Images paired with concrete claims improve skeptical consumers’ responses to advertising promoting a firm’s good deeds

Previous research has focused attention on state skepticism over corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications, but little work has focused on how to override preexisting differences in consumer skepticism. To gain insight into this issue, the present studies explore whether company ads promoting a firm’s good deeds generate more positive responses when the ads contain concrete claims and/or images related to the firm’s corporate social responsibility claims, and how these elements of the CSR communication interact with individual differences in advertising skepticism. Results show that highly skeptical consumers (a) respond less favorably to ads than less skeptical consumers, overall; (b) respond more favorably to ads that contain a combination of concrete claims and images supporting those claims; and (c) respond as favorably as less skeptical consumers when ads feature concrete claims with supporting images. Additional results suggest that images are effective among highly skeptical consumers because skeptical consumers have a reduced ability to visualize advertising claims. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Magazine Advertising: Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Celebrity Advertising

This study analyzes the differences in celebrity effectiveness in advertisements of different styles as well as the impact of source credibility. This study uses an experimental magazine to test nine fictional advertisements for three products with unreal brands and three advertising styles. The findings show that the advertising styles that generate the greatest effectiveness differ according to the product; the celebrities do not increase effectiveness, but when the respondents recognize the celebrity, effectiveness increases; and credibility influences affective and conative measures. The work also considers how celebrity-product pairings, the existence of negative celebrity information, and the familiarity with the celebrity affect the effectiveness.     

Owning and Operating a Destination Management Company

ABSTRACT

Attorneys are the top revenue category for the yellow pages and the yellow pages arc the most popular form of attorney advertising. We studied over 14,000 attorney yellow page ads from three cities including a detailed analysis of all display ads. We compared the advertising strategy used in attorney yellow page ads with the literature on the information consumers desire from attorney ads. This comparison of consumer desires with the actual advertising strategy used by attorneys in the marketplace led to several recommendations for improving attorney yellow page advertising.     

Understanding programmatic TV advertising

ABSTRACT

Television is undergoing tremendous technological developments, which will enable marketers to direct commercial messages to more specific audiences at the individual and/or household level. Traditional ways of buying TV advertising are being challenged by the programmatic approach, which originated with search and display ads, and uses data and technology and real-time auctions to automate transactions between buyers and sellers. We discuss the changes to TV that enable the rise of programmatic models and propose that its future success depends on the coordination and availability of three factors, abbreviated DAD: distribution, ad inventory and data. We also elaborate on the effects of media context and how the TV program environment matters for advertising effectiveness. Finally, we discuss the future of TV advertising and related research needs.     

Using Radio Advertising to Promote Blood Donation

The World Health Organization states that the donation of blood by voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors is crucial for the safety and sustainability of national blood supplies and that it is necessary to use effective communication strategies to recruit them. This implies the need to understand how advertising works. In the promotion of blood donation, radio is an ideal channel of communication, in which the credibility of the spokesperson from the perspective of the listener is fundamental. Therefore, this paper aims to design and validate a model of advertising effectiveness that explains blood donation through a holistic approach that considers, in addition to the different responses of individuals to advertising (cognitive, affective, and conative) the impact of spokesperson credibility on each of these responses. Moreover, we investigate the moderating role of donation inhibitors since the response to an ad is moderated by individual differences. The sample comprised 987 regular radio listeners. We draw theoretical and operational conclusions for those in charge of communication programs targeted at voluntary donation. So, transfusion centers should consider both spokesperson credibility and ad creativity when planning their promotional campaign and their brand image due to the maximum effectiveness that can be achieved simply by balancing these three elements. However, the importance of these elements for explaining the intention to donate blood differs in the three groups analyzed according to their particular donation inhibitors. This shows that one single message should not be used, but rather various messages tailored to each of the groups.     

Consistency and commonality in advertising content: Helping or Hurting?

Scholars and practitioners widely argue that strong, successful brands are built on consistent and unique positioning, which should be reflected in the brands’ advertising. Surprisingly, however, little empirical evidence supports this claim, especially with regard to advertising content. The authors investigate whether and to what extent brands’ advertising content consistency—the similarity in the firm’s own advertising content over time—and commonality—the similarity between the firm’s and competitors’ advertising content—affect brands’ sales. Insights emerge from the analysis of the impact on sales of the content of 247 television ads aired by 33 brands in six consumer packaged goods categories over a four-year period. Results indicate that more than advertising spending, both consistency and commonality in advertising content affect sales, especially with respect to long-term cumulative sales. However, brands differ considerably regarding the direction of the effects. While small brands tend to benefit from increased consistency and commonality in advertising content, large brands tend to suffer from increased consistency. Thus, whether consistency and commonality in advertising content will help or hurt depends on the size of the brand.     

Effective Nonverbal Communication Techniques

Developing effective marketing strategies for profes- sional service firms presents many unique challen es and is an im- portant area of practice development that many &ns often wer- look. Professional service firms ossess very distinctive P characteristics which differentiate them rom other service firms and require specialized marketing strategies. The purpose of this article is to assist practitioners in their efforts to develop promotional strat- egies which will enhance their firm's professional image and in- crease the firm's ability to engage new clients. These strategies arc aimed specifically at certified public accountants, lawyers, archi- tects, and other professionals.     

An empirical investigation on the antecedents of consumers’ cognitions of and attitudes towards digital signage advertising

This paper investigates the antecedent factors of consumers’ perceived values and attitudes towards digital signage advertising in a structural model. The results of this study revealed that four key antecedents (i.e. informativeness, involvement, entertainment and targeting) affect consumers’ attention to digital signage advertising and perception of advertising values. This study shows that attitudes towards digital signage and perceived interactivity with it also affect consumers’ attitudes towards digital signage advertising. This, in turn, influences positive attitudes towards a brand and higher purchase intentions.     

The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative,consumer, and source variables*

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the product (A_p) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A_ad and A_p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.     

How the level of personalization affects the effectiveness of personalized ad messages: the moderating role of narcissism

Abstract

In this study, we examined the effects of two different levels of personalization strategies (individual-level vs. group-level) on consumers’ visual and attitudinal responses to personalized advertising. We further investigated the moderating role of recipients’ narcissism in the effect of personalization. Results show that individuals higher in narcissism paid greater and more frequent attention to ads personalized on an individual level than to those personalized on a group level, while individuals low in narcissism showed no such differences. Regarding attitudinal response, consumers with a high level of narcissism tended to have a more favourable attitude towards the individual-level personalized ad compared to those with a low level of narcissism, while consumers with a low level of narcissism tended to have a more favourable attitude towards the group-level personalized ad compared to those with a high level of narcissism. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Emotional advertising: Revisiting the role of product category

In contrast to the Affect Infusion Model, popular advertising planning grids suggest that emotional advertising is effective for low involvement and hedonic products, but not for high involvement or utilitarian products. In two experiments, 400 and 392 consumers respectively evaluate a non-emotional and a product-congruent or product-incongruent emotional appeal promoting four different product types. In a third study, 909 respondents evaluate 323 existing TV commercials. The findings confirm expectations based on the Affect Infusion Model and indicate that for none of the product types negative effects of emotional advertisements appear. However, emotional ads do work better for some than other product types. In addition to clearing out the moderating role of product type, this paper contributes to the literature by showing that previous poorer results of emotional ads for some products may be partly due to less positive attitudes towards the products themselves instead of to the inappropriateness of the appeal.