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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. Copy Testing.
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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
Copy Testing • Communication research is performed during creative development and is diagnostic in nature • Copy testing takes place after creative developments using actual ads, and is evaluative in nature (more and more MR firms are treating Copy Testing as diagnostic, as a follow up to concept testing, making it more like communication research) • Independent marketing research companies specialize in copy testing, and have established a set of norms upon which go/stay decisions are made • The majority of copy testing is done on television advertising, although options exist for print, radio, and outdoor advertising as well • Television advertising is far more expensive to create and run than other media, hence the abundance of tv copy testing
Post Test Creative Selection • Statistical vs. Pragmatic Choice • Establish a confidence level a priori; if copy measures differ to that extent, the winner is obvious; otherwise use judgment call as each copy is statistically equivalent • Choose a criterion measure, and use this as the ‘ultimate’ judge; whichever copy has the higher score on this measure is the winner, regardless of the magnitude of difference
Four key decisions to make • Place: in home viewing or out of home • Naturalness: forced versus unforced exposure • Number of exposures before data collection • Key measures: • Recall • Message communication • Persuasion • Purchase intention • Brand Attitude • Ad attitude • Et cetera
Key Measures • Intrusiveness: measure of the ads ability to break through the clutter and earn a place in the consumer’s mind • Unaided recall – correct brand • Proved unaided recall • Proved brand aided recall • Communication: identifies the ideas that consumers got out of the ad • The Lead Idea is the idea that is most often cited by respondents • Persuasion: ad’s ability to generate favorable brand attitudes • Purchase intent • Standard brand attitude measure • Commercial Reaction • Standard ad attitude measures
Typical structure of Television Copy Test • Show a sample of 200 respondents a 30 minute program with test ad imbedded • Program is broadcast on an unused cable channel so respondents may view the program in their homes • The day after viewing, respondents are contacted and asked to name the commercials they remember seeing during the program • If unable to name the commercials, they are prompted with correct and incorrect answers • This tests both aided and unaided recall • Purchase intent can be ascertained with a pre-post exposure measurement • Prior to watching, respondents are asked what brand they are likely to purchase next time • After exposure, respondents are asked what brand they would prefer to win • Asking the same preference question in a different context masks the purpose of the question to ensure accurate responses
Typical Structure of a Magazine Copy Test • 125 respondents are recruited through mall intercepts • They are asked questions about media and product usage • They are provided a fake magazine with test ad imbedded and asked to quickly flip through and give initial reactions • Ask respondents what ads they remember seeing • Have them look through magazine again, for a longer time this time • Now ask recall, persuasion and communication questions • Direct respondents to the test ad and ask them to read it • Ask customized communication and diagnostic questions
Typical Measures in Print Copy Testing • Recall/Recognition • Idea Communication • Brand Attitude • Ad Attitude • Purchase Intent • Stopping Power • Noted Readers: only remember seeing it • Associated Readers: read part of it • Read Most Readers: read more than half of it
Copy Testing Notes • Methodology should be as close to “real world” as possible • Using multiple exposures and collecting different data after each exposure allows identification of long term effects • Responses are more valid when exposure occurs without respondent knowledge of participation
When Using Outside Firms Research Services • Some measures between companies may have similar names, but measure completely differently. Understand the method completely so you can truly ascertain the meaning of the data • Know what the “norms” are, and be sure that they are current and appropriate to the product • Ensure that measures used by research firm are reliable and valid; if firm does not share, or claims to not know, reliability and validity diagnostics, be wary of results