Advertising & Consulting: Typical Engagements
Advertising Effectiveness: Networking Equipment
A leading supplier of networking equipment retained ConStat to conduct research to assess the impact of general advertising and the incremental impact of three alternative media plans (print advertising only vs. television advertising at two spending levels) on awareness, usage and perceptions of our client’s products and services. The research would also help the client understand the impact of brand perceptions and attitudes on the purchase decision-making process.
This research consisted of a traditional pre- and post-advertising awareness and usage survey and included 1800 telephone interviews conducted per wave across three distinct IT-related target audiences (wave intervals were six months). These audiences included those responsible for their company’s voice and data networks at both small- and medium-sized companies and organizations with 500+ employees, as well as business decision makers with planning or budgeting responsibilities in functional areas outside of IT.
Results indicated the advertising had a significant impact on increasing awareness of our client and positioning them as a leader among businesses in the Internet space. Importantly, these gains were accomplished without the need for high levels of spending on television advertising.
Product Naming: Software
ConStat’s team worked with the client and a brand identity firm to conduct a sophisticated study to name several market-specific versions of the next release of software for a leading software company.
This complex undertaking involved three countries, 16 name choices, business and home markets, multilanguage translation services, coordination with several disparate client teams and a split methodology employing both focus groups and in-depth one-on-one interviews. In the end, the project involved the participation of nearly 200 individuals across multiple market segments.
TV Advertising Testing: B2B Communications Integration
ConStat designed and conducted an online study for a leading advertising agency to determine which of three potential TV campaigns would be the most effective in positioning their client as a leader in delivering integrated voice, data, networking and wireless services to small- and medium-sized businesses.
A total of six rough TV commercials (animatics) were tested, two for each campaign. The research was used to select a campaign, refine and finalize the TV commercials.
Co-Branding Logo Testing: Home Media Device
Two Fortune 500 technology companies were sponsoring print advertising that introduced a new home media product to high-end consumer buyers. They needed to understand how alternative messaging strategies and logo treatments impacted purchase interest.
Working directly with the advertising agency and the two clients, ConStat designed an online research study to measure not only which advertising execution was the most effective in delivering the desired messages, but also provided measures that determined the equality of brand takeaway. Using a monadic research design, ConStat completed over 2,400 interviews in the U.S. and key European markets.