Australians don't trust advertising from the 'Big Four' banks, labeling them as insincere and singled out the banks' failure to pass on the full RBA interest rate cuts as a significant factor, according to a new study.
The JMK Mood Metre Study surveyed 'Middle Australians' on their perspectives on brands and their messaging to consumers.
Despite the respondent's reticence to trust the 'Big Four' (Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB), they are more favourable to challenger brands including Suncorp, Bankwest (owned by CommBank) and Ubank (owned by NAB).
The study found respondents slammed a whole range of retailers, particularly Harvey Norman, Coles and Woolworths. Among the criticisms of the retailers were devaluing the concept of a sale, raising the prices so they could later drop them and killing off smaller retailers and food suppliers. The study noted consumers were unwilling to acknowledge their own roles on the fate of smaller players.
But the good news for the retail giants was that despite viewing Coles and Woolworths as 'villains', consumers weren't willing to give them up. “This paradoxical behaviour is being driven by cost and time pressures. They are too busy to shop around too budget constrained to want to pay more. This is not a life stage group that can enact principles beyond what is best for my family now,” said JMK chief executive and head of strategy Julian Martin
He added: “The study showed that middle Australian families are 'control freaks' when it comes to most decisions they make, 'cynics' towards most businesses and governments, and 'hypocrites with rhinoceros hide' because while they lament the impact that the two major retailers are having on the local corner shop and many food suppliers they continue to reward them with their hip pocket.”
Telcos Vodafone and Telstra also got a drudging while Samsung, Apple, The Good Guys and Virgin Australia were seen as brand 'heroes'.
The study also found respondents universally liked AAMI's 'Rhonda' ad series, which they found to be engaging, funny and well branded. Other ads which scored well were insurance brand Budget's 'Bujey Bujey' campaign and RACQ's 'Wouldn't be without them' effort.
Coles' 'Down Down' campaign was loved and loathed in equal measure for 'being in your face'.
The most disliked ads came from the big banks, Harvey Norman and Chanel.
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