ARS Group Argues for Improved Measures of Persuasion and Purchase Intent
Advertising content is four-to-five times as powerful as media weight alone in producing sales differences.
Can ad recall predict in-market sales behavior? Should advertisers pay more for a commercial in a TV program
with higher ratings and recall, or should other measures of persuasiveness, feelings and purchase intent be factored in?
These are key questions being asked by advertisers, agencies and networks that Cincinnati based ARS Group, a 30-year old research company that specializes in ad campaign and copy testing, is seeking to answer. In an exclusive interview with Jack Myers
Media Business Report, ARS VP Basic Research Frank Findley explained "so much money is being spent on advertising development and testing because advertising content is four-to-five times as powerful as media weight alone in producing sales differences. The fastest way to generate sales is by creating strong ads and getting them in front of the largest audience of prospective buyers." The
importance of generating reach also helps explains why advertisers bucked conventional wisdom and continued to invest heavily in network television advertising in this year's Upfront marketplace.
Findley points out, "research has shown that generating recall is not as important as positively impacting feelings, thoughts and intentions of consumers. In fact," he adds, "on average recall
captures only 15 percent of an ad's ability to influence consumer buying behavior. The other 85 percent is captured by other aspects of an ad's persuasiveness (feelings, thoughts, intentions)."
While recall gauges the ability of advertising to create a memorable impression on the viewer, Findley suggests "the problem is that recall doesn't speak to whether that impression is good or bad. Our research has shown that generating recall is not nearly as important as positively
impacting the feelings, thoughts, and intentions of the consumer." Using recall as a currency for media evaluation, he argues, "gauges the ability of advertising to create a memorable impression on the viewer, but doesn't speak to whether the impression is good or bad."
Findley does not suggest that new recall monitoring studies are without value. "What they bring to the table is a systematic way to manage the interplay between the advertising and its
programming," he says. "But ARS research has shown that programming context does make a difference. Ad recall and persuasiveness do increase if placed in more engaging
programming. And in a world of great competitiveness in media vehicles, tweaking a two to five percent gain in plan effectiveness can make a difference." He suggests new models will be developed that will define value generated per rating point, incorporating commercial ratings, engagement scores and measures of emotional connection.
Acknowledging studies on engagement and emotional connections* are in the early stages of development, Findley points out "recall has historically been the first metric applied to a new research area because of its ease of fielding and intuitive nature." He points to day-after-recall
studies that were the industry standard for pre-testing the effectiveness of TV advertising in the 1950s and 1960s. As more investment was made in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s emphasis shifted to the more predictive persuasion metric. Similarly, he explains, "brand tracking started with recall's cousin - awareness - and progressed to the more advanced brand equity and preference tracking systems of today." He believes there will be a
similar evolution as investment is made in these monitoring systems and there will be a strong push by networks to develop programming that delivers more engaging and responsive audiences.
Urging that television networks, advertisers and agencies balance how broadly a show appeals to audiences with the depth of involvement of those who watch it, Findley points to the CBS drama Jericho. "The program ratings suffered somewhat, suggesting its
appeal wasn't as widespread as competitive programming and so the show was cancelled. But those who did watch it loved it to such an extent that they launched a sophisticated campaign for CBS to reverse their decision. To their credit, CBS reinstated the show. In the future we can expect more of these decisions will be made based both on the broad appeal and depth of appeal."
In short, he suggests, "there is an open battle for the eyes and ears of consumers. Less realized is that a silent
battle rages for their hearts and minds. The industry needs metrics that cover this silent war."
