As offline advertising continues to decline and online advertising continues to rise, I was struck by a LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll that revealed deep and very consistent differences in what advertisers and consumers believe works (who knew LinkedIn commissioned research? Apparently, this is the first survey, as part of a new partnership between Harris Interactive and LinkedIn. But I digress…).

In essence, the two groups pretty much disagree on everything.

Basically, advertisers and consumers both agree that “amusing ads are effective and scary and guilt-inducing ads are not,” but they don’t see eye-to-eye on the efficacy of other types of advertising appeals.

But that is not all, the two groups also clash when it comes to online ad formats – prompting the report writers to ‘warn’ that the growing trend toward internet advertising in the face of large numbers of frustrated consumers “may eventually cause a backlash.”

Here are a few examples of ad types and their perceived efficacy:

• While more than half of advertisers believe ads that make people stop and think (53%) and ads that give people new information (51%) are very effective, just three in ten consumers (30% and 29% respectively) feel the same.

• 26% of advertisers think ads that are integrated into the feel of the program, that is has the same tone as the program it is based in, are very effective compared with just 7% of consumers.

• When it comes to ads that show before/after, 24% of advertisers say they are very effective while 13% of consumers say they are very effective.

• One in five advertisers (21%) say ads that reinforce a message already known are very effective, compared with only 10% of consumers.

• Consumers and advertisers both like ads that amuse.

• More than one-third (34%) of consumers and 41% of advertisers say entertaining ads are very effective, and one-third of both consumers (33%) and advertisers (32%) say funny ads are very effective.

• However, there is a fine line in amusement as just one in ten consumers (11%) and 14% of advertisers say ads that don’t take themselves seriously are very effective. Almost one in five consumers (18%) say these ads are not at all effective.

• 41% of consumers (41%) 32% of advertisers believe that scary ads are not at all effective.

• 27% of consumers and 18% of advertisers say ads about a serious topic that make people feel guilty are not at all effective.

And what about messaging? Apparently, there is a huge disconnect here too:

• Two in five advertisers (39%) are using empathy approaches, attempting to convey that companies understand what consumers are going through. But only one-quarter of consumers (24%) say empathy works very or somewhat well, and one-third (33%) say it does not work at all.

• One-fourth of advertisers (25%) say they are using cheerleading (”we’ve made it through tough times before, we’ll do it again, and we can help you do it.”) Almost two in five (38%) of consumers, however, say that these types of ads do not work at all.

What do Recession Consumers Like? Value Propositions

The study also examined the perceived effectiveness of ads currently being used to address the economic crisis, and revealed that value proposition strategies and “luxuries for less” approaches resonate most with consumers.

• Three in five advertisers (61%) say they are using a value proposition strategy, promoting sales, coupons and discounts and almost three in five consumers (57%) say that this strategy is working very well or well to help them sell their products or services.

• But less than one in five advertisers (18%) say they are using the “luxuries for less” proposition, while more than one-third of consumers (34%) say these types of ads work very well or well in selling products or services

As if this wasn’t bad enough, there is more.

While compared to last year, advertisers now rely less on print ads and more on Internet and Digital ads – but they are taking ads in the wrong direction.

According to another LinkedIn/Harris Poll, consumers are frustrated with many characteristics of Internet advertising.

So what do consumers dislike? The list is long:

Most hated:
• Pop-ups
• Ads that are “moused over”
• Difficult-to-close ads
• Musical ads

Next come…

• Ads that spread across the page and cover the content beneath them are the most vexing for consumers, with 80% of respondents in the study deeming these types to be very frustrating.

• Ads on which consumers can’t find the skip or close button are a close second, with 79% of respondents similarly annoyed, the survey found.

The study concluded the growing trend toward internet advertising in the face of large numbers of frustrated consumers may eventually cause a backlash and suggests that advertisers who come up with more engaging ways to connect with consumers will ultimately be the most successful.

There is lots of food for thought here for advertisers unleashing agencies to create ads.

Leaving aside the issue of how you as a businessperson define “what works” — especially in the context of branding and not conversions — these finding suggest a tremendous need to corral creativity to deliver on what the consumer will respond to and not to what the creative powers-that-be desire to create.