Expert: Muhammad Kashif - 2/20/2004

Question
how can one accurately measure effectiveness of an advertising campaign and
media buy?

Answer
Hi Margaret,

The effectiveness of any campaign (including advertising campaigns) are dependent on the objectives.  The first step is therefore to see whether the objectives were met.  Accurate measurement is a debatable issue and again dependant on the objectives.  

For example, if the objective of an advertising campaign was to communicate the launch of brand X to 75% of the target audience, one needs to do a post campaign research to find out if the awareness among the TA has reached a minimum of 75%.  If not then the campaign was not effective.  However, if the objective of the campaign is to convince users of brand X to shift to brand Y.  The measurement might be possible via sales trend.  It however might not be accurate because we will not be able to detect the people switching from brand Y to brand X (reverese shift).  

The question was quite vague and the answer might be similar.  If you want any specific information, then please let me have a direct specific question.

Regards,

Kashif