Copy Testing

This is the bread and butter of our business at Holland Partners. 100% of our work is copy testing as we have yet to actually conduct a tracking study or focus group.

We have a very simple direct methodology that lets you know with a single number if that ad should run on both VHF and UHF TV stations, or just the UHF ones.

Here is the flow…

Step 1: Show the ad to the respondent with his eyes shut and his ears covered. We ask the person to describe the ad to us. If he says anything at this point, we know he is a liar.

Step 2: Show 1 second of the ad and make the respondent describe what he wants to see next. This sets up the “ideal ad” in the consumer’s mind on which all future work will be judged. If you ad agencies can’t give the consumer what they want, then why are you even in this business?

Step 3: Show the full ad on a continuous loop, whilst the respondent tries to drink a gallon of milk. We all know the milk challenge can’t be done, so we only let this go on for 15 minutes or so. Drinking a lot of milk simulates “media clutter,” while the continuous loop represents the “burn in” effect that all ads strive for.

Step 4: Sleep deprivation stage. The continuous loop is still playing.

Step 5: We ask respondents “what is the ad making you do?” A classic question. If the respondent cannot answer this question to our satisfaction at Step 5, they go back to Step 3.

Step 6: Respondents go home with a case of the client’s product. As our “thank you.”

Step 7: We call the respondent back the next day and ask them what brand was advertised. This gets at the “brand linkage rating.”

If that number is above 42%, run the ad on your local VHF stations!

(Note: due to some legal implications of this technique, all Holland Partners fieldwork is done on a ship 3.5 miles off the Mexican coastline.)