Copy Testing

Asia-Pacific Marketing Federation Certified Professional Marketer

Copyright by Marketing Institute of Singapore

Organization
1. Introduction 2. What to Test
3. When to Test

Introduction
Concerns

measuring ad effectiveness

Important because: (a) Avoid costly mistakes (b) Evaluate alternative strategies (c) Increase efficiency of advtg in general

What to Test
1. Reaction to Ad Level of product awareness Attitude changes For low-involvement products
2. Reaction to Product Receptiveness to product For high-involvement products

Importance of Various Elements in Improving Advertising Effectiveness

Strength of basic concept Attention getting device Visual elements Copy Production value Suitability of medium Timing of insertion Lack of clutter Repetition Very Important 99% 43 56 72 26 59 9 24 50 Somewhat Important -- % 52 43 26 65 37 60 57 45 Not very Important -- % 4 -1 8 2 6 17 2

Concept Generation Test

Explore targeted consumers response to potential ad Test positioning, copy, headlines, illustrations Comprehension and reaction Focus group and Consumer Jury Panel

Ad Recognition
Whether audience can recognize an ad as one he has seen before Necessary condition for effective advertising Starch Readership Scores Noted Seen associated Read most

Highly reliable

Problems:

Low validity, High false alarming Interviewer sensitivities

Ad Recognition Survey
Respondent is shown commercial Questions: Do you remember seeing this commercial on TV? How interested are you in what this commercial is about? We have blocked out the name. Do you remember which brand was advertised?

Ad Recall

Whether audience can recall an ad

Aided or unaided Day-After-Recall (DAR) Not appropriate for emotional commercials

Problems:

Not reliable Recall favors unemotional appeals Articulation of message content Affected by program where commercial is placed Ads in soap operas better recalled No association between recall and persuasion; recall and sales

When to Test

Beginning of creative process End of creative process End of production stage After campaign is launched

Pretest

Pre-test: Before campaign is launched Qualitative research Mock-ups of finished copy

May not communicate as effectively as final version
Field

tests

Emphasis on pre-test depends on: (1) Level of risk If new creative concept high risk earlier feedback required (2) Amount of ad budget Large amount more tests required (3) Cost Major cost is not the test but the production of test materials. Therefore, more emphasis on earlier tests

Post-test: After campaign Surveys

Functions: (1) To see if campaign objectives have been met (2) To act as the situation analysis for next campaigning