Other inputs

Here's how to define your everything from product category to messages.

When testing an ad format or your brand's identity, you want results that are both comprehensive and insightful. To ensure maximum accuracy in your test results, we recommend defining a few key metrics first. 💪

Here's an alphabetical list of metrics, what each one of them means and tips on how to define them. ⬇️

Brand associations

Similar to a message in ad testing, a brand association is a short, distinctive concept that people connect with your brand. It's an idea, feeling, or quality that comes to mind when someone thinks about your brand.

Define a maximum of 3 brand associations. Less is better.
A single association should be under 30 characters.

Examples: reliable, liberating, sustainable

TIPS

💡 Avoid multiple associations that overlap in meaning.

✅ sustainable

❌ sustainable packaging, sustainable

Competitors

Define precisely 4 competitors.

Examples: a particular brand (Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Hershey's, Netflix, etc.)

Without knowing who your competitors are, we can't tell you where your brand stands on individual messages. It's important to know whether your competitors are also pursuing or already are associated with a given message.

TIPS

💡 Even if you consider yourself to be a small business, don't forget the large brands.

💡 Don't forget to include brands with a similar proposition.

Messages

Define a maximum of 3 messages. Less is better.
A single message should be under 30 characters.

Examples: energy boost, time to relax, sweet

TIPS

💡 Make sure your message is a short, clearly articulated idea you wish to convey with your ad campaign.

💡 Avoid including your brand.

✅ cat loves the food

❌ cat loves ~~Brit~~

In our research, we also measure the association of key messages with your competitors. If your brand had already been mentioned in the message, respondents would only associate it with you. Therefore, you wouldn’t be able to clearly understand how well you fare among the competitors.

💡 Avoid long-winded claims you might already communicate in your advertising.

✅ with a love for cats

❌ Brit produces cat food with love

We want to measure the essential thing you are communicating. People don't take away long messages from campaigns, but instead, a short association that goes straight to the heart of the matter.

💡 Avoid multiple messages that overlap in meaning.

✅ health-conscious

❌ health-conscious, healthy

💡 Avoid multiple messages that overlap with a given category

✅ cat food, low-fat

❌ cat food, low-fat cat food

Product category

Examples: energy drinks, chocolate, light bulbs, car insurance

TIPS

💡 Try to be as specific as possible. Drill down to the product or service you are selling instead of defining a broader category.

Target audience

Define your target audience. If you plan on running a TV campaign, we recommend picking the representative online population.

TIPS

💡 If you know your target audience to be smaller, feel free to define it more precisely.

For example–if you sell dog food, you can define your target audience to include only people who already have a dog. If you sell beer, you can define your target audience to include only people who drink alcohol.