Prepared for the:
Public Affairs Branch
Canada Revenue Agency
FINAL REPORT
April 2007
POR# 332-06
Contract #46558 73074
Prepared by:
Ipsos Reid
Le rapport complet en français sera fourni sur demande.
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Executive Summary
Quantitative Research
Unaided Awareness and Recall
Four in ten (40%) respondents said they have seen advertising about online tools or ‘e-services' for business tax matters over the past few weeks. Among those who recalled seeing advertising of this kind, eight percent mentioned the CRA specifically when asked what words, pictures or images they recalled from the advertising. Though not indicating the CRA by name, the most common recollection from the advertising related to the e-file service or program (13%), which is how the CRA refers to its method of electronic tax filing. [Footnote 1]
Those who recalled advertising about online tools or “e-services” for business tax matters recalled seeing an ad on the Internet or a Web site banner (33%). One in five mentioned a daily newspaper (18%), while one in ten mentioned a pamphlet or brochure in the mail (11%).
Aided Recall of Advertising
Respondents were presented with the images of contortionists that appeared in the ads, but were not shown any of the text or language used in the ads. Presented with only these images, one in three respondents (32%) recalled seeing an ad featuring at least one of the images recently.
Among the media tested, respondents who recalled seeing one of the three ads most commonly recalled seeing the ad in a daily newspaper (28%), followed closely by magazines (24%). Others recalled seeing the ad on the Internet or on a Web site banner (14%). Fewer than one in ten recalled seeing the ad in a local weekly or community newspaper (8%), in a pamphlet or brochure (6%) or on an outdoor billboard (6%, not used by CRA during the campaign).
Sponsor of Advertising
Respondents who recalled seeing an ad were asked who produced or sponsored the ads. Among these respondents, one in ten mentioned either the CRA (6%) or the Government of Canada or just ‘government' (4%). The majority (59%) did not recall who the sponsor of the ad is.
Respondents often thought the sponsor of the ad was a company selling computer programs or software unrelated to tax preparation (5%), a computer company in general (4%) or IBM (3%). Others said the sponsor was a bank or financial institution (5%), H&R Block (4%) or a tax or accounting service provider (4%).
Main Message of Advertising
Respondents who recalled seeing an ad were asked what main points the ads were trying to get across. Taken together, responses clearly related to tax preparation occupy over a third of responses (35%), representing the most common responses to this question after those who did not know or could not respond (41%). Remarkably, one in ten respondents were able to recall the theme of the ad, “Don't get bent out of shape doing your taxes” (10%). Others said the point was letting the sponsor help individuals with their taxes (9%), filing taxes online (8%) or that it is easy to do your taxes (7%).
Actions Taken as Result of Advertising
Among respondents who recalled seeing an ad, one in ten (10%) said they took some action as a result of the advertising, a result that is consistent in other advertising evaluations conducted on behalf of the Government of Canada.
Of the 10 percent who said they took some action, four percent said they talked to someone about the ad, three percent said they haven't done anything yet, but intended to do something as a result of the ad, two percent said they went to a Web site and one percent said they clicked on the advertisement or on a link in the advertisement.
Perceptions of Advertising
Towards the end of the survey all respondents were shown the full advertisements, including the text, and asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the same statements. By comparing the results among those who just saw the ads with those who recalled one of the ads, it is possible to determine what aspects of the advertising were more lasting and which tended to fade in respondents' memories.
The findings showed that the ads are appealing—both for those asked to recall the ads from memory and those just presented with the full ads. At least six in ten respondents said that the ads are unique and different (saw full ad: 66%; recalled ad: 60%), while majorities said the ads are enjoyable to look at (saw full ad: 58%; recalled ad: 53%).
However, other comparisons between those who recalled the ad and those who were shown the full ad were less promising. In particular, about half of those who were just shown the full ads (51%) agreed that the ads were informative, as compared to 16 percent among those who recalled seeing the ad.
Responses were similar with respect to other statements. Agreement with statements suggesting that the ads were informative, relevant to their business, interesting to them personally, or that the ads would make them feel more positive about the sponsor or more likely to consider using or wish to learn about online tax services for business each drop between 17 and 27 points from those shown the full ads to those asked to recall the ads from memory.
Attitudes Towards the CRA
Before seeing the full version of the ads and being told that the CRA sponsored the ads, all respondents were asked questions about their attitudes towards the CRA. Respondents were somewhat more likely to agree (36%) than to disagree [Footnote 2] (29%) that the CRA is trustworthy. However, respondents were much more likely to disagree than to agree that the CRA is responsive to the needs of businesses (40% disagreed vs. 23% who agreed) or that the CRA is effective in addressing the needs of businesses (40% vs. 22%).
It is worth noting that respondents who recalled seeing one of the ads were not significantly more likely than those who did not to consider the CRA trustworthy or responsive and effective to the needs of businesses.
Appropriateness of Advertising
After respondents were shown the full advertisements, including the text, they were asked questions about the perceived role of the advertising as a tool to inform businesses of the online tools it offers. On this basis, over three in four respondents (77%) agreed that it is appropriate for the CRA to advertise that it has online tools, or ‘e-services' for business. Three in four (76%) also said that the ads show that the CRA provides online tools or ‘e-services' that their business can use. Two in three respondents (66%) said that the ads indicate a desire to make it easier for businesses to deal with the CRA.
Qualitative Findings
Overall, focus group participants were positive about the advertising and generally understand its message. Others, however, were less sure that the ads conveyed a clear message. For many respondents the ads conveyed new information but several respondents already knew of the service and the advertising acted as a reminder.
The concept of the ads was well liked and received many positive responses: the visuals were “impactful, memorable, unique and clever” and grabbed respondents' attention. Those with positive views of the advertising seemed to relate to the message of simplicity, ease, convenience and saving time and money.
Others did not see the ads as effective in delivering the message. Some felt that the ad lacked information, for example, about what online tools were available and how it would make doing business taxes easier.
There were mixed views on the text. Some respondents viewed the text as being weaker than the image and felt it had less impact on them than the image.
Regarding the call-to-action, the responses were generally mixed and there was not an extremely strong response to the call to action amongst respondents. Many participants said they gave the concept more thought, would seek more information and spoke to others about the service.
Conclusions
It may be difficult to directly compare the results of this survey to other campaigns, as there are few evaluations of campaigns that have been targeted to business audiences through the selected media used during this campaign.
The results of this research found that recollection of the ads was good, relative to other government ad evaluations of the general population. In addition, the “actionability” of the ads – the likelihood of respondents to say they would do something as a result of seeing the ads—was on par with other campaign evaluations of the general population. The recollection of the CRA or the Government of Canada as the sponsor appears to be low, at 10%. Additionally, respondents did not seem to recall whether the ad was informative, relevant or would encourage them to seek out online tax services for business.
Overall, this may suggest that the campaign was successful in terms of recall and actionability, yet may have had a less than successful linkage of message to sponsor.
Footnotes
- [Footnote 1]
- The United States Internal Revenue Service also refers to its electronic tax filing system as “e-file,” and private sector tax preparation firms frequently include the phrase in their communications.
- [Footnote 2]
- During the analysis in this report, “disagreed” indicates ratings of 1, 2 or 3 on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means strongly disagreed and 7 means strongly agreed.
