Inclusive advertising, marketing’s value, car brands: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Brands with inclusive advertising more likely to be a consumer’s first choice

Brands with greater inclusivity in their advertising have a 62% higher chance of being a consumer’s first choice, according to research from The Unstereotype Alliance.

The research leveraged data from brands including Diageo, Unilever, Mondelez and Mars, and was conducted with leading researchers from the Saïd Business School at Oxford University.

The findings suggest that inclusive advertising delivers both long-term and short-term results for brands. Inclusive advertising delivers a 3.5% boost to short-term sales and a 16% lift in long-term sales for brands.

Brands that practice inclusive advertising are also likely to see an impact on their position among consumers. Not only is inclusive advertising by a brand more likely to make it a consumer’s first choice, inclusivity in advertising also delivers 15% higher consumer loyalty.

Source: The Unstereotype Alliance

Only half of CMOs say they have been successful in proving marketing’s value to the business

Just over half (52%) of CMOs and other senior marketing leaders say they have been successful in proving the value of marketing and receiving credit for helping meet business objectives.

Additionally, over two in five (42%) CMOs report that, in their business, marketing is viewed as an expense rather than an investment.

The CMOs surveyed list the CFO as the executive most likely to be sceptical of marketing’s value to the organisation, with 40% listing them among the top three most marketing-sceptical roles. CEO (39%) and head of sales (31%) are also among those considered most sceptical of marketing by top marketers themselves.

Around two in five (41%) senior marketing leaders report taking a long-term, holistic approach to communicating marketing’s value. Of those who do use this type of approach, over two-thirds report they are able to prove marketing’s value and get credit for how it contributes to business goals.

Source: Gartner

Volkswagen is the strongest car brand among British consumers

German car brands are favoured among British consumers, according to YouGov’s BrandIndex tool.

Among the 21% of British consumers who plan to buy a new car in the next 12 months, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are the number one and two car brands, respectively. The ranking is based on YouGov’s index measure, which combines metrics like impression, quality and value to create an overall score of brand health.

Fellow German car brands Audi and BMW also feature in the top 10, at seventh and 10^th place, respectively.

Toyota has made the biggest improvement on its brand health score over the last year, with its index metric rising 2.8 points to 22.6. The Japanese car brand is viewed more favourably among men, who give it a 25.7 index score, compared to women, where it has a 19.6 index score.

YouGov’s BrandIndex consideration score asks consumers what brands they could consider when they next make a purchase. Among those who are intending to buy a new car in the next 12 months, Lexus has the most improved consideration score, with it having improved to 17.4% from 9.3%.

The data also indicates that over one in five (22%) of those intending to buy a new car in the next 12 months are considering an electric engine.

Source: YouGov

Nearly half of B2B brands are not truly distinctive

Many B2B brands are failing to stand out from the crowd, with just 51% being classed as “truly distinctive” among B2B decision-makers.

This lack of distinctiveness among B2B brands comes despite the vast majority (86%) of senior decision-makers agreeing that branding is extremely impactful on their purchase decision. This means that the almost half (49%) of B2B brands who are not distinctive are likely losing out.

Almost all (96%) of the B2B decision-makers surveyed say that a unified vision across branding and PR is essential. The data also suggests that these decision-makers will be put off when this is not the case, with 86% finding inconsistent messaging from brands “highly annoying”.

Source: Berkeley Communications Group

Vast majority of brands are concerned about agency use of generative AI

As brands and agencies grapple with the ethics and practical application of AI, most brands (80%) are concerned about how their creative and media agency partners are using generative AI, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

However, despite widespread concerns, brands aren’t shying away from using AI. Indeed, almost two-thirds (63%) are already using generative AI in their marketing, up from 45% last year.

Greater AI adoption is being held back by legal concerns (66%), ethical (51%) and reputational (49%) worries. Meanwhile, more than half (55%) of marketers believe they lack the capability to use AI effectively (49%).

Despite stumbling blocks to more confident AI application by brands, just 9% say they have no plans to use gen AI in their marketing – meaning, the vast majority (91%) do.

The WFA’s study is based on 54 responses from 48 of the world’s biggest brands with a total marketing investment of $102bn (£77.3bn).

Source: World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)