Ad tracking, also known as post-testing or ad effectiveness tracking, is in-market research that monitors a brand’s performance including

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

awareness, product trial and usage, and attitudes about the brand versus their competition. Depending on the speed of the purchase cycle in the category, tracking can be done continuously (a few interviews every week) or it can be “pulsed,” with interviews conducted in widely spaced waves (ex. every three or six months). Interviews can either be conducted with separate, matched samples of consumers, or with a single (

longitudinal Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Longitude ** Line of longitude, also called a meridian * Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicle, ...

) panel that is interviewed over time. Since the researcher has information on when the ads launched, the length of each advertising flight, the money spent, and when the interviews were conducted, the results of ad tracking can provide information on the effects of advertising.

Purpose

The purpose of ad tracking is generally to provide a measure of the combined effect of the media weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the media buy or targeting, and the quality of the advertising executions or creative. Advertisers use the results of ad tracking to estimate the

return on investment Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably ...

(ROI) of advertising, and to refine advertising plans. Sometimes, tracking data are used to provide inputs to Marketing Mix Models which marketing science statisticians build to estimate the role of advertising, as compared to

pricing Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan. In setting prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acq ...

, distribution and other marketplace variables on sales of the brand.

Methodology

Today, most ad tracking studies are conducted via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

. Some ad tracking studies are conducted continuously and others are conducted at specific points in time (typically before the advertising appears in market, and then again after the advertising has been running for some period of time). The two approaches use different types of analyses, although both start by measuring advertising awareness. Typically, the respondent is either shown a brief portion of a commercial or a few memorable still images from the TV ad. Other media typically are cued using either branded or de-branded visual of the ad. Then, respondents answer three significant questions. # Do you recognize this ad? (recognition measure) # Please type in the sponsor of this ad. ( unaided awareness measure) # Please choose from the following list, the sponsor of this ad. ( aided awareness measure) The continuous tracking design analyzes advertising awareness over time, in relation to ad spending; separately, this design tracks brand awareness, and then develops indices of effectiveness based on the strength of the correlations between ad spending and brand awareness. The most popular alternate approach to the continuous tracking design is the Communicants System longitudinal design, in which the same people are interviewed at two points in time. Changes in brand measures (for example, brand purchasing and future purchase intentions) exhibited among those who have seen the advertising are compared to the changes in brand measures that occurred among those unaware of advertising. By means of this method, the researchers can isolate those marketplace changes that were produced by advertising versus those that would have occurred without advertising.

Internet tracking

There are several different tools to track online ads:

banner ad A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking ...

s, ppc ads,

pop-up ad Pop-up ads or pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the World Wide Web. A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears ("pops up") in the foreground of the visual interface. The pop- ...

s, and other types. Several online advertising companies such as

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

offer their own ad tracking service (

Google Analytics Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, currently as a platform inside the Google Marketing Platform brand. Google launched the service in November 2005 after acquiring Urchin. As o ...

) in order to effectively use their service to generate a positive ROI. Third-party ad tracking services are commonly used by affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketers are frequently unable to have access to the order page and therefore are unable to use a 3rd-party tool. Many different companies have created tools to effectively track their commissions in order to optimize their profit potential. The information provided will show the marketer which advertising methods are generating income and which are not and allows him to effectively allocate his budget. Last-click attribution means the belief that the last ad a person saw actually generated the sale, which is often not the case. However, if a person saw an ad on one web site before switching to another and then made a purchase, there is a chance the data cannot be shared after the person changed sites, meaning only last-click attribution is available.

Measures

Here is a list of some of the data a post-test might provide: *

Top of mind awareness Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) is an important concept in consumer behaviour, marketing research and marketing communications. Top-of-mind awareness is one measure of how well brands rank in the minds of consumers. Definitions of top-of-mind awaren ...

*Unaided brand awareness *Aided brand awareness *Brand fit *Brand image ratings *Brand trial *Engagement/ involvement *Repeat purchase *Frequency of use *Price perceptions *Unaided advertising awareness *Aided advertising awareness *Unaided advertising message recall *Aided advertising message recall *Aided commercial recall *Ad wear out *Promotion awareness and usage *Purchase intention *

Market segment In marketing, market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as ''segments'') based on some type of shared charact ...

characteristics * Media habits *

Lifestyle Lifestyle often refers to: * Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives * ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle * Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality Lifestyle may also refer to: Bu ...

Psychographics Psychographics is a qualitative methodology used to describe traits of humans on psychological attributes. Psychographics have been applied to the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Two approaches to ...

Demographics Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...

References

* Young, Charles E., ''The Advertising Research Handbook'', Ideas in Flight, Seattle, WA, April 2005, {{ISBN, 0-9765574-0-1 * Rydholm, Joseph (2000)
"Campaigning for the outdoors"
Quirk's Marketing Research Review. Retrieved on 2008-12-1 Advertising Market research Promotion and marketing communications

Purpose

Methodology

Internet tracking

Measures

See also

Further reading

References