Do advertisements work for you? When you flip through your weekend paper, do spot red callouts screaming big promotions entice you to jump into the car and do some shopping at Woolies, Kmart or ALDI?

According to a report conducted by The Newspaper Works and conducted by research company Ipsos MediaCT, the three above brands were named some of the top performing retail ads in the newspapers in terms of their success in achieving call-to-action to their consumers.

Testing 350 retails ads, the report measured the actions that each ad enticed readers to perform, and identified whether appearing in newspapers was suitable and fitted into the consumer’s path to purchase.

Woolie’s ‘Shelf prices reduced’ ad inspired consumers to visit a store and make a purchase, while Kmart’s ‘We may look the same, but we’re different’ ad delivered strongly on rising intentions to visit a store. Air Asia’s ‘Visit Britain on a budget’ generated a strong call to action to conduct a web search and spreading the news to friends and family.

Using a new research measurement tool called Action Map, which was developed against a backdrop of changing consumer behaviour that has seen the path to purchase becoming broader and more varied, the tool analyses the different actions that can occur from viewing an ad, including web search, word-of-mouth, trial and even ‘remember for later’.

Tony Hale, CEO of The Newspaper Works said: “Newspapers have always been regarded as a highly effective retail vehicle. Readers have always welcomed newspaper ads and find them an importance reference tool to use on their path to purchase.”

“One of the other really interesting findings from the report is that newspapers deliver a strong call to action for big and small retailers, as well as small space ads, which can also be very effective in driving a range of actions.”

Other report findings include:

Retail ads that performed best on brand building metrics were Myer and Kmart

Public agenda ads can build retail brands, with the ALDI “Saving the planet won’t cost you the earth” ad having a positive impact on its brand equity, as well as a strong call to action

Successful retailers review and evolve their creative to optimise performance in newspapers

Small space ads for Air Asia, State Solar and Woolworths demonstrate that ‘broken space’ can also perform strongly in connecting with consumers

The report also lists the top performing ads for each of the Action Map measures including Affinity (Coles), Reappraisal (Kmart), Information (Coles), Call to Action (Coles), Public Agenda (ALDI) and Extension (Woolworths).