Measuring Advertising Media
Effectiveness
Advertising effectiveness is a method used to determine if a brand’s marketing
efforts are hitting the mark with its target audience and whether it’s getting the
best returns. It enables brands to measure the strengths, weaknesses, and ROI of
specific advertising campaigns, so the company can adjust accordingly.
Why should brands measure ad effectiveness?
Ad effectiveness is a vital strategy for brands looking to understand the
impact of their ads on the audiences they want to influence.
It’s what helps companies truly understand the reach of their campaigns so
they can focus on the elements that were successful and apply them to
future efforts.
Approaches to measure Media Effectiveness:
There are different tests and several techniques in each of the test to
evaluate advertising effectiveness. Test depends on the aspects to be
evaluated.
1. Pre-test and Post Test:
Pre-test implies testing advertising message before it is sent to
specific media. Post test implies testing impact of advertising
message after it is published in any of the media.
2. Communication and Sales Effect Test:
Communication test measures communicability (ability to
communicate) of the message. Whereas sales-effect test
measures advertising impact on sales volume.
3. Laboratory and Field Test:
Clearly, a laboratory test is conducted in a controlled environment in a
limited scale. Respondents are invited in a laboratory to state their
response. Quite opposite, a field test is conducted in original setting,
artificial climate is not created. It is similar as conducting survey to
measure what customers think about company’s advertisement.
4. Experimental and Survey Test:
Experimental test involves testing advertising effect by conducting test
by manipulating independent variable (i.e., advertising efforts) and
measuring the effect of the manipulation on other dependent variables
like sales, profits, consumer satisfaction, etc. Experimental test may be
laboratory or field test. Survey test involved knowing consumers’ view’s
through a survey method.
5. Message and Media Effect Test:
While message test involves measuring clarity, contents,
believability, action ability, etc., of the message, the media test
measures effectiveness/ suitability of one or more media.
Mostly, a company is interested to measure advertisement’s
communication effect and sales effect. Therefore, it is worthwhile to
discuss communication and sales effect test.
Communication and Sales Effect Test:
Among several tests, the communication test and the sales effect test
are more relevant because success of advertising campaign depends
on how far advertising has influenced knowledge, attitudes and
preference of the target customers. In the same way, a sales volume
is the ultimate aim of all marketing efforts (including advertising).
Advertising must increase sales. Therefore, evaluation of advertising
effectiveness, in most cases, consists of evaluating communication
test and sales effect test.
Methods for Communication Effect Test:
Communication effect test seeks to determine whether advertisement is
capable to communicate effectively.
Following methods are used:
1. Direct Rating Test:
In this method, consumers are asked to rate/rank alternative
advertisements. They are exposed to different ads and are requested
to rate them. Consumers can consider various criteria to rate the
advertisement, like message contents, message clarity, coordination,
and overall impression.
2. Recall Test:
It measures the retention value of ad message. The consumers are
asked to listen and/or view the particular advertisement. They are
then asked to recall the same. The amount of contents and message
they recall determines effectiveness of advertisement.
3. Portfolio Test:
Here, the consumers are asked to view and/or listen to a portfolio of
advertisements. They are given as much time as they need. They are then
asked to recall all the ads and their contents. Their recall level indicates an
advertisement’s ability to affect consumers’ knowledge and arouse interest.
4. Laboratory Test:
The test is conducted in laboratory. Necessary equipment’s are used to
measure consumers’ physical reactions in terms of heartbeat, blood
pressure, perspiration, etc., to an ad.
Methods Sales Effect Test:
While the communication effect test measures communicating ability
of the ad, the sales affect test measures ad’s ability to influence sales.
Ad must affect sales positively. In fact, advertising’s sales effect is
difficult to test because sales are influenced by many factors besides
advertising, including product’s features, price, availability, and
competition.
Following two methods are used:
1. Historical Test:
The test involves correlating the past sales to the past advertising
expenditures using advance statistical techniques. The results can reveal
how far advertisement was effective in generating or increasing sales. The
test can be used for different products, territories and ad media, or in
general.
2. Experimental Test:
Experiment is conducted to assess impact of advertisement on sales.
Instead of spending the same per cent of sales for advertisement in all
territories or products, a company spends different percentage of sales
for advertisement. Company can easily judge whether high-spending
territories have resulted in increasing sales and vice-versa.
The importance of evaluation of the effectiveness of advertising is listed
below:
(i) It is generally opined that much of advertising expenditure is wasteful.
Proper evaluation would help in finding out whether it is really wasteful and if
so how much of it is so.
(ii) Evaluation reveals the strengths and weaknesses of different media and
thus provides useful guidance for future media planning.
(iii) Through suitable methods, the draft of a message or a copy can be tested
beforehand so that preventive steps may be adopted and waste reduced.
(iv) The whole process of evaluation leads to a body of recorded experience
which may be useful not only to the improvement of advertising but also to
better planning.
(v) Evaluation shows not only which advertisements are less productive but
why they are so. So it indicates the sources for greater effectiveness.
There are many difficulties in the evaluation of the effectiveness of
advertising and they are:
(i) Good researchers who can successfully measure the impact of
advertising are difficult to get.
(ii) It is difficult to say how much increase in advertising resulted in how
much rise in sales.
(iii) The primary aim of advertising is to increase sales. But it cannot
be concluded that the entire increase has been due to advertising. In
reality, many factors influence sales, advertising is just one of them.
(iv) Advertising has many goals, one of them is to build goodwill. But
measurement of goodwill is not possible.
