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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
VI. Monitoring, Evaluation,
and Control
19. Measuring the
Effectiveness of the
Promotional Program
CAREER PROFILE
John Hallward
President, Global Product Development
Ipsos-ASI Inc, “The Advertising Research Company”
Twenty years ago I applied to consumer packaged
good manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, General
Mills, and General Foods. Having studied marketing
and finance, I preferred a “marketing” career and
wanted to follow the brand management path at P&G
in Canada.
On the P&G application they required students to
indicate their three most enjoyed
courses, and the three least preferred.
I mentioned that Market
Research was one of my least preferred
courses because, most people
would agree that market research
was a boring science of counting
consumers. I just missed the cut.
Later, P&G called and asked if I
was interested in a job in the Market
Research Department. I took the
opportunity to interview. It became
apparent that my initial application
was on the interviewer’s desk. “Tell
me about the three least preferred
courses” he asked. I provided my
honest view of the market research
course—this subject was boring, dry,
factual and void of real-world input.
“Oh” says the Research Manager, “Is
my old classmate still teaching that
“I smile when I
think back to my
initial thoughts
of avoiding
marketing
research.”
course?”—This turned out to be a
humorous start to a friendly interview,
and I went on to start my marketing
research career at P&G.
The point is that marketing
research is not as boring as it might
appear! Research offers an exposure
to the many aspects of marketing
issues than does brand
management. The research consultant
is exposed to many different
projects and problems, across many different brands
and categories. In research, one experiences all of the
practices of marketing from development of an ad
through testing, tracking, product tests, pricing, brand
name, and promotion research segmentation and targeting
decisions, etc. In research, the emphasis is on
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
“consulting” and adding experienced insight and recommendations,
not just collecting data, and it is rarely
dull or repetitive.
After a couple of years at P&G, I was offered to be
the Market Research manager at Johnson & Johnson.
Later I met an individual from the U.K. who had an idea
about introducing a unique way of measuring ad effectiveness
in North America. We
joined together to start our new
business. This was the beginning of
my entrepreneurial spirit, and my
career of a research consultant on
the “supplier” side.
Twenty years later, I still enjoy
my job immensely. I have also
enjoyed being an entrepreneur and
growing a business from three to
135 people and 500+ interviewers. I
am not sure what other career paths
would have exposed me to so much
about marketing, with such a quick
paced career. I smile when I think
back to my initial thoughts of avoiding
marketing research.
Today, I have a new challenge. We
sold our business to Ipsos, a global
research firm operating in over 30
countries. Within Ipsos-ASI, “the
advertising research company,” I
have global responsibility for the
development of our advertising and
brand equity research tools. This
exposes me to the international differences
of brand management,
with global clients and brands,
which makes my career very exciting.
It is fulfilling to help direct the
brand equity and advertising for
the globe’s biggest brands. And it is
never dull to be able to evolve to different brands, in
different categories, for different companies, with different
cultural challenges. The information world is
growing, and there is room for more research consultants.
Give it a thought, and I encourage you to not be
so biased by any one university course!
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