Marketing 3344. Advertising and Brand Promotion Research: Any research that helps in the development, execution or evaluation of advertising and promotion.

Marketing 3344

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.

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

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.

1. Developmental research (before ads are made)

2. Copy research (as ads are begin finished)

3. Results-oriented research (while the ads are running)

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.

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”

Internal company sources

Government data sources

Commercial sources

Professional publications The Internet

Research on the actual ads

Used to judge the ads and promotion text finished or unfinished

Often referred to as “evaluative 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.

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

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

What sort of problems would these two ads create in the advertising research process?

What sort of problems would these two ads create in the advertising research process?

Ad in Context Example

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

Planning differs from traditional research in 3 ways:

Account Planner Ad Researcher

An account planner works with an account executive

Research handled by the ad research department

Researchers put in more prominent role

Researchers involved when needed

Emphasize qualitative and naturalistic research

Emphasize quantitative research

No single method is perfect

Researchers are employing more naturalistic methods to understand how people use media

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

How is this ad “social text” and what sort of research method can capture its meaning?

How is this ad “social text” and what sort of research method can capture its meaning?

Ad in Context Example