Evaluating Creatives *

1. Evaluating Creatives* • Concept Testing: Assessment of potential Creatives • Communication Research: A Look at the Advertising Creative • Copy Testing: Assessment of Creative achievement • The word creative when used as a noun refers to an actual advertisement

2. Types of Concept Tests • New Product Concept Tests • Generate concepts for multiple new product possibilities and test the concepts to assess which new product has the most potential for success • Benefit Positioning Concept Tests • Generate multiple concepts for one product to test which concept has the most potential for generating desired outcome, generally purchase intent • Each concept will focus on a different benefit (position) • Example: concept test for a new PDA • concept 1 focuses on ease of use • concept 2 focuses on technical capability

3. Concept Testing • A concept is similar to the actual ad, but more succinct without a lot of selling and posturing • The concept states in clear terms the selling premise, unique position or benefit of the advertised product or service • We test the concepts in order to determine which of a set of concepts would be the most useful in accomplishing our objective • See pp. 506-507 to see the difference between a concept and the corresponding creative

4. General Outline for Performing Concept Testing • Generate Concepts • Generate Questionnaire • Administer the Test • Organize, analyze, interpret data

5. Concept Generation • Concepts are typically presented on 8.5”X11” cardstock or board, and are sometimes called “white card” tests • Card contains: • Headline • Body copy • Illustrations

6. White Card Headline • This is NOT the same as an advertising headline • A succinct summary of the main selling proposition or product benefit • Leads into the body copy • Gives consumer a clear understanding of the ideas that are to be presented in the body copy • Use simple, single-minded declarative statements • “The new GeoNET PDA integrates many wireless technologies so you can do more when you travel.”

7. Concept Body Copy • Be direct and clear, using short paragraphs and active, declarative statements • Do not use: • Advertisingese; do not embellish • Industry jargon that is unfamiliar to the audience • Overwritten or long concepts • If new product concept, you should also • Identify product category membership • List all primary benefits • Identify differentiating attributes

8. Concept Body Copy The new GeoNET PDA integrates a wireless phone, GPS receiver, and Blackberry wireless technology with 64MB of internal memory and coast to coast Web access. With all of these features in one convenient device, working while traveling is easier than carrying multiple devices to accomplish the same tasks. The GeoNET PDA is available with either Palm OS or Windows CE for even more flexibility Suggested retail prices: $599 with black and white display; $749 with 16-bit color display

9. Concept Generation Considerations • Using Brand names is generally accepted as concept perceptions are often impacted greatly by brand name presence • Pricing information should be present • If not in the concept itself, integrate it into the questionnaire • Price does not need to be explicitly stated, but if it is, it should accurately reflect the actual expected price • Illustrations and format between tested concepts should be as identical as possible

10. Generate Questionnaire • Demographic and brand usage questions • Diagnostic questions pertaining to specific characteristics of the concept • Core questions • Communication of the main idea • Believability of the main idea • Uniqueness of the main idea • Personal relevance of the main idea • Purchase Intent • Purchase frequency • Reasons for purchase intent and purchase frequency

11. Concept Test Administration • Target definition • Research methodology • Questionnaire construction • Concept exposure • Data analysis and interpretation

12. Data Organization, Analysis and Interpretation • Split sample by respondent characteristics (quota groups) and assess differences between concepts • Split sample by concepts and assess differences between quota groups • Crosstabs on core questions by purchase intent, brand usage, and communications • Correlation matrix between believability, uniqueness, and relevance

13. Group Practice Time • Page 527, exercise #4 • Read through the description of the study and purpose of the research • The actual concept and a variety of crosstabs are provided for you • Answer the 4 questions on page 533 using the analysis provided

14. Communication Research • After concept testing, we have identified the concept, that is, the main idea that is to be communicated in the advertisements • Now we must develop the actual communications, the ads, and determine if we are communicating our ideas effectively • Basic goal is to determine how consumers react to the ad and why they are reacting that way

15. General Outline for Communication Research • Create test ads • Specify Respondent Characteristics • Select Methodology • Generate Questionnaire • Analyze and Report findings

16. Creating the Test Ads • Print ads should be created to the semi-comp stage, meaning it is full size, with color and art in place and scaled to size • May not be exactly how ad will look in print, but should be close • Radio ads can be scratch tracks, meaning that all aural elements are there, but recording may not be professional quality yet • TV ads may be storyboarded as long as the ad comes across to the audience in the correct way • May use animatics, photoboards, or photomatics if needed to get across important visual cues • In all cases, copy should be precise

17. Generate the Questionnaire • Brand usage, demography, etc. • Core questions to assess: • Whether the respondent accurately processed the information presented • Respondent attitudes toward the communication, i.e. the message was well received • Should probe cognitive and emotional responses • Respondent attitudes toward the ad itself • Questions specific to the particular creative

18. Typical Format (page 540) • Spontaneous Initial Reactions (q1) • Essential Message and Brand Name Communication (q2-3) • Specific Reactions to Message and Execution (q4-9) • Spontaneous Likes and Dislikes (q10-14) • Execution and Message Diagnostics (q15-16) • Execution Specific Issues (q17-18)

19. Analysis and Interpretation of Communication Research Data • Typically standard tests (t-tests, chi-square tests) are all that are needed to describe the results • Relationships between variables can be interesting, but is more difficult and requires some creativity on the part of the researcher since no hypotheses are developed for testing • See pp. 546-554 for an example report from a communication research study using solely descriptive statistics

20. Analytical PracticePage 560, Exercise #2 • In groups, decide what analyses you would perform on the data to make recommendations • I will perform some of these analyses for you • Using the results, make the appropriate recommendations