Split Second Ad Effectiveness Probed

South African eye tracking specialist Prompt Research Insights (PRI) has launched ADGist™, a measure of the effectiveness of print and billboards glimpsed very briefly.

The firm says ADGist is 'a more realistic way to test ad effectiveness since most print and billboards get only a single glance when a person is flipping through a magazine or driving on the road.' Most of the estimated several hundred print ads viewed by a person in a typical day are only given a cursory glance, much shorter than a second. 'Exposures occur mostly in the periphery or in motion, in particular when quickly flipping through a magazine, or paying attention to the editorial rather than the advert' says PRI.

The firm says that companies' investments in these ads are not necessarily wasted: viewers can grasp the gist of an ad in less than second, recognising the product category and perhaps the advertiser. Such 'snapshot gist perception' differs widely between ads, and ADGist uses a quick and simple test to measure this. Pretests have helped the firm develop three classes: aAds are a 'Star' when their accuracy is uniformly high, a 'Black Hole' when their accuracy is very low, and a 'Moon' in between.

The measure was developed by Professor Michel Wedel, Pepsico Professor of Consumer Science at the Robert H. Smith School of Business of the University of Maryland, and Professor Rik Pieters, a professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

MD Lindiwe Matlali comments: 'Prompt Research Insights is committed to developing cutting edge solutions that measure real life responses in real world situations.'

Web site: www.prinsights.co.za .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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