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Summary

iHeartMedia and Pushkin Industries have released a report highlighting a growing disconnect between consumer values and marketing priorities in the United States. The report emphasises the need for marketers to align their strategies with consumer values in a polarised post-COVID economy.

Key findings include awareness disparities in trends between consumers and marketers, the significance of podcasting and snacking for consumers, differences in what’s considered ‘cool’ and ‘cringe’ and variations in motivations.

Despite similar values, marketers continue to miss key consumer concerns – interestingly, however, both groups categorically prefer real people over influencers.

Media Release

Marketers sometimes chase trends Consumers don’t care about: The research showed that marketers often chase the ‘shiny and new’ at the expense of reflecting the values and priorities of real consumers. For example:

• While 40% of Consumers report that they’ve never heard of NFTs, that number drops to 0% for Marketers.
• For Lifestyle items the gap widens, as 50% of all Consumers responded that they’ve never heard of an Aperol Spritz, and only 3% of Marketers reported unfamiliarity.
• 33% of Consumers have never heard of ‘charcuterie,’ while ALL Marketers are familiar with it.
• 62% of Consumers have never heard of the TV show “Succession,” while less than 5% of Marketers have never heard of “Succession.”
• Almost 1/3 of Consumers have never heard of pickleball, while ALL Marketers have heard of pickleball.

Snacking and Podcasting: The two things American Consumers won’t give up: Podcasting and snacking tied for No. 1 for Consumers’ hardest habits to give up – while the hardest thing for Marketers to give up was online shopping.

Twice as hard to give up — Favourite Podcasts vs. Social Media: Giving up social media like Instagram is twice as hard for Marketers as it is for Consumers; for Consumers, it’s twice as hard to give up their favourite podcasts.

‘Cool’ vs. ‘Cringe’ looks different on Main Street vs. Madison Avenue, with ‘traditional American’ activities reported as ‘Cool’ for Consumers: The Top 2 activities that scored the highest as ‘Cool’ for Consumers were traveling around the U.S. and BBQs, while travel to Europe and going to the gym were ranked Top 2 for ‘Cool’ for Marketers. And among the top choices for ‘Cringe’ for Consumers were NFTs and being vegan or vegetarian, while the top choices for ‘Cringe’ for Marketers were making a recipe using cottage cheese and watching NCIS, both of which consumers put in the ‘Cool’ category. Additionally, 1/3 of both of Marketers and Consumers think radio is ‘Cool’.

Electric Vehicles: Marketers are 4 times more likely than Consumers to drive an EV.

Consumers are motivated by friends and family, Marketers are motivated by fortune, fame and fear: When it comes to motivation, Consumers’ top two motivators are family and friends. Consumers are motivated by family more than twice as much as Marketers are, and by friends almost twice as much as Marketers, whereas Marketers are motivated by fortune more than twice as much as Consumers, and by fame almost three times as much. Additionally, Marketers are three times as motivated by fear as Consumers.

Attitudinal differences:

• 80% of Marketers say my career is a major part of my identity while only 42% of Consumers said the same.
• 66% of Marketers are excited about the potential AI will unlock for society, while only 39% of Consumers are; however, 63% of Consumers and 68% of Marketers are scared of the threats AI poses to jobs in the future.
• 77% of Marketers are optimistic about their financials; only 54% of Consumers are.

Despite prioritising similar values including family, health and safety, Marketers miss key consumer concerns: Consumers value religion, the military and freedom of speech to a much greater extent than Marketers do.

Both Consumers and Marketers want to hear from real people, not influencers: Both Consumers and Marketers say that they hear from too many influencers – and not enough real people – in marketing.

And different spending priorities means missed marketing opportunities: When given a hypothetical $1,000 to spend, Marketers reported they would spend the money on travel, whereas Consumers would rather spend that money paying off existing bills and debt.

The Biggest Thing Consumers and Marketers Agree On: Both Consumers and Marketers agreed that if they had an extra hour, they’d use it for sleep.

Methodology: ​​

The Consumer responses were collected via a poll by Morning Consult between August 8-10, 2023, among a sample of 2,206 adults. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age, and race by educational attainment. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The Marketer responses were collected via a poll by Advertiser Perceptions between August 14-21, 2023 among a sample of 200 Marketer and Agency contacts from The Advertiser Perceptions Ad Pros Community and trusted third-party partners as needed. Our Ad Pros Community represents the brands that are spending the most on advertising and marketing in the U.S. We continuously update, supplement and refine the community based on movement in the market. The interviews were conducted online.

About iHeartMedia

iHeartMedia, Inc. [Nasdaq: IHRT] is the leading audio media company in America, reaching over 90% of Americans every month. iHeart’s broadcast radio assets alone have more consumer reach in the U.S. than any other media outlet; twice the reach of the next largest broadcast radio company; and over four times the ad-enabled reach of the largest digital only audio service. iHeart is the largest podcast publisher according to Podtrac, with more downloads than the next two podcast publishers combined and has the number one social footprint among audio players, with seven times more followers than the next audio media brand, and the only fully integrated audio ad tech solution across broadcast, streaming and podcasts. The company continues to leverage its strong audience connection and unparalleled consumer reach to build new platforms, products and services. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.

About Pushkin Industries

Pushkin Industries is the audio production company co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg that is home to chart-topping podcasts such: Against the Rules, hosted by bestselling author and journalist Michael Lewis; Cautionary Tales from Financial Times columnist Tim Harford; and The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos. Pushkin is also home to Gladwell’s Revisionist History and, launching in October, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics hosted by Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon, which is a co-production with iHeartMedia and MPL. Pushkin publishes and sells audiobooks including So Many Steves by Steve Martin and Adam Gopnik and The Deadline by Jill Lepore. Learn more at pushkin.fm or follow us on X @pushkinpods.