Abstract:

The main body of the paper is concerned with the research programme that was mounted in relation to the £2½ million campaign, 'Britain at its Best', which can be regarded as one of the most successful corporate-image advertising campaigns ever undertaken in Britain. The design of the research programme and the results observed are discussed in relation to the answers to three questions: Is it likely to work? What effect has it had? What are the implications for the future?. The final part of the paper returns to the conference theme of 'Research for Profitability' and outlines five major ways in which BP has profited significantly from this research programme.