Editor’s note: Tim Huberty is president of St. Paul-based Huberty Marketing Research. He is also an adjunct professor in the College of Business, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul.

A year ago, I wrote an article for this magazine entitled “Who’s who in copytesting – An overview of the major players.” In that piece, I profiled seven leading companies whose bread and butter was copytesting. At the end of the article, I indicated that I might compile a similar review in 2003 of major players who perform copytesting over the Internet. Around the first of this year, representatives from two different companies using the Internet for copytesting wrote to me, taking me up on my whim. Next thing I knew, other companies were sending me profiles. So, like any actor, when the audience calls for an encore, I am back with more.

The methodology

The players profiled in the following pages are an eclectic lot. How did they make it into this article? Four ways: 1) They contacted me. 2) I checked in with the companies profiled in last year’s article. 3) I logged onto quirks.com and followed the company links from the Researcher SourceBook. Once there, I typed in a variety of terms from “copy testing” to “online survey design/analysis.” Each of the companies which turned up were then sent an e-mail asking if they really did utilize the Internet for copytesting. If they answered affirmatively, they were then sent a short questionnaire. 4) Finally, I contacted the Marketing Research Association and was referred to their online Blue Book. Again, I submitted a variety of terms from “copy test” to “Internet Web based surveys.” All companies identified were again sent the invitation and, upon response, were forwarded the short questionnaire.

If you’re a company that conducts copytesting studies using the Internet and you’re not in this article, it’s because 1) you don’t respond to e-mails or 2) you need to get your firm listed on a few search engines, or 3) you need to undertake some sort of marketing effort to shift your company’s visibility from “no profile” to, at the very least, “low profile.”

So who is in the mix? A cornucopia of nine very eligible companies, all extremely eager to solicit your business. But as I promised in my original e-mail to these suitors, I am not making any personal recommendations. Instead, here I only want to act as a pseudo-matchmaker. I intend to tell you who’s out there, highlight an attractive attribute or two, but ultimately leave it up to you, the reader, to make the first move, to set up the first date.

Companies are profiled in alphabetical order. Last year, at the end of the article, a comparative grid was included. Unfortunately, there were more gaps in that grid than a Nixon tape. Understandably, it was difficult, if not impossible, to compare companies on items such as cost, especially when their methodologies and sample sizes were each unique. For that reason, this year the chart has been retired.

Ameritest

Overview: Ameritest has been pre-testing print on the Internet for two years, and is currently beta-testing TV. Its normative databases include ads from Fortune 100 companies for high-tech, financial services and packaged goods. Ameritest uses the Internet for both ad pre-testing and post-testing. Ad pre-testing is also available via the Internet for TV, print and banner advertising.

How it works: Ad tracking is based on ad recognition. Respondents are shown an ad and asked whether they remember having seen it. A television or print ad can be shown in its entirety or, for a TV ad, recognition can be based on key frames. These frames represent “key branding moments” as previously measured in pre-testing utilizing Ameritest’s Picture Sorts. Recent research shows that these moments are important contributors to long-term equity, particularly for emotional advertising.

Special features: All research systems utilize “military grade” security, and technology that is compatible with the vast majority of computers and virtually transparent to the respondent. Standard measures include attention, brand linkage and motivation; diagnostics include verbal ratings and non-verbal techniques like the Print Flash Test, which tracks a reader’s path through a print ad or banner ad, and Flow of Attention and Flow of Emotion for television.

The ARS Group

Overview: The ARS Group has fully embraced the copytesting possibilities of the Internet. This is evident in the range and variety of products and services offered. The flagship product is ARS WOWWW Competitive Intelligence Service, an integrated global online brand and advertising tool with electronic notification of new competitive activity. The company has also moved its ARS Outlook planner, a “what if” planner, from a desktop application to an Internet application. Finally, the ARS Group has joined forces with Nielsen ReelResearch to offer the ARS Interactive Diagnostics technique, a quick, cost-effective alternative for collecting diagnostic feedback on a multitude of stimuli, from storyboards to full-motion video. Already the ARS Group claims to have conducted over 2,500 online tests.

How it works: Consumers are invited via e-mail to participate in the research study. They visit a password-protected site and are routed to the proper test by the survey module. The survey module then exposes them to the stimuli (via a proprietary media player), administers the custom questionnaire, and collects their feedback, which is viewable as it occurs. When completed, the video/graphics and questionnaire are fully erased to ensure security. Test results are then accessible via the ARS WOWWW e-commerce platform for 24/7 decision support. The data delivery module for the ARS Interactive Diagnostics technique includes 1) topline results, 2) fully searchable verbatims, 3) statistics testing, crosstabs — on the fly, and 4) table creation exportable to Microsoft Excel.

Special features: The “world’s leading copy test company” has no difficulty highlighting the variety of advantages of its system. These range from a system which is better (“the only service whose reliability is determined through an automatic test-retest system”), faster (real-time access to verbatims and full results in three to six days) and a better value (verbatims and coding of larger sample sizes included).

Decision Analyst, Inc.

Overview: Since 1996, Decision Analyst, Inc. has tested over 500 commercials online. The company’s Internet-based advertising testing systems include CopyScreen, CopyCheck, and CopyTest, all of which have their own distinct methodologies and special features. All three systems are designed for, and executed over, the Internet using Decision Analyst’s suite of worldwide consumer and business to business Internet panels.

How it works: In CopyScreen, ads are tested in batches of 10 to 15, with sample sizes ranging from 200-300 category users. Respondents see all ads, one after the other, in randomized order, answering a series of questions about each. On a second viewing, respondents answer four questions about each ad. CopyScreen’s special features include a “beauty test” ranking of ads for approximately $1,000 per ad. A typical project is completed in about two weeks.

CopyCheck is a monadic testing system designed to give diagnostic feedback to early-stage ads. Sample sizes range from 50–100 category users. After the second viewing, respondents answer a series of questions, from attention value to suggested improvements. Topline results are available as the study is executed. Decision Analyst emphasizes CopyCheck’s economy ($5,000-$6,000/ad) and turnaround (seven days).

CopyTest is a comprehensive monadic testing system to evaluate final or near-final creative, including print, radio, and TV. Samples sizes range from 150–200 category users. After the second viewing, respondents answer a series of 60 questions about the advertising. Results are fed into a mathematical model, SellingPower, to predict overall advertising effectiveness. Copytest’s special features include tie-in to a mathematical model which measures 16 different variables.

DiscoverWhy, Inc.

Overview: Everything DiscoverWhy does is tied to the Internet. The firm has conducted hundreds of online customized marketing research projects across a wide spectrum of studies, ranging from “live” online coverage of the presidential debates with second-by-second voter reaction to the candidate’s remarks, to providing the data collection technology to evaluate real-time viewer response to new TV programs, to conducting hundreds of copytesting studies for Fortune 1000 advertisers.

How it works: DiscoverWhy offers four levels of advertising copytesting services. The current suite of services includes: 1) DiscoverWhy Classic (test ad streamed, followed by quantitative survey questions), 2) DiscoverWhy Clutter Reel (a seven-ad clutter reel with quantitative survey questions plus ratings of ads on a second-by-second basis by market segment), 3) DiscoverWhy PA (a four-ad monadic test with quantitative survey questions plus ratings of each ad on a second-by-second basis by market segment), and DiscoverWhy Concept Lab (half-hour TV programming in a theater setting, again combining quantitative survey questions and ratings of ads on a second-by-second basis using Perception Analyzer technology). Each of the latter three services is followed by a “Turbo Focus Group” discussion. Survey results of all services are posted in the DiscoverWhy virtual client room, a secure area on the company’s Web site, allowing for instantaneous review of summary findings for all survey questions, video ratings and open-ended discussions.

Special features: DiscoverWhy makes no secret of hiding its perceived superiorities. Unlike Mapes & Ross (see description below), it has, for better or worse, put all its eggs in the Internet basket. DiscoverWhy adds that its totally Internet-based platform creates a value proposition for clients, a proposition driven by reduced time (results in days or hours rather than weeks), reduced cost, and reduced focus on “what,” to the point of beating its focus on “why” to death.

Ipsos-ASI, Inc.

Overview: Next*Idea is Ipsos-ASI, Inc.’s self-administered copytesting service using the Internet. Over 400 ads have been tested through Next*Idea since its introduction in the second quarter of 2001. Next*Idea is based on Ipsos-ASI’s time-tested philosophy of how advertising works. It relies on validated quantitative measures of copytesting, as well as insights provided by qualitative analysis of open-ended questions.

How it works: Typically, 100 respondents are recruited from five trusted Internet panels. More respondents are recruited if it is necessary to analyze subgroups. Each respondent evaluates one and only one ad. Once respondents meet the qualification requirements, they are asked a series of questions regarding their purchase intent and frequency concerning the test category. In order to familiarize respondents with early-stage advertising storyboards, they are then exposed to a demonstration ad concept storyboard and corresponding finished commercial from a product category that is unrelated to the test category. This allows respondents to get acquainted with the type of material they will be evaluating and to understand that they will need to react to the idea of the commercial rather than to its form. Following this demonstration, respondents are exposed to the test stimulus, and then administered the remainder of the questionnaire. The test stimulus is delivered in a secure environment, and the quality of the stimulus is checked through closed-ended questions. Timing is approximately two-and-a-half weeks from delivery of the test material to research results. Next*Idea can be used on various types of stimuli, including print, direct mail pieces, radio ads or outdoor concepts.

Special features: Ipsos-ASI has “identified the measures that matter and understands their drivers,” believing these measures are valid predictors of an ad’s performance. There are three key measures, including Recall Potential (calculated from a database of over 20,000 ads tested, built upon those “drivers of recall,” attention and linkage), Persuasion Potential (measured as pre-/post-purchase intent and frequency) and Brand Equity Potential (integrating Ipsos-ASI’s Equity*Builder into Next*Idea to assess potential for the ad to build brand equity).

Mapes & Ross

Overview: Mapes & Ross has been conducting “traditional” copytesting for over 30 years. During the time, it has tested over 25,000 TV commercials on-air and 6,000 print ads in- magazine. Mapes & Ross puts a different spin on using the Internet for copytesting. It believes that “The recent frenzy regarding testing advertising online has, in our opinion and experience, been comprised of more hype that hope. Just because it’s the current technology doesn’t mean it’s the best way to conduct ad research.”

How it works: Mapes & Ross has determined that “the communication levels from online testing are equivalent to what we see from traditional, in-person interviewing.” However, the firm throws tantrums if the research objectives for an ad test call for a “clutter recall” score. It has found that without the presence of an interviewer, the chance of obtaining a recall outcome that is reliable is very unlikely. Also, Mapes & Ross doesn’t put much stock in purchase intent measures (vs. its own validated Brand Preference Change procedure). Ironically, it has found that copytesting using the Internet takes a little longer and costs a little more that doing a traditional, mall-type interview - though narrow incidence samples can benefit from an online approach, assuming lists are available.

Special features: If a client asks, Mapes & Ross will do copytesting using the Internet, but it’s not the firm’s own first choice. Instead, it is more likely to recommend use of its “tried and true” traditional in-person procedure. Playing to its strengths, Mapes & Ross can provide a full report, including a PowerPoint presentation deck suitable for management, in seven to 10 days. Internet testing adds three to six days to the process.

Millward Brown

Overview: Millward Brown’s TV OnLink is an extension of the company’s TV Link, an empirically-based methodology that was developed from key learning obtained from continuous brand tracking pioneered by Millward Brown in the 1970s. Millward Brown used the expertise developed via testing over 20,000 TV ads in 63 countries over the past 15 years to launch TV OnLink. Over two years of validation testing has been undertaken among both consumer and business audiences across four different countries.

How it works: The methodology for TV OnLink differs very little from that used for the traditional Link methodology. Respondents are recruited online. Once qualified, they are asked some warm-up questions about TV advertising to provide a relevant context while the test ad is being downloaded to their computer. The test ad is then shown twice (the same number of times the ad is seen in a standard Link approach) and the full questionnaire asked. This avoids the need for excessive time required for the full four-ad context reel to be downloaded. The closed-ended and open-ended questions provide both validated predictive metrics (Awareness Index and Persuasion measures) and sensitive diagnostic feedback which “leads to more effective and targeted advertising.” The Link test approach recognizes that respondents are seeing the advertising in a test environment where they are being actively engaged with the medium. Hence, Millward Brown believes the more introspective approach to the questions used in the Link test makes it very easy to use in the online environment. Finally, Millward Brown has replicated its Interest Trace approach, which reshows the ad and asks respondents to use their mouse to indicate how interested they are in the ad as they are watching it.

Special features: Millward Brown has also successfully adapted its Link methodology for testing other key media online, including Print Link and Outdoor OnLink. Finally, the company touts the fact that it is a “global research company” with 66 offices in 35 countries, ensuring “global consistency in the approaches we use.”

MSW Research

Overview: MSW Research has a long history of adapting methodologies, moving its core products from theaters to malls to, most recently, the Internet. MSW Research began experimenting with online copytesting in 1998 and now offers two systems: 1) AD*VANTAGE/ACT Online, a full evaluative copytesting methodology and 2) PROLOG Online, for early-stage creative evaluations. Actually, both systems have been used for thousands of tests since 1968. However, before leaping headfirst into copytesting, MSW Research conducted extensive testing to assure quality and comparability across venues for both the methodologies.

How it works: AD*VANTAGE/ ACT Online is conducted using an online recruit methodology whereby 150 target respondents are screened based on demographics, category usage and other client-specified criteria. Qualified respondents are shipped a CD-ROM. This CD-ROM holds programming, clutter commercials and the test commercial. Respondents insert this auto-executing CD-ROM into their computer and view all the video material in full-screen and full-motion. The CD-ROM and online survey interact seamlessly while all data is collected online. AD*VANTAGE/ACT Online is a multiple exposure methodology that provides in-depth understanding of why advertising performs as it does on such evaluative measures like brand recall and persuasion - scores which MSW Research claims will predict effectiveness in the marketplace. Turnaround time is 17-21 days. Another of AD*VANTAGE/ACT Online’s special features is that it is the only in-program online television commercial research service using full-screen, full-motion television-quality video.

MSW Research’s second product, PROLOG Online, is a monadic quali-quant system designed to investigate consumer reactions to early creative ideas. PROLOG Online utilizes a variety of online sources to generate a sample of 100 respondents. The methodology identifies strengths and weaknesses of strategy, message and execution via multiple exposure, extensive probing and verbatim responses. The entire survey with test stimuli is online. PROLOG Online can accommodate stimuli of varying degrees of finish, including storyboard, animatic, or full motion shown via Flash or download. Best news: Four- to five-day turnaround. Incidentally, even if these two products can’t solve every copytesting problem using the Internet, MSW Research offers full custom capabilities to address any other issues.

RestaurantInsights.com

Overview: RestaurantInsights.com is a full-service marketing research firm that specializes in the restaurant industry. However, proving that variety is the spice of life, RestaurantInsights.com also conducts research for the food packaged goods industry as well, utilizing a variety of approaches, including copytesting using the Internet. RestaurantInsights.com was the only company contacted which provided a detailed explanation of its ability to also test radio advertising using the Internet.

How it works: Television ad copytesting works similar to radio ad copytesting except that the files are much larger. RestaurantInsights.com takes files received from clients and places them on its dedicated multimedia server. The files are compressed to reduce their size and allow for smooth and uninterrupted viewing. However, even with this compression, the streaming video files are too large to be viewed with a dial-up 56K connection in a high-resolution, high-quality format. Therefore, TV ad copytesting is limited to respondents who have a broadband connection such as DSL or cable. However, since the radio audio files are much smaller than TV video files, any qualified respondent with a 56K connection or faster can participate in the test. RestaurantInsights.com offers two copytesting options. One is for a clutter test and the other for a communications test. The purpose of the clutter test is to determine the recall power or “intrusiveness” of the spot. For the communications portion of the test, the test spot is watched or listened to a second time (this time without the clutter spots) and a series of diagnostic questions related to the communications aspects of the spot are asked. A smorgasbord of diagnostic questions follow, ranging from appeal of the speaker’s voice to what should be changed to make the ad more appealing.

Special features: Besides its fetish for the pristine reproduction of the ads to be tested, RestaurantInsights.com also touts its flexibility, offering a much quicker turnaround and ability to make last-minute changes. It also claims to be less expensive and more personally involved. In fact, the president himself, a 25-year marketing research veteran, personally reviews and evaluates all copytesting reports and analyses.

Epilogue

In this article, I have provided an overview of companies who have developed an expertise for conducting copytesting over the Internet. Much of the information I have provided came from the companies themselves. Sometimes, this information was sent to me in a few paragraphs; once it was given in 15 pages. One company even anticipated my needs by supplying a grid, comparing all the major players. (Remember, I chose not to include a grid this time around.)

Rather than provide an in-depth biography of each company, I have chosen to limit my descriptions to four or five paragraphs, just something to get them noticed. These descriptions should be viewed as nothing more than “personals” from the various companies (“Saw your ads and know we can help you do better. R U willing to test?”) So, it’s your responsibility to set up the first date. Eventually, you’ll have to decide whether or not love and marriage are possible. At the very least, after reading this article, that first contact won’t be a blind date.