43% Of Respondents Claimed a Free Sample Would Influence Their Decision to Purchase a Product.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c35137) has announced the addition of Advertising To Life Scientists: Maximizing Ad Effectiveness to their offering.

Even though advertising is a critical and expensive marketing effort, it is estimated that as much as half of all advertising campaigns are ineffective. To help improve the success of your company's advertising efforts, our newest report offers insights into advertising creation and design from your customers'--the scientists--perspective.

Based upon a 34-question survey of more than 1,500 life scientists from around the world, Advertising to Life Scientists: Evaluating Ad Concepts is intended to help executives understand what elements are essential in shaping the accessibility, appeal and "call-to-action" message of their advertisements. It also provides guidance as to which publications promise to be the most effective for print advertising based upon specific criteria important to different customer segments. Not all scientific publications are created equal, and the challenge for advertisers is to design memorable ads and place them in publications where they will have the greatest impact.

The Value of Segmentation

Setting clear objectives for the ad becomes easier and measuring the success of the ad becomes possible when segmentation is used to support advertising. Once a life science supplier targets a well-defined market segment, this report can be used to help identify the targeted customer's reading preferences, develop ads that address the segment's unique needs and place them in the appropriate publications. Companies that implement an accountable advertising campaign will gain competitive advantage not only through more effective ads, but also through an improved and greater understanding of their customers.

Such targeted advertising requires on-going market research, which can provide executives with an indispensable tool for setting advertising budgets, monitoring advertising effectiveness and clarifying the relationship between advertising costs and a company's (or product's) market performance. Advertising to Life Scientists: Maximizing Ad Effectiveness can be the first step toward tracking changing perceptions and continuously measuring the impact of a company's ads through more in-depth custom studies.

Print advertising constitutes a large portion of most life science suppliers' promotional mix. While advertising is not typically associated with directly driving sales, it can be effective in generating broad product and brand awareness. Since advertising often accounts for sizable expenditures, it is essential that managers have an understanding of how to manage it effectively.

Ad Concept Testing Model

In addition, this report features a first look at our Ad Concept Testing service, AdAssay. Based on our unique model, this service provides suppliers with diagnostic insights designed to improve their advertising effectiveness. By measuring the collective "communication effect" of an ad, i.e., its potential impact on awareness, knowledge, and likely course of action, suppliers will be in a better position to determine whether their ads will obtain the results they want. Better advertising can help build brand equity and boost long-term profitability.

Through ad concept testing, an ad can be evaluated for key factors (i.e., actionable, emotional, intellectual and negative) and correlate these factors with specific outcomes (e.g., likeability, ability to convey one's message, intent to purchase, etc.). This proprietary assessment is done using a mathematical model, based on 15 key attributes to determine advertising effectiveness. Our methodology seeks to explain why a particular ad is likely to be effective or ineffective. Its unique scoring system offers the flexibility necessary to easily accommodate geographic and demographic differences, allowing suppliers to test ads in different target markets.

Report Highlights

Advertising to Life Scientists: Maximizing Ad Effectiveness contains over 40 charts and/or tables and more than 15 cross-tabulations for the 34 survey questions. Below is a glimpse of the key findings derived from just a few of the survey questions:

--About three-quarters of respondents regularly read Science and Nature. Approximately half of the respondents also regularly read The Scientist and BioTechniques.

--3% of respondents will visit a company's Web site if they'd like to receive more info about a company or product after seeing an interesting ad.

--43% of respondents claim that a free product sample would most convince them to purchase a product that they saw in an advertisement.

The major objectives of this report are as follows:

--Identify parameters that influence the advertising value of a publication

--Determine the relative value of the major types of publication content

--Ascertain ways in which life scientists learn about scientific publications and articles

--Evaluate the specific elements of print advertising through segmentation

--Determine the overall receptivity to advertising in the life sciences

Methodology

1,338 life scientists completed a 34-question survey (Arlington, Virginia, USA) between January 5 and 12, 2006.

The electronic questionnaire was fielded to registered members of The Science Advisory Board. Our sponsors The Science Advisory Board, an online community of more than 27,000 scientists, physicians and healthcare professionals from around the world. The Science Advisory Board is divided into two panels (Research and Clinical) and "convenes" regularly via the World Wide Web (www.scienceboard.net) to voice their opinions on a wide variety of issues relating to biomedical research and clinical technologies. These experts--representing all aspects of the life sciences and medicine--have agreed to make themselves available to participate in our online research activities. The Science Advisory Board members who participated in this study were drawn from the Board's Research Panel.

Based on their responses to Question 3, respondents were asked Questions 6 through 13 with regard to a specific publication they named.

Topics Covered

Section 1. Analysis and Interpretation of Survey Results

Section 2. Study Methodology and Demographics 

Section 3. Presentation of Survey Data

Section 4. Introducing Ad Concept Testing

Section 5. Appendices 

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c35137