There's a growing inverse relationship between corporate expenditures on advertising and marketing versus consumer trust that presents an unsustainable future threat to how businesses have traditionally acquired and grown their customer base.

1. TRUST: THE $1 TRILLION
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
PROBLEM
The growing inverse relationship between corporate
expenditures on advertising and marketing against
consumer trust presents a future threat that needs to be
addressed
By Hollis Thomases, 4/27/2014

2. ADVERTISING & MARKETING WORLDWIDE
IS A $1 TRILLION BUSINESS
"Advertising
[$500B]is only about
half of marketers'
budgets… $400B
more spent on direct
marketing and
another $150B spent
on agency fees +
Nielsen
ratings/market
research [$40B just
by itself] +
marketing
tech/automation
systems”
Dan Salmon, BDO
Digiday 2013
Exchange Summit

3. TRUST IN ADVERTISING IS AN ISSUE

4. “Just 22% of consumers trust
emails from companies or
brands, 13% trust ads on Web
sites, and only 32% trust ads
in any channel”
MediaPost, April 2014 citing new Forrester Research

5. IF ADVERTISING IS NOT
TRUSTWORTHY, IS IT
EFFECTIVE? WHAT IS??

6. UNPAID MEDIA IS MORE TRUSTED…

7. …AND GAINING MORE GROUND
INFLUENCING DECISIONS
Measures consumer reliance on respective media sources now versus five years ago

8. FOR MILLENNIALS, USER GENERATED
CONTENT INFLUENCES 50% OF DECISIONS

9. EXPERT & PEER REVIEWS OUT-PERFORM
BRANDED CONTENT

10. FAKED & MANIPULATED UGC HARMS
CONSUMER TRUST
Business Insider reveals Ellen Degeneres’ selfie at the Academy Awards was a sham, 4/5/15
Search Engine Journal covers new allegations, 4/10/14

11. AMERICANS’ TRUST IN LARGE INDUSTRIES
IS WANING

12. EVEN BRANDS CAN’T TRUST SOME MEDIA!

13. THERE’S NO PILL FOR THIS PROBLEM
 Throwing more money at the problem alone is
not the solution (how much of the growing $1
trillion spend is just waste?)
 Consumer trust cannot be bought; it needs to be
earned, and more so than ever
 Like diet and exercise can remedy many modern
diseases that instead get over-medicated because
that’s easier, companies need to face real truths
 To win and retain customers, brands need to go
on a “health plan” to get to and treat consumer
distrust (root cause) and waning ad efficacy
(symptom)

14. HOLLIS THOMASES – DIGITAL LIAISON
In 1998, multi-time award-winning entrepreneur
Hollis Thomases founded Maryland-based Web
Ad.vantage, providing strategic digital marketing
and advertising solutions. In 2013, Hollis became
a sole practitioner focused on digital marketing
awareness and advocacy – ensuring clients are
educated and avoid the pitfalls, wasted revenue
and missed opportunities resulting from the fast-
changing digital landscape.
In January 2010, Hollis authored the book,
“Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day,” by John
Wiley & Sons, and has been a columnist with
Inc.com, Social Media Marketing Magazine, and
ClickZ. Hollis also frequently speaks at industry
conferences and association events.
Hollis Thomases graduated from Cornell
University with a BA in Social Relations. You can
find her in the Twittersphere @hollisthomases, on
LinkedIn, by email or
by old-fashioned phone: +011-484-679-6364.
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