Selecciones - Webs

626
Part Six Monitoring, Evaluation, and Control
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
Figure 19-1 Classification
of testing methods
VI. Monitoring, Evaluation,
and Control
19. Measuring the
Effectiveness of the
Promotional Program
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
(front page versus back page) and size of ad or length of commercial also merit
examination. For example, research has demonstrated that readers pay more attention
to larger ads. 7 As shown earlier, a variety of methods have been employed to measure
the effectiveness of advertising on the Internet. Similarly, direct-response advertisers
on TV have found that some programs are more effective than others. One successful
direct marketer found that old TV shows yield more responses than first runs:
The fifth rerun of “Leave It to Beaver” will generate much more response than will the first
run of a prime-time television program. Who cares if you miss something you have seen four
times before? But you do care when it’s the first time you’ve seen it. 8
Another factor is the vehicle option source effect, “the differential impact that the
advertising exposure will have on the same audience member if the exposure occurs in
one media option rather than another.” 9 People perceive ads differently depending on
their context. 10
A final factor in media decisions involves scheduling. The evaluation of flighting
versus pulsing or continuous schedules is important, particularly given the increasing
costs of media time. As discussed in Chapter 10 and IMC Perspective 19-1, there is
evidence to support the fact that continuity may lead to a more effective media schedule
than does flighting. Likewise, there may be opportunities associated with increasing
advertising weights in periods of downward sales cycles or recessions. The
manager experimenting with these alternative schedules and/or budget outlays should
attempt to measure their differential impact. 11
Budgeting Decisions A number of studies have examined the effects of budget
size on advertising effectiveness and the effects of various ad expenditures on
sales. Many companies have also attempted to determine whether increasing their ad
budget directly increases sales. This relationship is often hard to determine, perhaps
because using sales as an indicator of effectiveness ignores the impact of other marketing
mix elements. More definitive conclusions may be possible if other dependent
variables, such as the communications objectives stated earlier, are used.
When to Test
Virtually all test measures can be classified according to when they are conducted.
Pretests are measures taken before the campaign is implemented; posttests occur
after the ad or commercial has been in the field. A variety of pretests and posttests are
available to the marketer, each with its own methodology designed to measure some
aspect of the advertising program. Figure 19-1 classifies these testing methods.
Pretesting Pretests may occur at a number of points, from as early on as idea
generation to rough execution to testing the final version before implementing it. More
than one type of pretest may be used. For example, concept testing (which is discussed
later in this chapter) may take place at the earliest development of the ad or commercial,
when little more than an idea, basic concept, or positioning statement is under
Pretests
Laboratory Methods
Consumer juries Theater tests Readability tests
Portfolio tests Rough tests Comprehension and
Physiological measures
Field Methods
Concept tests
reaction tests
Dummy advertising vehicles
Posttests
Field Methods
On-air tests
Recall tests Single-source systems Recognition tests
Association measures Inquiry tests Tracking studies