It's always best to start small and roll out. Test in one market, or one publication, measure response and increase spending as is practical. However, things are moving so fast now that there's often no time or money for formal copy testing research using large sample sizes. The best test of consumer behavior is response to the actual work. But often we need some indication of probable success before we send the message out to hundreds of thousands or millions of eyeballs.
So, please, those of you at The Phelps Group, listen carefully to The Wall *, The BrainBangers' Ball, The Eyeball, your client, your gut, your teammates, your mother, your kids, your roommate, the cultural environment of the moment – and, for Pete's sake, the little voice in the back of your head – because things are moving so fast, there's most often no time for large-sample-base research.
*Explained in detail in part two of this book.