. Television advertising was the most preferred medium (28 percent), with magazines a close second (24 percent). Web-banner and pop-up ads and email marketing were ranked low by New Jersey consumers, but the Internet scored highly as a tool for research.
Additional demographic findings revealed a gender paradox with respect to attitudes and actions about advertising. Women tend to take advantage of advertised discounts and free samples, but admit to shopping on impulse, which makes them "intelligently impulsive." The opposite is true of men, who claim to be well informed, but fail to take advantage of advertised discounts, which keeps them from impulsively buying items that they might not need, hence "logically lazy."
The survey, commissioned by GráficaGroup, based in Chester, New Jersey, was conducted by the Rutgers Graduate School of Management. The objective was to ascertain media preferences among New Jersey consumers and identify how people from different demographic sets react to advertising. According to Mark Devaney, Director of Public Relations at Gráfica, the survey confirmed many presumptions about media channels and how people prefer to get information about products and services, but the big surprise in the survey was that advertising itself was generally accepted by consumers in New Jersey.
"Frankly, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that New Jersey consumers in general are not negative about advertising," said Devaney. "We believe this speaks to the level of sophistication of Garden State consumers in terms of intellect, education, income, and diversity. In other words, New Jerseyans expect and accept advertising, but, at the same time, a large percentage (42 percent) has neutral opinions about advertising. That population is analogous to the undecided voter. They neither love nor hate advertising, so it is incumbent upon advertisers and their agencies to create smarter, more compelling campaigns to convince them about the value advertising brings to their lives, our economy, and our culture."
Rutgers and Gráfica observed distinct gender differences with respect to media channels and products and services. For example, women are twice as likely as men to take action because of a radio or magazine ad. Females are about two times as likely as males to purchase clothing (68 percent vs. 32 percent) and food (64 percent vs. 36 percent) based on magazine ads. Men are much more likely (40 percent vs. 24 percent) to be influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations about products and services, but half as likely (66 percent vs. 33 percent) as women to leave the room during a TV commercial.
"These findings substantiate many of the gender-oriented advertising strategies currently in place within various media," said Devaney. "Lifestyle magazines are filled with clothing and food ads, because that is a proven tactic for reaching female consumers. As for men who are reluctant to get off the couch during a commercial break, presumably while watching a sporting event, you will observe advertising content skewed in style toward their sensibilities."
With respect to the Web, less than three percent of respondents pay attention to banner ads, and almost 80 percent never pay attention to them. However, as a research tool, the Web scored very highly, especially for specific products like consumer electronics and automobiles. In fact, for such items, the Web is on par with TV (18 percent vs. 17 percent).
"The Web remains a cost-effective, interactive channel that greatly improves relationships between consumers and brands," said Devaney. "We are still mining data from the survey, but the bottom line is that advertising with informative content, entertainingly communicated, smartly placed, and properly integrated across appropriate media channels really works. It's not just about pretty pictures or catchy jingles. Understanding the media preferences of your targets based on specific products and services, gender, age, and income all come into play.
"Yes, advertising can be fun, but, at the end of the day, it's a marketing-communications discipline that other companies can depend on for brand awareness and revenue growth, which is serious business."
The Gráfica/Rutgers Media Preference Survey was conducted in July and August 2004. Of the 458 participants in the survey, 45 percent responded via a Web form, and 55 percent completed paper questionnaires. The survey results achieved a 95 percent confidence level with a confidence interval of +/- five percent.
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