Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402150298
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID ALGEO KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: WICHITA, KAN. LENGTH: Medium
Take a deep breath.
Now ask yourself: Exactly what is it that makes television ads so offensive?
Before you blurt out a profanity and resume the search for the remote, consider a few principles that the Gallup Organization, an opinion-research company based in Atlanta, uses when asking the same question more scientifically.
Jacques Murphy, a senior vice president with Gallup, described the company's methods during a recent meeting of the Wichita chapter of the American Marketing Association.
When a client asks Gallup to assess an ad, the research company assembles an audience whose makeup generally resembles that of the broader television audience the spot is intended to reach.
Gallup asks the volunteers to score ads in four areas. Scores within each area range from 5 to 35, with 5 being bad, 35 outstanding, and 25 average.
The volunteers watch the ads and, within 60 seconds, assign grades. The four categories they evaluate are:
Communication: Does the spot clearly get its message across? Do you know what you're supposed to do once you've seen the ad?
Grabber: Does it get your attention?
Presentation: Is the spot smooth and professional? Advertising types refer to such considerations as the ad's "production values."
Image extension: Most ads attempt to make you feel something, even if the desired emotion is misery, as in Feed the Children's fund-raising spots. Is the spot effective in conveying the desired emotion? Does the ad enhance the credibility of the product or service in question?
Gallup adds up the points in each category, assigning an overall rating. A score of 100 is average. Anything in the 60 to 80 range is bad. Anything above 120 is good.
Of course, good doesn't necessarily mean effective.
One bank advertisement that Murphy showed had production values and attention-getting techniques that made "Jurassic Park" look amateurish. Spaceships soared into a city in a night windstorm, while a crowd gathered to find out what on earth was happening.
What exactly was happening? The high-cost spot received weak ratings for "communication." The ad was intended to announce the arrival of a new bank.
If an advertiser can afford to run such messages often enough, perhaps the point eventually will become evident, Murphy said. But an ad with a hazy message must be an attention-grabber to succeed.
On the other hand, some of the world's worst ads can be effective.
When auto dealers leap across your screen and start crying out serial numbers and prices of new cars, they get your attention - admit it - and the message is undeniably clear.
by CNB