How Advertising Affects Sales: Meta-Analysis of Econometric Results

Abstract

The authors attempt to assess what has been learned from econometric models about the effect of advertising on sales. Short-term and long-term advertising response as well as model fit are analyzed for 128 econometric models involving the impact of advertising on sales. The approach, a form of meta-analysis called “replication analysis,” treats the studies as imperfect experimental replications and uses ANOVA to identify sources of systematic variation. For short-term advertising elasticities, systematic variability is found related to model specification, estimation, measurement, product type, and setting of study. For advertising carryover and model goodness of fit, the “quasi-experimental design” is so imperfect that a high degree of sharing of explained variance among explanatory factors makes it difficult to identify the impact of a particular factor. Because the studies mostly address mature products in the U.S., suggestions are made for research needs crucial to better understanding of how advertising affects sales.