HPIwww.hpiresearch.com![]() Pre-testing philosophy
Distinctive features We let only our most experienced staff design and interpret your pre-tests. We will interrogate your advertising strategy and the creative brief before designing your study. We match communication expertise with a practical understanding of the needs of clients and agencies for timely and actionable results. In a nutshell it’s our people and their experience and expertise in this specialist and ever-changing research field that make all the difference. We will, of course, use many measures with which you may be familiar and for which we have action standards, but we will add to this more genuine insights based on a deeper understanding of the unique elements of your strategy. Measures: We explore communication in terms of the measures you might now expect from HPI:Appreciation: the ability to be noticed and not ‘screened out’. Branding: correct association with the brand behind the advertising. Communication: whether through persuasion, involvement and/or salience. Desired effect on the brand*: ultimately most important if the above are effective and on strategy. We also look beyond this (where relevant to the brief) to really explore engagement and even to tease out implicit communication (i.e. changes in brand response that are unconscious responses to the advertising stimulus). Additionally, Superglue analysis focuses on four ‘gluing’ mechanisms that describe the various ways that consumers make sense of integrated campaigns:
Media and disciplines tested and presentation method
Sample design and method Universe: always specific to the brand and market Sample size: Depends upon the amount of material and different media being investigated; typically 150 per major route Sampling method: Quota sampling Interview method: Face-to-face in hall or (occasionally) in home; internet; telephone (mainly for direct mail tests) How finished does the test material need to be? All levels of finish tested. Clutter usually used only with finished material; early-stage roughs usually include a qualitative depth element to explore whether the stimulus material is conveying the intended essence of the final idea. As a general rule, the more ‘rationally persuasive’ the message the more predictive will be rough stimulus, but highly emotive treatments frequently need a higher level of finish for certainty.Interpretation of findings We use expectations and normative guidelines within communication type and broad product category. These are, however, used only as indicators to aid interpretation rather than the core feedback itself. When working in a new market we will generally include a key competitor with a comparable ad strategy to establish the most relevant targets to aim to beat. Evidence of predictive validity For longer-standing clients, results are routinely compared with tracking experience and in-market performance. This feedback process hones our understanding of what are the key predictive measures of success on a client-by-client basis (and reinforces our certain belief that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution). Number of tests in the last 12 months: 36 Number of execs with pre-testing experience: 16 HPI Research Ltd has been engaged in pretesting for 14 years. International service available: Yes, we operate worldwide via centrally-coordinated web surveys or via local 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’. | ![]() Contact details Terry Prue 2 East Poultry Avenue London EC1A 9PT Tel +44 (0)20 7632 3456 Fax +44 (0) 20 7836 3210 terry.prue@ hpiresearch.com Juliet Strachan 2 East Poultry Avenue London EC1A 9PT Tel +44 (0)20 7632 3456 Fax +44 (0) 20 7836 3210 juliet.strachan@ hpiresearch.com www.hpiresearch.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
