Banner? No one clicks any more. Traditional advertising has long been superfluous in the digital environment and is a waste of time and money which has been for a while now to read and hear. But is it really so or does it not look as gloomy as many assume? In a study, professors Kent Grayson (Northwestern University) and Metthew Isaac (Seattle University) have grounded this question – and have gained surprising results.

Advertising is dead – long live advertising! Thus, you could summarize the mentioned study and the knowledge gained from it. Because while the one still mourns traditional advertising formats, there are the potential customers out there who have exactly no problem with it and even gladly accept it. This was recognized by the fact that 400 study attendees should assess 20 different digital advertising formats. Since the results themselves surprised the professors, they conducted the study several times and can now say with certainty: Digital advertising is regarded as fair and reliable.

The study attendees were positive about price matching, reviews, and the like. Actually, all things that were pushed into the drawer years ago. On the other hand, there is little trust in celebrities who advertise something with recommendations or product placements. More important than the form of marketing is transparency. With the Millennials, we are dealing today with an extremely well-informed customer group, which is no longer acting without a plan on the Internet, but it is much more intuitive and with more experience.

So, for many, it is still a complete rethinking that the format isn’t the most important part of an advertising campaign, but much more to develop a strategy that conveys transparency and thus gives the customers a good feeling. You will also have success in the long term, even if it is somewhat more difficult to find the right path at the beginning.