Consumer trust in online media boosts digital marketing

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Digital marketing and online advertising is expected to grow, driven by increasing consumer trust in online media, but will still face challenges of infrastructure and client trust, despite a promising potential, say experts.

The latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey showed that 72 per cent of consumers in the UAE trusted brand websites while 66 per cent trusted consumer opinions posted online. The survey concluded that regional advertisers might be encouraged by the fact that brand websites in addition to brand sponsorships are quickly catching up with newspaper advertising, the most trusted form of advertiser-led advertising in the UAE. Globally, the UAE the 18th most favourable towards brand websites and 31st for trusting consumer opinions online out of 50 countries surveyed.

Tahir Khalil, Associate Director of Customised Research Nielsen Middle East, North Africa and Paksitan said there were no figures to back up any views of the digital marketing trends in the region. However, he said consumer trust which is a great driver for growth, is moving upwards.

According to the latest twice-yearly Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey , consumer trust was explored as a factor of driving online advertising.

Khalil said: "It is clear from the survey that online is a medium on the move and the trust levels in it as a category are building momentum, here in the UAE as well as globally. With trust in online advertising growing strongly in the region we believe that spend on online advertising will grow here in the region."

Yet, the survey also showed that text ads on mobile phones were the forms of advertising least likely to elicit a degree of trust from Emirates-based audiences with 70 per cent either not trusting it much or at all. This is followed by online banner ads suffering 65 per cent distrust and ads generated by search engine results (61 per cent).

Meanwhile, digital marketing still faces challenges of infrastructure and clients' trust. Nabil Moutran, Business Director OgilvyOne Middle East, said: "The growth of digital marketing in this region is inevitable. We need to be where our consumers are, and they are online. We are seeing a marked increase in interest in the digital space from all categories and industries and there is a clear opportunity for growth.

"As budgets are being cut, and ROI more relevant than before, we are seeing brands turning to digital solutions to meet their objectives.

I wouldn't say that the downturn is the only reason for the growth of the digital marketing discipline, but it definitely has had a part to play," he said.

Moutran cited three obstacles that could delay the region from catching up on the global trend. "Unlike the West, the region's infrastructure required to drive the growth of the digital space is still in its infancy. Bandwidth is still relatively low in this region with the UAE being the only market that has a bandwidth that could be considered broadband by Western standards. This leads to a number of issues when delivering on-line communication, as it restricts the level-rich media we can use online."

He added: "Another obstacle is the lack of consistent on-line data. As with the rest of the advertising industry, all strategies, insights and creative solutions are based on data and in market knowledge. Today, we still lack credible on-line data that we can build insights and strategies on, which our clients can depend on.

"The third obstacle is lack of clients' trust in the media. Today, most clients still depend on the "security blanket" of the press ad, or TVC. They have already identified the need to be on-line with informative websites, but the task we are faced with now is taking our clients into the world of Web 2.0 and consumer 2.0 where it is more about listening and sharing with consumers than it is about just providing information. Being online is one thing, but actively using the the discipline to build a relationship with your consumer is where we need to get to."

By Dima Hamadeh

© Emirates Business 24/7 2009