Understanding the influences of story elements in service businesses

With the advances of the roles of business stories in marketing, two issues remain unclear: How do consumers evaluate story elements on services? Do usefulness and affect mediate the relationships between business story elements and brand attitude in services? Therefore, to answer these questions, this study conducted between-subjects experiments to investigate the roles of business story elements, usefulness, and affect in financial and restaurants services. The results indicate that the elements of authenticity, reversal, and humor are generally useful in engaging consumers’ usefulness and affect; besides, conciseness is useful in engaging consumers’ usefulness but is not for affect and brand attitude; finally, usefulness and affect are mediators of the relationship between business story elements and brand attitude. These findings provide a framework to design business story and investigate the mediation of usefulness and affect on the relationship between business story elements and brand attitude for services and practitioners.     

Pointing Out Differences: Consumer Evaluations of Comparative Information Across Product Types

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of comparative claims across search and experience product types. Data was obtained from 159 Taiwanese college students. Results reveal that comparative claims used in blogs (compared to those in print ads) produce lower counterarguments and consumers more easily accept claims made on a blog. Comparative claims lead to higher brand attitude and purchase intention for search products on the blog; however, noncomparative ads lead to higher brand attitude and purchase intention for experience products on the blog. For both search and experience products, there is no significant difference.     

The effect of humor in advertising: An individual-difference perspective

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of individual differences in need for cognition on humor's influence on persuasion in advertising. Results indicate that the effect of humor in advertising is moderated by levels of audience members' need for cognition. Advertising humor is more effective in influencing audience members' responses to an advertisement when audience members' need for cognition is low rather than high. Results also suggest that the effect of humor on attitude toward the brand can be mediated by attitude toward the ad. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The influence of ad-evoked feelings on brand evaluations: Empirical generalizations from consumer responses to more than 1000 TV commercials

It has been observed that ad-evoked feelings exert a positive influence on brand attitudes. To investigate the empirical generalizability of this phenomenon, we analyzed the responses of 1576 consumers to 1070 TV commercials from more than 150 different product categories. The findings suggest five empirical generalizations. First, ad-evoked feelings indeed have a substantial impact on brand evaluations, even under conditions that better approximate real marketplace settings than past studies did. Second, these effects are both direct and indirect, with the indirect effects largely linked to changes in attitude toward the ad. Third, these effects do not depend on the level of involvement associated with the product category. However, fourth, the effects are more pronounced for hedonic products than utilitarian products. Finally, these effects do not depend on whether the products are durables, nondurables, or services, or whether the products are search goods or experience goods.     

在线品牌社群成员参与程度对其社群认同的影响——产品类型和品牌熟悉度的调节

文章根据互动和非互动划分社群成员参与程度的高低，通过两个实验探究了在不同产品类型和品牌熟悉度的情境下，在线品牌社群成员参与程度对其社群认同的影响差异。研究发现：对于搜索品，社群参与程度较低时，其社群认同更强；对于体验品，社群参与程度较高时，其社群认同更强。另外，对于低熟悉度品牌，产品类型的调节作用仍然存在。但对于高熟悉度品牌，无论是搜索品还是体验品，社群参与程度较高时，其社群认同更强。最后，文章为企业在线品牌社群管理提出了营销建议。     

Short brand stories on packaging: An examination of consumer responses

The persuasiveness of stories and their influence on consumers have been acknowledged in marketing, particularly within the advertising field. In marketing practice, brand stories are increasingly also appearing on product packages. However, packages differ from ads in significant ways as communication channels; for example, the space for messages on a package is limited by the size of the package. This study reports findings from two experiments comparing consumer responses to fast‐moving consumer good (FMCG) packages with and without short brand stories. The findings show that even a short brand story included on FMCG packaging has a positive impact on consumers’ affective, attitudinal, product value, and behavioral intention responses to the brand.     

Marketing eco-fashion: The influence of brand name and message explicitness

This study investigated the influence of two variables – brand name and message explicitness – on attitude toward advertisement and attitude toward brand, and further, explored the impact of attitude toward advertisement, attitude toward brand, and other variables on consumer purchase intention. A questionnaire with an experimental design component was administered to 343 college students. Results revealed that respondents formed positive attitudes toward apparel brand when the advertising message contained explicit information about environmentally friendly products. Attitude toward brand, subjective norm, attitude toward advertisement, eco-fashion involvement, and environmental commitment were strong predictors of intention to purchase an environmentally friendly apparel brand. Implications are that apparel marketers may build more positive attitudes toward brands by providing explicit information about environmentally friendly products in their marketing claims. This may be one way for marketers to attract college students who are interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products, but who are not fully committed to a green lifestyle. Further, marketers may be able to reach those who are less interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products by raising awareness and knowledge of the benefits associated with their products and brands, which may help to establish a sustainable market for eco-fashion.     

Does character's gender matter in inspirational brand story? Exploring the moderating effect of gender role conformity

Inspirational brand story is a widely used marketing strategy in brand building. However, few empirical studies have investigated the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of a successful brand story strategy. The current study examined the influence of lead character's gender in inspirational brand story on consumer–brand identification based on the social identity theory, benevolent sexism, and gender schema theory. Results from two experiments demonstrated that the gender of inspirational brand stories has an impact on consumer brand identity through the mediation effect of sympathy. Compared with a male character, a female character elicits viewers' sympathy, which results in high brand identification. Such a gender effect is stronger when there is a high level of perceived gender role conformity. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Some Thoughts on Multinational Agencies

Abstract

This study tested a model relating humor perceived after repeated exposures to a commercial message to measures of advertising effectiveness. These effectiveness variables are recall of the brand name and advertising copy, attitude toward the advertised brand, stated purchase probability and actual brand choice. The findings indicated that adding humor to a conventional hierarchy-of-effects model does not improve the model's overall explanatory power. However, humor was found to be negatively related to recall and was positively related to brand attitude; both relationships were predicted based on literature in this area.     

The Effects of Humor on Ad Processing: Mediating Role of Brand Familiarity

The effect of humorous advertisement on memory and attitude has been an important topic among advertising scholars. However, scholars have used fake brands to test the effects of humor. Since the possibility for consumers to be exposed to the commercial for a completely new brand is very low, using a fake brand to test humor effects is not realistic. Hence, this study examined the role of brand familiarity on the effects of humor on memory and attitude by using existing brands in a laboratory experiment. This study suggests a different structural model for familiar and unfamiliar brands based on the previous studies in consumer behavior. Results revealed different effects of humorous advertisements for the familiar or unfamiliar brands. The structural model proposed for this study revealed a mediating role of brand familiarity on humor effects. Humorous ads worked better for the unfamiliar brands. For the familiar brands, the effects were mediated by the subjects’ brand familiarity and prior brand attitude.     

Sports sponsorship effects on customer equity: an Asian market application

The authors of this study investigate sponsorship effects on customers in Korea and China, specifically to determine whether current sponsorship research applies to Asian countries and whether the model is significantly different between Korea and China. For this purpose, 251 Koreans and 309 Chinese participated in a survey. The findings suggest that appropriate fit between the sponsor and the sports event enhances brand loyalty and customer equity by positively influencing attitude toward the sponsor and brand image. However, in China, the sponsor's fit did not directly impact brand image. As expected, sporting event experience search positively affects attitudes toward the sponsoring brand, which enhances brand image. Koreans' more favourable attitude toward the sponsoring brand positively influences their brand preference, but favourable attitude does not significantly affect Chinese consumers' perceived congruency with a product. Brand image positively impacted brand preference, and therefore confirms brand personality's congruence effect in both countries. Both brand image and brand preference directly and positively enabled brand loyalty to develop more favourable customer equity. Koreans, however, showed higher effects in the relationships between brand image and brand loyalty and between brand loyalty and customer equity.     

The Advertising/Marketing Union

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that people form an unfavorable or favorable attitude toward a particular ad, which in turn affects their attitude toward what is being advertised and other measures of advertising effectiveness, including brand choice. This study found that idea substantiated: a favorable attitude toward an ad for a smoking cessation kit was associated with four measures of advertising effectiveness.

A hypothesized link between perceived humor and favorable attitude toward the ad was found, but direct relationships between perceived humor in an ad and three of the four advertising effective-measures were not observed. A conclusion drawn from the study is that perceived humor may aid advertising effectiveness, but the relationship is for the most part moderated by the degree to which people like the ad in which the humor is perceived.     

Brand Attitudes and Search Engine Queries

Search engines record the queries that users submit, including a large number of queries that include brand names. This data holds promise for assessing brand health. However, before adopting brand search volume as a brand metric, marketers should understand how brand search relates to traditional survey-based measures of brand attitudes, which have been shown to be predictive of sales. We investigate the relationship between brand attitudes and search engine queries using a unique micro-level data set collected from a panel of Google users who agreed to allow us to track their individual brand search behavior over eight weeks and link this search history to their responses to a brand attitude survey. Focusing on the smartphone and automotive markets, we find that users who are actively shopping in a category are more likely to search for any brand. Further, as users move from being aware of a brand to intending to purchase a brand, they are increasingly more likely to search for that brand, with the greatest gains as customers go from recognition to familiarity and from familiarity to consideration. Additionally, users that own and use a particular automotive or smartphone brand are much more likely to search for that brand, even when they are not in market suggesting that a substantial volume of brand search in these categories is not related to shopping or product search. We discuss the implications of these findings for assessing brand health from search data.     

Is Current Way of Promoting Sustainability,Sustainable?

Consumer behavior regarding sustainable products has been a complex concept. There is a discrepancy between consumer’s espoused concern towards environment and their purchase of environment friendly products. Past literature suggests greenwashing being a possible reason for this discrepancy. With greenwashing being caused by mismatch between communication and perceived performance, this article focuses on assessment of simultaneous impact of both communication and performance elements on brand attitude. A quantitative study was undertaken to test the hypotheses. This was followed by a qualitative study to understand alternative explanation of hypotheses that was not accepted. The research revealed that a consumer’s attitude toward a green brand is impacted both by his or her general skepticism towards green ads and the credibility that she assigns to the firm’s green message. Perceived value of product also had a positive impact on brand attitude. Findings advance academic literature and support managerial community by highlighting factors for building a positive green brand attitude and resultantly avoiding the trap of being equated with greenwashing.     

What and how to communicate about a corporate brand with the consumers: An exploratory study

The present exploratory study investigates the differential impact of various relevant corporate brand associations on consumers' cognitive (product attitude and purchase intention) and affective responses (affective corporate commitment) in the three sectors, namely durables, services and fast moving consumer goods. The findings reveal that corporate brand associations can be categorised into two categories – universal associations, which are influential in all the sectors, and sector-specific associations, which have a differential effect on consumers in different sectors. Thus, this study reveals that corporate branding is important to consumers in all the sectors, but a single corporate brand story does not work in all the sectors. Further, corporate associations do not always have a positive effect on the consumers; under certain circumstances, these might either have no effect or have a negative effect on the consumers. Finally, there are two routes by which corporate brand associations can influence consumers – by affecting their cognitive responses or by influencing their affective responses towards the company. The recognition of the important corporate brand associations in the three sectors, and the routes (cognitive or affective) through which these associations influence consumer choices would enable marketers to develop more sophisticated corporate communication strategies.     

The dimensions of storytelling by retail salespeople

This paper explores storytelling in retail sales to develop a more nuanced understanding of the dimensions of retail storytelling and their importance in influencing consumer behavior. A mixed-method approach is taken to first qualitatively develop understanding of the structure of storytelling in a retail context and then quantitatively test the impact of various storytelling dimensions on consumer purchase intentions. Storytelling is common in retail sales encounters and consumers perceive multiple dimensions of storytelling. Some of these dimensions – story relevance, story humor, and storytelling ability – influence consumers' consumption behavior. This research begins to establish parameters for future examination of the use of storytelling in retail selling and informs managers of specific elements of storytelling on which to focus future training efforts.     

Storytelling,the scale of persuasion and retention: A neuromarketing approach

Persuasive storytelling is an essential tool for propagandists, publicists, and corporations. In this research, storytelling styles have been examined for their effectiveness in terms of attitude change and retention. Two groups of respondents were asked to read two short, fictional texts about a chosen corporation’s positive action toward the environment. One story was written using words from the Micro-WNOp corpus to elicit positive emotions (Story 1), while the other was written with a more cognitive approach (Story 2). Biometrics data, eye tracking, facial expression analysis, and galvanic skin responses (GSR) were recorded while respondents read the texts. Heat maps and area of interest analysis show that although the affective story was faster and more effective at changing respondents’ attitudes, the cognitive approach resulted in longer-lasting attitudinal change. As such, affective stories may lead to more immediate shifts in attitude, but cognitive stories result in deeper elaboration and subsequently better retention.     

The Role of Self-Definitional Principles in Consumer Identification with a Socially Responsible Company

This research analyses the influence of the perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR image) on consumer–company identification (C–C identification). This analysis involves an examination of the influence of CSR image on brand identity characteristics which provide consumers with an instrument to satisfy their self-definitional needs, thereby perceiving the brand as more attractive. Also, the direct and mediated influences (through their effect on brand attitude), of CSR-based C–C identification on purchase intention are analysed. The results offer empirical evidence that CSR generates more C–C identification because it improves brand prestige and distinctiveness; brand coherence is also a powerful antecedent of brand attractiveness in the context of CSR communication. Finally, CSR-based C–C identification is able to generate directly better attitude towards the brand and greater purchase intention.     

Message Reframing in Advertising

Various communication techniques such as humor or two‐sided argumentation are frequently used in advertising. One technique that is common but has not been conceptualized is the deliberate change of perspective of specific product or brand attributes. Based on the reframing method used in neuro‐linguistic programming (NLP) this technique is conceptualized as message reframing, defined as a communication technique that changes the conceptual and/or emotional setting or viewpoint in relation to how a brand is experienced by placing it in a different frame that fits the same brand equally well or better. The effects of message reframing in contrast to conventional advertisements as well as in contrast to humor and two‐sided argumentation are hypothesized and tested in an experimental study. The results reveal that message reframing outplays traditional advertising techniques regarding attention toward the ad, perceived novelty, attitude toward the ad, and attitude toward the brand. Moreover, message reframing does not show the deterioration of source credibility commonly observed in humorous messages, and leads to higher attention, perceived novelty, and attitude toward the ad than two‐sided messages.     

Children and advergames: the role of product involvement,prior brand attitude,persuasion knowledge and game attitude in purchase intentions and changing attitudes

The central aim of this study is to build upon previous research by investigating the role of product involvement, prior brand attitude, persuasion knowledge and game attitude in the brand attitude changes and purchase intentions of children after playing an advergame. In all, 279 respondents between the ages of 10 and 12 years participated in the study. First, they were asked to complete a pre-test survey addressing product involvement and prior brand attitude towards several products and brands. Two weeks later, the respondents were asked to play an advergame and complete a survey addressing brand attitude, purchase intention, persuasion knowledge and attitude towards the game. Our analysis reveals that a positive attitude change is more likely when the game player has already evaluated the brand positively. Furthermore, game attitude is positively related to attitude changes towards the advertised brands, consistent with affect transfer theory. Counterintuitively, a higher level of persuasion knowledge is associated with a higher intention to buy the advertised product. Finally, children who had a more positive attitude towards the game were more likely to report higher purchase intentions, indicating that games which provide good experiences positively influence behavioural intentions. We conclude the paper by discussing the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.