Chapter 7
Advertising and Promotion
Research
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© 2009 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning
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Key Definitions
Advertising and Brand Promotion
Research:
Any research that helps in the development, execution or evaluation
of advertising and promotion.
Account Planning:
A broader view than traditional research that introduces data earlier
in the development process and relies on a wider variety of research
techniques.
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Advertising and Promotion
Research
Used to assist in determining market segments
Plays a key role in helping creatives understand
the audience
Used to make go/no go ad decisions and when to
pull ads
Used to evaluate agency performance
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Key Issues in Advertising and
Promotion Research
Reliability: The research method produces
consistent findings over time.
Validity: The information generated is
relevant to the research questions being
investigated.
Trustworthiness: Usually applied to
qualitative data; does the data seem to
make sense?
Meaningfulness: An assessment of
limitations of the data.
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Advertising and IBP Research
1. Developmental research (before ads are made)
2. Copy research (as ads are begin finished)
3. Results-oriented research (while the ads are
running)
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Stage One: Developmental
Advertising and IBP Research
Concept Testing: Designed to screen the quality of new ideas or
concepts.
Audience Profiling: Creatives need to know as much as they
can about the people to whom their ads will speak. Profiles present
the creative staff with a fine-grained picture of the target audience,
and its needs, wants, and motivations.
Real Usage (what the consumer really wants): Qualitative
research methods are being used to discover how consumers really
use brands and why.
Focus groups: Brainstorming session with target customers (6-
12) to come up with new insights about the brand. Focus groups offer
the opportunity to gather in-depth data.
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More Developmental Advertising
and IBP Research Methods
Other methods include:
Projective Techniques
Association Tests
Dialogue Balloons
Story Construction
Sentence and picture completion
Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique
(ZMET)
Field Tests—including “cool hunts”
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Developmental Advertising Research
Methods: Other Sources of Information
Internal company sources
Government data sources
Commercial sources
Professional publications
The Internet
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Stage Two: Copy Research
Research on the actual ads
Used to judge the ads and promotion text
finished or unfinished
Often referred to as “evaluative research”
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Motives and Expectations
for Copy Research
Account team wants assurance that the ad does what it
is supposed to do.
The client wants to see how well a particular ad scores
against the average commercial of its type (a “normative
test.”
Creatives don’t like copy testing because it creates a
report card and “artists” resent getting report cards from
people in suits. (Who wouldn’t?)
Copy testing research is a good idea most of the time--it
can yield important data that management can use to
determine the suitability of an ad.
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Evaluative Criteria and Methods
in Copy Research
1. “Getting It.”
Communications Test
2. What do they remember?
3. Cognitive Residue
Thought listings
Recall: Aided, unaided, claim, related
Recognition testing
Implicit memory measures
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Evaluative Criteria and Methods
in Copy Research (con’t)
4. Knowledge—consumer brand claim or belief
Communication tests
Surveys
5. Attitude Change
Attitude Studies
Resonance Tests
Frame by Frame Tests
6. Physiological Changes
Eye Tracking
Voice Analysis
7. Behavioral Intent
Pilot Testing
Split cable transmission
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Ad in Context Example
What
What sort
sort ofof
problems
problems would
would
these
these two
two ads
ads
create
create in
in the
the
advertising
advertising
research
research
process?
process?
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State Three: Results Oriented
Research
1. Tracking Studies
Assess attitude, knowledge, behavioral intent
and behavior over time
2. Direct Response
Inquiry/direct response measures through mail,
phone, internet
3. Estimated Sales Derived from Research
Advertising and promotions differ greatly
Internet is ideal given “click throughs”
Multiple factors can effect sales
4. All-in-One Single Source Data
Links shopping to media use through store
scanners
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Account Planning versus
Advertising Research
Planning differs from traditional research in 3 ways:
Account Planner Ad Researcher
An account planner works Research handled by the ad
with an account executive research department
Researchers put in more Researchers involved when
prominent role needed
Emphasize qualitative and Emphasize quantitative
naturalistic research research
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One last thought on
message testing
No single method is perfect
Researchers are employing more
naturalistic methods to understand how
people use media
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What we need
Advertisements and promotions are complex
social text—are recall and recognition
appropriate tests?
Research is not “magic truth”
It is difficult to match research methods with
real world situations
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Ad in Context Example
How
How isis this
this
ad
ad “social
“social
text”
text” and
and
what
what sort
sort of
of
research
research
method
method can can
capture
capture itsits
meaning?
meaning?
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