ADVERTISING RESEARCH AT ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1963-1968

IN THIS FIRST OF A TWO PART SERIES, ELEVEN YEARS OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION IS DESCRIBED IN THE MARKETING AREA OF ANHEUSER-BUSCH. THE PROCESS IS ILLUMINATED BY WHICH ISSUES OF EXPERIMENT DESIGN AND THEORY VALIDATION MUST BE TEMPERED BY PRAGMATIC CONSIDERATIONS OF COST AND RISK TO THE COMPANY. A CONTINGENCY APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTATION STRESSES THE CONTINUOUS EDUCATION AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE MANAGERS INVOLVED. THE WORK CONCERNS THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO BE SPENT ON ADVERTISING, THE DISTRIBUTION OF ADVERTISING ACROSS TIME, AND THE RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT MEDIA. AMONG THE RESULTS OBTAINED WERE - 1. VOLUME HAD APPROXIMATELY DOUBLED. 2. MARKET-SHARE HAD INCREASED FROM 8.14 TO 12.94 PERCENT. 3. ADVERTISING EXPENDITURES WERE REDUCED FROM $1.89 TO $3.80 PER BARREL. 4. THE CHANGES INDUCED BY THE DESCRIBED RESEARCH DID NOT HURT ANHEUSER-BUSCH. GRAPHS - CHARTS - REFERENCES.