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Advertisers are letting their personal biases guide their targeting methods, causing them to overlook 44% of Americans who feel ignored by ads.
That’s according to the second annual New American Consumer Study from iHeartMedia and Malcolm Gladwell’s Pushkin Industries.
The study, which surveyed 237 marketers and nearly 4,000 consumers in separate polls, found marketers out of touch with consumers’ interests. Some of the key findings include:
- Consumers place twice the emphasis marketers do on religion and law and order, despite both groups agreeing on the primary values of family, health, and safety.
- Pickleball and tennis top the list of activities marketers consider cool, while hunting, fishing, and buying lottery tickets are favored by consumers.
- Marketers favor many health and diet trends, while consumers find cold plunges and vegan/vegetarian diets “cringeworthy.”
"As marketers, we need to be reminded that we are not the target for most of our marketing campaigns," said Gayle Troberman, CMO of iHeartMedia, in a statement. "There’s a big opportunity to improve marketing results with a more conscious focus on the real-life influences that the majority of consumers rely on — and by more accurately reflecting our customers’ real values, passions and priorities."
The consumer survey also found that a full 67% of respondents hate being “trailed” by targeted ads. Seven out of 10 said the ads are irrelevant despite being targeted. Instead, 82% of consumers say they are influenced by their communities, friends, family, and religious leaders.
"Today’s consumers are acutely aware of their social and economic environment and hold higher expectations for the brands that target them, sometimes relentlessly, based on the very traits that define their individuality," said Gladwell. "This study is crucial in revealing the underlying biases that often inadvertently shape marketing strategies."
Other studies have also called out marketers’ disconnect with consumers.
New research from GWI found that UK marketers are 58% more likely to want brands to feel “young” than the average consumer and 87% more likely to want brands to appear “trendy,” yet only 8% of UK consumers want brands to portray a “youthful” image. Marketers were also found to be 97% more likely than consumers to buy products recommended by influencers and 67% more likely to feel represented by advertising compared to the average consumer.
A study last year from Bango Audiences, based on responses from consumers and marketers in the U.S. and UK, found that two-thirds (66%) of consumers said the majority of the digital ads they see are irrelevant to their interests or needs, with 39% labeling these ads as “excessive,” 32% as “random,” and 27% as “intrusive.” Over half (57%) of ad professionals agree that the broad “spray and pray” approach to digital ad targeting is “not effective.”