Whereas traditional market research firms test creative executions in a vacuum, our combat testing evaluates concepts, ads, and messages directly against the competition.  Although unorthodox, regression analysis using real-world ad tracking and ad performance prove that our methodology is 3 -4 times more effective at predicting an execution’s effectiveness than traditional methods.

Our visual testing methodology offers several advantages over traditional advertising testing

	Avoids “group think” mentality of qualitative creative testing by using a one-on-one, self-interviewing methodology that better replicates how a respondent experiences creatitve
	Mimics the actual marketplace with competitive testing
	Incorporates deeper quantitative and qualitative nuance to understand how to improve ads based on consumers’ specific and detailed reactions
	Ensures statistical validity and allows us to perform analysis by target segments (e.g. by region, high end shoppers, etc.)
	Produces reliable measures of the effect on perceptions of key brand attributes and purchase intent
	Provides results with unmatched speed and accuracy

Many campaigns make guesses as to how to reach target audiences most effectively.  Penn Schoen Berland’s approach means that our clients never guess about the most effective execution to use – they know, based both on specific data for individual executions and the trends derived from longer-term tracking. 

The research design for our combat testing methodology was developed over three decades of winning high-level political and corporate battles.  Whether our clients are creating a magazine cover for newsstands, a movie trailer for theaters, packaging for retail shelves, or TV or interactive ad campaigns, our visual testing helps ensure that they don’t spend money on an execution that will not increase market share or competitive advantage.