Our principal led business development for a top global ad research firm with P&G as the top client. The ARS Group (ARS) had served P&G for many years with a behavioral research methodology that measured Ad Quality across key measures of Recall, Persuasion and Emotional Response.
P&G and other ARS clients used these measures with controlled test markets, Nielsen/IRI data, and marketing mix models to set clear linkages to sales results in order to better forecast and compute ROI for advertising. Higher Ad Quality scores = Higher Sales Performance in market.
In fact, a landmark case study by Schwerin Research (which later became ARS) and CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) giant Unilever showed that while some categories are more elastic to, or sensitive to, advertising, ad quality is 3X more important than ad spending when it comes to sales in general. This study tested ALL of the television (101) and print (97) ads in each of four CPG categories over the course of 18 months: Toothpaste, Laundry Detergents, Dish Detergents, and Margarines.
Ashley's job at ARS was to expand the methodology across categories to the largest advertising investors, so his clients spanned the largest players in Rx (Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline), OTC (Novartis), Retail (Target, Walmart, Amazon), QSR (McDonald’s), Entertainment (Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures), Automotive (General Motors) as well as CPG with Kimberly Clark, Mars, and PepsiCo among many others.
Since Higher Ad Quality scores equal Higher Sales results, then what do we know about the factors that are associated with strong Ad Quality? What do the strongest ads have in common?
Vanderbilt University and ARS researchers created a list of codes that were applied to ads in the ARS database. Regression analyses were run to determine which items were most often associated with the strongest performing ads.
While there is never a guarantee of ad success, these codes do provide a set of guidelines, or best practices for strong marketing, that can help increase the odds of having a positive advertising ROI.
In general the more focus that is placed on the ad strategy (the brand’s unique selling proposition), the actual product and its points of difference (with minimal distractions), and on the emotional benefits provided by the brand, the better.
For flexibility, focus on the strategic advertising best practices via the Peak Performance Ad Quality Evaluation should be explored as early in the product & ad development process as possible.