An undergraduate degree in psychology can provide a solid foundation for career opportunities in social services, outreach, education and some nontraditional business fields. One of these fields is advertising research. If you wonder whether advertisements persuade people to buy featured products, how they work and what makes them funny; and you enjoy watching and discussing TV commercials; then a career in advertising research may be right up your alley.
Overview of advertising research
Advertising research, a specialized division of the broader field of marketing research, focuses on making advertisements more effective. Typically, studies are designed and conducted for a specific client. Research studies may be customized for different populations (e.g., teenagers, senior citizens, men, women). Most aspects of advertising research can be divided into two main categories: pretesting and posttesting.
- Pretesting. The goal of pretesting is to improve advertisements before they are seen or heard by the general population. Most pretesting research is survey-based. Data are usually collected on the Internet and on mobile devices. Various groups of people participate in these studies by responding to questions related to their opinions about various products. They are also asked about different forms of advertisements, which can include television, Internet, radio, television, magazine, outdoor billboards or mobile ads.
- Posttesting. The main focus of posttesting is to determine what the advertising has done for a brand. Has it increased brand awareness, encouraged trial of the product or increased frequency of purchasing? Like pretesting, it is survey-based, and many of the questions asked are on the same topics. The biggest difference is that posttesting is conducted after an advertisement has appeared.
Both categories of advertising research focus on how people respond to the advertisements around them. The information obtained from these research studies can be extremely helpful to owners of specific brands or products so they can optimize their ads and ensure that their messages reach the intended audiences. Researchers provide analytical insights and guidance on statistical models and tools. They also advise on study design and interpretation of survey data and results to help evaluate advertising.
As a professional in the field of advertising research, you would meet with clients to assess their needs, design and conduct studies, analyze results and, based upon your research, make recommendations to your clients.
Psychology and advertising research
Now that you have some background on the field, you may have recognized some areas of psychology that are necessary to do the work, such as survey research, working with data and learning about people’s opinions. Advertising research is an appropriate place to apply knowledge and skills obtained throughout your studies. Next, we will discuss courses and experiences to prepare you for your advertising research career.
- Research methodology teaches the principles that are necessary to design a comprehensive research study, including: how to design a study with a clear objective; methods that support sound scientific research; the difference between a control and an experimental group; principles for recruiting participants; basics of qualitative and quantitative research; and post-survey processing.
- Survey design is another area applicable to advertising research. This area teaches the foundations of organizing a survey so that the responses are unbiased and provide the appropriate answers. It is essential to ask the right questions in order to elicit the answers and data necessary to evaluate advertising. The flow and design of a survey can affect how people respond to questions. Therefore, the question structure and placement within a survey is an important aspect of advertising research.
- Statistics are used in many different contexts and a wide variety of analyses. Undergraduate courses typically focus on teaching different methods of summarizing and interpreting data. In advertising research, descriptive statistics are used to summarize survey results, and correlations can be used to identify relationships between the persuasiveness of an ad and various ad components.
- Research experience/internships will help prepare you for your career and make you a more competitive candidate. Effective leadership in Psi Beta, Psi Chi and/or psychology clubs will demonstrate that you achieve goals.
In addition to coursework, some of the skills necessary to succeed in advertising research include the ability to multitask and excellent writing and verbal communication abilities. Having these skills, as well as knowledge obtained from courses offered with a psychology degree, can give you a competitive advantage when you are considering pursuing a career in advertising research.
Thank you to Ronald G. Shapiro, PhD, for helpful comments and suggestions.
About the author
Margarita M. Cossuto, PhD, is a senior research manager and analyst at Ipsos, which is a leading survey-based market research company that focuses on advertising, marketing, public opinion, loyalty and media. Cossuto received her PhD and MA in applied developmental psychology from Fordham University. She is an experienced researcher in advertising and marketing and developmental psychology with an extensive background in lifespan development.
