A Note on the Relationship between Firm Diversification and Corporate Advertising Expenditures

Using data on 200 major U.S. advertisers, our empirical analysis examines the relationship between the degree of firm diversification and corporate advertising expenditures, while controlling for competing explanations. Data on corporate advertising expenditures are obtained from Leading National Advertisers (1989). Compustat line of business data and Hoover's Handbook are used to construct measures of firm diversification, and other firm/industry characteristics included as covariates in our empirical analysis to account for possible alternative explanations. Our results suggest that less diversified firms spend more on corporate advertising.     

Examining the Relationship Between Advertising Expenditures and Sales of Quick-Service Restaurants in the United States

The United States fast-food industry represents an important business sector with respect to national and international economics. Due to the low levels of product differentiation and high industry competition, fast-food companies heavily engage in advertising and branding activities. Quick-service restaurants (QSR) are the largest and growing segment of the fast-food industry. The current study examined the longitudinal relationship between advertising expenditures and sales revenues for the QSR industry and leading QSR brands in the United States from 1986 to 2007. Hypotheses were tested using a time-series regression analysis. Managerial, research, and policy implications of the results are provided.     

Some Economic Issues and Policy Implications of Studies on the Competitive Effects of Advertising Expenditures

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the litersture in Economics that concerns itself with the economics of advertising and to present some of the public policy implications of the results of these studies.

It is found that it is unlikely that advertising expenditures are subject to increasing returns to scale, thus probably do not lead to an increased concentration of industry for this reason.

A study is presented that deals with competition by advertising expenditures and product differentiation in the U.S. cigarette industry. It is found that advertising expenditures. during the 1956–68 period, were not effective in obtaining sales from competitors, although they may have had the affect of inducing new customers to buy the product. The effect of anti-smoking commercials is examined, and it is found that. although they may have had some effect on cigarette smoking. it is doubtful that they provide the impetus for the decreases in advertising expenditures in this particular industry.     

Advertising by Accountants

This paper investigates the nature of accountants' at- titudes toward advertising and the relationship of these attitudes to advertising practice. The analysis is done using a recent sample of CPAs certified and practicing in Michigan. We demonstrate that ac- countant attitudes, as expressed on this survey, can be broken down into five underlying factors. The first is a general factor related pri- marily to opinions on whether advertising helps the consumer and the accountant advertiser. The other four factors relate specifically to attitudes on the legal control issue, the perceived eflect of adver- tising on professional image, the perceived effect of advertising on prices, and, finally, concerns about the content of advertising mes- sages. From each of these factors we generate an attitude scale re- flecting favorability or optimismxgarding advertising. It is shown that favorability on four out of five scales is associated with the accountant's age; younger accountants are much more favorable to- ward advertising. Interestingly, our evidence also suggests that fe- inale accountants are less favorable toward advertising. Finally we investigate the question of whether these attitudes are related to ad- vertising practice. We find that whether or not an accountant adver- tises depends primarily on the general factor and on the image fac- tor. In common language, the accountants who advertise tend to be the ones who perceive the benefit of advertising to both the accoun- tant and the consumer and who are less concerned about its effects on the accountant's professional image.     

A Preliminary Investigation into the Causes and Effects of the Rise and Fall of Advertising Expenditures in Sweden

The purpose of this study is not only to chronicle the rise and fall of advertising expenditures in Sweden from 1975 to the present day but also to consider possible causes for their rise and fall. It is hoped that understanding the nature of these variations will become a key to the deeper understanding of the advertising market place. Both traditional and non-traditional media were studied. It was suggested that variations in advertising expenditures stemmed from two broad factors: (1) the demand for advertising space, determined by the advertisers; and (2) the supply of advertising space, determined by the media. These factors are intrinsically affected by external factors such as business cycles and legal and social environments.     

Advertising Self-regulation by Outsiders

Italian advertising self-regulation at present includes only independent members on its investigative and adjudicative bodies. Thus it represents the limit case of outside participation in such a system. This paper analyses the reasons for such a composition, as well as the criteria used in the selection of outside members. It points out that their presence has greatly contributed to the credibility and efficiency of the Italian advertising self-regulatory system. However, their severity risks undermining the confidence and support of the advertising industry. Several cases are quoted and discussed in order to illuminate their recent behaviour.     

A Comparison of Consumer Expenditures by Housing Tenure

Although studies of housing tenure choice are numerous, none found discuss how tenure is related to consumer expenditures. Using data from the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey, this study investigates whether differences observed in selected expenditures across tenure are due to dissimilar demographics alone, or to underlying differences in consumers which are reflected in their choice of tenure. Expenditures by homeowners and renters are examined and compared.     

Attitudes Toward Advertising by Veterinarians

Abstract

Using survey data on 382 participants, we refined and validated the Attitudes Toward Advertising by Veterinarians Scales (ATAVS) with exploratory factor analysis. To measure the participants' attitudes toward veterinarian advertising, we derived factor scores from 11 items on the survey. These scores were divided into high, median, and low ATAVS scores groups. People with high ATAVS scores tended to have a more positive image of veterinarians, were more likely to use the services of a veterinarian when needed, and were more approving of veterinarians using television, radio, newspaper, billboard, direct mail, professional magazines, and popular magazines to advertise than those with median or low ATAVS scores. In general, veterinarians enjoy a positive image among the surveyed consumers, who equally disapproved of the idea of veterinarian advertising through telemarketing.     

Changes in Concentration of Advertising Expenditures Among the Leading National Advertisers in the United States 1970–1988: A Note

This paper investigates the change of advertising concentration between 1970 and 1988. Using six measures of concentration and based on the advertising expenditures of the one hundred leading advertisers in the US reported by Advertising Age, this paper finds that the level of advertising concentration varies in the 1970s and has been steadily increasing since the early 1980s. However, the change of advertising concentration between all of the two-year periods examined is not significant. The findings also suggest that the nature of industry and the country of origin of advertisers do not exhibit significant impact on the level of advertising concentration.     

广告不讲理

广告不讲理，要讲理，你要先不讲理。否则怎么样，看看下面的对话吧。     

Advertising Facts and Advertising Illusions

The concept of low involvement has attracted considerable interest, particularly over the last ten years, but its implications f or advertising (strategy, execution and research) are still not clear. This paper reviews the low-involvement literature and attempts to define what is meant by the concept, predict when low involvement is likely to occur and identify its key determinants. The paper then reviews and assesses what the literature has to say about the specific implications for advertising strategy in high- and low-involvement situations and concludes that the potential and power of advertising in low-involvement situations have been misunderstood and underestimated.     

以差异化传播塑造媒体特色——以东方卫视《舞林大会》为例

《超级女声》的火爆引发了娱乐选秀节目在全国各个电视台的泛滥，进入2006年，电视选秀节目继续成为中国娱乐电视节目的热点，全国各主要媒体的电视选秀节目仍然是红红火火。但是，在这一片大好的局面中，电视选秀节目在发展过程中遇到的问题也暴露无遗，节目千篇一律就成为许多策划、制作人无法摆脱的泥潭。由此也就形成了国内电视娱乐节目“主角相似、形式趋同、风格单一”的现状。     

Classified Advertising Rates That Vary by Category

This article considers the profit potential of exploiting the differences in demand for separate categories of classified advertisements. We report results of an empirical study of the pricing behaviour of a random sample of US newspapers. We find that only 26.7 per cent of our sample offered private party rates. While the degree of competition played no statistically significant role in predicting a newspaper's likelihood of offering private party rates, newspapers belonging to the largest national groups were more likely to do so. For the 26.7 per cent of newspapers using private party rates, the difference in rates across categories did reflect the difference in the expected value of an advertisement to the person placing that advertisement.     

Determinants of Household Expenditures on Alcohol

This paper examines the determinants of household alcohol expenditures by using a nonnormal and heteroscedastic double-hurdle model to accommodate zero observations in the sample. The model is a generalization of the double-hurdle model estimated in previous studies of alcohol consumption. We also examine the effects of explanatory variables by calculating and decomposing the elasticities. Findings support the use of a more generalized error distribution. Income, region, education, and household demographics are among the significant determinants of alcohol expenditures.     

以技术推动互联网广告发展

我观察到中国广告趋势论坛的两个明显特点：一个是新媒体和网络媒体在论坛中占到50％。以前类似于这样的论坛，网络媒体都是在分会场，或者只有1/4的时间，这可能意味着网络新媒体已经开始半分天下。在这个论坛当中汇聚了重要的各方参与者，有北京大学、强势媒体央视、江苏广电总台，还有业界著名的研究杂志《广告大观》，这一切意味着广告的质量越来越提升。     

Advertising by Medical Professionals—A Healthy Outlook

The opening up of the professions to advertising does not yet include the medical profession, and the author argues that this exclusion is unwarranted. Far from being against the public interest, he suggests that patients are not only capable of using more information, but that improvements in medical practice will flow from this. The experience of the legal—and other professions—following the relaxation of advertising rules is discussed together with the problems arising. The conclusion is that advertising by the medical profession is worth at least a trial and that liberty to advertise be extended to consultants and hospitals.     

“限广令”后的中国广告业猜想

2011年11月28日,广电总局下发《〈广播电视广告播出管理办法〉的补充规定》,决定自2012年1月1日起,全国各电视台播出电视剧时,每集电视剧中间不得再以任何形式插播广告。本文基于这项规定,探讨今后中国广告的发展趋势,提出了六大变化猜想,并阐述这些变化对不同主体带来的多赢可能性的假设。     

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