Yesterday, we attended MG OMD’s annual Media Summit MG UNLOCKS at County Hall, to hear a series of insightful sessions and panels aligned with the theme ‘The Era of Intelligent Growth’.
Our Communications Director, Matt Bourn, spoke in two sessions alongside Tim Pritchard, Head of Content and Responsible Media at MG, exploring how trust in advertising underpins responsible growth. Matt highlighted the growing importance of trust as a competitive differentiator for brands and shared findings from his recently published book Trusted Advertising, co-written with James Best CBE.
The Credos Trust Tracker shows that public trust in advertising has continued to increase over the last five years. The research also identified a clear generational divide, with younger audiences reporting higher levels of trust across all platforms. However, it also found that the key negative drivers of trust are bombardment, the targeting of ads to vulnerable groups and concerns over data privacy.
Tim emphasised that planners should treat these negative drivers as critical media considerations when designing campaigns. This includes managing effective frequency, ensuring appropriate protections for people with protected characteristics and upholding informed consent and responsible data use.
The afternoon programme featured a discussion with Ian Whittaker on the growth challenge ahead, followed by sessions exploring the value of AI-generated outputs and career guidance insights from Anna Braithwaite, Chief Customer Officer at John Lewis.
Bourn and Best interviewed over 70 industry leaders to bring together a definitive guide to harnessing the value of trust in brands. Trusted Advertising is now available from Kogan Page Publishing here.
