Calgarians Give Advertisers A Rough Ride On Eve Of Ad Rodeo 2003

Calgary, AB - With the annual Ad Rodeo awards show around the corner, Ipsos-Reid surveyed Calgarians about their overall attitudes towards television advertising in general. The survey, conducted on behalf of the Ad Rodeo, shows that an overwhelming majority (90%) of Calgarians agree that "advertising helps businesses grow". But beyond the benefits to business, Calgarians' attitudes about the personal relevance of advertising are mixed. Half (52%) of Calgarians say that "advertising is out of touch with who I am" and in a similar question, only three in ten (31%) agree that "advertising speaks to me and who I am".

Furthermore, only a third (36%) agree that "advertisers understand where I want to spend my money". One bright spot among these findings is that attitudes towards the relevance of advertising among the "key" 18-34 year old target audience are more positive. Among the younger crowd, 44% say that "advertisers understand where I want to spend my money". This compares with 36% among 35-54 year olds and 24% among those aged 55+ and suggests that there may be some opportunities for advertisers who want to target the older demographic.

In terms of the quality of advertising, Calgarians seem divided. One in four (26%) say that TV ads are "getting better" (36% among 18-34 year olds) while a slightly larger number (28%) say TV ads are "getting worse". The perception that TV ads are getting worse is much more likely to be held among those aged 35 and older (33%) than among those under 35 (19%). A plurality (44%) say TV ads are "staying the same".

When asked whether Calgarians would rather watch 5 minutes of TV ads or participate in a 5 minute telephone survey, pollsters (57%) beat out advertisers (32%) by almost a two to one margin. More generally, one in five (21%) say they "love" (2%) or "like" (19%) television advertising. Four in ten (37%) are in the middle, saying they neither like nor dislike advertising while 42% are negative, saying they either "dislike" (25%) or "hate" (16%) TV ads. Consistent with other attitudes, those under 35 (29%) are less likely to have a negative view of advertising than those aged 35 and over (48%).

Finally, with the big night quickly approaching, a quarter (24%) of Calgarians say they have ever heard of the annual Ad Rodeo awards show honouring the best advertising created in Calgary.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between March 20th and March 24th, 2003. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 400 adult Calgarians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 4.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Calgary population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Calgary population according to the 2001 Census data.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Tim Olafson
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid
(403) 237-0066 or

Tom Short
Chairman, 2003
Ad Rodeo
(403) 265-0435