Trends, cookies, accent bias: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Three-quarters of marketers to increase trend-based social media content

One in five social media posts are dedicated to trend-based content, with three-quarters (77%) of marketers planning to increase their use of this tactic over the next year, according to a new white paper.

The paper, from creator agency Billion Dollar Boy in partnership with TikTok, is based on research of 500 content creators, 500 senior marketers and 4,000 consumers.

It finds nine in 10 creators report that trend-based social content outperforms non-trend-based alternatives; more than a third of the creators say trend-based content drives more conversions, a view supported by 18% of consumers who say this tactic is more likely to make them consider a purchase.

As well as driving reach (44%), trend-based content also lifts follower numbers (44%) and drives up engagement (43%), say the creators. Nearly nine in 10 (89%) say they have been approached to make more trend-based content over the last year, with half of these centred around storytelling trends such as #GirlMath. Dancing trends, popular during the pandemic, are now less favourable.

Source: Billion Dollar Boy

97% of digital marketers unprepared for the phasing out of cookies

An overwhelming 97% of digital marketing executives admit they are unprepared for Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies.

Research from digital experience platform provider Optimizely took opinions from more than 1,000 marketing, ecommerce and IT executives in six markets including the UK.

The study finds 86% of respondents believe their ability to run personalised marketing campaigns is inadequate, a figure at odds with McKinsey data showing 75% of consumers are more likely to buy products from brands that personalise their offers effectively.

The research suggests 62% of respondents have seen their personalisation budgets grow since last year. However, they face challenges including a lack of focused analytics (43%), difficulty in scaling (40%), and difficulty activating experiences in real time (39%). While 64% of companies have started to implement real-time personalisation strategies, only 9% say they have achieved full implementation.

“This report makes clear that brands are ill-prepared to navigate the emerging, generational shifts in the ways they can reach customers,” says Optimizely CMO Shafqat Islam. “While executives know that investing in personalisation and experimentation is key to survive in the new reality of digital experiences, they too often feel they don’t have a streamlined, intuitive toolkit to implement effective campaigns at scale. Accessing marketing solutions that create personalised digital platforms without third-party data will be key to thriving in the coming decades.”

Source: Optimizely

UK consumers ‘not coping’ with income levels, despite falling inflation

British consumers are still suffering the impact of the cost of living crisis, despite falling levels of inflation, according to the latest IPA Touchpoints data.

More than a third of UK consumers (38%) say they are not coping financially on their current level of income. This figure is 1% higher than last year, and 17% higher than it was prior to lockdown, suggesting the problem has become entrenched in many households.

The squeeze of living standards has led to consumers changing their shopping habits to mitigate the damage. According to the IPA Touchpoints figures, almost half (45.9%) of consumers are looking for money-off vouchers, a 10% increase on last year. Meanwhile, 55% say they will gladly switch brands to make use of a coupon, a figure up 52.9% year on year, and up 18% from pre-lockdown figures.

The pattern extends to supermarkets. Consumers are using a range of stores to find bargains, a habit for 43.1% of shoppers, up from 42.7% last year and 37.5% pre-lockdown. Meanwhile, a third of shoppers check the online price of a product while in-store before they buy. Food prices remain 25% higher than they were at the start of 2022.

“Inflation levels may have come down, but prices haven’t followed suit,” says IPA director of media research Belinda Beeftink. “As the Bank of England says, most things still cost more than they did before. As we see from the data, many customers are still struggling on their current income and as a result of the strain on their purse strings are having to make considered cost-based purchasing choices.”

Source: IPA Touchpoints

Generational divide in views on inclusivity

Research from Clear Channel UK highlights a growing divide between generational, and gendered, views on diversity and inclusion.

It finds that 42% of Gen Z consumers believe race and ethnicity are greatly underrepresented in advertising. This group feels the same about representation of those with disabilities (40%), the use of plus size models (36%), older age groups (30%), neurodivergent people (30%) and LGBTQ+ groups (27%).

In contrast, only 24% of the total sample of 2,000 consumers think race is underrepresented in advertising, and fewer have concerns about representation of disability (31%) and LGBTQ+ groups (16%).

The findings show women to be more concerned about diversity than men, with 41% of women wanting better representation of older age groups compared to 29% of men. More women than men would also be interested in seeing disabilities, plus-sized models and neurodiversity in advertising, with the differences varying between 10-15%.

Source: Clear Channel

Regional accents unheard in audio ads

Nearly two-thirds of UK radio and podcast ads feature southern accents, according to a study into the diversity of voices heard.

The research was commissioned by the Unstereotype Alliance, in partnership with Tesco, Kantar and Acast. It finds that accent bias is a prominent issue across the advertising industry.

The study analysed approximately 120 audio ads between January and June 2023. Accents from the north of England featured in just 19% of them, while Welsh and Scottish accents appeared in 2%. Just 1% of ads featured an accent from the Midlands. The Northern Irish accent featured in just 1% of radio ads and not a single podcast ad.

The southern English Estuary accent appeared in 62% of radio and podcast advertising.

There were differences by sector. Only 13% of finance and entertainment ads featured northern accents, while food (23%) and retail (27%) fared slightly better.

As well as accents, there was a gender imbalance to the voices used. Only 36% feature female lead voices, compared to 43% which feature a male lead. The rest, 21%, feature a balance between the two.

Male voices are dominant in finance (53%), entertainment (48%) and food (47%), while female voices are more popular in retail ads (53%). Female voices proved more memorable in finance ads, however.

Source: Unstereotype Alliance