Developing Copy Tests that Estimate Brand Usage

When the objective of an advertising campaign is to increase the consumption or usage frequency of a package good, copy testing measures must be sensitive to this objective. Since measuring actual usage can be prohibitive in terms of time and money, we present two measures which can be examined in a laboratory -- cognitive responses and usage-intentions. Two different laboratory studies underscore the factors that influence the sensitivity and validity of these two different types of measures. With measures of usage intention, one’s usage frequency of the target brand determines the appropriate measure question. With cognitive responses, the sensitivity is determined by the specificity of the elicitation procedure. Methodological and measurement implications are suggested along with a general method for further testing of stylized measures such as usage