Toward a Bakhtinian typology of ambient advertising

Ambient advertising represents a growing sector of creative advertising practice, but has garnered little academic research. This paper aims to provide a theoretical foundation for the examination of ambient advertising's place within the marketing communication mix. The author presents a typology of ambient advertising based on the theory of the chronotope by Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975), the creative expression of the intersection between temporal and spatial dimensions, arguing that this represents the most fecund model for exploring the way in which ambient advertising seeks to harness the matrix of time and place. The typology offers a rationale for comparing different ambient campaigns on the basis of the degree to which they clearly express a particular chronotope and goes on to link this to a consideration of rhetorical persuasiveness.     

The effects of imagery-evoking radio advertising strategies on affective responses

A debate in the marketing literature concerning the relative effectiveness of various imagery-evoking strategies in influencing consumer responses to advertising has been unresolved. This study examined the effects of three imagery-evoking strategies commonly used in radio advertising—sound effects, vivid verbal messages, and instructions to imagine—in influencing mental imagery, ad-evoked feelings, and attitude toward the ad. The theoretical basis for the study is an imagery model based on propositional representations theory. Consistent with the implications of the theory, of the three strategies, sound effects had the greatest impact on imagery and affective responses. Compared with sound effects, a vivid verbal message had a slightly weaker influence. Instructions to imagine, however, had a very weak impact on imagery and no significant influence on affect. Finally, the results indicated that the three strategies interacted with one another. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Empathetic responses to advertising: Testing a network of antecedents and consequences

It has been proposed conceptually that viewers respond to certain advertisements via Empathetic Responses; that is, by feeling with depicted characters. Such deep viewer engagement is especially valued in today’s media environment and is central to dramatic advertising strategies. Nevertheless, Empathetic Responses remain relatively understudied. We situate Empathetic Responses within a model comprising high-level personality domains (within the “Big Five”), lower-level personality facets (multidimensional Trait Empathy), and Perceived Ad Vividness, all as antecedents, as well as consequent Ad-Evoked Feelings. Our findings clarify the composition and function of Empathetic Responses, adding to both basic and applied understandings.

Repetition and attitudinal discrepancy effects on the affective response to television advertising

Significant, favorable attitudinal response toward both the brand and ad were observed at the first exposure in a laboratory experiment on the effects of repeated exposure to television advertisements. At higher levels of repetition, lower, although still positive, ratings were obtained. Response was significantly mediated by prior brand attitude. Mean differences in attitude toward the brand and ad were only partially accounted for by changes in brand perception.     

Strategic responses to market globalisation among advertising agencies

The advertising industry is undergoing major changes as markets and clients become more global. Using the integration-responsiveness framework and the transnational framework, it is apparent that advertising agencies have a high need to be simultaneously integrated and responsive. This paper reports on a series of depth interviews with international agency leaders intended to gain an assessment of both the extent to which their firms are responding to these important but conflicting needs and the appropriateness of the framework for understanding the strategic options available for ad agency management. The findings indicate that the agencies have tried to modify their strategies to accommodate both kinds of pressures. However, their success in this regard is questioned and other broader strategic concerns are considered.     

The fashion engagement grid: understanding men's responses to fashion advertising

This study examines how men who are interested in fashion interpret fashion advertisements. Data are garnered from interviews with adult men who regularly read fashion magazines and buy fashion clothing. Findings reveal that men process fashion advertisements through the same five modes as women. The current study also demonstrates that men's responses to fashion advertisements can be categorized through the Fashion Engagement Grid which examines men's characterizations of and motivations for fashion behavior. This study expands theoretical understandings of gender in advertising research and recommends advertising elements to attract male consumers.     

Aspects of visual metaphor: an operational typology of visual rhetoric for research in advertising

Metaphor is routinely expressed through pictures in contemporary advertising. Earlier work on visual rhetoric in advertising sought direct analogues for the tropes and schemes specific to verbal rhetoric. More recently, theory has developed out of characteristics particular to pictures, culminating in a typology of visual rhetoric by Phillips and McQuarrie. Subsequent work by ?orm and Steen considers processing stages in metaphorical interpretation. Phillips and McQuarrie's typology is adapted and expanded here in order to better describe the variation found in ads that utilize visual metaphor and its allies, thus identifying a range of examples that confound the original. A new processing model that directly addresses visual features described in the expanded typology is outlined, which builds on ideas from ?orm and Steen, but represents a distinct framework. Additional variables are identified that advertising researchers should either investigate or control in experimental studies of visual metaphor.     

The impact of moods generated by television programs on responses to advertising

The impact of television-program-generated moods on the processing of embedded advertisements was examined within an experimental setting. Results show that program-induced moods affected the amount of message recall and cognitive responses toward the advertisement. In addition, the results show that the affective bias in the cognitive responses toward the advertisement is affected by program-induced moods. The implications of the results and directions for a program of research are discussed.     

Cultural and language effects on Chinese bilinguals' and Canadians' responses to advertising

The first objective of this study was to examine how Hong Kong Chinese and Anglo-Canadians differed in their perceptions of the honesty and forcefulness of a message source in informational advertising. A second objective was to explore the reaction of bilingual Chinese subjects to an advertisement and questionnaire administered either in their native language or in their second language. An experiment was carried out with Anglo-Canadian and Chinese students. Findings revealed that the former perceived significantly greater source honesty and less forcefulness in the ad compared to the latter group exposed to the instrument in their native language. The comparison of the English language and Chinese language treatments for the Chinese subjects revealed that the former perceived significantly greater source honesty, significantly less perception of forcefulness on the part of the source, and developed significantly greater attitudes towards the brand than the latter, similar to that found for the Anglo subjects. These results help to confirm the operation of a cultural accommodation process.     

Humor and cognitive responses to advertising stimuli: A trace consolidation approach

Despite the predictions of several attitude change theories, most empirical research suggests that humorous communications are no more persuasive than their serious counterparts. The present study adopted a trace consolidation theory approach and tested the hypothesis that humorous appeals are more persuasive than serious appeals when time for trace consolidation is allowed. The trace consolidation theory hypothesis was supported most directly by shifts in cognitive responses. On some measures, sex differences were also observed. Specifically, males were found to be more susceptible than females to the humorous persuasive appeal.     

How advertising literacy training affect children's responses to television commercials versus advergames

This study examined children's advertising literacy level for traditional versus embedded advertising formats by comparing their cognitive and affective advertising literacy level for television commercials vs. advergames. The study also explored how cognitive and affective advertising literacy further attenuate advertising effects by investigating the mediation impact of cognitive and affective advertising literacy on the relation between the ad's format and the purchase request. Third, the study investigated how an advertising literacy training session moderates these effects.

The results of this experimental study showed that advergames lead to a higher purchase request rate among children than television commercials. However, only affective but not cognitive advertising literacy mediated the effect of the advertising format on purchase request. In addition, a training session was shown to accelerate children's cognitive (but not their affective) advertising literacy for advergames, but not for television commercials.     

The moderating effect of self-esteem on consumer responses to global positioning in advertising

The study investigates consumers' responses to global positioning in advertising from the perspective of self. It is suggested that consumers' attitudes toward the brand advertised through global positioning are influenced by their ideal selves and cosmopolitan orientations and these influences are moderated by one's self-esteem level. Study 1 shows that attitudes toward the globally positioned brand are more positive for those with ideal selves that are more congruent with personal traits associated with globally positioned brands, but only for those with high self-esteem. Interview results from study 2 suggest that low self-esteem informants make use of the global brands associated with ‘Western’ as a means of signaling their social selves in order to obtain social approval and that high self-esteem informants attend to ad content, whether the ad employs global or local positioning.     

The effects of audio-visual and visual-only cues on consumers' responses to co-branded advertising

Co-branded advertising (two brands featured in the same ad) is a relatively new and under-researched area of advertising that offers advertisers the opportunity to share advertising costs and leverage brand equity. Despite its growing popularity, few research studies have examined the potential benefits and/or limitations of this executional strategy, and particularly a strategy in which one brand (a focal brand) is paired with another, but less emphasized (peripheral) brand. This study reports the results of an empirical investigation that examines how modifying reference to the peripheral brand (visual-only versus simultaneous visual and audio references) influences consumers' perceived associations of the advertised brands, as well as their attitudes toward the advertisement and intentions to purchase either brand. Employing a convenience sample of undergraduate students on a university campus in the United States, the results of this study indicate that audio-visual cues enhance brand association and purchase intentions. However, additional analyses reveal that attitude toward a co-branded advertisement mediates the brand association effect on purchase intentions toward the focal brand, whereas brand association has a direct effect on purchase intentions toward the peripheral brand.     

Firm-based market structure analysis using competitive advertising responses

In past literature, consumer-based measures reflecting perceptions or behaviour of consumers have been used for market structure analysis. However, for developing competitive strategies, firms may need to identify market structures based on how their competitors perceive the market and how they behave. In this article, we develop a firm-based measure using advertising reaction data to drive market structure. We then test hypotheses regarding the situations where the firm-based competitive maps converge with those derived from a traditional consumer-based approach. To derive competitive maps, we collected time-series advertising and sales data for 27 SBUs in six consumer-product categories. Survey data were also collected from marketing managers to test the hypotheses. Our investigation suggests that the maps of two approaches are consistent when markets are stable and predictable.     

降低广告风险,保证广告效果——重庆电视台广告风险管理机制

电视台广告投资风险与其频道品牌价值有着密切关系,频道品牌越健康,实力越强,抗风险性越强。选择一个品牌健康的频道能为广告主营造一个高价值、可持续、稳定的广告投资回报平台,从而化解风险。CTR权威收视调查机构显示,重庆卫视广告投资价值指数排名省级卫视前五位,是一个适合企业长期合作的频道。重庆电视台广告风险意识较早,在广告风险管理上,重庆电视台坚持收视预估、风险预警、控制营销,正逐步建立完善的广告风险管理机制。     

Effects of age, need for cognition, and affective intensity on advertising effectiveness

This paper explores how individual characteristics of age, need for cognition (NFC), and affective intensity (AI) interact with each other and with advertising appeal frames (i.e., rational, positive-emotional, negative-emotional) to influence ad attitudes, involvement, and recall. The mixed design study reveals that younger adults recall emotional messages, especially negative ones, better than rational ones, but recall does not differ for older adults across appeal frames. Older adults prefer rational and positive messages to negative-emotional messages but ad attitudes do not differ among younger adults across appeal frames. Finally, age interacts with AI, but not NFC, to influence ad responsiveness. Both age and AI influence ad attitudes such that older adults exhibit the most positive ad attitudes across all appeal frames.     

Empirical investigation of the domain knowledge and team advertising creativity typology: The case of Nescafe coffee

This study proposes and tests a typology of domain knowledge and team creativity by empirically assessing the effects of varying levels of domain knowledge on the creative outcomes of the team members. Two separate studies were conducted to address this inquiry. Study one aimed at determining the level of domain knowledge of each team member in the teams. Eleven groups comprising of thirty-three business students designed eleven advertisements for the products of their own choices. Utilizing the situation judgment test and the grade earned in the advertising course, four teams were formed comprising two balanced and two imbalanced domain knowledge teams. To test the hypotheses of the study, these teams were asked to develop a print advertisement for Nescafe for the summer season (Study Two). Upon creativity assessment of the final ads by twenty-six independent creative personnel in a total of seven advertising agencies in Pakistan, the results revealed that a balanced team with low domain knowledge outperformed the other balanced team with high domain knowledge. Further, unexpectedly, one of the imbalanced domain knowledge teams also outperformed the balanced high domain knowledge team. The study in the light of extant literature presents worthwhile implications for academia and practitioners.