ADVERTISING TESTING:
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGN SUCCESS
By Ryan Donohue
nationalresearch.com
ADVERTISING TESTING:
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGN SUCCESS
Why is Advertising Testing Important?
Advertising is expensive. Most hospitals and health systems will spend
more money on advertising than any other method of communication.
With shifting payment paradigms, increasing competition, and the
rise of consumerism, reaching the right audience with the right
message has become incredibly important. Factor in the heavy cost of
advertising and healthcare marketers and planners cannot afford to miss
with their message.
Advertising is matched in its importance only by its instability.
Strategies change. Agencies change. Messages change. Mediums
change. The market itself changes. Advertising must adapt to stay
applicable to audience needs. To do this, advertising can benefit
greatly from research. Since all advertising aims to influence its
audience, testing its effectiveness on members of that very audience
before campaign launch adds quantifiable insight and direction. By
entrusting research as a campaign anchor, the pretesting process can
inject stability into the campaign development process and mitigate
the inherent risk of bad advertising.
“With shifting payment paradigms, increasing
competition, and the rise of consumerism,
reaching the right audience with the right
message has become incredibly important.”
WHY PRETEST YOUR ADVERTISING?
A common advertising sin is pre-launch pride.
To create a great campaign, a good deal of
personal investment occurs. Once the campaign
train gets rolling, it can be difficult to pause
and check for errors. It’s important to seek a
qualified, unbiased perspective to evaluate your
campaign before you go too far. The easy route
to take is enlisting a fellow associate, a spouse,
or a friend to review campaign creative but
this opinion is neither qualified nor unbiased.
Ever heard the tale of the marketer who asked
a doctor to review an ad? The doctor suggested
more pictures of doctors, even gracious enough
to supply his or her own picture. In reality, this
pitfall awaits any marketer who doesn’t seek the
genuine feedback of the real target audience.
Use AdVoice to reach those who make or break
your campaign in the long run — consumers —
to ensure your campaign is on the right track.
ELIMINATING THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
The Market Insights Approach
to Advertising
Market Insights by National Research Corporation has three
decades of experience in helping hospitals and health systems
understand how their advertising will impact their market. In 2008,
with budgets in freefall and advertising strategies in peril, Market
Insights developed an advertising testing solution — AdVoice — to
quantify the value of advertising. AdVoice is rooted in the belief that
advertising will be more effective if it can be pre-tested on an audience.
This approach allows for a level of creative refinement during campaign
development that otherwise would not be possible.
The pretest involves two parts: quantitative survey and qualitative
forum. A quantitative survey is deployed to assess creative
performance and provides statistical evidence of possible campaign
success or failure. Then, a qualitative forum is held to get beneath the
numbers to gather consumers’ direct feedback in their own words. The
dual process of quantitative and qualitative research is the bedrock of
the unique approach that Market Insights takes to advertising.
Snowing in Little Rock? Windy in Atlanta?
Sunny in Portland? AdVoice can shine a lot on
incredibly small details, but the type of details
consumers pay attention to greatly. Pretesting
can help keep an out-of-state agency in check
so the creative doesn’t get off-base in the
believability category.
On a more serious note, AdVoice can expose your
relationship with your agency — good or bad.
Agency should be a partner in the entire process.
Agency should be accountable. You should meet
the entire creative team, not just the account
director, and AdVoice provides license to do
so. As an agency, AdVoice can benefit you by
quantifying your value and the value of the ideas
you put into action for your client.
It’s All About the Brief
No campaign should begin without a creative brief outlining the communication
objective and main idea of the campaign, along with the overall business
objective. This document becomes the compass for the entire campaign and
is essential during initial creative development. A media strategy brief is also
helpful as a companion piece to understand how advertising will be placed and
promoted. Market Insights Account Managers can show you examples of strong
OBJECTIVE
TARGET
OUTCOME
creative briefs from previous campaigns.
Don’t Forget the Creative
For the AdVoice process to get underway there is the matter of supplying
actual creative to test. AdVoice is welcoming to most formats (no radio, website
testing has limitations, etc.) but the most common question is: how far along
does creative need to be for testing? While not every finishing touch need
be applied, creative should be at a near-final phase so that pretest results are
accurate. Market Insights Account Managers can help guide you through the
submission process and determine what’s best for your creative submission.
The Perfect Marriage for Ad Pretesting
The dual process of quantitative survey and qualitative feedback powers
the AdVoice pretesting engine. A quantitative study of 100 area consumers
develops a statistical understanding of how creative is performing against key
metrics. A qualitative focus group of typically 8-10 area consumers provides indepth, personal feedback on how the creative is perceived. Once finished, this
dual process sheds full light on the ability of the advertising to resonate with
consumers and achieve campaign goals.
The Entire Process in One Deck
CREATIVE BRIEF
OBJECTIVE
ADVOICE RESULTS PRESENTATION
TARGET
OUTCOME
The entire AdVoice process comes together during the results presentation.
Market Insights Account Managers walk through the entire pretest, including
everything from quantitative benchmarking of AdVoice’s 3 key measures
against established national norms to word-for-word individual consumer
feedback on the smallest of creative detail. AdVoice clients come away
from the results presentation with a clear understanding of the creative’s
advertising performance.
CASE EXAMPLE: GENERATING BUZZ & BUY-IN: ST. VINCENT’S HEALTHCARE
St. Vincent’s HealthCare in Jacksonville, Florida struggled with the same issue facing many hospitals and health
systems: I have a great campaign now how do I get the advertising dollars I need to successfully execute it?
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
St. Vincent’s HealthCare wanted to convey an image of compassionate care through an advertising campaign heavily featuring the
power of their organizational Mission. St. Vincent’s Director of Marketing Kelly Brockmeier was no stranger to hospital advertising having
worked for a competitor hospital in Jacksonville prior to joining St. Vincent’s. The system’s advertising agency of many years, Brown
Parker & DeMarinis (BPD), was also familiar with the challenges as an agency focusing solely on healthcare. In the summer of 2011,
the “St. Campaign” was born. It tied the “St.” element of “St. Vincent’s HealthCare” to positive care attributes. Concepts included “St.
Compassion”, “St. Healing”, and “St. Dedication”. St. Vincent’s pegged actual employees to star in the campaign and shine a light on their
deeply important Mission. BPD developed varied test creative across several mediums including television, radio, print and outdoor.
Plans unfolded to host all creative online using St. Vincent’s system website as a hub to highlight the campaign’s seamlessness across
mediums while providing online visitors a portal to view all elements of the campaign in one place.
An example of St. Vincent’s advertising campaign which incorporated “St. Comforting/Compassion/Healing” positioning and
featured real employees to boot. The response? Via AdVoice’s qualitative forum a consumer remarked, “The St Vincent’s caregiver
stands out from the others. He makes the ad.”
Internal Communication of the Bold Variety
For Brockmeier, BPD, and the entire St. Vincent’s marketing
team, the challenge was crystal clear: demonstrate the value of
the “St.” campaign to secure the necessary budget to launch.
They personally believed in the campaign and knew it could
be successful but — a campaign is only as good as its budget.
Without dollars, great campaign concepts eternally remain
concepts. Brockmeier and company aimed big: they planned to
present the ad campaign concepts to the entire St. Vincent’s
leadership team, including the CEO, c-suite members, and an
assortment of senior leaders with the aim to get full budgetary
buy-in. In order to succeed they sought out the marketplace, the
very target audience of the campaign, to provide the necessary
evidence for the green light.
The Pretesting Process
As with any advertising campaign, time is of the essence during
development. “We wanted to move quickly,” Brockmeier
explains, “to secure budget and get our campaign off the
ground.” St. Vincent’s HealthCare was a client of Market Insights
and had access to AdVoice, an advertising pretesting model
that puts advertising campaigns in front of consumers before
a single media dollar is spent. Through AdVoice, St. Vincent’s
marketing team was able to submit their “St.” campaign creative
directly to Market Insights. From there, the Market Insights
team recruited respondents, executed quantitative/qualitative
surveys, and compiled the findings into a seamless report. The
entire AdVoice process was complete in three weeks. The jury
was no longer out on the “St.” campaign. The AdVoice results
showed the campaign ads tested well in both the quantitative
survey and the qualitative focus group. Consumers responded
well to the message, understood the ties to the St. Vincent’s
Mission, and by extension its brand, and were influenced to
prefer and use St. Vincent’s after viewing.
Agency Interaction
During the AdVoice process, St. Vincent’s marketing team’s
partnership with BPD was harmonious. At times, creative can
and will be fiercely defended by its authors but BPD understood
the importance of testing upfront and welcomed the AdVoice
process. The prospect of reducing internal scrutiny and
protecting campaign development through pretesting was a
shared and valuable concept to both St. Vincent’s marketing
team and BPD. “Our CEO is driven by numbers — not creative,”
Brockmeier explains. “We certainly needed creative inspiration
but it had to be paired with evidence that demonstrated its
effectiveness. Our agency understood this and we were able to
collaborate to make changes with ease.”
Key Measures Summary - Top Box
Measures
Above. Beyond.
Because.
AdVoice Norm
Breakthrough
43%
33%
Brand ID (Very Easy)
44%
38%
Utilize/Persuasion
Very Likely
43%
34%
Main Idea
Signifcant vs. Norm
Directional vs. Norm
AdVoice Highs
75% - above beyond
/compassionate care
Breakthrough 71
Relevance
39%
27%
Informative
43%
40%
Likeability
52%
31%
Believable
42%
49%
Brand ID 54
Persuasion 64
Relevance 39
Informative 64
Likeability 56
Believability 67
St. Vincent’s actual AdVoice pretest results using the top 8 metrics of
advertising effectiveness. Performance was above expectation according
to the Market Insights database of AdVoice norms, save for Believability
which became a post-approval focus during final campaign edits.
The Best Kind of Buy-In
Bolstered by AdVoice feedback and inspired by teamwork,
St. Vincent’s marketing team built a persuasive internal
presentation showing the benefits of investing in the “St.”
campaign using actual AdVoice results to anchor their points.
They presented to senior leaders as planned. By providing
evidence of the “St.” campaign’s immense potential, they were
given the funds to move forward with the campaign. Following
the presentation, St. Vincent’s CEO wasn’t just satisfied with the
campaign, he was thoroughly impressed. “We weren’t sure what
to expect,” Brockmeier said, “after we finished, our CEO stood
up, asked the rest of the leadership group to join him, and gave
us a standing ovation. It was remarkable.” It’s hard to imagine a
CEO giving a standing ovation to a group of associates, let alone
any asking for advertising dollars, but St. Vincent’s bore witness
to this very event. By working as a team and demonstrating the
value of their proposal through measurement, Brockmeier and
company achieved the buy-in necessary to proceed. Buy-in
through both the traditional budgetary means and also the
internal spirit of a job well done.
A Fitting Premiere
Energized by approval and inspired by feedback, Brockmeier
and the marketing team worked with BPD to fully flesh out the
“St.” campaign creative and do final refinements using consumer
insights provided through AdVoice. Once the campaign
was complete, they continued to innovate through internal
communications, this time with the employee screening event.
Often hospitals lightly communicate a new advertising campaign
to internal associates, or they don’t communicate it all. “We
wanted to do something special,” Brockmeier explained, “and
turn the typical screening into a full Hollywood-style premiere.”
The St. Vincent’s marketing team popped popcorn, provided
refreshments, and lined seats in rows to give a movie theater
feel to the screening room. Employees could conveniently come
and go during the schedule-friendly two-day event. The best
part of all? Employees were the stars. Because St. Vincent’s used
real employees in their advertisements they had no issue with
attendance as internal associates turned out in droves to see
their fellow stars in action. The screening event was even topped
off with behind-the-scenes footage and reinforced with verbatim
quotes from actual consumers provided through the AdVoice
testing process. The interactivity of the screening left employees
feeling in the know and engaged in the campaign.
Time to Go Live
All that was left was to actually implement the campaign.
Brockmeier, BPD and the St. Vincent’s marketing team felt
confident in their final creative and ready for launch. Since
AdVoice encouraged collaboration from the start, St. Vincent’s
was able to move briskly in lockstep to complete the media
buying process and roll out the campaign. Soon, the “St.”
campaign was a market reality in Jacksonville.
RESULTS OF MANY KINDS
The outpouring of positive feedback and support has been nearly overwhelming for Brockmeier and company. Comments,
notes, and inquiries came from colleagues, competitors and actual consumers. The “St.” campaign’s pretest performance
was a harbinger of future market success. Take the metric of “compassionate care” for example: AdVoice showed a lift in
consumer reaction to St. Vincent’s ability to provide “compassionate care” after viewing the ad. What about after launching
in the marketplace? The ability to track important advertising metrics shouldn’t end with the pretest. According to an ongoing
Market Insights survey of Jacksonville consumers, of those who recalled St. Vincent’s advertising, 68.6 felt St. Vincent’s
advertising conveyed the message they provide “compassionate care” in Q3 of 2011. By Q4, when the campaign was in full
swing, the “compassionate care” metric grew to 77.2 percent. Using a larger market view, by the end of 2011, St. Vincent’s led
all competitors in total advertising recall. “The outpouring of internal support and personal notes was incredible,” Brockmeier
recalls, “and on a larger scale, the market seemed to follow suit in their positive reaction to the campaign.” Indeed the internal
momentum of a great idea, an inspired team, a willing agency, and a dash of consumer feedback created a force that could not
be slowed and resulted in a campaign that won’t soon be forgotten.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF PRE-LAUNCH
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The Three Key
Measures of Advoice
While an expansive list of questions is presented
to consumers during pretesting, AdVoice hones in
on three specific metrics for measurement:
1. Breakthrough
Does your ad “breakthrough” the clutter?
Is it unique? Does it catch the eye? If your
creative doesn’t instantly connect with the
consumer it will easily disappear into the
noisy barrage of healthcare and especially
non-healthcare advertising currently
inundating your target audience.
2. Brand Identification
Is your ad clearly branded? Can respondents
connect the dots between brand and ad? Put
consumers to the test and see if they can identify
your brand in a competitive lineup.
3. Persuasion
Will your ad change consumer perception of you?
Will respondents act favorably after viewing?
Learn if your campaign will influence consumers to
utilize your services, and resonate enough for them
to recommend you to others.
Using AdVoice’s three key measures, a campaign is
thoroughly tested to ensure it has the best chance
of market success. A campaign should capture
the attention of the consumer, clearly tie itself
to its brand, and enact a favorable change in the
behavior of the target audience, translating into
brand lift and higher market share.
In addition to the three keys, AdVoice asks: Is your
campaign’s main idea translating to consumers? Do
they find your creative relevant? Is it informative?
Is it likeable? Is it believable? It’s best to ask these
questions before a campaign goes live in the market.
ADVOICE HIGHS: METRIC RECORD BREAKERS
Once you start your AdVoice you have access to a library of regional and
national pretesting benchmarks. What’s a good score for Breakthrough?
Where should you rank in Relevance? For perspective, take a look at the
current title holders for AdVoice’s three keys and a few more essential metrics:
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Breakthrough
71
John Muir
“Picky Picky”
Brand ID
54
John Muir
“Midlife Woman”
Duke University
“Challenging the Norm”
Baylor University
“Roots”
Baylor University
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CHRISTUS
“Santa Rosa”
Likeability
55
CHOC
“No Place Like CHOC”
In addition to outside benchmarks, once you complete your first AdVoice
you can set your own bar. Was your campaign a success? You now have your
measuring stick. The same applies to a campaign that fell flat; you’ll know
how to aim higher next time. As AdVoice alumni, you’ll never go unguided in
measuring your campaigns.
A FRAMEWORK FOR STRONG CREATIVE
Provided courtesy of Bert Miklosi, MarCom consultant, AdVoice contributor
and longtime Market Insights collaborator with over 20 years of experience
on the client, agency, and research sides of advertising.
Be Objective About Your Goal
A successful advertising campaign starts with one thing: your advertising
objective. Define what your advertising is attempting to do. Is it to raise
facility and/or system awareness? Establish brand positioning? Increase
web traffic? Grow a service line? Whatever the intended outcome, the
advertising objective is the singular driving force behind a successful
campaign. Don’t start without defining one.
Look at Your Market, Look in the Mirror
It is critical to understand where your facility fits within the market.
Are you the market leader, second, third, sixth? What is your spend
level versus key competitors? What is your share of voice? What type
of advertising clutters your market most? Brand advertising, product
advertising, call to action advertising? Taking time to look around will help
you create advertising that stands out.
Being Outspent?
Don’t have deep pockets? Get creative to compete. Consider the “book
end” approach: advertise the months before and the months after your
key competitor or the “strategic flighting” approach: advertise in a series
of short, intense bursts using robust media weight. Either strategy boosts
your ability to be heard and build a greater share of voice instead of being
drowned by your competitor’s spending.
Media & Creative: Make Them Work Together
An effective media strategy is critical to success but creative is “king”. The
media strategy must optimize creative so the concept has an opportunity to
breakthrough and persuade in the most effective environment. If the media
strategy calls for out-of-home advertising but the creative idea is best suited
for television then problems will occur. Such decisions need to be made at
the beginning of the advertising development process and as a client, your
input and direction will be valued by the advertising agency. You know
your market best.
Continuous Learning
To develop best practices, hold a campaign postmortem to understand
what worked, what didn’t and why. This can be done through pre- and
post-tracking research available through Market Insights to holistically view
campaign dynamics. Learning obtained through research before, during, and
after the campaign must carry on to the next.
AdVoice: Your Advertising
Campaign’s Most
Important Ally
In conclusion, there is no denying the expense
of advertising. The mantra “there is no second
chance to make a first impression” is especially
true for hospitals and health systems. With
eroding budgets and rising competition, the need
for effective advertising has been no higher. A
campaign that flops can create a domino effect
of lost confidence, shrinking budget allotments,
and thinner ice for marketers under increased
scrutiny to do more with less.
Enlist the advertising pretest approach to
eliminate creative guesswork and internal
handwringing. The Market Insights offering
— AdVoice — presents a methodical, proven
solution to advertising uncertainty by providing
credible, consumer-based feedback. As proven
by the St. Vincent HealthCare case example,
the AdVoice process can ignite your internal
team, enrich the ad agency partnership, and
engage leadership in a meaningful way. It can
also produce relevant advertising and in turn
cause brand lift among your target audience. By
becoming an AdVoice alumni, you unlock two
sets of essential benchmarks: normative national
benchmarks for a broad perspective of average
advertising performance and custom individual
benchmarks which allow you to set your own
baseline for future campaign development.
Whether you are seeking budget buy-in,
managing internal expectations, elevating your
brand, or all of the above as your build your
next big campaign, ensure the best possible
market results by enlisting the consumer as your
campaign’s compass. By simply asking your target
audience key questions about your creative, you
can make vital improvements and increase your
odds of a great campaign. Advertising pretesting
strips away the uncertainty and financial risk that
often clouds advertising and restores campaign
control to its rightful owner — you.
RYAN DONOHUE
Corporate Director of Program Development
National Research Corporation
Ryan Donohue is the corporate director of program development for
National Research Corporation. Through the Market Insights marketing
measurement and strategy solution for healthcare providers, Ryan has
partnered extensively with hospitals and health systems to leverage
market intelligence and build consumer-centric healthcare brands.
Ryan has studied the effect of consumerism across multiple industries
and collaborated with Mayo Clinic, Northwestern Memorial Hospital,
Vanguard Health Systems, Trinity Health, Medical College of Georgia,
and other providers, big and small, to analyze and understand consumer
decision-making. Ryan specializes in creating simple yet effective
strategic models any healthcare brand can use to reach and influence
its customer base.