Evaluation of Phase III of the Tax Relief Measures Advertising Campaign - Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool (ACET)

Prepared for the:
Canada Revenue Agency
FINAL REPORT
May 12, 2010
POR #122-09
Contract #: 46558-116822/001/CY
Contract award date: 2010-03-23

Prepared by:
Decima Research Inc.

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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
4th Floor 555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Introduction

Decima is pleased to present this executive summary to the Canada Revenue Agency highlighting the public opinion research conducted with Canadians on the tax relief measures advertising campaign.

Background and Understanding

Phase III of the Tax Relief Measures advertising campaign was undertaken between January and March 2010. An advertising budget of $10 million had been approved for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to produce the campaign. Phase I of the ad campaign was produced in February 2008 and Phase 2 in January – February 2009. Phase III of the ad campaign included television, print, and radio ads.

The campaign was intended to achieve the following:

• Raise awareness of the tax relief measures introduced by the Government of Canada (GC);
• Increase the number of individuals who claim the tax credits and benefits to which they may be entitled;
• Increase the number of individuals who file electronically and on time;
• Increase the number of Canadians who believe that the GC is committed to delivering tax relief to individuals and families;
• Increase the number of Canadians who believe that filing an income tax return may be financially beneficial to them; and,
• Decrease the number of Canadians who try to access tax credits without supporting documentation.

Specifically the ad campaign was focusing on the following:

1. Pension Income Splitting
2. Children’s Fitness Tax Credit
3. First-Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit
4. Home Renovation Tax Credit
5. Public Transit Tax Credit
6. Tradesperson’s Tools Expenses

Objectives

Canada Revenue Agency sought to conduct public opinion research to assess awareness, impact, and effectiveness of the Tax Relief Measures Advertising Campaign to raise awareness and provide 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 major advertising initiatives exceeding $1,000,000 in media buys. This post-campaign testing was conducted using the Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool (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;
• Identify sponsorship/attribution of the advertisement;
• Understand the impact, in terms of action in response to the advertisement;

• Gather awareness and use of the actionplan.gc.ca 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 and 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.

The total cost to complete this research was $27,402.01 (including GST).

Date modified:

2010-09-24