Ad Testing

Ad Testing or more correctly "Advertisement Testing", refers to various methodologies focusing exclusively on measuring the effectiveness, perception, or targeting of a series of, or a single advertisement in a given market. It is also related to Promotion Testing "promo testing" - which generally tests communications in a broader campaign. Ad Testing can test ads in any advertising media including print, TV/Cable, radio, billboard or others. It can be used at any stage of the advertisement development process including conceptualization, story board, or final stages.

Some Advertisement Testing focuses on competitive aspects (the effectiveness of the advertisement compared to competing advertisements). Some competitive Advertisement Testing techniques include asking respondents to browse a magazine and then being asked to remember what advertisements they saw and what was most memorable about them, a general survey on advertisement recall and recognition in a specific market, or testing competing advertisements in a deeper way by the use of face to face depth interviews or focus groups.

Advertisement Testing is most frequently used however to decide on the most effective advertisement from a series of alternatives at design stage. This also provides guidelines for the final design of the advertisements, and to correct expensive cultural gaffes that may occur when an advertisement developed in a different country is being used in another country or cultural target group.

Attributes most often tested include memorability, liking (or "affect"), persuasiveness, consumer identification with settings or situations, understanding of the appeal, and brand integrity.

Logos or tag lines can be tested in a similar manner.