How popular is advertising? And which ones?

On which channel is advertising annoying?

The question of which channel advertising is perceived as exciting or annoying produced a clear result in our survey: poster advertising was rated as very interesting by 52.5%, ahead of advertisements in magazines and newspapers with 47.1%. Far behind are pop-up windows on the Internet, which are of interest to just 6.5 percent of respondents. Media planners should therefore consider focusing more on poster advertising and print advertisements in future, as these are still the most popular with the target group. However, significantly more women than men feel addressed by posters and flyers.

The current "advertising of the future" in newsletters, on social media platforms or in front of videos on the internet cannot hold a candle to posters and advertisements. Internet advertising formats were generally rated as very annoying in our survey. It is also interesting to note that cinema advertising was much better received (39.8 percent) than TV commercials, which only 33.2 percent of respondents rated as interesting. Advertising with popcorn probably simply tastes better.

Which sectors do you find the most exciting?

The tourism industry is clearly in the lead here, with 36.7 percent of the population finding advertising for travel and hotels the most exciting - not entirely surprising, because who doesn't like to dream of a little escape from everyday life and be tempted to take a (imaginary or real) trip?

It is surprising that women and men find advertising for food more interesting than advertising for shoes, cars or electronic equipment, for example. Less surprising is the result that car and electronics advertising is better received by men, whereas advertising for cosmetics and furniture stores is better received by women - even if we would have liked to disprove this cliché.

Can you spontaneously remember an advertisement for petrol stations or petrol station stores? This is the type of advertising that 1 percent of Swiss respondents find most interesting.

Which industries' advertising is the most annoying?

Mr. and Mrs. Swiss clearly find advertising for insurance companies, banks and telecommunications providers not only unexciting, but also particularly annoying. 43.2 percent of respondents feel annoyed by insurance advertising, 29.4 percent by bank advertising and 26.9 percent by telecom offers. This could be due to the fact that most Swiss consumers decide on an insurance company, a bank and a telecommunications service provider at some point and then stick with it, as Swiss consumers are not very willing to change in this area. Advertising of this kind therefore has no informational value for them and is simply undesirable.

However, 13.7 percent of Swiss people also find car advertising annoying, even though the car is an important status symbol for both men and women in Switzerland. It is possible that the reason for this is not the product, but the uninspired execution and repetitive presentation of car advertising. Perhaps our "Advertiser of the Year" 2017 can change that!

Individualized advertising, yes or no?

Our respondents clearly reject individualized advertising that attempts to attract attention via banners, e-mail or post. 41.1 percent of survey participants find such forms of advertising "annoying - additional advertising that I don't need". 32.8 percent even find this type of advertising unsettling, as it gives the feeling of being monitored. Only 7.5 percent of our respondents find the individualized offers "particularly exciting".

It is also noted that the offers presented as individualized often do not match the current needs of users. This may be due to the use of different devices that are not synchronized with each other. For example, the information that the user who searched for vacation homes has now made a booking remains on one device - and the user is still offered vacation homes on the other. Some of our respondents have installed ad blockers in response to such experiences. (afh)