Switzerland: Skepticism about advertising on the wane

For example, 49% of participants have confidence in TV advertising - an increase of 19 percentage points compared to 2011. TV advertising has thus recently become one of the top 5 most trusted advertising formats in Switzerland. A total of 500 consumers in Switzerland took part in the survey, compared to 29,000 worldwide. Trust in radio advertising (up 18 percentage points), product placement in TV programs (up 17 percentage points), cinema advertising (up 15 percentage points) and newspaper advertising (up 14 percentage points) has also increased since 2011. In addition, the Swiss consider sponsorship, product placement and outdoor advertising to be much more trustworthy than two years ago. In the trust ranking of all advertising measures, however, these tend to be in the midfield.

Brand presences on the Internet enjoy a high reputation

Online and mobile advertising has also gained a great deal of trust, in the double-digit range in each case. However, they do not come close to the acceptance of traditional advertising - with one exception: brand presences on the internet are held in high regard by the Swiss. Of all paid online formats, websites are the most accepted and have gained significantly more trust compared to 2011 (54% compared to 41% in 2011). Websites occupy fourth place in the trust ranking. "Brand managers should be encouraged by the fact that their company websites are among the forms of advertising that consumers trust the most," says Andreas Leisi, Market Leader Nielsen Alpine. "It shows that companies on the Internet are able to communicate their brand messages in a way that is perceived as credible by consumers. This credibility is a decisive component in terms of the effect that an advertising measure has on the consumer."

Company-independent opinions are very popular

A clear majority of respondents (81%) still trust recommendations from family, friends or acquaintances, although the proportion has fallen compared to 2011. Back then, 92% said they trusted recommendations. The Swiss also attach importance to editorial information, for example in the form of newspaper articles, as well as online comments from other consumers. However, the actual purchase decision is not always directly related to the trust that an advertising format enjoys. Companies are most likely to persuade consumers to make a purchase via a newsletter subscription; only the recommendations of others motivate the Swiss more. Only 40 percent of survey participants consider subscription e-mails to be a trustworthy format.

"Swiss consumer satisfaction has remained stable since the slump in the consumer confidence index in 2011 - this has a positive effect on the acceptance of advertising," explains Andreas Leisi. "However, there will always be other factors that lead to a purchase decision, such as the emotional appeal to the customer or price arguments." Ultimately, the way in which companies address consumers and the topics they use are also important: At 58 percent, most Swiss appreciate humorous advertising in particular. However, real-life situations (41%), the topics of family (29%) and health (25%), as well as advertising featuring animals or children also appeal to consumers - although more women than men tend to do so.

Consumers also trust advertising more at EU level

Within the EU, trust in advertising is similar to that in Switzerland: over the past two years, the credibility of the various advertising formats has increased and trust is highest when other people make recommendations or leave comments on the internet. However, as in Switzerland, these components have lost some of their importance compared to 2011. Trust in online and mobile advertising is also increasing at European level, which underlines the growing importance of these formats.

About the Nielsen online survey

Nielsen's online survey on trust in advertising took place between February 18 and March 8, 2013. Nielsen surveyed more than 29,000 regular internet users in 58 countries in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and North America regions. The sample is proportioned and weighted by age and gender for each country based on the respective Internet users. It thus represents the Internet users of the country and has a maximum deviation of ±0.6 percent. This Nielsen online survey is based exclusively on the behavior of respondents with Internet access. Internet penetration varies by country. For a country to be included in the survey, Nielsen requires that at least 60 percent of the population or ten million people have Internet access. The Nielsen Global Survey, which also includes the Global Consumer Confidence Survey, has been conducted continuously since 2005.

You can request the full international report on the study free of charge from Annika.Zimmermann(at)nielsen.com.