MAS searches plummet after ad push
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Google searches for the Money Advice Service have fallen significantly since the launch of its advertising campaign and online healthcheck service, data from Google reveals.
The Google Trends tool analyses the volume of specific search terms over time. For the search term “money advice service”, a graph shows a peak in volumes around June and July, followed by a sharp decline.
When Money Marketing requested the number of searches for the term over the last 30 days, Google Trends said: “Your terms ’money advice service’ do not have enough search volume to show graphs”.
The MAS says it has had 2.3 million visits to its website since its launch in April but refuses to provide a breakdown of the number of monthly visits to the site.
The service is funded by a statutory industry levy and has a budget of £43.7m for 2011/12.
Over £2m has been spent on the delivery of the online healthcheck and a further £4m was spent on an advertising campaign which claimed the MAS offers free, independent advice.
An MAS spokeswoman says: “We have experienced a strong and maintained base level of traffic which has increased significantly in line with our marketing campaigns in April and throughout June and July.”
Yellowtail Financial Planning managing director Dennis Hall says: “The Government needs to develop a more proactive proposition that encourages people to take action on their finances, rather than spending our money on this passive service.”
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Readers' comments (11)
Tom Scott | 13 Oct 2011 9:07 am
The Government has £17,000,000,000 of debt.
Would you ask them for financial advice?
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Anonymous | 13 Oct 2011 9:25 am
...this story is a red herring. Very few people will search on the term "Money Advice service". The more important point is that MAS appear on page 1 of a Google search. "Financial Advice" and derivitives thereof amount to some 1.4million searches in the UK each month.
I would suggest their placement on page 1 is more than enough to guarantee very significant online visitor volumes.
They are doing an excellent job considering how new the proposition is.
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Derek Gair | 13 Oct 2011 9:30 am
MAS = budget of £43 odd million !!!! Paid by levy on us !!!!!!!!!
FOR WHAT !!!!!!!!!!!! Who pays the price for its failure ??????????
Nice work if you can get it !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dont you just love em !!!
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Julian Stevens | 13 Oct 2011 9:34 am
I'd still like to know just what the pre-launch Cost:Benefit Analysis indicated and how far wide of its estimates the success or failure of the MAS so far has been. That is, of course, assuming any such analysis was actually undertaken which, I believe, is a statutory obligation on the FSA. Or did the FSA merely decide it wouldn't bother for this particular project? Never mind, there'll probably still be generous bonuses all round as Christmas approaches.
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Greg Heath | 13 Oct 2011 9:34 am
I would have thought the initial searches were curious financial sector staff rather than the public at large. Time will tell but I cannot see how this will work given the content of the website and its usefulness.
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Anonymous | 13 Oct 2011 9:37 am
Best idea since stakeholder pensions.....
A further waste of money.
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Anonymous | 13 Oct 2011 10:13 am
To, Anonymous | 13 Oct 2011 9:25 am.
You clearly have a very limited understanding of financial services, if you think they are doing an excellent job.
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Anonymous | 13 Oct 2011 10:14 am
It might be good they are on page one and appreciate it is still early days for them, but they are still below money saving expert. Take a look how often that's been searched for in the last 30 days. Whoops just gifted another headline to MM!
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Tom Scott | 13 Oct 2011 10:30 am
to Anonymous | 13 Oct 2011 9:25 am
The story is valid. MAS spent £4m of our money on advertising their service but fewer people actually looked for that specific service as a result.
Not only did the advert offend the industry that MAS claims to support, it was totally ineffective at promoting the service. I refer to my earlier comment - who wants financial advice from the government.
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Old Dog | 13 Oct 2011 6:13 pm
@anonymous
AKA FSA stooge
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