Concept and Message Testing: Phase IV Tax Relief Measures Ad Campaign SME Portion

Prepared for the:
Canada Revenue Agency
FINAL REPORT
February, 2010
POR #036-10
46558-110470/001/CY
Contract award date: 2010-09-07

Prepared by:
Angus Reid Public Opinion

Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français sur demande.

To request a full copy of this report, please contact Library and Archives Canada at: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 or www.collectionscanada.ca.

Media Enquiries:
Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
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Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Executive Summary and Recommendations

Research Purposes and Objectives

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) required pre-testing research of a print ad and internet banner ad conceived as part of phase IV of the Tax Relief Measures advertising campaign, a portion of which will target Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

Two central goals of the campaign are to increase awareness among SME of the temporary Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) for 100% write-off of computer equipment for business, which is only available until January 31, 2011, and to encourage visits to the CRA Website for additional benefits available to SME.

CRA, working with their creative agency, had developed three advertising concepts and were interested in knowing which of the three concepts was most effective in achieving the above mentioned goals.

Cost of Research Project

The final cost for the project is $24,321.50 (excluding HST).

Key Findings

Results from our pre-test show that all three ads effectively communicate the CRA’s core messages. A strong majority of respondents like the ads and describe them as clear, to the point, and informative. The ads also have a positive impact on stated behaviours such as willingness to apply for the tax credit and willingness to go online to learn more about the program.

While all three ads score relatively well on the above-mentioned measures, the Florist ad in particular earned higher marks than the other two ads. The consistency of these results across several measures, and the use of statistical analysis to identify the rank order of the preferred ads meant this was the better ad.

Despite the strength of all three ads, the survey yielded some important insight into how each ad could be improved upon, both in terms of wording, content and layout.

What’s Working

A strong majority of respondents indicate that the ads are effective in communicating that there is a CCA write-off of 100% for computers, that there is a deadline to benefit from this program, and where they can go to get more information. Answers to open ended questions asking respondents to describe the main messages of the ads were highly consistent with the actual messages suggesting that the ads communicate these messages well.

A majority of respondents believe the ads are both believable and relevant to them, irrespective of business size, suggesting that within the SME community, these ads are likely to have a broad appeal.

As a result of looking at the ads, a majority of respondents agree they will be more likely to consider applying for the temporary CCA, recommend to someone else in their company to take advantage of the temporary CCA write-off, or learn more about the program and CCA in general.

Challenges/ Opportunities for Improvement

While the ads are effective in communicating their key messages, the ad pre-test uncovers possible areas of improvement. In general terms, some respondents found the ads to be text heavy. Using our virtual highlighter tool, we were able to discern specific parts of the text that were less popular than others. Some respondents also felt the images depicted in the ad did not convey the image of a small business to them, though this is to be expected given the sheer diversity of business sectors and industries.

Baker ad: Of the three ads, the Baker ad generated the most comments about not representing a business. The lack of a computer was cited and the slogan ‘now that computes’ was not as popular as the header/slogan used in the Florist ad.

Suit ad: Some respondents felt that the number of people in the ad was distracting and that the blue frame around the main character’s head was out of place. As with the Baker ad, a number of respondents commented on the slogan as being unclear or not very clever.

Florist ad: Though this ad tested better than the others, some respondents nevertheless commented that the woman did not really seem like a small or medium business owner.

Methodological Overview

The survey was completed online by a group of 351 respondents who either occupied a senior to mid level position or were owners of a Small of Medium Enterprise. 1,626 respondents were invited to participate in the survey. The sample was drawn from the Angus Reid Forum, an online access panel of roughly 98 000 Canadians (described in greater detail in the report). Quotas were set to ensure that there were a total of 117 completes for each of three business size categories based on number of employees: micro business (0-9 employees), small businesses (10-99) and medium business (100-499).

The survey consisted of about 32 questions, including 8 open ended questions. The print ads were tested in sequential monadic order and one of the three internet ads was then shown to respondents based on their preferred choice of print ads. The median time for completing the survey was 15 minutes and 32 seconds. A pretest was done prior to full launch to check for completion rates, unexpected break-off points or negative feedback from respondents. When none of these was found, the survey was fully launched. The survey fielded from September 15, 2010 to September 16, 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 of small and medium business owners, not the internet population in terms of demographic targets.

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 used 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 SMEs in Canada.

Date modified:

2011-03-21