Back to the Future: The problem of premature evaluation

This article examines the continued relevance of the 1974 book 'Testing to Destruction' by Alan Hedges.

Back to the Future: The problem of premature evaluation

Malcolm White

Malcolm White looks back ... to 1974

I've just come out of a dispiriting advertising research briefing and I wish I could time-travel back to 1974. The briefing was dispiriting because we're in danger of testing an early-stage, pre-production, TV advertising execution with qualitative research when we should be using the research to understand how the execution works in the hearts and minds of our target audience, and to provide objective feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of that execution. This research should be an aid to decision...

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