Most large advertisers now expect to demonstrate exactly what benefits derive from expenditure on advertising. Senior marketers have always needed evidence that the advertising is meeting its objectives - increasingly they also need to convince their finance director that their advertising budget is being well spent and is yielding an acceptable return.

Yet it remains difficult to demonstrate this return precisely, to show that advertising is paying its way. The relationships with what we want to affect (sales, market shares) can be tenuous and indirect. Other variables, especially price changes, can appear to have a much more rapid effect - in comparison, the short-term pay-off from advertising can seem small and indistinct. The true benefits may appear only in the longer term, but these are even harder to measure.

The problem is compounded because it is equally difficult to understand how consumers are responding to the advertising. Unless we try to understand how the advertising is working, our measurement approach may be flawed.

In fact, a great deal has been learned about evaluating advertising performance in recent years. Many agencies have written detailed case studies describing their approach. Numerous seminars, books and articles have also significantly advanced our knowledge. Although some areas remain controversial, there is wide agreement about how advertising works and the best ways to approach the problem of evaluating it.

Is your advertising working? reviews the evidence and thinking in this highly important area, identifies the common ground and provides practical guidance for advertisers and agencies who need proper evaluation of advertising performance.