Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

16. Advertising and Sales
    Promotion

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

472 Chapter 16

Ideally, advertisers should pretest advertising before it runs rather than relying

solely on their own guesses about how good an ad will be. The judgment of cre-

ative people or advertising experts may not help much. They often judge only on

the basis of originality or cleverness of the copy and illustrations.

Many progressive advertisers now demand laboratory or market tests to evalu-

ate an ad’s effectiveness. For example, American Express used focus group

interviews to get reactions to a series of possible TV ads. The agency prepared pic-

ture boards presenting different approaches—as well as specific copy. One idea that

seemed to be effective became the basis for an ad that was tested again before being

launched on TV.^26

Split runs on cable TV systems in test markets are an important approach for

testing ads in a normal viewing environment. Scanner sales data from retailers in

those test markets can provide an estimate of how an ad is likely to affect sales.

This approach will become even more powerful in the future as more cable systems

and telephone companies add new interactive technology that allows viewers to

provide immediate feedback to an ad as it appears on the TV.

After ads run, researchers may try to measure how much consumers recall about

specific products or ads. Inquiries from customers may be used to measure the effec-

tiveness of particular ads. The response to radio or television commercials or

magazine readership can be estimated using various survey methods to check the

size and composition of audiences (the Nielsen and Starch reports are examples).

Similarly, most Internet advertisers use software that keeps track of how many “hits”

on the firm’s website come from ads placed at other websites.^27

Research and testing
can improve the odds

Hindsight may lead to
foresight

Mercedes used the ad (above) to help introduce its new model and attract younger
customers in Latin America. A bad economy dampened sales, but the ad did pull the
target market into showrooms. This increased names in the dealers’ customer
database, used to target other promotions, by 50 percent. Firms like QuickTake.com
do research to help advertisers determine if a creative ad is also effective. More and
more research is being done online.

Government agencies
may say what is fair

In most countries, the government takes an active role in deciding what kinds

of advertising are allowable, fair, and appropriate. For example, France and Japan

limit the use of cartoon characters in advertising to children, and Canada bans any

advertising targeted directly at children. Greece and Sweden have had similar

How to Avoid Unfair Advertising