MindShare HK survey reveals rock-bottom recall of online ads

<p>Seventy per cent of Hong Kong university students who spend time </p><p>surfing the 'Net report that they were unable to recall any Web </p><p>advertising whatsoever - this is just one of the findings of a survey </p><p>conducted by MindShare and The Young Agency of the Hong Kong Baptist </p><p>University's School of Communications. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The study aimed to determine the Web usage habits of the SAR's tertiary </p><p>students. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Polling 405 students from seven Hong Kong universities in February and </p><p>March this year, research revealed how the Internet's early adopters </p><p>were getting to grips with this "cool medium". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Seventy per cent of respondents reported sessions in cyberspace of up to </p><p>two and a half hours per day, logging on for an average of five to seven </p><p>days per week - and while 60 per cent said the Internet did not affect </p><p>their newspaper and magazine buying habits, up to 40 per cent were </p><p>ditching traditional mass media in favour of the 'Net. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Students were also swapping time spent watching TV for surf time - </p><p>consuming 42 per cent less TV and 24 per cent less radio. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In addition, 37 per cent said the Internet had prompted them to slash </p><p>their magazine readership, while 27 per cent admitted they now spend </p><p>less time reading newspapers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And the trend isn't about to change, in the near future at least; as 55 </p><p>per cent of students negated the possibility of boosting their print </p><p>readership in the next three months. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>According to Mr Ralph Szeto, associate director of MindShare's digital </p><p>arm, Mdigital, most alarming of all were the findings revealing that 70 </p><p>per cent of all students polled could not recall seeing any online </p><p>advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Up to four per cent of students had even banned ads altogether and </p><p>installed their own ad filtration software. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The advertising recall is low and a lot of respondents said they </p><p>ignored advertising on the Web, outright," Mr Szeto told CReATION. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"From the agency and the creative side, we need to be working a lot </p><p>harder to bring the creative up to scratch and grab people's attention," </p><p>added MindShare Hong Kong managing director KK Tsang. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>One solution, noted Mr Szeto, was increased broadband access, beefing-up </p><p>"the cool content in terms of the audio and visual elements". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"When users have 56K modems they can't download a lot of good creative </p><p>or TV commercials - but with broadband, sites will be more able to </p><p>provide audio and visual impact". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Proving that ecommerce is not yet poised to change the face of retail as </p><p>we know it, student shoppers on the Web were few and far between with, </p><p>at best, lukewarm purchasing habits. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Although credit card usage was rampant after the second university year, </p><p>when applicants are authorised to apply for cards, a meagre 13 per cent </p><p>of students showed the confidence to flash their plastic and purchase on </p><p>the 'Net. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Of these, 28 per cent regularly participated in online auctions, 16 per </p><p>cent traded in stocks online, nine per cent bought CDs, six per cent </p><p>purchased videos and the four per cent minority spent on books. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Auctions are going well because they offer students the latest consumer </p><p>electronics - like mobile phones and laptops - at what could potentially </p><p>be a cheaper price," said Mr Szeto. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>While surfing the 'Net, most students (30 per cent) visited university </p><p>websites, followed by 18 per cent who opted for portals and search </p><p>engines, 13 per cent who frequented email sites such as Hotmail and 12 </p><p>per cent who tapped into the research resources offered by online </p><p>newspapers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In order to track ongoing usage trends on the 'Net, Mr Szeto said the </p><p>collaboration with TYA would extend to a follow-up survey tracking the </p><p>next university semester (Q3 and Q4). </p><p><BR><BR> </p>