Prepared for the:
Canada Revenue Agency
August 2013
Contract Number: 46558-143960/001/CY
Contract Award Date: 2013-03-12
Project Cost: $17,509.35 (includes HST)
POR Number: 054-12

Prepared by:
Opinion Search Inc.

Media Enquiries:
Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
4th Floor 555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Confidentiality

Any material or information provided by the Canada Revenue Agency and all data collected by Opinion Search will be treated as confidential by Opinion Search and will be stored securely while on Opinion Search's premise (adhering to industry standards and applicable laws).

Introduction

Background and Understanding

Phase VI of the Tax Relief Measures advertising campaign took place from February 18 2013 to April 14, 2013. Previously, Phase I of the advertising ran in 2008, Phase II 2009, Phase III in 2010, Phase IV in 2011 and Phase V in 2012. Based on the 2012-13 campaign advertising media buy, a post-campaign evaluation, using the Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool (ACET) series of standard questions, was mandatory.

The ad campaign included television, print, public transit and Internet advertising intended to achieve the following:

• Raise awareness of the tax relief measures introduced by the Government of Canada;
• Increase the number of individuals who claim the tax credits and benefits to which they may be entitled; and,
• Increase the number of individuals who file electronically and on time.

Specifically the ad campaign focused on the following:

1. Children’s Arts Tax Credit
2. First-Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit
3. Family Caregiver Tax Credit
4. Tradesperson’s Tools Deduction
5. Hiring Credit for Small Business

Objectives

Canada Revenue Agency sought to conduct public opinion research to assess awareness, impact, use and effectiveness of the 2013 Tax Relief Measures Advertising Campaign in raising awareness and providing key information about the tax relief measures introduced by the Government of Canada.

In accordance with the Government of Canada Communications Policy, departments and agencies are required to conduct a post-campaign evaluation of all advertising initiatives exceeding $1,000,000 in media buys. This post-campaign testing was conducted using the ACET (a series of standardized questions to be included at the beginning of a post-campaign survey).

This research was required to evaluate the effectiveness of this advertising campaign with Canadians. The objectives were to:

• Measure unaided and aided awareness of the advertisements;
• Determine message recall;
• Assess sponsorship/attribution of the advertisements;
• Understand the impact, in terms of action in response to the advertisements;

• Gather awareness and use of the cra.gc.ca/TaxSavings Web site;
• Determine the use of the web site by Canadians to conduct their transactions (i.e., file taxes online); and,
• Gauge if the creative aspect resonated with the target audience.

The research will be used to verify that the objectives have been accomplished. For example:

• It will allow the CRA to evaluate the relevance of this year’s ad campaign;
• To verify if the campaign raised awareness & knowledge of the tax relief measures introduced by the Government of Canada; and,
• It will help the CRA to improve, repeat or modify its future ad campaigns.

Key Findings

Opinion Search was not responsible for the survey design, development of the methodology or any analysis of the research.

Survey Methodology

The overall approach for this study was to conduct a landline telephone survey with Canadians 18 years of age and older, from across the country. A detailed discussion of the approach used to complete this research is presented below.

Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire for this study was designed by CRA and was based on the Government of Canada’s Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool (ACET), which is the standard tool for research on advertising recall. As per standard practice, pre-testing was conducted prior to the official launch of the survey, and 10 surveys were collected in both English and French.

Sample Design and Selection

The sampling plan for the study that was provided by the CRA team was designed to complete interviews with a random, representative sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18 and over. The telephone surveys were completed using random-digit-dialing based on the Canada Survey Sampler, a proprietary selection engine specifically designed to generate a random sample of telephone numbers to be dialed. Every Canadian household with a landline telephone number had an equal chance of being selected for the study. Cell phone calling was not conducted for this study as a research design decision.

In order to ensure that the survey was conducted with a random audience of Canadians, the survey instrument used the "most recent birthday" respondent selection method (which means that in households with more than one eligible respondent, the person with the most recent birthday in the household is selected as the one to be interviewed).

While the sample database was generated and stratified using Canadian regional population numbers, the data have been weighted in tabulation to replicate actual population distribution by region, gender and age, according to the most current Census data available.

Data Collection

The survey was conducted in English and French from April 11th to April 21st, 2013. Given the nature of the research (which includes advertising recall) a limited time frame was required in order to evaluate the recall and effectiveness of the program. The survey was conducted via telephone by Opinion Search Inc. using the Voxco CATI technology in centralized data collection facilities, by trained and fully supervised onsite interviewers.

Quotas/Weighting

Quotas were used on the study to ensure that, prior to any additional weighting, we were working towards making the data as representative of the population by region and gender as possible. Quotas were established on the following:

From there the final data was weighted based on the 2011 census information. Weighting was applied based on region, gender and age statistics to ensure that the final dataset was in proportion to the Canadian population via those factors.

Quality Controls

While the survey was ongoing, a minimum of 10 percent of all completed interviews were independently monitored and validated in real time by on-site quality control monitors. To count towards the 10 percent total, 75 percent of each survey was monitored. Furthermore, the survey was registered with the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association’s (MRIA) Research Registration System.

Results

Call Dispositions and Response Rate

A total of 34,335, Canadian households were dialed for this study, of which 1,001 qualified as eligible and completed the survey (adults 18 years and older). The overall response rate achieved for this study was 4.65%. The following report on sample disposition and response rate follows MRIA guidelines, which are set up to establish consistency in reporting across the market research industry.

Margin of Error

The approximate margin of error for a sample of this size is plus or minus 3.05 percent at the 95% confidence level. This margin of error will increase if you are looking at smaller sub samples.

Duration of survey

The average survey duration was 8 minutes.

Cost of the Project

The final cost for the data collection portion of the project was $17,509.35 (including HST).