The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) is a nonprofit industry association for creating, aggregating, and sharing knowledge in the fields of advertising and mass media. It was founded in 1936 by the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies. Its stated mission is to improve the practice of advertising, marketing and media research in pursuit of more effective marketing and advertising communications.
Its membership consists of over 400 advertisers, advertising agencies, research firms, media companies, educational institutions and international organizations. [1]
The ARF conducts several research initiatives. It publishes the Journal of Advertising Research, a peer-reviewed academic periodical. It also sponsors a variety of advertising-related marketing research endeavours and hosts periodic conferences on advertising and media-related topics. The ARF operates the Roy Morgan Information Center as a clearinghouse for advertising research, promulgating industry standards and guidelines, and it provides training and administers the annual David Ogilvy Awards Program.
ARF's Knowledge Center houses original historical reports, papers and videos developed during the formative years of the advertising research industry. Established in 1953 to serve as a central resource for materials relating to advertising research, the ARF Knowledge Center also offers specialized tools and services to help ARF members keep up-to-date with the latest knowledge applicable to business needs. [2]
The Advertising Research Agency was formed in 1936. During its first 15 years, ARF sponsored over 200 studies including studies involving newspapers, farm magazines, business magazines, and an executive management publication.
In the beginning of the 1950s, the ARF began working with media companies in addition to advertisers and agencies. The agency supervised a study on household ownership of radio & television sets in 1954. It also published "Recommended Standards for Radio & Television Program Audience Size Measurements," in 1954. In 1955 the ARF influenced the U.S. Census Bureau to include a TV ownership question in its questionnaires. Research companies were invited to become ARF members in 1967. [3]
During the 1990s, the ARF spearheaded primary research in studies such as the Copy Research Validity Project, which redefined the area of copy testing, and the ARF/Ad Council Study to determine the impact of public service advertising. [1] More recently, the ARF has pioneered efforts to define advertising engagement and to measure consumers' emotional responses to advertising. [4]
The ARF hosts forums, which are meetings and presentations where industry experts and members can share knowledge and information. Forums are held in the ARF's NYC office located at 432 Park Avenue South and are also available virtually.
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are a wide range of uses, the most common being the commercial advertisement.
Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior.
The Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) is a North American not-for-profit industry organization founded in 1914 by the Association of National Advertisers to help ensure media transparency and trust among advertisers and media companies. Originally known as the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), today AAM is a source of verified media information and technology platform certifications, providing standards, audit services and data for the advertising and publishing industries.
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The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) is a U.S. trade association for advertising agencies which was founded in 1917. It serves over 600 member agencies across 1,200 offices, which control more than 85% of total U.S. advertising spend.
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BBB National Programs, an independent non-profit organization that oversees more than a dozen national industry self-regulation programs that provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services to companies, including outside and in-house counsel, consumers, and others in arenas such as privacy, advertising, data collection, child-directed marketing, and more. The Center for Industry Self-Regulation (CISR) is BBB National Programs' 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation. CISR supports responsible business leaders in developing fair, future-proof best practices, and the education of the public on the conditions necessary for industry self-regulation.
The Commercial Closet Association (CCA) was a New York City based non-profit organization, founded in 2001 to provide "training and best practices on the representation of" the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It hoped to affect the $1.1 trillion annual worldwide advertising market. Its board announced its closure in 2009 after merging with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
Advertising research is a systematic process of marketing research conducted to improve the efficiency of advertising. Advertising research is a detailed study conducted to know how customers respond to a particular ad or advertising campaign.
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Monroe Mendelsohn Research (MMR), Inc. was an internationally recognized, full-service marketing and media research company headquartered in New York City. In May 2008, the company was acquired by the Ipsos Group and eventually merged into their MediaCT practice. Founded by Monroe Mendelsohn in 1958 to provide marketing consultation and conduct custom marketing research surveys, the company expanded beyond the custom research services it had initially been providing and now syndicates one of America’s well-known, respected and innovative media surveys, now known as The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey. This syndicated survey is used by hundreds of advertisers, advertising agencies, and the media in their communications planning and buying activities.
Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK. Its shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media and UKTV. Together Thinkbox's shareholders represent over 99% of commercial TV advertising revenue through their owned and partner TV channels. Thinkbox's Associate Members are Disney, TAM Ireland, Think TV (Australia), thinktv (Canada), TVN Media (Poland), TV Globo (Brazil), Tenk TV (Norway), DSTv, and Virgin Media. Discovery Networks UK & Ireland and STV also give direct financial support.
Mower is a full-service integrated marketing communications agency that offers consumer and business-to-business marketing and public relations/public affairs.
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