AttentionMax

My colleague Pete Blackshaw and I thought it would be interesting to probe online consumer sentiment around advertising, and then visualize it using Nielsen BuzzMetrics’ Brand Association Map (BAM) technology. We’re going to use this map below as context for a Webcast we’re leading with Ominicom/PhD’s Erik Rabasca on Friday, called “Nielsen BuzzMetric’s Guide to Advertising Week.” Advertising Week, which starts Monday, is the largest annual gathering of advertising and media executives in North America.

According to our Brand Association Map – which plots how consumers naturally think and talk about brands across billions of unaided conversations online – attributes like “false”, “deceptive” and “misleading” are highly associated with advertising vernacular. What do these associations tell us? Well, for one, there really is serious, overt consumer skepticism toward advertising. The level of these associations underscore the importance of transparency and authenticity when marketing to consumers. These sound like obvious rules of engagement in marketing today, yet there still is a major perceptual problem for this industry, most likely rooted in pockets of truth.

But all is not grim. Other categories of related keyword attributes include advertising stakeholders, media and campaigns – reflecting a degree of familiarity or even sophistication around the topic. (Data Source: General Blogs September 1, 2006 – September 12, 2007)

With this consumer perspective inspiring us, Pete, Erik and I will convene this Friday at 12:30PM EST to tackle a number of key questions underlying Advertising Week:

• Where are marketing and media measurements and accountability?
• What are the new rules of consumer control?
• Where is consumer trust in advertising and what are their expectations of benefit versus nuisance?
• How does engagement and influence factor in marketing strategy?
• What really is advertising’s future?

Be sure to sign up for our Webcast here.