Evaluating Creatives *  Concept Testing: Assessment of potential creatives  Communication Research: A Look at the Advertising Creative  Copy Testing: Assessment of creative achievement *The word creative when used as a noun refers to an actual advertisement

Copy Testing  Communication research is performed during creative development and is diagnostic in nature  Copy testing takes place after creative developments using actual ads, and is evaluative in nature (more and more MR firms are treating Copy Testing as diagnostic, as a follow up to concept testing, making it more like communication research)  Independent marketing research companies specialize in copy testing, and have established a set of norms upon which go/stay decisions are made  The majority of copy testing is done on television advertising, although options exist for print, radio, and outdoor advertising as well Television advertising is far more expensive to create and run than other media, hence the abundance of tv copy testing

Post Test Creative Selection  Statistical vs. Pragmatic Choice 1)Establish a confidence level a priori; if copy measures differ to that extent, the winner is obvious; otherwise use judgment call as each copy is statistically equivalent 2)Choose a criterion measure, and use this as the ‘ultimate’ judge; whichever copy has the higher score on this measure is the winner, regardless of the magnitude of difference

Four key decisions to make  Place: in home viewing or out of home  Naturalness: forced versus unforced exposure  Number of exposures before data collection  Key measures: Recall Message communication Persuasion  Purchase intention  Brand Attitude Ad attitude Et cetera

Key Measures  Intrusiveness: measure of the ads ability to break through the clutter and earn a place in the consumer’s mind Unaided recall – correct brand Proved unaided recall Proved brand aided recall  Communication: identifies the ideas that consumers got out of the ad The Lead Idea is the idea that is most often cited by respondents  Persuasion: ad’s ability to generate favorable brand attitudes Purchase intent Standard brand attitude measure  Commercial Reaction Standard ad attitude measures

Typical structure of Television Copy Test  Show a sample of 200 respondents a 30 minute program with test ad imbedded  Program is broadcast on an unused cable channel so respondents may view the program in their homes  The day after viewing, respondents are contacted and asked to name the commercials they remember seeing during the program If unable to name the commercials, they are prompted with correct and incorrect answers This tests both aided and unaided recall  Purchase intent can be ascertained with a pre-post exposure measurement Prior to watching, respondents are asked what brand they are likely to purchase next time After exposure, respondents are asked what brand they would prefer to win Asking the same preference question in a different context masks the purpose of the question to ensure accurate responses

Typical Structure of a Magazine Copy Test  125 respondents are recruited through mall intercepts  They are asked questions about media and product usage  They are provided a fake magazine with test ad imbedded and asked to quickly flip through and give initial reactions  Ask respondents what ads they remember seeing  Have them look through magazine again, for a longer time this time  Now ask recall, persuasion and communication questions  Direct respondents to the test ad and ask them to read it  Ask customized communication and diagnostic questions

Typical Measures in Print Copy Testing  Recall/Recognition  Idea Communication  Brand Attitude  Ad Attitude  Purchase Intent  Stopping Power Noted Readers: only remember seeing it Associated Readers: read part of it Read Most Readers: read more than half of it

Copy Testing Notes  Methodology should be as close to “real world” as possible  Using multiple exposures and collecting different data after each exposure allows identification of long term effects  Responses are more valid when exposure occurs without respondent knowledge of participation

When Using Outside Firms Research Services  Some measures between companies may have similar names, but measure completely differently. Understand the method completely so you can truly ascertain the meaning of the data  Know what the “norms” are, and be sure that they are current and appropriate to the product  Ensure that measures used by research firm are reliable and valid; if firm does not share, or claims to not know, reliability and validity diagnostics, be wary of results