• Advertising research is a specialized form of

marketing research conducted to improve the

efficiency of advertising.
• Advertising research is the systematic
gathering and analysis of information to help
develop or evaluate advertising strategies, ads
and commercials, and media campaigns.
• A subset of marketing research.
 Types of Advertising Research
Customized
Customized research is conducted for a specific client to address that
client’s needs. Only that client has access to the results of the research.

Syndicated
Syndicated research is a single research study conducted by a research
company with its results available, for sale, to multiple companies.
• Theory versus application
– Advertising research is valuable as a means of primary research
regardless of the practical application of the research
– Advertising research without practical application is pointless
• Although advertising research is a constantly changing
field, the traditional tools will always serve the
researcher well, so long as the research is adaptive to
new media, audiences, and advertising stragtegies
 Advertising Research Process

1: Problem Definition
– Evaluate alternative choices
– Better understand marketplace problem
– Increase knowledge of a particular topic
2: Research Justification
– Value obtained exceeds cost of acquisition
– High cost implications of wrong decision
 Advertising Research Process
3: Specification of Informational Needs
4: Identify appropriate type of research
5: Sampling and data collection
6: Set budget and timing
7: Prepare proposal
8: Prepare research materials
9: Conduct research
10: Data collection and preparation
 Advertising Research Process
• Data Analysis
• Depends largely upon problem statement, research
questions, and type of data collected
• Presentation of Results
• Focus on implications and conclusions supported by the
data, not the data itself
• Decision Making
“Advertising research may focus on a specific ad or
campaign, or may be directed at a more general
understanding of how advertising works or how
consumers use the information in advertising. It
can entail a variety of research approaches,
including psychological, sociological, economic,
and other perspectives.”
 Method of Advertising Research
Pre-market research
can be conducted to optimize ads for any medium optimize
advertisement for any medium: radio, television, print (magazine,
newspaper or direct mail), outdoor billboard (highway, bus, or
train), or Internet.

Post-market research
conducted after the advertising, either a single ad or an entire multimedia
campaign has been run in-market. The focus is on what the advertising has
done for the brand, for example increasing brand awareness, trial, frequency
of purchasing.
 Pre testing or Copy Testing
Evaluation of alternative ways for advertisers to
present their messages.

“Copy” refers to an entire advertisement, including

the verbal message, pictures, colors, and
dramatizations, whether the advertisement appears in
print, on radio or television, or some other medium.
 Copy Testing
• Consumer Jury.
• Rating Scales.
• Portfolio Tests.
• Psychological Tests.
• Physiological Tests.
• Sales Tests.
• Day-after recall
Tests.
 Consumer Jury:
 Oldest & simplest test.
 Personal interview may be used or a group may be
assembled & asked to vote on an alternative based on their
preferences, interests, or influences to buy the product .
 Provides a “rating” given by a group of consumers who
may represent potential buyers of the product.
 Assumption: The respondent must like at least one
advertisement.
 Rating Scales:
Requires the establishment of standards for effective copy
and numerical weights for each standard.
Ads are then “rated” in accordance with the scale values and
a numerical score is obtained.

Advantage:
Provides a list against which to check an ad & helps to single
out the elements that are good or bad.

Disadvantages:
Different judges will rate the ad differently.
Portfolio Tests:
Sometimes the ad is placed in dummy copies
of newspapers or magazines.
A group of ads, usually a mixture of test ads and
control ads, is placed in a portfolio.
 Physiological Tests:
Tests are obtained using special
laboratory equipments which record an
individuals physiological responses to
ads.
e.g.-Galvanic skin response, Eye

movement test, Pupillometer.

 Psychological
Tests:
A list of reactions like self pity, security, fear or
nostalgia is set up.
Alternative ads are then rated on how readers
respond w.r.t. those reactions.
A no. of techniques including word association,
sentence completion, depth interview & story
telling are adopted.
Difficult to implement, since skilled interviewers are
required
 Sales tests
Sales tests are a useful measure of advertising
effectiveness when advertising is the dominant
element, or the only variable, in the company's
marketing plan.
Sales response may not be immediate and sales
tests, particularly field studies, are often costly
and time-consuming.
 Day-after recall Tests:
Research method that tests consumers‘
memories the day after they have seen an
ad, to assess the ad's effectiveness.
 Post-testing
Provide either periodic or continuous in-market research
monitoring a brand’s performance.
Including brand awareness, brand preference, product usage and
attitudes. Some post-testing approaches simply track changes
over time, while others use various methods to quantify the
specific changes produced by advertising—either the campaign as
a whole or by the different media utilized.
Overall, advertisers use post-testing to plan future advertising
campaigns, so the approaches that provide the most detailed
information on the accomplishments of the campaign are most
valued.
 Problems in media selection
• It’s not sufficient to select the major media, you also
need to make specific selections within these
general types of media.
• Character of media has to be considered before
selecting it as it has great influence on effectiveness
of the advertisement.
 Problem of audience measurement
• Variation in composition and sizes of audience of
given media vehicle.
• Variation due to geography.
• Variation due to rate at which different vehicles
accumulate audiences.
• Difficulty of estimating value of different sizes of
message units within and between media.
• Estimating actual geographical area covered.
 Conclusion

 Ad effectiveness is dicey proposition. Though it is

necessary to know how the Ads works for us, it is
difficult to do it, especially by relating advertising
to sale.