The study was conducted jointly by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and the Association of Business Publishers (ABP). Titled "The impact of business publication advertising on sales and profits," it was a $390,000 project originally conceived in 1983 and fielded in 1984. Its aim was straightforward: to measure the effects of a 12-month advertising campaign on four different products. How--exactly--would advertising affect an advertiser's sale and profits?

To answer that question, the researchers focused on two very specific advertising variables: frequency (number of ads placed in any one publication over a 12-month period) and weight (number of pages and size of ads used in the promotion effort). The results are irrefutable: Advertising in business publications increases both sales and profits.

The landmark study was sponsored by an array of the country's most prestigious manufacturers, advertising agencies and publishers. Among them are ABC Publishing/Chilton Company; AT&T; Borg-Warner; Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt; DDB/Needham Worldwide; General Electric; IBM; International Paper; Ketchum Communications; McGraw-Hill; Penton; 3M; and Westinghouse.

Each of the sponsors had something obvious to gain by the effort because each, for their own reasons, relies on the presumed power of advertising. The chance to prove that power--or to disprove it--was undoubtedly an alluring prospect.

Their research had three major aims:

1. To measure (for a variety of products) the way in which business-to-business advertising affects sales.

2. To identify the role of intervening variables.

3. To evaluate the ways in which sales and profits are affected when media weights and frequency of advertising are varied.

One of the more unusual aspects of the study is that it was conducted on a real-time basis. That is, researchers divided potential buyers (business publication readers) into three equal size groups, or cells. They then exposed each cell to a different advertising schedule and examined reader response to three different levels of advertising: high, medium or low. These ad weights and frequency of exposure within each cell were carefully controlled by the research team that supervised the insertion of the ad pages into the proper cell at the bindery.

This effort made it possible (by matching the manufacturers' and distributors' records of actual sales and inquiries) to identify the buyers' cell assignments--all at the same time that the ads were appearing, and for a period of time following the end of the campaign.

Because such accurate and timely records were kept, it was also possible to track the profits earned on each of the products' sales during the study period even as the researchers took into account all advertising expenses and factory production costs.

Selecting the Products

To establish the broadest possible data about advertising effectiveness, researchers selected and tracked four very different products for the study:

1. a portable safety product;

2. a commercial transportation package;

3. a highly specialized laboratory device; and

4. a commercial construction material.

The products had very different prices, unique levels of purchasing complexity, their own individual application, varying distribution methods, and nonoverlapping target markets.

It would be impossible, within the space of this article, to detail each of the study's conclusions. To provide a sense of its analysis, a sampling of the findings for two of the products follows.

Product I: A portable safety product

Priced at under $10 and sold in lots, this was an existing product with new packaging. It was marketed to a new audience through a new distribution channel. Low in purchasing complexity, the item had a short life span and a large number of prospective buyers. It was sold (through a national wholesaler) to distributors who, in turn, sold it directly to end-users.

For the test, the product was advertised in only one end-user publication from November 1984 through October 1985. The following five points were proved:

The evidence was irrefutable:

• More advertising means more sales: Evidence--An eight-page advertising schedule (six single-page, black-and-white ads and a two-page color insert) in a 12-month period increased sales of the product to 3.9 times the pre-campaign level. When the advertising frequency was increased to six single-page, black-and-white ads plus 11 two-page color inserts, sales increased to 6.7 times that of the pre-campaign level.

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• More advertising can result in higher profits: Evidence--Profits were proved to increase 630 percent over the pre-campaign level in sales among readers exposed to the highest level of advertising.

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• Increasing ad frequency can also increase sales leads: Evidence--Reader service inquiries totaled 3.25 per thousand from the lowest exposed cell; 4.52 per thousand from the medium exposed cell; and 5.76 per thousand from the highest exposed cell, or nearly double the response from the lowest cell.

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• The results of an advertising campaign are observable in four to six months: Evidence--The first ads for this product appeared in November 1984. By March 1985, measurable sales increases were recorded.

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• An ad campaign can keep working for a full year or more: Evidence--Advertising for this product ran for 12 months, and ended in October 1985. Nevertheless, there was still no sign of a decrease in sales within the high exposure cell for at least another six months, and sales continued to remain highest in that cell through December 1986 (the last month recorded in this study).

Product II: A commercial transportation component package

Priced at about $10,000, this product comprised elements never packaged together before, and was considered a new product by the manufacturer. It involved a moderately complex purchasing process, a long life span, and was viewed as a major expenditure by a large number of potential buyers. It was sold to end-users through a national dealer network.

For the purposes of this research study, the product was advertised in one end-user publication and in two dealer publications from February 1985 through January 1986. The following facts were proved:

• Increased advertising frequency can increase qualified sales leads: Evidence--End-user reader service inquiries totaled 0.16 per thousand for readers within the low-exposure advertising cell; 0.95 per thousand for the medium-exposure cell; and 2.22 per thousand for the high-exposure advertising cell--or 13.9 times more sales leads than from the low exposure cell.

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• More advertising can result in bigger profits: Evidence--Increasing advertising to the highest level cells in both the end-user and dealer publications increased profits to 3.9 times the pre-campaign levels.

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• Twenty-three months after the first insertion (and 11 months after the test campaign ended) the highest level of profits was still being recorded from the cell exposed to the highest level of advertising.

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• The results of an advertising campaign are observable in four to six months: Evidence--The first ad insertions appeared in the February 1985 issues of both end-user and dealer magazines. Measurable increases were recorded exactly four months later, in June 1985.

For business/trade publishers and for those promotion executives who work with them, familiarity with this study is a must. It offers, for the first time, conclusive evidence that their magazines can do what their sales representatives say they do: increase an advertiser's sales and profits.

Perhaps even more important, from the publisher's perspective, the ARF/ABP study supports the notion that more ads, run more often, and the use of color in business and trade magazines help the advertiser achieve his objective.

All this amounts to a powerful story that publishers can present to their potential advertisers. The way in which the story is told should, of course, depend on a magazine's specific market. Because very few advertisers will be willing to read through and analyze all this material, any publisher's promotion package should highlight only those research conclusions that relate to his clients' advertising concerns.

Copies of the ARF/ABP study can be ordered by writing or calling the Marketing Service Department of the Association of Business Publishers, 205 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10017. Telephone: 212-661-6360. The cost is $8.50 per copy.