Chapter sEVEN
Research: GATheRING INFORMATION
FOR ADVERTISING PLANNING
Objectives
The main objective for this chapter is to examine how advertisers gain information about the marketplace and how they apply their findings to marketing and advertising decision making.
After studying this chapter, your students will be able to:
1. Discuss how research helps advertisers locate market segments and identify target markets.
2. Explain the basic steps in the research process.
3. Discuss the differences between formal and informal research and primary and secondary data.
4. Explain the methods used in qualitative and quantitative research.
5. Define and explain the concepts of validity and reliability.
6. Recognize the important issues in creating survey questionnaires.
7. Explain the challenges international advertisers face in collecting research data abroad.
8. Debate the pros and cons of advertising testing.
Teaching Tips and Strategies
After reading this chapter students should be able to understand what makes an effective ad. I take the video that came with the text (for instructors) and play several of the commercials. I ask students the following questions:
· What are they trying to sell?
· Is the ad effective why or why not?
The purpose of this exercise is to convey to students the problems with interpretation of what an ad is really intended to do (normally, students will be split on what is a good or bad ad). Advertisers/ Ad Agencies constantly tweak and research the ads messages, and purposes they are trying to convey. As you know the advertisers do this through research. If research was infallible wouldn’t every ad be impact and help sell a product or service? Luckily there are some programs and established steps that help to reduce the likelihood of a failed advertising campaign.
I had a program called TVscan that helped to depict the different demographics, ratings, reach, and frequency of a campaign over a certain time period. This program would help me to create detailed media plans that worked for my clients. For instance, if an advertiser told me that they wanted to target woman 25-54, I could input this information into TVscan as an attribute and it would run the numbers for me. It would come up with a detailed frequency, reach, GRP etc, based on the different television shows I picked for this campaign.
Advertisers constantly try to gauge consumer sentiment about ads, by using focus groups, and surveys. One of the problems with surveys is to make sure we are asking the question that we think we are asking. We also need to make sure that the answer customer are giving are their true answers and not one they think they are being forced into.
A good example that is not advertising related, yet is market research related is the debacle with Coke launching New Coke in the eighties. I like to delve into this example and what happened with Coke, because it indicates to students that even though marketing research conveys that something is true (the need for new Coke) it isn’t really true or accurate sometimes. This is something I emphasize for students to keep in mind. The downside of research is we might not want to believe what it is really telling us, and sometimes it is off base, and sometimes…..
lecture Outline
I. Introduction: the story of Healthtex (pp. 205-206)
II. The Need for Research in Marketing and Advertising (p. 206) –– Advertising is expensive and companies want to do everything possible to help insure the investment will result in effective advertising. Research also enables companies to determine the effectiveness of past marketing programs and ad campaigns. Research helps to provide information so that companies can have some information to base their decisions for this investment. Good research allows the company to devise a sophisticated, integrated mix of product, price distribution, and communication elements. Helps managers decide which strategies will enhance the brand’s image and lead to grater profits.
A. What is Marketing Research (p. 206)- marketing research is a systematic procedures for gathering, recording and analyzing new information to help managers make marketing decisions.
(1) It helps identify consumer needs and market segments, (2) it provides the information necessary for developing new products and devising marketing strategies, (3) it enables managers to assess the effectiveness of marketing programs and promotional activities, (4) and it is useful in financial planning, economic forecasting and quality control.
3 purposes of market research: (1) recruit new customers-may research different market segments and create product attributes models to match buyers with the right products and services.
(2) retain customers-may research using customer satisfaction studies
(3) regain lost customers-look for patterns prior to the cancellation of services and devise a plan to regain customers.
Exhibit 7-1 Top 10 research companies by worldwide revenues (p. 207)
B. What is Advertising Research (p. 208) advertising research uncovers information needed to make advertising decisions. The type of information that a company needs to know prior to developing an advertising campaign:
1. How people perceive its products
2. How people view the competition
3. What brand or company image would be most credible
4. What ads offer the greatest appeal
III. Applying Research to Advertising Decision Making (p. 208)- purposes of advertising research:
Exhibit 7-2 Categories of research in advertising development (p. 209) A7-1 (p.209)
A7-2 Healthtex advertisement demonstrating that research discovered people wanted not just cute clothing but practical clothing as well for their children (p. 210)
A. Advertising Strategy Research (p. 209) advertising strategy research is seeking information about any or all of the creative mix ( product concept, target audience, communication media and the creative message)
1. Product Concept
2. Target Audience Selection
3. Media Selection-media research is used to develop media strategies, select media vehicles and evaluate their results
4. Message-Element Selection
B. Developing Creative Concepts (p. 211)
C. Pretesting and Posttesting
1. The Purpose of Testing-pretesting-trying the advertisement campaign in a sample of the total audience. Posttesting-determining the effectiveness of an advertisement campaign after it has run.
2. Testing Helps Make Important Decisions about these 4 elements of an advertisement
- Merchandise-the product concept
b. Markets-various audience groups
c. Motives-what compels customers to act
d. Message-what an ad communicates to a customer
- Media-media classes- print, electronic, digital interactive, direct mail, and out-of-home.
media subclasses- newspapers, magazines, radio, television
media vehicle- the particular publication or program
media units- the size or length of an ad: half-page, full-page ads, 15 or 30
second commercials
- Overall results- advertisers want to determine how well they met their objectives
Exhibit 7-3 Media categories (p. 214) A7-3 (p.214)
IV. Steps in the Research Process (p. 214)
Exhibit 7-4 The Marketing research Process (p. 214) A7-4 (p.214)
A. Step 1: Analyzing the Situation and Defining the Problem-Marketing information system (MIS)-a sophisticated set of procedures designed to generate a continuous orderly flow of information for use in making marketing decisions.
B. Step 2: Conducting Informal (Exploratory) Research- informal or exploratory research-information gathered about the market, competition and business environment that helps to better define the problem, primary data-information gathered from the market place about a specific problem, secondary data-information previously gathered and published, usually for another purpose, by the firm or another organization.
- Assembling Internal Secondary Data
- Gathering External Secondary Data
Example: The Internet is one source of secondary data (p. 216)
- Using Secondary Data for International Markets
C. Step 3: Establishing Research Objectives- market share- the amount of the total market that a company controls, research objectives-statement of the problem that is specific and measurable.
D. Step 4: Conducting Formal Research- formal research is the type of research that occurs when a company wants to gather information directly from the market place.
Two types of formal research:
qualitative research-where the type of information gather will provide a general impression of the market, the consumer, or product and enables the researchers to gain insight into both the population whose opinion will be sampled and the subject matter itself.
quantitative research-hard numbers about specific marketing situations, the type of information gathered will be performed with use of a survey or use some other method of collecting quantitative data (observation, experiment and survey)
Exhibit 7-5 Differences between qualitative and quantitative research (p. 217)
- Basic Methods of Qualitative Research-qualitative research methods open-ended questions that elicit in-depth responses rather than yes, no questions.
- Projective techniques-designed to understand people’s underlying or subconscious feelings, attitudes, interests, opinions, needs, and motives by asking indirect questions and involving customers in a situation they can express feeling about the problem or product.
- Intensive techniques- in-depth interview (carefully planned but loosely structured questions that help the interviewer probe respondent’s deeper feelings) focus group (group of 6 or more people, usually a sample of the target market, invited to discuss a product, service, or marketing situation in a group forum).
2. Basic Methods of Quantitative Research (p. 219)
a. Observation- observation method-where a researcher monitors people’s reactions,
Universal Product Code (UPC)-one method to collect observations electronically by using a label with an identifying series of vertical bars with an optical scanners
b. Experiment- experimental method- a method used to measure actual cause-and-effect relationships. Method used primarily for new product and new campaign introductions. Difficult to use due to having to control numerous variables and very expensive. Test market is a type of method used in an experiment. A smaller sample of customers that we hope will represent the larger customer target market.
- Survey-most common method of gathering primary data. The survey can provide information on attitudes, opinions, motivations by questioning current or prospective customers (political polls are a common type of survey)
Exhibit 7-6 Comparison of data collection methods (p. 220)
3. Basic Method for Testing Ads (p. 221)
- Pretesting methods-
1. direct questioning-asking the customer about the key copy points.
2. central location tests-respondents are shown videotapes of test commercials, usually in shopping centers and questions are asked before and after exposure.
3. clutter tests-test commercials are shown with noncompeting control commercials to determine their effectiveness, measure comprehension and attitude shifts, and detect weaknesses.
See Checklist for Methods for Pretesting Ads (p. 221)
b. The Challenge of pretesting- halo effect-rate the first ads that make an impression the highest
Example: Tabasco pretested its exploding mosquito ad prior to running it during the 1998 Super Bowl (p. 222)
c. Posttesting methods-attitude tests-measures a campaign’s effectiveness in creating a favorable image for a company, its brand, or its products.
- The challenge of postesting-recall test, inquiry tests, sales tests
A7-5 An example of an Hanes Silk Reflections ad that was post tested in Starch Readership Reports
(p. 223)
E. Step 5: Interpreting and Reporting the Findings (p. 224)
Ethical Issue: “Research Statistics Can Be Friends or Foes” (pp. 224, 225)
Exhibit 7-7 The cost of professional research (p. 224)
V. Important Issues in Advertising (p. 225)
A. Considerations in Conducting Formal Quantitative Research
- Validity and Reliability- validity, reliability
Exhibit 7-8 The reliability/validity diagram (p. 226) A7-6 (p.226)
B. Sampling Methods- universe, sample, sample units, random probability samples, nonprobability samples
C. How Questionnaires Are Designed
Exhibit 7-9 Typical questions that might be used in a survey for a retail store (p. 227)
See Checklist-Developing an Effective Questionnaire (p. 228)
Exhibit 7-10 Different ways to phrase research questions (p. 228) A7-7 (p.228)
D. Data Tabulation and Analysis
E. Collecting Primary Data in International Markets
A7-12 Demonstration of the difficulties inherent in international advertising (p. 229)
Checklist (p.221) Methods for Pretesting Ads
Checklist (p. 222) Methods for Posttesting Ads
Checklist (p. 228) Developing an Effective Questionnaire
ETHICAL ISSUE “Research Statistics Can Be Friends or Foes”(pp. 224-225)
1. Are there any circumstances that might justify a portrayal of research findings in a biased or distorted fashion?
The answer to this question will vary. The problem with justifying anything, is no matter what we can justify anything. If someone kills someone, there was always a reason. If someone cheats on his or her wife in most cases it is not their fault it is the wives fault, or it was not suppose to happen. Unfortunately people do dishonest things for different reasons, I do not believe that any research should be distorted. I think there is plenty of ways to make money in this capitalist society without having to lie or manipulate anything. The sad thing is many times companies that are caught at this type of behavior suffer dire consequences, not to mention the employees who were involved.
2. Why is it so important when discussing scientific research results with a client to report all the results, not just those that put the client in a good light?
By having this conversation clients will hopefully appreciate the companies’ honesty and hopefully will be able to make better decisions based on all of the information.
Review questions
1. How does research help advertisers meet the challenge of the three R’s of marketing?
The three R’s of marketing are recruiting new customers, retaining current customers and regaining lost customers. Advertising tends to help increase the awareness of a brand or service in a fast fashion.
2. Give an example that demonstrates the difference between marketing research and market research? (p.206)
Marketing research is a systematic procedure for gathering, recording and analyzing new information to help managers make marketing decisions. Market research is information gathering about a particular market or market segment. The difference is the scope of the information gathered.
An example of marketing research would be answering the question: Do customers prefer liquid, bar or powdered soap? An example of market research would be answering a narrower question about a particular market or market segment: How do adolescents prefer to use Dial soap?
3. Which kind of research data is more expensive to collect, primary or secondary? Why? (p. 215)
Primary data is more expensive to collect, because we are acquiring this data from scratch. Secondary data is available through many different published outlets.
4. How have you personally used observational research? (p. 219)