How useful is proposition testing?

Stephen King

This Stephen King pamphlet is part of a series of historical JWT London texts published by Warc. It was first printed in 1966 and examines proposition testing as a method for setting advertising strategy, including what it should achieve, and why it sometimes fails.

How useful is proposition testing?

This paper examines proposition testing as a method for setting advertising strategy and questions whether content and form can be realistically separated. It has been written by Stephen King, Manager of the Advertising Research Unit of J. Walter Thompson, and is reprinted by permission of the Advertising Quarterly.

Arguments about proposition testing tend to generate much warmth but relatively little light. The situation remains confused. Among advertisers there is a whole spectrum of views, ranging from firm belief to total disillusionment. Most agency and research men tend to be opposed, sometimes in a rather negative...

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