Pre-testing Buyers' Guide
sponsored by Ipsos MORI



Hall & Partners

www.hall-and-partners.co.uk



Pre-testing philosophy
Our approach to all our research services is informed by the fact that the founder and many senior executives have had distinguished careers in advertising as account planners. Thus our approach is based on how practitioners believe advertising works, rather than how researchers think it works.

  1. We believe quantitative pre-testing should answer two key questions: ‘Should I run it?’ and ‘How can I make it better?’ Therefore, Hall & Partners Presponse both assesses the potential of communications to minimise the risk of running ineffective advertising, and advises on how to maximise its effect through understanding how it is working.
  2. The purpose of communications is to enhance the consumer’s brand relationship, and so the ultimate measure of effectiveness is whether it has the ability to improve brand dynamics and ultimately brand consideration.
  3. A Presponse study uses a set of standard measures, designed to test the assumptions behind the strategy, but the actual questions, scales and diagnostics are all tailor-made to reflect the brand and communications strategy.
  4. Advertising and other communications can work in many different ways; we have identified the main ways in which each medium and discipline works and have devised measures for each. Thus we can measure if the communication works and how it works.


Distinctive features
We do not try to replicate ‘real life’, which means we can put your brand in a competitive context, providing useful and relevant information. Each test is tailored to meet the brand’s and communication objectives. We use both competitive information gathered during the test and context from relevant tests conducted over the years at H&P to benchmark how well an ad performs, rather than norms that bear no relationship to the tested ad.


Measures:
  • Brand consideration*
  • Brand dynamics*
  • Brand diagnostics*
  • Communication dynamics*
  • Communication diagnostics*
  • Branding diagnostics*
(* indicates key measure)


Media and disciplines tested and presentation method
TV*Competitive reel
 
Press*Competitive folder
 
Radio*Competitive tape
 
Cinema*Competitive reel
 
Posters*Competitive, appropriate environment
 
Direct mailCompetitive, appropriate environment
 
InternetCompetitive, appropriate environment
 
Sponsorship*Competitive reel
 
PR*Competitive, appropriate environment
 
PackagingCompetitive, appropriate environment
 
Multimedia integrated campaigns*Special methodology for multimedia
(* indicates specialisation)



Sample design and method
Universe: We interview the target market for the communications as they are the people the communications are designed to influence
Sample size: Depends on whether we are testing executions in different media separately or combined, or if testing several creative routes. Typically 120–150 per cell
Sampling method: Quota sampling
Interview method: Online or face-to-face central location


How finished does the test material need to be?
The type of material recommended depends on the objectives of the pre-test. We can use finished film, animatics or storyboards and tapes. Degree of finish available will determine nature of the test and the interpretation of the results.


Interpretation of findings
Findings are interpreted against benchmarks and context from our database of results. These are selected to be relevant to the brand depending upon factors such as category, brand life stage, size and strategy.


Evidence of predictive validity
We are sceptical of claims that any pre-test can literally predict in-market performance given all the variables, but from tracking brands and communications that we have pre-tested we have found that the measures reliably predict the pattern of response.


Number of tests in the last 12 months: 25


Number of execs with pre-testing experience: 30


Hall & Partners has been engaged in pre-testing for 15 years.


International service available:
Yes, we can conduct pre-tests in all countries. We have offices in the US (New York, Chicago and LA). In all other countries we work with carefully selected fieldwork partners.


Further information
We have also developed Presponse Pioneer with HHCL. This is designed to pre-test ‘radical’ advertising – which may polarise, take time to wear-in, need to work through multi-media – previously thought to be ‘unresearchable’.


 Hall & Partners



Contact details
Jane Bloomfield
New Business Director

Hall & Partners
82 Charing Cross Road
London
WC2H 0BA

Tel +1 (0)20 7173 4600
Tel +1 (0)20 7173 4601/4602
Email
j.bloomfield@hall-and-partners.co.uk

www.hall-and-partners.co.uk


Jeremy Green
Hall & Partners USA Inc.
72 Spring Street, SoHo
New York, NY 10012

Tel +1 212 925 7844
Tel +1 212 343 1270
Email
j.green@hall-and-partners.com

www.hall-and-partners.com


Chris Hubble
Hall & Partners USA Inc.
The Fine Arts Building
811 West 7th Street, Suite 1000
Los Angeles,
CA 90017

Tel +1 213 239 9969
Tel +1 213 239 9979
Email
c.hubble@hall-and-partners.com

www.hall-and-partners.com









WARC Publications  |  WARC Conferences  |  About Us  |  Links  |  Contact Us  |  Terms & Conditions
© 2008 Copyright and Database Rights owned by WARC

  |    |  
SEARCHStart searching...
Start an Advanced Searchall subjectsfind a case studyDigitalProduct CategoriesMarketingConsumersAdvertisingBrandsMediaData