Abstract:

This paper discusses the contribution of qualitative research methodology to producing advertising that is both effective and creative. The argument links three main areas: 1) Changes in the models of how advertising works: away from transportation models and mechanistic measurements towards more holistic models and more dynamic methodologies. These latter are better suited to describing the ways in which people experience advertising and are therefore more relevant and useful to marketing companies and their agencies in improving the quality of strategic and executional decisions. 2) The exploration by practitioners working with agencies, of a wider range of more explicitly described qualitative interpretive frameworks and methodologies: drawn from a wider range of sources - humanistic psychology, social anthropology, neuroanatomy, computer science. Finally, and perhaps most significantly and relevantly, a more sophisticated understanding of how organisations use research; in particular the establishment of the Account Planning organisational structure in advertising agencies which is translating these ideas and philosophies into practice.