Exploring cosmetics advertising in southern China

China is now one of the largest and fastest-growing advertisement markets in the world. This research provides insights to assist advertising executives in their bid to target cosmetics consumers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Despite a tendency to retain certain traditional values, we find that Chinese women in these cities have increased their status and independence, and are inspired by western brands, music and images. We discover some significant differences between these markets, which suggest that some adaptations may be required in terms of advertising appeal, model selection and media focus, when designing advertising campaigns that will influence the consumer groups in these cities.     

How augmented reality affects advertising effectiveness: The mediating effects of curiosity and attention toward the ad

Many major consumer-driven companies have started to use augmented-reality (AR) technology and AR apps to enrich their customers' shopping experiences and engagement with their brands, and to ultimately increase sales. However, there is scant research discussing the application of AR in an advertising context. Thus, the major goal of this study is to explore how, why, and when augmented reality influences advertising effectiveness. A field experiment and two laboratory experiments demonstrate that an AR advertisement increases consumers’ attitude toward the ad through an increase in their curiosity toward the ad and attention toward the ad (i.e., measured by a physiological measure using eye-tracking). However, the effects only hold when consumers are unfamiliar with the AR ad technology. Overall, this study provides practical implications to advertisers who are considering integrating augmented reality technology in their advertising efforts.     

Television ad-skipping,consumption complementarities and the consumer demand for advertising

Endogenous consumption of advertising is common. Consumers choose to change channels to avoid TV ads, click away from paid online video ads, or discard direct mail without reading advertised details. As technological advances give firms improved abilities to target individual consumers through various media, it is becoming increasingly important for models to reflect the endogenous nature of ad consumption and to consider the implications that ad choice has for firms’ targeting strategies. With this motivation, we develop an empirical model of consumer demand for advertising in which demand for ads is jointly determined with demand for the advertised products. Building on Becker and Murphy (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(4), 941–964 1993)’s ideas, the model treats advertising as a good over which consumers have utility and obtains demands as the outcome of a joint utility maximization problem. Leveraging new data that links household-level TV ad-viewing with product purchases, we provide empirical evidence that is consistent with the model: ad-skipping is found to be lower when a household has purchased more of the advertised brand, and purchases are higher when more ads have been watched recently, suggesting that advertising and product consumption are jointly determined. Fitting a structural model of joint demand to the data, we evaluate consumer welfare and advertiser profitability in advertising targeting counterfactuals motivated by an “addressable” future of TV. We find that targeting on the predicted ad-skip probability is an attractive strategy, as it indirectly selects consumers that value the product. Reflecting the positive view of advertising in the model, we also find that net consumer welfare may increase in several targeting scenarios. This occurs because under improved targeting, firms shift advertising to those who are likely to value it. At the same time, consumers that do not value the ads end up skipping them, mitigating possible welfare losses. Both forces are relevant to assessing advertising effects in a world with improved targeting and ad-skipping technology.     

Have “Millennials” Embraced Digital Advertising as They Have Embraced Digital Media?

Consumers’ attitudes toward advertising ethics are of interest to marketers who understand that negative attitudes can be harmful to brands. Today advertisers increasingly depend on internet advertising. This study compares attitudes of Millennials (the first generation to use digital media more than traditional media) toward internet advertising with attitudes toward advertising in traditional media. Similar to previous generations who had more negative attitudes toward TV advertising, which was their most frequently used medium, Millennials’ attitudes appeared to be more negative toward internet advertising. Thus, we conclude that advertisers must work to engender positive relationships with Millennials through more ethical internet advertising and other innovative strategies.     

Advertising visuals in global brands’ local websites: a six-country comparison

The visual strategies employed in top global brands’ local advertising websites were compared between two groups of nations: the Western group, consisting of the US, UK and Germany; and the Eastern group, consisting of Japan, Korea and China. The results of a content analysis of 253 web ads show a clear pattern of differences in the role of visuals (literal vs symbolic), the use and role of celebrity models, the use of photographs vs illustrations, and the frequency of product portrayals between two groups. Ads from high-context nations tend to rely on symbolic visuals, celebrity models featured as characters, mixed use of photographs and illustrations, and indirect portrayals of advertised products. Ads from low-context nations are found to be the opposite, reaffirming the association between Hallx2019;s information contextuality and advertising visual strategies. The findings imply that the idea of employing advertising visuals that reflect the communication styles of a particular national market appears to be a promising strategy to effectively reach consumers around the world. With this in mind, multinational advertisers might prefer to implement differentiated ad visual strategies in web advertising for Western and Eastern markets.     

Advertising as Unfavorable Self-Presentation: The Dirty Laundry Effect

Identity appeals—marketing communications that invoke one of the target market's identities—are typically well liked by consumers. In contrast with this notion, this research examines a situation when consumers respond negatively to identity appeals in advertising. Through three studies, we find that identity appeals fail when consumers judge an identity-congruent ad as portraying information about them that they would rather not have widely broadcast. In these cases, self-presentation concerns arise, leading to ad dislike. Thus, although identity-congruent ads resonate with consumers, such ads may lead to negative responses if consumers believe the ad airs their “dirty laundry.” We discuss implications for targeted advertising and identity marketing strategies.     

The Detrimental Effect of Cause-Related Marketing Parodies

Cause-related marketing (CrM), defined as a firm’s communication activities designed to promote a consumer good or service by including an offer to contribute a specified amount to a designated nonprofit cause, has become a preponderant practice. In tandem with the development of CrM activities, criticism of CrM has increased; critics note that some CrM claims mislead consumers regarding their purchases’ donative impact. Critics such as consumers and nonprofit advocates are using ad parodies, noncommercial messages that mimic an actual advertisement. In this context, the study investigates how these ad parodies can result in a detrimental impact on consumers’ perceptual and behavioral evaluations of the sponsoring brand. By implementing a tightly controlled experiment comparing actual CrM campaigns and CrM parodies, the author shows that the detrimental effects of CrM parodies on brand attitude and word-of-mouth valence can be explained by greater skepticism toward the firm’s sincere and altruistic motivations. In addition, the author shows that a robust asymmetry emerges in which CrM ad parodies damage perceptual and behavioral evaluations of brands more than actual CrM campaigns improve them. The authors replicate the results for two kinds of critics and two types of brands. The results provide useful implications for theory and practice, documenting the backfire effect of poorly designed CrM, which may urge brands to move toward more self-regulation of CrM practices.     

The influence of self-concept on ad effectiveness: Interaction between self-concept and construal levels on effectiveness of advertising

This study examines the role of self-concept in consumer responses to advertising messages. Specifically, this study postulates that matching advertising message framing (concrete vs. abstract) with consumers’ self-concept (actual vs. ideal self) should yield positive ad evaluation. Results from an experimental study suggest that individuals primed into their actual self evaluated the concrete ad message more favorably than they did the abstract ad message. In contrast, those primed into their ideal self responded more favorably to the abstract ad than to the concrete ad. Implications from the study and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Advertising effects on consumer welfare: Prices paid and liking for brands selected

The effect of advertising on consumer welfare has been the subject of dispute among economists, arising largely from disagreement among scholars regarding the persuasive versus the informative role of advertising. This paper reports two experiments that explore the welfare implications of advertising effects. Experiment 1 shows that the same advertisements can either increase or decrease prices paid for selected brands, depending on the degree to which the choice situation requires brands to be recalled in order to be considered. However, an increase in prices paid caused by advertising does not necessarily imply detrimental effects on consumer welfare. Experiment 2 shows that, even under circumstances in which differentiating advertising leads consumers to select brands with higher average prices, it can provide useful information to consumers that allows them to make purchases that are more in line with their personal tastes than are the choices of consumers not exposed to the advertisements.     

Positive versus negative comparison in advertisements: the affect priming perspective

Abstract

Comparison valence is an important element in comparative advertising. In this research, we investigated how comparison valence influences advertising effectiveness and explored the role of affect underlying such effects. The results of two studies consistently confirmed that a positive comparison elicited more favorable ad attitude and brand attitude than a negative comparison and consumers’ affective states accounted for their preference for the positive comparison. Moreover, we found some preliminary evidence suggesting that the preference for a positive message may be more remarkable in comparative advertisements than noncomparative advertisements. However, this proposition needs further validation in future research.     

Contextual advertising in games: Impacts of game context on a player’s memory and evaluation of brands in video games

Contextual advertising is growing in digital marketing communication. Previous research on traditional media has shown that the surrounding context affects advertising effectiveness. Similarly, the context in a game may influence a player’s processing of brands advertised in that game. To examine the effects of contextual advertising in games, the present article affords two independent experiments investigating how positive and negative game contexts influence players’ memories and attitudes with respect to brands advertised via billboards in games. Drawing from literature on the limited capacity model, the authors demonstrate that positive and negative game contexts decrease brand memory since they require a high level of cognitive effort. The authors also find that varying a game context influence the perception of brands advertised in the game via the contextual priming mechanism and that positive contexts generate more positive brand attitudes than negative or neutral contexts. The findings have important implications for consumer researchers and marketers, as they indicate how contexts in games can be utilized to establish brand awareness and increase positive brand perceptions in contextual advertising using games.     

Should We Hire David Beckham to Endorse our Brand? Contextual Interference and Consumer Memory for Brands in a Celebrity's Endorsement Portfolio

Imagine that you are browsing through a magazine, and you see one of your favorite celebrities in an advertisement. Then, a bit further into the magazine you see that same celebrity in an ad for a different product. A few hours later, you think of the celebrity again and try to remember the products s/he was endorsing, but what will you actually recall? This paper examines consumer memory for celebrity advertising under conditions where a single celebrity advertises for more than one brand. Using contextual interference as the theoretical lens, the current research posits and demonstrates how brands in a celebrity's “endorsement portfolio” compete with one another when consumers use the celebrity as retrieval cue for information that was contained in the ads. The findings of the laboratory experiment reveal that brands sharing either a high or low match with the celebrity win the battle during retrieval and inhibit consumers’ ability to accurately recall ad information for brands sharing a more moderate match with the celebrity. The theoretical practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Who Benefits from Multiple Brand Celebrity Endorsements? An Experimental Investigation

Advertisers commonly use celebrity endorsers to increase the effectiveness of advertising in persuading consumers. In many cases, these celebrities endorse more than one brand. Little is known, however, about the benefit to brands from these multiple endorsements by the same celebrity. This research applies classical conditioning theory to an exploration of multiple brand endorsements by a single celebrity, and examines how brand concept consistency between endorsed brands affects consumers’ evaluations of the endorsed brand. The findings, over two separate studies, indicate that exact and high concept consistency between endorsed brands positively influences consumers’ attitude toward these brands.     

The moderating influence of brand status and source confirmation on third-party endorsement effects in advertising

Two studies were conducted to examine the effect that perceived brand status has on consumers’responses to source confirmation of third-party advertising endorsements. In Study 1, a 2 (ad exposure with opportunity to confirm the source of the endorsement vs ad exposure with no opportunity to confirm) by 2 (topdog brand vs underdog brand) factorial design was used to examine hypothesised effects on message believability and brand attitude. Results indicated that, for underdog brands, augmenting advertising strategies with publicity pieces (source confirmation) is an effective approach in enhancing advertising message believability and producing more favourable brand attitudes. On the other hand, this ad strategy was not shown to have similar added benefits for the topdog brand. Study 2 further examined these interactive effects, finding that, in an underdog brand condition, individuals reported higher levels of involvement with a publicity piece than with an advertisement. An opposite effect (i.e. greater ad involvement than publicity piece involvement) was observed for individuals in the topdog brand condition. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed, and future research directions are offered.     

Commercial Speech as a Basic Freedom

This empirical study brings together prior research on competitive advertising effects from two perspectives: ad repetition and brand familiarity. Specifically, we compare free and cued recall, attitude accessibility and valence, and purchase intentions, for high-share and low-share brands in two mature markets, manipulating levels of target ad repetition and competitive advertising. Overall, recall and attitude accessibility were the most affected by different combinations of ad repetition and competition. For low-share brands, recall was generally greater in the absence of competition; for high-share brands, in certain cases, recall was greater in the presence of competition. Distinct quadratic patterns of attitude accessibility were observed, depending on whether competing ads were present (inverted ‘U-shape’) or absent (‘U-shape’). Preferences (attitude valence, purchase intentions) were relatively stable across conditions. Directions for future research are proposed.     

Think Outside the Ad: Can Advertising Creativity Benefit More Than the Advertiser?

This article adds to the literature on advertising creativity as well as the growing body of research on the unintended effects of advertising. In three experimental studies we “think outside the ad” and test whether there could be unintended, positive effects of advertising creativity. The results show advertising creativity to have a positive influence on consumers’ own creativity as well as their perceptions of media vehicle value. The effects are mediated by processing and perceived creativity. In discussing the results we encourage advertisers not only to take responsibility for avoiding unintended negative effects on consumers but also to explore and factor in potential positive effects that benefit consumers.     

Thinking pink? Consumer reactions to pink ribbons and vague messages in advertising

Many brands partner with causes in their advertising campaigns. Consumers appreciate that the brands they purchase participate in activities that contribute to a society’s well-being. This study uses copy-testing techniques to evaluate the number and types of thoughts and brand attitudes in the presence and absence of cause-related messages. Individuals saw an ad for one of two products. None of the ads stated the brand’s financial support to the cause, which is representative of many messages today. People viewing the Dansko ads with the pink ribbon generated significantly fewer thoughts than those viewing the ad without the pink ribbon. For the Fitbit ads, more thoughts were generated for the ad with the pink ribbon than the ad without the pink ribbon. The Fitbit ad with the pink ribbon and support message generated fewer positive and negative thoughts but more neutral thoughts that questioned the brand/cause relationship. Attitudes toward the brand did not vary based on the presence or absence of the pink ribbon. People who saw ads with the pink ribbon displayed more positive attitudes toward the brands’ commitment to society and misestimated the brands’ contributions to the cause.     

Competitive advertising within store flyers: A win–win strategy?

This study investigates the effect of competitive advertising within store flyers on both manufacturers and retailers. Prior research implies that competitive advertising may be detrimental for manufacturers and beneficial for retailers. Findings from an intersubject experiment that uses various familiar and unfamiliar competing brands confirm that store flyers’ competitive advertising improves consumers’ perceptions of the variety of the retailer’s assortment, which has a positive impact on intentions to visit the store and buy. However, increasing the number of competing brands does not harm manufacturers; rather, it enhances recognition of brands, especially for well-known brands. This article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for the design of store flyers.     

Tweet this,not that: A comparison between brand promotions in microblogging environments using celebrity and company-generated tweets

Despite the popularity of social media in general and Twitter specifically, little empirical research exists to assist marketers in how to successfully connect with consumers in these environments. The purpose of this study was to identify the ways in which brands can connect with consumers through Twitter and to examine how the category of Tweet impacts brand engagement. Findings reveal that whereas celebrity Tweets may be successful at capturing attention and disseminating brand information, they have minimal impact on changing brand opinions. What influence celebrities do have may be best served with unfamiliar brands rather than familiar ones – results suggest that not unlike in traditional offline media, in social media celebrities may be influential in drawing attention to unfamiliar brands. Our results also suggest that companies with established familiar brands should be cautious about paying to seed their own Tweets using Twitter's ‘Promoted by’ option, particularly if the brand is one that consumers have a neutral opinion of, as this can lower consumers' opinion of the brand. Instead, these companies should encourage consumers to follow them on Twitter as this will enable the brand to interact directly with consumers.     

社会化媒体中消费者生成广告的影响因素模型及作用路径

如今社会化媒体中随处可见消费者对品牌信息的评论、转发以及创作与品牌相关内容的行为,这样的行为对品牌传播产生了极大影响,它相对于传统品牌传播方式更有效。那么社会化媒体中消费者生成广告行为受到何种因素的影响,这些因素之间存在何种内在逻辑关系？本研究采用立意抽样的方式,选择活跃于社会化媒体（微博、微信、美拍）中的消费者作为研究对象,使用扎根理论的开放式编码、主轴编码与选择性编码对访谈材料进行分析,最后结合选择性编码与“故事线”的方式构建了CGA-EESM影响因素模型。该模型显示：环境、经验、刺激与动机是消费者生成广告行为的四个关键影响因素,它们之间存在错综复杂的作用路径。