Providing a framework for evaluating the advertising efficiency using data envelopment analysis technique

Advertising plays an important role in the marketing strategy and a considerable amount of budgets has been allocated for advertising every year. However, the proportion of advertisement campaign achievements to those designated for their design, or in other words, its efficiency, is questionable. This study was conducted to assess the efficiency of the food industry's advertising brands using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The duration of the campaign and budget as input and brand familiarity, attractiveness of implementation and sale were used as an output for the evaluation. The results of the study indicated that there are inefficiencies in this industry, thus in an attempt to improve the situation of the advertising efficiency, some solutions was provided to managers. Also, the most important variables affecting the efficiency of the food industry was identified by sensitivity analysis.