One of the most common uses of market research is to test advertising.  Companies want to create the most effective advertising possible; their target customers should be able to tell them how to create ads that will get them to make a purchase.

At least that’s the theory.  Of course, the reality is a bit more complicated than that.  Market research can be used in different ways at different stages in the process of developing ads.

I think one of the most powerful uses of market research is to conduct research before the advertising is developed.  That is, talk to potential customers in order to uncover the hot-button issues – the types of things they want to know in order to make the purchase decision.  We would use focus groups in this situation, and utilize a variety of indirect questioning techniques to go beyond the rational answers and get at the things that really matter to people.  This gives the ad agency’s creative staff the raw material they need to create great, impactful advertising.

But what happens after the ad agency develops a number of potential ad concepts, and they want to choose the one that will be most effective?  This is where things get tricky.  Typically, the ad agency will have storyboards for the different concepts – sketches or temporary visuals of key concepts, along with draft text for the ads.   The problem is, it’s difficult for customers to make the jump in their minds and imagine the storyboards as finished ads.  Here are some tips we use when conducting this kind of research:

• Make sure participants understand what the ad will look like when it’s finished.  When possible, we like to show an example of a rough ad followed by the finished version (from advertising for a different category).  That helps research participants make the jump in their mind.
• Level the playing field.  Make sure you’re using similar stimuli for the different concepts.  Don’t use beautiful photography for one of your concepts and rough sketches for another.  If you don’t have beautiful photographs for all the concepts being tested, then it’s better to remove them and just use the sketches.
• Don’t go halfway.  In many cases, I recommend against showing research participants half-finished ads.  If we can’t show something close to a final ad, we might be better off just getting reactions to a brief description of the advertising idea.  That way, we make sure we’re not getting reactions to text or visuals that might not be in the final ad anyway.

In some cases, once the ads are completed, advertisers want to conduct focus groups “just as a disaster check,” to make sure there are no “red flags” or misunderstandings.  This is the type of research ad agencies hate, since they’re afraid research participants will pick their advertising apart with comments such as “I don’t like red” or “the mom in that commercial is too thin.”  There’s some validity to those fears: when utilized incorrectly, this kind of research can lead to advertising that doesn’t offend anyone but is also completely forgettable.  In many cases, I recommend quantitative research for completed ads.  However, focus groups can work as long as we make sure they’re really being used as a disaster check.  So if most participants don’t understand the offer or don’t get a joke that’s being made in the ad, it may be worth tweaking.  But remember, they’re consumers, not art directors!

To learn how customers react to your advertising, give us a call at (818) 752-7210.