A brand is a compound of two elements. It is first of all a product or service that provides functional benefits rich enough to persuade some (or sometimes many) consumers to buy the brand repeatedly. It also has added values, or psychological qualities and associations in the minds of these consumers; values that underscore and reinforce their preference for the brand. The functional benefits are provided by the manufacturer. The added values are mainly created and built ~ gradually but inexorably ~ by the brand's advertising. It is a fair generalisation that a brand is the joint product of a sound and well-organised manufacturer and imaginative advertising.

Although the agency writes the advertising campaigns, these are also the concern of the advertiser. The advertiser's contribution concentrates on the important managerial tasks of evaluating the agency's proposals; using their judgement to plan the "business" of the campaign (especially budget and media); and, most importantly, measuring the campaign's effects in the marketplace.

The specific jobs that should be carried out by the client in close co-operation with the agency should be five fold. To accomplish these, this article mentions a number of research techniques which are more readily available in a sophisticated market like the United States than in a burgeoning market such as India. Nevertheless, in all developed and less developed countries, the best research available should be used to tackle these five important tasks. It is to be hoped that the specific techniques described here will soon beas fully available in India as they are today in North America and Europe.

1. The Five Tasks
   - Measure behavioral effects
   - Pre-test to weed out ineffective advertisements
   - Determine advertisement budgets strategically
   - Media continuity, not concentration
   - Use promotions tactically

Task 1: Measure Behavioral Effects
Advertising has three orders of effects ~ short-term, medium-term and long-term. These effects can be measured in terms of consumer purchasing (cognitive and attitudinal data are too soft and indirect to measure these effects robustly). One extremely important point is that each effect is a gatekeeper to the next. In particular, without a short-term effect, no other effect is possible.

Before the mid 1980s, it was impossible to measure accurately the short-term effects of advertising. These are felt within seven days of an advertisement appearing and such effects are highly volatile. Measurement is only possible with the use of a large scale and expensive technique called Pure Single Source Research, a type of investigation that has been used in a number of countries since the early 1990s. The measure of an advertisement's short-term effect is market share change and is entitled Short Term Advertising Strength (STAS). In about 30% of cases this effect is very large. In about 40% of cases it is slightly positive. In about 30% of cases sales actually go down because the campaign is unable to protect the brand from stronger campaigns from competitors. STAS is driven exclusively by the creative quality of the advertising campaign.

The medium-term effect represents the repetition of short-term effects across the course of a year, but deducting the short-term effects of competitive advertising campaigns. This means that the medium- term effect is invariably smaller than each short-term effect. The medium-term effect of a campaign can be measured with reasonable precision using regression analysis. Many examples are available to show this technique in action. These cases quantify the proportion of annual sales that are accounted for by advertising and they also show the return on the advertising investment, measured in cents per advertising dollar. The econometric analysis to determine medium-term effects with which I am most familiar and on which I have published, are the work of the prominent research organisation Media Marketing Assessment.

Advertising is also capable of a long-term effect, which is manifested through a strengthening of the brand and in particular the growth in its added values ~ the positive psychological associations of the brand in the minds of consumers. If there is a long-term effect, this is shown by a gradual increase each year in the measured medium-term effect.

Long-term effect of advertising is measured in six ways:

• - Rising penetration i.e. an increasing user base
  - Increasing purchase frequency
  - Reducing price elasticity of demand
  - Above-average consumer price
  - Increasing advertising elasticity
  - Reducing advertising intensiveness i.e. An increasingly effective use of advertising dollars

When the long-term effect of advertising is added to the medium-term effect, advertising can be in circumstances shown to produce a return on investment(ROI) higher than the actual sum spent on it.

Task 2: Pre-Test to Weed Out Ineffective Advertisements
In view of the fact that only a third of campaigns produce strongly positive short-term results, it is very important that manufacturers should pre-test their advertisements to predict as accurately as possible whether their campaigns will be effective in the market place. A number of pre-testing systems are available in the United States. The method with the best track record is that named after the research organisation Advertising Research Systems (ARS).

This method tests the commercial in a cinema in front of an audience of 500 people. These people see an entertainment program in which are inserted some commercials, including the one being tested. The entertainment program is preceded by a lottery, in which people are asked to allocate a sum of money among different brands (including the one being tested). After the program, there is another similar lottery. The measurement of the effectiveness of the tested commercial is determined by comparing the audience preference for the brand after the program with their preference before the program.

This testing system has been used for 50 years and there is a very large battery of test evidence of its effectiveness from a number of countries. This evidence for the predictive ability of the system is very strong and aggregated data are available to illustrate this. There are also a number of cases, which show the system in action for specific named brands.

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