I wanted to finish up my recent blogs about “The Future of Advertising” project that the Advertising Research Foundation conducted and published. The following are some major findings from a group of separate studies on DVR, online and print ads. Mainly, the synopsis from most find that “threats posed by DVRs and clutter to TV ads are overblown; print and online advertising are effective; and word-of-mouth about brands is largely driven by paid media ads.”

ARF Chief Research Officer Joel Rubinson launched his own review of TV effectiveness, which covered 7 databases and 388 studies and found no erosion of TV-advertising sales impact through the years.

The research collection isn’t all good news for media. Some found that TV advertising loses money for most marketers — though the same study found that, for the heaviest spenders, TV overall paid out and still works as well or better than it did in similar tests conducted more than a decade ago.

A study co-authored by Ed Keller of the Keller Fay Group and co-author of “The Influentials,” finds 22% of word-of-mouth conversations were sparked directly by advertising. Moreover, those 22% are much more likely to include brand recommendations than the remaining 78% of brand-related conversations that weren’t spurred directly by an ad.

In addition, the study, based on interviews of more than 3,000 consumers to capture content of face-to-face conversations, finds an even higher proportion of online buzz — 30% — generated by ads. Those numbers probably understate advertising’s impact, according to the study, because they don’t account for indirect influence from ads.

Among theories offered by the author and JAR editors are that that DVR households watch more TV than others, still watch many programs and ads live, and that fast-forwarding reminds them of those past exposures and focuses more attention on ads than less active viewing.

Even the magazine industry will find hope in the journal collection. Rubinson’s study on TV effectiveness also cites data from Marketing Evolution that shows print is more effective than TV or online at creating purchase intent. A separate study suggests that print advertising produces a higher sales lift per dollar spent than TV.

Online ads work, too, according to a report authored by, ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. ComScore’s research, based on collaboration with loyalty-card marketing firm Dunnhumby, finds search generates a higher lift in offline sales per consumer exposure than display, but that display, with its larger reach, likely produces a higher overall lift. The research also finds display and search used together produce a higher lift than the combined effects of using either separately.

[Source: Neff, Jack. "Future of Advertising? Print, TV, Online Ads." Advertising Age. June 2009.]