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