Case Studies

Learn more about our customer experiences below. Request a full copy of any of our case studies by clicking on the respective link.

 
CLASSIC ARS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY COMPETE AGAINST PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS
© 2009 ARSgroup

Many in marketing preach that it is not wise to cut advertising spending during recessionary times. Our data clearly support that persuasive advertising is an extremely effective way to defend and grow share during times of spending cuts. In fact, the findings from independent marketing mix modeling firms who regularly audit ARS® predictions for our clients show that the quality of your message (as measured by an ARS score) is 4 X more important to the sales outcome than spending alone. The Implication: you can cut your spending and still increase advertising-driven sales by managing the quality of your message with ARSgroup services.

Further, in these trying times, many consumers are tempted to "trade down" to a private label product from a branded alternative in order to save money. However, as our classic Journal of Advertising Research study ("How to Effectively Compete Against Private Label Brands") shows, persuasive advertising is a very effective way to defend against this very real situation. The Implication: you can effectively keep consumers from "trading down" to private labels by managing the quality of your message with ARSgroup services.

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ARS BLINDED BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT CASE STUDY
© 2009 ARSgroup

How can entertainment companies identify the brands to pursue for powerful product integration and branded entertainment opportunities? The key is identifying the equity and preference overlaps between brands, entertainment franchises, and talent. In this blinded case study, ARSgroup identifies powerful branding opportunities for new talent, Roxy Rocker.

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ARS BLINDED CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY
© 2009 ARSgroup

The advertising game is changing. Given the emergence of multiple touchpoints, today's consumer sees individual brands everywhere. Therefore, content evaluation by individual contact choice, while helpful in understanding individual financial values, is limited by design. Winning brands in today's marketplace achieve success by using multiple advertising touchpoints, so the consumer sees your brand everywhere with consistency and synergy in the advertising message. ARSgroup has been leading the industry by providing its customers with overall direction and rich diagnostics based on target consumers' responses to the holistic plan. After evaluating the plan, ARS helps manage the financial risk by identifying the drivers of success and specific areas of opportunity for the individual elements tested, thereby better guiding marketing spend prior to launch.

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BETTER PRACTICES IN ADVERTISING CAN CHANGE A COST OF DOING BUSINESS TO WISE INVESTMENTS IN THE BUSINESS

By Margaret (Meg) Henderson Blair & Allan R. Kuse, ARSgroup
© 2004 The ARF. Journal of Advertising Research, March 2004.

"Furthermore, these levels of improved performance and return on investment are not merely hypothetical. Many practitioners have used these better practices in advertising and have experienced exceptional results." Some have even published their experiences (Adams, 1997; Bean, 1995; Conlin, 1994; Cox, 1995; Masterson, 1999; Mondello, 1996; Shepard and Ashley, 2002; Shirley, 1999). As former Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen once observed, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."

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DEVELOPING AND MANAGING ADVERTISING WITH A MORE POSITIVE RETURN ON INVESTMENT: A SUCCESS CASE FOR STARKIST® TUNA IN A POUCH

By Barry Shepard, VP Marketing, StarKist Seafood, Heinz North America
© 2002 ARSgroup.

"We calculated the return on investment for this marketing and research activity based on the incremental sales and profits achieved versus the cost of the advertising activity—including production and development, media, and ARSgroup's Best Practice tools. The results from the initial advertising quarter yielded an ROI of 76 percent, an enormous improvement over the 'break-even' ROI we had expected for the quarter using a traditional approach. Incorporating the costs and incremental profits involved with the unplanned—or second—flight, we were up to 368 percent return on our TV advertising activity."

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FROM COPY TESTING AND DIAGNOSTICS TO PROCESS-DRIVEN IMPROVEMENT.

By Dan Shirley, Director of Marketing Research, SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare
© 1999 Association of National Advertisers, Inc., The Advertiser, April/May 1999.

"By performing due diligence to ensure that quality measurements are being employed, then applying the quality feedback throughout the advertising-development process, advertisers can greatly improve their advertising-to-sales track record."
 

ADVERTISING WEARIN AND WEAROUT: TEN YEARS LATER

By Margaret (Meg) Henderson Blair & Michael J. Rabuck, ARSgroup
© 1999 ARSgroup. Journal of Advertising Research, September/October 1998.

"It has been said that it takes a long time for professions to change their paradigms. In the context of scientific revolutions, Thomas S. Kuhn (1970) wrote: 'Though a generation is sometimes required to effect the change, scientific communities have again and again been converted to new paradigms . . . . Conversions will occur a few at a time until, after the last holdouts have died, the whole profession will again be practicing under a single, but now a different, paradigm.'"
 

DARTNELL'S ADVERTISING MANAGER'S HANDBOOK

By Tony Adams, Campbell Soup Company, 1997.

"A fundamental change in the advertising strategy and research process. Prego® is the only Campbell's brand in the past five years to: Consistently stay with the same [productive] selling proposition; [Measure] every poolout prior to airing; Establish . . . hurdles and stick to them; and utilize Outlook to create an awareness of when to refresh creative."

Request this Case Study. (MSC023)

THE CITRUCEL® CASE STUDY

By Dan Shirley, Marketing Research Director, SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare
© 1995 ARSgroup.
Presented at rsc T.Q. Advertising Success Forum I, Macklowe Conference Center,
New York, NY, March 20, 1995.

"The next stage of this Total Quality approach involved producing and [measuring] the two TV executions. Since rsc research indicates that executions within a campaign wear out independently, we decided to save on production costs and produce a 30-second/15-second pair. When the ads began airing . . . share responded immediately, increasing over 70 percent from the pre-airing base period. The only marketing activity during this time was the airing of the two . . . 'Authority Figure' commercials."
 

TURNING RESEARCH INTO RETURN-ON-INVESTMENT

By Mike Mondello, VP Celestial Seasonings, Inc.
© 1994 Celestial Seasonings, Inc.
Speech presented at The Conference Board, 42nd Annual Marketing Conference,
November 1, 1994.

"...A Total Quality approach that we use to increase the profit return for an important part
of our marketing budget, television advertising. When you put it all together (from selling proposition, to the number . . . of ads to be aired, to knowing when to stop airing them and replace them . . .), using a systematic advertising development and management process—including sales-related measurement feedback at the appropriate stages—is a necessity for marketing a successful brand."

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GOODYEAR ADVERTISING RESEARCH: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

By Ronald P. Conlin, Manager of Market Planning & Research, Goodyear Tire & Rubber
© 1993 ARSgroup. (1994 Ogilvy Award Finalist)
Speech presented at The ARF Copy Research Workshop, The New York Hilton,
September 22, 1993.

"Then, in 1991, with a change in management and influence of CEO Stan Gault, Total Quality Management was applied to many functions within the organization. The application of Total Quality Management to Advertising has contributed to Goodyear's record profits and to our ability to successfully compete against foreign manufacturers . . . . We applied the principles of Total Quality Management by using a valid measure of our advertising performance and then applying that measure to the airing of commercials. [Based on this Aquatred® experience] . . . . We expect to incorporate ad quality [APM Facts] into our current sales forecasting models. This will allow us to set media budgets which meet our sales objectives with optimal advertising investment."
 

PERSUASIVE ADVERTISING & SALES ACCOUNTABILITY: PAST EXPERIENCE & FORWARD VALIDATION

By Anthony J. Adams, VP Marketing Research, Campbell Soup Company and Margaret (Meg) Henderson Blair, President & CEO, ARSgroup, JAR 1992.

"The Campbell story is one of a brand group and agency which are advertising more confidently. They know how to develop and identify ads that sell; know how to leverage media dollars behind them; know when to refresh creative; know how to plan both sides of the advertising dimension simultaneously; and know how to achieve sales results with television advertising both short term and over time. Campbell and rsc are laying in the systems for improving advertising productivity and establishing advertising accountability."