What is DAGMAR?

DAGMAR is an advertising tool used in setting clear advertising goals and objectives and achieving the set goals. Russel Colley devised the DAGMAR approach, he included this initiative in the report he submitted to the Association of National Advertisers in 1961. DAGMAR is an acronym that means Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. The aim of this approach is to create an effective way of advertising and measuring the impacts or success of advertising. This advertising approach was further expanded by Solomon Dutka in 1995.

How does DAGMAR Work? 

DAGMAR as an advertising approach seeks to guide the end-users of advertised products or those that benefit from advertising in four major areas. The approach draws its advocacy and campaign from four key areas represented as ACCA. These areas are; Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, and Action. Majorly, the DAGMAR advertising approach entails that an awareness of the brand or product is created among customers, this awareness will enhance their knowledge on the benefits of the product how it functions and its pros and cons. Furthermore, this strategy entails that consumers are convinced and persuaded on why they need the product and why they should buy it. The goals of DAGMAR rest on the fcat that clear advertising goals that would achieve the ACCA phases should be adopted by advertisers. Also, the success or failures of the set goals should be measurable. Essentially, advertising has to do with effectively communicating a brand, its benefits, its functions and features, among others to consumers. There are four criteria with which the effectiveness of an advertising campaign can be evaluated. These are;

• The advertising campaign must be tangible and quantifiable.
• It must have a specific target audience.
• Identify the impacts the advertising is meant to have.
• Have a specific timeframe to achieve the objective.

The type of audience (consumers) a brand will target for advertisement depends on the nature of product and consumers that can use the products. No brand wants to be at a loss, maximising profit is crucial. This is why the target market of every brand is the set of consumers with the highest tendency of purchasing the product. Different target markets are defined by geographical location and segmentation of people in the target market. For example, a product might just be for unmarried women, mostly living in the urban regions, this is a market type. A market can be narrow or broad. We can also have a primary and secondary market. A primary marker is the set of consumers that first use a new product before the product is taken to a bigger audience at the secondary market.

DAGMAR Benchmark and Time Frame

Brands do not just advertise their products without having a specific goal or a target market. Parts of the requirement for evaluation the success of a campaign is the identification of a benchmark with which its success can be measured and a specific timeframe to achieve the campaign objectives. For instance, a bodycare product produced and specifically made for teenagers cannot be marketed to older people. The advertising campaign must also align with the goal of the product so that the goal can be achieved. The time frame is another factor that determines whether a campaign would be successful or otherwise. An achievable deadline must be set for advertising a specific product.