Research in advertising is done in order
to produce better advertisements that are more efficient in motivating
customers to buy a product or a service. The research can be based on a
particular advertising campaign or can be more generalized and based on how
advertisements create an effect on people’s mind. Lots of approaches are
involved to go about conducting an advertising research like economical,
psychological, demographical and sociological.
When designing an advertisement for a particular
product many things should be researched like where it should be displayed,
whether the advertisement can be printed in newspapers or magazines or
broadcasted on television or radio or published on the Internet. Many methods
are undertaken to collect relevant information. The research itself is of two
kinds, syndicated and customized. Syndicated research is a single research done
by the company that is available to other companies as well. Customized
research is research based on certain criteria and is done for a particular
company and its results are available to only that company.
Pre-testing or copy testing is a type of customized
research that determines the in-market efficiency of an advertisement before it
is released or before the final production. The more the pre-testing is done
the more likely that it will be a successful advertisement and each pre-testing
should be applied number of times. This can done by studying the level of
attention the customers have, motivation, brand linkage, communication and
entertainment. Flow of emotions and flow of attention are broken down and
studied individually. The results are applied on the advertisement that is
still being developed to recognize the weak points and replace them. A reliable
feedback loop can guide the researchers, client and the agency to work in
harmony. Tests should be applied during the storyboard stage of ad making. This
is an early stage and the results are highly predictive. During this process
images are selected and used as integrated campaign print ad.
Post-testing or ad tracking studies are either
syndicated or customized. Studies are done over a period of time or
continuously. The in-market research is done to understand a brands linkage,
performance, awareness, and preference along with product attitudes and usage.
They are done by, conducting interviews either on phone or Internet. Testing
the finished advertisement provides the confidence and gives an idea whether it
is following the strategy.
All the above studies should facilitate the client’s
advertisement development make the end product easier to achieve. The study
should contain rational information having not only surface knowledge but also
provide deep in-sight that will open window to a customer’s mind. The customer,
too, should provide precise information based on facts and not based on
imaginary thinking and self-delusion. He should be able to explain the role of
advertisement in the whole marketing plan. Working in vacuum doesn’t get the
desired result.
The basis is to provide in-depth understanding about
the consumers for improving on the advertisement techniques and other marketing
decisions. The traditional methods of qualitative and quantitative techniques
have been improved to analyze the information with good insight.
The rapidly changing likes and needs of the customers
are difficult to track, but should be studied in order to increase the quality
of advertisement. The changes are because of the huge number of options offered
to them by the market.
