• Ad Age, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 11:15 AM

Parade could be one of the best return-on-investments going for the nation's advertisers--at least according to a study the Sunday magazine insert commissioned from Information Resources. In its look at four package-goods brands advertised in the magazine in 2006, IRI found they lifted sales an average of 20% the following week, with results ranging from 10% to 31%. Those tracked were Prilosec, DiGiorno pizza, Hefty OneZip bags and Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

And even some folks who believe in the power of advertising have trouble swallowing those numbers, which exceed usual modeling results that show single-digit sales bumps for all media advertising combined over much longer periods. Mike Hess, director-global research and consumer insights for OMD, was skeptical--but after discussing the methodology with IRI, he believes it is sound. And David Verklin, CEO of Carat North America, says: "I find the idea [of media vendors using marketing-mix models] to be very, very interesting and compelling."

Brenda White, vice president-director of print activation for Starcom, is a strong believer in print, and says she was not surprised by the data--but "I applaud them for finding a way to prove their value to clients."

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