Recent studies in the United States concerning short term advertising strength and effective frequency have triggered numerous important questions in Europe. In France, the great majority of advertisers continue to use pulsing strategies. Single-source data has been available in France since 1996 creating new research concepts in addition to direct STAS application. This document describes sixty-nine STAS calculation results. Also developed in this document are different approaches to recency and the best way to test media planning alternatives.
The 1996 is the year of the launching of French single-source research with a data base, named TVScan, providing meter audiences together with scanner-collected purchases. A case study illustrates the approaches developed for integrating the marketing target in the media strategy, and measuring the advertising effects on real purchase behaviours.