A former co-worker and I were discussing advertising over dinner recently. I was telling her about the folks in Second Life who set up an island where marketers aren’t allowed, and she said:
“People don’t want advertising. The only time it’s effective is when it advertises price.”
I concur, and so does the research from Joe Pilotta of BIG Research. Today he released the findings of a December study revealing which media most influences shopping. No surprise to see word of mouth ranking #3 at 29% behind coupons (38.7%) and newspaper inserts (34.9%). Even more not-so-surprising is that word of mouth is even more powerful when coupled with newspaper inserts and coupons.
Note: Apparently this new template, much like most coders who use standards, HATES tables. Scroll down, I’m hoping to have the bug fixed shortly.
| People influenced by: | Also influenced by Newspaper | Also influenced by Coupons | Also influenced by Word of Mouth |
| Coupons | 57.1% | – | 44.5% |
| Newspaper Inserts | – | 63.3% | 42.6% |
| Word of Mouth | 51.4% | 59.5% | – |
Source: BIG Research
Tagged: word of mouth, BIG research, Joe Pilotta