Assessing Ad Message Effectiveness

1. Assessing Ad Message Effectiveness

2. “Watchability” by Millward Brown • Function of ‘involvement’ and ‘enjoyment’ • Use • Humor • Music • Limited voice-overs • Pace • Celebrities • Cute things • More likely to be recalled and drive sales

3. Overview of Advertising Research • More than 80% of advertisers and agencies pretest television commercials before airing them on a national basis. It’s not easy or inexpensive but the value outweighs the drawbacks.

4. What Does Advertising Research Involve? • To test effectiveness of messages • Pretesting ads during developmental stages • Posttesting to determine if messages achieve their established objectives Media Effectiveness (covered later) Message Research

5. Four Stages At Which Ad Message Research Might Be Conducted • Copy development stage (testing ideas) • “Rough” stage (testing rough concepts and layouts) • Final production stage (testing complete ads) • After the ad has been run in the media (post testing)

6. Industry Standards for Message Research PACT Principles Principle 1: provide measurements that are relevant to the advertising objectives What question would you use to test recall? Principle 2: requires agreement about how the results will be used in advance of each specific test e.g. specify what the results of the focus group will be used for. Principle 3: provides multiple measurements because single measurements are generally inadequate Think of two ways to test brand preferences

7. Industry Standards for Message Research PACT Principles Principle 4: based on a model of human response to communications Reception of a stimulus > Comprehension of the stimulus > The response of the stimulus Check whether consumers understood the ad before forming conclusions based on sales Principle 5: allows for consideration of whether the advertising stimulus should be exposed more than once external generalizability

8. Industry Standards for Message Research PACT Principles Principle 6: recognizes that a more finished piece of copy can be evaluated more soundly Alternative executions be tested in the same degree of finish Principle 7: system provides controls to avoid the bias normally found in the exposure context Increase internal validity of results

9. Industry Standards for Message Research PACT Principles • Principle 8: takes into account basic considerations of sample definition • Requires that the sample be representative of the target audience • Principle 9: can demonstrate reliability and validity • A reliable test is one that yields consistent results • A valid test is one that is predictive of the marketplace performance

10. What Can Be Learned from Message Research? • Message research is needed to diagnose an advertisement’s prospective equity-enhancing and sales-expanding potential. • The ARF assessed which of 35 measures best predicts the sales effectiveness of television commercials. The only definitive conclusion of their study is that no one measure is universally appropriate or best.

11. Message Research Methods Qualitative Message Research Quantitative Message Research

12. Qualitative Message Research • Focus Groups • In-depth Interviews • Observation • Ethnography • Projective Techniques • ZMET • Neurological Networks

13. Illustrative Message Research Methods

14. Advertising Research Methods Message Research Methods Recognition & Recall Physiological Arousal Persuasion Sales Response

15. Message Research Methods • Starch readership service (magazines) • Bruzzone tests (TV) • Burke day-after recall (TV) Recognition & Recall Physiological Arousal Persuasion Sales Response

16. Starch Readership Service • Examines reader awareness of ads in consumer magazines and business publications • Measures the primary objective of a magazine ad—to be seen and read • Over 75,000 ads in more than 140 publications surveying more than 100,000 people annually. Sample sizes – 100 to 150 nos. per issue • Interviews in the early life of the publication • Respondents asked if they read an ad and what they remember from the ad • Readers are classified

17. Starch Readership Service Classifications Noted—percentage who remember having previously seen the ad in the issue being studied Associated—percentage who noted the ad and saw or read some part of it that clearly indicated the name of the brand or advertiser

18. Starch Readership Service Classifications Read Some—percentage who read any part of the ad’s copy Read Most—percentage who read half or more of the written material in the ad

19. Starch Readership Service Indices are developed for the four classifications. Two types of indices: 1. Ad’s scores against average of all ads in the magazine issue 2. ADNORM index: compares an advertisement’s scores against other ads in the same product category as well as the same size (e.g., full page) and color classifications (e.g., four-color ads) Average Adnorm index is 100. A score of 130 indicates the ad did 30% better than the comparable ads.

20. Measures of Recognition & Recall • 39% of people noted the ad, • 37% associated it, • 27% read some of it, and • 10% read most of the body copy contained in the ad.

21. Measures of Recognition & Recall • 58% of people noted the ad, • 54% associated it, • 39% read some of it, and • 39% read most of the body copy contained in the ad.

22. Kia Sorento ad Adnorm index scores 72 (noted) 74 (associated) 73 (read some) 59 (read most) The ad performed 28% worse than the average noted score for similar ads. Jose Cuervo Especial Tequila ad 107 (noted) 108 (associated) 105 (read some) 229 (read most) The ad performed slightly above average noted score for similar ads. Starch Readership Service

23. Problems with the Starch scores • Respondents may report ads that actually never ran or may have run in another magazine / issue • Respondents may report that they have not seen an ad when in fact they have. • Implicit memory • Effect on attitudes in spite of lack of conscious recollection

24. Bruzzone Tests Bruzzone test provides advertisers with a test of consumer recognition of television commercials. Anything identifying the brand is removed, to test whether viewers remember the name of the advertiser.

25. Bruzzone Tests • Emails 15 commercials (six frames from the commercial) to a sample • Each respondent is asked if they remember seeing the commercial on TV • If yes – more questions; If no or not sure – skip to next. • Brand name references removed from the frames • Also asked how the commercial made them feel (check from a battery of adjectives); how interested they were in it, whether they liked it, etc. • Finally asked if they remember the brand name • http://www.bruzzone-research.com/ONLINE_DEMOq.htm#Q26

26. Measures of Recognition & Recall Bruzzone test Advertising Response Model (ARM) links responses to the 27 descriptive adjectives to consumers’ attitudes toward both the ad and the advertised brand and to purchase interest. Budweiser “Thanking the Troops” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LawSGhTM0es

27. ARM for the “Thanking the Troops” Commercial

28. Taco Bell Carne Asada Superbowl commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oN7X9z6Cc44

29. Advertising Response Model (ARM) for the “Carne Asada Taquitos” Commercial

30. Measures of Recognition & Recall Bruzzone test Provides valid prediction of actual marketplace performance along with being relatively inexpensive Doesn’t provide a before-the-fact indication Tests offer important info for evaluating a commercial’s effectiveness and whether it should continue to run Tests are performed online

31. Burke Day-after Recall • Used to assess the effectiveness of test commercials • Tested the day following the day the commercial is first aired • Telephone interviews • Product / Brand cue given • Asked if they saw the commercial and then asked to recall all they can about it.

32. Measures of Recognition & Recall Burke Day-After Recall Testing (1) Claimed-recall scores—indicate the percentage of respondents who recall seeing the ad (2) Related-recall scores—indicate the percentage of respondents who accurately describe specific advertising elements

33. Measures of Recognition & Recall Many marketers reject recall as a valid measure 1) Recall simply measures whether an ad is received but not whether the message is accepted 2) Recall is biased in favor of younger consumers

34. Measures of Recognition & Recall 3) Recall scores generated by ads are not predictive of sales performance 4) Day-after recall testing is biased against certain types of advertising content Understate the memorability of commercials that employ emotional or feeling-oriented themes and are biased in favor of rational or thought-oriented commercials

35. Message Research Methods • Psychogalvanometer • Pupilometer Recognition & Recall Physiological Arousal Persuasion Sales Response

36. Measures of Recognition & Recall Measures of Physiological Arousal • Ads that are better liked are more likely to be remembered and to persuade • Efforts are now made to measure consumer’s affective and emotional reactions to ads

37. Measures of Recognition & Recall Measures of Physiological Arousal • Galvanometer—measures minute levels of perspiration in response to emotional arousal • Pupillometric tests—measure pupil dilation • Advertising researchers use changes in physiological functions to indicate the actual, unbiased amount of arousal resulting from ads. • Neuroscience – brain imaging tests

38. Message Research Methods • Ipsos-ASI Next*TV method • Rsc’s ARS Persuasion method Recognition & Recall Physiological Arousal Persuasion Sales Response

39. Measures of Persuasion Used when an advertiser’s objective is to influence consumers’ attitudes toward and preference for the advertised brand.

40. Measures of Persuasion Ipsos-ASI Next*TV Method • Measures recall and persuasion of TV commercials • Performs ad research in more than 50 countries • Tests television commercials in consumers’ homes • Tells consumers to evaluate a TV program, but actually evaluating the commercials within the program • Mails 30 minute TV programs (like a sitcom) to a national sample with embedded commercial breaks

41. Measures of Persuasion Ipsos-ASI Next*TV Method • One day after viewing—personal contact with sampled consumers and measure their reactions to the TV program and the advertisements • Measures message recall and persuasion

42. Measures of Persuasion Ipsos-ASI Next*TV Method • Persuasion measured by: Consumers’ attitudes toward advertised brands Shift in brand preferences Brand-related purchase intent and frequency

43. Measures of Persuasion Ipsos-ASI Next*TV Method • Tests in a natural environment • Assesses the ability of TV commercials to break through the clutter • Determines how well tested commercials are remembered after this delay period • Allows the use of a representative national sampling

44. Research Systems Company - rsc • Very active in message testing – tests TV commercials in various stages of completion – rough cut to finished form • ARS schedules test sessions in eight metropolitan areas • 800 – 1000 consumers from each metro randomly invited to preview TV material with embedded ads (including test ads) • Before and after research design – basket of competing products • Tested over 40,000 commercials so far

45. Measures of Persuasion The ARS Persuasion Method--rsc • Respondents indicate what brands they prefer to receive among a “basket” of options—the pre measure. • After exposure to a television program respondents again indicate what brands they would prefer to receive if their name were selected in a drawing—the post measure. ARS Persuasion Score = Post % for target brand – Pre % for target brand

46. Measures of Persuasion The ARS Persuasion Method--rsc The ARS Persuasion score simply represents the post-measure percentage of respondents preferring the target brand minus the pre-measure percentage who prefer that brand A positive score indicates a shifted preference toward the target brand A higher-scoring commercial generates greater sales volume and larger market share gains

47. Measures of Persuasion The ARS Persuasion Method--rsc ARS Persuasion scores are valid predictors of in-market performance The higher the score, the greater the likelihood that a tested commercial will produce positive sales gains when the focal brand is advertised under real-world, in-market conditions

48. Predictive Validity of ARS Persuasion Scores Tested 332 commercials in seven countries ; involving 148 brands representing 76 product categories; market shares before and after advertising commenced were compared.

49. Message Research Methods • AC Nielsen’s SCANTRACK • IRI’s BehaviorScan Recognition & Recall Physiological Arousal Persuasion Sales Response

50. Measures of Sales Response Single-Source Systems Gather purchase data from panels of households using: (1) electronic television meters (2) optical laser scanning of universal product codes (UPC) at retail checkout (3) split-cable technology