Page 501 - Foundations of Marketing

468 Part 6 | Promotion Decisions

Evaluation of advertising effectiveness after the campaign is called a posttest . Advertising
objectives often determine what kind of posttest is appropriate. If the objectives’ focus is
on communication—to increase awareness of product features or brands or to create more
favorable customer attitudes—the posttest should measure changes in these dimensions.
Advertisers sometimes use consumer surveys or experiments to evaluate a campaign based on
communication objectives. These methods are costly, however. In posttests, generalizations
can be made about why advertising is failing or why media vehicles are not delivering the
desired results.
For campaign objectives stated in terms of sales, advertisers should determine the change
in sales or market share attributable to the campaign. For example, the “Arrive a Guest. Leave
a Legend” advertising campaign launched by the state of North Dakota significantly increased
visitor spending in the state. It was estimated that each dollar spent on tourism advertising
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yielded $ 119 in visitor spending during a one-year period. However, changes in sales or
market share brought about by advertising cannot be measured precisely; many factors inde-
pendent of advertisements affect a firm’s sales and market share. Competitors’ actions, regu-
latory actions, and changes in economic conditions, consumer preferences, and weather are
only a few factors that might enhance or diminish a company’s sales or market share. By using
data about past and current sales and advertising expenditures, advertisers can make gross
estimates of the effects of a campaign on sales or market share.
Because it is difficult to determine the direct effects of advertising on sales, many adver-
tisers evaluate print advertisements according to how well consumers can remember them.
As more advertisers turn to mobile technology, measuring the recall rate of mobile advertise-
ments is becoming increasingly important. Brands with the best mobile recall rate include
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Sears, Walmart, Colgate, Macy’s, JCPenney, Nike, and Target. Researchers have found that
ads that play on the theme of social desirability are more memorable when viewed in the pres-
ence of other people.
Posttest methods based on memory include recognition and recall tests. Such tests are usu-
ally performed by research organizations through surveys. In a recognition test , respondents
are shown the actual advertisement and asked whether they recognize it. If they do, the inter-
viewer asks additional questions to determine how much of the advertisement each respondent
read. When recall is evaluated, respondents are not shown the actual advertisement but instead
are asked about what they have seen or heard recently. For Internet advertising, research sug-
gests that the longer a person is exposed to a website containing a banner advertisement, the
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more likely he or she is to recall the ad.
Recall can be measured through either unaided or aided recall methods. In an unaided
recall test , respondents identify advertisements they have seen recently but are not shown
any clues to help them remember. A similar procedure is used with an aided recall test , but
respondents are shown a list of products, brands, company names, or trademarks to jog their
memories. Research has shown that online advertisements have 1.8 times the aided recall rate
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and 1.5 times the unaided recall rate of television advertisements. Several research organi-
posttest Evaluation of adver- zations, such as Daniel Starch, provide research services that test recognition and recall of
tising effectiveness after the advertisements.
campaign
The major justification for using recognition and recall methods is that people are more
recognition test A post- likely to buy a product if they can remember an advertisement about it than if they cannot.
test in which respondents are However, recalling an advertisement does not necessarily lead to buying the product or
shown the actual ad and are
asked if they recognize it brand advertised. Researchers also use a sophisticated technique called single-source data
to help evaluate advertisements. With this technique, individuals’ behaviors are tracked
unaided recall test A post-
test in which respondents are from television sets to checkout counters. Monitors are placed in preselected homes, and
asked to identify advertisements microcomputers record when the television set is on and which station is being viewed.
they have seen recently but are At the supermarket checkout, the individual in the sample household presents an iden-
not given any recall clues tification card. Checkers then record the purchases by scanner, and data are sent to the
research facility. Some single-source data companies provide sample households with
aided recall test A post-
test that asks respondents to scanning equipment for use at home to record purchases after returning from shopping
identify recent ads and provides trips. Single-source data supplies information that links exposure to advertisements with
clues to jog their memories purchase behavior.

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