Having decided to go on air with the campaign, Diageo also wanted to monitor how it would perform in the market. To do that, two different surveys were applied: one to understand brand perceptions and the other to understand the efficiency of the campaign media mix.

The brand perception survey showed that during the campaign period Johnnie Walker Black Label enhanced its performance in terms of brand equity measures (being Meaningful, Different and Salient), as well as in intended image perceptions, such as “Better quality than others”, “Brand that is leading the way” (dynamism) and “Combine with me” (identification).

Through the second survey, it was possible to confirm that the campaign was also able to meet sales objectives, as it enhanced measures of “trial” (new consumers) and “regular consumption” (trade-up movement).

Besides that, it was also seen an increase on brand’s sales. Johnnie Walker Black Label grew more than category average after campaign was aired: while the category grew 38% in the period when compared to the previous year, the brand showed an increase of 64%.

According to survey results, viewers enjoyed watching the ad, found it involving and very distinctive, in accordance to the executional elements. With such different stimuli the ad captured viewers’ attention and retained it until the end.

However, the main objective of the ad – to change brand's perception - was not clearly achieved based on the direct answers. Understanding of message was largely limited to the creative execution, while the intended brand message was not coming across. Consumers found it difficult to verbalize what was being said about Johnnie Walker Black Label implicitly.

If the survey had ended at this point, this ad would probably never be aired, since it was not addressing the action standards. The additional neuroscience components proved to be crucial to go beyond norms and straightforward answers on this tricky scenario: An enjoyable, engaging and distinctive ad versus the lack of message understanding.

Based on Facial Coding, it was found that at an emotional level, consumers responded to the story flow. Moreover, through Intuitive Associations, it was possible to spot that the idea that resonated the most was the desired “sense of attitude”, very hardly verbalized by viewers. As “attitude” was exactly the perception that the brand was willing to project with this piece, this method proved that this objective was covered, making it ultimately successful in its goals. Therefore, the ad was recommended to go on air.

Nevertheless it was also possible to raise optimization recommendations to increase ad’s potential. Once viewers struggled to verbalize the emotionally charged content in the ad, there was room to reinforce message, through a voice over to support interpretation of the creative idea.