Independent agency Archibald Williams has leaned into the agency’s strategic DNA with its latest proactive work to understand the current Australian consumer mindset.
Like many agencies and brands, Archibald Williams has been navigating the more frequently changing sentiments and behaviours of audiences over the last 2 years to respond to marketing challenges and briefs.
The paper challenges the current state of marketing automation comms and the effectiveness of the existing approach to algorithms and data. Simple realisations around even our own personal lives stand out in the paper as the argument is made – everything is starting to feel a bit same-same. How many of us are deleting a barrage of marketing emails on our phone every morning without a second glance? How many of us are feeling like there’s nothing new on Netflix these days to watch (until you happen to log in from a new account at your AirBnB)?
The AW strategy team decided to test their hypothesis and commissioned some bespoke research with Neilsen, which shed some great insights on the issue.
Some gems from the white paper (Source: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising 2021, Australia, Who willing are people to have their behaviour?):
- Marketers have long understood the gold dust that is a WOM (Word Of Mouth) recommendation. However, it’s become even more potent in a post-pandemic world where consumers are battling digital fatigue and being constantly inundated with information. Trust in WOM recommendations has jumped to 87%, up from 80% in 2015 when people were less cognisant of online behaviour tracking.
- A considerable 39% of Aussies are not willing to be tracked at all, and have an overall declining interest in trading their personal data for ‘tailored’ content.
- 13% of people found social media ads inspiring, but 29% went as far as calling them flat out boring. The fate is even worse for eDMs; 13% of people are inspired by them and 48% are completely dismissing them. Yet, the appetite is there. 53% want more inspiring content in brand emails. But 45% of respondents implied they weren’t at all likely to act based on what they’re currently seeing from brands. (source: Nielsen Omnibus Research 2022 Q2 – Archibald Williams, May 2022.)
Confirmation bias is at its highest, and amongst the background of COVID and a growing marketing automation industry, consumers are fatigued. Australian audiences are telling marketers what they want – it’s time to listen!
The thought originally arose from a retail context but feels relevant for a wide variety of industries.
Positioned as a light read for curious and trailblazing marketing minds, AW invites marketers across all industries to get involved in the conversation and see why the agency thinks these times call for a reinvigoration of creative into the customer relationship marketing game. Download the full report here.