Marketing Communications

302 CHAPTER 9 ADVERTISING RESEARCH

a masked identifi cation test of a billboard ad for a new car is shown, together with the results

of a number of categories of control ads.

A second type of communications eff ect measurement is the recall test. In an unaided

recall test, consumers have to indicate which ads they remember having seen, in a specifi c

magazine, on TV or on billboards. In an aided recall test, the consumer’s memory is helped

by means of clues such as: What car ads did you see on TV yesterday? As such, the masked

identifi cation test can be regarded as an aided recall test. Unaided recall scores are usually

lower than aided recall scores, which in turn are lower than recognition scores. Th erefore

they cannot be compared.

A well-known recall test is the Gallup–Robinson Impact test for print ads. Firstly, the

respondents have to read a magazine at home. Th e following day, the respondents are called

and asked to recall as many ads as they can. Aft er that, a number of questions about the

content of the ads are asked. Th e Gallup–Robinson procedure leads to three indicators of

advertising eff ectiveness:^13

z Proved name registration : the percentage of subjects who remember an ad without having

seen it during the test.

z Idea penetration : the extent to which subjects have understood the main idea in the ad.

z Conviction : the percentage of subjects who want to buy or use the product.

Another well-known recall test, used for audio-visual ads, is the Day After Recall (DAR)

test. In this telephone interview procedure, a number of consumers are called. Th ey are asked

to indicate which ads they saw on TV or heard on the radio the day before, within a certain

product category. In the second stage, brand names are mentioned, and the respondent has

to indicate if he or she remembers having seen or heard an ad for the brand. Additionally, a

number of questions about the ad content are asked. Th e resulting percentages of correct

recall are always compared with some kind of benchmark, such as all commercials within the

same product category or all commercials of the day before. In the triple association test, a

product category and a selling proposition are given, and the respondent has to indicate a

brand name, e.g. ‘What brand of petrol puts a tiger in your tank?’

Finally, the eff ect of an ad can be tested by means of behavioural measures. Especially

in the case of direct response ads, the number of people calling a free telephone number

announced in the ad, sending back a coupon or actually buying the product can be

considered a measure of the eff ectiveness of the ad.

Figure 9.6 Masked identification test

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