Only recently has interest in "below-the-line" become widespread, and even now the term is virtually unknown in some countries with advanced marketing systems. In organising an E.S.O.M.A.R. Seminar on this topic we therefore were conscious that we also would be providing a key reference work for the future. The papers presented range widely, albeit with the usual and seemingly inevitable emphasis on the mass marketing of packaged goods . But they were also selected to illustrate a variety of techniques; and of approaches, from the highly conceptual and "macro" to the limited and robustly pragmatic . Much was said (and seen) which cannot be captured on the page.
In the United Kingdom an annual Conference is held under the auspices of the Advertising Association, to which are federated Advertisers, Advertising Agencies and Media Houses through various trade associations. There were widely divergent views about subjects which would appeal in 1970. Hence research was undertaken. It was thought that simple rank order of preference for subjects could he misleading. Since the aim was to maximise interest of a broad segment of the advertising industry it might he necessary to cater for specialised minorities. Accordingly, the following steps were undertaken: 1. A primary target group was identified. To this group a mailed questionnaire was despatched, asking for ratings of Jk potential subjects for the Conference; 2. Returned questionnaires were analysed initially for the rank order of the topics. Certain clear preferences emerged; 3. Topics were then organised into a correlation matrix which showed relationships different from those anticipated. The data was thereafter subjected to further analysis. Four different approaches were employed: A. Factor analysis; B. Quadratic programming; C. A media schedule building programme; D. Empirical compilation of three potential programmes using the results of the factor analysis and the two previous scheduling results.
The purpose of the work upon which this paper is based was to examine the implications, for the immediate purposes of current media planning in the United Kingdom, of an important experiment reported to the ESOMAR-WAPOR Congress 1967. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to John Parfitt and to Attwood Statistics Limited, who prepared for us a special punch card pack based upon their original data. Without their interest and collaboration it would not have been possible to continue this investigation.
The past decade has seen an enormous growth in the number of persons from the United Kingdom taking an annual holiday outside the country. Within an overall growth of the market, the most prominent feature has been the increase in the number of persons taking an "inclusive tour" or "packaged" holiday by air.