Predicting sales from ad testing: A McDonald's case history

This paper describes research which examined the impact of TV advertising on sales at McDonald's, the fast food chain, in the US over a six year period.

Predicting sales from ad testing: A McDonald's case history

Charles Young and Adam Page Ameritest

"Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving." – David Ogilvy

Global ad spend is expected to reach over $530 billion in 2014. Television advertising still dominates at roughly 58%, but the number of ways people consume that media is exploding. As a result, understanding just what is actually contributing to a company's bottom line is becoming more difficult to diagnose.

For this reason, validation exercises are important as they do three key things: 1) quantify advertising's contribution to ROI, 2) confirm...

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