Ad Management

Repeat an ad

If response to an ad is good, run it - without change - two or three times and check the responses of each appearance or broadcast against previous ones.

 

Keep repeating the process. Much advertising loses effectiveness because the advertiser doesn't keep reminding people. Repetition helps increase knowledge of and interest in, the product. You can soon estimate how often you should repeat each ad - exactly or with minor changes.

 

Analyze all ads in relation to response

Divide ads into at least two classes: high-response ads and low-response ads. Then look for differences between the two classes.

 

The time the ad was broadcast or run may be responsible for a particular response level. Other factors, however, may be just as influential as time or even more so, though in radio time is often crucial.

 

Consider the message and how well it was expressed. Did the copy stick to the theme or did it wander? If you used slogans, did they help make the point? For print, consider the effects of illustrations, type, size, color, and ad location. In broadcast, consider whether or not the voice of the person doing the ad or music used may have had an effect.

 

Emphasis on brand names should also be checked. Price figures should be analyzed. If price lines are involved either in the ad or in the merchandise line of which the advertised product is a part, you should consider them also.

 

Check the effect of the length of broadcast ads. Did you get the best results with 10-second, 30-second, or 60-second announcements?

 

Check the size of print ads. Size often has a bearing on response. As a general rule, the larger the ad, the larger the response.

 

Try to see a pattern of dominance

Your analysis of high-and-low response ads may show that certain details make the difference between a high or low response. Try to find the combinations that work best for your firm and merchandise.

 

Note changes occurring over time

You should never take a winning combination for granted. There is no single formula that will insure high response ads every time. Advertising changes. Therefore, you should watch the ads of others to see what changes are occurring. Continue to analyze your own ads, make small changes occasionally, and note any variations in response.

 

Listen to what people say about your ads

In doing so, try to discover your mental framework within which any comment about your ad was made. Then try to find points that reinforce believability and a feeling that your product fulfills some wish or need.

 

However, you should not be misled by what people say. An ad can cause a great deal of comment and bring in practically no sales. An ad may be so beautiful or clever that as far as the customer is concerned the sales message is lost.

 

Testing Attitude Advertising

Testing Attitude Advertising

Testing Attitude Advertising

When advertising is spread out over a selling season or several seasons, part of the measurement job is keeping records. Your aim is comparing records of ads and sales for extended time.

 

An easy way to set up a file is by marking the date of the run on tear sheets of newspaper ads (many radio stations now provide "radio tear sheets", too), log reports of radio and television ads, and copies of direct mail ads. The file may be broken down into monthly quarterly, or semiannual blocks. By recording the sales of the advertised items on each ad or log, you can make comparisons.

 

In attitude (or image-building) advertising, the individual ads are building blocks, so to speak, which make up your advertising over a selling season. The problem is trying to measure each ad and the effects of all of the ads taken together.

 

One approach is making your comparisons on a weekly basis. If you run an ad, for example, each week, at the end of the first week after the ad appears or is broadcast, compare that week's sales with sales for the same week a year ago. At the end of the second week, compare your sales with those of the end of the first week as week as year-ago figures.

 

At the end of the third week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 month, and 12 months from the running of the ad, repeat the process even though additional ads may have appeared or been aired in the meantime. For each of these ads, you will also make the same type of comparisons. You will, of course, be measuring the "momentum" of all your ads as well as the results of a single ad.

 

After a time, you probably will be able to estimate how much of the results are due to the individual ad and how much to the momentum of all your advertising. You may then make changes in specific details of the ad to increase response.

 

When comparing sales increases over some preceding period, allowances must be made for situations that are not normal. For example, your experience may be than rain on the day an ad appears cuts its pulling power by 50 percent. Similarly, advertising response will be affected by the fact that your customers work in a factory that is out on strike.