Adver&sing  Tes&ng  A  lonely  voice  from  those  who  create  adver&sements  

By  Vu  Minh  San    Planning  Director  

My  belief  

Research  is  an  aid  to  judgment  not  a  subs&tute.    

There’s  no  subs&tute  for  sound  crea&ve  judgment.    

“We  are  not  thinking  machines.  We  are  feeling  machines  that  think.”  

The  case  of  Phineas  Gage  

Which  would  you  choose?  Professor  Timothy  Wilson’s  experiment  

Source:  Brain.  Behavior.  Story.    

Merely  asking  people  to  explain  why  they  prefer  one  item  over  another  leads  them  to  make  poor  choices  because…    

No  one  wants  to  feel  stupid  defending  his  or  her  choice  

…all  decision  making  is  founded  in  the  emo<ons,  that  most  of  what  is  stored  in  our  brains  and  influences  our  behavior  is  not  easily  accessible  to  consciousness,  and  that  our  ‘adap<ve  unconscious’  (Wilson  2002)  is  con<nually  responsive  to  signals  of  which  we  remain  consciously  unaware.  

My  favorite  moderator’s  verba&m  

 “Consumers  in  the  South  are  very  “hời  

hợt”  (when  watching  adver<sing)  That’s  why  I  love  running  crea<ve  tes<ng  FGDs  with  

consumers  in  the  North  beQer”    –  Anonymous  well-­‐known  local  researcher  

But  how  are  we  ‘tes&ng’  ADVERTISEMENTS?  

The  informa6on  processing  model  of  adver6sing  

Based  on  following  assump&ons:  •  For  any  ad  to  be  effec&ve,  it  must  communicate  

informa&on  about  the  product  •  Respondents  must  be  able  to  play  back  the  correct,  

verbal  ‘message’  •  To  be  successful,  any  ad  must  be  ‘believed’  and  

‘understood’  

Source:  50  Years  using  the  wrong  model  of  TV  adver<sing  

Source:  The  Internet  

Message(s)   Crea&vity  

The  scary  list  of  ques&ons/requests  •  What  are  the  things  you  DON’T  like  about  the  idea/commercial?  •  How  would  you  like  to  fix  or  improve  the  commercial?  •  Please  tell  us  what  is  your  overall  liking  toward  the  background  

music  (also  character’s  hair  style,  color  of  the  ice  cream  scoop  that  the  character  is  holding,  the  font  type  used  for  the  slogan…)  in  this  ad?    

•  Why  do  you  like  the  commercial?  •  Can  you  choose  the  commercial  you  like  best  (among  the  ones  you  

were  shown)  and  explain  why?  •  Can  you  test  a  stealoma<c  (which  costs  about  300-­‐500usd)?  Oh,  

btw,  please  take  out  all  narra&on  in  the  stealoma<c  and  make  it  30-­‐sec  long.  (stealoma<c  ≠  anima<c)  

•  Make  the  brand  appear  in  the  first  5  seconds  of  the  TVC  to  enhance  branding!  

•  …  

Give  consumers  what  (they  think)  they  want    OR    

“Don’t  give  them  what  they  want,  give  them  what  they  never  believed  was  possible”  

–  Orson  Welles  

Thien  Long  TVC    (www.youtube.com/watch?v=CROmh-­‐7Gjxs)  

“Measuring  responses  to  adver<sing  cannot  be  a  maQer  of  asking  people  what  they  remember,  or  what  they  think  about  the  adver<sing,  because  overtly  conscious  responses  like  these  are  likely  to  be  misleading.  Research  interpreta<ons  must  be  based  less  on  what  people  say,  and  more  on  how  they  behave,  ranging  from  whether  they  smile,  laugh,  or  chat  animatedly  about  the  ad,  to  whether  the  show  an  increased  preference  for  the  brand.”    –  Robert  Heath  &  Paul  Feldwick  2007  

Saleability  

People  may  like  the  TVC  a  lot  but  they  (especially  non-­‐users)  will  NOT  run  to  a  store  and  buy  the  product  immediately  -­‐>  the  role  of  adver&sing  is  mainly  to  enhance  brand’s  saleabilty  

How  to  move  forwards  together  

•  Make  sure  you’ve  already  used  research  to  iden&fy  more  powerful  &  insighgul  things  to  say  about  your  brand  instead  of  using  it  to  tweak  crea&ve  execu&ons  that  don’t  say  anything  worthwhile  

•  Be  clear  about  the  role  of  the  adver&sing  and  think  long-­‐term  

•  Make  sure  your  research  agency  clearly  understanding  the  crea&ve  work,  which  can  only  be  achieved  through  discussing  with  your  ad  agency  before  the  research  happens  

•  FINALLY,  stay  open-­‐minded  

Reference  Books  Descartes’  Error:  Emo<on,  Reason,  and  the  Human  Brain  by  Antonio  Damasio  Tes<ng  to  Destruc<on:  A  Cri<cal  Look  at  The  Uses  of  Research  in  Adver<sing  by  Alan  Hedges    Ogilvy  &  Mather  Publishing  Brain.  Behavior.  Story.  by  Christopher  Graves  2014    Papers  50  Years  of  Using  the  Wrong  Model  of  Adver<sing  by  Dr  Robert  Heath  and  Pau  Feldwick  Is  Research  Killing  Adver<sing?  by  Simon  Silvester      

Thank  you.  Contact  email:  san.vu@ogilvy.com