Growth at half mast? Why advertising + customer recommendations is your best bet in 2025

At a time when Europe is facing persistent economic stagnation, brands need to redouble their effectiveness and relevance if they are to remain visible and profitable. Traditional advertising, tested by the growing mistrust of consumers, can no longer stand on its own. In this climate, the challenge is no longer to make noise, but to generate trust and conversion. A new strategy is needed: combining the reach of the media with the impact of social proof. And that's exactly what BuyTryShare makes possible.

Stéphane LE BRETON

5/3/20253 min read

A context that drives efficiency

The European economy is slowing down. According to Le Monde (edition of 31 January 2025), ‘Europe is falling further behind the United States’. While US household spending is underpinning dynamic growth across the Atlantic, Europe is struggling to stimulate domestic consumption. The climate is one of a wait-and-see attitude, budgetary choices are tighter, and brands have to deal with an audience that is increasingly difficult to convince.

In this context, unprecedented for 14 years, traditional advertising is showing its limits. Its effectiveness is declining, recall is falling and attention is fragmenting. To continue to have an impact, we need to restore meaning, proof and trust. This is precisely what BuyTryShare offers: a hybrid model that combines the broadcasting power of the media with the credibility of customer reviews. When economic curves stagnate, brands don't have the luxury of approximation. They need to maximise the impact of every euro invested in communications. And yet, according to the latest data, the effectiveness of traditional advertising is declining: only 39% of consumers still spontaneously attribute an advertising message to the right brand.

At the same time, customer reviews have never been so influential :

95% of consumers consult them before buying a product.
74% believe that they increase their confidence in a company.
They can boost sales by an average of 18%.

So why not merge these two complementary worlds?

BuyTryShare: social proof integrated into your advertising spots

BuyTryShare is based on a simple but powerful idea: using customer reviews in advertising formats themselves. In practice, this means seamlessly integrating authentic consumer feedback into existing advertising formats (TV, press, cinema, etc.). How can this be done? By adding a 5-second spot at the end of a traditional ad, displaying an average rating, a real customer review and a QR code redirecting the viewer to a landing page. The result? A message that is more credible, more engaging and much more effective.

This mix of controlled messages (advertising) and messages perceived as objective (customer reviews) helps to rebuild trust, while maintaining the benefits of mass distribution. It's a solution that's simple to deploy, highly replicable and extremely effective.

Measured results: KPIs showing clear progress, observed in the field

Campaigns run with BuyTryShare in various sectors (beauty, automotive, telecoms, retail, insurance, etc.) are performing much better than traditional benchmarks:

+15 to +22% assisted ad recall
+11 to +33% attention time on retargeting formats
4.2 to 4.7/5 average post-purchase rating
+15% intent to recommend (NPS)
+14 to +19% e-commerce clicks or interactions (via QR code)
+10 to +24% conversion (basket, appointment, etc.)
-2 to -12% on e-retail CPA or retargeting

Key figure: +20% average conversion rate for media campaigns incorporating a UGC spot. Campaigns combining a TV spot with UGC achieve an average conversion rate of +20%, all industries combined.

Why does it work so well? Because advertising alone is no longer enough. Consumers have become ultra-demanding, ultra-connected and ultra-informed. They need proof and validation from their peers. By integrating these signals directly into advertising, BuyTryShare transforms passive exposure into a convincing experience.

A replicable model that can be activated at every stage of the customer journey

BuyTryShare's real strength is its adaptability. Whether you're a shampoo brand, an insurer or an e-tailer, the principle remains the same: turn your satisfied customers into ambassadors, visible in your media campaigns. This social proof can be activated :

upstream, awareness: the review attracts attention,
during consideration: it reinforces credibility, to reassure,
downstream, conversion: it encourages action, to convert.

And all without completely overhauling your media plan: BuyTryShare can be integrated as a high value-added add-on.

In a risk-averse market, doing more with less means building trust as a business lever

In times of austerity or sluggish growth, advertising investment needs to be smarter. For all brands that want to make a difference in a saturated market and a chilly consumer climate, this is the safest approach: advertising + recommendation = transformation. In 2025, growth will not come from volume, but from intelligent media investment. Effectiveness will come first.

The BuyTryShare model is a concrete response: a media boost to generate greater impact, a trusted relay for more conversions, tangible performance that reconciles advertising and social proof. It's no longer a question of simply broadcasting a message, but of creating shared proof.