7.5 Advertising Types and Techniques

Index:

Advertising media, television, etc.; persuasive techniques
1. Types of advertising
Adverts can be paper-based, or on electronic direct mailings, television, radio, and social media.

Wilson and Brekke (1994) said most people think that adverts only affect other people but not themselves. However, advertising clearly must be effective; otherwise, companies wouldn’t spend a lot on them.

Adverts contain ‘vivid stimuli’ that make them stand out. And the main point of advertising is to attract and keep the attention of the audience, and to persuade the customer to buy it.
Adverts by Benetton (United Colours of Benetton) are famous for containing vivid stimuli.

However, people should not just be remembering the vivid stimuli, they should remember the product being advertised.

2. Marketing Mix Models: the 4 P’s (McCarthy, 1960) and the 4 C’s (Lauterborn, 1990)

i) The 4 P’s of marketing by McCarthy (1960) are:

• Product (physical product or service)
• Place
• Price
• Promotion

1. Product: the product or service being marketed. A range of issues relating to the product will need to be considered: following are a few:
   ➜ What is the customer looking for from the product?
   ➜ What features do they need? Does the product have it, and are there any unnecessary features?
   ➜ What is the product name?
   ➜ How can it be branded (logo, design, slogan, etc.)?
   ➜ How is it different from other similar products?
   ➜ What is its USP (Unique Selling Point)?
   .
2. Place: Where buyers will find the product or service. Ex. In a shop, mail order catalogue, or online.
   Further considerations: What type of shop should the product be in? How can the product be appropriately distributed?
   For ex.: a common place to look for items in most countries would be on the largest online retailer Amazon. Placing products on Amazon would be a bonus for small organisations.
   .
3. Price: seller needs to consider the value of the product/service and establish price points. Sellers should also consider:
   ➜ Is price the factor determining whether customers will buy it or not, or are there other factors?
   ➜ Price cuts may not help gain customers.
   ➜ Sometimes when prices are low, people are suspicious of the quality and won’t purchase it.
   ➜ When some large stores want to shift stock that was not moving, they increase the price.
   .
4. Promotion: How is information about the product reaching target customers?
   ➜ What is the most effective and appropriate form of advertising?
   ➜ Which channel of advertising should be used?
   ➜ When should you advertise? Time of day, and time in the year? Ex. In America and Europe, toy adverts on television increase as Christmas approaches.

ii) The 4 C’s of marketing by Lauterborn (1990)
The 4 C’s model is more focused on the consumer.

1. Customer want or need: similar to the ‘product’ in McCarthy’s model, but more focus is given to the consumer’s may be wanting or needing. Hence, the wants and needs of the customer are thoroughly researched.
2. Cost to satisfy: Lauterborn says that the ‘cost to satisfy’ includes not just the price of the product, but also other costs such as the cost of delivery, and the cost of time (cost for expedited delivery). We also may pay more for fairtrade products.
3. Convenience to buy: recent changes in shopping has shifted the importance of ‘place’ to ‘convenience’.
   As ‘convenience’ is being focused on, we need to consider the following: How easy is it to find the product, find information about the product, buy the product, and get the product delivered?
   Lauterborn says that the retailer providing the most convenient shopping experience will gain the most sales.
   Recent changes in shopping:
   • Online shopping
   • 24-hour stores
   • Price comparison stores
4. Communication: Lauterborn argues that ‘promotion’ is manipulative and one-way. Communication, however, is a two-way dialogue and co-operative.

3. Product Placement in Films – Auty & Lewis (2004)
Product placement = when a branded product is given a prominent position within a scene in a TV or film.

Auty & Lewis (2004) investigates the effect of product placement on children’s subsequent choices, and they also consider the effect of age (to look for the difference in cognitive processing ability) on this.

Sample:
2 age groups of children used:
i) 6-7 y/o's - limited processors
ii)11-12 y/o's - cued processors

105 children from state schools in the UK were the participants. They were randomly allocated to either the experimental or control group.

Roedder (1981) identifies children as being either strategic, cued, or limited processors.

• Strategic Processors (12+ years) are able to use a variety of cognitive strategies for storing and retrieving information such as labelling, and the use of retrieval cues.
• Cued Processors (7-11 years) can use similar strategies, but only with explicit prompts/cues.
• Limited Processors (those under 7 years) have difficulty using storage and retrieval cues even prompted to do so.

Aim

• To see whether children’s choice of a soft drink was related to the brand displayed in a film clip.
• To investigate whether children choosing the brand shown in the film clip indicates some form of cognitive processing.

Procedure
Children were shown a clip from Home Alone. The clip showed the family eating pizza and drinking milk and Pepsi. Pepsi is mentioned by name.
In the control group, a similar length of clip is shown with Kevin eating mac ‘n’ cheese and drinking milk.
After watching the clip, children were asked to help themselves to a drink from a table which has 2 small cans of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Researcher looked away while the child picked their choice.

This is called an implicit preference test. Implicit preference tests measure the strength of associations between concepts.

Then, the children were individually questioned.
In the experimental group, the childrens' choice of drink were recorded, and the child was asked to describe what they could remember about the clip. If they didn’t mention Pepsi specifically, they were prompted with questions until they mentioned it. They were asked if they had seen the film before and if so, how many times.

Prompts:
• “What were they eating and drinking?”
• “Was it a fizzy drink?”
• “What was it called?”

The control group had a similar procedure and was asked what was drunk in the clip. This was to see if prior viewing of the film brought about mistaken identification of Pepsi as the drink being consumed.

Results

• Product placement had an effect.
  Children in the experimental group were more likely to choose Pepsi (ratio of 62:38) compared with the control group (ratio of 42:58). The market share in the UK is 75:25 in favour of Coke.
• The younger age group required more prompts to get the name.
  The mean no. of prompts for the younger group was 4.43.
  The mean no. of prompts for the older group was 2.06.
• The more times they had seen the film, the fewer prompts were needed.

Evaluation

• Marketing mix models are useful for advertisers as they identify the key factors the advertiser should consider for their advertising strategy.
• The shift from the 4 P’s of marketing to the 4 C’s of marketing represents a shift from a 1-way dialogue to a 2-way dialogue between producer and consumer.

Auty & Lewis’s study’s Evaluations:

• Auty and Lewis’s study shows that product placement can work.
• There weren’t many ethical issues because the researchers had obtained permission from the children and their parents for them to take part and to be offered a soft drink.
  Also, the film chosen had been age appropriate.
• Children may have struggled to understand what the researchers wanted from them (this is an ethical issue), and they may have been subject to demand characteristics.
• We can’t be sure whether results explaining the behaviour of children can be generalised to explain the behaviour of adults.
• The study only looked at children in the UK, so we can’t generalise findings to explain the behaviour of children in other countries/cultures.

Advertising media, television, etc.; persuasive techniques
4. Changing Attitudes and Models of Communication
Factors which affect the advertising process are divided into 3 categories:
• The source
• The message
• The audience

i) The source is where the message is coming from. The source has to be credible, and trustworthy.
Experts are generally thought to be more credible. Ex. An advert for toothpaste would be presented by a dentist to gain credibility.
To gain trustworthiness, advertisers use famous people since they are generally liked by the population. However, if a celebrity endorses too many products, they lose their trustworthiness.

• Men are perceived to be more persuasive than women.
• We also tend to be more easily persuaded by someone we perceive as being similar to us.
• Boyd Jannson (2010) says that attractiveness is powerful in persuasion processes, however, too much attractiveness can overshadow the product/reason for advertising.

ii) The Message: The way it's presented determines its effectiveness.

Boyd Jannson: 2-sided arguments, where comparisons are made with the product of competitors (only when the product is unfamiliar) are better than 1-sided arguments as this leads consumers to think you’re honest.
➜ 1-sided arguments work well for familiar products.
➜ Repetition of message and image makes it more likely to be believed.

iii) The Audience:

• It’s important to consider the existing attitudes or opinions consumers/the audience have about the product. This is because it's easier to convince someone who already has a similar set of views than those with opposing views.
• It’s important to consider self-esteem as well. It is harder to persuade someone with very high or very low self-esteem than it is to persuade someone with moderate self-esteem.
• Women are easier to persuade than men.

5. The AIDA model, and other models

1. The AIDA model – The AIDA model was developed to describe what might happen when a consumer engages with an advertisement.
   A – Attention (or awareness)
   I – Interest
   D – Decision
   A – Action
   To explain, an advertisement should attract the attention of the customer, hold their interest, produce or increase their desire or need for the product and influence their future actions.
   
   Variations of the AIDA model because the AIDA has been considered as being outdated:
   • AIDCAS (added Satisfaction and Confidence)
   • AISDALS Love (added Search, Like/Dislike, Share, Love/Hate)
   .
2. The CAB model identifies Cognition, Affect, and Behaviour.
   Cognition refers to our awareness of the product.
   Affect refers to our feelings about the product.
   Behaviour refers to the actions that we are likely to make.
   .
3. The TIREA model
   TIREA focuses directly on the decision-making process.
   T - Thought
   I - Interest
   R - Risk (or evaluation)
   E - Engagement
   A - Action
   
   Thought and interest mingled leads to awareness.
   Interest is developed when we want or need something.
   If we are interested, we go to the next stage 'risk' which is when we weigh up our options, compare products, or decide whether we can afford them.
   Engagement is our emotional response.
   Action is when we respond in some way.
   .
4. The REAN model is focused on the customer life cycle.
   R - Reach ➜ a set of activities needed to promote your brand/product/service.
   E - Engage ➜ activities needed to engage those interested.
   A - Activities ➜ activities potential customers need to take.
   N - Nurture ➜ activities needed to nurture customer relationships.
   .
5. The NAITDASE model by Betancur (2014)
   Identify a Need (N). After Attention (A) and Interest (I) is gained, there needs to be Trust (T). With trust, customers will have a Desire (D) and take action (A).
   The last 2 stages are Satisfaction (S) and Evaluation (E). This will lead customers to make repeat purchases.

6. Hierarchy of Effects model
Created by Lavidge and Steiner in 1961, the hierarchy of effects model proposes 6 steps from viewing an advert to purchasing the product.
The advertiser needs to create an advert which will increase the likelihood of the audience moving through all 6 steps and purchasing the product.

Step 1: Awareness
Advertising should be designed in a way that creates an awareness of the product, amongst customers.

Step 2: Knowledge
Customers need to obtain some knowledge about the product. The advertiser ensures that the information is easily available to the customer.

Step 3: Liking
Advertisers need to make sure that the customer likes this product.

Step 4: Preference
Retailers should highlight USPs.

Step 5: Conviction
Strengthening the customer’s desire to purchase the product. This can be done by giving free samples or test drives.

Step 6: Purchase
Purchasing process must be easy to complete or the customer may go elsewhere.

This model is known as a ‘hierarchy’ because the number of consumers moving from one stage to the next reduces as you move through the model. Advertisers need to focus on all stages to try and make sure that as many people as possible reach the final stage and make purchases.

7. Six Steps & Behaviour
Lavidge and Steiner said the 6 steps are split into 3 stages of consumer behaviour:
• Cognitive (Thinking)
• Affective (Feeling)
• Conative (Behaviour)

➜ Cognitive (thinking) – so that consumers become product aware and gather product knowledge.
➜ Affective (feeling) – so that consumers like the product brand and make a conviction.
➜ Conative (behaviour) – so that consumers buy the product.

Evaluations:

• Models of communication and advertising processes:
  • Attempt to simplify complex behaviour.
  • Help advertisers in the planning and evaluation stage.
• Generalisability is in question. Findings based on Western culture may not be generalisable to other cultures.

Advertising Applications
8. Brand recognition in Children (Fischer et al., 1991)
Fischer et al. conducted a study into brand recognition by children. Fischer commented that ‘children are consumers in training’.

Procedure
They know that usual the survey methods used to investigate brand recognition will be difficult for children, so they developed a matching game to measure the recognition level for brand logos.

Researchers collected 22 brand logos. This included:
• 10 children’s brands
• 7 adult brands
• 5 cigarette brands.

Each logo was printed on a card, but all cues that gave away the product had been excluded.
For example, the picture of Old Joe the Camel did not include the packet of cigarettes and the camel was shown not smoking.

Recognition was measured by asking the children to match the 22 logo cards to one of 12 product categories pictures on a game board (for ex. cigarettes, television, and cereal).

Sample
Participants came from 10 pre-schools in the USA. Parents gave consent and were asked to complete a short questionnaire asking how much TV the child watched, and whether anyone smoked at home.
229 children. Age: 3-6 years.

Children were individually tested in a quiet part of their classroom. They were told that they were playing a matching game. The child would be given a test card to match. When they had placed this on the board, on one of the 12 product categories (given as pictures), the child was told “that’s good,” regardless of whether it being right or not. The card was then removed and the child was given the next test card. The card order was randomised for each child.

Results

1. Children showed good recognition rates for the children’s brand logo. Recognition rates ranged from 91% to 25%.
2. Old Joe the Camel had the highest recognition rate with half the children correctly matching the logo with a pack of cigarettes picture.
   Other cigarette brands were recognized between 18% and 132% of the time.
3. Adult brands were recognized between 16% and 54% of the time. Car logos were recognised the most.
4. Recognition increased with age.
   For ex. 30% of 3 y/o’s recognised Old Joe the Camel and 91% of 6 y/o’s did.
5. Children from homes where parents smoked were more likely to recognise cigarette logos.

Conclusions

• Children showed high recognition rates for products targeted at both children and adults.
• It is surprising (and worrying) that children are able to recognise cigarette brands accurately. The researchers claim that this shows the power of ‘environmental advertising’; billboards and sponsorship displays.

Evaluations:

1. The study used simple and effective experimental methods for data collection.
2. Participants were children, but there were no strong ethical issues raised because they were only being exposed to images they see in everyday life.
3. Fischer's matching game was an ingenious way to determine children's ability in brand recognition.
4. The study's disturbing recognition of children's high level of identification of cigarette brands supports the notion to change cigarette packaging to plain packets.

9. Advertising and Consumer Personality
Snyder and DeBono (1985) investigated the way in which different personality types respond to different types of advertising.

They investigated how high-and low-self-monitoring individuals respond to 2 different advertising strategies; appealing brand image and appealing product quality.

Hard sell advertising uses a direct approach in telling how the consumer can directly benefit from product usage. Customer decisions are rational and reasoned. This is an appeal to product quality.

Soft-sell advertising is indirect and subtle. It doesn’t emphasise direct benefits but attempts to create positive associations with the product such as humour, or comfort. Decisions to purchase are largely emotive rather than rational. This appeals to the product image.

The researchers suggested that the trait of self-monitoring may influence how a person responds to the 2 types of advertising.

Self-monitoring means monitoring our behaviour to fit the situation we are in.
High self-monitors are constantly aware of the situation and ask who to best be in the situation.
Low self-monitors are less concerned about situational factors and are focused on how to best be themselves in the situation.

Study 1
Study 1 used 3 sets of fake magazine adverts for whisky, cigarettes, and coffee. Each set was identical except for the slogan. 1 slogan was associated with product quality and the other with product use.

Participants
50 male & female undergraduate students from an American university took part for course credits.
They were divided into a group of low self-monitors and high self-monitors based on the median split of their self-monitoring scale scores.

Procedure
Participants were tested alone. They were shown one set of 2 adverts and they filled out a 12-item questionnaire where they compared the 2 adverts. Example question: “Which ad do you think will be more successful?”

Hypotheses
High self-monitors would prefer image-oriented adverts and low self-monitors would prefer quality-oriented adverts.

Conclusion
High and low self-monitors react differently to advertisements focused on product quality and those focused on product image.

Study 2
Aim
Research whether product advertisement type would affect how much they are willing to pay for it.

Hypotheses
High self-monitors would be prepared to pay more for products advertised with appeals to the image than quality.
Low self-monitors would be prepared to pay more for product advertisements which appeal to quality than image.

Participants
40 male and female participants from an American university took part for course credits. They were divided into high and low self-monitors by means of a median split.
The same adverts were used. Participants were shown either the image-oriented advertisements or the quality-oriented advertisements, and were asked "How much would you be willing to pay for this item?" They were given a price range to select from.
For example, the Canadian Club Whisky's range was from $5 to $15.

Results
High self-monitors were prepared to pay more for products advertised with an image orientation than a quality orientation.
Low self-monitors were prepared to pay more for products advertised with a quality orientation than for image orientation.

Study 3
Aim
To research whether these differences would actually influence decisions to consume/purchase products.
Study 3 offered consumers the opportunity to try a new shampoo.

Participants
40 male and female undergraduate students from the same American university took part for course credit. A median split divided the sample into high and low self-monitors.

Procedure
The experimenter posed as a market researcher and contacted the participant by telephone. He offered them a chance to participate in a text marketing study. There was a script each for advertising appeal to brand image and appeal to product quality.

Finally, the experimenter asked the participants to answer 2 questions:

1. How willing they would be to use the shampoo.
2. They were asked to indicate what percentage best describes their willingness to try the shampoo.

Results
High self-monitors were more willing to try it if they thought it will make their hair looking good.
Low self-monitors were more likely to try it if they thought it would leave their hair very clean.

Conclusions
They successfully identified the 2 types of people that will react in different ways to 2 types of advertising strategies.

This suggests that the image-oriented soft-sell approach and the quality-oriented hard-sell approach have been successful because they appeal to 2 groups of consumers. Therefore, advertisements combining both elements may attract the 2 groups.

Evaluations:

1. The study shows that situational factors are linked with individual factors. It helps us to understand why 2 different approaches to advertising are effective.
2. Application of findings: Products can be advertised in a way that is appealing to both personality types. You can tailor the way the market advertises products.

10. Effective Slogans (Kohli et al. 2007)
Notable Slogans:
• Nike - Just Do It.
• McDonald's - I'm Lovin' It
• Sony - Make. Believe.

Kohli et al. (2007) reviewed many articles that tried to create a guideline for making effective slogans.
They identified the 3 key elements of brand identity:
• Brand Name
• Logo
• Slogan

Brand Name:
- anchor for the brand image
- can't be easily changed.
Logo:
- Visual cue which helps us process information faster.
- sometimes updates, but rarely changed.
Slogan:
- Helps communicate what the brand is about.
- Can be easily changed and updated.
- Example: Pepsi changed its logo from 'Generation Next' in 1998 to 'The Joy of Pepsi' in 2015.

Several UK confectionaries changed their names but not their packaging and colours so that people can recognise brands. Marathon became Snickers.

2 key elements of brand knowledge are 1) brand recall, and 2) Awareness.
Awareness is determined by recall and recognition. Slogans can enhance awareness, and therefore brand knowledge.

Aim of Slogans:
1) To enhance brand awareness.
2) To positively affect brand image.

Boush (1993): Slogans have a priming effect on individuals which in turn improves brand awareness. Priming is when an individual has been exposed to an idea recently and later recall it faster.
Example: If a slogan you repeatedly hear focuses on the taste, and you are asked to rate the products' attributes, you are likely to rate its taste highly.

Yalch (1981) found that slogans presented in jingle form enhanced memory and recall. He presented participants with a list of common slogans, some with jingles and some without. However, jingle slogans must be carefully used, and its better suited for small companies with limited budgets who are primarily advertising on the radio.

If slogans are too complex, they may be harder to recall, however, complex slogans may be deeply processed. Lagerwarf (2002) found that complexly ambiguous slogans that can be resolved, increase brand awareness.
It's crucial to link the slogan to the brand.

Conclusion
The authors conclude that their review is attempting to produce a list of suggestions (as explored above), rather than a specific guideline on making effective slogans.