The ad creativity cube: conceptualization and initial validation

Advertising creativity is conceptualized as a function of three dimensions—novelty, meaningfulness, and connectedness. Novelty and meaningfulness involve infocentric aspects, while connectedness incorporates the perspective of the audience. The relationship among these dimensions and ad effectiveness, and the linkage of ad creativity level to persuasion is then posited. Two experiments were conducted among 201 undergraduates. The first tested novelty and meaningfulness; while the second tested connectedness and meaningfulness. The results affirm the proposed conceptual framework. Relative to non-novel and meaningful ads, novel and meaningful ads generated higher ad recall, more favorable ad attitudes, and more upbeat feelings. Novel and non-meaningful ads elicited higher recall, more favorable attitudes toward non-claim elements (Aad-nc), and negative feelings, and less favorable ad attutides toward claim elements (Aad-c) than non-novel and non-meaningful ads. Relative to ads that did not connect with the audience, connected ads elicited higher ad recall, more favorable Aad-c under meaningful ads, lower Aad-c under non-meaningful ads, and higher levels of Aad-nc and warm feelings under both meaningful and non-meaningful ads. The authors Swee Hoon Ang, Yih Hwai Lee and Siew Meng Leong are listed alphabetically as each contributed equally to this paper.