Keeps working and working and working … The Long-Term Impact of Advertising

Advertising Effect, Long-Term Impact, Advertising Measurement, Consumer Response

While some marketing tactics such as price promotions have mostly short-term effects, others such as advertising have both a short- and a long-term impact. A short term focus in advertising measurement may bias return-on-investment calculations because it takes into account the complete expenditure for advertising but only a portion of its impact. Therefore it is necessary to assess advertising´s long term impact on top of short term effects.

Sustained advertising effect arises from consumer response in terms of carry-over effects or purchase reinforcement like repeat buying or word-of-mouth. It also depends on corporate behavior like a company´s ability to learn from past experiences.  A precondition to leveraging optimal short and long term advertising effects is to monitor success and infer the right action.

The improvement in an organization’s marketing processes and behaviors can result in over five times stronger and longer-lasting impact. To produce such results, the organization must use consumer response metrics to advertising that are predictive of transactional and financial returns; spend on activities that create the short-term effects necessary for long-term build-up; repeat successful behavior; and turn this feedback loop into better business practices and improved process management for both the brand and for the company as a whole.