The article shows an overview of research in the field of advertising.
Keywords: advertising, research, marketing, promotion.
В статье представлен обзор исследований в области рекламы.
Ключевые слова: реклама, исследования, маркетинг, продвижение.
Overview
Nowadays, advertising is a key element for the success of a business. It is an activity practiced by all types of businesses designed to shape or affect customer behavior. Advertising is so important that in large companies advertising may be a stand-alone function instead of a sub-function of marketing. However, effective advertising requires research and experimentation.
Basic concepts
Term “Advertising” comes from the Latin word "advertere” meaning “to turn the minds of towards". Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product or organization [1]. Advertising keep the product in the mind of the customer. It also help to stimulate or increase demand for the product if it is already in the market and if not, it helps introduce it to potential customer.
Why are research important in advertising ?
Research is the process by which new information are gathered or solutions to problems are found. Research helps drive conclusions and leave uncertainty. In the advertising process, research comes at several times from the beginning to the end. Advertising research can be defined as the process by which advertisers can first of all shape beforehand advertising, next improve and evaluate efficiency of advertising. The following points (non-exhaustive) can justify the importance of research in the advertising process:
— Find target audience: main purpose of advertising is to raise awareness of people about a product or an organization. Right people/target audience an be identified through advertising research
— Media-Mix: success of advertisement also depends on the media used to deliver the message to the potential customer. Research helps determine the best media to use to run the advertising campaign.
— Budget amount: the right use of the budget is a key element in conducting advertising campaign. Research enables to establish budget, avoid shortage, set good allocation.
— Appeals in advertising: research may be conducted to understand customer preferences: what they like or dislike. The creatives people that create advertisement can rely on this information to shape the campaign and make it more efficient.
— Competitiveness: as there are many other advertisements out there that may be shows the same product as yours, it is also important to create advertisement able to compete with them. Research can help assess what competitors do, what are their strategy, their strength and weaknesses.
— Illustration, layout: platform able to run advertisement have specific requirements that should be respected when creating ads to be effective. This is the same for the different place where advertisement are deployed. Research can help develop effective illustration, copyrighting, layout to better reach consumer and gain their attention.
It is also important that advertisers ponder their research findings as misunderstandings can led to disastrous campaigns or even the closure of many businesses.
Example
In 2009, the communication agency Arnell conducted an advertising campaign for the new design of "Tropicana" orange juice, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. This advertising campaign was unsuccessful and led to a 20% drop in sales. The solution to the problem was to revert to the old design [2]. It is clear from this experience that advertisers did not take into account the strong connection that consumers had with the old design of the juice packet.
Types of advertising research
There are 4 major types of advertising research advertisers used to conduct before launching any advertising campaign. They can also be divided in two sub-groups: pre-testing and post-testing. Pre-testing are conducted before implementing the advertisement to the public and are based on consumer responses, feedback, and behavior. Post-testing is used to monitor and track specific characteristics of advertising campaigns [3]. They are based upon the importance of research in advertising. They are the following:
— Appeal research: this research is about the attitude of the customer or the target audience towards a product, an organization (or a brand). The aim for the advertisers is to know which characteristics of the product matches the most the need and preferences of the customer. The result of the study makes it possible to know which aspects of the product must be highlighted in the advertising campaign to attract customers.
— Message research: messages are also important to the success of an advertising campaign. A good message is one that is understandable, easy to remember and that clearly presents the characteristics of the product being promoted. Several techniques exist to evaluate the message of the advertisement:
— Portfolio test
— Consumer jury
— Simulated sales test
— Psychological test
— Media selection research: depending on the specifics of the target audience, advertisers with research are able to know which medium is suitable to reach them. The media selection search helps to choose the right media whether it is a single media or a combination of several media. It is also time to set limits on the distribution of advertising in space (regional, national or international) and in time (for how long and how often).
— Effectiveness research: this research can help advertisers know if they've targeted the right audience. It can also help gauge the influence of the advertising campaign on the target audience. The return on investment (ROI) is examined. Return on investment is a great indicator of success [4]. When positive (or basically a 5:1 ratio), the advertising campaign can be interpreted as profitable because it generated a surplus of sales.
Conclusion
Advertising is a must nowadays. Companies rely on advertising to reach their target audience to inform them and sell them products. However, the world of advertising is very tough and very competitive and it takes research to stand out from the pack.
References:
- Stanton, W.J. (1984). Fundamentals of Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Elliott, Stuart. 2009. Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging. New York Times. February 22, 2009
- Thorson & Moore, p.135-152.
- Lenskold, James D. (2002), "Marketing ROI: Playing to Win," Marketing Management, p.173-207.
