Advertisers like to know the media choices
of their competitors, which can help them
avoid making mistakes of less successful
competitors and imitate the strategies
of more successful competitors. In addition,
advertisers seeking to promote a new
product who know that the leading competitors
are using the same media mix might feel
that their approach is valid (but this is not
always true).
An advertiser can collect data on competitors’
activities either by setting up a special
research team or by subscribing to the
services of a syndicated research company.
Since the job of monitoring the media activity
of a large number of firms advertising in
several media is so difficult, most advertisers
rely on a syndicated service. The companies
gather data by direct observation—that is,
by tabulating the advertisements that appear
in a given medium. In addition to information
about the frequency of advertisements,