Pretesting press advertising campaigns

C Greenhalgh and H A Smith

This paper, which won the 1973 MRS Gold Medal, discusses how to pre-test press advertisements for evaluation (i.e.
  

Pre-testing press advertisement campaigns

C. GreenhalghSales Research Services Ltd

H. A. SmithIPC Magazines Ltd

INTRODUCTION

One has long been conscious of two major possible shortcomings in the techniques used for much evaluative* advertisement pre-testing (press and TV), and one minor difficulty in experimental design which can lead to uncertainty in interpretation. We refer to the following:

  1. The fact that practically all pre-testing is effectively based on oneexposure of the test advertisement(s), whereas the vast bulk of advertising monies for branded consumer products are spent on campaigns with multiple insertions....

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