A Model For Predictive Measurements

of Advertising Effectiveness
• ROBERT J. LAVIDGE and GARY A. STEINER
The development and selection of research designs too often reflects
thinking which is technique-oriented. This article looks at advertising
research from another viewpoint.
It starts with the questions: What is advertising supposed to do?
What are its functions? The authors then show the implications of
these questions in relation to measurements of the effectiveness of
proposed advertisements.

HAT ARE THE functions of adver- Ultimate consumers normally do not

Wtising? Obviously the ultimate func- switch from disinterested individuals to
convinced purchasers in one instantaneous
tion is to help produce sales. But all
advertising is not, should not, and cannot step. Rather, they approach the ultimate
be designed to produce immediate pur- purchase through a process or series of
chases on the part of all who are exposed steps in which the actual purchase is but
to it. Immediate sales results (even if the final threshold.
measurable) are, at best, an incomplete
criterion of advertising effectiveness. Seven Steps
In other words, the effects of much ad- Advertising may be thought of as a
vertising are "long-term." This is some- force, which must move people up a series
times taken to imply that all one can really of steps:
do is wait and see—ultimately the cam- 1. Near the bottom of the steps stand
paign will or will not produce. potential purchasers who are com-
However, if something is to happen in pletely unaware of the existence of
the long run, something must be happening the product or service in question.
in the short run, something that will ulti- 2. Closer to purchasing, but still a long
mately lead to eventual sales results. And way from the cash register, are those
this process must be measured in order to who are merely aware of its exist-
provide anything approaching a compre- ence.
hensive evaluation of the effectiveness of 3. Up a step are prospects who know
the advertising. what the product has to offer.
4. Still closer to purchasing are those
who have favorable attitudes toward
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS. Robert J. Lavtdge is Pres-
ident of Eirick and Lavidge, Inc., a Chicago-based
the product—those who like the prod-
marketing research and marketing consulting firm. He uct.
also serves as a member of the faculty of the North- 5. Those whose favorable attitudes have
western University Evening Division. He received his developed to the point of preference
B.A. from DePauw University, and his M.B.A. from the
University of Chicago. Mr. Lavidge was President of
over all other possibilities are up still
the Chicago Chapter of the American Marketing As- another step.
sociation in 1952-53, and served as General Chairman 6. Even closer to purchasing are con-
of AMA's Midwinter Conference in 1958. sumers who couple preference with a
Dr. Gary A. Sfeiner is Associate Professor of Psy- desire to buy and the conviction that
chology in the Graduate School of Business, the Uni-
versity of Chicago. He is associated with Eirick and
the purchase would be wise.
Lavidge, Inc., as consultant in psychological tech- 7. Finally, of course, is the step which
niques. His M.A. in sociology and Ph.D. in psychology translates this attitude into actual
are both from the University of Chicago. purchase.
59
 October, 1961
JOURNAL OF MARKETING
60
process—auu rightly so. For example, adver-
Research to evaluate the effectiveness of tising for new automobiles is likely to place
advertisements can be designed to provide considerable emphasis on the lower steps
measures of movement on such a fiight ot when new models are first brought out. 1 he
steps. ., advertiser recognizes that his ursi job is
The various steps are not necessarily to make the potential customer uware ol
equidistant. In some instances the ••dis- the new product, and to give him knowledge
tance" from awareness to preference may and favorable attitudes about the produci.
be very slight, while the distance from As the year progresses, advertismg em-
preference to purchase is extremely large. phasis tends to move up the slep,,. F'snaUv,
In olher cases, the reverse may be true. at the end of the "model year" much em-
Furthermore, a potential purchaser some- phasis is placed on the final :-u--p--tue
times may move up several steps simultan- attempt to stimulate immediate purcnase
eously. , „, „ among prospects who are asvarned, .J>
Consider the following hypotheses. The then, to have information about ihe car.^
greater the psychological and, or economic The simple model assumes that potential
commitment involved in the purchase ox purchasers a!! "start from scratch;' How-,
a particular product, the longer it will taKC ever, some may have developed negau.e
to bring consumers up these steps, and the attitude, about the product, whicn place
more important the individual steps wn! rhen evnn further from purchasing the
be Contrariwise, the less serious the coin- product than those completely ilna^vare oi
mi'tment, the more likely it is that some if The first job, then, is to get toem o.l
consumers will go almost "immediately to the negative steps--before they can move
the top of the steps.
up the additional steps which lead to pur-
An impulse purchase might be consum-
chase.
mated with no previous awareness, knowl-
Three Functions of Advertising
edge, liking, or conviction with respect, to
the product. On the other hand, an indus- The six steps outlined, beginning with
trial good or an important consumer product "aware " indicate three major functions of
ordinarily will not be purchased in such a advertising. CD The first two, awareness
and knowledge, relate to information or
manner.
ideas (2) The second two steps, liking and
Different ObjeetiVes preference, have to do with favorable atti-
Products differ markedly in terms of the tudes or feelings toward the product. (..)
role of advertising as related to the vari- The final two steps, conviction and pur-
ous positions on the steps. A great dea. chase, are to produce action—the acquisi-
of advertising is designed to move people tion of the product.
up the final steps toward purchase. At an These tbree advertising functions are
extreme is the "Buy Now" ad, designed to directly related to a classic psychological
stimulate immediate overt action. Con-
model which divides behavior into three
trast this with industrial advertising,
components or dimensions:
much of which is not intended to stimulate
1 The cognitive component—trie intel-
immediate purchase in and of itself. In-
lectual, mental, or "rationai" states.
Head it is designed to help pave the ^vay
2. The affective component—the "emo-
for the salesman by making the prospects
tional" or "feeling" states.
aware of his company and products, thus
3 The conative or motivational compo-
giving them knowledge and favorable atti-
n e n t - t h e "striving" states, relating
tudes about the ways in which those prod-
to the tendency to treat objects as
ucts or services might be of value. This,
positive or negative goals.
of course, involves movement up the lower
This is more than a semantic issue, be-
and intermediate steps.
cause the actions that need to be taken to
Even within a particular product cate-
stimulate or chamiel motivation may^ be
gory or with a specific product, difEeren
quite difTereni from those that produce
adv^^rtisements or campaigns may be aimed
knowledge. And these, in turn, may differ
primarily at different steps in the purchase
A MODEL FOR PREDICTIVE MEASUREMENTS OF ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 61

from actions designed to produce favorable Over-all and Component Measurements

attitudes toward something. With regard to most any product there
are an infinite number of additional "sub-
FUNCTIONS OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH
flights" which can be helpful in moving a
Among the first problems in any adver- prospect up the main steps. For example,
tising evaluation program are to: awareness, knowledge, and development of
1. Determine what steps are most criti- favorable attitudes toward a specific prod-
cal in a particular case, that is, what uct feature may be helpful in building a
the steps leading to purchase are for preference for the line of products. This
most consumers. leads to the concept of other steps, sub-
2. Determine how many people are, at dividing or "feeding" into the purchase
the moment, on which steps. steps, but concerned solely with more spe-
3. Determine which people on which cific product features or attitudes.
steps it is most important to reach.
Advertising effectiveness measurements
Advertising research can then be de- may, then, be categorized into:
signed to evaluate the extent to which the
advertising succeeds in moving the speci- 1. Over-all or "global" measurements,
fied "target" audience (s) up the critical concerned with measuring the results
purchase steps. —the consumers' positions and move-
Table 1 summarizes the stair-step model, ment on the purchase steps.
and illustrates how several common adver- 2. Segment or component measure-
tising and research approaches may be ments, concerned with measuring the
organized according to their various "func- relative effectiveness of various
tions." means of moving people up the pur-

TABLE 1
ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING RESEARCH RELATED TO THE MODEL

Examples of
Related Movement Examples of types of research approaches
behavioral toward promotion or advertising related to steps of
dimensions purchase relevant to various steps greatest applicability
PURCHASE Point-of-purchase
CONATIVE /1
Retail store ads Market or sales tests
—the realm of mo- Deals Split-run tests
tives. Ads stimulate "Last-chance" offers Intention to purchase
or direct desires. Price appeals
Testimonials Projective techniques
CONVICTION

PREFERENCE Rank order of pref-

AFFECTIVE Competitive ads erence for brands
—the realm of emo- Argumentative copy Rating scales
tions. Ads change Image measurements,
attitudes and "Image" ads including check
feelings. lists and semantic
Status, glamor appeals differentials
LIKING Projective techniques

KNOWLEDGE Announcements Information questions

COGNITIVE Descriptive copy
—the realm of Classified ads Play-back analyses
thoughts. Ads pro- Slogans
vide information Jingles Brand awareness
and facts. Sky writing surveys
AWARENESS Teaser campaigns Aided recall
 62 JOURNAL OF MARKETING October, 1961

chase steps—the consumers' positions other and directly related to the content
on ancillary flights of steps, and the of the advertising messages tested.
relative importance of these flights. Does the advertising change the thinking
of the respondents with regard to specific
Measuring Movement on the Stept
product attributes, characteristics or fea-
Many common measurements of adver- tures, including not only physical charac-
tising effectiveness have been concerned teristics but also various image elements
with movement up either the first steps or such as "status"? Are these changes com-
the final step on the primary purchase mercially significant?
fiight. Examples include surveys to deter- The measuring instruments mentioned
mine the extent of brand awareness and are helpful in answering these questions.
information and measures of purchase and They provide a means for correlating
repeat purchase among "exposed" versus changes in specific attitudes concerning
"unexposed" groups. image components with changes in global
Self-administered instruments, such as attitudes or position on the primary pur-
adaptations of the "semantic differential" chase steps.
and adjective check lists, are particularly
helpful in providing the desired measure- Testing fhe Model
ments of movement up or down the middle When groups of consumers are studied
steps. The semantic differential provides a over time, do those who show more move-
means of scaling attitudes with regard to ment on the measured steps eventually pur-
a number of different issues in a manner chase the product in greater proportions
which facilitates gathering the information or quantities? Accumulation of data uti-
on an efi^cient quantitative basis. Adjective lizing the stair-step model provides an
lists, used in various ways, serve the same opportunity to test the assumptions under-
general purpose. lying the model by answering this question.
Such devices can provide relatively
spontaneous, rather than "considered," THREE CONCEPTS
responses. They are also quickly adminis- This approach to the measurement of
tered and can contain enough elements to advertising has evolved from three con-
make recall of specific responses by the cepts :
test participant difficult, especially if the 1. Realistic measurements of advertis-
order of items is changed. This helps in ing effectiveness must be related to
minimizing "consistency" biases in various an understanding of the functions of
comparative uses of such measurement advertising. It is helpful to think in
tools. terms of a model where advertising
Efficiency of these self-administered de- is likened to a force which, if success-
vices makes it practical to obtain responses ful, moves people up a series of steps
to large numbers of items. This facilitates toward purchase.
measurement of elements or components 2. Measurements of the effectiveness of
differing only slightly, though importantly, the advertising should provide meas-
from each other. urements of changes at all levels on
Carefully constructed adjective check these steps—not just at the levels of
lists, for example, have shown remarkable the development of product or fea-
discrimination between terms differing ture awareness and the stimulation
only in subtle shades of meaning. One prod- of actual purchase.
uct may be seen as "rich," "plush," and 3. Changes in attitudes as to specific
"expensive," while another one is "plush," image components can be evaluated
"gaudy," and "cheap." together with changes in over-all
Such instruments make it possible to images, to determine the extent to
secure simultaneous measurements of both which changes in the image compo-
global attitudes and specific image compo- nents are related to movement on the
nents. These can be correlated with each primary purchase steps.