Atlantic Canada Underground Economy Initiative, Television Advertisement Pre-test

Prepared for the:
Canada Revenue Agency
FINAL REPORT
June 14, 2010
POR #007-10
Contract #: 46558-118376/001/CY
Contract award date: 2010-05-21

Prepared by:
Angus Reid

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Canada Revenue Agency
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Executive Summary

Angus Reid
Contract Number: 46558-118376/001/CY
Contract Date: 2010-05-21

Executive Summary and Recommendations

Research Purposes and Objectives

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) required pre-testing research of a television ad conceived as part of the Atlantic Canada Underground Economy Initiative (UEI). Specifically, the CRA was interested in evaluating whether the UEI advertisement effectively accomplished the following goals:

1. Raising awareness among homeowners in Atlantic Canada about the personal and financial risks of doing business in the underground economy; and
2. Communicating to viewers where to obtain more information on how to protect themselves when making home renovations.

Key Findings

Results from our pre-test show that the advertisement effectively communicates the UEI's two core messages. A strong majority of respondents like the ad and describe it as clear, to the point, and informative. The ad also has a positive impact on stated behaviours such as insisting on a written contract when getting home renovations done and willingness to learn more about how to hire a contractor when having home renovations done.

These findings are consistent across key subgroups in terms of region, language and age suggesting that the ad is effective. While the ad does not require major changes to achieve the designated goals, this report provides some recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of the ad, particularly with respect to better communicating where viewers can go to get more information.

What's Working

A strong majority of respondents indicate that the UEI ad is effective in communicating both that home renovations under the table are risky (93% agree this was communicated effectively) and where to turn to for more information on home renovations (82% agree this was communicated effectively). The ad is also broadly consistent with what respondents would expect to see from the federal government, suggesting strong brand fit.

A majority of respondents believe the ad is both believable and relevant to them. Relevance scores are even higher among respondents who are planning on renovating their home in the next 6-12 months, indicating strong resonance among this target group.

The ad also appears to reinforce pre-existing knowledge and behavior among many Atlantic Canadians with respect to home renovations. Two-thirds of respondents (65%) believe it is illegal to sign something under the table and nearly nine in ten (88%) indicate that they were already familiar with what to consider when hiring a contractor prior to seeing the ad (note that this question was asked after seeing the ad, which may have skewed results).

As a result of seeing the ad, a majority of respondents agree they will be more likely to get a written contract for renovations to their home, that they want to learn more about hiring a contractor and are interested in visiting the CRA Underground Economy Initiative website.

Challenges/ Opportunities for Improvement

While the ad is effective in communicating its key messages, the ad pre-test uncovers possible areas of improvement. The most important is giving greater prominence to where to turn to for more information. While respondents state the message is clearly communicated in the ad, relatively few respondents identify the CRA's UEI website as a place to turn to for more information in subsequent questions. Having the link to the website displayed for a longer period of time and/or in a more prominent manner is an easy way to bolster this message within the ad.

There is also a sense among a small subset of respondents that the ad is too negative and is disingenuous in the way it portrays contractors. Yet even among respondents who express these less positive views, clarity of the ad's objectives were still very high, demonstrating that even among these detractors, the ad is nevertheless effective in getting its message across. Changes to the tone of the ad are therefore not something that necessarily needs to be addressed.

Methodological Overview

The survey was completed online by a group of 356 Atlantic Canadian homeowners over the age of 18. 1021 respondents were invited to participate in the survey. The sample was drawn from the Angus Reid Forum (described in greater detail in the report), an online access panel of roughly 95 000 Canadians. The sample was balanced based on province, gender and age based on the latest available information from Statistics Canada on homeownership.

The survey consisted of 25 questions, including 4 open ended questions. The median time for completing the survey was 12 minutes and 32 seconds. A pretest was done prior to full launch to check for lower than anticipated completion rates, unexpected breakoff points or negative feedback from respondents. When none of these were found, the survey was full launched. The survey fielded from May 28, 2010 to May 31, 2010.

Extrapolation of Findings

Because the research was conducted using an online methodology, people without internet access were excluded from our survey. However, our survey and sampling frame were modeled to represent the total population, not the internet population in terms of demographic targets. So the sample universe remained the total adult population of homeowners in Atlantic Canada, even though the survey was only addressed to a certain proportion of those individuals.

The ad was shown to respondents in a manner that does not completely reflect how it would be consumed once fully launched. A host of other factors, such as when and where the ad is broadcast, can affect its overall effectiveness. While we believe the findings contained in this report are very helpful in assessing the overall effectiveness and potential breakthrough of the ad, results cannot be fully extrapolated to all homeowners in Atlantic Canada.

Date modified:

2010-11-02