The Financial Planning Association (FPA) says its consumer advertising campaign has increased awareness and improved the public’s perception of members.

The campaign aimed to promote trusted financial advice, and the FPA says a study confirms it was successful.

Australia Online Research canvassed 505 consumers aged 35-64 last month. It found awareness of FPA members grew 24% since the campaign began a year earlier.

The adverts also promoted CFP professionals, and research showed consumer awareness of this group increased up to 24%. The perception they are the highest-qualified financial planners rose up to 17%.

The $4 million campaign included a six-week burst of adverts from September last year, followed by a sustained run from June until next May. The cost is funded by a levy on FPA members.

TV advertising reached more than 860,000 people and print advertising reached nearly 450,000 people more than three times each, according to the FPA.

Online advertising on 15 finance websites reached nearly 6 million people, who saw ads about four times each. The click-through rate is three times higher than the industry average and has this year driven more than 50,000 visits to the FPA website.

The association says up to 85% of respondents recalled core advertising messages, including “FPA members work to higher standards” and “not all financial planners are the same”.

The more often the ads were seen, the more FPA members were perceived as qualified, professional, trustworthy, educated, ethical and responsible.

FPA Chief Marketing Officer Lindy Jones says the association has received positive feedback from financial planners.

“This is something members have been wanting for many years,” she told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “Because they work to higher professional standards, and because they sign up to a code of professional practice, they see themselves as people consumers can trust to look after them.”

She says there are many stories of “bad apples” and FPA members want to show Australians they are different.

Ms Jones says the campaign “was designed as awareness generation, not lead generation”, so the association is not measuring increased enquiries or business for planners.

But searches on the FPA’s Find a Planner website have increased by 20%, she says, and there has been anecdotal feedback from planners. “Some of them tell us they’ve had a new client through the ad campaign.”