Measuring Sales Effects of Some Marketing Mix Variables and Their Interactions

Unique field experiment data provided by the Milwaukee Advertising Laboratory were used to investigate the individual and interactive effects upon market shares of some marketing mix variables at two controlled levels of aggregate TV advertising exposure opportunity. The analysis showed interactive effects to be among the significant determinants of brand share. Market response to advertising, for instance, was found to depend upon the experimental brand's relative price level. Also, an exploratory hypothesis that high levels of TV advertising may correspond with a shift of relative effectiveness from TV advertising to other promotional variables was tested and supported. The results suggest the benefits of controlled field experiments and the importance of including interactive variables in models of market demand.