Earlier today I received a note from Jerrid Grimm, a co-founder of Pressboard, the content marketing tech platform.
He wrote to share some of the results of a survey of advertising
and marketing pros—specifically people working at ad agencies, in marketing departments and at media publications—about their ad avoidance habits.
And it appears that the
pros avoid ads just like the rest of us. Or as Grimm put it in his email, “It turns out that advertisers hate ads too.”
Some specifics: 27% block ads, no doubt on their home
devices because if they dared downloading an ad blocker at work they’d probably get fired in a New York minute.
Also 79% said they skip ads when watching via DVR. And who in their
right mind wouldn’t?
Some 98% of those polled stream ad-free content.
So if they dislike advertising as much as the rest of us, where do they get information about
products? Well, friends move the needle: More than 75% cited word of mouth from friends as an information source. Search, social media, articles and email (in that order) round out the top-5 sources
for product info.
advertisement
advertisement
“It's possible we're the only industry that actively avoids the product we produce,” wrote Grimm. “I doubt organic farmers are eating
GMO-cage-raised-hormone-fed chicken for dinner. Or that dentists have stopped brushing their teeth. If even the people making the ads are avoiding them, is there any hope that consumers
won't?”
Point taken Jason. It’s a tough nut to crack because most people these days probably do research—at least a quick Amazon or a Google search before buying a
product. It’s amazing how many targeted ads I get AFTER I’ve already made a decision to buy something. It’s kind of humorous but not very helpful.
The Pressboard
study was based on a randomized survey of 103 respondents across North America.