‰”The people of Tibet are in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy. But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought on Groupon.com, we‰’re getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15 at Himalayan restaurant in Chicago.‰”
When Groupon aired this commercial during the 2011 Super Bowl, the social media backlash was instantaneous:
‰”That @Groupon commercial was terribly offensive. Way to commodify an entire people‰’s real struggles & experience.‰”‰”@groupon You lost another customer from that Super Bowl commercial‰”‰”Dear @Groupon ‰ – over a million Tibetans have been killed during Chinese occupation. Your ad wasn‰’t funny.‰”‰”Groupon seems to have achieved the unique feat of paying $3M to lose customers who previously loved them.‰”
After the criticism, Groupon stopped airing the commercial and made many apologies about how it had been misunderstood. But Groupon might well have avoided the reputational and financial costs of crisis management if the company simply tested its ad beforehand to get an indication of how the message would be received.
In the era of social media, complaints about marketing can go viral so quickly that ad testing is no longer optional. Companies can‰’t afford to spend over a million dollars on a high-profile advertisement or campaign without knowing the impact it can have on their brand. Happily, the same technologies that make a fast backlash possible also make it easier and faster to get customer feedback before an ad launches. For ad testing to be effective, however, it must answer the following questions:
- Will the target audience notice the ad?
TNT‰’s Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square was created to raise awareness about the launch of their new TV channel in Belgium. The goal was to produce an ad that was not only relevant to high-quality drama TV but an ad that would make their target audience want to share with their friends. Overall, the campaign captured viewer‰’s attention and strengthened feelings about the brand. It garnered over 10 million YouTube views and 1 million Facebook shares in less than 24 hours, according to Unruly. To date, it has been shared over 4.5 million times, making it the second most shared ad ever.
Pre-testing and accessing real-time reactions to key scenes help fine tune creative, and marketers have different methods to measure likeability, humor, casting, music and simplicity. Qualitative focus groups, in-depth interviews and facial imaging are ideal if you have the time and budget, but the majority of ad tests requires results at thespeed of business. An online interactive survey is cost effective, can be compared against a database of norms and benchmarked against similar ads or media types. Most importantly, an online study can provide feedback and direction on an ad within days, not weeks.
- Will the ad have an effect on purchase intent?
Effective ads get noticed and create an emotional connection with their viewers. These two key metrics have been shown to predict cut-through & purchase intent.
Chrysler Group LLC‰’s Imported from Detroit ad differentiated itself in the competitive auto industry. Instead of focusing on the features and benefits of its product, Chrysler 200, the company created an authentic and compelling story. Featuring Detroit native Eminem, the ad scored in the top quartile for all auto ads and helped Chrysler post its first profitable quarter since it filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Whenever you decide to feature a famous public figure, the spokesperson should fit the brand and messaging. If you’re unsure as to who would make a good spokesperson, you can ask your insight community or utilize a market panel to determine which person would have the greatest effect on brand feelings.
- Is the brand name clearly communicated?
When measuring the effectiveness of an ad, a key metric to take into consideration is brand recall, which refers to the extent to which consumers will remember the brand behind the ad. This does not necessarily mean you have to display your brand at the end or repeatedly throughout the campaign, but it suggests creatively integrating the brand into the ad.
In 1970, a luggage brand aired a commercial featuring a caged gorilla bashing on a suitcase that would eventually become one of the most famous in advertising history. The ad successfully demonstrated the product‰’s durability. While many viewers still remember the ad, people incorrectly associate it with Samsonite. The brand was actuallyAmerican Tourister. Had the ad been tested in advance, American Tourister could have improved brand linkage and prevented a competitor from gaining the credit that they deserved.
- How does the ad compare with others in their category or country?
To make global comparisons across different countries, ad testing should take into account cultural and language nuances of respondents. Calibrating their answers for their country‰’s normative response will help determine whether your ad surpassed country or industry benchmarks. Before Coca Cola’s Share a Coke with Kate campaign launched in Australia, 50% of teens and young adults had never tasted a ‘Coke’. So, Coke decided to print the country’s 150 most popular names and put these as labels on Coke product. They encouraged Aussies to find the names of friends and family and ‰”Share a Coke‰” together. The ad scored in the top quartile for all ads in the soft drinks industry and led to a 7% increase in young adult consumption, 870% increase in Facebook traffic, 12,020,000 earned media impressions, 76,000 virtual ‘coke’ cans shared, and 378,000 extra coke cans printed at kiosks. Most importantly, Coke sales volume in Australia grew by 4%.
- What potential changes can be made to improve the impact of the ad?
Ad rates have jumped almost 70% over the last decade. In 2013, 30 seconds of ad time for the Super Bowl on the CBS network cost roughly $4 million,according to CNN Money. Increasingly, many companies test their ads before they are released to the public to prevent unexpected reactions and ensure their message is clearly communicated. In preparation for the 2012 Super Bowl, Hyundai Motor Co. tested its commercial Think Fast many months in advance. Early versions included a conversation in which the older man, discussing business, made condescending remarks about “a blonde from Albuquerque.” Respondents found the older man offensive, so the South Korean car maker restructured the ad to have the older man chat about how to succeed in business, making him more amiable.
- What effect does the advertising have on consumer‰’s feelings towards the brand?
Many ads today communicate a particular product or service benefit: they don’t always evoke emotion. But to build a strong, long-term brand relationship, advertising should strengthen people‰’s feelings about brands. Consumers are more inclined to buy or consider brands they feel good about. Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches ad illustrates an ad that successfully struck a chord emotionally with women, their target audience. Dove drove home the message that women tend to be overly critical of their appearances and overlook their true beauty. The campaign elicited intense emotional responses of warmth, happiness and knowledge from its target demographic, one of the key factors behind the video’s sharing success.
- Is this ad shareable?
Old Spice‰’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like demonstrates how quickly ads could go viral as a result of positive word of mouth from consumers. Social media can dramatically amplify an ad and extend the reach of an ad buy with what is essentially earned coverage. It may be worth spending more on creative and less on airtime or print coverage if it allows your brand to make an ad so compelling that people will share and distribute it for you.
Getting people to pay attention to ads today is more complex than ever‰ – that‰’s why brands need to be thoughtful when doing ad research.
How do you measure your campaigns? Can you name an ad that should have been tested? Or an ad that you think is successful? Feel free to comment and let us know!
