Marketing communication: principles and practice

KNOWING WHAT GETS A RESPONSE
A barcode scanner and smartcard reader is to be incorporated into a TV remote control
unit. When you see an advertisement you like, you use the unit to read a product offer
and download a coupon into a smartcard to be used next time you go shopping. The
manufacturer and retailer have no doubt about the response to their advertisement.
Problem
definition
In-market
Strategy
definition
Effectiveness
Execution
Creative
development
Figure 16.9
The promotion research process

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Media selection decisions will include the extent of reach among the target
social group and the cost of accomplishing this (cost per thousand reached).
Pre-testing aims to predict the likely effectiveness of an advertisement. Panels
are brought together to examine product concepts and communication
proposals for meanings and weaknesses (especially copy testing), while
motivation research tries to identify unconscious associations of ideas and
words in the advertisement.
Once an advertisement has been run, evaluation can be conducted in the
environment in which it is intended to accomplish results. The number of
enquiries directly generated can be gauged from response cards, returned
coupons, and 0800 telephone calls, as well as from the number of orders
placed (see Boxes 16.3 and 16.4). Recall and comprehension tests examine
the impression on consumer memory by interviewing several hundred people,
often on the day after the advertisement ran. Although the validity of these
tests is relatively low, they are reliable, and are commonly used to benchmark
performance against other products and advertisements. However, they tend
to be poor predictors of sales. Recognition of advertising is the most
commonly tested, since it is more reliable and valid, as well as cheaper.
Krugman’s (1988) research suggests that readers of magazines are making
a consumer vote when they indicate recognition, since they are identifying
those advertisements that they find attractive and thus this may indicate
likeability.
Sales tests are poor indicators since sales can only come from past actions
and are only partly the result of these. Only direct-response sales and enquiries
can show the result of advertising, and only then if properly monitored.
Financial analysis is essential for those products for which advertising
expenditure is a major resource. Variance analysis, for example, shows
deviation from planned expenditure.
Tracking studies (consumer panels) use regular interviews among
consumers to gauge impact on their attitude to a brand during a campaign,
thus allowing adjustments to be made quickly if necessary. Questions are asked
about awareness, brand image, products attributes, and consumer preferences.
Stock held by retailers can also be monitored during a period of planned
advertising. As mentioned earlier, the likeability of an advertisement has been
shown to be a particularly good predictor of sales, but this is not as simple as
it sounds. To be well liked, the advertisement has to be for a product that has
personally significant value (i.e. it has to be thought by the person to be
relevant, believable, credible, useful, interesting, and so on).