MARKETING FORUM

Marketers are placing the ads where consumers don’t want to see them

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

Advertising budgets are focused on TV and digital. But people are most receptive to ads on less intrusive offline platforms.

For CMOs and their advertising strategy teams and agencies, a common wisdom is to target consumers in the environments they’re spending time in. In the case of Gen Z, for example, this would likely focus heavily on social media and gaming.

Marketers are spending on online ads, but consumers prefer them offline. Photo: Pixabay

But does your target audience want to see you there? In many instances, the answer is a resounding ‘no’.

In their presentation to the AMC Marketing Forum in Mombasa last week, titled ‘Media-Mix Mastery: Consumer-Centric Strategies’, Kantar executives Daniel Oseman and Saiesh Ajudhiya outlined new research findings from South Africa which run contrary to conventional wisdom.

Oseman is Managing Director at Kantar East Africa and Chief Growth Officer West, East, and Central Africa. Ajudhiya is Head of Media and Creative (SA) for Kantar. As part of their presentation, the pair honed in on the recent Media Reactions 2024 study conducted in the SA market.

The report combines insights from both consumer and marketer studies to provide a comprehensive view of the current media landscape. Although confined to SA at present, it may be extended to other African countries.

All consumer groupings want their ads served offline

While TV and digital are very popular advertising channels and attracting a large percentage of adspend, the study says consumer feedback is showing that they prefer to be spoken to by advertisers on offline channels. Where they are happy to receive advertising on online platforms, they are most receptive on e-commerce sites, followed by influencer content.

Interestingly, the preference for offline even holds true amongst Gen Z, who are the grouping most engaged in online behaviour. Gen Zedders prefer to be served ads at POS, sponsored events, OOH, digital OOH and via TV product placement.

Among Gen Y, the preferred platforms are OOH, sponsored events, digital OOH, cinema and TV sponsorship.

Gen X like to receive their ads at POS, sponsored events, radio, cinema and OOH. Baby Boomers only want to be served ads on two platforms: via TV sponsorship and TV.

Another interesting finding from the study is that, increasingly, people are perceiving online channels as intrusive, repetitive, and excessively targeting them. Consequently, many offline platforms are more engaging to consumers, while a rising number of online platforms are not.

Offline platforms with growing levels of engagement are OOH, sponsored events, POS, digital OOH, cinema, TV sponsorship, and magazines.

Online platforms with declining levels of engagement are TV streaming, online video, video sharing, and online/mobile games.

There is, therefore, a big gap between where marketers are focusing their budgets and where consumers are receptive to receiving advertising.

The AMC Marketing Forum ran from 25-27 September 2024 in Mombasa, Kenya. The 2025 annual African Marketing Confederation conference will take place in Ghana.

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