This is the story of the introduction of account planning into a small Australian advertising agency which resulted in the planning roc being adopted with notable success over the ensuing years.David Brent, formerly of Unilever and Reckitt & Colman and an early exponent of the planning role in Australia in $1965-6$ says:$*$Probably the first shock for a creative writer after I took over my accounts was my urgent view to the manager of Velvalene Products that I suspected that the TVC $($television commercial$)$ for velvasoft fabric softener produced by the agency was virtually useless! The manager had asked the agency to schedule a burst on television and after my experience in Unilever with the launch of Comfort fabric softener a few years earlier I suspected that we had a real dog on our hands. The client was understandably upset, but I stuck to my guns and explained why I was worried and that a simple TVC test against the current Comfort TVC would clarify matters. This was agreed and I phoned the brand manager for Comfort at Lever & Kitchen $[$Unilever$]$ and suggested that we agree on a swop of TVC dubs for testing at any time. He agreed and dispatched a dub of the Comfort TVC to us$.$ 

The ad test was rapidly mounted and the results clearly showed that the Comfort TVC beat the Velvasoft TVC hands down and the qualitative reasons given by respondents clearly revealed how irrelevant the content of the Velvasoft TVC was and why it was so ineffectivel The ad showed a woman running along a beach wearing a sweater, implicitly softened with Velvasoft. Consumers seemed confused about what the ad was telling them.The client was appalled by the clear evidence from consumer interviews and questionnaires and so were the agency owners. None had ever before heard of research being used in the creative arena to check advertising performance and with such a damning indictment of the agency's work However, the immediate problem was to replace the faulty TVC with an effective TVC and get it on air as soon as possible. A script, casting and production based on visual cues of soft bath towels were quickly devised.

The TVC featured a well$-$known, female celebrity$-$entertainer and her young daughter who endorsed Velvasoft for its outstanding benefits. In addition to the celebrity's appeal and authority, the mother$-$daughter combination had a soft female angle which helped to further enhance the credibility of the story. This new Velvasoft TVC was then tested against the same Comfort TVC and the results showed that the new Velvasoft TVC came close to equalling the Comfort TVC on all essential scores and established a useful point of difference. The client was delighted, the agency team was relieved and we got back on track with the business. And that client was thereafter forever an advocate of the planner and his role in the agency'.

CASE EXERCISE:$\mathrm{}$

$1.$The speaker in this case advocates the use of qualitative as well as quantitative data $($for example, attitude scales$)$ to assess the effectiveness of a given creative execution. The use of qualitative research in advertising creative development and also in campaign assessment is often associated with the account planning role. Choose a new TV ad that you can video and assess its effectiveness through a qualitative discussion group with members of the likely target audience for the brand. What do you feel are the major difficulties with conducting and interpreting qualitative research for judging the effectiveness of ads?$\mathrm{}$

$2.$The case refers to the account planner as an industry expert whose opinion was influential in his agency. What problems do you feel might arise in the creative development process if the account planner docs not have the same authority?$\mathrm{}$

$3.$The case refers to an Australian campaign that is some $40$ years old. Try to form an outline promotional plan for a contemporary brand of fabric softener to be launched in your home country, What do you feel might be the major differences in: $($a$)$  the tone of voice for the creative work$($b $)$ the likely media mix used; and $($c$)$ the creative execution?