Corporate Advertising Needs a New Foundation According to Miller-Williams Inc. (Could It Be The Internet?)

Industries Analyzed: PC, Software, E-Commerce, Telecom and Automotive

SAN DIEGO--Oct. 16, 2002--Despite the fact that the biggest piece of a marketing budget is still being allocated to traditional advertising mediums such as television, newspapers and radio, few companies have found effective ways of measuring the results.

To help today's marketers understand the impact of advertising on revenues, Miller-Williams analyzed how top market leaders succeed in their advertising initiatives and what others need to do to improve their own efforts. Miller-Williams Inc. analyzed data from its Value Scoreboard(TM) with dozens of market-leading companies. The research was based on interviews with 11,277 active customers from the PC, software, e-commerce, telecom and automotive industries.

The research shows that corporate advertising has the most impact on a customer's view of industry leadership, corporate vision and customer respect. The most compelling result is that both price and competitive performance ranked well below those top three.

"The results of this research are so powerful because they provide an understanding of what customers' needs are and how a company can meet those needs. This arms a company with the key to a successful campaign -- the ability to define sales strategies needed to gain new customers before a new advertising effort is put into place," said Amy Ferraro, director of research for Miller-Williams Inc.

The report also identifies the leaders in corporate advertising from a customer's perspective within each industry. IBM ranked the highest in the PC Industry, Yahoo! for e-commerce, Oracle for software, Toyota for automotive and Cingular for the telecom industry.

The eight-page research brief contains full details on the research including real-world examples and analysis of how each industry leader is producing successful advertising campaigns by focusing on the three core messages ranked highest by customers. To receive the complimentary research brief, join our business member community at www.millwill.com/member-bus.htm.

About the Research

The analysis in this brief is a subset of data from the M-W Value Scoreboard(TM). The data covers the responses of 11,277 customers from November 2001 to June 2002. Within each interview, the respondents were asked to rate the importance of 30 company attributes when making a purchasing decision. The attributes cover a wide range of topics such as financial stability, customer satisfaction, industry alliances and senior management credibility. A correlation analysis measures how closely one attribute movement predicts the movement of another attribute. A correlation of 1.0 means the attributes move together perfectly; a correlation of -1.0 means that as one attribute increases, the other decreases.

Respondents then described how closely each market-leading company met their ideal. The best had the smallest gap between the ideal and the company's performance for that industry.

About Miller-Williams Inc.

Miller-Williams Inc. provides customer value research to senior executives at many of today's most influential corporations to help them deliver results. Executives obtain a fresh, unbiased and decisive analysis of where customer revenue growth exists for their company. The company delivers results to the executive through its research programs tailored to the executive's needs. The measurable outcomes from Miller-Williams research show executives how and where to focus resources in sales, marketing, service and other customer-driven initiatives. Miller-Williams Inc. has over 1,900 members that renew annually at a 92% rate and represent many of the world's largest and most prestigious corporations.

Miller-Williams is the collective effort of Robert B. Miller, co-author of Strategic Selling®, and Gary A. Williams, co-author of "Change The Way You Persuade" in Harvard Business Review, May-2002. For more information, visit www.millwill.com or call 800/790-6070.

Strategic Selling is a registered trademark of Miller-Heiman Inc. and MHI is in no way affiliated with Miller-Williams.