Research plays a prominent role in testing the
effectiveness and response of advertising.
Copy testing (Pre-testing)
Copy testing (also known as pretesting) is the study of
advertisements before they are aired on TV, or published in print. This
activity tries to understand the effectiveness of a particular ad, and tries to
predict how well an ad will perform based on the feedback gathered about
various aspects of the advertisement.
Different aspects of the ad that are tested in this
phase include:
1. Recall
The researcher tries to test whether the participants
can recall (remember) that particular ad or not. Day-After-Recall (DAR) is a commonly used
system. In this system, an ad is shown among several other ads on one
particular day. Of all the ads they see, the participants do not know which ad is
the ad whose recall is being tested. The next day, the ad in question is revealed,
and participants are asked whether they remember the ad at all or not.
2. Attention Grabbing Power
This tries to understand the power of the ad to arrest
the attention of the viewers. If the ad makes the viewer sit up and notice, it
means it has high attention grabbing power.
3. Liking
A viewer might recall the ad, but may not like it. In
fact, he might recall the ad because he disliked it. This aspect tries to
measure whether the viewer actually liked the ad or not, and if so, to what
extent.
4. Persuasion
An ad may grab the attention of the viewer, and they
may be able to recall the ad, but it may still not convince them to actually
buy the product. In this stage, the viewers are asked whether they feel
convinced about the need to buy the product advertised or not.
This tries to test whether the viewers can associate
the slogan of the ad with the brand or the product. An effective ad helps
viewers associate the slogan with the particular brand advertised, not the
product in general. If the viewers link the slogans to the product, it might
lead to an increase in the sales of the rival brand, and not that of the brand
advertised.
6. Flow
of Attention
Known as a moment-by-moment approach, this approach
tries to understand the attention levels of the viewer at different points of
time in a single ad. ‘Picture Sorts’ is a common method used to measure flow of
attention. In this, after the respondent watches a commercial, he is shown sets
of pictures. In each set of pictures, only one belongs to the advertisement (it
is usually a freeze frame of the advertisement).
He is asked to choose the correct picture. If most
respondents choose the correct picture, it means that their attention was high
at that point of time. If only few viewers choose the correct picture, it means
that their attention was low at that point of time in the ad.
When the levels of attention are plotted over time in
a graph, it is known as flow of attention.
This technique is useful to cut down the length of an advertisement.
Once we figure out the portions of an advertisement in which the attention of
viewers is maximum, the advertisement is trimmed to include only those
portions.
This is also a moment-by-moment approach in
advertising research. It tries to measure the amount of positive and negative
emotions the respondent experiences as he watches the advertisement. Usually,
the respondents use a 5-point scale ranging from very strong positive feelings
(5) to very strong negative feelings (1). After these the emotion levels across
are plotted in a graph, and the resulting image is known as flow of emotion.
Flow of emotion too can be used to select the most effective bits of an
advertisement, and trim it. It can also be used to get an idea of the overall
image that the respondents have of the ad. If there is more positive emotion in
the ad, then it means that the ad has been well executed.
Post-testing
This research tries to understand the effectiveness of
the ad after it has been aired or published. It includes examining:
Sales: If the sales of the product have
increased after the ad has aired, it would mean the ad was effective.
Brand Awareness: Whether people have become aware of the
brand after the ad has been aired or published.
No comments:
Post a Comment