The Effects Of Program Involvement On Commercial Exposure And Recall In A Naturalistic Setting

Although program involvement is often found to be an important determinant of commercial recall, studies have produced mixed results. The authors contend that inconsistent findings are, in large part, a result of the degree to which respondents are free to determine their exposure to commercials. It is hypothesized that in studies where exposure is not forced, program involvement has a positive effect on commercial recall. This proposition was examined during the broadcast of four matches of the 2000 European Soccer Championship (N = 344). Results show that viewers who saw a highly involving match recalled commercials significantly better than those who saw matches that scored lower on program involvement. This effect was, in large part, mediated by respondents' exposure to the commercials.     

How coviewing reduces the effectiveness of TV advertising

In the present study – a naturalistic laboratory experiment – coviewing of TV commercials reduced their effectiveness (delayed proven ad recall) from 63%, obtained by single viewers, to 43%, for both coviewers. During coviewing, the ‘mere presence of another’ apparently distracts each coviewer's attention from the screen. The reduction in TV ads' effectiveness due to coviewing is equivalent to the loss from channel-change zapping, which reduces ad recall to 45%. More deleterious but less prevalent modes of digital video recorder-enabled ad avoidance are skip-button zapping, which reduces recall to 35%, and moderately fast zipping ( × 8 fast forward), which reduces ad effectiveness almost entirely, leaving only 6% recall. This study concludes with some practical suggestions for improving the effectiveness of TV commercials seen by a coviewing audience.     

Likeability as a measure of advertising effectiveness: the case of financial services

Television advertising for financial services accounts for over one-third of total financial services advertising expenditure, yet there is evidence to suggest it is not very well done. Given the difficulties advertisers have to overcome in terms of promoting an intangible product in accordance with tight restrictions on advertising content and format to a largely uninvolved audience, it becomes all the more imperative to study how viewers judge financial services commercials. This paper presents the findings of a study which seeks to establish which elements, if any, of a financial services commercial first make it likeable to its target audience, second motivate the viewer to seek more information about the service being advertised and, third, have an effect on the image the viewer has of the advertiser. Some interesting findings from the research point to the similarities between the emerging factors for viewers' affective reactions to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and financial services commercials and the extent to which likeability mediates the influence which advertisement execution features have on subsequent behavioural intentions.     

Religious commitment related to message contentiousness

Using an experimental design, we tested whether viewers with differing levels of religious commitment have differing unaided recall, aided recall and attitudes towards non-contentious and contentious TV commercials in terms of their perceived message cues. The study, using Bahrani Muslim interviewees, demonstrates that religiously stricter Muslims have significantly lower recall and a more negative attitude towards messages perceived as contentious, while their recall and attitude scores for non-contentious messages are similar to those of subjects with lower levels of religious commitment. We recommend that international marketers show increased sensitivity to the cultures and traditions of submarkets by manipulating message cues, like music and dancing, to strengthen the brand communication while retaining its strategic integrity.     

Mixing advertising and editorial content in radio programmes

Although the literature on brand placement is rapidly evolving, no studies thus far have focused on radio brand placement or on the effects of the combination of brand placement and commercials. Therefore, the present experiment (N = 153) focused on the effects of radio brand placement on liking, credibility and brand recall. In addition, the effects of the combination of brand placement and a commercial were studied. As predicted based on source credibility and intentional exposure theory, the results showed that brand placement is more liked and perceived as more credible than commercials, and that exposure to brand placement has a stronger effect on brand recall. A combination of brand placement and a commercial evokes higher brand recall than exposure to a commercial alone. However, there were no synergy effects for the combination of brand placement and a commercial. Underlying mechanisms were tested, showing the importance of format credibility in brand placement effects.     

Contextual Priming Effects of Television Programs on Commercials: The Moderating Effects of Age

This study investigated whether age and its associated implicit memory deficits influences responses to contextual television advertising. Prior exposure to the advertised product or brand during a program should improve recall and brand attitude for contextual commercials. The results of a lab experiment, with participants ranging in age from 19 to 78, revealed that unbranded product appearances significantly improved recall, compared to normal unprimed commercials, but only for younger consumers. Branded product appearances did not significantly improve recall, compared to unbranded appearances. Contextual commercials had no positive effects on brand attitude. However, a competitor-brand appearance had a negative effect on brand attitude, for both older and younger consumers. Implications of these results, and their limitations, are discussed.     

Advertising creativity and repetition

Creativity is seen as an important component of advertising, with highly creative ads being easier to recall than control ads. However, the boundary conditions around this effect are less understood. This research examines how creativity influences recall across repeated ad exposures. Additionally, this paper investigates the influence of creativity on advertising wearin/wearout. We utilise creative and control commercials embedded in a television programme for a naturalistic viewing experience, along with a one-week follow-up measure. We find that creative advertisements exhibit higher recall, though repeated exposures reduce this advantage.Further, creative ads are more liked, demonstrate wear in effects more quickly and are less susceptible to wearout.     

Advertisement pacing and the learning of marketing information by the elderly

This study investigates how pace of information presentation to the elderly influences learning of marketing information. The learning task involved recalling or recognizing brand, product, and commercial information from three advertisements which were mechanically manipulated through time compression or expansion to expose a subject to the commercials at different paces. In order to test the total time hypothesis of Cooper and Pantle (1967), the total time of exposure was held constant by varying the repetitions of the advertisement. Results indicate that elderly consumers remember less than younger subjects, but support the total time hypothesis of no pacing effects for older subjects. Some support was also found for applicability to younger subjects.     

Television advertising and childrens' attitudes toward proprietary medicine

The effect of exposure to television drug advertising on children's attitudes toward proprietary medicines and medicine use was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment presented the commercials in a realistic program context fashion. The second experiment presented the commercials in a more direct and controlled manner. Using drug questionnaires, the subjects were assessed for their attitudes regarding the use of proprietary drugs. The results of both studies indicated that exposure to drug advertising had little influence on children's attitudes. Furthermore, children preferred not to watch drug commercials in comparison to a TV program or other types of commercials.     

Nature and Impact of Alcohol Messages in a Youth-Oriented Television Series

This research contributes to the extant literature on television influence by pairing a stimulus-side approach documenting how information is presented within a TV series with a response-side assessment of whether connectedness and exposure to a series influence the processing of that information differently depending on its format. The inquiry focuses on the nature and impact of messages about alcohol contained within a youth oriented TV program. The findings indicate that the recall and perception of the more overt negative messages increase with exposure and that receptiveness to the subtle and less remembered positive messages increases with levels of program connectedness. Highly connected viewers are both more receptive to and in greater agreement with the underlying positive alcohol message communicated in the series.     

Make product placement work for you: Get less exposure

Expenditure on product placement has grown faster (170%) than on advertising (15%) over the past 10 years, but some evidence suggests that the return on investment has been declining. For the well-known, fast-moving consumer goods/consumer-packaged goods (FMCG/CPG) food brands typically placed in local TV programming—the context of this article—the management problem of overfocusing on brand exposure hinders gaining brand choice, the ultimate strategic goal of marketing. Managers’ preconditioning, ease of measuring, and assumptions about the value of exposure contribute to their subtle placements becoming blatant or in other problems, as when other promotional devices, like a television commercial or program sponsorships billboard, get bundled into the same TV episode as the company’s own product placement. The higher brand exposure gained can evoke negative mental outcomes in consumers, weakening influences on brand choice. An experiment with a large sample of grocery shoppers supports such an outcome. More strategic value can also be gained from product placements in general by their use longitudinally, in-between campaigns of TV commercials, as an instructive tool and through normalizing a brand’s role in a consumer’s life. We provide eight checkpoints for marketers to consider when planning to use product placement to gain value for their brands.     

A Content Analysis of Problem-Resolution Appeals in Television Commercials

The considerable power of the repeated message leads observational learning theoriests to maintain that television messages have significant impact upon viewers. Television advertisements typically present quick and easy solutions to problems, thus discouraging careful, step-by-step decision making. Consumers who come to expect easy solutions may suffer disillusionment if they extend those lessons to more complex problem solving. This study documents the pervasive problem-resolution format presented in television commercials and draws implications about consumer behavior.     

Children's Age,Intelligence and Sex as Variables Mediating Reactions to TV Commercials: Repetition and Content Complexity Implications for Advertisers

To learn if differences in age, intelligence, and sex account for differences in children's recall of TV commercials and in the degree of insistence with which they request that the advertised product be purchased, 54 gifted, 71 normal and 53 educable mentally retarded children of both sexes (7–13 years) were questioned after viewing commercials for breakfast cereals. Analyses of variance reveal that both age and intelligence were significantly related to recall while only intelligence was significantly related to degree of insistence. Sex differences were not significant for either recall or degree of insistence nor were any of the possible 2 way and 3 way interaction terms. The nature of the joint covariance between the outcomes (recall and degree of insistence) and the children's characteristics (age, sex, and intelligence) was explored via canonical analysis, and implications for advertisers in terms of repetition and message complexity are discussed.     

More than meets the eye

A growing research literature suggests that visual brand placements need not be recalled in order to have an impact on brand attitudes. In an experimental study working with an authentic television broadcast, the authors investigated the influence of frequency of placement exposure, viewers’ involvement and viewers’ persuasion knowledge on the attitudes towards the brand and brand recall. Results clearly indicate a mere exposure effect. A frequently presented brand placement can have a positive effect on brand evaluations although viewers do not recall the brand. However, this effect can only be found when there is a high involvement in the programme and low persuasion knowledge. In contrast, when persuasion knowledge is high and involvement is low, frequently presented placements lead to a deterioration of brand attitudes.     

The intensifying effects of exciting television programs on the reception of subsequent commercials

This paper examines the effects of viewer excitement as elicited by television programs on the effectiveness of commercials embedded in such programs. A review of the literature suggests that the physiological arousal which results from suspenseful or emotional programs can be usefully characterized as an intensifier of important viewer responses. A brief overview of the literature on program context effects to date is given and a model is developed which positions arousal in relation to other mediating variables affecting commercial impact. The paper concludes with a summary of the more pressing issues arising from the study of excitement as an aspect of media environment.     

The influence of product-placement type & exposure time on product-placement recognition

This study examines the extent to which product-placement type and exposure time explain the rate at which viewers recognise brand names affiliated with product placements in films. The results support the industry practice of classifying product placements into creative and on-set, since placement type has a significant impact on viewer recognition, even when the measure of viewer recognition is adjusted for the effects of false recognition. The effect of exposure time attained by product placement on viewer recognition is moderated by product-placement type. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Advertising, 2nd Edition. Runyon,Kenneth E. Columbus,OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1984. 702 pp

Abstract

Despite cultural similarities between the United States and the United Kingdom, there are substantial differences between American and British television advertising. British commercials tend to contain less information, employ a soft sell rather than a hard sell approach, and attempt to entertain the viewer. British viewers' opinions of advertising are also more favorable than those of American viewers. It is important that scholars and practitioners concerned with these two markets and with international advertising generally be aware of these differences and understand why they have evolved. Possible explanations are evaluated and implications of these findings discussed, including areas for future research.     

Broadcasts for a billion: the growth of commercial television in China

At present, Chinese television reaches 35% of the population (80-90% in urban areas) and is used by the government as a source of education and information. In recognition of the potential market represented by 1.1 billions consumers, Western advertisers have commissioned elaborate market research studies. Drama, sports, news, and movies are consistently identified as the favorite type of programming among Chinese television viewers. About 75% of Beijing adults watch television daily, making the medium both an important target for advertising campaigns and a way for Westerners to influence Chinese business and government leaders. Western advertisers have tended to concentrate their investments in the more urban, affluent regions where products have the greatest likelihood of being sold. There has been a recent trend, however, toward industrial commercials, with British and French companies buying television time to promote their image as partners in China's modernization. Key to the future of commercial advertising on Chinese Television. In many provinces, local television stations have developed a unique character and portray different sociocultural values than the national channel. Outside advertisers have sometimes experienced problems with local networks that substitute local advertising without informing the network. To correct this situation, the government is enacting pro-sponsor regulations that forbid the preemption of the national channel and its advertisements. At the same time, efforts are being made to improve relationships with local television stations by either paying them a fee or airing local commercials on the national network.     

Recall of Information from Political Advertising

Abstract

Televised political commercials have frequently been criticized for stressing idealized image characteristics of the candidates rather than issues. Content analyses of political advertising, however, have shown that these commercials generally contain both image and issue material. Given both types of content are present in political ads, this study was designed to determine what people recall from these ads in a natural environment. A telephone study during the last week of a gubernatorial election revealed that the amount of free recall exhibited was greater for information from a preferred candidate's commercials than from his opponent's. However, one-third of the respondents were unable to recall anything from either candidates' political commercials. Recall was more highly related to attitude variables than most demographic variables or total television exposure.     

The effects of pleasure and arousal on recall of advertisements during the Super Bowl

This study investigates whether pleasure and arousal levels of viewers watching a sports program affect advertisement recall. The results suggest that programs that evoke strong emotional reactions, such as the Super Bowl, may inhibit the recall of advertisements and brands. Specifically, these findings seem to support the Intensity (arousal) theory and may have important implications for advertisers who promote their products or services on sports‐related event programming. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.