Think you've got a good ad? Test it first before you spend the media bucks.

Is there anyone out there who can pretest advertisements? We thought you'd never ask. The Cotton Ad Testing Lab has access to computerized mega lists of people who are the typical buyers and users of various products and services. This gives Cotton the pull to gather them together as a consumer jury to render an intelligent verdict on an ad's appeal, its concepts and text.

Humans have a built-in instinct to test. They don't walk on fresh ice until they test its strength. They don't buy a car without taking it for a "test" drive. They don't even try a new brand of beer without taking a test sip.

So why do advertising people ignore this inbred caution ability when it comes to creating ad campaigns designed to sell goods and services?

Could it be that the test-sensitive section of the brain goes dead when ad folks put pen to paper? Are they suddenly struck blind and deaf to the needs of consumers, who basically know what they want, but need some information and guidance in the marketplace? Who are these ad people trying to reach – and please – their bosses or the buying public?

Why do advertisers prepare elaborate,often multi-million dollar campaigns just to try them out cold on consumers? They must be crazy to think that people are going to plunk down hard-earned cash on something they know nothing about because the ad they read, saw on TV or heard on the radio left out critical information they needed to make an informed decision. Maybe ad people are just plain short-sighted. In the media-buying game, it's all too foolish to think of consumers as predictable, mindless guinea pigs who will buy anything if they are just spoon-fed bland and dull corporate advertising.

In the end, nobody wins. The conventional-minded advertiser doesn't sell the service or product – and the consumer doesn't buy it.

Why? Because most ads, banners and commercials are published half-cocked, without pre-testing the specifics of the appeal, copy, visuals, price or any other essential of the offered product or service.Some 98 percent of ads created in the USA are written, planned and produced for the seller, not the buyer. And corporate leaders in ivory towers don't know what's happening on the street. (President George H. W. Bush didn't even know what a price scanner was when he toured a supermarket.)


Every time an ad gets read or a commercial is seen, it means money in the old till, and more than that, it gives you enormous marketing leverage over your competition. But every time your message goes unnoticed, you lose money. So, it makes good business sense to test your advertising before you take it public. That way, you can quickly learn whether you're putting out ads that will be rejected or ads that will lead to success.

The Cotton Ad Testing Lab works exclusively through mailings, guaranteeing impartiality by all participants so that the copy themes selected will be the most likely to produce the desired results in an efficient and mass market level. These direct-mail testing ad packages offer a fast, flexible and inexpensive method that's far superior to interviews or "after the fact" readership studies.

No matter what medium you choose to carry an ad message, Cotton will give it to the appropriate test audience and the results will be as scientific as possible. Best of all, the entire pre-testing procedure will be implemented without disturbing your relationships with ad agencies that supply the creative juices.

Test results are immediately measurable, so it's easy to determine the best approaches long before you're forced to commit to large expenditures. With Cotton, every test pays off with clear, accurate, and cost-efficient data.

Call us, write or email for samples how our unique approach to ad testing works. See for yourself how the Cotton Ad Testing Lab pays for itself.