Truth, lies and advertising - pre-measurement
26th February 2006 by Claire Watson, ABC
Truth, Lies and Advertising is a book written by one of the best account planners in the world - Jon Steele, of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Jon is credited with the creative research that eventually gave brith to the “Got Milk?” campaign.
A native of Great Britian, Jon is one of those hybrids - a creative guru who is able to think analytically and apply that thinking to connect with the audience mindset.
When milk sales started plummeting, forced to a significantly reduced market share by soft drinks and a variety of juices, the California Milk Board went looking for an agency. Goodby, Silvertein and partners threw their hat in the ring and handed the task of coming up with a winning pitch to Jon Steele, a British trained account planner.
In North America - Jon’s approach was unconventional (to say the least). He didn’t belive in traditional focus groups. He felt that stronger personalities tended to influence the opinion of the group and the results were not the same as what would occur when consumers were left to decide for themselves. So Jon took to conducting focus groups one-on-one - interviewing people in their homes, at the offices - anywhere he could get an audience. The result was pre-measurement research that allowed Goodby, Silverstein and Partners to hit the bull’s eye, every time.
An interesting idea - I wonder how many of us get the message?
March 16th, 2006 at 5:30 am
I absolutely agree with Claire on the value of pre-testing communication campaigns and channels. Just a funny footnote to the “Got Milk” campaign, though. When they started running the campaign in Mexico, it seems they didn’t take the time to pretest again. They literally translated “Got Milk?” to “Tienes leche?” Unfortunately, the Spanish words translate colloquially to “Are you lactating?”
March 16th, 2006 at 10:50 am
That is just too funny Angela. When issues of translation come up, I will be mentioning that story!
Natasha
March 16th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Angela - you are brilliant as usual. All of us could take a page or two from your book to learn how to measure the value of communication. Any tips you’d like to share?