preoution and Evaluation of Advertising 165 e advertiser may undertake pre-tests to find out whether the aavertising, will be in a position to achieve its objectives. The pre- tests are conducted before the campaign is launched in the market. The advertiser may conduct post-tests to find out whether the advertising campaign has achieved its objectives. The Post-tests are conducted during the running of the ad campaign or after the ‘completion of the ad campaign. ENS ppc ya wating ne advertising campaigns can be briefly explained as follows: ], Purpose of Pre-tests: The pre-tests are conducted to judge or determine the following: a) To find out the communication effect on the target audience. The advertiser or advertising agency can pre-test the ad campaign to determine the communication effect on the target audience. This can be done with the help of check list method or the consumer jury method. (b) To find out technical errors in the ads. The ad agency need to check language errors, printing errors, and so on. With the help of check list the agency can find out whether there are mistakes in the campaign or whether certain relevant matters are omitted from the ad or whether irrelevant matters have been included in the ads. To make the ads more impressive and effective. This can be done by finding out whether the illustrations used are effective ornot, whether the headline strikes the attention or not, whether the copy text is convincing or not, whether the slogan has an impact on the memory or not. If required, necessary corrections are undertaken to make the ad campaign more effective. =e To reduce the wastage in advertising. For example, the advertising agency may reduce the length of ads, ifitis required. Again, expensive colour combination may be reduced. This may Teduce the cost of time and space required for the ads in the Media,need for To find out whe ne product well, whereas, some m e for some products. Therefore, the adver che nding uponeatin ad Eonluation of Advertsing 167 ee OF TESTING _ E VERTISING EFFECTIVENESS gs can be evaluated to find their effectiveness by conducting a series of tests either before they are run (pre-tests) or after they are exposed to audience (post-tests). Certain tests such as sales - area - tests are conducted to measure he Sales effect. However, most tests are conducted to find out the communication effectiveness of advertising. The different methods are charted as follows: Methods of Testing [PreTesting Methods Post-Testing Methods | Check List Method © Recall Test © Consumer Jury Test @ Readership Test © Sales-Area-Test @ Sales Technique Inquiry Test @ Inquiry Technique @ Other Tests @ Attitude Test PRE-TESTING METHODS Pre-tests are conducted before the ads are run. The pre-tests can test adidea, headline, graphic presentation, copy or the whole ad. The test can be conducted in a laboratory, studio or in a natural environment either individually or ina group. Pre-testing is usually concerned with the relative performance of alternative ads. 1, CHECK LIST METHOD Itis the simplest method conducted to find out whether or not the ad contains relevant elements. The list contains items that are commonly found in most of ads. The researcher's job is to puta tick Mark against the item appearing in the ad.168 ‘Advertising - I (S.Y.B.Com.: SEMIV) ‘The check list method can also be used to find out whether the aq contains the required features such as, attention alle eae value, readability, understandability, brevity, educative value anc’ s0 on, The check list method is very easy to conduct, requires very less time and money but it is difficult to judge consumer reactions by a mere check list. 2, CONSUMER JURY TEST A group of consumers is selected to obtain the preference for one or two ads out of several being considered by the advertiser. The jury members are asked to rate the ads. The jury members are asked questions like: @ Which of these ads would you notice first? Which of these ads would interest you the most? Which of these ads would make you to buy the brand? © Which of these ads can be easily read and understood? Which of these ads are more believable? This method can be conducted in two ways: ‘A, Order-of-merit rating B. Paired Comparison ‘A. Order of Merit Rating: Under this type, a small group of respondents is shown a series of ads, may be five or six ata time and are asked to place them in order of merit. When all the jury members finished ranking the ads, score sheets are compiled to obtain a complete picture of the ranking done by the jurors. Each rank can be assigned certain points. The higher the rank the more will be the points. For instance, if there are five ads to be tested, they can be ranked between one to five ranks. The points for ranks can be assigned as:aca Advertising -II (S.Y.B.Com.: SEM-1y) - Which of these ads are more noticeable ? - Which of these ads are more believable ? = Which of these ads would create a desire to buy ? = Which of these ads would generate “top of mind” awareness? 4. Conducting the Test: The ads are shown to the jury members, The jury members are given the list of questions. The jury members are asked to rate the ads in order of preference in respect of various criteria, such as attention, attracting value, top of mind awareness, impact on buying decision, etc. The jury members would be given diaries or note books to record their preferences. The consumer jury members may be asked to follow a particular technique of ranking, i.e., order of merit rating, or paired comparison. 5. Analysing the Jury Reports : The advertiser analyses the jury members’ reports in respect of ranking of ads. The advertiser prepares a report on the basis of such analysis. 6. Selection of Ads : The advertiser selects the best ad, which would be run in the media. The advertiser may select two ads rather than one ad. There may be further analyses of both the ads in terms of their advertising value. After proper judgement, the advertiser selects the best ad. The advertiser may reserve the second ad, which may be used ata later stage. 7. Implementation of the Campaign : The advertiser has to make necessary arrangement to run the campaign in the various media. For this purpose, the selected ad must be prepared in all respects. The advertiser need to book ne : : cessary time and space in the media to run the ad. 8. Review : The advertiser should review the ad campaign to find out whether the advertising objectives are achieved or not. If not, the advertiser may modify the campaign, or may select @ new campaign to advertise the brand, Note : If Consumer Jury Test procedure is asked in exams - write meaning and steps. Do not explain the 2 ways, A 47 reoutiont and Evaluation of. Advertising v1 syALUATION OF CONSUMER JURY TEST: Merits : 4) Itcan be conducted within a short period of time. ) The cost involved is minimal, = 9 It does not require actual Tunning of ads. 4) The ads can be prepared ina tough form, thus saving cost. ¢) Jurors can be motivated to give unbiased replies. f) The size of the sample need not be large. It can be anywhere between 10 to 50 members. g) There are no outside influences to distort the ad such as the position of the ad in the publication. Demerits : a) The entire test appears to be unrealistic as the Jury member does not view the ads under normal real-life conditions. b) There may be respondent bias ¢} Selection of representative sample is a real problem. = The test is based on opinions rather than in-depth study of respondent preferences. ®) There is often inconsistency in ranking by different members of the Jury. 3." SALES-AREA-TEST This is a pre-testing method by which an ad or campaign is run on small scale to find out its effectiveness before running the ad ‘mpaign over the entire market area. The procedure is to run the campaign with different appeals in “arate comparable markets (usually cities), for a particular period St time. The impact of the campaign is evaluated in terms of | “paring the actual sales in different markets. The campaign in heJjonand Eoaluation of Advertising ve valuation : The sales results of the control group of cities are evaluated against the test group of cities to find out comparative sales performance, 5 Selection of Campaign : On evaluation, if the sales in test group ’ ofcities show a better performance, the new campaignis treated as more effective, and later on is run over the entire market area. However, if the sales in the control group of cities are more; the old campaign is continued in both the groups of cities. | Conclusion : sales-area-test when conducted properly provides authentic results pecause the test is conducted in actual real-sales situation. However, it poses @ problem in respect of selection of cities maintaining comparable situations. 4, INQUIRY TEST The inquiry test is another method of pre-testing advertising effectiveness. It can be used to check the relative effectiveness of several ads by running them on a limited basis. The procedure involved is to include in the ad an offer to send something to the respondent if he writes for it, The offer stimulating the inquiry may be made by including in the ad an actual coupon which can be cut out and mailed back by the reader. Sometimes the offer may be hidden so that only interested readers mail the coupon totake advantage of the offer. By coding the coupon, the advertiser can find out which of the several ads resulted in more response Generally, the advertiser runs the first ad on one day in a local | newspaper or one edition of magazine, thenext ad on thenext day/ ‘ssue of the publication and the third ad in the third issue and so on. Theinquiry test can also be conducted by direct mail. In this method, theads are prepared and then mailed to asample of readers. The ad tliciting the maximum number of responses is selected. | Splitrun is one variation of inquiry test method. Itis a way of testing ° or more completed ads in a controlled field experiment. The periment is called controlled because the ads that are to be tested ‘Pear in the same position and in the same issue of publication.74 ‘Advertising - Il (S.Y:B.Com.: SEM-1V) For instance, if there are two ads to be tested, AD 1and AD 2;AD1 i ished i ‘ f copies of the will be published in the first half the number of co Baten and the AD 2 will be run in the remaining half the number of copies. Much care is taken to ensure that each ad reaches toa comparable group of readers. Conclusion : Itis easy to implement. It permits to compare ‘the conditions in which the reader responds to the ad with those in which the reader is normally being exposed to. However, it is time consuming and expensive. OTHER PRE-TEST METHODS There are several other pre-testing methods such as projective techniques, mechanical laboratory tests, portfolio tests, theatre- type tests, etc. @) Projective Techniques: It is one way of understanding the motivations, desires and preferences of consumer towards a product and/or ad. Projective technique is one type of motivational research used in pretesting ads. The purpose of this test is to avoid the drawbacks of direct questioning and instead allow a respondent to project himself into the scene and reveal his feelings or thoughts about an advertising situation. The principal types of projective techniques are: ° Depth Interview: The respondent is given the advertising material and is asked to express his opinion freely. The interviewer studies the respondent about his underlying, feelings and motivation. Word Association: This test is more structured than depth interview. In the association technique, the researcher presents a word, or some unidentified shape such as @ cloud, and the respondents asked to reply with first word, thought or image that comes to his mind. For example: What is the first thing you think of a toothpaste? or a car 2 Sentence Completion: The researcher shows a incomplete picture or puts forward an incomplete sentenceE yionand Evaluation of Advertising ee _ call test. The list of points are required, especially in the case of aided recall tests. The list of points may be in respect of : The personality used in the ad. 2 The illustration of the ad. A ¢ The headline / slogan of the ad. The size / length of the ad, etc, 3 Conducting the Test: The respondents would be asked to recall the various aspects of the ad with special reference to the points listed earlier. The recall test may be aided or unaided. e Inthe aided recall tests, a clue or a hint may be provided in respect of the ad relating to the headline, illustration, personality, etc. For instance, a question may be asked as : Which personality promotes the Cola brand of Thums Up. erm e In unaided recall tests, no hint is provided to the respondents in respect of the ad being tested. 4 Analysis of the Test : The advertiser will analyse the findings ofthe test. If the respondents recall either partly or wholly, then _ itcan be said that the ad has made an impact on the minds of the audience. 5. Preparation of the Report : The ad manager or the ad agency or the research firm may prepare a report of the analysis of the recall test. Such report may enable the advertiser to take necessary action in respect of the advertising in future. 6& Follow-up : The researcher must follow-up the report to find out whether or not it is accepted. If accepted, whether or not any action is being taken. If action is taken; the results of such action. 2 READERSHIP /RECOGNITION TESTS This test is also referred as recognition test. This test was first eloped by Daniel Starch in the U.S.A. The credit for popularising, tegponition test goes to George Gallup who conducted a series of sin the late 1920s in USA. Both Starch and Gallup were of the Ue