Part 3: A Community Connection: How Local Messaging Drives Consumer Trust and Action

Local Lift study reveals that local video ads drive significantly higher relevance, trust, and purchase intent compared to national campaigns.

The Local Lift^TM, a consumer research study from Locality in partnership with The Harris Poll, reveals what many marketers have long suspected: Local video advertising drives stronger consumer connections and greater action than traditional national campaigns — with viewers four times more likely to purchase or seek out more information after seeing a local ad.

The research, which surveyed over 1,000 respondents and included focus group discussions, quantifies the significant advantages that localized advertising provides for brands seeking to build trust and drive intent in today’s fragmented media landscape.

“When ad messages are targeted to a specific location, viewers were three-and-a-half times more likely to say local ads were relevant to them and four times more likely to trust the brand compared to national ads,” says Jessica Anagnostopoulos, Vice President of Consumer Insights at Locality.

And that goes beyond simple geographical targeting. 

“Consumers feel a deeper connection to brands when their messages and creative include elements from that part of the country, that state, or even the neighborhood in which they live,” Anagnostopoulos says. “It can be anything from locally recognizable scenery, people or wildlife to the actors or voiceover using a regional dialect.”

Those factors, she says, make the consumer feel the brand relates to them on a personal level, which in turn enhances relevancy and drives trust to translate directly to business outcomes. 

A sizeable boost

While the finding that local focus is a force multiplier for intent wasn’t unexpected, the extent of the lift was notable.

“What I found the most surprising in our local research was the sizable boost in favorability and trustworthiness a national brand gained when they advertised with localized commercials,” Anagnostopoulos notes. “This was most apparent during local sports games or during local news segments, with 40% saying trust and perception were both enhanced in those instances.”

Another significant finding relates to younger demographic groups, where a strong majority of respondents said they expect ads to be localized.

“When 81% of 18–34-year-olds articulate that expectation, it’s more than a trend  —  it’s a clear signal that brands need to pay attention to,” says Shalyn O’Malley, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Locality. 

The study also found strong correlation with consumer preference for supporting local businesses by keeping their dollars in their own communities. And when it comes to advertising, O’Malley says local often trumps production values.

“Even straightforward, no-frills ads — like those from local car dealerships — performed better than polished national ads when it came to relevance, engagement and even purchase behavior,” she says. “That was an exciting insight to come out of the study.”

Yet another was the finding that convergent viewers — those consuming both streaming and broadcast — are up to 30% more likely to find local ads relevant and trustworthy.

Putting it in action

To capitalize on these findings, advertisers need to focus closely on authenticity and take advantage of the new, AI-powered tools that make it scalable and affordable.

“The good news is that adding local to your media plan doesn’t have to be complicated,” O’Malley says. “It might appear overwhelming — so many line items, so many markets — but it’s manageable with the right support.”

Locality brings together both streaming and broadcast inventory, helping advertisers reach local audiences across platforms through one unified partner. For streaming specifically, its new platform, LocalX, was designed to reduce friction — making it easier to plan, manage, and scale local campaigns across multiple markets without losing the local relevance that makes them effective. 

“You need tools that simplify how you manage local campaigns across markets,” O’Malley explains. “And with AI now playing a bigger role, customizing creative by market has become more accessible and cost-effective.”

Beyond the tools themselves, success in local depends on access to high-quality inventory and an understanding of local nuances. Locality’s direct relationships with over 400 local broadcasters and all major streaming publishers give advertisers both the reach and reliability they need to show up in trusted environments. 

“We pair that with real market expertise,” O’Malley adds. “That ensures your ads don’t just get delivered — they land with the right tone, in the right places, and with the right audience.” 

Authenticity in creative

For local creative to be effective, it needs to feel grounded in the brand’s identity.

“The best local ads are built for the community, not simply delivered to it,” O’Malley says. “It starts with knowing what your brand stands for and finding the right way to connect that to the audiences and communities you want to reach.”

That connection, she says, comes from identifying the value your brand brings to people’s everyday lives — and reflecting that in ways that feel relevant and specific to each market.

“Brands that equate geo targeting with advertising locally are missing the big picture,” O’Malley says. “Geo-targeting determines where your ad shows up — local is about how it shows up. It’s about making the message resonate with the people in that community which, according to The Local Lift Study, can lead to stronger engagement and more purchases.”

She cautions that brands don’t need to do everything at once, but they do need to be intentional.

“It’s not about creating entirely new campaigns for every city, but it does require a strategic approach and an understanding of what will resonate in each community,” O’Malley says. “That’s where things can get complex — local messaging has nuances that require a thoughtful approach to get right at scale.”

While technology has made local customization more accessible, O’Malley notes it still requires the right inputs, insights, and execution to be effective. “That’s why working with partners who understand local nuances — and can help you navigate the complexity — is critical,” she says. “At Locality, we combine that expertise with the tools and support to simplify the process — all grounded in your brand’s identity — to create local campaigns that actually connect and convert.”

Aiding in getting those ads built is another recently introduced tool: Locality Studios. 

“This is where we collaborate with advertisers to localize their creative through AI-powered tools, production support, or resources from our broadcast station partners,” Anagnostopoulos says. “It allows us to help brands significantly improve the quality of local creative they bring to market.”

For national brands, O’Malley says they’re quickly discovering the value of acting local.

“When national brands behave like local brands and tap into that relevance, they build trust,” she says. “Consumers are more accustomed than ever to personalization on their phones, and they expect that same sense of familiarity across every screen. When TV delivers that, it’s powerful.”

Next steps

Getting brands to appreciate the value of local has just gotten easier with the findings from The Local Lift. Anagnostopoulos says they’re already working on the next phase of the study.

“This has been great information, and next we want to get into the specific elements of local ads that resonate with consumers,” she says. “We want to peel back the layers of the creative to discover more about the elements driving whether people respond to the ad or not.”

For O’Malley, localized ads that create emotional connections are a win for just about any brand. To illustrate that value, Anagnostopoulos recalls one open-ended question in The Local Lift study.

 “The respondent simply said ‘I want to spend money within my community because that makes it strong. And a strong community equals a strong country.’ I thought that was a very powerful statement that gets to the heart of what we’re trying to do.”