Managing the advertising function for established brands requires an understanding of the nature of the advertising-sales relationship. Historically, both experimental and non-experimental approaches have been used to investigate this relationship, but the impressive amount of literature in this area seems to have identified only a number of broad generalisations. In part, this is due to the inadequacies of the different methodologies and data sources that have been used, which make difficult a comparison of the reported studies for this purpose of establishing guidelines for strategic advertising management. Continuous panel-based experimental research seems to offer greater potential for providing further insights into the nature of the advertising-sales relationship.
In this paper we describe in detail the Australian panels which source the AGB BrandScan consumer purchasing information service. In describing these panels we give a flavour to the way in which the shape and nature of the BrandScan panels were determined. In later sections we will address some particular issues in methodology which have a bearing on our fundamental thesis that all data capture instruments should in their design be acutely sensitive to the total impact, both perceived and real, on the selected respondent. In a panel context the use of the 'new technology', carefully specified and implemented, should not only increase the level of accuracy in reporting but also give rise to higher co-operation levels than those obtained on panels using traditional diary techniques. From here it is a relatively short step to argue that a panel with a low data capture burden associated with its normal task can be used to provide high quality information on - say - TV viewing, albeit for restricted periods of time, particularly if appropriate technology is used.
This paper deals in the first instance with the set-up of the survey, including the relevant technical aspects, and then goes on to discuss the various research possibilities which the method can offer. We strongly recommend that the paper be digested before the reading since the latter will be based on the assumption that sufficient knowledge to follow the discussion has already been accumulated. We have kept the text as non-technical as possible.
The AdLab Panel was set up in the Central TV area of England in September 1985 after a pilot study. By June 1987 it had been running for 21 months. The experience of the first years operations is contained within the attached summary paper. This experience suggests : a) Panel members are able to handle the amount of data required of them, ie both purchasing and media exposure data without evident reporting fatigue or abnormal drop-out or reporting rates. b) The data relates closely to that supplied from industry sources, eg product purchasing, TV viewing and readership. c) The analysis of the results provides new and useful data on the sales affects of advertising and on more precise media schcduling. The presentation of the results will examine the evidence for these conclusions both from the original paper and from further analyses in the second year of the Panel.
The case study will show how consumer panel data are integrated into a consumer-oriented marketing model, how hypotheses on consumer's reaction can be checked and how different pricing strategies can be simulated.
The modem means of tele-communication and the rapidly decreasing prices of home computers allow for a new method of consumer panel research: tele-interview. Consumers are being interviewed following a very user friendly procedure which requires per household the following equipment: a tv set, a telephone extension, a home computer with a disc drive, a modem and the tele-interview and communication software on diskette. The Dutch Gallup Organization NIPO B.V. has set up a panel of 1.000 Dutch households which have been provided with the necessary equipment. In the next paragraph we will explain the task of the panel member.
The call for "qualitative" research is always heard when the standardised methods which primarily measure quantitative relationships are unable to explain a change in the market or to explain it adequately. In this situation, attention is focused on 5 group discussions or 20-30 in-depth interviews--the findings from which are usually of interest, giving the imagination a greater boost than do the mere figures from broad representative samples. But the shortcoming inherent in this procedure should not be forgotten; the findings do not have a secure statistical base and may thus essentially result from the in part highly artificial conditions of the experiment. While these research techniques are extremely valuable for purposes of assembling hypotheses, they should not determine marketing decisions. Decisions should not be made without a statistically secure base; hypotheses must be tested using sufficiently broad samples and suitable investigative techniques which can be replicated at will by researchers. The Institut fur Demoskopie Allensbach has been working in this area since the sixties with representatively selected personally-interviewed panels, using samples of at least 1,000. The focus is on "qualitative" research, which seeks not only to register but also to explain changes in markets and in society.
During the last few years market researchers endeavoured to create a new approach of the consumer behaviour, for instance in the field of life style analysis or more generally of the attitudes of the consumer towards the product or its distribution. Panel operators whose main wish is to offeranas wide as possible knowledge of the consumer- have tried to integrate these new means of analysis in their permanent samples, thus creating new more efficient ways of using consumer panels. Our paper will describe some recent applications on the Secodip consumer panel . First we will present some examples of a better knowledge of the consumer : 1. Geo types 2. Life styles 3- Specific typologies 4. Consumption circumstances In a second part, we will show consumer panel analysis can better integrate the actual supply multiplicity 1. In terms of stores 2. In terms of assortment.
This paper reviews the effect of enhancing the value of a pharmaceutical panel by offering the monthly data as both printed reports and through an on-line database service. The panel, JIGSAW, has been running for some 24 months in the UK, based upon a panel of 400 doctors monitoring the use of prescriptions in 5 therapeutic areas. The data is collected by ISIS and then handed over to QUANTIME for data-editing, analysis and for incorporation into an on-line database for access through the interactive package - QUANVERT.
The dilemma of ceteris-paribus-tests and decisions is demonstrated. The classical solution, the regional test market, offers only unsatisfactory results. The requirements of a timely instrument, which can test the total marketing-mix, are more extensive. With the, for Europe unique, micro test market 'Behavior Scan' we succeeded in meeting these requirements. After introducing the instrument, our two years' experience with 'Behavior Scan' in Germany and an outlook to its further development are presented.
The new comprehensive research systems like TELERIM, working on a single source basis with the possibility to follow the product purchase as a response of market function and consumer habits, provides a link of these elements and data types. In the TELERIM testmarketing system consumer data plays an important or even dominant role. Not only the fact of product purchase but especially the combination of demographic, ownership, attitude and buying genesis data lead to very new interpretation of the market chances, because of it's real life situation. Test-designs oriented on the business definition and company targets are taylor-made to fulfil the marketing objectives. The challenge means to change data delivery into information and further knowledge, to manage the stream of scanning data.