Can research evaluate creative content of advertising?

This paper is based on the following questions: What sort of evaluation is both valid and useful? On what areas of advertising research should inevitably limited budgets be concentrated? What should advertisers, agencies and researchers be doing next to improve methods and approaches? Two areas of importance are examined: defining the objectives of advertising research, and defining the objectives of advertising.

Can research evaluate the creative content of advertising?

Stephen KingJ. Walter Thompson Ltd

Based on the award winning paper presented by Stephen King, head of advertising research, J. Walter Thompson Ltd, at the 1967 conference of the Market Research Society

The marketing manager who deals with mass-consumer goods usually finds nowadays that advertising expenditure is by some way the largest part of his annual budget. Thus if research is to help him make major marketing-mix decisions, it must be capable of dealing with the results of varying the advertising expenditure. Various marketing models have been invented, but though...

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