OTX

Pre-testing Buyers' Guide
sponsored by Ipsos MORI

www.otxresearch.com

Philosophy
OTX has taken a fresh look at how advertising works in today’s complex media world to create a new type of pre-test called MediaCEP™. Underpinning our approach are four core principles.

Emotions play a key role in creating strong, long-term relationships between consumers and brands. Understanding the Emotive Power™ of your ads is essential for evaluating their effectiveness.
Adverts need to effectively reach consumers. Rather than using recall to gauge this, we rely on recognition-based measures as this more accurately assesses whether an impression from the advert was taken in by the consumer at a high or low level of attention.
In today’s media world, pre-testing systems need to be able to apply the same measurement approach to all media in a plan. More importantly, advertising should be assessed from a consumer-centric point of view, understanding that the consumer’s attitude towards a brand is formed by the media that surrounds them and not any single medium; therefore we need to measure the effects at a campaign level.
Pre-testing should be time and cost-efficient to enable advertisers to test multiple executions and experiment with unusual or unique approaches. Using online research not only facilitates more visual research, it also allows us to meet the time and budget needs of our clients.

Distinctive features
OTX brings together innovative thinking with innovative survey design. Good thinking doesn't always come from inside a company and in developing our pre-testing approach we have formed partnerships with a number of experts. These include Dr Robert Heath, who is well known for his work in low attention processing and the role of emotion in advertising. Robert developed the CEP™ Test measures to help us understand the Emotive Power™ and Cognitive Power™ of an advert, and these are integral to all our systems. We also work with Sequent Partners, founded by Jim Spaeth (former president of the ARF) and Bill Moult (most recently the head of the Marketing Science Institute), who specialise in new media and the role of media in the consumer’s life.

More recently we have begun working with Innerscope, a biometrics company, and Sign Salad, a semiotics practice. Biometrics measure the consumer’s biological response to an ad so that we can see how engaging it is scene by scene.

Measures:

Breakthrough measures – branded recognition*, unaided recall.
Motivation measures* – adapted to the marketplace of the brand. Examples include brand buy next, brands consider buying and purchase intent.
Emotive Power™* part of the CEP™ Test measures developed by Robert Heath, to measure the strength of a consumer’s emotional response to an ad.
Brand favourability.
Cognitive Power™ – also part of the CEP™ Test measures, designed to assess the strength of the cognitive/rational information in an ad.
Key diagnostics – thoughts/feelings: initial reactions to the ad. Main idea: consumer perception of the focal point of the ad. Brand image: ratings of specific image dimensions.
Level of engagement, scene by scene using biometrics.*

(* indicates key measure)

Media and disciplines tested and presentation method

TV*	Online using ‘distracted exposure’ with a multi-media reel

Press*	Online using Virtual Magazine

Radio*	Online using Virtual Drive with radio playing during the Drive

Cinema*	In-cinema. OTX conducts movie screenings and has extensive experience in this area

Posters*	Online using Virtual Drive

Direct mail	Online using Virtual Brochure

Internet*	Online using mirrored websites with ads embedded on test site

Sponsorship	Can be included as part of a multi-media campaign

PR	Can be included as part of a multi-media campaign

Packaging	Can be included as part of a multi-media campaign

Multi-media	In-store – online using Virtual Store

(* indicates specialisation)

Sample design and method
Universe: Each ad is tested among its key target audience; all interviewing is done online so tightly defined samples can be delivered quickly and cost-effectively
Sample size: 200 respondents per test and control cell; only one control cell is typically needed per pre-test
Sampling method: All sample is sourced from the OTX online community using multiple online panels within a country; respondents are all double opt-in, and have agreed to participate in market research studies in general and this study in particular.
Interview method: All interviewing is done online; OTX specialises in online research and pioneered many of the approaches commonly used in online interviewing throughout the world today.

How finished does the test material need to be?
For the CEP™ Test all material needs to be ‘emotionally finished’, meaning the advert must contain all elements that impact on the emotional response (music, setting, storyline). Without this, the emotional power of the ad will be understated.

For a biometric test, either storyboards or finished film can be used.Interpretation of findings
Two comparative points are used.

Control cell. Brand-related measures (favourability, motivation and brand imagery) are evaluated by comparing the results from the test cell with a control cell.
Benchmark data. Collected in the same study as the test ad (for example, a competitor ad) or from previous tests for a client.

Evidence of predictive validity
To demonstrate the significance of the CEP™ Test measures, we have conducted a validation study covering over 150 ads in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland. This provides hard evidence that ads with stronger Emotive Power™ are more effective at building brand equity.

Number of tests in the last 12 months: 50

Number of execs with pre-testing experience: Four; average experience is 20 years in pre-testing. OTX has been engaged in pre-testing for two years.

HPI Research Ltd has been engaged in pretesting for 14 years.

International service available:
Yes, the internet allows us to test in any country that has significant broadband penetration. Currently this includes: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, US, Canada, Japan, Korea and Australia.

Contact details
Ian Wright
OTX Europe
Mill House, Mill Street, London
SE1 2BA

Tel +44 (0)20 7740 3568
Email
iwright@otxresearch.com

www.otxresearch.com