How much of advertising spend is wasted money? This is a very difficult question to answer, as measuring the effectiveness of any advertising or direct mail campaign is not scientific and therefore hard to quantify. Whilst we know that it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign, we also know that very few people even try. Advertising research can help a company to not only develop a campaign itself, but to also test the awareness of a campaign and to track its effectiveness over time. Successful advertising and marketing can help companies make a difference in their business and sell more products or services. Advertising costs are an expensive component of the marketing mix, and so pre-testing is often required to gather market opinion and avoid costly mistakes. B2B International has carried out numerous market research projects involving advertising development, effectiveness and tracking campaigns for both above the line and below the line advertising to understand what makes a successful campaign and indeed, why a campaign wasn’t successful.