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Part Six Monitoring, Evaluation, and Control
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
VI. Monitoring, Evaluation,
and Control
19. Measuring the
Effectiveness of the
Promotional Program
Measuring the Effectiveness
of Other Program Elements
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Last but not least is principle 9, the concern for reliability and validity. Most of the
measures discussed are lacking in at least one of these criteria, yet these are two of the
most critical distinctions between good and bad research. If a study is properly
designed, and by that we mean it addresses principles 1 through 8, it should be both
reliable and valid.
Essentials of Effective Testing
Simply put, good tests of advertising effectiveness must address the nine principles
established by PACT. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is by following the
decision sequence model in formulating promotional plans.
• Establish communications objectives. We have stated that except for a few instances
(most specifically direct-response advertising), it is nearly impossible to show the
direct impact of advertising on sales. So the marketing objectives established for the
promotional program are not good measures of communication effectiveness. For
example, it is very difficult (or too expensive) to demonstrate the effect of an ad on
brand share or on sales. On the other hand, attainment of communications objectives
can be measured and leads to the accomplishment of marketing objectives.
• Use a consumer response model. Early in this text we reviewed hierarchy of effects
models and cognitive response models, which provide an understanding of the effects
of communications and lend themselves to achieving communications goals.
• Use both pretests and posttests. From a cost standpoint—both actual cost outlays
and opportunity costs—pretesting makes sense. It may mean the difference between
success or failure of the campaign or the product. But it should work in conjunction
with posttests, which avoid the limitations of pretests, use much larger samples, and
take place in more natural settings. Posttesting may be required to determine the true
effectiveness of the ad or campaign.
• Use multiple measures. Many attempts to measure the effectiveness of advertising
focus on one major dependent variable—perhaps sales, recall, or recognition. As
noted earlier in this chapter, advertising may have a variety of effects on the
consumer, some of which can be measured through traditional methods, others that
require updated thinking (recall the discussion on physiological responses). For a true
assessment of advertising effectiveness, a number of measures may be required. The
Ogilvy Award winners mentioned earlier employed multiple measures to track the
effects on communications objectives.
• Understand and implement proper research. It is critical to understand research
methodology. What constitutes a good design? Is it valid and reliable? Does it
measure what we need it to? There is no shortcut to this criterion, and there is no way
to avoid it if you truly want to measure the effects of advertising.
A major study sponsored by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), involving
interviews with 12,000 to 15,000 people, addressed some of these issues. 36 While
we do not have the space to analyze this study here, note that the research was
designed to evaluate measures of copy tests, compare copy testing procedures, and
examine some of the PACT principles. Information on this study has been published in
a number of academic and trade journals and by the ARF.
Throughout this text, we have discussed how and
when promotional program elements should be used,
the advantages and disadvantages of each, and so on.
In many chapters we have discussed measures of
effectiveness used to evaluate these programs. In the
final section of this chapter, we add a few measures that were not discussed earlier.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Sales Promotions
Sales promotions are not limited to retailers and resellers of products. Sports marketers
have found them a very effective way to attract crowds and have been able to
measure their relative effectiveness by the number of fans attending games. Major