John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838 – December 12, 1922), a merchant and the pioneer of advertising said: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”(Wikipedia.com). But how can you know that an advert has achieved its intended purpose?
With over 120 adverts popping up on our T.V sets every month and over Ksh 2.7 billion being spent on adverts every month according to a research conducted by Ipsos Synovate, there is need to check whether the target of the advert has been hit.
It should make you get noticed: for an advert to sell a brand, it should make the brand get noticed and be fathomed by the target audience.
Know who is talking: the audience should know who is talking in the advert, what it is about and the impact it will have on the audience.
Make change: an effective advert should move clients closer to the brand.
The Head of Ipsos Advertising Systems & Insights (ASI) Pan Africa Mr Jacek Otffinowski, says that if an advert achieves its target, a marketer should continue with the same copy until burn out.
“If the advert has accomplished its mission, you need to come on with the copy you got until you exhaust it,” says Otffinowski.
However when you find that the advert has not yet fulfilled its initial purpose, there is need to borrow from Wanamaker analogy.
“If you have not fully conquered the market, you need to improve the copy for more Return On Investment (ROI),” asserts Otffinowski. In case of failure (where there is low performance with no easy fix in sight), the only option is to withdraw or replace the copy.
This will save you the miscellaneous expenses likely to occur after the advert has hit boomerang effect.
For a marketer to know that an advert has been effective (s) he needs to check the response and multiply it with the reach or coverage as a quantifier.
