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44 QRCA VIEWS SPRING 2 0 15 www.qrca.org I recently had the opportunity to talk with Tony Foleno, Senior Vice President for Research at the Ad Council, about the way the organization uses qualita- tive research for its public service adver- tising. Here are some excerpts from our conversation. Judy: To start, please tell us how you ini- tially got involved in public opinion market research. Tony: I was always interested in social sciences, learning about people, and what makes them tick. My first real research job was at Public Agenda, a non-partisan policy and polling shop. The Ad Council was a client. Since most of my back- ground was in market research, I knew the basics and methodology and didn't think the job would be difficult. Then I found out, wow, it really is hard! Judy: You've been at the Ad Council for 12 years and SVP for six years. How would describe your role there? Tony: I help oversee our campaign plan- ning and evaluation process and conduct cross-campaign analyses of programs. On the planning side, we work hand-in-hand with advertising agency planning teams to develop strategies. My team of six over- sees all the campaign evaluations, develops plans to measure impact, and reports back. We run about 40 different public service campaigns at any given time, addressing a host of issues and target audi- ences – health and safety, education, envi- ronmental and community stewardship issues. Judy: Could give us an overview of the research process you use? Tony: It's different for every campaign, depending on what the objectives are and who the audience is. You're constantly learning about new methodologies, new trends in the media, and learning from lots of different kinds of people. People are surprised by how much homework we do and how research-based we are for a small, non-profit organization. We start off interviewing issue experts and people in the field, conduct a landscape review of past efforts on the issue, and do a lot of desktop research. Then we go into primary research and work closely with our pro bono advertising agency. We use all kinds of online and in-person qualita- tive research approaches – focus groups, in-home ethnographies, one-on-ones, social listening to see what the online chatter is. Then we develop a strategy and a creative brief. We go back into qualita- tive with ad concepts in rough form to make sure they're clear and have the potential to motivate. Then we develop and launch the campaign. And we do post-research to figure out if we're making a difference. Judy: Does the post-research include qualitative? Tony: Yes, though most of it is quantita- tive. We do a lot of tracking surveys, big data analyses, and digital analytics. We look at engagement with our campaign and what the numbers are in awareness and behavioral changes over time. Qualitative is immensely helpful when things are not working. The numbers don't always tell you the why behind that. Qualitative provides context for the whys pegged from the numbers. Judy: The Ad Council has done a number of famous campaigns. Can you tell us how qualitative research was used for some of them? Tony: I'll give you the iconic ones first that really speak to our legacy. One is "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." We also work in wildfire prevention. We're the lead on Smokey Bear, who still enjoys 95 percent public recognition. Currently, we have a lot of campaigns where we've seen the needle move from autism awareness to bullying prevention to hunger prevention. One of the most inspiring campaigns I've worked on tries to spark people's By Judy Langer President n Langer Qualitative n New York City, NY n judy@langerqual.com TONY FOLENO, Senior Vice President for Research, Ad Council n LUMINARIES n Continued on Page 46

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