Typically, a brand communication campaign has multiple objectives. For example, one (attitudinal) objective may be to change brand perceptions.
Another (behavioral) objective may be to make people engage in some way with the brand.
Determining advertising’s impact on sales can be very difficult because of the impact of other environmental factors. Sales are not the only reason brands advertise. What are some other reasons that brands might advertise?
All campaigns require multiple, formal evaluation mechanisms. These should be “planned in” to any campaign.
According to IMC experts, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. What does this mean to you?
How do we find out whether brand communication was effective? How do we know whether the messaging worked?
Questions about impact are critical, and must be addressed.
Brand messaging impact is measured in terms of communication effects—the mental responses to a message that serve as surrogate measures for sales impact. What are some examples of these?
Tracking Studies are conducted from the time a campaign is launched until after it has concluded. They involve the collection of information from random samples of consumers who live in markets where they were exposed to a campaign.
Using single-source research, advertising and brand purchase data come from the same households, linking advertising to sales. The result is single-source data because brand communication exposure and brand purchasing data come from the same household source.
Inquiry tests measure the number of responses to an advertisement or other form of brand communication. What kinds of examples can you think of here?
What is this ad trying to accomplish? In your opinion, is the ad effective? Does it work? Why or why not?
IMC synergy exists when all campaign components work together to create a solid and understandable brand meaning. The overarching campaign impact is strongest when the right mix of IMC tools is used.
As a class: What are some examples of outputs? Examples of outcomes? How do you know the difference?
Direct marketing mechanisms are the easiest IMC tools to evaluate in terms of message efficiency and in terms of return on marketing investment. The primary objective of direct-marketing communication is to drive a transaction or generate some other type of immediate behavioral response, such as a donation or visit to a dealer.
Key media questions:
Did the plan actually achieve reach and frequency objectives? Did the newspaper an magazine placements run in positions expected and produce the intended GRP and CMP levels? Did the advertisers get what they paid for?
As a class: How do you define “impact?” If audience members have been exposed to marketing communication, does it mean they have paid attention to it?
In your opinion, is this ad effective? Does it work? Why or why not?
Magazine rates are based on the guaranteed circulation that a publisher promises to provide. Magazine circulation is the number of copies of an issue sold, not the readership of the publication. Magazines also offer advertisers figures for their total audience.
Advertisers continue to improve how they measure brand communication ROI. How much spending is too much? The best way to answer this question is to use test marketing.
As a class: Let’s review “A Principled Practice: Can a Broken Guitar Really Hurt United?” How might the message effects be measured in this case?
International brand communication is difficult to evaluate because of market differences. Evaluation should focus initially on pretesting to help head off major problems due to unfamiliarity with different cultures, languages, and consumer behaviors.
For an example from a recent UPS campaign, let’s take a look at Chapter 19 of your text:
Objective 1: Breaking through Awareness
Objective 2: Breaking the Inertia Trance
Objective 3: Breaking the Relevance Trance
As a class, what do each of these objectives mean? How did UPS break through these barriers?
As a result of this campaign:
More than 500,000 “gut checks” calculated on the LiveWell Colorado website.More than 100,000 website visitors—a 540 percent increase compared to traffic prior to the campaign. Facebook page attracted more than 16,000 fans, an increase of 13,000 before the campaign.
But most importantly, attitudes have shifted. Coloradans gained a better understanding of obesity from before the campaign’s implementation.
Conclusion: Educational campaigns can increase public understanding of obesity as a personal health issue, and facilitate behavior change toward improved prevention of obesity.