Lancaster,Kent M. and Thomas C. Martin (1988). ADLAB,Gainesville, FL: University of Florida, 31 Pp. and software for IBM,Macintosh, and compatibles. $12.00

Abstract

Prior research on advertising literature consists primarily of studies of journal article authorship and author productivity, journal content and quality, and citation patterns. Absent from this stream of research is direct evidence of the influence of individual authors and their works in the form of peer evaluation and readership. For this study, a priori lists of influential books and articles were used in a survey of U.S. advertising educators and academic researchers. The results reveal a core of research-based and practice-oriented contributions of widely recognized importance and influence. The findings also provide (1) valuable lists of readings for current and future students and educators; (2) direct evidence of the quality of individual literary contributions; and (3) useful insights into the theoretical, intellectual, and practical foundations of the field.     

Toward a “Social Control in the Advertising Agency”

Abstract

Advertising agencies, like other organizations, exercise social control over their members. Although this has been commented upon by a number of advertising practitioners and social scientists, virtually nothing about this phenomenon and its consequences can be found in advertising texts; and undergraduates are typically unaware of it. Advertising teachers, therefore, have an ethical obligation to include a discussion of this matter in the undergraduate curriculum.     

Global Issues in Selecting Athlete Endorsers for National Markets: A Macroinvestigation

ABSTRACT

Little advertising research explores the role of culture in selecting celebrity endorsers. The purpose of this study is to explore how the selection process of athlete endorsers is shaped by national contexts. Based on interviews with advertising practitioners in 10 countries, the study reveals similarities in practitioners’ thinking across countries on a variety of matters related to athlete endorsement. It reveals the importance given by practitioners to the “cultural attractiveness” of national athlete endorsers when using them to connect with their national audience and shows that the selection process depends greatly on various cultural pressures linked to sporting traditions of each country. The study also shows how practitioners believe that athlete endorsers should be used mainly to generate brand and advertising awareness principally under pressure from clients’ emotional input.     

Some Insights into the Background and Training of Marketing Executives in the UK

A paper of interest to both marketing practitioners and marketing educators, it reports some of the findings of a recent survey undertaken for the Institute of Marketing on the background and training of marketing executives in the UK. Selected findings and their implications are discussed, specifically the respondents’ educational qualifications, level and marketing content; participation in training courses, their attitudes towards future training and career development. The final section of the paper looks at the respondents’ expressed needs for further marketing training to better equip them for both their current jobs and their future career.     

Young People's Attitudes Towards British Political Advertising: Nurturing or Impeding Voter Engagement?

SUMMARY

This article presents findings from a national survey of ‘potential’ first time voters at the 2001 British General Election–specifically their attitudes towards the print advertising used by the main political parties during this election. In analysing the data, the authors were particularly interested in examining the claim that political advertising contributes to a sense of malaise–most acutely apparent among young people. While we found high levels of claimed advertising awareness, this was coupled with largely unfavourable attitudes towards most of the print advertising used in the election. Despite these judgements, most young people considered the advertising to be at least as persuasive as its commercial cousins. Not surprisingly the evidence provides a mixed picture in terms of the role political advertising plays in the political dispositions of young people. As a familiar discourse advertising offers the political classes an entry point to establish a dialogue with young sections of the electorate. However, for many young people, political advertising appears to help reinforce their predilection about politics being something one naturally distrusts.     

The American Academy of Advertising: The Early Years

Abstract

The first seven years of the American Academy of Advertising were crucial. It was the first and only organization ever formed specifically for advertising educators. In the beginning, many advertising educators did not see the need for such an organization and many others had a “wait and see” attitude. The Academy survived; and, at the end of the period, more than 300 teachers had joined. It also was recognized by the advertising profession. This article serves as a synopsis of those seven years.     

Global Advertising Practices

Abstract

This empirical study of European, Japanese and U.S. multinational companies provides a cross-sectional investigation on the degree of standardization practiced in advertising strategy and message elements, objectives and types of content of standardized advertising and ways of using adapted strategy. Based on the sampled data, no statistical difference was found for any of the analyses at the 0.05 significance level. However, it can be concluded from the data that global marketers are moving toward standardization in their advertising. The contributions of this research can be significant for both academicians and practitioners. Managerial implications and future research directions were also provided.     

The Role of the Advertising Agency in the Cultural Message Content of Advertisements: A Comparison of the Middle East and the United States

ABSTRACT

This study compared responses of advertising agencies located in the Middle East and the United States to an email survey examining their approach in designing advertisements. The survey examined whether the advertising agency incorporated area-specific cultural values and advertising appeals in the execution of their advertisements. Results indicate that indeed advertising agencies do use, or at least report to use, different cultural values and advertising appeals. Advertising agencies in the Middle East tend to focus more on filial obedience, customs and traditions, loyalty to one's group, honor, and patience. In addition, agencies in the Middle East reported that they tended to portray women in a more modest fashion than their counterparts in the United States.     

Examining the Landscape of Managed Behavioral Health Care Through the Market Paradigm

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to examine the market paradigm's impact on private practicing social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists who are reimbursed for services by managed behavioral health care organizations (MBHCOs). Five hundred eighty-two private practitioners from across the nation responded to a mailed survey in which they were asked a series of questions concerning changes in their business practices subsequent to joining MBHCO provider panels. Results indicate that despite the concerns about MBHC, these practitioners have sustained their practices. The market paradigm's use in explaining MBHC's impact on the private practitioners was found to have limited utility.     

Seeing the market: performative sensemaking and the case of advertising agencies and their clients

ABSTRACT

How do market intermediaries help other market actors see the market and their opportunities for action within it? This article introduces a theoretical framework of performative sensemaking to explore this question using the case of advertising agencies and their clients. Drawing on 12 months of participant observation and 81 interviews conducted across four general market American advertising agencies, the article illustrates how advertising practitioners provide their clients with visions of what the market is and what opportunities for action lie within it, developing advertising campaigns to match that vision. These performed accounts of the market are dynamically negotiated and socially embedded, reflecting the identities of the clients, their target audiences, and the intermediaries themselves. Because intermediaries dramaturgically perform these interpretations of the market for their client in micro-level interactions, they must also deal with contestation and negotiation over their visions of the market.     

Dilemmas in Advertising Research

Abstract

Much advertising research is likely to seem trivial to advertising practitioners and academicians. This is because of two central dilemmas in advertising research. First is the dilemma of purpose: advertising research is too often undertaken for its own sake and thus seems to have a trivial purpose. Second is the dilemma of method: advertising research is often perceived as trivial because it is based on faulty or ill-conceived research procedures. There is much opportunity, particularly for academicians, to pursue non-trivial advertising research. This opportunity originates in the practice of advertising but is not trivial because of it. Specific examples of non-trivial research opportunities in copy research and media research are described and discussed.     

Offensive Advertising

Abstract

Prior literature regarding offensive advertising relates mainly to western cultures. No work has been done on this area in an Asian context. The research in this article reports on a survey of Singaporean consumers. The survey aimed to identify what types of products and appeals consumers find offensive in advertising, the reasons why they find the advertisements offensive, and how this offensive advertising may affect their purchase intentions. The results found that advertisements relating to chat-line services and sexual diseases were the most offensive, followed by advertisements for dating services. Levels of offensiveness were clearly related to demographic variables such as gender and age. In terms of reasons for offensiveness, consumers were most concerned by advertisements that had a sexual connotation or evoked unnecessary fear.Levels of offensiveness also affected purchase intentions. Based on the results, the article recommends that advertisers and their agencies should think more carefully about the demographic profile of their audiences, how this profile might impact their audiences ?sensitivity“ to potentially offensive advertising, and how this sensitivity should be used as a guide when making media and message decisions     

Pigott,Stanley. OBM/A Celebration: One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years in Advertising. London: Ogilvy,Benson & Mather Limited, 1975

Abstract

This study reports the results of a survey of advertising managers and editors of weekly and daily newspapers and of selected consumer magazines concerning the issue of feature advertising. Feature advertising is defined as paid advertising space that looks like editorial copy in the form of a short feature article. It was posited that this type of advertising might offer a unique challenge to the process of advertising self-discipline among print media. Ad managers and editors differed on a number of points, but agreed that questions pertaining to feature ads should be addressed through media self-discipline.     

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.     

Zen Theory and the Creative Course

Abstract

This article describes an approach to creativity in advertising based on Zen theory. The authors believe that the Zen Masters offer insights which can help instructors help students search within themselves to find their unique creativity.     

Conference report: Second conference on political marketing: Judge institute of management studies,university of Cambridge 27–29 March 1996

Sales promotion activity continues to grow in terms of the number, scale and variety of promotional techniques being used by companies in their marketing communication campaigns. Research among marketing academics has yet to catch up with this reality and sales promotion continues to suffer from relative neglect compared to advertising;from a tendency for all promotional tools to be tarred with a rational economic brush; and from being labelled as a set of “tactical” took that lack the strategic brand‐building possibilities offered by advertising. This article builds upon earlier research examining the communication potential of competitions, to test empirically whether the potential marketing communications benefits claimed for competitions are actually recognised and pursued by marketing practitioners.     

Managerial Judgement in Model Development

Abstract

The following paper discusses the development of a media planning model that utilized econometric methods, academic theory and managerial judgement. Stautamoyer and Lindquist (1994) called for the inclusion of advertising “experts” in the model development process at earlier stages to facilitate model acceptance. Other authors (Stewart and Furse, 1984; Chakravarti, Mitchell and Staelin, 1981; Kover, 1995) have also discussed the lack of relevance of advertising models that have hurt acceptance. The paper outlines the role played by advertising managers and findings on the applicability of academic theory and research in developing a functional media model.     

Cone,Fairfax M. The Blue Streak. Chicago: Crain Communication, 1976

Abstract

This survey, conducted among 17 of the 25 largest advertising agencies, highlights the reduction of entry-level employment opportunities, for college graduates, when 1974 is compared to 1973. The survey also gives indication of the relative popularity various schools enjoy as preparers of future advertising executives. The author closes with an appeal to the advertising industry concerning the need to increase the number of entry-level opportunities.     

Managing the Brand in a Corporate Advertising Environment: A Decision-Making Framework for Brand Managers

Abstract

Corporate advertising has become a significant business activity. That fact is important for brand managers because consumers' knowledge formed from corporate advertising may influence the way they think about brands the company markets. Brand managers must understand how such potential influence may occur and manage it to their advantage. The authors explore four key questions brand managers should consider in that context. In presenting answers, they integrate several literatures and propose a conceptual framework with a set of research propositions. Finally, they describe general directions for future research.