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This paper aims to respond to issues posed in the four commentaries on Armstrong, Du, Green and Graefe (2016, this issue) regarding the immediate usefulness of that paper’s test of advertisements’ compliance with persuasion principles, and regarding the need for further research.

This paper addresses commentators’ concerns using logic, prior research findings and further analyses of the data.

The superiority of the index method remains when a simple, theory-based, alternative weighting-scheme is used in the index model. Combinations of three unaided experts’ forecasts were more accurate than the individual forecasts, but the gain was only one-third of the gain achieved by using the Persuasion Principles Index (PPI).

Replications and extensions using behavioral data and alternative implementations of the index method would help to better assess the effects of judging conformity with principles as a means of predicting relative advertising effectiveness. Advertisers can expect more accurate pretest results if they combine the predictions of three experts or, even better, if they use tests of compliance with persuasion principles, such as the PPI. The PPI software is copyrighted, but is available now and is free to use.

New analysis and findings provide further support for the claim that advertisers who use the PPI approach proposed by Armstrong, Du, Green and Graefe (2016, this issue) to choose among alternative advertisements will be more profitable than those who do not.

This paper aims to test whether a structured application of persuasion principles might help improve advertising decisions. Evidence-based principles are currently used to improve decisions in other complex situations, such as those faced in engineering and medicine.

Scores were calculated from the ratings of 17 self-trained novices who rated 96 matched pairs of print advertisements for adherence to evidence-based persuasion principles. Predictions from traditional methods – 10,809 unaided judgments from novices and 2,764 judgments from people with some expertise in advertising and 288 copy-testing predictions – provided benchmarks.

A higher adherence-to-principles-score correctly predicted the more effective advertisement for 75 per cent of the pairs. Copy testing was correct for 59 per cent, and expert judgment was correct for 55 per cent. Guessing would provide 50 per cent accurate predictions. Combining judgmental predictions led to substantial improvements in accuracy.

Advertisements for high-involvement utilitarian products were tested on the assumption that persuasion principles would be more effective for such products. The measure of effectiveness that was available –day-after-recall – is a proxy for persuasion or behavioral measures.

Pretesting advertisements by assessing adherence to evidence-based persuasion principles in a structured way helps in deciding which advertisements would be best to run. That procedure also identifies how to make an advertisement more effective.

This is the first study in marketing, and in advertising specifically, to test the predictive validity of evidence-based principles. In addition, the study provides the first test of the predictive validity of the index method for a marketing problem.

This paper aims to present a commentary on the Armstrong et al. (2015) proposals to use checklists of Armstrong’s “advertising principles” to predict the effectiveness of alternative advertising executions and their tests of validity using paired ads with day-after recall scores.

This paper discusses literature from anecdotal business journalism, cognitive science and behavioral economics that attempt to explain and accurately predict high-impact advertising. The commentary considers the value of using checklists and the relevancy complexity theory for examining whether or not checklists versus other tools are useful for accurately predicting advertising effectiveness.

Anecdotal reports and scientific studies using true experiments support the practical benefits of advertising executives referring to advertising principles in the form of checklists when deciding which advertisement to run. Armstrong, Du, Green and Graefe (ADGG) provide a useful early warning tool that is useful for indicating ads that will not be effective, but their checklist method is unlikely to indicate which ads will have high impact. Researchers and executives should create and test the efficacy of configurations of content and design for identifying highly effective ads; testing should be done in clutter and using behavioroid measures (not seven-point scales); recall measures are inadequate proxies for behavior.

By calling attention to the possibilities of using the persuasive advertising principles to test the ability to select specific ads that will most influence behavior such as purchases, ADGG offer a valuable contribution. Too often, advertisers and other decision makers ignore useful readily available information; creating tools useful for improving the quality of decision-making is missing in many marketing management contexts. ADGG indicate that such a tool is possible avoiding ads that are likely to be poor performing, advertising executions.

This paper serves to emphasize the substantial value in using rigorous checklists as a step in making complex decisions such as advertising execution selections to avoid undesirable outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to present leaders with a tool – war gaming – for effectively and efficiently stress‐testing their plans and strategies in a changing world under competitive pressures.

The paper uses case studies and anecdotal experience accumulated over 25 years.

War games reveal three basic myths regarding strategy: Everyone knows what strategy is intuitively. Improving execution is the essence of strategy. Everyone shares the leaders' enthusiasm and perceptions regarding the firm's strategic direction. Structuring war games correctly solves all three misconceptions.

Leaders looking for effective tools to test their ideas before committing resources to them will find war games exceedingly easy to use and very quick on results. This paper provides four quick “rules” on doing it right.

War games – long practiced by the military – have been successfully adapted for business use. Adopting the methodology to commercial environment offers wealth of opportunities for leaders to improve strategy.

The aim of this study is to add to the emerging knowledge base in the UK and be of relevance to land use planners and all stakeholders in property taxation. Urban green open spaces are valuable environmental resources often associated with positive influences for quality of life and property value.

Using a hedonic pricing specification, this paper measures the proximate effect of public green space on residential property value. It examines the relationship between 3,854 residential sales transactions and public green spaces across the Belfast housing market gathered from Land and Property Services throughout the year 2011 showing the percentage effect on property value with respect to distance to public green spaces.

The results show that, ceteris paribus, urban green space has a significant positive impact on proximate residential properties sale price for the terrace and apartment sectors and that terrace and apartment property located closer to public green spaces achieved increases in sale price of up to 49 per cent. Adjacency to green open space produced significant property value premiums in only two of the four housing types analysed, with limited statistically significant proximate effects evident for the detached and semi-detached sectors, a finding which has important social and public policy implications.

A number of empirical studies have demonstrated that public green space, such as urban parks, have a positive impact on property values. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on this relationship in the UK. This study serves to address this gap by examining the effect of public green spaces on house price within the medium-sized regional city in the UK.

As regards the assessment of the market values of properties that compose real estate portfolios, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test an automated valuation model. In particular, the method defined allows for providing for objective, reliable and “quick” valuations of the assets in the phases of periodic reviews of the property values.

Aiming at both predictive and interpretative purposes, the method, based on multi-objective genetic algorithms to search those model expressions that simultaneously maximize the accuracy of the data and the parsimony of the mathematical functions, is applied to a sample data of office properties characterized by medium and large size, located in the city of Milan (Italy) and sold in the period between 2004 and 2015.

The model obtained could be an integration of the canonical methodologies (market approach, income approach, cost approach) implemented in the assessment of the market values of properties, so as to provide an additional tool to verify the results. In particular, the inclusion of economic variables in the model is consistent with the need to reiterate the valuations, contextualizing them to the locational characteristics and to the current property cycle phase in the specific area.

The model can be applied by all the operators involved in the periodic reviews of the values of property portfolios: from real estate funds’ insiders, in order to monitor the values obtained through the canonical approaches, to the public institutions, such as the revenue agencies, in order to ensure the fair payment of the taxes through the updating values of the properties according to the actual and current market trends.

The method proposed can be a valid support for all public and private entities that hold significant property assets and that, for various reasons (periodic reviews of the balance sheets, sales, enhancement, investment, etc.), require cyclical updated values of the properties. The automated valuation model developed can be used for the assessment of “comparison” values with the estimates values obtained by other assessment techniques, in order to ensure a further monitoring tool of the results from the subjects involved.

The size of the population classified as people with disabilities or older adults is increasing globally. The World Health Organization estimates that the average prevalence of disability is around 18% among adults age 18 and older. People with disabilities and older adults have lower levels of physical activity and experience significant barriers to walking in local neighbourhoods. A new perspective is needed that views disability in the context of the built environment and across the lifespan. The purpose of this chapter is to examine walking as an activity that is inclusive of any age, ability or assistive device used for mobility. Through a literature review, we illustrate the complex relationship that exists between individuals with disabilities/older adults and the built environment. We describe environmental and social factors, which have been found to be associated with walking among people with disabilities and older adults as well as factors perceived to be barriers to walking. Factors cited in the literature include aspects that fall into the environmental domains of the International Classification of Functioning. We conclude by highlighting key factors needed for planning supportive walking environments for people with disabilities and older adults. Recommendations include the use of walking audits to gain information on detailed aspects of the built environment, developing inclusive walking initiatives, including people with disabilities and older adults in the planning process and planning for maintenance.