In recent years, we have seen a growing resilience of consumers to marketing communications. The flood of communications around us has made it harder and harder to reach recipients’ awareness. In order to achieve the intended purpose, advertising campaigns should be based on real insights and consumer needs. Before launching a campaign, we should verify the efficiency and perception of the message, even more so that expenses on marketing communication substantially exceed survey costs.
In terms of research aims, we differentiate among several types of advertising:
- pre-testing – testing preliminary concepts and plans of TV, radio, billboard, press and other campaigns,
- pilot-testing – verification and selection of ready-made advertising materials,
- post-testing – investigating the effectiveness of advertising as well as the power and speed of penetration of advertising communications into the awareness of potential customers,
- Advertising Tracking Study (ATS) – monitoring the effectiveness of promotional campaigns, it is usually applied in three phases: before, during and after the campaign,
- testing the effectiveness of advertising at points of sale – it involves defining the number of contacts with an advert as well as its effectiveness in generating sales.