Editor's note: Daniel Oromaner is president of The Qualitative Difference, Inc., Port Washington, New York. This article was adapted from a presentation to the Advertising Research Foundation Conference in April 1991.

The power of advertising is illustrated in every American history text. Five hundred years ago Columbus discovered America, and for years afterward he communicated very little about his discovery. After all, he was looking for gold and he didn't want competition.

On the other hand, Amerigo Vespucci was five years behind Columbus, but he wrote extensively of his discoveries and theories. One of his letters was translated into 40 different languages over a 25 year period. As a result, Vespucci was credited with the discovery of America. It even has his name. When he returned to Europe, Spain granted Vespucci citizenship and gave him a high-level government post.

What happened to Columbus? We celebrate his discovery, but Christopher Columbus died in jail. The moral of the story: it pays to advertise.

Advertising works, and some campaigns work better than others. In the past 50 years, there have been products that became category leaders with great help from their advertising - Charmin, Perdue, IBM, Budweiser, McDonald's, and Nyquil. There have been products that became category leaders with little help from their advertising - Polaroid, Xerox, Canada Dry, Edge, and Kleenex. And, some products have failed because their advertising never gave them the needed boost - Gablinger's beer, Vote toothpaste, Handy Andy cleaner, Univac computers, Rheingold beer, and Datril pain reliever.

Can advertising research improve the batting average of our companies and clients? Yes, validation efforts in the past ten years have shown that copy test measures can identify the advertising that will influence sales.

As part of the increasingly sophisticated advertising research procedures, there has been a steady increase in the use of advertising-related focus groups and in-depth interviews. They have been used for strategy/copy development, copy refinement, competitive assessments, and the ubiquitous "disaster checks." During that time, I have tested executions for television, radio, print, free standing inserts, and direct mail.

A particular theoretical framework has guided me in planning and conducting those sessions. It has answered questions such as: how many ads should we test, and what reaction variables are important? The framework is that of Gestalt psychology.

This school of psychological thought originated in Germany in the 1920s. Its founders held that, "perception is not an unorganized mosaic of elements, which are subsequently associated into meaningful contents in the mind." They believed that perception is an "organized, structured entity--a configuration, a Gestalt."

The German noun "Gestalt" (pronounced Gesh-talt) is usually translated as "shape," "pattern," or "form." The word is difficult to translate precisely into English, but it implies making perceptions into a comprehensible whole.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts

In Gestalt psychology the whole possesses properties of its own, related to, but not merely the sum of its individual parts. We do not experience the parts of our environment separately; we try to organize those parts into a meaningful whole. Further, we want things and events to make sense in terms of what we already know.

Thus, an advertisement is more than the sum of its parts. An ad is more than the talent, music, costumes, copy, and setting. The elements of an ad interact with each other - the way ingredients interact in a recipe.

For example, think of one of the best dinners you had in the past five years. Didn't the seasonings, textures, tastes, aromas, visual appeal, even the ambiance have an effect? How many of those elements could have changed without diminishing the total experience? Very few, I would bet.

Similarly, virtually all great actors and directors recognize the importance of even the slightest nuance in making the characters and story credible. Directors have asked for take after take until they were satisfied with a scene. Some actors have been no less demanding.

In looking back upon your favorite movie - or dinner - you probably thought of it as a whole experience. The organization of discrete elements into a Gestalt is a common process, "It is primitive, direct, spontaneous, and mostly unlearned." Gestalt research has shown that even animals respond to organized wholes.

Figure versus ground

In addition to the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, and our natural tendency to see Gestalts (patterns), the importance of "figure" versus "ground" is a key Gestalt concept. Figure is a point, object, or subject on which a person focuses his or her attention. Ground is the background, or environment.

For our ancestors, a thousand years ago, the ability to select and pay attention to important aspects of their environment was a matter of life and death. Today's police officers and others in high-risk occupations must also be acutely tuned in to their surroundings. Even though our need is generally not as acute, we all pay attention to certain sights and sounds.

When we are hungry, we pay attention to restaurants we pass. When we are in a meeting, we pay attention to the facial expressions of our superiors. When leaving the office late at night, we carefully scrutinize anyone who enters our elevator.

Implications for Gestalt advertising research

Gestalt psychology would predict that the order of presentation of executions has an effect, and of course it does. No matter how often you remind respondents to view each execution without regard to what was seen previously, they make the silent comparisons. Our minds must constantly decide what will remain as figure and what will fade into the background.

Gestalt psychology predicts that reactions to commercials are influenced by program/media content and other ads viewed at the time; and, we have evidence that such is the case. A print ad for a Jaguar stands out more in Yachting than it does in Motor Trend.

Gestalt psychology would also predict that there are certain key elements in a commercial stand out (figure) and are remembered over time, disproportionate to the actual amount of that time that element took in the ad. We have research that confirms that hypothesis as well. For example, the near accident in the BMW TV spots is well-remembered even though it lasts only a few seconds.

Applications for Gestalt qualitative advertising research

It is always a good idea to test more than one execution. It gives the respondents a basis for comparison, and you can notice which of the executions (or which parts of each ad) stand out and communicate well. Of course, it is recommended to rotate the order of presentation of the ads.

In order for an ad to stand out among other ads, it needs to grab the attention of the consumer. Therefore, you must discover if the ad is attention-getting. What good is it to have respondents dissect an execution in excruciating detail, only to tell you later that in real life they never would have stopped to read (or watch) the ad; or, they never would have opened that direct mail piece! Magazine publishers know that newsstand sales are related to what is on the cover - an important consideration for all of us.

Consumers don't live in a vacuum. They are constantly being bombarded by advertising. Not only are 4,000 to 6,000 commercials aired each week on national networks, consumers now see ads on taxis, at sporting events, on clothing, and even at the movies. What will they pay attention to, and what will they tune out?

To many men and women, all automobile commercials are the same-- sleek sedans speeding on winding mountain roads. Others say weight loss ads are the same--before and after shots of satisfied customers. Similarly, lite beer commercials generally show trim young men and women having fun.

Therefore, in order to secure the most realistic reactions to your new executions, it is important to elicit reactions to them and now they compare to competitive commercials (and possibly to your previously-seen commercials). A good campaign will probably not meet its objectives if your competitor simultaneously launches a great campaign.

Consumers see everything in context. The Academy Award-winning best picture in some years might not have even been nominated in other years. Just as all recently-seen movies are the ground for the Academy's judges, all recently-seen ads are the background for your new execution.

In order to determine the key elements within the ad, it is also important to ask respondents, "What stands out to you about this commercial?" Key elements are the things consumers will remember over time. They are the elements that either should (if they reacted negatively) or should not (if they reacted positively) be changed during the development process. A certain two seconds of a 30-second commercial may make or break the ad. Qualitative research can help identify that segment or segments.

In some commercials the specific colors, costumes, actors, music, action, may not make a difference. In other ads, one change could make all the difference in the world. Part of the job of qualitative advertising research is to identify those key elements that disproportionately affect the Gestalt or overall impression.

Question: Would the recent Citibank credit card campaign be as good if they had picked "You've Got A Friend" as their music rather than "Stand By Me"? The theme of both songs is the same, but the total Gestalt would have been very different. What about the movie "Ghost" without "Unchained Melody"? Would the Memorex commercials work as well if the recorded sound shattered a pair of eyeglasses instead of a wine glass?

These key elements contribute greatly to the effectiveness and overall feeling of these communications. Qualitative research can help identify winning elements, and explain why those elements have such a strong effect.

Summary

  • Qualitative advertising research can help during ad development to point the agency and advertiser toward the most effective ads. It can be used for TV, print, radio, FSI's and direct mail executions. It is also useful for quick competitive checks or disaster checks.
  • Gestalt psychology reminds us of the importance of the context surrounding the ad in the minds of the consumer. That context is determined by competitive ads, program/media content, and the previous ads for the product.
  • Qualitative advertising research can uncover the features that stand out about a particular execution. Those are the elements that should be kept, if they are positive, or should be changed if they hurt the communication.