Half of brands see ad effectiveness surveys as ‘essential to advertising validation’

The report, What advertising means to modern marketers in a digital world, was based on a survey of 2,700 marketers.

It revealed that 77% of company respondents agreed that the success of advertising should drive the level of budget allocated to it. The ease of digital measurement has been linked to the fact that brands allocate 25% of their budget on average to digital, compared with 13% to TV, which tends to be a more difficult channel to measure.

A trend also emerged that correlated spend on advertising to perceived effectiveness. Those spending over £100m on advertising are more likely to rate themselves as extremely effective at digital advertising ( 13%) compared with those spending less than £500k ( 2%). 

The report also revealed that those who are effective at advertising measurement are more likely to be using key measurement tools; 69% of marketers who are ‘extremely effective’ at digital advertising use customer surveys, and 74% measure brand awareness, compared with 21% of those who are ineffective at measuring each of those. 

As well as the 54% who agree that surveys are essential to advertising validation, more than 60% of client-side marketers agree that surveys to test advertising effectiveness provide a strong indication of the success of an advertising campaign, and 72% see market research as playing an important part in measuring the effectiveness of advertising.

“This research underscores the importance of validating the effectiveness of each channel and campaign in relation to your objectives and then optimising the media mix accordingly," said Monica Savut, head of commercial research services at Econsultancy.

"While there’s a correlation between advertising spend and overall effectiveness, spend is not the only key success factor. Deploying key measurement techniques, prioritising them based on internal resources and skills, and never losing sight of the main marketing objectives is what sets effective advertisers apart from the mainstream.”