Effective Frequency - Various Meanings

Various Meanings

There are several definitions of effective frequency. The following are some key examples:

• Advertising Glossary defines effective frequency as “Exposures to an advertising message required to achieve effective communication. Generally expressed as a range below which the exposure is inadequate and above which the exposure is considered wastage.”

• Business Dictionary defines it as “Advertising theory that a consumer has to be exposed to an ad at least three times within a purchasing cycle (time between two consecutive purchases) to buy that product.”

• Marketing Power defines it as “An advertiser's determination of the optimum number of exposure opportunities required to effectively convey the advertising message to the desired audience or target market."

• John Philip Jones says “Effective frequency can mean that a single advertising exposure is able to influence the purchase of a brand. However, as all experienced advertising people know, the phrase was really coined to communicate the idea that there must be enough concentration of media weight to cross a threshold. Repetition was considered necessary, and there had to be enough of it within the period before a consumer buys a product to influence his or her choice of brand.”