[paulhauggis]

I think it's difficult to measure because yes, they may be taking an initial loss. But, they may gain new customers as a result of the temporary loss making it a positive.

The issue is how many customers have they conclusively gained as a result?

Newspaper/magazine ads are no different. Unlike online advertisements, it's not easy to measure.

I worked at a company that bought hundreds and thousands of ads per month and we had a difficult time measuring. You can ask the customer where they found you (which takes time and many times the customer doesn't give it to you) or you could have multiple phone numbers, which is not a good solution either.

[anigbrowl]

What was that old adage about advertising? something like 'half of all advertising money is wasted, but nobody knows which half.'