applying - thomasjreynolds.com · of marketing brigham young university applying laddering data to...

THOMAS J. REYNOLDSANDDAVID B. WHITLARK

THOMAS J. REYNOLDSPresident and

Chief Executive OfficerWIrthlin-Reynolds

DAVID B. WHITLARKAssistant Professor

of MarketingBrigham Young University

APPLYINGLADDERING DATA TOCOMMUNICATIONS •STRATEGY ANDADVERTISING PRACTICEThis article provides a summary of personal observations, practicalexperience, and discussions with leading professionals in the fieldof advertising and communications regarding how to identify a com-munications strategy expressed in a means-end framework and howto use the framework to develop advertising copy. It represents aset of "'school-yard lessons" in applying laddering research to realcommunications problems. Information is organized around sixthinking tools for developing a communications strategy and adver-tising copy. Examples are drawn from contemporary advertisingcampaigns.

For more than a decade,means-end theory and re-search techniques such as

laddering (Gutman and Reyn-olds, 1979; Reynolds and Gut-man, 1984) have been used todevelop effective communica-tions strategies for many leadingcorporations, industry organiza-tions, public service groups, andpolitical candidates. While thetheory and mechanics of con-ducting laddering interviews andconstructing descriptive maps ofdecision criteria, i.e., hierarchicalvalue maps, are well docu-mented (Gutman, 1982; Olsonand Reynolds, 1983; Reynoldsand Gutman, 1988; Reynolds,Westberg, and Olson, 1994), fewspecifics or examples have beenpublished explaining how onecan translate laddering researchinto a communications strategyor how a communications strat-egy expressed in a means-endframework can be used as aspringboard for developing exe-cutional ideas.

One way to understand ameans-end framework is tothink of consumer decision-mak-ing as a problem-solving pro-

cess. In making decisions con-sumers select a course of actionor means to reach an objectiveor end. While a means can be anend, an end can also be ameans. For example, in Figure 2one can see that "on-time deliv-ery," an end, is obtainedthrough the "reliability" pro-vided by an express mail deliv-ery service, a means. However,"on-time delivery" itself is also ameans to reach other ends, suchas "less worry about on-the-jobunknowns," "feeling more per-sonal control," and "peace ofmind." Also as shown in Figure2, a means-end framework ar-ranges means and ends into anetwork of attributes, physicaland emotional consequences,and personal values or life goals.The means-end framework forviewing consumer decision-mak-ing leads to a means-end theoryof communications strategy.Generally speaking, the theoryposits that communications arethe most personally relevant andcompelling when they make astrong link between the right setof attributes, consequences, andvalues. 1

Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH^JULY/AUGUST 1995

L A D D E R I N G D A T A

Laddering refers to an inter-viewing technique that can beused to elicit means-end connec-tions and attribute-consequence-value networks people use whenmaking decisions about whatbrand to buy, what store to shopfrom, what issue to support^ oreven who to vote for. Consider,for example, a consumer thatsays an important distinctionbetween express delivery ser-vices is that one service has"package tracking software" andanother service does not. Theresearcher would then "ladder"the key distinction by askingwhy having "package trackingsoftware" (means) is importantto the respondent. Then the re-spondent is asked why the con-sequence "makes me look good"(end) is important to the respon-dent and so forth until the at-tribute-consequence-value chainis exhausted. The laddering in-terview process reveals the lin-kages between attributes, conse-quences, and values used by re-spondents to justfy their beliefsand/or behavior.

In this paper, we suggest sixstrategic thinking tools that canbe used alone or in combination.The first three tools have a posi-tive orientation. The last threetools have a negative orienta-tion. (See Figure 1.) Stated ingeneral terms, the six strategicthinking tools are;

1. Reinforce. Strengthen the net-work of positive attributes,consequences, and values as-sociated with the "product."

2. Refocus. Add linkages be-tween attributes and conse-quences or introduce new at-tributes and/or consequencesto better differentiate the"product."

3. Redefine. Express a potentialweakness so that it is per-ceived as a strength.

4. Reframe. Express a competi-

Figure 1

Six Strategic Thinking Tools for Laddering DataPositive

REINFORCE: Strengthen the network of positive attributes, consequences, and values.

REFOCUS: Add linkages between attributes and consequences or introduce new attrib-utes and/or consequences.

REDEFINE: Express a potential weakness so that it is perceived as a strength.

REFRAME: Express a competitor's strength so that it is perceived as a weakness.

REDIRECT: Divert attention away from a competitor's strength to their weakness.

REMOVE: Undermine a competitor's strength by showing that the strength doesn't exist.

Negative

tor's strength so that it is per-ceived as a weakness.

5. Redirect. Divert attentionaway from a competitor'sstrength to their weakness.

6. Remove. Undermine a compet-itor's strength by showing thestrength doesn't exist.

There are several pitfalls tosidestep when applying ladder-ing data to developing commu-nications strategies and advertis-ing executions. One of the mostdangerous is believing that astrategy comes directly off a hi-erarchical value map. Mapsyielded by laddering researchare the building blocks of com-munications strategy, but thenature and scope of the strategicgoal are often determined bymany external factors in additionto the laddering results. In addi-tion to introducing six strategicthinking tools that can be usedwith laddering data, the purposeof this paper is to describe whenand how one might use thethinking tools and to discussseveral ideas regarding the stra-tegic assessment of ads.

Positive Tools

The first three strategic think-ing tools have a positive orienta-tion. That is, they build on areasof perceived or potentialstrength. Communications usinga positive orientation are com-monly used when advertisingproducts and services. Persua-sive advertising depends directlyon emphasizing the distinctive-ness of product attributes andsuccessfully tapping into thepositive connections peoplemake between product attri-butes, functional outcomes, andpersonal needs and goals (Cart-wright, 1949). Understanding aproduct through a consumer'sviewpoint and "playing tostrength" in the context of acompetitive marketplace is oneway to differentiate a product ina way that target audiences willfind meaningful, relevant, andpersuasive. Reinforce, Refocus,and Redefine are three ways wethink about laddering data whendeveloping a positive communi-cations strategy.

Reinforce. The most obvious

10 Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH^JULY/AUGUST 1995


Figure 2

Consumer Decision-Making Map: Express Mail Deiivery

Self-Esteem

VALUES Personal Accomplishment

Peace of Mind

Personal Control

MoreProductive

PSYCHOSOCIALCONSEQUENCES

FUNCTIONALCONSEQUENCES

Saves Timeand Effort

Convenient

Drop Box

ATTRIBUTES

CompetitiveAdvantage

Earn MoreMoney

Less Worryabout Unknowns

Nol Responsible forSomeone Eise's Error

Real-Time Recordof Package Handiing

Get Promoted

Makes MeLook Good

On-Time Delivery

PackageTracking Software Reliable

Adapted from Reynolds and Craddock (1988).

communications strategy is sim-ply to reinforce existing linkagesbetween a product's distinctiveattributes and the associatedcustomer-relevant consequencesand values. One would do thisin order to grow and take own-ership of a particular buyingorientation within a market.Coca-Cola is particularly adeptat keeping ownership of a sig-nificant portion of the teenagemarket for carbonated softdrinks by reinforcing existinglinkages between the uniquetaste and refreshment of Coca-Cola and feelings of improvedmood, doing one's best, accep-tance, and self-esteem. In avery successful ad, "Skysurfer,"a teenage skysurfer is riding in a

small plane and wants a drink ofCoca-Cola, but the ice chest isempty. On the desert below hesees a building with Coca-Colapainted on its roof. To theamazement of his friends, hejumps out of the plane, sky-surfs, then parachutes down tothe "country store" where he isjoined and admired by severalattractive young women andskysurfing friends. The mes-sage—the unique cola taste andsuperior refreshment of Coca-Cola gets you to do great things,gives you what you need to beyour best, and brings youngpeople together in a positiveway. The creative team rein-forces the linkages between thetaste and refreshment of Coca-

Cola and the higher-level conse-quences associated with drinkingCoca-Cola. Moreover, the ad isparticularly strong in reinforcingexisting attribute-consequence-value linkages because Coca-Cola is shown as the catalyst forsatisfying important and person-ally relevant goals.

Making the product "a hero"is different than making it a cat-alyst. Assessments of severalhundred ads have shown thatmaking the product a catalyst isa much more powerful way toreinforce existing attribute-conse-quence-value linkages than byjust making the product a hero.Consider the ad "Special Deliv-ery." In this ad a young femaleAustralian rock star orders a

Journal o( ADVERTISING RESEARCH^JULY/AUGUST 1995 11


Figure 3

Voter Decision-Making Map: Reagan-Bush '84

VALUES Better America Preserve World Peace

Mondale Strenaths

Reagan Strengths

PSYCHOSOCIALCONSEQUENCES

ATTRIBUTES

Inspires ConfidenceIn White House

Non-AggressiveForeign Policy

FUNCTIONALCONSEQUENCES

\

Star Wars

MX Missile

LatinAmerica

Adapted from Fiedler and Bahner (1985).

pizza. The young man receivingthe order, recognizing the rockstar's voice, decides to takealong a couple of Cokes whenmaking the special delivery tothe hotel where the singer isstaying. The teenage hoy clev-erly avoids security and otherbarriers to successfully deliverthe pizza. He then is able to liveout a personal fantasy and sharea Coca-Cola with the young star.The action in the ad is createdby the young man's desire tomeet and he accepted by therock star. One could say that theproduct becomes the hero by

allowing the young man to sharea few moments with the singer,but the young woman createsthe action. She is the catalyst forsatisfying the young man's keypsychosocial needs, not thedrink. As a result, even thoughit generates substantial ad affect,"Special Delivery" does not rein-force key communication link-ages and does not successfullygenerate product affect or stimu-late purchase intentions.

Refocus. Beginning with itsintroduction into the market-place. Federal Express has foundways to make distinctions be-

tween itself and its competitors.As competitors have respondedto remove the distinctions. Fed-eral Express has refocused cus-tomers by adding linkages be-tween attributes and conse-quences or by introducing newattributes and/or consequencesto maintain their product differ-entiation. For example, considerthe attribute "package trackingsoftware" shown in Figure 2.The attribute was added into thenetwork of decision-making cri-teria to distinguish Federal Ex-press from its competitors. Thecreative challenge is to convinc-



ingly link the new attribute intothe higher-level reasons for se-lecting an overnight package-delivery service.

Two ads, the first called "Ap-plause" and the second called"Gotcha" both call to our atten-tion that Federal Express track-ing software is a distinctiveproduct attribute. The ads alsoshow how the same distinguish-ing attribute can be made per-sonally relevant to two groups ofpeople with very different lifegoals. The first ad "Applause" isdirected at administrative staff,i.e., facilitators of overnight de-livery service who seek self-es-teem by making a positive im-pression on supervisors and co-workers. The ad shows a largeopen room filled with manyworkers. In this setting, all yourcoworkers know about your mis-takes and your successes. It is atypical workday and an irritablemanager charges into the roomand starts yelling, "Martha, thatpackage you sent to Denver. Itnever got there!" To which anintimidated Martha replies,"Well . . . (Announcer: Trackingsoftware from Federal Express.). . . it was picked up at 5:20 lastnight. It was delivered at 9:20a.m. and signed for by KateDonovan. Shall I call her for yousir?" "Never mind," whispersthe manager as he charges backout of the room. (Announcer:Now you can track packagesright from your computer atyour desk.) In the closing scenethe office erupts into cheers andapplause for Martha, who reluc-tantly stands up and takes abow. The ad shows how thetracking software gives officeworkers a measure of controlover their environment andhelps them make a positive im-pression on supervisors andcoworkers.

Another ad called "Gotcha"uses an entirely different context

in directing a message to busi-ness executives, i.e., generatorsof overnight delivery servicewho want tools that help themwin and seek feelings of per-sonal accomplishment. The set-ting is a high-rise office with se-nior staff members surroundingthe key decision maker for abusiness deal. The executive de-cision maker murmurs, "I know.Say we didn't get the package."(Phone rings.) The staff memberanswers, "Martha." Martha re-plies, "Tom, did you get ourpackage?" "Gee, it never gothere," answers Tom. To whichMartha remarks, "Really . . .(Announcer: Tracking softwarefrom Federal Express.) . . . Itwas delivered to your place at9:22 a.m." Tom retorts with,"Oh, probably stuck in the mailroom." "No," says Martha, "itwas signed for by your partnerBrian." (Announcer: Now youcan track packages right fromyour computer at your desk.)After an embarrassing pause,Tom responds, "Oh, that pack-age . . . we can negotiate a dealif you . . ." The ad shows howthe "tracking software" toolgives executives the upper handin the marketplace and, conse-quently, satisfies their desire forwinning and personal accom-plishment. Parenthetically, Fed-eral Express replaced its "track-ing software" campaign when acompetitor, UPS, started adver-tising their own version of track-ing software.

Redefine and Reframe. In thedomain of political campaignsand public issues it is often im-portant to redefine a potentialweakness so that it is perceivedas a strength and reframe a com-petitor's strength so that it isperceived as a weakness. Thetwo approaches for influencingpublic opinion are particularlypowerful when used in combina-tion. Consider the situation

shown in Figure 3. When formu-lating President Ronald Reagan'sreelection strategy, his politicaladvisors were looking for oppor-tunities to show Reagan's associ-ation with "strengthening themilitary" in a positive light. Onthe other hand, they were alsolooking for opportunities to un-dermine Mondale's ownership of"arms control leading to worldpeace." The strategic goal is tobuild on Reagan's key strengths,"decisive" and "gets thingsdone," which voters translatedinto "strong leadership," andmake a connection betweenstrong leadership, strong mili-tary, and world peace. In short,Reagan's strong military is rede-fined to mean a decreasedchance of war, and Mondale'sarms control is reframed tomean an increased chance ofwar.

The creative team was taskedto show that building a strongmilitary is the only logical wayto prepare for lasting peace. In asimple and effective ad called"Bear," a bear walks throughthe woods to confront, finally, aman face-to-face. With thesound of a beating heart in thebackground the announcerreads, "There is a bear in thewoods. For some people thebear is easy to see. Others don'tsee it at all. Some people say thebear is tame. Others say it is vi-cious and dangerous. Since noone can really be sure who'sright, isn't it smart to be asstrong as a bear? If there is abear."

Working against the samestrategic goals, the creative teamprovided evidence of how Rea-gan's strong leadership qualitiesof "decisive" and "gets thingsdone" were linked to worldpeace through strengthening themilitary. The ad shows happy,carefree children playing and, atone point, standing on a porch

Journal of ADVERTISING RESEARCH^JULY/AUGUST 1995 13


next to a gently waving Ameri-can flag. The scene is followedby a soundbite and video clip ofPresident Reagan addressing anaudience. In the voiceover. Pres-ident Reagan says, "We've facedtwo world wars, a war in Korea,then Vietnam. And I know this.I want our children never tohave to face another. A presi-dent's most important job is tosecure peace, not just now butfor the lifetimes of our children.But it takes a strong America tobuild a peace that lasts. And Ibelieve with all my heart thatworking together we havemade America stronger andprouder and more securetoday. And now we can workfor a lasting peace for our chil-dren and children to come.Peace is the highest aspirationof the American people. TodayAmerica is prepared for peace.We will negotiate for it. Sacrificefor it. We will not surrender forit now or forever." The ad alsoused the tagline, "PresidentReagan . . . Leadership that'sworking."

For a consumer product exam-ple of how to redefine a poten-tial weakness so that it is per-ceived as a strength consider theproblems with selling carbonatedsoft drinks in Japan. Japan prob-ably represents the most com-plex beverage market in theworld. Competing in the marketis difficult and as one Japanesecommentator once observed, abottled cola drink looks just likeone more bottle of soy sauce.Moreover, in Japan, carbonationis often linked to bad health.What rational or emotional ap-peal could gain attention andthen convince Japanese consum-ers to drink a beverage thatlooks like soy sauce and thatthey feel could be unhealthy?The creative assignment is toshow that the cola taste and car-bonation are refreshing, make

people more productive, and canresult in a significant accom-plishment for a team workingtogether. In an ad called "Ses-sion," Japanese television view-ers watch a "live" recording inwhich a team of young peoplewith a somewhat older andmore experienced director is re-cording a song promoting Coca-Cola. The ad is upbeat, youth-ful, and quick paced. The ses-sion, however, is not going welluntil the director has everyonedrink a round of ice-cold Coca-Cola. In addition to being ice-cold, the carbonation and uniquecola taste are shown as creatingrefreshment, an energy lift, andultimately group achievement asthe team enthusiastically recordsthe Coca-Cola jingle. "Session"redefines the potential weak-nesses of color and carbonationto be sources of unique tasteand energy. Unique taste andenergy are made relevant byshowing they give rise to groupaccomplishment.

Negative Tools

The thinking tools Reframe,Redirect, and Remote have a neg-ative orientation and are used toattack strengths or vulnerabilitiesof competitors. Communicationsusing a negative orientation arefrequently used in political cam-paigns, but from time to timesurface in consumer advertising.We discussed the Reframe think-ing tool in the previous sectionbecause it is often most effectivewhen used in combination withthe Redefine thinking tool. Theremaining thinking tools canhave a very negative tone. Overthe last several years negativeads have come to dominate thecommunications campaigns oflocal, regional, and national po-litical candidates, presumablybecause of their success in get-

ting candidates elected. Thetechniques increasingly are beingapplied in high-stakes consumermarkets. The battle betweenMCI and AT&T long-distancetelephone service is an exampleof this approach in the domainof consumer marketing.

Redirect. The objective of thistool is to divert attention awayfrom a competitor's strength totheir weakness. Laddering dataidentify competitive strengths,weaknesses, and the higher-levelfeelings and goals that makethem personally relevant. Againconsider the decision-makingmap shown in Figure 3. MichaelDukakis, like other Democraticpresidential candidates beforeand since, is positioned as a per-son who creates opportunity forthe common man and woman.They champion rights forwomen, the elderly, and theworking class. For at least a de-cade they have made health-carereform and protection of the en-vironment an issue. The owner-ship of this area by Democraticcandidates is so complete andlong-lived that it would be diffi-cult for a Republican presidentialcandidate to successfully com-pete using a similar positioning.As an alternative. Republicanpolitical strategists for the Bush/Quayle campaign redirected at-tention away from the traditionalstrengths of Democratic candi-dates to areas in which they aretraditionally weak—militarystrength.

Consider an ad created for theBush/Quayle presidential cam-paign called "Tank Ride."Michael Dukakis looks juvenileand foolish as he takes a "joyride" in a tank. With his super-imposed words scrolling up thescreen, the announcer reads,"Michael Dukakis has opposedvirtually every defense systemwe developed. He opposed newaircraft carriers. He opposed



anti-satellite weapons. He op-posed four missile systems, in-cluding the Pershing Two mis-sile deployment. Dukakis op-posed the Stealth Bomber and aground emergency warning sys-tem against nuclear attack. Heeven criticized our rescue mis-sion to Grenada and our strikeon Libya. And now he wants tobe our Commander-in-Chief.America can't afford that risk."The ad had high levels of recalland pictured Dukakis as a weak,almost childish leader. People,particularly older Americanswho had voted Republican inthe previous election, had a hardtime getting the image out oftheir minds even thoughDukakis is the epitome of theAmerican dream, personal cour-age, and fortitude, havinggrown up in a hardworking emi-grant family, working his waythrough college, and finishing inthe top 100 runners in the Bos-ton Marathon.

Remove. The tool Remove isthe most extreme approach tonegative positioning. It operatesby undermining a competitor'sstrength by showing thestrength doesn't exist. As men-tioned above. Democratic candi-dates are positioned as peoplewho create opportunity for thecommon man and woman. Theycare about the public. Conse-quently, one effective approachfor a political strategist to takeis to show that a Democraticcandidate does not care, there-by undermining his politicalfoothold.

As an example consider theclassic negative ad "Willie Hor-ton." The ad undermines theconcepts and linkages of the po-litical map traditionally ownedby Democrats. It destroys anysense that Dukakis cares aboutpeople. "Willie Horton" has avery simple execution. Picturesof President Bush and Michael

Dukakis are shown side by side.Words are superimposed as theannouncer reads, "Bush andDukakis on crime." A picture ofBush is shown. The announcersays, "Bush supports the deathpenalty for first degree murder-ers." A picture of Dukakis isshown. The announcer contin-ues, "Dukakis not only opposesthe death penalty, he allowedfirst degree murderers to haveweekend passes from prison."A picture of Willie Horton isshown. The announcer reads,"One was Willie Horton whomurdered a boy in a robberystabbing him nineteen times.Despite a life sentence Hortonreceived ten weekend passesfrom prison. Horton fled, kid-napping a young couple, stab-bing the man and repeatedlyraping his girlfriend." A pictureof Dukakis is shown. The an-nouncer finishes, "Weekendprison passes. Dukakis oncrime."

The key to using the Removetool with laddering data is towork under the rule that "If Icannot own a particular positiveperceptual orientation neitherwill my opponent." Negativecommunications campaigns ap-pear to be very effective. How-ever, in the long-term it is hardto know whether the Americanpublic will start to resent or be-come desensitized to such all-outattacks on competitors.

Strategic Ad Assessment

When an ad works, marketershave a hard time determiningwhether the ad delivers a greatexecution of a mediocre con-cept, a mediocre execution of agreat concept, or a great execu-tion of a great concept. Weoften observe companies follow-ing up successful ad campaignswith less successful campaigns.

When an ad works,marketers have a hard timedetermining whether the addelivers a great execution of

a mediocre concept, amediocre execution of a greatconcept, or a great execution

of a great concept.

Copy testing does not providea framework to explain themechanism underlying the fail-ure or success of an ad and,therefore, does not make suc-cessful advertising campaignsmore predictable and repro-ducible or unsuccessful cam-paigns more avoidable. Gaininga strategically based under-standing of a successful adver-tising campaign is criticallyimportant. Consequently, werecommend that strategic assess-ments of ads be conducted onexisting ads as well as on "ani-matic ads" before finished adsare produced.

Reynolds and Gengler (1991)report that strategic assessmentsof ads at the animatic stage andat the finished stage yield upvery consistent results. In fact,they observe that differences be-tween animatic and finished adassessments only occur whenthe finished ad contains uniqueproperties the animatic ad can-not capture, such as the screenpresence of a celebrity endorser.Strategic ad assessments canmake production and media dol-lars more productive by turningoff bad executions before theyare produced and improvinggood executions before they areproduced and aired. Such as-sessments provide the buildingblocks for gaining an ever-im-proving long-term understand-

Journal ot ADVERTISING RESEARCH^JULY/AUGUST 1995 15


ing of target audiences andhow to communicate with themeffectively.

Assessment Guidelines. Toassess the fit between communi-cations strategy and advertisingexecution, the content of thedesired communications ele-ments, relative weight amongelements, and desired execu-tional effect must be prespeci-fied. There are several publishedexamples of how one can applythe MECCAS model to assess-ing communications strategy(Reynolds and Gutman, 1987;Reynolds and Craddock, 1988;Reynolds and Gengler, 1991;Reynolds and Rochon, 1991).However, beyond the mechanicsoutlined in these previous pa-pers, there are several simpleand practical rules-of-thumb tokeep in mind when devising asystem to strategically assess ad-vertising.

First, the biggest hazard ofusing laddering data to formallyspecify and assess a communica-tions strategy is allowing the adsthemselves to rely too heavily onusing words to make theirpoints. When it comes to com-munications and the spokenword, more is often less. It isestimated that less than 20 per-cent of what gets communicatedin our society is verbal (Zaltmanand Coulter, 1995). Perhaps peo-ple simply do not have the pa-tience to listen to a lot of adver-tising copy since, in general, ad-vertising is not considered byconsumers to be a very credibleinformation source because ofthe marketer's vested interest inselling the product (Assael,1987).

Advertisers cannot depend oncopy alone to persuade consum-ers. In fact, too much copy canget in the way of an effective ad.In today's society, it appears asthough the more an ad relies onimages and music to convey its

message, the more persuasivethe ad will be. This may putad agencies in a difficult posi-tion when working with theMECCAS model. On the onehand, the creative group wantsto put together what theythink will be a persuasive ad; onthe other, they may want to in-clude copy speaking directly tothe MECCAS framework toshow their work is "on-strat-egy." However, such problemscan be avoided if one remem-bers the goal of the advertisingis to effectively communicateand link the key strategic con-cepts and not necessarily to usethe exact words specifying thecommunications strategy or,for that matter, use any wordsat all.

Another serious and frustrat-ing problem is the tendency ofrespondents to become "adver-tising experts." One way to ad-dress this issue is to show sev-eral ads together, one after an-other, then ask about theimpact, content, and communi-cations characteristics of the ads.Having respondents compareseveral ads, two at a time, mayalso be effective. Moreover, alaboratory setting for conductingad assessments may help be-cause one viewing of an ad oftenis not enough for researchers togather all the informationneeded to understand how thead works.

An ad assessment shouldalso provide a foundation forlearning how to make betteradvertising executions in thefuture. Consequently, the suc-cess of the executional frame-work in showing key pointsand creating the right moodmust be measured. In addi-tion, one may want to measureshifts in viewer attitudes towardthe product, behavioral inten-tions, and how well viewers likethe ad so that these factors can

be related back to specific com-munications and executionalelements.

Strategic Assessment of Com-petitive Advertising. Workingon your own advertising is oftenso personally involving that it iseasy to overlook the opportunityto learn more about competitorsand how to position your prod-uct in the competitive environ-ment by conducting a strategicassessment of competitive ad-vertising. Assessments of com-petitive advertising bring outthe strengths and weaknessesof competitors in the market-place. Moreover, these assess-ments can clarify the natureof the target audiences beingaddressed by competitors andthe perceptual or buying ori-entations into which they aretrying to tap. Taking the timeto look critically at and under-stand competitive advertisingand positioning strategies canbe among the most effectiveways to leverage ladderingdata into an efTective communi-cations strategy that builds onstrength, stresses defensiblepoints of product differentiation,and frames the consumer deci-sion-making process in a waythat creates competitive advan-tage.

The first step in assessingcompetitive advertising isexpressing the content andexecutional elements of com-petitive ads in the MECCASframework. An assessmentcan then be conducted withrespondents evaluating a setof competitive ads along withyour own ads. In addition,similar to drawing a samplewhen gathering laddering data,the sample for a competitivead assessment should be tar-geted to include people withdiffering buying orientations,product preferences, and usagepatterns. •



THOMAS J. REYNOLDS is president andchiel executive otf:cer of Wirthlin-Reynolds,a marketing and communications strategyconsulting company He is also currenlly apartner and chief marketing strategist forRichmont Corporalion. a private merchantbank He Has served as a professor in theGraduale School cf Management and asDirector of Marketing Studies at the Univer-sity of Texas at Dallas where he was re-cently named Professor Emeritus He haspublished more than 50 articles on the de-velopment and implementation ot values-based strategy As a consultant he hasworked with over 40 corporations in over 20countries operating on marketing strategyproblems including sucti companies asProcter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Intel,and Mary Kay Cosmetics.

DAVID B, WHITLARK is an assistant profes-sor in the marketing department at ttie Mar-riott School ol Management, Brigham YoungUniversily He has spent the last two yearson leave from the university as a researchand media consultant for The Wirthlin Groupworking with many Fortune 500 companies,industry associations, charitable organiza-tions, advertising agencies, and public rela-tions firms He holds a doctorate from theUniversity of Virginia, an MBA from ComellUniversity, and attended post-doctoralclasses in psychological measurement andscaling at the Wharton School, University ofPennsylvania. He has published numerousacademic articles in the areas of marketingresearch, forecasting, consumer behavior,and marketing strategy

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