Advanced Introduction to Advertising

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Advanced Introduction to

Advertising
PATRICK DE PELSMACKER
Professor of Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics,
University of Antwerp, Belgium

Elgar Advanced Introductions

Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA

© Patrick De Pelsmacker 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

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EEP BoX
Contents

List of figuresvii
List of tablesviii
List of boxesix
Prefacex
Acknowledgmentsxii

1 Advertising today 1
Marketing communications as part of the marketing effort 1
Advertising as part of the communication effort 2
Advertising in the digital age 6
Advertising in a cross-cultural environment 8
Cultural values 11
Standardization or adaptation 14

2 Advertising formats 18
Types of advertising and appeals 18
Contemporary advertising formats 26
Online advertising formats 34
Creativity in advertising 43

3 How advertising works 45

Hierarchy-of-effects models 45
Attitude formation and change 50
Heuristic evaluation 62
Affect-as-Information and Affect Infusion Models 62
Attitude and feelings transfer, emotional
conditioning, and mere exposure 65
Perception–Experience–Memory Model 68

v
vi ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Reinforcement and routinized response 69

Cialdini’s persuasion principles 69
The strong and weak theory of advertising effectiveness 70
How advertising works online 71

4 Advertising planning 76
Situation analysis 76
Segmenting, targeting, and positioning 78
Objectives87
Budgets93
Message and creative strategy 99
Media planning and selection 102

5 Advertising effectiveness 111

Pre-testing111
Post-testing115
Campaign evaluation research 119
Measuring online advertising effectiveness 122

6 Advertising ethics 130

Ethical issues in advertising 131
Ethically vulnerable industries 144
Self-regulation147
Ethical responsibility of advertisers, public policy,
and education 148

Suggested further reading152

Index157
Figures

1.1 Hofstede’s six dimensions of cultural values 12

2.1 Affiliate marketing 38
2.2 An ad on Google 39
3.1 The FCB grid 48
3.2 Elaboration Likelihood Model 54
4.1 The advertising plan 76
4.2 ToFu, MoFu, BoFu 94
5.1 Masked identification test 117
5.2 Traffic (number of visits) to a course program
section of the University of Antwerp website, first
quarter 2020 and 2021 128

vii
Tables

1.1 Total ad spend (Mln€) per year and market share of

media types in Western Europe (%) 8
2.1 Types of advertising 18
2.2 Advertising appeals 20
3.1 Six types of attitude formation and change 57
3.2 An illustration of the Expectancy–Value Model 59
3.3 An illustration of subjective norm effects 60
3.4 Heuristic cues 63
4.1 A taxonomy of advertising objectives 89
4.2 Advertising media and media planning criteria 104
4.3 Reach and frequency distribution 107
4.4 Calculating cost per thousand useful contacts 108
5.1 Awareness, trial, and retention rates for two
hypothetical brands 122
5.2 Online advertising and e-commerce tracking measures 125
5.3 Google Analytics output for a course program
website performance 128
6.1 GDPR principles 143

viii
Boxes

1.1 Research: a cross-cultural analysis of male and

female gender role stereotyping in advertising 12
1.2 Research: openness to foreign markets and
advertising adaptation 15
2.1 Research: how fear appeals work 22
2.2 Practice: using online games as advertising tools 28
2.3 Research: program liking and brand–program fit 30
2.4 Practice: Guinness: made of more 32
3.1 Research: driving brand engagement through
sponsored posts on blogs and Facebook 55
3.2 Research: pleasant emotional ads make consumers
like your brand more 65
3.3 Research: how to advertise sales promotions on
social networking sites 73
4.1 Practice: Deutsche Bahn encourages domestic travel
using programmatic technology creatively 84
4.2 Practice: Nike uses TikTok to encourage young
women to take part in sports 87
4.3 Practice: calculating cost per thousand useful contacts 108
5.1 Practice: tracking website visits with Google Analytics 127
6.1 Research: gender role stereotypes in Belgian TV
advertising134
6.2 Practice: Suitsupply: is sex the best way to sell suits? 137
6.3 Research: advertisers’ perceptions of the ethical
appropriateness of new advertising formats aimed
at children and teenagers 140
6.4 Practice: Libresse: purpose-based advertising 146

ix
Preface

Advertising is everywhere, and everybody advertises. We are exposed

to advertising on television, radio, in the cinema, in newspapers and
magazines, on buses and in railway stations, in shops, and, of course,
ubiquitously, on the Internet. Many organizations and individuals try to
persuade us to think or do something. Companies want us to love and
buy their products, charities want our money, social-profit organizations
seek support for their good causes, be it animal rights or preservation of
nature, governments urge us to obey their laws and regulations, from
wearing seatbelts to adhering to Covid-19 restrictions. And of course,
ordinary people like you and me help them by spreading their messages:
we like, share, comment upon, and create messages following advertising
on social media. We have become part of the pinball park: organizations
throw in the little ball (their message) and try to keep it in the game as
long as possible by stimulating the pins (us) to do so.
In six chapters, this book provides a concise yet in-depth guide to under-
standing, planning, and carrying out advertising, measuring its effects,
and doing all that in an ethically acceptable way, all of this in a context
of a media landscape that shifts from offline to online. The book tries
to strike a balance between the old (but still relevant) and the new, and
between theory and practice. The first chapter sets the scene: what is
advertising, what is its role in businesses and organizations, and what are
the implications of the offline–online shift? Chapter 2 gives an overview
of the many contemporary advertising formats around. The third – and
most theoretical – chapter tries to explain how advertising works. Chapter
4 discusses the various stages in the advertising planning process, and
Chapter 5 goes deeper into measuring its effects. Advertising has a bad
reputation, and partly rightly so. The final, and societally speaking maybe
the most important, chapter digs deeper into the ethical ramifications,
pitfalls, and societal consequences of current advertising practice. Apart

x
 PREFACE xi

from the many theoretical and practical insights throughout the text,
a number of separate boxes go deeper into specific research insights and
practical cases. Finally, the book concludes with a list of references for
further reading and supplementary online resources.
Acknowledgments

In my long career as an advertising scholar, I have cooperated with many

other researchers and practitioners that have been – and some of them
still are – great research companions and a source of knowledge and
inspiration. First of all, I should mention the long-standing coopera-
tion with my fellow professors and good friends at the Department of
Marketing of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University
of Antwerp (Belgium), my home university: Annouk Lievens, Ingrid
Moons, and especially Nathalie Dens, who has been my sister-in-arms
in countless advertising research projects. Next, I found great pleasure
in cooperating with a number of smart, dedicated, and hard-working
colleagues from other universities: Wim Janssens (who left academia),
Verolien Cauberghe (Ghent University), Erlinde Cornelis (San Diego State
University), Ed Malthouse (Northwestern University), Martin Eisend
(European University Viadrina Frankfurt-Oder), Camilla Barbarossa
(Toulouse Business School), and, last but not least, my wife Maggie
Geuens (Ghent University). The majority of my research work would not
have been possible without the intelligence and the dedication of many
of my excellent PhD students. Thanks, Nathalia Purnawirawan, Mahdi
Rajabi, Ivana Busjleta Banks, Katarina Panic, Snezha Kazakova, Yann
Verhellen, Leonids Aleksandrovs, Sarah De Meulenaer, Yana Avramova,
Martine Lewi, Kristien Daems, Freya De Keyzer, Ana Lopes, and Cristian
Buzeta. Many thanks also for the countless advertising professionals that
inspired me over the years, too many to list here, except for one, my old
friend Joeri Van den Bergh (founder and co-owner of InSites Consulting),
the first researcher I supervised, and long-time co-author of one of my
other books. Finally, I would like to thank the Edward Elgar Publishing
team for taking care of and guiding me through the process of writing this
book.

xii
1 Advertising today

Marketing communications as part of the marketing

effort

According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is the

activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,
clients, partners, and society at large. Philip Kotler defines marketing as
follows:

Marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to
satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled
needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified
market and the profit potential. It pinpoints which segments the company is
capable of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products
and services.1

Both definitions emphasize similar key concepts and tasks of marketing.

It is an exchange process in which customers acquire value and organ-
izations generate a commercial or social profit. From the point of view
of a customer, value means the satisfaction of needs and wants. Value
is usually a combination of tangible (a laptop) and intangible (using
a famous brand of perfume) dimensions. The value for companies and
other organizations is that marketing contributes to selling products at
a profit, promotes ideas or socially desirable behaviors, or raises funds.
For the marketing process to be successful, this exchange process has to
be in equilibrium: the perceived value of the offer by consumers has to be
at least as high as their required investment (money, time, effort …), and
better than that of the competition.

1
2 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

What can be marketed? Anything to which the marketing logic applies:

goods (cars), services (banks), events (music festivals), experiences (well-
ness center), people (politicians), places (New York), properties (houses),
organizations (Amnesty International), information (websites), and ideas
(wear your seatbelt). In marketing jargon, anything that can be marketed
is referred to as a “product.” These products are offered on markets: the
set of actual and potential buyers of a product, and competitors that try to
satisfy the same needs as the organization.

To accomplish their goals, marketers use a set of tools commonly referred

to as the marketing mix. Traditionally, these tools are represented in the
4Ps model: product, price, place, and promotion. Organizations have to
develop products, offer them to customers at a certain price, make them
available at certain places, and promote them. Each P toolbox contains
specific instruments, such as branding, packaging, and extra services
(Product), list prices, discounts, and credit terms (Price), retailers, loca-
tions, and logistics (Place), and sales promotions, public relations, and
personal selling (Promotion). This 4Ps model has been extended with
extra Ps, for instance People, Process, and Physical Evidence.

The four Ps are conceptualized from the organization’s point of view:

it develops products, puts a price on them, makes them available, and
promotes them. A modification of this model, the 4Cs model, takes an
outside-in perspective and focuses upon customers:

• Consumer Wants and Needs: marketers should market products that

people need and want;
• Cost: customers pay a price, but also have to devote time and effort to
acquire a product, and often there is also an opportunity cost;
• Convenience: customers should find the products easily, and there-
fore they should be made available conveniently;
• Communication: marketers should create a dialogue with customers.

Advertising as part of the communication effort

Marketing communications are the means that organizations use to
convey messages about their offerings to target groups with the intention
to persuade them to purchase and become loyal to their products, or
 ADVERTISING TODAY 3

adopt ideas or behaviors. The marketing communications toolbox, also

called the communications mix, is a set of tools and channels that can be
used to deliver these messages and engage in two-way communications
with target groups. The instruments of the communications mix include
brand activation, sponsorship, public relations, point-of-sale communi-
cations, exhibitions and trade fairs, direct marketing communications,
personal selling, and, of course, advertising, both offline and online.

Brand activation refers to tools such as sales promotions (e.g., buy one
get one free), stimulating customer engagement (e.g., to share branded
content on social media), and offering experiences (e.g., a test drive of
a new car). Sponsorship is the support of a person or organization, in
cash or kind (e.g., goods, services, know-how), in return for exploitable
marketing benefits for the sponsoring company, such as building brand
awareness, improving brand image, stimulating product trial, or acquir-
ing new customers. Public relations are communications of a company
with its audiences or stakeholders, groups of individuals or organizations
with whom the company wants to create goodwill (e.g., media, retail-
ers, communication agencies, banks, …). Point-of-sale communications
is communication at or near the point of sale (e.g., displays, product
presentation in the shop, store layout). Exhibitions and trade fairs are,
particularly in business-to-business and industrial markets, used for
contacting and meeting prospects, users and purchasers. Direct marketing
communications are a personal and direct way to communicate with
customers and potential clients or prospects (e.g., direct mailings, email
campaigns, telemarketing). Personal selling is face-to-face selling in which
a salesperson tries to convince the customer to buy a product.

And then there is advertising. The definition of advertising by the

American Marketing Association is any paid form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services by an identified
sponsor. The American Advertising Academy defines advertising as a
(usually) paid for and mediated form of communication from an identi-
fiable source, designed to inform and persuade the receiver to take some
action, now or in the future. One other definition is: “Advertising consists
of all the activities involved in presenting to a group a non-personal, oral
or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea.
This message, called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or
more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor.”2
4 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Most of these definitions include a number of common features of

advertising. However, some of these do not reflect today’s advertising
practices. First of all, advertising is said to be (mostly) paid for by an iden-
tified sponsor: someone has paid for the advertisement, and the person
who is exposed to the ad is aware of that. When seeing a television ad or
a billboard featuring a brand, most consumers will understand that the
brand has paid for the ads. However, contemporary advertising formats
are often hybrid, and try to “hide” the commercial message in other
content (for instance, by means of brand placement in movies) such that
consumers might not be aware of the message’s commercial intentions.
Also, in the broad sense of the word, when social media users share
branded content on these platforms (called “earned media” resulting in
“organic reach,” see hereafter), that can indirectly also be regarded as
advertising. Indeed, other social media users are exposed to the message
that, moreover, was not paid for, since it was spread by other consumers
for free. Another common feature of most definitions is that advertising
is mediated; in other words, it uses different kinds of media channels (e.g.,
television, newspapers, outdoor, websites …) to reach the intended target
groups. That qualifies advertising as a mass media communication tool.

Another common focus of all definitions is that advertising is not only

used to sell products, but intends to inform, persuade and activate
people. Indeed, advertising often does not lead to an immediate sales
effect. Often, by means of advertising, people are guided through what
is called the sales funnel (see hereafter): prospective customers should be
made aware of a brand or a product, should acquire knowledge about the
product, develop a positive attitude toward a brand, develop an interest in
it, and the intention to try it, and make them visit a shop to check things
out further (activation). Advertising works on information and persua-
sion that eventually should lead to conversion of potential prospects into
actual customers and sales.

One last aspect that several definitions have in common is that advertis-
ing is qualified as a non-personal form of communication, because it is
basically a monologue via mass media: the brand sends the same message
to a lot of consumers who cannot respond or interact with the brand.
However, in the context of online advertising, one of the key features of
advertising is personalization or customization, the ability to proactively
tailor advertising messages to characteristics and tastes of individual con-
sumers, by combining the use of technology and customer information to
 ADVERTISING TODAY 5

tailor communication interactions between a business and each individ-

ual customer. Online advertising aims at delivering the right message at
the right time to the right person. That increasingly makes contemporary
online advertising both a massive, but also an interactive and personal,
communication tool.

Additionally, the lines between what could be called advertising and what
are considered other instruments of the communication mix are increas-
ingly blurred. For instance, brand placement in other media content (e.g.,
movies, games …) can be considered advertising: there is a commercial
intent to inform and persuade (potential) customers, it uses mass media
(e.g., movies, television shows, books, games) to do so, and in principle
there is an identified sponsor (or there should be). Similarly, influencer
marketing, the promotion of brands by social media influencers, can be
considered advertising for the same reasons. Despite the fact that some
would call brand placement or influencer marketing sponsorship of
media content, for all practical purposes, it is advertising. Formats such
as content marketing, storytelling and buzz marketing, although (partly)
borrowed from other disciplines such as public relations (PR), can be con-
sidered advertising since they are indeed intended to influence (potential)
consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward products via mass
media messages. Indirectly, a branded and paid post on social media that
is shared by a user of these media is advertising since it is a communica-
tion consequence of company-initiated advertising.

For the purpose of this book, I define advertising as follows: “Advertising

is any (mostly) paid and mediated form of promotion of products, brands,
companies or ideas in offline or online mass media by an identified
source, designed to inform and persuade target groups and/or stimulate
them to take some action, now or in the future.”

Most communication campaigns do not only use different advertising

media and channels, but also other instruments of the communication
mix to reach out to consumers. Nowadays, marketers try to reach (poten-
tial) consumers by means of as many “touch points” as possible. This is
called 360-degree communications. Additionally, whether a campaign
uses few or many channels and instruments, there is always the need
for integrated marketing communications (IMC). IMC is “consistency
across communications channels and over time.” It means linking all pro-
motion tools to work together in harmony. Potential consumers do not
6 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

distinguish between the different tools and instruments of the marketing

communications mix. To them, all communications by a brand are per-
ceived as persuasion attempts, regardless of whether it is a banner on the
Internet, a television ad, or a billboard along a soccer field. They thus con-
sider all these stimuli as brand messages from undistinguishable sources.
Therefore, all instruments and channels of a communications campaign
should be consistent in terms of message content and message style. The
message receivers should perceive all these stimuli as coming from the
same brand conveying the same basic message and brand position. IMC
is speaking with one voice, all the time.

A second important principle of IMC is synergy. Campaigns will be more

effective if they are mutually reinforcing: the effects of all tools taken
together will then be stronger than the sum of each separate tool. In the
current 360-degree communications context, creating synergy becomes
increasingly imperative and complicated. Synergy can take many forms.
The work of a salesperson can be much easier if the company also uses
advertising to create awareness and favorable attitudes toward the com-
pany’s products. A sales promotion campaign will probably be more
effective if accompanied by an advertising campaign. Sponsorship effects
can be reinforced by advertising campaigns. Online campaigns and
offline campaigns can be combined for a better effect. All this means that
advertising is not a standalone instrument. It has to be consistently and
synergistically integrated in the whole communications campaign.

Advertising in the digital age

Offline mass marketing communications media and techniques have

dominated communications strategies for decades. However, people’s
media consumption has increasingly shifted toward the online world.
Global Internet penetration rates range (at the end of 2020) from 46.2%
in Africa, 62.6% in Asia, around 70% in Latin America and the Middle
East, to almost 90% in North America and Europe.3 People also increas-
ingly spend more time on digital media, both in absolute terms and as
a part of total media use. Total media use (including multi-tasking and
multi-screening) was about 7 hours per day in 2011, 7.5 hours in 2016,
and more than 8 hours projected in 2021. In 2011, Internet use was
17.9% of all media use, in 2016 it was 29.5%, and in 2021 it is projected
 ADVERTISING TODAY 7

to be 38.8%. Moreover, mobile device use as a percentage of Internet use

has increased spectacularly, from 42.7% in 2011 to 70.1% in 2016, and
a projected 80.7% in 2021. This means that, in 2021, mobile accounts for
a projected media use of more than 30% of all media use.4 Nevertheless,
traditional offline media, largely television, also remain important.

Another remarkable phenomenon is the importance of social media use

in people’s lives. Social media are websites and other online means of
communication that are used by large groups of people to share infor-
mation and to develop social and professional contacts.5 Social media
usage is booming. In 2017, there were 2.86 billion active social media
users, a number that increased to 3.60 billion in 2020, and is projected to
further increase to 4.41 billion in 2025.6 In January 2021, Facebook holds
the lead with 2.74 billion active users, followed by YouTube (2.29 billion),
WhatsApp (2 billion), Messenger (1.30 billion), Instagram (1.22 billion),
Weixin/WeChat (1.21 billion), and TikTok (0.69 billion).7 On average,
in 2020, global Internet users spent 2 hours and 22 minutes on social
media per day (though trends differed widely by country8) an increase of
one hour a day since 2012.9 Moreover, most social media use is mobile.
Consequently, social media are one of the most important channels to
communicate with consumers.

Not only do people spend a lot of time on social media, but a substantial
part of them use these media to actively look for product and brand
information. In a 2019 study, 31% of social media users reported that
their main motivation in using social media was to research and find
products to buy,10 40% of Internet users said they followed their favorite
brands on social media, and 37% of online shoppers said that they looked
for inspiration on social media before they shopped.11 Consequently, not
only can advertisers find “eyeballs” on social media, but they can also
reach an interested and captive audience by using these channels. The
total spending on advertising worldwide has increased steadily over the
years. It is estimated at $718.21 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to
$822.39 billion in 2024. In 2018, digital ad spending was $283.35 billion
(45.9% of total spend), increasing to $384.96 billion in 2020 (53.6%), and
expected to grow to $517.51 billion (60.5%) in 2023. In 2019, advertising
on Google represented 31.1% of all digital ad spend, followed by Facebook
with 20.2%.12 Thus, not only are digital advertising budgets growing,
but also their share of total advertising spend. Nevertheless, television
advertising remains very important. In 2019, worldwide, 33.6% of total
8 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

budgets was spent on television advertising.13 Mobile advertising spend is

increasing rapidly. In 2019, it amounted to $189 billion, and it is expected
to surpass $240 billion by 2022. This means that, in 2022, mobile adver-
tising’s share of total worldwide ad spending would be one third of all
advertising budgets, and more than half of all digital advertising.14 Table
1.1 shows total ad spend and forecast spend in Western Europe (2017–22)
and the market shares of media types. The steady annual growth of total
ad spend slowed during the Covid-19 year 2020, but is projected to pick
up again from 2021 onward. Online advertising market shares show
a yearly increase to more than 50% from 2020 onward. Outdoor, radio,
and cinema are more or less maintaining their (low) market share, while
television and especially newspapers and magazines are losing ground
year after year.

Advertising in a cross-cultural environment

More and more companies are operating internationally. International

advertising has to operate in different environments with different

Table 1.1 Total ad spend (Mln€) per year and market share of
media types in Western Europe (%)

Medium 2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021* 2022*

Internet 40.01 44.18 47.88 50.21 50.86 51.94

Television 26.89 25.62 24.10 24.33 23.76 23.31

Newspapers 13.13 11.34 10.09 9.21 8.91 8.49

Magazines 7.76 6.90 6.05 5.59 5.27 4.91

Outdoor 6.46 6.44 6.46 5.61 6.01 6.07

Radio 5.04 4.86 4.70 4.57 4.56 4.53

Cinema 0.71 0.66 0.72 0.48 0.63 0.75

Total ad 86,453 91,087 91,229 80,124 86,773 90,152

spend
(Mln€)

Note:  * figures are forecasts.

Source:  Based on data from https://​www​.statista​.com/​statistics/​799801/​ad​
-spend​-in​-western​-europe​-media/​.
 ADVERTISING TODAY 9

demographic, economic, geographic, technological, political, legal, and

especially cultural conditions. Besides different regulations regarding
advertising instruments, media availability and the popularity of different
media, cultural phenomena can have a major impact on international
advertising campaigns. Culture is the collective programming of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people
from those of another. In order to succeed in international marketing and
advertising, professionals have to understand these cultural differences
since consumers adhere to certain values and beliefs, and will there-
fore respond differently to advertising. International advertisers have to
understand other cultures and take them into account in their campaigns.

There are a number of important components of culture that may have an

impact on how advertising messages are perceived. First, there is verbal
language. Subtle differences or different pronunciations may convey
totally different meanings. For instance, in Asian countries such as Japan
and Thailand, language differs according to who is speaking. In Japan, the
level of formality of the language depends on the gender and the status
of the speaker. For marketing communications, this means that the seller
always has to place him- or herself in an inferior position. Furthermore,
translation of words may lead to more space requirements, which can
alter the overall layout of the ad. Also, non-verbal language is important.
Non-verbal language includes timing, spatial orientation, gestures, touch,
colors, and eye contact. Further, perceptions of time may be different.
Is time money or do people consider it to be indefinitely available?
A time-is-money person (such as in Europe and the U.S.A.) may find an
ad that appeals to “saving time” convincing, in contrast to people who do
not adhere to this time concept. Also, a distinction can be made between
a time orientation toward the past, present, or future. Many European
countries have an orientation toward the past, using the past to explain
where they are now. Americans are more future-orientated, while Muslim
countries are usually rather fatalistic and adhere to a present-time orien-
tation. For instance, history-related advertising appeals may not work so
well in the U.S.A.

There are also space-related issues. According to Hall’s “proxemics,”

Western countries are characterized by three primary zones of space:
the intimate zone (0–45 cm), the personal zone (45 cm–1 m) and the
social zone (1–2 m). These zones can be different in other parts of the
world. Northern Europeans, the English, and Americans are said to
10 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

have a low-touch culture, demonstrating low contact in public, while

Southern Europeans, Arabs, and Eastern Europeans are said to have
a high-touch culture. Colors have different meanings in different cultures.
For instance, in the U.S.A. and Europe, green is often associated with
freshness, the environment, and good health, but in countries with dense
green jungles it is associated with disease instead. Red suggests good
fortune in China but means death in Turkey. White stands for purity
and cleanliness in many European countries, but suggests death in many
Asian countries. Cultures also differ in the way they greet each other:
shaking hands, bowing, kissing, and so on. Patting a child on the head is
a sign of affection in Western cultures, but an insult in Islamic countries.
Looking someone straight in the eye is regarded positively by Europeans
and Americans because it is perceived as a sign of honesty. However, in
Japan you show respect by lowering your eyes.

Religion influences what is allowed to be said or shown in an advertising

message. For example, in France in 1998, Volkswagen had to withdraw
its billboards for the new Golf since it was said to mock the Last Supper.
Secondly, religion influences the value people attach to material goods.
According to Islam and Buddhism, material wealth is immoral, while in
the Western world wealth is a symbol of achievement. Therefore, status
appeals can be expected to be more successful in Western countries than
in Islamic or Buddhist countries. Thirdly, religion has an influence on
what products can and cannot be consumed.

Gender roles differ from one country to another. In some countries, in

advertising, women are expected to be depicted in the home taking care
of the children. In others, women are concerned with looking beautiful
or are often shown in white-collar and service occupations. In some
countries, advertising sticks much more to traditional gender roles than
in others. Using traditional gender roles in advertising may be advisable
in some countries, but not done in others.

Another relevant factor for advertising is the difference between high-

and low-context cultures. A high-context communication or message
is one in which most of the information is either in the physical context
or internalized in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit,
transmitted part of the message. A low-context communication is just the
opposite; that is, the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code.
In other words, in low-context cultures, a lot of emphasis is placed on
 ADVERTISING TODAY 11

words. One is as accurate, explicit, and unambiguous as possible so that

the receiver can easily decode the message and understand what is meant.
In high-context cultures words are one part of the message; the other part
is formed by body language and the context, that is, the social setting,
and the importance and knowledge of the person. In the latter case, the
message is more ambiguous and implicit. For example, Japanese ads
have been shown to contain fewer information cues, less emphasis on the
product’s benefits, fewer comparisons, and to consist of more emotional
appeals than American ads. In other words, in Japan a soft sell approach
is preferred, while in the U.S.A. a hard sell approach is more frequently
encountered.

Cultural values

According to Hofstede, six cultural value dimensions can be distinguished

which can explain the differences in culture across countries (Figure 1.1).
In individualist cultures there are loose ties between people and they look
after themselves and their immediate family only. In collectivistic cultures
people belong to strong, cohesive in-groups who look after and protect
each other in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. Central to individual-
ism is giving priority to personal goals over the goals of the group, as well
as an emphasis on differentiation and achievement, while collectivism
stands for the reverse: harmony, conformism, group goals, participa-
tion, and teamwork above all. This leads to differences in advertising
appreciation.

Power distance refers to the extent to which authority plays an important

role, and to what extent less powerful members of the society accept and
expect that power is distributed unequally. In high-power-distance cul-
tures, a few people have all the power and make all the decisions; the other
people carry out orders. In low-power-distance cultures, power is not con-
centrated in the hands of a few and interactions between people occur on
a more equal basis. For advertising, this might mean that expert endorsers
are more appropriate in high-power-distance cultures in which people are
used to being and expect to be told what to do, while information-dense
ads might be more appropriate in low-power-distance cultures in which
people appreciate making decisions on the basis of information offered. In
masculine cultures, assertiveness, competitiveness, achievement, heroism,
12 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Source:  Based on https://​hi​.hofstede​-insights​.com/​national​-culture.

Figure 1.1 Hofstede’s six dimensions of cultural values

status, and material rewards for success are valued highly, while in fem-
inine cultures, caring for others, a preference for cooperation, modesty,
caring for the weak, and quality of life are central values. This can have
a great impact on how, for instance, traditional stereotypical advertising
messages will be appreciated (or not) (Box 1.1).

Box 1.1 Research: a cross-cultural analysis of male

and female gender role stereotyping in
advertising

Gender role stereotypes refer to beliefs about the psychological traits,

behaviors, and occupational status that are regarded as differential-
ly appropriate for men or women. An empirical study compared re-
sponses to male and female gender role stereotypes in Sweden and
Germany, two countries that vary substantially in their cultural back-
ground. In comparison with the Swedish, Germans score higher on
cultural values such as masculinity, power distance, and assertiveness
values. The study was based on a 3 (degree of gender stereotyping:
counter-stereotypical, neutral, stereotypical) × 2 (model gender: male,
female) between-subjects experiment. An unknown brand of soda was
selected as the advertised product. The questionnaire was provided in
 ADVERTISING TODAY 13

Swedish to Swedish participants (n = 507) and in German to German

participants (n = 506). In each country, respondents were randomly
exposed to one of the six test advertisements, and completed a number
of online questions on the advertisement, the brand, and their cultural
values.

Overall, consumers responded more positively to ads with higher

perceived degrees of stereotyping, especially for male role portrayals.
Responses to stereotyping become more favorable with increasing de-
grees of masculinity and power distance. For high-assertiveness indi-
viduals the gender of the model influences ad and brand attitudes, while
this is not the case for low-assertiveness individuals. High-assertiveness
individuals have better ad and brand attitudes toward a higher degree
of stereotyping for male role portrayals and a lower degree of stereo-
typing for female role portrayals. Since high-assertiveness individuals
stress equity, competition, and performance, high-assertiveness indi-
viduals could prefer men and women in a working setting, instead of
a domestic setting, since a working setting stresses competition and a
“can-do” attitude.

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the degree to which members of a society

feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity and have a need for
structure and formal rules in their lives. High uncertainty avoidance
cultures maintain rigid codes of belief and behavior, and are intolerant
of unorthodox behavior and ideas. Weak uncertainty avoidance societies
maintain a more relaxed attitude in which practice counts more than
principles. Advertising for uncertainty avoidance cultures can focus
on expert appeals and provide information and guarantees to reas-
sure consumers. Societies prioritize either a long-term versus short-term
orientation. Societies that are short-term oriented prefer to maintain
time-honored traditions and norms while viewing societal change with
suspicion. Long-term oriented cultures, on the other hand, take a more
pragmatic approach: they encourage thrift and efforts in modern educa-
tion as a way to prepare for the future. Finally, there is the indulgence–
restraint dimension. Indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively
free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life
and having fun. Restraint stands for a society that suppresses gratification
of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms. It goes without
14 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

saying that these two latter dimensions will also be of great influence on
how advertising appeals persuade consumers or not.

Standardization or adaptation

Once a company decides to go international, one of the most important

strategic decisions to be made is to what extent to follow a global or
cross-culturally standardized strategy or a local adapted one. A standard-
ized (globalized) campaign is one that is run in different countries, using
the same concept, setting, theme, appeal, and message, with the possible
exception of translations. A local approach (localization or adaptation)
implies that most elements of the communications strategy are adapted
to local circumstances. Globalization of advertising generally leads to
cost reduction through economies of scale. Global campaigns offer the
advantage of globally exploiting a great creative idea and make things
simpler for the company in the sense that coordination and control of
the advertising program in different countries become easier. Moreover,
a global image can be created across different parts of the world. Brands
that have advertised globally include Nivea, Martini, L’Oréal, Xerox,
and Parker pens. Additionally, globalized advertising can help to create
a strong global brand identity. The perception of brand globalness is often
associated with prestige and quality, which benefits purchase intention.

However, the differences between nations’ and consumers’ cultures

around the world do not guarantee that the same ad can be similarly
effective in all the countries. People living in different cultures differ in
their beliefs, previous experiences, attitudes, values, and so on. Different
values might lead to different needs, different consumption behavior, and
different ways to persuade consumers by means of advertising. Localizing
an advertisement often increases self-brand congruity, which makes the
ad and the brand more appealing to local consumers. Often, the best way
to approach international markets is not to adhere to one of the extreme
strategies of globalization or localization, but to opt for a “global commit-
ment to a local vision,” or in other words to “think global, but act local”
(glocalization). If the brand positioning is a good one, the brand should
be rolled out in most countries. Also, an excellent creative idea can work
nearly everywhere. However, even the best ideas might need some adap-
tation in execution to get into the mindset of local people or to respect
 ADVERTISING TODAY 15

their cultural values. One example would be to work out a global creative
idea, but to adapt the advertising so that local presenters, experts, or celeb-
rities are employed, or that reference is made to local history or national
symbols: Big Ben in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Atomium in
Brussels, the gondolas in Venice. Glocalized advertising campaigns often
combine global elements, such as a global brand name and positioning,
with local elements, such as wording or a local celebrity endorser.

Box 1.2 Research: openness to foreign markets and

advertising adaptation

Through an online survey, 405 respondents from three countries,

Belgium (136), India (131), and Iran (138), were randomly assigned to
one of three advertising strategies. In each country, three different ads
were prepared for a fictitious brand of home cinema systems (TFX),
manipulated by two executional elements, i.e. the celebrity endorser
and advertising copy. Both elements were either fully adapted (local
celebrity and advertising copy) to the context of the three nations or
standardized (international celebrity and advertising copy). In addi-
tion, a glocalization strategy was created by combining a local celebrity
with an international advertising copy. To manipulate the advertising
copy, the language, the location, and the website domain were locally
adapted or internationally standardized. The international advertising
copy was drafted in English, mentioning three international metropoli-
tan cities and referring to a website “tfx.com.” The localized advertising
copy was in Hindi for India, in Farsi for Iran, and in Dutch for Belgium,
naming three metropolitan cities of each country (e.g., for India: Delhi,
Mumbai, and Kolkota), and referring to websites with adapted domains
of each country (e.g., for India: “tfx.in”).

The three countries have different levels of openness to foreign mar-

kets. To measure a nation’s openness to foreign markets, the KOF index
of globalization was used. The KOF index measures the social, cultural,
economic, and political openness of a country. It scores countries on
a 0–100 scale. On the basis of these scores, in 2017, Belgium was ex-
tremely open to foreign markets (KOF = 91.61, rank 2nd/191); India
scores a moderate 50.41 (rank 112th/191); Iran has a low KOF score of
41.27 (rank 156th/191).
16 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

The results of the study show the following. Societies with low open-
ness to foreign markets such as Iran consider foreign values and norms
as perceptually distant. In these societies, ads with international ele-
ments, either glocalized or standardized, are less positively received
than completely adapted ad appeals. In societies with a moderate
openness to foreign markets such as India, individuals have some con-
tact with foreign cultures, but also evaluate ads on the basis of their
congruency with their own local culture. As a result, advertising re-
quires at least a link to the local culture, through glocalization or com-
plete adaptation. In these countries, standardization of advertising is
a suboptimal strategy, but full adaptation is not necessary. In societies
with a high openness to foreign markets such as Belgium, individuals
have frequent contact with the norms and values of other cultures. In
those countries consumer responses do not differ significantly between
advertisement strategies. The results of the study show that glocaliza-
tion is as effective in moderately to highly open countries, while full
standardization can be equally effective for a nation with high level of
openness to foreign markets.

Some product categories seem to lend themselves better to a global

approach than others. For instance, some products can be sold to similar
target groups that share similar opinions, values, interests, and so on
across countries. Young people or people with a higher education, for
example, are very similar, whether they are French, Italian, German,
Belgian, or American. These groups, in general, are more open-minded,
less culturally bound, more receptive to international media, make more
use of international media, and have more international contacts and/or
go abroad more often. This factor explains the success of, for instance,
Calvin Klein and Apple. Images, visual messages, and international
music lend themselves more to standardization than a spoken or written
message. Examples of successful campaigns in this category are Levi’s,
Coca-Cola, Martini, Smirnoff vodka, perfume ads, and airline cam-
paigns. Luxury products are targeted at upper-class people who buy the
product for the status it brings. Because only the status and no product
information needs to be communicated, these appeals are easier to stand-
ardize. Innovative, high-tech products, such as the latest computers or
software, seem to be used everywhere in the same way, which can justify
a global appeal. Products with a country-of-origin appeal can be more
easily globalized. For instance, Belgium and Switzerland are famous for
 ADVERTISING TODAY 17

their chocolate, France and Italy for their wine, Japan for its technology,
Germany for its cars, and Switzerland for its watches. Products that
use a country-of-origin positioning may well be advertised by means of
a global approach.

Notes
1. https://​www​.kotlermarketing​.com/​phil​_questions​.shtml.
2. https:// ​ w ww ​ . economicsdiscussion​ . net/​ a dvertising/​ d efinitions​ - of​
-advertising/​31793.
3. https://​www​.internetworldstats​.com/​stats​.htm.
4. https://​ w ww​ . statista​ . com/​ s tatistics/​ 2 56300/​ t ime​ - spent​ - with​ - media​
-worldwide/​#:​~:​text​=​The​%20statistic​%20presents​%20data​%20on​,minutes​
%20per​%20day​%20in​%202021; https://​www​.statista​.com/​statistics/​319732/​
daily​-time​-spent​-online​-device/​.
5. https://​www​.dictionary​.com/​browse/​social​-media.
6. https://​www​.statista​.com/​statistics/​278414/​number​-of​-worldwide​-social​
-network​-users/​.
7. https://​www​.statista​.com/​statistics/​272014/​global​-social​-networks​-ranked​
-by​-number​-of​-users/​.
8. https://​www​.statista​.com/​chart/​18983/​time​-spent​-on​-social​-media/​#:​~:​
text​=​On​%20average​%20global​%20internet​%20users​,trends​%20differed​
%20widely​%20by​%20country.
9. https:// ​ w ww ​ . broadbandsearch​ . net/​ b log/​ a verage​ - daily​ - time​ - on​ - social​
-media.
10. http://​www​.globalwebindex​.com.
11. https://​www​.wordstream​.com/​blog/​ws/​2018/​07/​19/​advertising​-statistics.
12. https://​www​.emarketer​.com/​content/​global​-digital​-ad​-spending​-2019.
13. https://​www​.statista​.com/​topics/​5952/​television​-advertising​-worldwide/​.
14. https://​www​.statista​.com/​statistics/​303817/​mobile​-internet​-advertising​
-revenue​-worldwide/​#:​~:​text​=​In​%202019​%2C​%20mobile​%20advertising​
%20spending​,by​%20the​%20end​%20of​%202022.
2 Advertising formats

Types of advertising and appeals

Different types of advertising can be distinguished (Table 2.1). Advertising

can be defined on the basis of the sender of the message. Manufacturer
advertising is initiated by a manufacturing company that promotes its
own brands. Collective advertising takes place when a government or
public agent takes the initiative. Retail organizations (for instance super-
markets) also advertise. Sometimes two manufacturing companies, or
a retailer and a manufacturer, jointly develop an advertising campaign.
This is called cooperative advertising. Besides goods and services, ideas
can be promoted, mostly by not-for-profit organizations (e.g., wear your
seatbelt, support animal welfare).

Table 2.1 Types of advertising

Sender Message
 Manufacturer  Informational
 Collective  Transformational
 Retailer  Institutional
 Cooperative   Selective vs. generic
 Idea   Theme vs. action

Receiver Media
 Consumer  Audio-visual
 Industry  Print
 Trade
 Stakeholders

Offline vs. online Appeals

 Rational
 Emotional
 Endorsers

18
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 19

The intended receiver of the advertising message can be either a private

end-consumer or another company. In the latter case, the company may
buy the products to use in its own production process (industrial adver-
tising), or buy the products to resell them (trade advertising). Advertising
can also be targeted at stakeholders other than customers (e.g., suppliers,
banks, governments, investors) in the context of corporate communica-
tions that is aimed at establishing and maintaining the corporate reputa-
tion. Different types of advertising can also be distinguished according
to the type of message conveyed. Informational advertising tries to
appeal to informational buying consumer motives such as solving or
avoiding a problem, or normal stock depletion (e.g., detergents, diapers,
insurance). Transformational advertising appeals to transformational
consumer motives, such as sensory gratification, social approval, or
intellectual stimulation (e.g., ice cream, nice cars, books). Institutional
advertising is the term used to describe government campaigns. Selective
advertising campaigns try to promote a specific brand, while a generic
advertising campaign promotes a whole product category, such as French
wine or Italian fashion. Theme advertising attempts to build awareness
and positive attitudes toward a brand or a product. Action advertising
tries to activate consumers, for instance to visit a store or a website or to
buy a product. Finally, different types of campaigns can be distinguished
on the basis of the type of medium in which the ad is placed, such as
audio-visual (e.g., television or radio) and print (e.g., newspapers or
magazines).

Advertising agencies or creatives can use a multitude of appeals, formats,

and execution strategies to express or translate their creative idea. Two
main types of creative appeals can be distinguished: rational appeals
and emotional appeals. Rational advertising appeals contain features,
practical details, and verifiable, factually relevant cues that can serve
as evaluative criteria. Emotional advertising appeals are advertisements
whose main purpose is to elicit affective responses. Mixed appeals employ
both rational and emotional elements. For both emotional and rational
appeals, different formats or execution strategies and different types
of endorsers can be used (Table 2.2). Several of the formats that can be
used for rational appeals could just as well be used for emotional appeals,
although they are discussed here only once. For example, a comparative
ad can be purely factual, describing own and competitive prices, but could
also be humorous, such as Virgin’s campaign featuring large billboards in
airports with the message “Enjoy your overpriced flight.”
20 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Table 2.2 Advertising appeals

Rational appeals Emotional appeals

  Talking head  Humor
 Demonstration  Eroticism
  Problem solution  Warmth
 Testimonial  Fear
  Slice of life   Shock tactics
 Dramatization
  Comparative ads

Endorsers
 Experts
 Celebrities
 Influencers

Rational appeals
Rational ads may contain one or several information cues, such as price,
quality, performance, components, availability, special offers, taste, nutri-
tion, warranties, research results, new ideas, and safety. A talking head
format is an ad in which the characters tell a story in their own words.
Usually these formats have a problem–solution structure. In a demon-
stration, consumers are shown how a product works, focusing on product
attributes and/or benefits and product uses while demonstrating the
product. For example, when the brand Febreze was launched in Europe,
ads showed consumers that the product could be used for preventing
disturbing odors in clothes, sofas, curtains, cars, and so on. A problem
solution ad shows how a problem can be solved or avoided. For example,
the ads for Head & Shoulders feature an elegant-looking business profes-
sional wearing a nice dark suit. Unfortunately, he has a dandruff problem
which clearly shows on the suit: Head & Shoulders can solve this problem.
A testimonial features ordinary people saying how good a product is.
Typical products which are advertised in this way are detergents: “I really
was amazed; my clothes have never been so white.” Testimonials are
often effective because they rely on the positive membership reference
group effect: people like to take other people that have had and solved
similar problems as an example and inspiration. Slice-of-life ads feature
the product being used in a real-life setting that the target group can relate
to, which usually involves solving a problem. Dramatization advertising is
rather similar to a slice of life. Both first present a problem and afterward
the solution, but a dramatization builds suspense and leads consumers to
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 21

a climax. Comparative advertising can be used as a means to differentiate

a brand from a competitor. A direct comparative ad explicitly names the
comparison brand (often a well-known competitive brand) and claims
that the comparison brand is inferior to the advertised brand with respect
to a specific attribute. An indirect comparative ad does not explicitly
mention a comparison brand, but argues to be superior on a certain
attribute compared with other brands (“Gillette, the best a man can get”).

Emotional appeals
Emotional advertising tries to evoke emotions in consumers rather than
to make them think. Emotional ads mainly consist of non-verbal elements
such as images and emotional stimuli. Humorous advertising is an appeal
created with the intent to make people laugh. Humor in advertising has
been studied by many researchers, and overall there is only one aspect on
which agreement can be found: humor attracts attention. However, there
may be a distraction effect in that humorous advertising attracts attention
to the ad, but not necessarily to the brand. Humorous advertising appears
to be more appropriate for low- than for high-involvement products,
and in situations where consumers are affectively (“feel”) rather than
cognitively (“think”) motivated. Consequently, humor should be avoided
for high-involvement/cognitive products, such as banking and insurance,
and is expected to work better for low-involvement/affective products
such as ice cream and cookies. In general, humor seems to be more effec-
tive for existing and familiar brands than for new and unfamiliar brands,
and humor that is related to the product is more effective than unrelated
humor. Finally, humor may have a detrimental effect when prior brand
evaluations are negative. In other words, if you are convinced that a Lion
bar tastes awful and sticks to your teeth, you are more likely to think that
the company wants to be funny, but is not funny at all, while a positive
brand attitude leads to more tolerance and acceptance of humorous
advertising.

An ad is erotic if it uses nudity, physical contact between two adults,

sexy or provocatively dressed person(s), provocative or seductive facial
expression, and suggestive words or sexually laden music. Erotic adver-
tising attracts attention, albeit not always to the brand or the message.
Indeed, many studies show that eroticism reduces brand and message
recall. Another negative aspect on which most researchers agree is that
eroticism has a negative impact on the image of the advertiser. The more
22 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

intense the eroticism or, in other words, the more overt the sex appeal, the
more negative the responses to the ad become. The more the erotic appeal
is related to the product, the more positive the responses to it become.
In other words, functional products such as underwear, bath foam or
shower cream, and romantic products such as perfume, aftershave,
alcohol, or cosmetics are expected to benefit more from an erotic appeal
than other product categories such as coffee or a lawnmower. Warm
advertising contains elements that evoke mild, positive feelings such as
love, friendship, coziness, affection, and empathy. Although mixed results
have been reported as to the effect of warmth on message and brand recall
and recognition, warmth leads to more positive affective responses, less
negative feelings such as irritation, a more positive attitude toward the ad
and toward the brand, and sometimes an enhanced purchase intention.

Fear appeal advertising (or threat-based advertising) shows a certain type

of risk (threat) that a person might be exposed to and which she usually
can reduce by buying a product (e.g., insurance) or not buying one or
acting in a certain way (e.g., not drinking when driving). Risks that might
be used in fear appeal are physical (bodily harm, often used for burglar
alarms, toothpaste, analgesics), social (being socially ostracized, often
used for deodorants, dandruff shampoo, mouthwash), time (spending
a lot of time on an unpleasant activity while the activity can be performed
in less time; for instance, when introducing dishwashers, messages such
as “Do you realize that most people spend X years of their life washing
the dishes?”), product performance (competitive brands do not perform
adequately; Dyson vacuum cleaners are promoted as having no bag,
which makes them the only cleaner to maintain 100% suction, 100% of
the time), financial (losing a lot of money, typically used by insurance
companies), and opportunity loss (missing a special opportunity if they
do not act right away; e.g., the Belgian mobile phone provider Proximus
ran a campaign with the message: “Subscribe now to Proximus, and pay
nothing until April”). Research shows that threat appeals are capable of
sensitizing people to threats and of changing their behavior (Box 2.1).

Box 2.1 Research: how fear appeals work

Fear or threat appeals are persuasive messages designed to scare people

by describing the terrible things that will happen to them if they do not
do what the message recommends. Threat appeals are often used as
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 23

persuasive messages in public service announcements or social profit

campaigns, for instance anti-smoking, HIV, speeding, drunk driving,
but also commercial companies such as banks and insurance compa-
nies occasionally use threat appeals. The objective is to increase the
involvement of people with an issue or a problem by presenting it as
threatening, and to offer a credible solution, such as the adaptation of
a certain behavior, or purchasing a certain brand. Several mechanisms
for how fear appeals work have been proposed.

“Drive models” claim that moderate levels of fear appeals work best:
some fear is needed to motivate people to reach a negative drive state.
However, the fear has to be able to be reduced (drive reduction). If fear
is too high, maladaptive behavior will follow as a result of “reactance,”
the motivation to resist any perceived threat to one’s freedom to make
up one’s own mind about an issue. The Protection Motivation Theory
(PMT), on the other hand, prescribes that four independent cognitive
responses mediate the impact of a threat appeal on coping attitudes,
intentions, and behavior: perceived severity, an individual’s beliefs
about the seriousness of the threat; perceived susceptibility or prob-
ability of occurrence, an individual’s beliefs about his or her chances
of experiencing the threat; perceived response efficacy, an individual’s
beliefs as to whether a response effectively prevents the threat; and per-
ceived self-efficacy, an individual’s belief in his or her ability to per-
form the recommended response. Perceived severity and susceptibility
represent the perceived level of threat; perceived response efficacy and
self-efficacy represent the perceived level of efficacy to do something
about the threat. Threat messages consequently lead to protection mo-
tivation which, in turn, has an impact on attitudes and coping intention
and behavior.

The Extended Parallel Processing Model defines two reactions to threat

appeals: a mainly cognitive one (danger control), where people think
about the threat and ways to avert it; and a mainly emotional one (fear
control), in which people react to their fear and engage in strategies
(reactance, defensive avoidance) to control their fear. Too high levels of
evoked fear may lead to fear control and thus to ineffective messages.
High levels of threat (caused by or inducing fear), combined with high
levels of coping efficacy perception (“I can do something about it”),
lead to danger control and message acceptance: people feel threatened,
but have the impression that they can do something about it. On the
24 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

other hand, high levels of threat combined with low levels of perceived
coping efficacy lead to fear control and message rejection. People feel
threatened and get the impression that they cannot do anything about
it, and hence ignore or reject the message.

Shock advertising deliberately startles and offends an audience because it

violates norms, transgresses laws or customs (e.g., indecent sexual refer-
ence, obscenity), or breaches a social or moral code (e.g., vulgarity, gratui-
tous violence, disgusting images). Examples are the Benetton ads showing
a nun kissing a priest or a man dying of AIDS. The main advantage of
these tactics is that they secure the audience’s attention. Recipients of
these messages usually also engage in more cognitive elaboration because
they want to figure out what the message is all about. Moreover, shock
ads often generate (online) word-of-mouth and media publicity, thereby
increasing their reach and impact.

Endorsers
Besides testimonials of consumers, in advertising, a brand, product, or
claim can be endorsed by experts, celebrities, or influencers. Experts can
be used to demonstrate the quality or high technology of a product. For
example, toothpaste brands are often promoted by means of someone
in a white lab coat to imply a dentist’s opinion. The effectiveness of this
type of ad is assumed to be based on the perceived credibility of the
expert’s judgment. Celebrities can also be used to endorse a product.
Their effectiveness is based on the “aspiration group” effect. Examples of
celebrity endorsement are George Clooney for Nescafé, LeBron James for
Nike, and Rihanna for Puma. Several studies have shown that celebrities
can have a direct positive impact on ad likeability and also an indirect
effect on brand attitude and purchase intentions. According to the Source
Credibility Model, the celebrity should be credible in the sense that he
or she has expertise and is trustworthy. Expertise is the extent to which
an endorser is perceived to be an expert with respect to the product, the
problem the product solves, or the benefit a product can provide. The
trustworthiness of an endorser is the degree to which the endorser is per-
ceived to be honest and believable. According to the Source Attractiveness
Model, attractiveness, the extent to which the celebrity is physically per-
ceived to be attractive and is liked by the target group, plays an important
role. Finally, according to the Product Match-Up Hypothesis, there should
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 25

be an appropriate fit between the endorser’s image, personality, lifestyle,

and so on, and the product advertised. In this respect, it should be added
that the behavior of the celebrity may turn against a brand that he or she is
associated with. For instance, Tiger Woods got himself into trouble with
his love life. As a result, the long-standing relationship between Woods
and Accenture was ended. One specific type of endorser is influencers
(discussed further on in this chapter).

The distinction between offline and online advertising is a particular one

(discussed further in this and in following chapters). Online advertising is
different from offline advertising in several important ways. As a response
to online advertising, consumers can go all the way from building
awareness to interest to desire to action, all within the same medium and
within the same session. Most offline advertising formats are not suitable
to accomplish this. Advertising on social media encourages (potential)
customers to engage in interactions with the company or brand (brand
engagement, the amount and intensity of user involvement), and to
share brand-related knowledge with others or create their own content
(user-generated content). Offline advertising cannot accommodate this.
Online advertising is interactive in nature. Consumers click, like, and
share them, or write comments. Probably the most remarkable feature
of online ads is that they are increasingly personalized or customized.
Social media platforms continuously collect personal data from their
users, based on their online behavior. They allow advertisers to use this
information to customize and personalize their messages to specific
target groups, far beyond what is possible and common for advertising
in traditional media (Chapter 4 goes deeper into these issues). This does
not mean that the offline and online environments are separate worlds.
In advertising, campaigns should reflect real life: consumers use both
types of media in an integrated way. For instance, people combine online
and offline shopping. There is the ROPO phenomenon: research online,
purchase offline. Consumers consult online sources but buy in a tradi-
tional brick-and-mortar shop. Conversely, there is also the showrooming
effect: consumers check out products in a physical shop and then buy
them online. Traditional offline advertising channels, such as magazines,
newspapers, and television, are still powerful media for reaching out to
customers with information about new products and directing them to
the web.
26 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Contemporary advertising formats

Besides traditional forms of advertising, such as commercials on tel-

evision and radio, ads in newspapers, magazines, and billboards, and
banners on websites, there are several relatively new formats that have
been developed more recently or have existed for a while, but have
recently become popular again. Shifting media usage, advertising avoid-
ance, skepticism toward advertising, and advertising overkill cast doubts
about the effectiveness and efficiency of traditional advertising formats.
Consequently, advertisers are looking for new ways to reach and per-
suade their audiences. This has given rise to new advertising formats.
Contemporary formats have one or more of the following characteristics.
First of all, nowadays, commercial messages are often integrated in other
media content. Perhaps the most typical examples are product or brand
placement and in-game advertising (see hereafter). These formats are
called “hybrid” or “hidden but paid for” because they integrate commer-
cial messages into editorial content in such a way that the audience is
reached and influenced, often without being aware of it.

Several contemporary formats have become popular as a result of the

digital revolution of the past decades. Contrary to most traditional adver-
tising, contemporary online formats are interactive in that they contain
a clickable link, by means of which advertisers can activate prospective
customers to interact with the company or the brand. Viewers can click
on the link to reach a brand or company landing page on which they can
find information, leave their email address, subscribe to a newsletter,
or buy products. Third, online advertising is increasingly personalized,
or rather customized: what people see online is based on their previous
online behavior. While browsing the Internet, people leave traces that
reveal personal data, such as gender, age, marital status, family composi-
tion, and job, but also their lifestyles and interests. This data is analyzed
by online platforms and used by advertisers to reach specific audiences
with the right message at the right place, and, hopefully, at the right time.

Contemporary formats that exist online and offline are discussed first.
Online formats are dealt with in the next section.
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 27

Brand placement
Brand placement, more commonly referred to as product placement, is the
paid inclusion of brand identifiers in editorial content. It is a hybrid com-
bination of advertising and sponsorship. Companies pay moviemakers,
TV program producers, authors, and game developers to include brand
identifiers in their editorial content. As far back as the 1930s, actors were
paid by cigarette companies to smoke the brand in the movies in which
they appeared. The popular television format called “soap opera” was
initially conceptualized as an advertising vehicle for laundry detergents.
Brand placement is big business. Worldwide, brand placement revenues
show a year-on-year increase of 15% to reach more than $20 billion in
2019 and, after a standstill in the Covid-19 year 2020, it is projected that,
from 2021 onwards, annual growth will be 10%–15%.1 Products or brands
were originally mainly placed in movies and TV shows, but also entire
television programs can be produced to promote a brand or a company, in
which case they are called advertising-funded programs (AFPs) (Box 2.2).
In scripted programs, the brand can be integrated into the plot in a natural
way and it can be shown, mentioned, or both. In non-scripted programs
such as reality shows, lifestyle programs, and quizzes, brands can be used
as prizes, tools, or ingredients.

Brands have also proliferated in other forms of editorial content such as

music videos, books, influencer vlogs, and games. For instance, brand
integration in and around games (in-game advertising) went from a total
value of $1.4 billion in 2010 to $5.05 billion in 2020.2 For instance, in
a car game, Ford can be replaced by BMW if the player appears to be
a BMW fan. Also, interactive brand placement is possible. If the viewer
watches a program on a digital platform, and an actor drinks a bottle
of beer, for instance by clicking on the bottle, the viewer can enter an
advertising message, a promotion offer, or a Wikipedia-like environment
in which comments of other users can be read and their own comments
can be added. One specific form of in-game advertising is advergames.
These are online games specifically created to promote a brand, product,
service, or idea. The advertising message becomes an integral part of
playing the game. Their entertainment value leads to longer interaction
time and more brand immersion, and can evoke consumer responses
such as forwarding the message to friends and relatives. Online games
and advergames are tools that permit the online marketer to build brand
awareness and brand image, drive traffic, conversion and sales, and facil-
28 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

itate collecting data, through a more interactive user experience. They

allow voluntary self-induced exposure to brand communications and are
a non-intrusive and non-interruptive means of online advertising.

Brand placement also occurs in books. For instance, Fay Weldon’s The
Bulgari Connection was commissioned by the renowned jewelry designer
Bulgari; Carole Matthew’s novel The Sweetest Taboo was sponsored
by Ford; and William Boyd’s short story “The Vanishing Game” was
published as an interactive e-book and commissioned by Land Rover.
Music videos also contain brands. For instance, Diet Coke in Lady
Gaga’s “Telephone,” EOS lip balm in Miley Cyrus’ “We can’t stop,” and
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 in Ariana Grande’s “Focus.”

Box 2.2 Practice: using online games as advertising

tools

In April 2015, HBO launched the fifth season of Game of Thrones, an

epic fantasy drama series, by organizing an online dragon hunt on
Twitter. Fans of the show were able to hunt Drogon tweeting Game
of Thrones themed GIFs as dragon bait together with the hashtag
#CatchDrogon. If Drogon took the bait, fans received a response to the
tweet and had to retweet the post quickly before the dragon took off.
Fans that retweeted quickly enough to catch him received unique con-
tent or prizes. A GIF of Drogon flying away was posted on the feed of
those who weren’t quick enough. The game earned more than 948.5
million tweets globally, making it the highest daily total for Game of
Thrones. Buzz was also created on Facebook as 6.6 million people had
over 12 million interactions relating to the Game of Thrones premiere.

Mondelez-owned Milka designed a gaming app to promote its range

of biscuits in France called “the Milka biscuit saga.” The brand created
technology to allow multiple players to connect their iPhones simul-
taneously and play together. The app contained nine mini games, and
players could win brand goodies and virtual cookies. Players could also
create their own avatar personalizing Milka cookies. Two months after
the app was released it had reached 1.1 million downloads, making it
the most downloaded app in that year. The game led to a 17% increase
in volume sales.
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 29

Italian fashion house Gucci partnered with an animated avatar start up

Genies, to reach and engage young people. The majority of Genies’ us-
ers are 18 to 25 years old and can design their custom avatars. “Gucci x
Genies” made Gucci the app’s exclusive provider of luxury avatar appar-
el, giving users access to more than 200 virtual pieces from a real-world
collection. Once created, avatars could be used across messaging apps.3

Brand placement can be prominently or subtly integrated. Prominent

integration means that the brand is very prominently present in the
editorial content in that brand identifiers (products or logos) are shown
frequently, are central on the screen, are shown or explicitly mentioned,
and/or for a long period of time. Subtle integration means that the brand
identifiers are less prominently present. Brand placement can also be
more or less connected to the plot. Plot connection means that the brand
is inherently part of the story or script. Less plot-connected placements
have a minor role in the story. Highly plot-connected and prominent
placements enhance brand awareness and memory. Highly prominent but
not plot-connected placement has been shown to damage brand attitudes.
The best effect on brand attitudes is reached with highly plot-connected
and subtle placements. Brands can also be integrated in different ways: as
props (products that are visible but not used), in-use (products that are
used by the actors or characters in the show), or look-and-feel, where part
of the program is “taken over” by the identity of the brands, for instance
by using the brand colors or logo.

Brand placement may be an effective advertising tool. First, advertising

that is integrated in editorial content cannot be avoided or “zapped.”
Viewers are often highly involved and connected with their favorite
program; they are carried away in the program, a phenomenon called
narrative transportation, telepresence, or flow. Consequently, due to
meaning and affective transfer and assimilation effects, build memory and
connections activate positive emotions and develop favorable attitudes
toward brands used in them. Later exposure to advertising will benefit
from the “mere exposure effect” (positive effect from exposure to a brief
stimulus). Brand placement is most effective when there is a fit between
products, characters and viewers. In brand placement, there is also an
implied endorsement effect from (famous) actors. Viewers identify and
build a relationship with trustworthy and likeable spokespeople, such as
actors, and learn from them what a brand means and how, when, and by
30 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

whom it is used (social learning). In many cases, viewers are hardly aware
of the placements and do not consider them as having commercial intent.
In other words, there is less “persuasion knowledge” than with advertis-
ing. Therefore, some claim that brand placement is inherently deceptive.
Disclosure of brand placement may serve to increase the accessibility of
the persuasive or commercial intent behind placing brands (Box 2.3).

Box 2.3 Research: program liking and brand–

program fit

Integrating brands in media content can induce a process of “affect

transfer” in which content-related feelings and thoughts spill over to
placed brands. Additionally, it can be expected that a high degree of
perceived fit between the program and the placed brand facilitates af-
fect transfer. In other words, attitude objects (a program and a brand)
that match well are strongly connected through shared associations.
Furthermore, it can be expected that a high degree of perceived fit
strengthens the connection between the brand and the program, mak-
ing the effect of program liking on brand attitude more resistant to
temporal deterioration.

These expectations were studied in a Belgian field study about the pro-
gram De Designers, the local version of Project Runway. De Designers
is a ten-episode advertiser-funded fashion designer competition. The
program was sponsored by a well-known Belgian fashion retailer. The
winner of the competition got to design his/her own clothes collec-
tion, which would be sold in the retailer’s stores. The brand was an
essential part of the competition and the program. Each episode con-
tained several brand placements in the form of verbal mentions, brand
logos in the designers’ workshop, and so on. At regular times during
the competition, the participants visited the retailer’s designers or the
retailer’s stores. The sponsor brand was also shown and mentioned in
the program’s end credits. Short- and longer-term brand placement ef-
fects were measured through an online questionnaire one week and
one month, respectively, after the program finale was broadcast.

The results show that program liking positively impacts brand attitude
for the sponsor, both immediately after the program and in the longer
run. Furthermore, the effect of program liking is reinforced by a higher
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 31

degree of perceived fit between the sponsor brand and the program.
A high degree of perceived brand–program fit is even more crucial
in the longer term. When the perceived brand–program fit is low, the
passing of time wipes out the program liking effect on brand attitude.
However, this is not the case when the perceived brand–program fit
is high. Advertising professionals should keep in mind that, although
placing brands in well-liked content is beneficial, in the long run,
a good match between the brand and the content reinforces the atti-
tudinal benefits the brand draws from the entertaining nature of the
content.

Ambient advertising
Ambient advertising is “advertising with a ‘wow’ factor.” It is usually
original, surprising, and spectacular, and mostly associated with outdoor
advertising. Examples are light projections on famous landmarks, huge
posters on building sites, transformation of public vehicles, street art, or
“flash mobs,” sudden and temporary pop-up events to promote a brand.
Related terms for this type of advertising are street marketing and guer-
rilla marketing.

Stealth advertising
Stealth advertising is the use of marketing practices that do not disclose
or reveal the true relationship between the message and the company that
pays for it. It is an advertising method in which consumers are often not
aware that they are being exposed to advertising. For instance, a mobile
phone manufacturer paid students to walk around in busy places and ask
people to take their picture “with their brand new mobile phone with the
fantastic camera.” Obviously, since the company’s commercial intent is
not disclosed, stealth advertising is often considered to be an unethical
practice.

Buzz marketing
Word of mouth has always been important in influencing people’s
buying behavior. Buzz marketing is advertising that uses public relations
techniques. It is deliberately creating news, giving people a reason to talk
about products and brands, and making it easier for conversations to take
32 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

place. Buzz marketing is aimed at spreading the message through the per-
sonal network of consumers. It is “organized word of mouth.” Typically,
people like to talk about intimacies, sex, the extraordinary, the unusual,
fun things, a story with a special angle, and secrets.

Content marketing and storytelling

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating
and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and
retain a clearly defined audience and, ultimately, to drive profitable cus-
tomer action. Content marketing usually does not have a direct product
selling intent. It is creating and communicating content that is relevant
for the target audience and, in that way, builds up knowledge, trust, and
a favorable disposition toward brands. In traditional media, for instance,
sponsored magazines are magazines that are produced by marketers
(“owned media”) to create context for and promote their brands. They
look and feel like ordinary magazines, offer content that relates to the
products of the company, and integrate the company’s brands in a subtle
way. An online example is native advertising (see hereafter).

A special form of content marketing is storytelling. Advertisers increas-

ingly use storytelling to create a meaningful context for their brands.
Stories create context for a message, and they are appealing and easily
remembered. Stories can help customers to identify with a brand, its
history, the founder of the brand, brand myths, brand heroes, the charac-
ters in the story, the lifestyle a brand represents, and so on, and they are
easily shared with other people. Companies that do storytelling advertis-
ing well are Lego and Harley-Davidson (Box 2.4).

Box 2.4 Practice: Guinness: made of more

For many years, the beer brand Guinness focused on dramatizing

product truths with the tagline “Good things come to those who wait.”
However, half the population of the world who drink Guinness don’t
actually have to wait for it to be poured on tap, because they buy it
in bottles or cans. Guinness decided to develop a new message strat-
egy and a new positioning approach, focusing on the shared attitude
between brand, product, and drinker. The new strategy was based on
the idea that Guinness is a bold brand and a bold product for bold
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 33

people. Guinness identified an aspirational and bold consumer attitude

amongst its beer drinkers. They are those in life who don’t just want
to follow the crowd, but instead make bold choices and carve their
own path. In 2012, the message strategy was changed accordingly, with
a new tagline “Made of More.” Guinness tells stories of how unexpected
character in people and beer enriches the world around us, and told
stories about contemporary, often controversial, themes including dis-
ability, war, gang violence, LGBT rights, and racial equality. The Made
of More stories were distributed on various social media channels.

Guinness made campaign videos about a group of friends playing

wheelchair basketball. At the end of the game, all the friends unexpect-
edly stand and walk away from their wheelchairs, revealing that only
one of the players is wheelchair bound. In “The Sapeurs” a real group of
men form “The Society of the Elegant Persons of the Congo.” Ordinary
people by day, by night they dress in flamboyant suits, coming togeth-
er to bring joy to their community. The next major project in 2015,
the year of the Rugby World Cup, was to create videos to uncover two
rugby stories that went beyond rugby physicality that challenged con-
ventional views of men and masculinity. The first one was the story of
rugby’s first openly gay player (Gareth Thomas) who kept his sexual-
ity secret for years. He found the courage to confront his demons and
“come out,” with the encouragement of his teammates. The second was
the story of Springbok Ashwin Willemse, who had to choose between
two paths: a notorious Cape Town gang and rugby. The Guinness story
celebrates his choice to defy his circumstances. In 2017, Guinness told
the story of John Hammond, a man with a passion for music of black
origin. He stood up to prejudice in the 1930s, championing the poten-
tial of black and white artists working together. The story demonstrates
Guinness’ belief in character, integrity, and communion. In 2018, the
Compton Cowboys video was released: young men whose passion is
to ride horses in South Central LA, a region better known for its crime
and violence. By refusing to be defined by our environment and rising
above it we can inspire those around us to do the same. The story was
launched with a range of formats and on multiple social media plat-
forms. It has become a best-practice case study used by both Google
and Facebook. In 2019, Liberty Fields told the story of Japan’s first wom-
en’s rugby team, celebrating the athletes’ resilience and strength in the
face of social prejudice. The film was backed by a documentary, social
media activations, an ITV (UK) special, and venue takeovers.
34 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

The Made of More work received 148 creative awards, including gold
at the 2020 IPA Effectiveness Awards. The campaign videos received
many millions of views on social media. Follow-up stories behind the
Compton Cowboys held viewers’ attention for minutes. Brand aware-
ness increased significantly and, in consumer research, Guinness
scored significantly higher than the category average on several im-
portant brand values. The brand realized significantly higher volumes
than before, and return on investment was higher than ever and also
greater than their competitors. Thanks to the “consistency x creativity
effect,” Made of More is estimated to have generated an extra £1bn in
sales for Guinness in Ireland and Great Britain alone.4

The formats discussed so far can be developed online and offline. The
next section examines online formats.

Online advertising formats

Brand websites
Brand websites are sites with specific brand-related information and/or
services. Although, strictly speaking, they are not advertising, they play
an important role in the advertising context. A brand website is neces-
sary for “maintenance communication” all year round, 24 hours a day.
Additionally, it is not just the brand website that is a communication tool,
but also its social media presence, such as a Facebook brand page or an
Instagram brand profile. A tailor-made brand site can also be used for
a short period during an advertising campaign. These temporary sites are
also called micro-sites. They often function as “landing pages” for online
advertising campaigns. Online advertising can drive an audience directly
to a specific URL, so that the pertinent information is only a few clicks
away. They are a good way to isolate a user and keep them focused on one
product or a specific range of products, or to convert a visitor who has
clicked on a link in an online ad into a “lead,” and further activate him or
her to become a customer.

Unlike traditional advertising, which are push instruments, online mar-

keting communications often require an action from the consumer as the
Internet is a pull medium. Websites need continuous traffic-generating
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 35

efforts (to attract visitors to the site). Successful traffic generators are
online advertising, including the URL on corporate media (stationery
such as business cards, letterheads, and brochures), on packaging, and in
offline advertising. An important technique to generate traffic to a website
is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search engines have been called
“the new homepage for brands and businesses.” It is thus important to
be high on the list in search engines. Some web agencies are specialists
in registering sites in top and niche search engines and in improving
their rankings on the engine. Another way of increasing search engine
share-of-voice is keyword buying, one of the online advertising techniques
explained below. Presence on social media can generate free organic reach
(earned media): followers of these brand pages or profiles and fans like,
share, and comment upon branded posts on these platforms.

Native advertising
In traditional media, there are advertorials and infomercials. Advertorials
are print advertisements (in newspapers and magazines) that match the
form and style of the medium. Infomercials are a similar format, but on
television. They look and feel like a genuine short TV program, but in
fact are long TV spots. Both formats are to a certain extent “hidden.”
Advertisers and media are obliged to disclose the commercial nature of
this editorial content, but readers or viewers often overlook this disclo-
sure and see the message as (partly) editorial. Native advertising refers
to a similar online advertising format. Examples are the advertisements
that appear in the Facebook newsfeed or in online newspapers. The
word “native” refers to the content’s coherence with other content on the
website. In native advertising, ads can be shown naturally and without
interrupting the flow of, for instance, browsing through a Facebook
newsfeed or online news media. Often, native ads are content marketing
pieces that often also contain a call-to-action, a link that redirects readers
to a landing page.

In-app advertisements
In-app  advertisements are displayed within a mobile  app. These can be
anything from a sponsored post or tweet to a banner or autoplay video in
a game. They can be static or contain animations integrated into the app.
Native ads in apps are a more advanced version of banner or video ads
in that they are even more integrated into the app, making them less
36 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

intrusive. Features such as location data and advanced campaign analytics

make in-app ads a highly targeted path to reaching and converting users.

Influencer marketing
An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase deci-
sions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or rela-
tionship with the audience. Most of the time they have built a reputation
for their knowledge and expertise on one or more topics. They are active
in social media, where they have accounts on social media platforms. They
regularly post about these topics and thereby generate and actively engage
with enthusiastic, engaged followers who pay close attention to their
posts. Influencers differ from celebrities who endorse brands in advertis-
ing in that influencers are not “famous” because of sports performance,
singing, or acting in movies. They usually have become well-known and
highly regarded by their followers because of the credibility and trust-
worthiness they have built up as an opinion leader. Mega-influencers are
social superstars with more than one million followers; they are often
celebrities. Macro-influencers have between 100,000 and one million
followers. Micro-influencers have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers
and, while their following may be small(ish), their authenticity is high.
Finally, nano-influencers have fewer than 1,000 followers, but can have
a big influence with a comparatively narrow niche.

Marketers use social media influencers because they can create trends and
encourage their followers to buy products they promote. Ninety percent
of marketers believe that influencer marketing is effective, and indeed
they may be right: 70% of teenage YouTube subscribers say they relate to
YouTube creators more than traditional celebrities, 91% of millennials
trust online reviews as much as friends and family, and nearly 40% of
Twitter users say they’ve made a purchase as a direct result of a tweet from
an influencer. Brands can ask influencers to give exposure to their prod-
ucts in return for compensation in cash or kind (products). It is estimated
that every $1 spent on influencer marketing generates $5.20 extra revenue.
Micro-influencers appear to be more effective than macro-influencers.
Influencer marketing is booming business. In 2021, influencer marketing
budgets are estimated to be $13.8 billion. In a survey, 17% of marketers
claim to have a budget for content marketing, and 75% of them have
a dedicated budget for influencer marketing. Sixty-seven percent use
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 37

Instagram (down from 80% in 2020), 45% TikTok (increasing sharply),

43% Facebook, and 36% YouTube.5

Location-based advertising
Location-based advertising targets advertising messages to consumers
based on their location to promote location-based services. Examples
of location-based services are personal navigation (how do I get there?),
point-of-interest (what’s that?), reviews (what is the best restaurant in
the neighborhood?), friend-finder (where are you?), and family-tracker
services (where is my child?). These services are an opportunity for
marketers who can target consumers with messages at the right moment
and the right location to improve local shopping and buying experiences.
Geo-targeting is the practice of delivering user content to someone based
on their geographic location. It can be done on the city or postal code
level, by using an IP address or device ID, or with GPS signals.

Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing or affiliate networking is a performance-based mar-
keting technique often used by online retailers that reward one or more
affiliates for each visitor brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing
efforts (Figure 2.1). There are several options for affiliate compensation:
commission (for every sale which is a direct result of click-through
traffic from the affiliate’s website), pay per click, pay per lead (for every
person who signs up for something), residual income (for every time
a customer renews a service or purchases additional products after initial
click-through from an affiliate’s website), or pay per sale (for every time
a person purchases a product or service after clicking through an affiliate’s
website).

Nowadays, online advertising is mainly programmatic advertising, an

automated, technology-driven method of buying, selling, or fulfilling ad
placements. It uses real-time systems, algorithms, and rules to deliver the
automated purchase of data-driven, targeted, and relevant online display,
video, or mobile ads. In the following sections we describe specific
formats in programmatic advertising.
38 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Figure 2.1 Affiliate marketing

Search Engine Advertising (SEA): Google AdWords

Google’s search engine business model is largely based on Google AdWords
(also called keyword buying or Search Engine Advertising (SEA)). This is
a marketplace where companies pay to have their website displayed at
the top of a search results page, based on the keywords of Google users.
SEA allows precise targeting of an interested audience. When people go
to Google, they are looking for something specific and they are literally
telling Google what they are interested in by typing out words around
products and services (Figure 2.2). SEA is performance-based and its cost
depends on the effectiveness of the campaign. If the ad does not result in
clicks, leads or sales, companies don’t pay. In the Display Network option,
ads also show up on other websites and blogs Google has an affiliation
with. It is estimated that, in 2021 in the U.S.A., SEA accounts for 44% of
all online advertising spending, or $56 billion of the $130 billion in digital
ad spend.6

The video sharing platform YouTube is owned by Google, and follows

the same logic of keyword buying. YouTube offers a variety of ad formats.
Display ads appear to the right of the feature video, above the video sug-
gestions list – on desktop only. Overlay ads are semi-transparent ads that
appear on the lower 20% of a video – on desktop only. Skippable video
ads are the ads shown before, during, or after a video which a viewer
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 39

Figure 2.2 An ad on Google

can skip after a few seconds. Non-skippable video ads are video ads that
viewers must watch before they can view the main video. Bumper ads
must be watched for up to six seconds before the main video starts to roll.
Sponsored cards provide content relevant to the video, for example, prod-
ucts featured in the main video. Advertisers pay for an in-stream ad when
somebody watches at least 30 seconds of the ad (unless it is shorter). They
pay for a video discovery ad when somebody clicks on the ad.

Advertising on social networking sites and blogs

Advertising through social networking sites can be very effective to target
both new and returning customers, test ads in real time, use platform
analytics to determine best performing ads, and grow a brand’s fan base
and sales. Additionally, there is virtually no limit to a company’s ability
to scale the size of a campaign. In what follows, examples are given of ad
formats on a number of social media platforms. Each platform has an ad
manager module in which these formats can be selected and a campaign
can be developed.

Facebook offers four advertising possibilities: inside the newsfeed on

desktop or mobile, right-hand sidebar on desktop, and audience net-
working. Advertising inside the newsfeed is also called native advertising.
With audience networking advertising (making the advertising campaign
not only visible on Facebook (and on Instagram, which is owned by
Facebook), but also on affiliated websites, companies can expand their
40 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

campaigns to thousands of other websites and apps. Instagram offers the

same format, except for the right-hand sidebar option. By means of native
advertising, Facebook and Instagram want to integrate their ads into the
natural flow of the experience as seamlessly as possible. Ads on Facebook
usually have a “call to action” (CTA), such as: Book now, Contact us, Use
app, Play game, Shop now, Sign up, and Watch video.

Twitter offers advertising formats in four categories. Promoted tweets

can contain text, images, GIFs, polls, or accounts. Promoted videos can
be pre-roll, videos in which sponsorship is amplified, first-view videos
that only remain available for 24 hours, and are aimed at creating mass
awareness, and promoted live videos. Brand ads can be branded emojis,
brand reminders, promoted moments, or promoted trends. Finally, cards
can be website cards, app cards, carousels, and conversation cards. The
latter have an embedded CTA.

Pinterest provides four advertising formats. Standard pins appear in

the newsfeed like regular pins, but they contain the word “Promoted.”
They allow companies to showcase products and content in image or
video formats. When the Pinterest user clicks a standard pin, they are led
directly to a landing page of the brand. Carousel ads are similar to stand-
ard pins, except that they allow users to swipe through two to five images
or videos (named “cards”). Each card can contain its own link leading to
up to five different landing pages. With Shopping pins, a company can
upload products from its catalogue and turn them into pins. Brands use
them to promote things such as the latest spring fashion, living room
decor, fitness equipment, and more. The campaign objective for shopping
pins is conversions, i.e., driving sales. Finally, Promoted App pins make
it easy for people to discover and download apps directly from Pinterest.
When someone clicks on a Promoted App pin, they can download their
new app without having to leave Pinterest.

LinkedIn offers four ad formats. Sponsored Content is native ads that

appear directly in the LinkedIn feed of professions a company wants to
reach, and comes in three different formats: single image ads, video ads,
and carousel ads. With Message Ads, companies can reach their pros-
pects on LinkedIn Messaging. With Message Ads, companies can send
direct messages to their prospects to spark immediate action. A Dynamic
Ad enables a company to personalize their creative approach for each
member in their target audience. Dynamic Ads use LinkedIn profile data
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 41

– like photo, company name, and job title – to personalize ads. Finally,
Text Ads are simple pay-per-click (PPC) or cost per 1,000 impressions
(CPM) ads. Companies only pay for the ads that work, per click, or per
impression.

Snapchat also provides a number of ad formats. Top Snap Only ads display
a single piece of content at the top of the feed. These ads are suitable for
promoting events, sales, or other one-off activities. Brands often use them
to drive people to a website landing page, to watch a long-form video,
or to install an app. Long-Form Video ads can be up to 10 minutes long.
Web View ads are like Top Snap Only ads, with the additional feature
that lets users swipe up on the ad and go to a particular URL. These ads
are particularly useful for introducing a brand. When users click an App
Install ad, they are taken straight to the relevant page at the appropriate
download store to download the app that’s being promoted. Sponsored
Lenses allow Snapchatters to make fun modifications to their selfies and
other images. A Sponsored geofilter is a graphic overlay that Snapchatters
can place on their snaps. Advertisers can create geofilters, based on where
they are physically located.

Finally, on TikTok, the Video Creation Kit helps advertisers to design

their ads. This kit provides video and image templates that advertisers can
customize using their own existing images. It also comes with hundreds of
options for free background music. TikTok currently offers three ad types.
A brand takeover ad will appear instantly when a user opens TikTok. The
ad can then be redirected to an internal or external link – either another
video on TikTok or an external website or app. In-feed ads are native ads
placed either at the bottom of organic TikTok videos or in the feed as part
of the video queue type of product. These ads also redirect to a website
or an app. Advertisers can also partner with TikTok’s marketing team
to create a sponsored hashtag challenge that encourages users to share
content on TikTok on the brand’s behalf.

Viral marketing
Companies and brands rely on three types of approaches to reach their
audiences. First of all, they use owned media, tools the content of which
they develop and distribute themselves, such as newsletters, sponsored
magazines, websites, Facebook pages, or other social media profiles.
Second, they launch advertising campaigns – this is paid media. Finally,
42 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

they use viral marketing to generate what is called earned media or organic
reach: consumers react to owned or paid media by liking, sharing, and
commenting on branded online materials, and in that way “spread the
word” for free. Part of this earned media is user-generated content (UGC).
Formally, UGC is non-organizational media activity on third-party sites,
for example posts on social media, comments in community forums,
online ratings and reviews, feedback on blogs, and reaction on podcasts
or videos. UGC is manifested in numerous formats: text, hyperlinks to
other content, moving or fixed images, audio, music, animation, video
or a mix of these elements. The essence of UGC is that it is personal,
published and outside the domain of the contributor, and consequently it
often costs nothing to create; users’ actions in social media are shared with
their networks, as well as across the brand pages, widening the potential
audience; other consumers identify blog articles created by other users as
more credible; search engine results are often based on UGC; UGC can
assist the consumer decision journey; and UGC can transform elements
of a business. On the other hand, the content is outside the organization’s
control, it is without guarantees and can be unpredictable, creating risk as
the organization may be promoted negatively as well as positively.

Some researchers talk about a transition from a bowling model to a pinball

model. Before consumers had access to new media that allows them to
largely disseminate their own views on products and brands, marketers’
activity resembled playing bowling: they would use mass media (alley)
and throw a ball (message) toward pins (consumers), hoping to touch as
many as possible. Nowadays, this interaction is more like a pinball game:
marketers drop a ball (message) in the pinball machine (new media), and
try to keep it in the game as long as possible by operating the flippers (con-
sumers). However, like the ball in a pinball machine, this message can be
thrown back and forth by bumpers, kickers, and slingshots (or consumers
portraying their own views on the product or brand), changing the direc-
tion of the message constantly. This “pinball game” shows that the new
marketplace rewards participatory, sincere, and less directive marketing
styles, which reinforces the importance of understanding and managing
earned media.

Viral marketing is a set of techniques used to keep the ball in the game,
i.e., stimulate organic reach and UGC, in other words to stimulate
brand engagement or eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth). Viral market-
ing attempts to stimulate the strongest of all consumer triggers, namely
 ADVERTISING FORMATS 43

personal recommendation. The goal of viral marketing is to inspire

individuals to share a message to friends, family, and other individuals to
create exponential growth in the number of its recipients. Viral marketing
campaigns work best in groups with strong common interests, because
they allow marketers to spread selective messages to selective groups.
Different methods of obtaining UGC have been employed, such as
directly petitioning customers. For instance, TripAdvisor has a program
designed to obtain content from guests to generate additional postings.
Other methods of gaining UGC are via CTA, inviting users to collaborate,
compete, or celebrate. The call to collaborate asks for content to be shared
by posing questions, the answers to which could result in prizes being
awarded. The call to compete centers around an integrated competition
with a prerequisite for a purchase to be made; the call to celebrate har-
nesses friendship around a larger event.

Creativity in advertising

The most general way to define creativity is “a violation of expectations.”

Creativity in advertising has two dimensions. Creative ads are “differ-
ent,” highly unique, and novel. Ads can be original in that they contain
elements that are surprising or different from the obvious or in that they
combine different ideas or switch from one perspective to the other. They
can contain unexpected details or become more complicated or sophis-
ticated, or combine previously unrelated ideas. The impact of creative
advertising is generally assumed to be in its attention-grabbing potential.
This is assumed to lead to more and deeper processing of the ad’s content,
and higher recognition and recall of the brand and message elements.
Moreover, creative ads increase the willingness of viewers to view the
ad again. Creativity thus stimulates a higher frequency of exposure and
repeat message processing.

At the same time, to stand out and persuade, creative ads should also be
functional, i.e., relevant and meaningful for the target audiences, be in line
with the campaign objectives, and a translation of the campaign message
strategy. Creativity in advertising should thus support the message strat-
egy and be appealing to customers not only because the ad is surprising
and novel, but also because it is relevant to them. Pure artistic creativity,
without the necessary strategic focus, runs the risk of being noticed and
44 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

liked, but may also cause distraction from the core message. The audience
may remember the ad, but at the same time may remain completely in the
dark about which brand was talking to them and what it wanted to say.
Non-strategic creativity may indeed lead to brand confusion and lack of
message processing. Advertising is an expensive tool to support the mar-
keting of products and services; if it fails to do that, it is bad advertising,
no matter how creative it is.

Notes
1. https://​www​.pqmedia​.com/​product/​global​-product​-placement​-forecast​
-2020/​.
2. https:// ​ s tatista ​ . com/​ s tatistics/​ 2 38140/​ g lobal​ - video ​ - games ​ - advertising​
-revenue.
3. https://​www​.contagious​.com/​io/​article/​genies​-in​-gucci.
4. https://​www​.thinkbox​.tv/​case​-studies/​brand​-films/​guinness/​; https://​www​
.marketingweek​.com/​facebook​-instagram​-guinness/​; https://​www​.warc​.com/​
newsandopinion/​opinion/​how​-guinness​-consistency​-x​-creativity​-formula​
-earned​-it​-an​-ipa​-gold/​3870.
5. https://​in​fluencerma​rketinghub​.com/​influencer​-marketing​-statistics/​.
6. K.C. Laudon and C.G. Traver (2019), E-commerce 2018 : Business, Technology,
Society. Pearson.
3 How advertising works

Often it is hard to predict how a consumer will respond to advertising or

how someone will process an advertising message. Many factors have an
impact on how advertising works: consumer goals, product type, the sit-
uation the consumer is in (hurried or distracted by others, for example),
involvement in the product category, and social, psychological or cultural
factors. Moreover, the digital revolution has changed advertising funda-
mentally, in that consumers have partly taken over brand communica-
tions and interact with each other on an unprecedented massive scale.
No single theory can explain it all. Some models are applicable in some
situations for some kinds of people and for some categories of products.
This chapter should therefore be seen as a set of theories that are all rel-
evant, but in different situations, for different products, and for different
kinds of consumers.

Hierarchy-of-effects models

According to hierarchy-of-effects (HoE) models, consumers sequentially

go through different stages in responding to advertising, namely a cog-
nitive, an affective, and a behavioral stage, or a think–feel–do sequence.
A hierarchy-of-effects model assumes that things have to happen in
a certain order, implying that the earlier effects form necessary condi-
tions in order for the later effects to occur. During the cognitive stage,
consumers engage in thinking processes which lead to awareness and
knowledge of the advertised brand. In the affective stage, emotional or
evaluative responses occur and attitudes toward the brand are formed.
The behavioral stage refers to undertaking actions with respect to the
advertised brand, such as visiting a store or a website, or buying a product.
In traditional HoE models, consumers should first learn or become aware
of a brand. Afterwards, they develop affective responses and form an

45
46 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

attitude towards it. Finally, this feeling or attitude makes the consumers
want to buy the brand. The task of advertising is to lead the consumers
through these successive stages for a positive end result (sales). The
oldest HoE model is the AIDA Model. It stands for: Attention (cognitive),
Interest, Desire (affective), Action (behavior). It was originally designed
to train salespeople to go through these four stages, in that order, to
close the sale. The Lavidge and Steiner Model proposes the goals of the
different stages in an advertising campaign: Brand awareness, Brand
knowledge (cognitive), Brand Liking, Preference, Conviction (affective),
Purchase (behavior). A similar approach is proposed by the DAGMAR
Model (Defining Advertising Goals for Measuring Advertising Results),
which will be discussed in Chapter 4. Another example is the Adoption–
Diffusion Model, also called the AIETA Model. This model proposes the
five stages of the consumers’ adoption process of innovations: Awareness
(cognitive), Interest, Evaluation (affective), Trial, Adoption (behavior).
Traditional hierarchy-of-effects models are still an inspiration for adver-
tising campaigns today.

However, a lot of disagreement exists regarding the sequence of the

different stages, and several alternative models have been developed. An
example is the low-involvement hierarchy-of-effects model, according to
which consumers, after frequent exposure to marketing messages, might
buy the product and decide afterwards how they feel about it (cognitive–
behavioral–affective hierarchy). Another framework is the experiential
hierarchy-of-effects model in which consumers’ affective responses toward
a product lead them to buy it and, if necessary, they reflect on it later. This
would suggest an affective–behavioral–cognitive sequence.

An integration of the different HoE models is the Foote–Cone–Belding

(FCB) grid. In the original FCB grid philosophy, four different product
categories are distinguished, based on two dimensions, i.e., the high–low
involvement and think–feel. Involvement is the importance people attach
to a product or a buying decision, the extent to which one has to think
it over and the level of perceived risk associated with an inadequate
brand choice. Products such as cars, education, and jewelry are for most
consumers high involvement products, while most people consider
cookies, ice cream, and laundry detergents as low involvement ones.
The think–feel dimension represents a continuum reflecting the extent to
which a decision is made on a cognitive or an affective basis. For certain
products, such as sugar, mineral water, paper towels, soap, and banks,
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 47

cognitive elements are important, while for products such as cakes, ice
cream, and perfume, affective elements seem to have more impact on the
buying decision process.

Figure  3.1 shows the different sequences in each of the four situations.
Purchase decisions in the first quadrant are characterized by high involve-
ment and rational decision criteria. Here, the consumer first wants to
learn about the product, then could develop a positive attitude toward it,
and finally may buy it. This could be the case for deciding on an insurance
policy or for buying a new computer or major household appliance. In
this quadrant, the classical hierarchy of effects would hold. The main
advertising strategy for such products can be summarized as “selling is
telling”: the consumer needs a lot of factual, rational information and
arguments to be persuaded. The second quadrant concerns high involve-
ment products for which the consumer seeks important emotional or
lifestyle arguments to buy them. In this case, the consumer first wants
to be emotionally attracted by the brand image, then he or she collects
information, and finally buys the product. Jewelry, perfume, fashion,
and holidays may be examples that fit in this category. The appropriate
strategy here is to create an appealing and emotional lifestyle universe. In
the third quadrant, product decisions are located that require a minimum
of cognitive effort and tend to become routinized because of habit for-
mation. The assumed sequence is first buying the product, then learning
more about it, and finally developing an attitude after product or brand
usage. Toilet paper, sugar, paper tissues, and detergents are examples that
would fit in this quadrant. The advertising approach called for here is
“rational conditioning,” i.e., establishing a link between the brand name
and one or a couple of unique factional and rational arguments. The
fourth quadrant reflects decision-making regarding products which can
be termed “life’s little pleasures.” The assumed sequence here is: buy the
product, experience an affective response, and learn to know the product
afterwards. Examples that fit this category might be soft drinks, ice cream,
and chocolate bars. The appropriate advertising here is “affective condi-
tioning,” i.e., establish a link between the brand and a good feeling.

The Rossiter–Percy grid is a modification of the FCB grid which again

classifies buying decisions in four categories, based on the dimensions
of high–low involvement and fulfilling a transformational or informa-
tional buying motive. Transformational buying motives consist of positive
motivations, such as sensory gratification, social approval, or intellectual
48 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Figure 3.1 The FCB grid

stimulation, while informational buying motives refer to reducing or

reversing negative motivations such as solving or avoiding a problem.
Examples of products for which transformational motives prevail are ice
cream, cosmetics, and perfume. Examples of informational products are
detergents, babies’ diapers, and insurance products.

The interesting insight of the FCB grid is that the HoE that consumers
go through may be different depending on the buying context. However,
the misconception of the original framework is that involvement (low
or high) and buying motivations (think or feel) are not characteristics of
product types but of people in a buying situation. For instance, cars can
be in each of the four quadrants. One person who wants to buy a car may
need a lot of factual product information, in which case this consumer
would be in quadrant 1. Other consumers may buy cars that correspond
with their (aspired) lifestyle, in which case they do not need so much
information; rather, they are triggered by emotions a car evokes and the
extent to which they feel the car is a representation or extension of their
lifestyle; they are in quadrant 2. Still other people may just go for the
cheapest car in the category, which make them quadrant 3 consumers.
Finally, some consumers may look for a car that looks nice and has
a cool color; that would put them in quadrant 4. Additionally, for most
consumers, buying a car for the first time is a high-involvement decision
while, at a later age, they may become less involved because buying a car
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 49

is a less risky financial decision for them. Indeed, many products are
highly involving the first time you buy them, but become less so when you
have already bought the product frequently, because of habit formation.
Consider insurance: the first time a person buys a new insurance (for
instance, when buying a house or an apartment), this is probably a rela-
tively highly involving decision. However, when a year later this person is
invited to pay the insurance fee, she will probably only spend a couple of
minutes to pay the fee online. The insurance has become a low involve-
ment product. Whether or not a product is highly or lowly involving thus
depends on the buying situation, and also on the buying context. Take
food: in “normal” circumstances, a person may be very health conscious,
and buy food on the basis of its ingredients, how it was produced, and so
on. This person is in quadrant 1. However, this same person may be all
into buying an indulgent McDonald’s hamburger with fries on the side
when he or she returns home from a party at night and is very hungry.
For a while, this same person is in quadrant 4 – the same person and the
same product category, but a different buying situation. A wine-loving
individual who routinely drinks wine every day may usually buy relatively
cheap wine he or she is used to and likes. He is a quadrant 4 person.
However, if he buys wine because he has invited good friends for dinner,
he may study the label or the type of wine, or its reputation before making
a choice. He is temporarily a quadrant 1 or maybe a quadrant 2 person.
Thus, the FCB is not so much a categorization of product types, but rather
a categorization of a person in a buying situation with respect to a specific
product. For companies, it is thus a segmentation and positioning tool
rather than a rigid product categorization. For instance, if you sell sports
cars, BMWs, and Alfa Romeos, you will probably have to target consum-
ers who are quadrant 2 buyers. If you sell hamburgers and fries, you will
have to target quadrant 4 people who – structurally or occasionally – want
to give themselves a treat.

The advantage of HoE models is that they provide a framework for advert-
ing objectives and campaign effectiveness measurement (see Chapters 4
and 5). A major critique of HoE models is that empirical support for the
fact that consumers go through each of a series of stages every time is
lacking. Therefore, to base advertising strictly on HoE models may not
always be the most effective or relevant strategy.
50 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Attitude formation and change

An attitude is a person’s overall evaluation of, for example, an object,

a product, a person, an organization, or an ad. In this view, an attitude
toward a particular brand can be considered as a measure of how much
a person likes or dislikes the brand, or of the extent to which he or
she holds a favorable view of it. The relevance of brand attitudes is the
assumption that the more favorable brand attitudes are, the more likely
a purchase of the brand becomes. So, an important challenge for adver-
tising is to change attitudes in favor of the company’s brand. Attitudes
play an important role in HoE models too, but in these models they are
primarily defined as affective reactions in a hierarchical setting. However,
that does not need to be the case. An attitude can be assumed to consist
of three components. The cognitive component reflects knowledge and
beliefs about the brand; the affective component represents the feelings
associated with the brand; and the behavioral component refers to action
readiness (behavioral intentions) with respect to the object. You may
love Timberland shoes (affective component) because you know they are
durable and convenient to wear (cognitive component) and that is why
you intend to buy them (behavioral component). To change attitudes,
marketers might concentrate on changing one or more of these three
components. Tom Ford might stress the fact that its clothes are neat, cool,
and stylish, thereby trying to influence the feelings associated with it by
image-building. Advertising campaigns trying to influence the consumer
on an affective basis often use emotional ads containing no or very few
product arguments. Miele might address the quality and durability of
its appliances to change consumers’ beliefs. Advertising will probably
use many strong arguments to illustrate the numerous benefits of Miele.
Coca-Cola might run a promotion campaign in which consumers can
receive a fabulous Coke mobile phone in return for a certain amount of
cola caps, to induce consumers to buy (a lot of) the brand. Many market-
ers and advertisers consider developing solid and well-positioned brands
as their prime mission.

Several advertising models have been developed that are all relevant and
able to explain how advertising persuades consumers, but each for par-
ticular situations. These different advertising models regarding attitude
formation and change can be classified along two dimensions. The first
refers to the way attitudes are formed – primarily cognitive, affective,
or behavioral; the second is about how the message is processed. With
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 51

respect to the latter, several dual-process theories have been developed.

What most of these theories have in common is that they distinguish
between information processing that is unconscious, rapid, automatic,
and does not require much cognitive capacity, and information processing
that is conscious, slow, deliberative, and requires availability of cognitive
resources. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is one that has been
used extensively to predict and explain consumer attitudinal responses to
advertising, and distinguishes between central and peripheral processing,
depending on how optimal processing conditions are. Processing condi-
tions are determined by Motivation, Ability and Opportunity (MAO) to
process (elaborate on) a message.

Motivation is the willingness to engage in behavior, make decisions, pay

attention, and process information. Motivation is to a large extent influ-
enced by consumer needs and goals. Consumer needs can be functional,
symbolic, or hedonic. Functional needs pertain to solving consumer
problems. Consumers buy detergents to clean dirty clothes and hire
a baby-sitter because they cannot leave their baby unattended. Symbolic
needs relate to how we see ourselves and how we would like to be per-
ceived by others. Youngsters may wear Calvin Klein jeans to show they
are trendy. Hedonic needs reflect consumers’ desires for sensory pleasure.
People buy chocolates, wine, or cool clothes to indulge themselves, and
for sensory gratification. Needs/goals can also be classified as approach or
promotion goals, and avoidance or prevention goals. The former pertain to
positive outcomes while the latter relate to avoiding negative outcomes.
For example, consumers can decide to shop at a certain supermarket
because it offers them a nice shopping experience (= approach, promo-
tion) or because they do not have to drive far (= avoidance, prevention).
A consumer who plans to buy a new car is probably motivated to process
advertising on cars. However, the needs that this particular consumer is
pursuing have an important impact on information processing and the
benefits he or she is receptive to. If the consumer is mainly driven by func-
tional needs, he or she may want clear information on price, safety, fuel
consumption, and so on, while a status appeal or an ad showing driving
sensations may be more effective when symbolic or hedonic needs prevail.
The same goes for approach/promotion goals and avoidance/prevention
goals: when the former are prevalent then advertising should bring
a message focused on positive outcomes (you feel the excitement when
driving this car), while for the latter goals a message should emphasize
negative outcomes (the excellent air bags will protect you during a crash).
52 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

So, in order to be persuasive, advertising should tap into consumers’

motivational concepts and advertisers need to understand what goals
consumers are trying to accomplish by buying the product. Additionally,
consumers will be more motivated by messages that relate to what is
highly involving for them. This involvement can be structural or situ-
ational (temporarily). For instance, if a consumer is structurally highly
involved in food, he will be motivated to process food ads most of the
time. If this is not the case, he may be temporarily more highly involved
in food when he is having his best friend over for dinner. Similarly, a con-
sumer may be a car freak, and therefore be very motivated to process any
message about cars. Conversely, she may be only motivated to process car
ads when she plans to buy a new car.

Although someone is motivated to do something, he or she may be unable

to do it. Ability refers to the resources needed to achieve a particular goal.
One may be motivated to process a computer ad, but when it is full of
technical details one may not be able to process and understand it because
of a lack of technical knowledge. Advertisements that show a context that
is far away from a consumer’s daily lifestyle may be hard to relate to, and
hence more difficult to understand. A person may be motivated to buy
a particular house, but after learning what it is going to cost after renova-
tion, stamp duty, land registration fees, and so on, might be unable to buy
it because of insufficient money. Finally, opportunity deals with the extent
to which the situation enables a person to obtain her goals. A consumer
may be motivated to buy Ice Tea Peach, but if the supermarket runs out
of it, the consumer does not have the opportunity to buy it. A consumer
may be motivated to process the information of a particular ad, but if
the phone rings, she does not have the opportunity to pay attention to it.
A consumer who is waiting at a red traffic light may start to process an
outdoor ad, but when the light turns green, the opportunity to process the
ad disappears. Also, when the ad contains little or no information, it does
not provide the opportunity to elaborate on it.

The ELM and the effects of the MAO factors on advertising processing
and attitude formation are presented in Figure 3.2. If motivation, ability
and opportunity are all high, the elaboration likelihood is said to be high
and consumers are expected to engage in central-route processing (Box
3.1). This means that they are willing to elaborate on the information
and evaluate the arguments. Depending on the quality and credibility
of the arguments, consumers will react by producing counter-, support,
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 53

or neutral arguments, which induce a negative, positive, or no attitude

change, respectively. For example, when thinking of McDonald’s, con-
sumers might think of how good McDonald’s burgers and fries taste:
a support argument. On the other hand, consumers might also think of
how unhealthy fast food is: a counter-argument. Furthermore, consumers
might just think of the red and yellow colors of a McDonald’s restaurant:
a neutral argument. Attitudes formed via the central route are long-lasting
and profound, and prove to be good predictors of later behavior and are
fairly resistant to other persuasive messages. On the other hand, if one or
more of the MAO factors is/are low, consumers are more likely to process
the information peripherally. The result of peripheral-route processing
is not real information processing, but an evaluation based on simple,
peripheral cues, such as background music, humor, an attractive model
or endorser in the ad, the number of arguments used, and so on. In other
words, a favorable attitude toward the Nespresso brand might be formed
because the consumer likes George Clooney, because the consumer is
fond of the polar bears in a Coca-Cola commercial, because she assumed
that the high price of a car model is a sign of superior quality, or that
French wine is invariably good. However, such attitudes do not neces-
sarily last long and do not go very deep. Consumers often pay attention
to peripheral cues because in many ads peripheral cues form the only
processable information under circumstances of low motivation, limited
ability or limited opportunity. Ads without attractive peripheral cues, but
with an easy-to-process, product-related message, might also work under
low MAO, simply because not many resources are required to understand
the message and/or the cognitive resources to form counter-arguments
are lacking.

The above might suggest that the central route pertains to cognitive
attitude formation (people think carefully about the substance of the
message), while peripheral-route processing is more likely to give rise to
affective attitude formation (people rely on how the ad makes them feel
instead of what the ad really tells them). However, in reality, it is more
complicated. The ELM, as well as other dual-processing models, assumes
that, under different MAO conditions, both rational arguments and
affect may give rise to peripheral and central processing. For instance,
research shows that when individuals focus on ideals (e.g., promotion
goals, relating to one’s hopes, wishes, and aspirations, such as dreaming
of a nice house, an exotic holiday), they consider affective information as
more relevant than the substance of the message and, as a consequence,
54 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Figure 3.2 Elaboration Likelihood Model

are more likely to base their evaluation on affect and follow the central
route. On the other hand, when consumers’ prevention goals, relating
to one’s duties, obligations, and responsibilities, such as providing for
a child’s education or looking professional at work, are their driving goal,
the opposite result is found.

Any advertiser aims for reaching consumers in such a way that they
process the advertising message centrally. Consequently, the advertiser
has to see to it that the message reaches the target customers when and
where they are motivated to process it, i.e., when and where they feel a need
or a desire for a product, and approach them with messages that tap into
the nature of this need (functional, hedonic, sensory…). Additionally, the
advertiser should reach target groups such that they are able to process
the message: use language they understand, and show contexts that are
relevant to them and to which they can relate. Finally, advertisers should
try to expose target customers to their messages in contexts where these
customers can fully process the messages without distraction. However,
often consumers do not process the message centrally, but rather periph-
erally. In such cases, advertising will not work unless there is a peripheral
cue that at least makes the consumers pay attention to the ad and may
be partially persuaded by it. In other words, every advertisement should
have “stopping power” by means of an element in the ad that attracts the
attention: a beautiful model, a celebrity, a creatively made stimulus, an
original approach, and so on.
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 55

There are several other dual-processing models that are more or less
based on the same principle. According to Nobel Prize winner David
Kahneman, people have a fast thinking system (System 1) and a slow
thinking system (System 2), which roughly correspond to a subconscious
and conscious system. System 1 helps us, for example, to quickly, auto-
matically, and effortlessly recognize faces, speak our mother tongue with
mindless fluency, and even drive a car on an empty road. System 1 is
based on associative learning, gut feelings, habits, and heuristics, but it is
not always appropriate or cannot handle all tasks. For example, to make
a standardized computation in our head or to deliberate about advantages
and disadvantages of an expensive purchase, System 2 will take over. So,
the more rational System 2 checks on the intuitive System 1: but as this
requires time and effort, System 2 oftentimes follows System 1. Also the
heuristic-systematic model is conceptually based on the same principles.

Box 3.1 Research: driving brand engagement

through sponsored posts on blogs and
Facebook

A study investigated the impact of sponsored posts on consumer brand

engagement (i.e., posting comments, liking a brand). The researchers
wondered whether the effect of sponsored posts on brand engagement
would differ depending on the social media platform on which the post
appears (a blog versus Facebook) and on the objective of the campaign
(raising awareness vs. enhancing product trial). Blogs are sought out
for their content which usually implies that readers are motivated to
thoroughly process the information. Using Facebook, on the other
hand, is more driven by a motivation to connect with others and to
maintain social relations, implying a lower motivation to carefully pro-
cess information. In addition, distraction for a specific post is much
higher on Facebook because it is embedded in a large amount of other
posts and information resulting in not only low motivation, but also
low opportunity to process messages. Second, raising awareness vs. en-
hancing product trial are two objectives that align with the first and
last stage in the consumer’s decision-making process, which typically
involve increasing levels of motivation.

On the basis of 1,830 sponsored posts written by 595 bloggers, the

researchers found results that are largely (but not completely) in line
56 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

with the ELM. Sponsored posts with a low involvement goal (i.e., cre-
ate awareness) were more effective when they appeared on Facebook,
whereas campaigns with a high involvement goal (i.e., generate trial)
were more effective on blogs. Blogger expertise – which is a peripheral
cue – had a more positive effect on consumer brand engagement when
the goal of the blog post was to raise awareness than when it aimed to
increase trial. The peripheral cue, blogger expertise, thus appeared to
drive engagement more for less important goals (awareness vs. trial).
This is in line with the ELM and also with research that shows that early
in the decision-making process source expertise is important, whereas
in the later, more consequential stages, homophily (being able to asso-
ciate with a source similar to oneself) becomes more important. This
effect was found for blogs only though; source expertise failed to break
through the low involvement barrier when the sponsored post was put
on Facebook. To increase awareness on a blogging platform, managers
should showcase the expertise and credibility of the blogger, whereas
for creating trial both expert and novice sources can be featured.1

Based on the combination of how attitude formation is mainly built

(cognition, affect, or behavior), on the one hand, and whether elaboration
likelihood is low or high on the other, six types of advertising models
can be distinguished (Table 3.1). Each of these types of model explains
how advertising works, but under different conditions. In what follows,
a number of often used advertising models of each type are discussed.

Multiple attribute compensatory models

The models that will be discussed here are relevant if the consumer’s
motivation, ability, and opportunity are high and especially when cog-
nitive elements are important for attitude formation. Most of the time,
when consumers take such a decision, they move through a “decision
funnel,” gradually narrowing down their choice options to finally arrive
at a choice set, a limited number of options out of which they will actually
choose. To make a choice, in this stage people will often resort to multiple
attribute compensatory models. This means that they take multiple attrib-
utes (characteristics) of the product into account, and these characteris-
tics can compensate for one another. For instance, a car may be somewhat
expensive and not so beautiful (negatively valenced attributes), but they
perceive it as very safe and eco-friendly (positively valenced attributes),
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 57

Table 3.1 Six types of attitude formation and change

    Elaboration likelihood based on motivation/

involvement, ability, and opportunity

  High elaboration Low elaboration

central-route processing peripheral-route
processing

Cognitions • Multi-attribute • Heuristic evaluation

models

Affect • Affect-as- • Ad transfer

Attitudes Information model
• Feelings transfer
based • Affect Infusion model
on: • Classical conditioning
• Mere exposure effect
Behavior • Post-experience • Reinforcement model
model
• Routinized response
• Perception– behavior
Experience–Memory
model

and the latter is more important to them than the former. The most
famous and often-used multiple attribute models are the Fishbein Models.
They serve as a framework for consumer research as well as a starting
point for brand positioning and advertising strategy. The basic model
is the Expectancy–Value Model that predicts attitude. The Theory of
Reasoned Action builds upon that model to predict behavioral intention.
Finally, the Theory of Planned Behavior adds a third component, and
predicts actual behavior.

In the Expectancy–Value Model, brand attitudes are formed on the basis

of three elements: relevant product attributes, the extent to which one
believes the brand possesses these attributes, and the evaluation of these
attributes or how good/bad one thinks it is for a brand to possess these
attributes (also called “attribute importance”). More specifically, brand
attitude is predicted by the weighted sum of brand beliefs and attribute
evaluations:
n
Ao   boi ei
i 1
58 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

where

Ao = attitude towards object o

boi = belief of object o possessing attribute i
ei = evaluation (importance) of attribute i
n = number of relevant attributes
In other words, since not all brand attributes are equally important
for a consumer, brand beliefs are weighted by the importance that the
consumer attaches to the different brand attributes. Table 3.2 shows an
example of the formation of an attitude toward two car models A and B.
To predict attitudes, a consumer study is set up (the results shown are
for one person). Beliefs are measured by means of a seven-point Likert
scale from −3 to +3. Attribute evaluations (importance) are by means of
a seven-point Likert scale from 1 (not very important) to 7 (extremely
important). This consumer appears to take seven attributes into account
(first column in Table 3.2). Column 2 shows the relative importance this
person attaches to each of the attributes. For instance, fuel efficiency is
very important, while low price not so much. The third row indicates
to what extent this person thinks car A possesses these characteristics.
Apparently, this person thinks that car A is pretty cheap, prestigious, and
eco-friendly, but rather small and not so safe. In the next row, importance
and beliefs are multiplied and the results of this multiplication are added.
This results in an “attitude number” for car A, in this case: 22. For car B,
obviously the relative importance of attributes does not change, but beliefs
do. This consumer thinks that car B is pretty safe, not overly expensive,
and large enough, but not so fuel-efficient and rather mediocre on pres-
tige and brand image. In the last column, beliefs and attribute importance
are multiplied and then summed, leading to an attitude number of 10 for
car B. Consequently, our consumer has a more positive overall attitude
toward car A than toward car B. Since attitude is expected to at least partly
predict buying behavior, on the basis of these results, there is a greater
chance that the consumer will buy car A rather than car B.

How can advertisers use this information? First, they could try to add
attributes that the consumer takes into account that are in its favor, for
instance, the cool packs that come with the car (state-of-the-art naviga-
tion system, top-quality sound system …), all included. Second, brand
and advertising managers could try to alter the relative importance of
attributes in the mind of people. For instance, car A scores well on price
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 59

Table 3.2 An illustration of the Expectancy–Value Model

  Attitude toward cars A and B

    Car A Car B

Attribute ei bi ei × bi bi ei × bi
Low price 2 +2 +4 +1 +2

Prestige 6 +2 +12 0 0

Famous brand 3 +1 +3 0 0

Fuel-efficient 7 +1 +7 −1 −7

Very safe 5 −1 −1 +2 +10

Eco-friendly 3 +2 +6 0 0

Large 5 −1 −5 +1 +5

Attitude     22   10

Notes:  ei is measured on a seven-point bipolar scale (1 = bad, 7 = good); bi is

measured on a seven-point unipolar scale (−3 = unlikely, +3 = likely).

and eco-friendliness, but these attributes do not seem to be overly impor-

tant. Advertising campaigns can focus the attention on how important
these attributes really are, and try to move them up in importance. Car
B could try to increase the importance of price and car size. Third, cam-
paigns could try to alter beliefs. Since fuel-efficiency and prestige seem
to be very important for this consumer, both cars A and B could try to
improve beliefs about these characteristics. Finally, both cars could posi-
tion themselves by lowering beliefs about the competitor (for instance, by
means of comparative advertising). For instance, car B could claim that
it is a lot safer than car A (safety being a very important characteristic).

The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is an extension of the Expectancy–

Value Model. This model was developed to predict behavioral intention.
The latter is determined not only by attitudes, but also by the subjective
norm. A subjective norm is the beliefs one holds regarding what different
reference groups (significant others) consider as socially desirable behav-
ior, weighted by the consumer’s need or willingness to behave according
to the norms of the particular reference group. The latter is referred to
as social sensitivity. An example of socially influenced behavior is that
a teenager might not hold a favorable attitude toward smoking himself;
nevertheless, he might do so because his or his friends regard it as “cool”
60 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

to smoke. Reference groups act as a source of information, and as an

inspiration for normative behavior and identification (imitation). People
usually have several reference groups, such as parents, children, friends,
celebrities, social media influencers, journalists, business people, or
famous football players. Table 3.3 illustrates how a subjective norm can
influence the choice between cars A and B. The reference group valued
most highly is the friends at school, while the sensitivity or motivation to
comply with the opinion of social media influencers is lowest. The con-
sumer thinks that friends at school, parents, social media influencers, and
journalists will think highly of car A, but friends in youth and sports clubs
will not. The same person will think that journalists will like car B a lot,
while most other reference groups not so much. Applying the same cal-
culations as before, all this leads to a subjective norm of 35 for car A and
1 for car B. In view of these results (as well as the results in Table 3.2), the
intention to buy car A will be much higher than the intention to buy car B.

The insights with respect to the subjective norms provide extra angles for
advertising strategy. For instance, one of the car brands could try to add

Table 3.3 An illustration of subjective norm effects

  Subjective norm

    Car A Car B

Reference group ssi ooi ssi × ooi ooi ssi × ooi

Friends at school 6 +2 +12 −1 −6

Friends in youth 5 0 0 +1 +5
club

Friends in sports 5 −1 −5 +1 +5
club

Parents 4 +2 +8 −2 −8

Family 4 +1 +4 0 0

Social media 3 +2 +6 0 0
influencers

Journalists 5 +2 +10 +2 +5

Subjective norm     +35   +1

Notes:  ssi is measured on a seven-point bipolar scale (1 = low, 7 = high); ooi

is measured on a seven-point unipolar scale (−3 = negative, +3 = positive).
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 61

a reference group that would work in its favor, for instance, car dealers.
Car A could try to increase the importance of influencers, since it scores
well with this reference groups. Car A could try to improve the opinion of
friends in sports clubs (or people who visit sports clubs) and the percep-
tion thereof with its target audience. Car B could try to do the same with
friends in school.

The TRA has been further extended to the Theory of Planned Behaviour
(TPB). This extension was necessary to be able to deal with behaviors
over which people have incomplete volitional control. Indeed, behavioral
intention can result in actual behavior only if the consumers themselves
can decide to perform or not perform the behavior. Behavior also often
depends on non-motivational factors, such as resources (e.g., time,
money, skills, or infrastructure). For example, a consumer may be
willing to go to work by means of public transport, but when he or she
lives in a remote village in which hardly any public transport facilities
are available, this may be difficult to do. Or, a consumer may hold very
favorable attitudes toward buying a Lamborghini, but when she lacks
the money, a cheaper car will be bought in the end. Perceived Behavioral
Control (PBC) is the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behav-
iour and it is assumed to reflect past experience as well as anticipated
impediments and obstacles. Perceived behavioral control is computed
by multiplying control beliefs (what could stop people from actually
behaving in a way they intend to) by perceived power of the particular
control belief (do I feel I have control in that I can overcome this barrier)
to pose the behavior, and the resulting products are summed across the
salient control beliefs. In the case of buying a car, this could mean: well,
this car is so expensive that many people cannot afford it (control belief),
but I think I can manage to find the money to overcome that (perceived
power). PBC is about perceived barriers to purchase. The consequence for
advertising strategy is that advertisers should not just send out messages
that improve attitudes and subjective norms, but also identify barriers to
purchase and remove them by reassuring people that they are not actually
barriers or help them to overcome these barriers. For example, in the past,
MasterCard used the slogan “North. South. East. West. No card is more
accepted” to indicate you can pay everywhere with MasterCard. Nike
stresses “Just do it,” meaning that everyone can be an athlete.

The TPB has been applied to a variety of issues, from predicting fair trade
product purchase to condom use, from intentions to promote women in
62 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

a job context to car-pooling, from organ donation to suicide prevention,

and of course also to buying products. In general, PBC and attitudes
in particular seem to have predictive value, while the subjective norm
accounts for only a small part of the variance in buying intention and
behavior.

Heuristic evaluation

When one of the MAO factors is low, central-route information process-

ing is unlikely to occur and consumers will probably process the com-
munication peripherally, based on peripheral cues to form a cognitively
based attitude. For example, when consumers do not have the time to
compare all available brands on relevant attributes, they may infer from
a high price that the brand is a high-quality brand and therefore form
a positive attitude toward it. This process is called heuristic evaluation.
They can also try to make inferences on the basis of ad characteristics.
In other words, peripheral cues in the ad are used as a heuristic cue to
evaluate the quality of the message and to form a general evaluation of
the brand advertised. They seek for reassurance or credibility in heuristic
cues such as brand name reputation, experts endorsing the brand, price
level, or messages such as “already 10,000 happy customers.” Another
example is the use of celebrities. The heuristic in this case might be “if
George Clooney loves Nespresso, it has to be good.” Table 3.4 summarizes
a number of ad characteristics that can be used as a heuristic cue.

Affect-as-Information and Affect Infusion Models

Affect has long been considered as a peripheral cue, having an impact

only when people have low elaboration likelihood. However, it is increas-
ingly recognized that affect may play a fundamental role in central-route
decision-making. The Affect-as-Information Model posits that consumers
may use feelings as a source of information to form an overall evalua-
tion of a brand, not by means of a simple affective association, but in
an informed, deliberate manner. According to this model, consumers
evaluate brands by imagining the brand in their minds and asking them-
selves “How do I feel about this brand?” Next, they infer like/dislike or
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 63

Table 3.4 Heuristic cues

Characteristics Peripheral cue Heuristic

Source Attractiveness The more attractive, the better

Expertise The more expertise, the better

Status The higher the status, the

better

Number of sources The more, the better

Message Number of arguments The more, the better

Repetition The more, the better

Layout The more attractive, the better

Product Price The higher, the better

Design  

Brand  

Country of origin  

satisfaction/dissatisfaction from the valence of their feelings. Consumers

infer the strength of their preference from the strength of the real feelings
that the brand evokes. A prerequisite of the Affect-as-Information Model
is that when people inspect their feelings to judge a brand, they inspect
their profound feelings in response to the brand. So, if consumers decide
not to go to the movies, it is because the thought of going to the movies
makes them feel unpleasant, not because they happen to be in a bad
mood. As a consequence, for feelings to influence the advertisement
or brand evaluation, they must be perceived as representative of the
brand, i.e., consumers must be convinced that these feelings are genuine
affective responses to the brand. Moreover, these feelings also have to be
relevant for the evaluation at hand and match consumers’ goals. When
consumers’ purchase motivations are hedonic rather than functional, the
likelihood that they will perceive their feelings as relevant and follow the
“how-do-I-feel-about-it” model is much more likely. Under high elabora-
tion likelihood, people use their feelings because they believe they contain
valuable information. When consumers closely scrutinize the arguments
in an advertising message, ad-evoked emotions can be considered as an
argument or a central cue. One way to elicit strong ad-evoked feelings
is to make consumers think of pleasant things in the past, such as the
64 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

birth of a baby, a wedding, a first romance, and so on. Another way is to

use nostalgic ads. Nostalgic ads make use of music, movie stars, fashion
products, symbols, or styles that were popular during a consumer’s youth.
Early experience performs a determining role in shaping subsequent
preferences and actually can influence consumers’ lifelong preferences.

Another – broader – model that tries to provide a framework for the

role of affect is the Affect Infusion Model. It tries to explain how affect
(mood and emotions) influences a person’s ability to process information
and how she responds to that information. The model distinguishes
four situations on a continuum from routine to complex. In the case of
a previously stored reaction to a familiar stimulus (e.g., a well-known
brand or advertising campaign), people will automatically reproduce that
action. In that case, affect will not influence processing and behavior.
This mechanism can explain brand loyalty and routine buying behavior.
To persuade people, it may be enough to just remind them of the brand
they are loyal to or usually buy to trigger direct action. In motivated
processing, an individual exerts a specific search strategy with a direct
information-seeking goal in mind. Also in this case, affect will not have
an impact on message processing and subsequent behavior. Think of
a person looking for a specific car model and who is exposed to a car
ad. In heuristic processing, affective processing occurs outside of one’s
consciousness. People make sense of their emotional reactions as they
have them, including their implicit judgments. This is also known as the
affect-as-information mechanism (see earlier in this chapter): the experi-
enced emotion is used as information. In this case, mood and emotion will
exert a substantial influence on message processing and behavior: think of
nostalgic ads or ads focusing on emotionally involving situations. Finally,
substantive or systematic processing, in other words, elaborate, complex,
and/or novel processing, affect has the greatest impact on message pro-
cessing and subsequent behavior, because mood can affect every stage
of the cognitive process: attention, coding, recovery, and association.
A consequence would, for instance, be that mood or emotions induced by
a happy-ending movie would positively influence the response to a sub-
sequent ad that requires elaborate processing. According to the model,
anti-tobacco campaigns would be more effective if they emphasized the
positive consequences of not smoking than warning about the negative
ones. The basic consequence is that mood effects tend to be exacerbated
in complex and novel situations, particularly in those that require sub-
stantial cognitive processing. In those situations, the affective context in
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 65

which a message is received plays an important role: emotionally positive

contexts would lead to more positive responses.

Attitude and feelings transfer, emotional conditioning,

and mere exposure

The mechanisms in this section try to explain how consumers process

ads based on affect in a low-elaboration context. Attitude transfer is the
phenomenon that how one evaluates an ad may be transferred to how one
evaluates the brand: “like the ad – like the brand and buy the product.”
When consumers feel indifferent toward the available brands as a con-
sequence of low brand differentiation or insignificant consequences of
a non-optimal choice, their choice goal is likely to be to buy a brand of
which they like the advertisement. Peripheral cues such as humor, music,
animals, and children may attract attention, induce curiosity which leads
consumers to watch the ad, and induce a favorable attitude toward the
ad that transfers to the brand. In line with the foregoing, the feelings an
ad evokes may be transferred to the attitude toward the ad, the brand
attitude and the purchase intention without much deliberation. People
that experience positive ad-evoked feelings make decisions more quickly,
use less information, avoid systematic processing, evaluate everything
more positively, accept a persuasive message more easily and pay less
attention to details. Since ad-evoked feelings and the brand are associated
in a consumer’s memory, thinking of the brand in another situation might
activate the feelings associated with it. Emotional conditioning can be
considered an extreme case of feelings transfer. Advertisers sometimes
try to pair a brand with an emotional response. On the premise of a high
exposure frequency and strong emotional content, attitudes toward the
brands can be predominantly formed on the basis of emotional condi-
tioning. Examples of brands that try to benefit from emotional condition-
ing are Martini and Häagen-Dazs (Box 3.2).

Box 3.2 Research: pleasant emotional ads make

consumers like your brand more

In a Belgian study, the attitudinal responses of 1,576 Belgian consum-

ers to 1,070 TV commercials shown on Dutch-language Belgian televi-
66 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

sion over a three-year period were analyzed. This pool of commercials

featured 318 national and international brands across 153 different
product categories, including beer, credit cards, diapers, coffee, laun-
dry detergents, cars, and computers. Groups of 20 to 30 respondents
were shown sets of between 20 and 50 commercials and asked to rate
them. After seeing each commercial, respondents rated their attitude
toward the ad, how useful and informative the ad was, and their atti-
tudes toward the advertised brand. Additionally, an independent group
of judges rated the degree of emotionality of each ad and their degree
of creativity. Another set of judges coded the 153 product categories
represented in the ads in terms of their level of involvement and type of
buying motivation (hedonic/experiential or utilitarian/instrumental)
as well as whether the advertised product was a durable, a non-durable
or a service, and whether the ad was for a search or an experience
product.

The results show that ad-evoked feelings exerted a substantial influ-

ence on brand attitudes. Regardless of how creative or informative the
respondents found the ads, their emotional content had a significant
positive influence on their attitudes toward the advertised brands. Ads
that evoke positive feelings are better liked, and better-liked ads lead
to more positive brand attitudes. The effects of ad-evoked emotions
on brand attitudes did not depend on the level of product category
involvement. Products are usually bought either for fun (hedonic/ex-
periential motives when buying products like ice cream or perfume)
or to serve a rather functional purpose (utilitarian/instrumental mo-
tives when buying products like detergents or trash cans). The effects
of ad-evoked feelings on brand attitudes were more pronounced for
products typically associated with fun than with function. The effect
of durables (e.g., cars and refrigerators), non-durables (e.g., food and
toilet paper), and services (e.g., haircuts and phone subscriptions) was
also investigated, as was the distinction between search goods and ex-
perience goods. Search goods can be easily evaluated by the consumer
before a purchase (e.g., clothing and furniture), while experience goods
can only be evaluated after the purchase, by consuming and experienc-
ing the product (e.g., a diet program and movies). The results showed
that product durability and the search vs. experience nature of the
product did not influence the effects of ad-evoked feelings on brand
evaluations.
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 67

Convincing a consumer to like a brand through advertising is mainly an

emotional challenge. Advertisers should develop ads that elicit pleasant
feelings because these ads are better liked and lead to more favorable
brand attitudes, no matter which product categories are advertised.
When advertising brands in product categories that are bought for fun,
pleasure, sensory stimulation, and experience, evoking positive emo-
tions is even more important for developing favorable brand attitudes.

Many studies have demonstrated that prior exposure to stimuli (nonsense

syllables, words, slogans, pictures, faces, sounds, smells, etc.) increases
positive affect toward these stimuli. In the same vein, frequent ad and
brand exposures can increase liking of the ad and the brand. In other
words, the mere exposure of consumers to a particular ad, without the
consumer actively elaborating on the ad, can influence consumer pref-
erences and behavior. Several studies indicate that the mere exposure
effect on brand attitude is based on the fact that previous exposure to
a stimulus can result in a more positive stimulus evaluation even if the
respondent cannot remember having seen the stimulus before. Another
explanation of the mere exposure effect is that prior exposure increases
processing fluency at the time consumers have to make a judgment. The
fact that consumers have been frequently exposed to a certain ad or brand
results in a representation of this stimulus in consumers’ memory. When
consumers want to evaluate the stimulus later on (e.g., during a shopping
trip), the representation of the stimulus in their memory will facilitate the
encoding and processing of the stimulus. As a consequence, processing of
the stimulus will be easier and more fluent. Frequent previous exposure
to a brand or an ad leads to liking, believing or accepting the ad or brand,
especially when consumers have been incidentally exposed to the ad or
brand and are not aware of this exposure.

In today’s cluttered advertising environment, consumers are frequently

exposed to brand messages that only last a couple of seconds. This is
especially true for online advertising. Internet users watch a couple of
seconds of a removable pre-roll ad on YouTube, they are briefly exposed
to retargeted ads, native ads in their Facebook feed, or banners on the side
of the screen. These short ad exposures may well be effective because of
the mere exposure effect: people are frequently exposed to a multitude of
short exposure messages they do not remember afterwards. However, as
a result of the omnipresence of the ads and the brand, this may result in
68 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

increased fluency or increased perception of correctness, and ultimately,

a positive brand attitude.

Perception–Experience–Memory Model

The models discussed above have often been tested for hypothetical
or new brands. However, most advertising is for existing brands. The
Perception–Experience–Memory Model tries to model what the role of
advertising is for first buys and for other than first-time purchases. When
consumers do not yet have brand experience, the main function of adver-
tising consists of framing perception. Framing can affect consumers’
expectation, anticipation, and interpretation. Expectation means noti-
fying consumers that a particular brand in a certain product category is
available and putting the brand in a frame of reference so that consumers
expect to see it. Next, advertising should try to create anticipation. Besides
expectation and anticipation, pre-experience advertising may offer an
interpretation or a rationale for the anticipation the brand generates. For
example, an unfamiliar computer brand could use the Intel Inside logo to
assure consumers that it is a trustworthy and high-quality brand. A next
critical function of both pre-experience and post-experience advertising
is enhancing sensory and social experience. Products may taste better,
function better, or look nicer, and the service may be perceived as friend-
lier or more knowledgeable just because consumers expect to experience
this and anticipate the experience. A second role of post-experience
advertising is to organize memory. It offers verbal and visual cues such as
jingles, slogans, user imagery, and so on, enriching the brand schema and
making it more likely that afterwards the brand will be recalled. Increasing
brand recall and top-of-mind awareness can stimulate brand-switching.
On the other hand, post-experience advertising may also prevent con-
sumers switching to the competitor’s brand. Finally, post-experience
communications also help consumers to interpret their experiences: The
advertisement not only influences the consumer to feel that the sensory
or social experience was a good one, but it also provides reasons to believe
that it was. In an era in which the majority of product category brands are
converging instead of becoming more distinct, post-experience advertis-
ing may offer the extra element for a brand to be perceived as better, or
more unique, than the rest.
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 69

Reinforcement and routinized response

In this case, at least one of the MAO factors is low, making

well-thought-through processing less likely. Consumers will rather con-
centrate on elements of previous brand experience to form an attitude
and purchase intention. According to the Reinforcement Model, aware-
ness leads to trial and trial leads to reinforcement. Product experience
is the dominant variable in the model, and advertising is supposed to
reinforce habits, frame experience (see previous section), and defend
consumers’ attitudes. A similar model assumes that a large number of
product experiences can lead to routinised response behavior, especially
for low-involvement, frequently purchased products such as toilet paper,
toothpaste, paper tissues, mineral water, or chewing gum. In this case,
consumers do not spend much time on deciding which brand to buy, but
buy a particular brand out of habit. In other words, previous behavior
guides future behavior. Although the initial brand choice may have been
thoroughly elaborated, routinized response behavior is characterized by
very low cognitive effort in which very few possibilities are considered.
Building and maintaining brand awareness and trying to become top of
mind is very important here in order to be included in the limited set of
brands that a consumer is willing to consider, to retain brand loyalty and
to enhance brand-switching to the own brand.

The advertising theories discussed before all apply to a specific message

processing context. Additionally, a number of frameworks have been
proposed that provide a more comprehensive account of how advertising
may influence behavior.

Cialdini’s persuasion principles

One of the most famous frameworks of which basic mechanisms guide

human behavior is Cialdini’s six persuasion principles. The Reciprocity
principle states that human beings are inclined to return favors and pay
back debts, in other words to treat others as they expect to be treated
themselves. For instance, if an online advertiser offers relevant content
for free on a landing page (a webinar, an e-book), visitors will be inclined
to leave their contact data (email address). The commitment/consistency
principle means that people have a need to be seen as consistent. As such,
70 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

once they commit to something or someone, they are likely to go through

and deliver on that commitment, hence be consistent. For instance, by
getting website visitors to commit to something relatively small and
usually free of charge or at very low cost, like a guide or a whitepaper, the
likelihood increases that those site visitors will eventually see themselves
as customers. That change in self-perception makes them more suscep-
tible to accept a paid product or service. This is the principle behind
the use of a tripwire: first offering a simplified version of the product
or service that is sold or “splinter” off part of a product or service  as
a separate low-threshold offer. The social proof principle holds that
people are inclined to do what they observe other similar or influential
people are doing. This factor is similar to the subjective norm effect in the
theory of planned behavior, and explains the effectiveness of advertising
techniques such as testimonials, celebrity endorsement, and influencer
marketing. The authority and obedience principle states that people are
inclined to obey authority figures. This explains the persuasive effects
of expert endorsers and social media influencers, and why we see people
looking like dentists in toothpaste ads and like plumbers in dishwasher
descaler ads. Liking people increases the chance that you are influenced
by them. Well-known and physically attractive or trustworthy endorsers
make advertising more persuasive – ask Nespresso and George Clooney.
Finally, scarcity is the perception that products are more attractive when
their availability is limited. Think of “only two of these rooms left” in
hotel ads or on travel booking sites, or “available at this price only this
week.”

The strong and weak theory of advertising

effectiveness

The strong theory of advertising posits that advertising has the power to
inform, persuade, and sell. It is the standard theory that has been adopted
by academics and practitioners alike for many decades. Advertising is
considered the driving force behind consumer behavior, and is assumed
to be able to strongly steer this behavior. The HoE models are typically
those that are embedded in this “strong theory” thinking. However,
although these models may be handy frameworks to describe advertising
goals in a campaign, there is little empirical evidence that customers
actually go through each of a number of stages before buying a product.
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 71

Instead, advertising tends to work in the longer run, after an interaction

between all these stages in the mind of the customer. For sure, advertising
has been capable of building strong brands over time, but it is far less
certain that this brand building has been accomplished as a result of
short-term, step-by-step persuasion by advertising as suggested in the
strong theory.

The weak theory of advertising posits that, instead of persuading people to

consume products and brands and “guide” them through various consec-
utive stages of persuasion, advertising is only capable of gently nudging
them toward a particular product or brand and afterwards remind them
to become and stay loyal customers. It is highly unlikely that advertising
alone is capable of successfully guiding customers through all stages of
persuasion. The weak theory states that most buying behavior is rooted
in past experience. Advertising can make people aware of a brand or
a product. Advertising and the other tools of the marketing and commu-
nication mix (distribution, pricing, promotion …) can make people try
a product and, later on, advertising acts to remind and reinforce a previous
buying decision. This logic is called the Awareness–Trial–Reinforcement
(ATR) Model. This model basically proposes that advertising reinforces
positive associations with a brand that people have already adopted.
Consequently, advertising reinforces the habit of existing customers and
keeps them loyal. Big brands remain big because they have more loyal
customers that buy more often, and this is reinforced by advertising; small
brands remain small because they have less loyal customers that also buy
less than those of bigger brands. This is also known as “double jeopardy.”
The weak theory thus states that advertising predominantly supports
existing buyers, reinforces past sales and improves repeat buying.

How advertising works online

The purpose of advertising is always to carry over information about

brands, instill brand value and positive brand perceptions in potential
consumers, and activate consumers to react upon the brand, buy it, and
become loyal to it. What is different in an online environment compared
to traditional offline advertising are the tools used, and most of all, the fact
that individuals interactively connect with one another and with brands
on a much larger scale than would be possible in a traditional offline
72 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

environment. Social media and social networks in particular facilitate this

intense interaction. Consequently, online advertising works according to
the “pinball” principle (see Chapter 2): throw in the ball (the ad and/or the
brand) and try to keep it in the game as long as possible with the help of
the pins (the customers) who engage with it and actively give it visibility
and promote it.

A model as to how advertising works has been proposed to incorporate

the impact of digital media and interactivity starts from the assumption
that digital advertising works according to four different principles:
Persuasion, Involvement, Salience, and Sales Promotion. The Persuasion
framework is the classical one. Brands gradually move consumers through
a sequence of stages to persuade them to buy a brand, based on rational
benefits and a clear selling proposition. This is similar to what the tradi-
tional HoE models prescribe. In a digital context, the brand persuades
consumers, not just by one-sided narration, but by “guided exploration.”
The brand encourages and helps consumers to explore and find out more
about the brand. This can be done through brand pages on social media,
electronic newsletters, online brand communities, and using content mar-
keting to guide people to the digital sales funnel (ToFu (top-of-funnel),
MoFu (middle-of-funnel), BoFu (bottom-of-funnel): see Chapter 4).
The Involvement framework provides consumers with a brand-inclusive
experience, sometimes rationally, but mostly emotionally. Advertising
convinces the customer that the brand is valuable to them, because it
holds shared or aspirational values. In the digital age, this involvement
is deepened because consumers can be encouraged to “play.” Consumers
can create content about the brand, and partly take over control of brand
building and brand communication. This user-generated content turns
up in blogs and videos, on review sites, and social networks. The Salience
framework assumes that advertising works when it is creative, original,
and stands out. The brand is very salient in the minds of people when
they pay attention to its exceptional and attention-grabbing advertising.
In a digital context, this effect is amplified when people share these brand
messages and discuss the brand online through social media. Finally,
the Sales Promotion framework starts with the premise that advertis-
ing should be aimed at influencing buying behavior and driving sales.
Messages are intended to drive participation in promotions, sales, price
deals, and so on. The digital context has not fundamentally changed
this framework. Digital advertising has always been aimed at provoking
a behavioral response, including buying behavior. All in all, the digital
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 73

context has provided new tools and new means to communicate with
consumers and, most importantly, to activate them to communicate with
the brand and with other consumers about the brand (Box 3.3).

Box 3.3 Research: how to advertise sales

promotions on social networking sites

Sales promotions represent a category of brand activation initiatives

aimed at increasing sales in the short run, both from existing and new
customers, based on a temporary incentive and therefore used for
a short period of time. Sales promotions can also drive brand-related
engagement on social media. On these platforms, traditional pro-
motional tools (e.g., coupons and contests) can get a new life, while
emerging promotional strategies (e.g., branded virtual gifts) can arise.
A Belgian study aimed to explore the determinants of the effectiveness
of sales promotions posts with respect to what drives an increased cus-
tomer engagement in terms of the number of likes and comments posts
generate. Based on 156 promotional posts on Facebook and Instagram
by Belgian fast-moving consumer goods brands, the study analyzed to
what extent engagement with these posts are influenced by the type of
promotion (i.e., monetary incentives, prize promotions, product pro-
motions), the social media platform (Facebook and Instagram), and
the types of textual appeals (“speech acts”) in the posts. Speech acts
represent words communicating the speaker’s intent of evoking some
behavior in the recipient. Firms posting sales promotions on social
media commonly use two types of speech acts: they provide objective
information to users, such as “Giveaway time!,” “It is time for a con-
test” (declarative acts) and/or call consumers to action, such as “write
a comment to enter the contest,” “give us a ‘like’ to participate” (direc-
tive acts).

The study shows that, compared to monetary incentives or product

promotions, the use of prize promotions leads to increased passive
(e.g., likes) and active (e.g., comments) engagement with brand-related
content. Instagram represents a context that fits better with the devel-
opment of passive engagement levels (e.g., likes), but not with active
engagement levels (comments).

Additionally, the results also show that posts on Instagram lead to bet-
74 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

ter results in terms of comments than on Facebook. A positive effect

from the number of declarative acts could have been expected based on
the assumption that the higher their number, the higher the promoted
deal’s value perception. However, there was no effect from increased
levels of declarative speech acts on liking and commenting behaviors.
Also contrary to expectations, promotions using many directive acts
reduce the likes and comments they receive.

Advertisers should thus keep the sales promotion proposition as sim-

ple as possible. Promotional offers should be highly directive, unam-
biguous, straightforward, without many mechanics or rules, and easy
to opt-in, using only text that is necessary to explain the characteristics
of the promotional offer in a non-ambiguous way. Second, promotions
lead to more customer engagement on Instagram than on Facebook,
making the former a better platform for sales promotion than the latter.
Third, prize promotions in social media posts lead to significantly high-
er customer engagement than monetary incentives or product promo-
tions. This effect is even stronger on Instagram than on Facebook. The
general overall recommendation is thus to post simple, uncomplicated
prize promotion posts on Instagram for the best engagement results.2

One of the fundamental differences between the offline and the online
advertising environment is that the latter actively tries to engage (poten-
tial) customers to build brands (earned media) by capitalizing on the
aspect of social interaction and identification. However, the reaction to
brand messages in social networks will be influenced by the social context.
Three aspects that determine responses to interpersonal communication
have been identified: homophily, tie strength, and source credibility.
Homophily is the extent to which individuals are alike and share, for
example, the same age group, gender, education, lifestyle, social class,
or interests. Perceived homophily increases the likelihood of perceiving
the other as being more persuasive. Perceived homophily also stimulates
a greater level of interpersonal attraction, trust, and understanding. It
can serve as a cue to indicate that a product or service mentioned is
suited, for example, to their age group or gender. As a result, information
from a homophilous source (for instance, a post on Facebook) has more
influence in the decision-making process compared to information from
a heterophilous (dissimilar) source. Tie strength represents the strength
of the interpersonal relationship in the context of social networks. Tie
 HOW ADVERTISING WORKS 75

strength is characterized by the importance attached to the social relation,

the frequency of social contact, the type of social relation, the intimacy
between two parties, and so on. In an online social network, interpersonal
tie strength could be reflected, for instance, by the number of common
friends and shared activities, or the number of interactions between two
people. Individuals in a strong tie relationship interact more frequently
and exchange more information. As a result, strong ties are more influ-
ential than weak ties. Tie strength reduces potential risks, as stronger ties
are perceived as more credible and trustworthy. Furthermore, perceived
tie strength encourages users to interact and to spread information. In
sum, tie strength between individuals should have a positive effect on
consumers’ responses to a message posted online. Source credibility is the
degree to which a source is considered to be unbiased and/or an expert in
its field. A person’s knowledge on a certain topic, occupation, social train-
ing, or experience can contribute to whether or not they are perceived as
credible. A message can be perceived as credible because the source has
expertise and does not appear to have any self-interest to recommend the
product. In this case, consumers will pay more attention to the message
and it will be easier to persuade.

These three factors are thus important determinants of how people react
to and interact with messages disseminated by others. Advertisers can
take these factors into account to leverage the effect of their advertising
campaign by means of viral marketing efforts that incentivize social
media users to engage with brands and like, share, and comment upon
branded content, and develop UGC themselves that reaches connections
on social media that are similar to them, with which they have strong ties,
and for which they are credible.

Notes
1. C. Hughes, V. Swaminathan, and G. Brooks (2019), “Driving brand engage-
ment through online social influencers: an empirical investigation of spon-
sored blogging campaigns,” Journal of Marketing, 83(5), 78–96.
2. C. Buzeta, N. Dens, and P. De Pelsmacker (2021), “Sales promotion posts
across different social media platforms: a speech act analysis,” University of
Antwerp, working paper.
4 Advertising planning

This chapter discusses the advertising planning process and a schematic

overview is presented in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 The advertising plan

Situation analysis

The first stage in the advertising planning process is a situation analy-

sis of the current and future marketing context. Advertising has to be
embedded in the overall marketing strategy of the company. The situa-

76
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 77

tion analysis is important because it enables the advertising manager to

establish a solid base on which the advertising strategy can be built. The
situation analysis provides the answer to the question: why do we have to
communicate? The situation analysis needs to be a comprehensive assess-
ment of the company, its products and brands, and its competitive and
macro-environment. Elements that have to be investigated are:

• Markets: What are the market size evolution, market shares, market
segments, consumer characteristics, and behavior; what is the basic
consumer behavior insight on the basis of which we could build our
message strategy?
• Products and brands to be communicated: What are their unique
strengths and weaknesses, what is the unique selling proposition to
be advanced, what could be the communication platform, i.e., the
arguments with which to convince the target group, etc.?
• Competitors: Who are our competitors? What are their strengths and
weaknesses, and their (advertising) strategies?
• Macro-environment: What are the political and legal restrictions or
regulations, the economic situation, sociological concerns, and tech-
nological evolutions?

Specific analyses can be carried out to prepare the advertising strategy,

such as the advertising audit, competitor advertising strategy research,
advertising content research, and management judgment tests. In an
advertising audit, all forms of advertising the brand currently uses (TV
ads, online natives, outdoor, etc.) are screened to assess their consistency
with overall strategy, as well as their internal consistency. The audit can
be carried out on the basis of an internal analysis, but also target group
members could be involved. On the basis of this advertising audit, the
advertising strategy for a brand and/or instruments used can be adjusted.
Competitor advertising strategy research screens competitive ads to judge
competitive advertising strategies in order to define target groups and
positioning strategies more clearly for the company’s own products. In
addition, competitive media strategies and media mixes can be studied
to get an idea of the competitors’ advertising budgets and shares of voice,
target groups, positioning, and strategies. Advertising content research is
used to help advertising creatives generate ideas about the content of new
advertising stimuli. When a new campaign is to be launched, brainstorm-
ing sessions can be organized, involving creatives, advertisers, and con-
sumers. Thought-starter lists, in which a multitude of potential benefits of
78 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

the brand or product to be promoted are listed, may also be used to get
the process underway.

Segmenting, targeting, and positioning

Consumers have different characteristics, different needs, and different

ways in which they want to satisfy their needs. Therefore, companies
have to find out in what way market segments are different with respect
to their products and brands, which target markets to select, and how to
approach them. Developing a strategy to sort this out is referred to as the
segmenting–targeting–positioning (STP) process.

Segmentation
Market segmentation is the process of dividing consumers into homoge-
neous groups in that the members of one group should react in the same
way to advertising stimuli and differ in their reactions to these stimuli
from the members of other segments. In other words, it is not sufficient
for men and women to be physiologically different. If no systematic
difference between the two groups in the way they react to advertising
stimuli can be expected, there is no sound reason to distinguish between
them. Segmentation starts with a definition of potentially relevant factors
on the basis of which a market can be segmented. Different variables or
criteria can be used to segment a market.

Markets can be divided into different geographic segments such as coun-

tries, climate, nations, regions, or neighborhoods. Consumer behavior
and buying patterns often denote cultural differences and therefore the
place where consumers live may require other advertising approaches.
Demographic segmentation divides the market on the basis of sex, age,
family size, religion, birthplace, race, education, or income. These seg-
mentation variables are frequently used, not only because they may
correlate with other variables such as consumer needs, but also because
they are less difficult to measure than others. Consumer markets can also
be segmented on the basis of household life-cycle criteria. This concept is
founded on the fact that family changes (e.g., marriage, birth of children
and children leaving home, break-up of the marriage) affect both income
and expenditure patterns of households. Consequently, each stage will
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 79

have different needs. For instance, singles are an interesting market for
entertainment and travel; newly married people need houses or apart-
ments and furniture; families with young children spend a lot on baby
care products and toys; and retired people have a lot of time to travel and
for leisure activities.

Segmenting markets using lifestyle or personality criteria is called psych-

ographic segmentation. Lifestyle segmentation describes how people stand
in life, organize their lives, and spend their time and money. Lifestyle
measurement is thus based on the activities, interests, and opinions (AIO)
of consumers. Activities include how people spend their money and time,
e.g., work, leisure, product use, or shopping behavior. Interests can be in
fashion, housing, food, cars, culture, and so on. Opinions are attitudes,
preferences, and ideas on general subjects such as politics or economics,
on more specific subjects, or on oneself and one’s family. These AIOs are
also linked to a person’s personality (e.g., a risk-averse person will not take
up dangerous sports).

When a company divides its market into segments referring to product

or brand preferences, involvement with categories, or buying behavior, it
uses a behavioral segmentation approach. Consumers can be segmented
on the basis of the occasion when they use a product or a brand. For
instance, a  brand of orange juice can be targeted at a segment of con-
sumers drinking juice at breakfast, but there will also be a segment using
orange juice in cocktails in the evening. Markets can also be divided into
segments on the basis of customer loyalty. Customers can be loyal to
one brand, loyal to a set of brands or brand-switchers. Brand-switchers
are mainly influenced by material incentives such as sales promotions.
Brand-loyals, on the other hand, do not have to be convinced. Advertising
to keep the brand top of mind and offering loyalty promotions is called for
to persuade these consumers. Consumers that are loyal to a set of brands
will have to be approached with a combination of tools. Image advertising
will keep the company’s brand in their choice set, while advertising for
sales promotions will make them choose the company’s brand rather than
competing brands.

Markets can also be segmented on the basis of the user status of custom-
ers. An individual can be a non-user, a potential user, a first-time user,
a regular user, or an ex-user. Non-users are consumers who will never
buy a product. Men, for example, will never use sanitary towels. An
80 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

advertising plan should therefore avoid talking to them. Potential users

need to be persuaded to try the product for the first time. Advertising,
building awareness and attitude, offering trial promotions, and in-store
advertising may convince them to have a go. First-time users should be
converted into regular users. Advertising, building a favorable attitude
and a preference for the brand, together with loyalty promotions, might
do the job. Regular users should be confirmed in their favorable attitude
and buying behavior. They may be approached by means of advertising
and loyalty promotions. Markets can also be segmented on the basis of
usage rate. Heavy users are of particular interest to a company because
they make up the largest part of sales. Light users may be persuaded to buy
and consume more of the product by means of special offers.

Segmenting on the basis of benefits looked for by consumers, e.g., a salty

snack should be mainly crunchy for some, taste good for others, and not
be expensive for a third group of consumers. A specific benefit for which
a brand has a unique strength can be defined, and the advertising effort
can be targeted at the customer group preferring that particular benefit.
Finally, consumers can be divided into more homogeneous subgroups on
the basis of their buyer readiness. When a potential customer is unaware of
a brand, awareness-building advertising will have to be used. For a group
of customers already aware of the product, attitude-building campaigns
are called for. People who are interested in and like the product should be
persuaded to try it by means of advertising promotions.

Next, segmentation variables can be combined to form segmentation

profiles, for instance single women living in France who are interested in
cycling and have never tried an electric bike before. Segment profiles have
to meet a number of requirements to be meaningful. Segments have to be
measurable. It should be possible to gather information about segmen-
tation criteria and about the size, composition, and purchasing power of
each segment. They have to be substantial enough to warrant separate
and profitable advertising campaigns to be developed particularly for
that segment. Segment profiles have to be attainable, i.e., accessible and
actionable. The company must be able to identify the segment members
and target the advertising campaign at them separately. Finally, market
segmentation should be differentiated, and ideally lead to more homo-
geneous subgroups. These requirements are sometimes referred to by
means of the acronym ADMARS (accessible, differentiated, measurable,
actionable, relevant, and substantial).
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 81

Targeting
Once a company has identified and defined segment profiles, it has to
decide which segments to focus upon. Therefore, segment attractiveness
has to be assessed. On the basis of this analysis of attractiveness, the mar-
keter will select a number of target groups to focus on. This is called tar-
geting. Segment attractiveness has to be assessments based on consumer
and competitor analyses and the company’s relevant strengths. To evalu-
ate segments, companies have to look at four elements: size and growth of
segments, structural attractiveness of a segment, objectives and budgets,
and stability of market segments. Target segments should be profitable,
meaning that they should contain a sufficient amount of consumers
that are able and willing to buy the company’s product, and competition
should not be too strong. Current turnover, potential growth, and prof-
itability of segments are the first important conditions that should be
evaluated for each segment. Structural attractiveness can be analyzed by
using Porter’s five-factor model: current competitors, potential entrants,
substitution products, and the power of customers’ and suppliers’ influ-
ence. Some attractive segments may not fit with the strategic objectives
or long-term goals of a company, or be inaccessible because of budgetary
constraints. The choice of well-defined target groups should later on be
reflected in the selection of advertising objectives, message strategies,
advertising instruments, campaign execution, and touch point planning.

Targeting online
When they go online, people disclose a lot of personal information:
the websites they visit, the things they like and share, the searches they
conduct, the content they view, demographic and location information,
and so on. Tracking consumers’ online activities and using this informa-
tion to deliver advertising targeted to the individual consumer’s interest
on certain platforms and websites is called Online Behavioural Advertising
(OBA), or Interest-Based Advertising (IBA). Across all these online plat-
forms, targeting is done via algorithms that make sense of the vast amount
of personal data the platform collects based on the information users
disclose online. This is called programmatic advertising: the use of soft-
ware to buy digital ads. It uses real-time systems, algorithms, and rules to
deliver the automated purchase of data-driven targeted ads. Ad allocation
is based on a bidding process, the result of which is immediately applied
in campaign roll-out: the algorithm assesses whether a person visiting
82 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

a website meets the desired characteristics and displays the ad to that

person within milliseconds (real-time bidding (RTB)). The disadvantage
of RTB is that advertisers lose control over the presentation of their ads,
including the websites and next to what content they appear, where on the
screen they appear, how long the ad is presented, and who clicks on the ad
(a real person, made-up identities, bots …).

The targeting options that search engines and social media platforms
offer are largely based on the same principles and criteria, although their
operationalization may differ per platform. In any advertising campaign,
be it offline or online, advertisers start from the description of a target
group and try to select media by means of which they can reach this audi-
ence effectively and efficiently. For instance, in traditional offline media,
advertisers could define their target group as men between the ages of
20 and 30 who are interested in sports, and then select the appropriate
advertising media (magazines, TV shows …) in which to place their ads.
In fact, the same happens online: based on a target group description
and an analysis of this target group’s online behavior, online platforms
expose target group members to the ads. The difference with traditional
offline media is that, online, this process is faster, more flexible, more
fine-grained, personalized and customized, and easily measurable.

An essential tool advertisers use for tracking and personalization pur-

poses is cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is stored in a user’s web
browser. It includes a unique identifier which makes it possible to recog-
nize the web browser on a later occasion. First-party cookies are cookies
placed by the domain shown in the browser’s address bar. Some cookies
serve functional purposes; others can then be used to track visitors and
use this information to develop personalized advertising. Third-party
cookies are placed by a domain that is different to what is shown in the
browser’s address bar. Typically, search engines and social media place
third-party cookies on a network of millions of other sites, called publish-
ers. This enables them to track many other websites and their visitors and
to collect more data than they already gather via the first-party cookies
on their own platform. Search engines and social networking sites gather
data about Internet users and provide advertisers with indirect access to
these data by serving as intermediaries in the advertising personalization
process. Websites agree to placing third-party cookies as part of their
business model (earning money by placing ads).
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 83

In the current programmatic advertising context, search engines and

social media know, amongst other things, which web shops a person has
visited looking for, say, raincoats, and uses this information to enable
advertisers to place ads about raincoats that “follow” this person around
on the Internet (Box 4.1). These platforms realize that this may give
consumers the awkward feeling that they are “watched” all the time.
From 2022 onwards, Google plans to block third-party cookies on Google
Chrome, following the lead of, for instance, Firefox and Safari. As a result,
this type of behavior-steered advertising will no longer be possible.
Instead, on the basis of other information it collects, Google is going to
put consumers in groups called flocs (federated learning of cohorts), based
on common characteristics and interests (for instance, young raincoat
buyers in the Netherlands) without a direct link with individual online
behavior. As a result, advertisers will then have to target a group, rather
than individuals, just as they have done for decades with offline media.
However, large platforms such as Google, several social media, and news
sites still collect more than enough data through their first-party cookies
to enable behavioral advertising solutions.1

In the following paragraphs, the targeting options of a number of social

media are described.

Google’s business model is largely based on Google AdWords. Companies

and brands pay to have their website ranked at the top of the first search
results page. Targeting is based on the relevance of keywords for a com-
pany’s business: Google visitors get to see sponsored links (ads) on top
of their search results list that ideally should match the information they
were looking for on the search engine. For an advertiser, choosing the
right keywords is thus vital. Keywords can be Broad (picks up any word
related to the keyword an advertiser selects), Phrase (picks up the word
when used as part of a phrase), or Exact (picks up only when that exact
word is used). Broad match will expose the ad to more people, while the
reach of Exact match will be smaller. A campaign typically needs a balance
of all three in order to get the best results. An advertiser can also explicitly
exclude certain keywords it does not want to be associated with. Google
owns YouTube, and targeting on this medium works the same way as
in Google AdWords. Similarly, an advertiser must think in terms of
keywords that their target audience will likely use when they search for
YouTube videos.
84 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Advertising through social media can be very effective to better target

both new and returning customers, use customer-generated content
for ads, test ads in real time using platform analytics to determine best
performing ads (see Chapter 5), and grow a company’s fan base and
sales. Basic targeting options are relatively similar across social media.
For instance, on Facebook, customers can be targeted based on five
criteria: location (to reach people in certain countries, communities, or
places), demographic characteristics (age, gender, level of education,
relational status, job, etc.), interests (hobbies, movie preferences, food
interests, etc.), behavior (previous buying behavior, type of device used),
and connections (with a person’s Facebook page or an event). Another
option on Facebook is retargeting. For example, let’s say a person searches
for a hotel in New York. She clicks on a hotel website, for instance the
Hilton Hotel, and she leaves the website without making a reservation.
Facebook places a pixel (an alternative for a third-party cookie) on that
person’s device when she visited the Hilton website, which enables them
to send follow-up messages to get her to come back to their site, and/
or automatically send ads for something related to what she just looked
at. From then onward, if Hilton has chosen this option for its campaign,
on another website she visits, ads for the Hilton will follow her around.
Those are retargeting ads. Facebook’s lookalike audiences can be used
to expand a person’s reach from an existing audience. For example, one
of a brand’s audiences (out of three or four) is converting to hot leads
or buys significantly higher than the others. A lookalike audience will
let the brand “clone” that relevant audience so that Facebook will try to
find more people with similar interests or characteristics and send them
a brand’s ads. Instagram is owned by Facebook, and basically offers the
same targeting possibilities.2

Box 4.1 Practice: Deutsche Bahn encourages

domestic travel using programmatic
technology creatively

According to Deutsche Bahn, the German rail company, 72% of

Germans travel abroad for their holidays, often in search for famous
world landmarks. In 2019, Deutsche Bahn worked together with the ad-
vertising agency Ogilvy Germany and the image database Getty Images
to encourage domestic travel. Starting from travel interests that people
had listed on their Facebook profiles and looked for online when mak-
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 85

ing travel plans, the campaign “No need to fly” used an algorithm that
identified German locations that resembled the iconic international
destinations that people were interested in. The algorithm then, using
geo-targeting, calculated the flying cost from the user’s nearby airport
and compared that in real time with the €19 price of a train ticket to
the lookalike location in Germany. This visual side-by-side compar-
ison then popped up on the Instagram feed of travel enthusiasts and
local influencers. More than 10,000 unique personalized images were
compiled in that way. The ads led to a click-through-rate that was 850%
higher than previous Deutsche Bahn summer campaigns, generated an
impressive 6.61% conversion rate, resulted in selling two million rail
tickets in two-thirds of the time it usually takes, and led to an increase
of 24% in year-on-year revenue for Deutsche Bahn.3

On Twitter, target groups can be specified on the basis of location, demo-

graphics, language, the type of people they follow, interests, behaviors,
and the events they are interested in. Audiences’ interests can also be
targeted by keyword. A company can also upload its own lists of people to
target by their email address or Twitter ID or retarget people who visited
its website. Pinterest also allows for different types of targeting. Interest
targeting shows ads to people with specific interests as they browse their
categories of interest; keyword targeting reaches people ready to act on
what they find with Promoted Pins targeted to appear in search results
and as related Pins. Keyword targeting helps increase in-store sales,
boost traffic, and drive online actions by showing a brand’s products to
people ready to take the next step. Audience targeting shows ads to the
people who are most likely to be receptive. Companies can target their
website visitor list, customers in their CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) system, or people who have already engaged with their
brand on Pinterest. Much like on Facebook, a company can  use “acta-
like” audiences to find other people with similar interests and behaviors.
LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business
community. On LinkedIn, target group selection criteria include location,
company name, industry and size, an individual’s job title, function and
seniority, their school, field of study, degrees, skills, gender, age, and
groups they belong to. The Audience Expansion option automatically
includes audiences like those a company have selected. Another option is
to have the campaign delivered to the target audience beyond the LinkedIn
feed, using LinkedIn’s network of partner audiences.
86 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

On Snapchat, advertisers can use the Predefined Audiences option, where

an advertiser can choose from over 300 pre-defined audiences based on
what Snapchatters care about, what they buy, what they watch, and where
they go. Advertisers can also select their preferred audience on the basis
of demographics like age, location, device type, household income, and
parental status. Snapchat also offers the Audience Match option, in which
a company can combine its own data with Snapchat data to build custom
audiences. As on other social media, the Lookalike Expansions facilitate
building lookalike audiences similar to the company’s best customers.
TikTok offers targeting options based on gender, age, location (country,
region, state, or province), app language, interests, and mobile device
price (Box 4.2). TikTok can also create Lookalike audiences based on,
amongst others, user engagement, app activity, and website traffic.

Contextual advertising or targeting is a type of targeted advertising that,

instead of web visitor behavior, takes keywords and the topic and content
of a web page into consideration to display ads. Contextual advertising
is advocated as a tool which has the potential to solve the complex com-
pliance issues now surrounding personal data (General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) – see Chapter 6). For instance, on Google, the
system analyzes the content of each web page to determine its central
theme, which is then matched to an ad using the brand’s keywords and
topic selections, language and location targeting, and a visitor’s recent
browsing history. Contextual and behavioral targeting are not the same.
Behavioral targeting is a targeting method that uses individual web user
information and online behavior to place ad campaigns. In contextual
targeting, automated systems display ads related to the content of a site
based solely on keyword and the content of a site. For instance, if a visitor
is reading an article about make up tips, there could be ads on the web
page related to cosmetics and other fashion products. They are displayed
on the basis of where the user currently is instead of focusing on where
the user has been. Contextual advertising is based on the relevance of the
environment rather than collecting user data to place targeted ads (i.e.,
behavioral targeting).

After segmenting the market and selecting target groups, a positioning

strategy (a “place in the mind of target group customers”) has to be
defined. This will be discussed later on in this chapter.
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 87

Box 4.2 Practice: Nike uses TikTok to encourage

young women to take part in sports

Because of negative attitudes, more than five in ten women in Milan

don’t engage in sports activities. To challenge these attitudes, Nike
teamed up with TikTok to create dance challenge videos inspired by
typically male-dominated sports like boxing, basketball, and football.
The campaign, called “Nulla Può Fermarci” (“Stop at Nothing”), was
developed with London agency AnalogFolk. It featured popular Italian
female athletes and Milanese influencers who created dance routines
that could be replicated by users. Each video included sponsored
hashtags like #basketbeat or #theshadowboxer, and targeted young
Italian women, encouraging them to express athletics through dance.
More than 46,000 users responded to the dance challenge with their
own dance videos, and over 300 media articles were written, includ-
ing one that featured the athletes on the cover of Milan’s newspaper,
Corriere Della Sera.4

Objectives

Advertising objectives can be divided into three categories: reach goals,

process goals, and effectiveness goals. The first goal of advertising is to reach
the target groups in an effective and efficient way. For this purpose a good
segmentation and audience definition are needed, as well as insights into
the media behavior of the desired segments. For online advertising, this
was discussed in the previous section. Considerations of offline media
planning will be discussed later on in this chapter. Process goals are con-
ditions which should be established before any advertising can be effec-
tive, such as capturing the attention of the target group, appeal to them or
be appreciated, processed and remembered, and activate them. The third
type of communications goals are the effectiveness goals. They pertain
to the effect the campaign has on the brand: brand awareness, knowl-
edge, attitudes toward the brand, sales, and profits. Basically, whether
campaigns are online or offline, the same basic goals apply, although
they may be termed differently for different media or platforms: draw
attention, be seen, be remembered, activate, lead to positive brand effects,
and ultimately commercial results. Advertising objectives can be further
88 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

conceptualized on the basis of communications vs. behavioral objectives.

This dimension refers to whether a campaign wants to change some-
thing in the mind of people or in customer behavior. Communication
objectives aim at changes in knowledge or attitudes, while behavioral
objectives want to change something in the way customers act. Based on
these two dimensions, a taxonomy of advertising objectives can be drawn
up (Table 4.1).

Besides a taxonomy for setting communications goals, this framework

is at the same time a taxonomy of campaign effectiveness measurement.
Indeed, campaign objectives and campaign effectiveness measures are two
sides of the same coin. An effective campaign is a campaign that reaches
its objectives. Setting objectives determines how effectiveness should be
measured. Evidently, profitable long-term sales and market share growth
are the ultimate objectives of most advertising campaigns. In many cases,
commercial objectives will only be achieved after intermediary objectives
such as reach, ad processing, and changing awareness and attitudes have
been met. Reach goals should lead to sufficient exposure, process goals
to enough processing and activation of the message, and communication
effectiveness goals to the development of brand awareness and attitudes.
It is generally assumed that campaigns first have to meet intermediary
objectives before they can have a commercial effect. They are considered
necessary conditions for longer-term commercial results. Consequently,
besides commercial objectives, for most campaigns intermediary objec-
tives are also set.

Advertising goals have to be SMART: Strategic, Measurable, Actionable,

Realistic, and Timely. Advertising objectives are fundamental to cam-
paign strategy: all phases of the advertising plan, such as creative, media,
and budgeting decisions, should be built on the goals. As advertising
objectives are also the criteria against which a campaign’s success (or
failure) is evaluated, it is important that they are well defined and quan-
tified. Only when goals are measurable are they a management tool ena-
bling returns to be gauged against investments.

One traditional model of effectiveness objectives and results measure-

ment is the Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results
(DAGMAR) Model. The  DAGMAR Model is a hierarchy-of-effects
model that defines nine consecutive objectives: category wants, brand
awareness, brand knowledge, brand attitude, intention to buy, purchase
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 89

Table 4.1 A taxonomy of advertising objectives

  Process objectives Effectiveness

objectives

Communication Brand recall and recognition Brand awareness

objectives Recall/recognition of message Brand knowledge:
elements • Associations
Attitude toward the ad
• Brand values
• Positioning
Brand attitude/image
Brand preference
Attitudinal brand
loyalty
Purchase intention

Behavioral Call freephone numbers Conversion:

objectives Respond to mails • Trial purchase
Activation:
• Store or website traffic • Repeat purchase

• Likes, shares, and comments on • Sales

social network sites Market share
Profit
• Talk or recommend to friends Return on advertising
Capture leads: investment
• Click-through on online ads to
a landing page, a blog message,
an app, a video
• Collect information of target
customers (email addresses,
subscribe to newsletters, regis-
tration on website)
Conversion:
• Web shop visits

facilitation, purchase, satisfaction, and brand loyalty. It is frequently used

as a framework to select campaign effectiveness goals. In the following
paragraphs, the nine goals are discussed. The first goal is developing
category wants. In most cases, i.e., when advertising is targeted at category
users, category wants can be considered as already present and thus can be
ignored. However, in product categories that are infrequently purchased
or infrequently used, such as painkillers, it may be useful to communicate
category needs to remind buyers of their present but forgotten needs.
Using category need as a primary advertising objective is, of course,
a must for innovations in the form of new product category. Creating
90 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

category awareness is also an appropriate goal when non-category users

are addressed. The following advertising goals are not on a category level
but focus on the brand.

Brand awareness is the association of some characteristics such as a brand

name, logo, package, style, with a category need. There are three ways
brand awareness can be defined. If people think of a soft drink, they may
spontaneously think of Coca-Cola, Fanta, or Lipton Ice Tea. This is their
top-of-mind brand awareness. People may also recall several brands
spontaneously. This is brand recall or unaided spontaneous awareness.
But it is also possible that people recognize a brand by its packaging,
color, logo, and so on. This is brand recognition or aided awareness. If
the purchase decision is made at another time and location than the point
of sale (at the office, at home), or when a buyer has to ask explicitly for
a certain product or service (e.g., at a drugstore or a pharmacist), brand
name recall is needed. When the purchase decision is made in the store,
and the buyer can use visual cues such as packages, displays, colors, and
logos, brand recognition may be sufficient. To stimulate brand recogni-
tion, showing the product package or logo in advertising is crucial. To
build brand recall, frequent repetition of the association between the
category and the brand is necessary. Brand knowledge means that target
consumers are aware of the most essential brand characteristics, features,
and benefits compared with competitive brands.

Brand attitude is the perceived value of a brand to a consumer. Because

a brand is stronger (and thus has more loyal customers) when the dif-
ferentiation with another brand is bigger, brand attitude is an important
advertising objective. When a certain brand attitude cannot be improved,
it could be a strategic decision to develop a more positive attitude by
repositioning the brand and perhaps find a better brand proposition for
the targeted market (rebranding). Existing brand attitudes can also be
adapted to appeal to other and new target groups or to improve attitudes
with current customers. For instance, for a long time, the sandals brand
Teva aimed at adventurous hikers who wanted “practical” shoes. In 2014,
Teva embarked on a rebranding project with the motto “festivals are
the new outdoor.” The company asked several popular Instagrammers
to wear Teva sandals at well-known festivals such as Coachella and
Glastonbury. Several posts appeared on Instagram with the hashtag
#TevaUpgrade, resulting in a more hip and trendy brand image.
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 91

The intention of the buyer to purchase the brand or the product or take
other buying-related actions (going to the store, asking for more informa-
tion, leaving contact details on a website, subscribing to an e-newsletter
…) can also be enhanced. Especially in high-involvement situations, when
perceived buying risks are high, the intention to buy is a necessary medi-
ating step between a favorable attitude and the actual purchase. Purchase
facilitation is about assuring buyers that there are no barriers hindering
product or brand purchase. These barriers could be other elements of
the marketing mix, such as price, product, and place (distribution).
Sometimes availability or price is a problem, preventing consumers from
buying a product. Advertising should minimize these perceived prob-
lems. For example, if a certain brand is not widely available in all stores,
a list of approved dealers might help the consumers. Point-of-purchase
communications may also help to facilitate purchases. The next goal is to
stimulate purchase. In many circumstances it is difficult to use sales goals
as a primary advertising objective, since advertising often works in the
longer run. Nevertheless, there are situations in which stimulating sales
could be a good objective, such as when a sales promotion is announced,
in case of direct marketing campaigns, or in the last stages of an online
campaign (see hereafter).

When the product or service lives up to the required and desired ben-
efits or surpasses expectations, the consumer will be satisfied and thus
inclined to buy the brand again. Satisfied customers are advocates of the
brands they buy. Advertising should thus also be directed to developing
satisfaction with new and existing customers. Brand loyalty is the mental
commitment or relation between a consumer and a brand. Repeat pur-
chase is not the same as brand loyalty. The former is often the result of
habit or routine buying rather than of brand preference or brand loyalty.
For instance, instead of evaluating alternatives and choosing a new brand
for every new purchase, in low-involvement, fast-moving goods consum-
ers tend to buy the same brands again without having a commitment to
the brand. Next to focusing on higher market penetration rates, brands
should also use advertising campaigns to retain their customers better,
encourage their loyal consumers to use the brand more frequently, as well
as suggesting new ways to use the brand or new situations in which it can
be consumed.

Of course, not all advertising objectives should be present in a single cam-

paign. Advertisers need a clear view based on situation analysis and prior
92 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

research among the target audience to decide which goals a campaign

should focus upon. The traditional DAGMAR model is a conversion
model, i.e., turning non-users into users, whereas advertising is often
directed at experienced consumers. Therefore, an alternative logic could
apply: the Awareness–Trial–Reinforcement (ATR) Model. Advertising
first arouses awareness, then induces consumers toward a first trial
purchase, and then reassures and reinforces those users after their first
purchase. Consequently, in this case, the goal of advertising is to create or
recreate brand awareness and to nudge brand choice during purchases.

Online advertising objectives

Basically, the goals of an online advertiser, or the online component of
an advertising campaign, are very similar to those of offline campaign
components. After all, advertising is always about creating brand aware-
ness, brand attitudes, generating leads, converting leads into buyers, and
making buyers loyal. Those are also the main objectives of online cam-
paigns. Often, three consecutive objectives are proposed:

Awareness: reach enough relevant eyeballs (in online campaigns

called “impressions”) and get people’s attention and interest, in order
to generate traffic to the brand’s website or landing page.
Consideration: Capitalize on awareness by sending those people who
landed on the brand’s web page offers that will transform them from
strangers into leads, for instance by retargeting them. The goal is often
to get some basic information from them (for instance, their email
addresses) by means of some kind of lead magnet, like giveaways,
a checklist, an e-book or a webinar. For this reason, in this stage, ads
should contain call to action (CTA) buttons, such as “sign up,” “learn
more,” “download,” “book now,” and, of course, “shop/buy now.”
Conversion: Attractive offers are the next step to turn leads into
customers. For instance, newspapers often invite readers to sign up
to their online content for just 1 euro. This is called a tripwire, a sim-
plified version of the big product or service that is sold. A company
can also “splinter” off part of its product or service  as a separate
low-threshold offer.

When it comes to online marketing, this logic is often translated into

the concepts ToFu (top-of-funnel), MoFu (middle-of-funnel), and BoFu
(bottom-of-funnel) (Figure 4.2). They represent the different stages of the
buyer journey, each of which requires the right content to be delivered at
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 93

the right time to move the prospect through the funnel. At the top of the
funnel, making the brand visible and developing awareness are the top
objectives. The goal of ToFu content in advertising should be to educate
a broad audience on a specific question or need that they’re looking to
address, but without an explicit sales goal. In the ToFu stage, typically
push advertising, such as social media advertising, is called for. When
a user sees a Facebook ad in their newsfeed, it’s actually interrupting what
they’re doing. People do not like to be approached with a sales offer during
their first interaction with a brand. They need to develop some form of
relationship with the brand first. ToFu advertising should use meaningful
content to develop a trust-based relationship with target consumers, such
as a blog post, without attempting to specifically promote the company’s
brand or business. Once interested members of the audience reach out to
the brand, they progress on to the MoFu stage. In this stage of the funnel,
the advertising content should continue to educate but also begin to
position the company as the solution to the needs and challenges of the
prospective customers. The focus here is to convert potential customers
to solid leads, by retargeting these potential customers by ads that aim at
developing leads. At this stage, activating content is needed, usually an
offer which trades premium content for an email address: introduce the
company’s brand, provide value for free, further build trust, and convert
interested people to leads to email subscribers or activate them to go to the
company’s landing page or e-commerce site, again without sending a sales
message to them. Finally, in the BoFu stage, leads should be converted
into buyers by offering them activating content and compelling reasons
to buy the company’s product. This may also include sales or promotions
of all kind (a free trial, or a discount). At this point, the leads pulled in
through previous stages know the company and are comfortable engaging
one-on-one. In this stage also pull advertising should be used, such as
keywords buying on Google and YouTube. Since the user has already spe-
cifically established what they’re looking for, the ad they receive is highly
relevant. They “pulled” the ad their way.

Budgets

By means of sales response models, academics and practitioners have tried

to depict the relationship between advertising budgets and sales. However,
estimating the relationship between the two is not so simple and straight-
94 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Figure 4.2 ToFu, MoFu, BoFu

forward. First of all, advertising is not the only marketing mix instrument
influencing sales. Prices, product line decisions and changes in the distri-
bution strategy will also influence them. Furthermore, an effective mar-
keting mix implies that synergy and interaction exist between the various
marketing tools. In a well-designed marketing plan each tool reinforces
another. An advertising plan may lead to better results if the distribu-
tion strategy is optimized or the price is lowered. A rearrangement of
the product line may result in more effective advertising and so on. As
a result of this interaction, it is very difficult to isolate the effect of the
advertising budget on commercial results. Furthermore, sales response
models do not take the effect of competitive actions and environmental
factors into account. Finally, advertising efforts may have both an imme-
diate short-term and a long-term effect on sales and market share. That
makes advertising budgeting based on “hard” calculations a tedious job.
Consequently, management often employs relatively simple rules to set
an annual advertising budget, or to decide upon a budget for a specific
campaign. They are discussed in the following paragraphs.

The inertia budgeting method is to keep budgets constant year on year,

while ignoring the market, competitive actions, or consumer opportuni-
ties. Arbitrary allocation budgeting means whatever general management
decides to spend will be implemented. This technique is often used by
small companies where the managing director’s personal preferences
(e.g., sponsoring a golf event) and contacts overrule more strategic
processes that take the marketing and competitive environment and
customer wants into account. In the affordability method, “leftover”
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 95

resources after all input costs (i.e., human resources, operational, and
financial costs) are invested in advertising. This method is often used
in small and medium-size enterprises. In this philosophy, advertising
budgets are considered to be a cost rather than an investment and are
mostly not part of the strategic plan. In the percentage of sales technique,
budgets are defined as a percentage of the projected sales of the next year.
These budgeting methods are very popular in many companies due to
their ease of use. They are mainly used to decide upon advertising budgets
for a certain period (e.g., next year), and not for individual campaign
budgets. Needless to say, all of them lack strategic focus. Inertia and
affordability are very subjective ways of deciding how to spend advertis-
ing money and lack critical analysis and overall strategy. The affordability
method ensures that advertising costs do not threaten profits, but suffers
from the same flaws. The percentage of sales budgeting method could lead
to overspending in markets in which these kinds of investments are not
needed and at the same time advertising budgets might be too small where
they might have had a major impact. Decreasing returns on sales will lead
to smaller advertising budgets, which will certainly not help to change the
negative sales evolution. Advertising budgets should not be the result of
sales but rather should create demand and thus push up sales.

There are also advertising budgeting methods that have more strategic
focus. One of them is competitive parity budgeting: companies look at
the budgets competitors spend on advertising and base their budgeting
decisions accordingly. First of all, they may simple copy the competi-
tor’s budget, based on the consideration that the collective behavior of
a market will not skew much of the budget optimum. This method is often
used in fast-moving consumer goods where sales are believed to be highly
influenced by advertising spending. However, the underlying assumption
is that the competitor’s advertising budget was set in an effective and
efficient way, and it implies that the resources, operational methods,
opportunities, and objectives of competitors used as a benchmark are the
same as those of the company itself. The method is also based on historical
data and not on competitors’ plans for the future. Companies can also
base their budgeting decisions on competitive considerations without
copying the competitors’ budgets, when advertisers want to use their
budgets to reach certain strategic goals. This implies decisions on share of
voice (SOV) related to share of market (SOM). Share of voice is the ratio of
own advertising investments divided by the advertising investments of all
brands in the same product category or market. For instance, a company
96 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

that wants to win SOM could decide to substantially increase its SOV
for a certain period of time to overpower the competition. Finally, the
objective and task method differs from the other methods in that they
start from advertising objectives and the resources that are needed to
reach these planned goals. All needed investments are then added and this
will lead to the overall advertising budget. Budgets can be evaluated each
year, and this feedback will lead to improved decision-making and more
efficient budgeting in the future. The difficulty in this method lies in the
estimation of profit impacts of different advertising tactics.

Besides these formal budgeting decision rules, a number of factors may

influence the budgeting decision or may call for budget adjustments. For
instance, sometimes it is necessary to make adjustments to the planned
budgets during the year or during the campaign. If sales and profits lag
behind projected and budgeted figures (planning gap), higher advertising
efforts may be necessary. Crisis situations such as troubles with produc-
tion or distribution might need exceptional investments in crisis com-
munications. Unexpected opportunities or threats in the market might
change strategic plans and advertising budgets, as well as unexpected
moves by competitors (e.g., new product launches or aggressive promo-
tional actions), new legislation, new media, and changes in media costs.

Budgeting online
Offline and online campaigns are similar in that in both cases companies
have to decide upon a budget they want to spend, and allocate that budget
as efficiently as possible across media, keeping their advertising targeting
and objectives in mind. However, in most traditional advertising media,
this means optimizing the number of “eyeballs” reached. Further, pro-
spective customers should be activated and converted to actual custom-
ers. In traditional offline campaigns, reaching these goals often requires
different types of campaigns with different communication instruments,
for instance direct marketing for generating and activating leads, and
sales promotions to generate trial and repeat purchases. Online adver-
tising enables companies to reach all these goals by building campaigns
that guide prospective customers through the entire sales funnel, from
reaching them, creating awareness and interest, to activating them and
turning them into leads, to converting them and closing the sale. Online
advertising is much more flexible than offline campaigns. Companies can
set a total budget, but also a daily budget over a given period. Different ads
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 97

for different target groups and different objectives that are different over
time are relatively easy and cheap to produce. Since online advertisers
can keep track of campaign effectiveness in real time, they can easily and
quickly remove the ads that do not work and replace them with new ones.

The way the online advertising budgeting is done is different from offline
advertising, and sometimes also varies between online platforms. Given
the advertiser’s objectives and target groups, each platform’s algorithm
uses all the information it has from the platform’s users to optimize
campaign effectiveness, i.e., reach the advertiser’s goals as well as possible,
with the chosen target groups. All platforms have extensive management
modules, dashboards by means of which a campaign can be organized:
target groups, objectives, budgets, ads, and measurement of results.

The pricing model of Google AdWords and YouTube is based on

a bidding procedure. Advertisers bid money for clicks. The bid sets how
much an advertiser is willing to pay for each click. If the advertiser’s
maximum bid is, say, $2, Google will only show her ad to people if other
brands or companies are not bidding more. All this happens within split
seconds. Google counts the clicks on an advertiser’s ads and charges the
company for each click. This is called pay per click (PPC). They also count
impressions, which is the number of times an ad has been shown to users
searching for the keywords an advertiser has selected. Clicks divided by
impressions is the click-through-rate (CTR). This is the percentage of
users who land on the page advertised because they clicked on an ad.
However, the highest bid does not always win. Google combines the
money factor with a quality factor in order to create the best experience
for the user, since Google prefers to show its users relevant and better
ads by someone who pays less, because that keeps users coming back to
Google. To decide if and when to show an ad, Google combines the bid
with a quality score – this metric combines several factors in order to
determine how “good” an advertiser’s offer is for someone’s search. To
obtain this quality score, several factors are taken into account, such as
the relevance of the keywords for the ad and historical and expected CTRs.
Next, account history is considered. Google determines if an advertiser
represents a legitimate, credible brand with good products and services.
Another important factor is the landing page, the place people will go once
they click on an ad, which needs to be user friendly, attractive, and easy to
navigate. Quality score and bid are then combined into Ad Rank. Ads with
98 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

the highest Ad Rank appear higher in the list of its keywords. The pricing
mechanism is the same for YouTube ads.

Pricing on social media platforms can be based on cost per impression,

usually expressed as CPM (the cost per 1,000 exposures), cost per click
(CPC), or cost per action (CPA), i.e., leads and acquisitions (acquire
a customer), whichever objective the advertiser considers relevant for
a specific campaign. On the platform’s ad manager module, an advertiser
can select an objective so that the platform based on the data it can use will
automatically optimize exposure schedules. For example, if the advertiser
selects “clicks,” the platform will monitor and adjust in order to get the
most clicks. If she chooses conversions, the platform will watch patterns
for what’s working (like what types of people, what times of day, etc.) and
help self-correct the campaign as it runs. Within this logic, for instance,
Facebook offers two bidding options, either “automatic,” which means
that Facebook determines the bid to reach the desired clicks at the best
price, or “manual,” in which case the advertiser enters a bid (for instance
$1 per click) herself based on how much clicks are worth to her. Most
platforms also allow determination of how much an advertiser want to
spend per day or per week, and even the time of day. Finally, the adver-
tiser can also determine how frequently she wants ads shown, for instance
as quickly as possible during the day, or spread out evenly throughout
the day. Budgeting on Twitter is roughly similar. An advertiser can try
to increase the number of followers, traffic to his website, and/or leads.
This means that, just like on Facebook, the advertiser has to decide the
value of a new follower, lead, or click-through to his website and place
a bid. The total and daily budgets can be adjusted based on advertising
performance metrics and objectives.

Advertising on LinkedIn is also based on a bidding procedure. There are

three options: CPC, CPM, or cost per send (CPS). Cost per send (CPS) is
used when a brand runs sponsored mail campaigns, and pays for each
mail that is successfully delivered. The CPM model is typically used
when brand awareness is the goal. CPC is often used for action-oriented
campaigns like lead generation or event registration. Companies have to
select CPS, CPC, and/or CPM, and their suggested bid, daily budget, start
date, end date, and total budget. They can cancel their campaign at any
time. LinkedIn suggests a bid range to reach the company’s objective, and
gives a range of the current bids of other advertisers. The suggested bid
range will be higher for target groups that are in demand and that many
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 99

companies are bidding on. For all LinkedIn advertising products, bidding
works as a second-price auction. That means if a company wins the bid,
it will only pay the minimum needed to beat the second-highest bidder.
LinkedIn determines who wins the auction based on the highest bid
combined with past ad performance. Ads receive relevance scores based
on factors like CTR, comments, likes, and shares. Campaigns with higher
relevance get a boost in the auction process. The more relevant the ad, the
lower the price a company has to pay.

Message and creative strategy

Message strategy
Once the communication context is analyzed, target groups and objec-
tives have been established, and the advertising budget has been decided
upon, a communication strategy has to be developed. This strategy should
answer the question: what is to be communicated, and how? In other
words, a message and a creative strategy should be developed.

What are we going to say to the consumers? The message strategy or

advertising platform has to convince consumers. They have to know why
they should buy the product, to learn in what way it is special, how it is
beneficial or advantageous for them, how it can help them, and what char-
acteristics it has or what benefits and value it offers. In order to answer
the question “what is to be communicated?” a thorough understanding of
the target group (“customer insight”) is crucial: what can the product do
for the target group, what can the product mean to them and how can the
product help the consumers reach their goals? Some customers see a car
just as a functional vehicle, a means of getting them from A to B. This
target group can perhaps be convinced by communicating the brand’s
attributes (airbag, engine, etc.) or benefits (reliability, safety, etc.). Other
customers do not want to buy a car; they want to buy an image, a status.
Obviously, the advertising messages to the latter group should be different
from those to the former group.

Positioning
Preferably, the brand has to define a unique and relevant position for its
products in the mind of the target group. Positioning is determining the
100 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

way a brand is perceived by the target group on an important attribute,

benefit, or value, the “place in the mind” a brand occupies relative to its
competitors. Positioning attempts to claim exclusive “ownership” of an
attribute, benefit, or value in the mind of the customer which differen-
tiates it from the competition. Mercedes stands for luxury, Volvo for
safety, Miele (dishwashers, washing machines, etc.) for quality, Levi’s
for the original American jeans, and Duracell batteries for power. The
unique characteristic of a brand can be functional or symbolic. A func-
tional benefit, also called a unique selling proposition (USP), refers to
functional superiority in the sense that the brand offers the best quality,
the best service, the lowest price, the most advanced technology. For
example, Gillette is “the best a man can get”; there is “no better washing
machine” than Miele; Durex “gives the most natural feeling”; “no card is
more accepted than MasterCard”, etc. A symbolic benefit usually reflects
a unique psychological association to consumers and is referred to as an
emotional selling proposition (ESP). You buy L’Oréal because “you are
worth it” and you buy Nike because you “just do it.” Other examples
of brands that are promoted on the basis of symbolic benefits include
Porsche and Louis Vuitton. A brand’s advertising message platform
should thus reflect the core positioning a brand wants to establish in the
mind of its target customers.

There are a number of positioning strategies that a company can use, for
instance a unique attribute (e.g., low-fat, the cheapest) or a unique benefit
(e.g., the safest, the healthiest). A price/quality positioning means offering
the same or better quality at a lower price than competitors. Positioning
by use or application implies emphasizing a specific use or application
of the product. For instance, Kellogg’s introduced cereals as a snack at
hours other than breakfast by offering little variety packets that kids can
take to school. Comparative positioning is comparing a brand’s added
value against another brand in the same product category. For instance,
Eurostar offers a fast train connection to London from France, Belgium
or the Netherlands as an alternative to airline connections. Positioning
by product user is associating a product with a specific group of users,
e.g., Aquarius, a thirst-quenching isotonic drink for sporting men and
women. Cultural symbols refer to brand personalities or branding devices
such as Tony the Tiger (Kellogg’s Frosties), Mr. Clean, and Captain Iglo.
Not all differences with competitors are meaningful for an effective dif-
ferentiation. The chosen USP(s) should be important to the target group,
clearly different from what a competitor is offering, superior, easy to
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 101

communicate, difficult to imitate or copy, affordable for the target group

of consumers, and profitable for the company. Sometimes, a company can
use more than one USP and/or ESP. Volvo, for example, claims to be both
safe and durable. However, the more claims a company makes about its
brands, the greater the risk of disbelief. Moreover, the different product
benefits should be compatible in a consumer’s mind: a super-strong
detergent that also claims to be mild for the hands will not have any
credibility.

Creative strategy
After the campaign message strategy has been established, a creative
strategy has to be developed. The core message has to be translated into
a creative idea and concrete advertising formats. Developing a creative
idea and creative formats is the core task of an advertising agency. Before
the agency can start thinking of a creative strategy, the advertiser must
give the agency a creative brief. The creative brief should contain informa-
tion on the target group, advertising objectives, and message strategy, but
also sufficient information concerning the background of the company,
the product, the market, and the competitors. Some examples of necessary
elements are the long-term company and brand strategy, past, current
and desired positioning, former advertising campaigns, message strate-
gies and execution styles, desired media, available budget, and timing of
the different steps (creative idea, execution strategies, campaign running,
etc.).

The first step of the creative strategy is to develop a creative idea. A cre-
ative idea is an original and imaginative thought designed to produce
goal-directed and problem-solving advertisements and commercials.
A creative advertising idea has to be attention-grabbing and should
lead to immediately understanding of the brand’s position. In essence,
a creative idea boils down to a proposition which makes it possible to
communicate a brand’s position in an original, attention-getting, but
easy-to-catch way. Based on the core creative idea, creative formats have
to be developed that “translate” this idea into concrete ads (TV ads, native
ads, etc. – see Chapter 2).

Once a message and creative strategy has been established, campaign

developers have to decide on how to get in touch with the target groups
and which media to use to create touchpoints with them in a consistent
102 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

and synergetic way. These media will have to be combined in an inte-

grated advertising campaign. Finally, after the campaign is over, its effec-
tiveness needs to be assessed and the results of this evaluation are going
to be used to develop further campaigns and/or adapt current campaigns.
Media planning is discussed in the next section. Campaign evaluation and
results measurement are discussed in Chapter 5.

Media planning and selection

The cost of buying advertising time and space makes up a large part of the
advertising budget. A media plan is a plan specifying which media and
vehicles will be purchased when, at what price, and with what expected
results. Media planning means selecting the appropriate media, given the
target group of the advertising campaign and the characteristics of the dif-
ferent advertising media. Both qualitative criteria and quantitative media
objectives for selecting the media mix are important. Media planning
encompasses both offline and online media. The specific issues in online
media planning have been discussed before in this chapter. The following
sections mainly focus on offline media planning.

Qualitative media selection criteria

Qualitative criteria to evaluate different media are the extent to which the
medium is capable of building a brand image and a brand personality,
generate leads, convert members of the target group into customers,
how involved the audience are with the medium, and, as a consequence,
whether the audience are active or passive and whether or not the audi-
ence pays a lot of attention to the messages conveyed by the medium.
Qualitative criteria are also about whether or not the vehicle can add value
to the brand or product due to the context in which the brand or product
is shown, how much and what type of information can be conveyed to
the consumer (e.g., can the use and customer friendliness of the product
be demonstrated?), whether or not the medium is characterized by a lot
of advertising clutter resulting in a need for more exposures in order to
become reasonably effective, whether the advertising message can be
adapted for different target groups, whether the medium is more effective
during certain periods of the year than during others (seasonal effects),
and how expensive the production of advertising stimuli for a medium
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 103

is. Additionally, the different media and vehicles must be considered

in conjunction with each other. Is it wise, for instance, to plan the TV
campaign after the radio campaign, or vice versa? Is it better first to
explain the message in more detail in magazines before the out-of-home
campaign starts? How important is it to have several TV commercials
during prime time in the first week of the launch of a new product?
Which radio channel does a target consumer listen to in the morning?
Which billboards does he or she come across on the way to work? Which
magazines or newspapers are read in the evening? Which TV programs
are watched in the evening? Which online platforms create the best CTR
and conversions? Often these qualitative criteria are first used to select
media types (TV, print, online, but not radio, for instance), after which
quantitative criteria are used to develop the actual media plan. Table 4.2
provides an overview of the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of
a number of advertising media types.

Quantitative media planning objectives

After media types are determined, specific advertising media vehicles
have to be selected. This selection is based on the media usage behav-
ior of the target audience. Which TV or radio programs do they listen
to or watch, at what time and on which days? Which newspapers and
magazines do the target consumers read? Do they go the cinema? Media
planning is based on databases in which the media usage of different types
of target groups is documented. On the basis of this information, adver-
tising budgets are allocated to ensure a maximum reach and frequency
of exposure to ads for the budget. Considerations that play a crucial role
in this planning process are frequency of exposure (repetition), reach,
weight, cost, and scheduling. It is important to understand that, in media
planning, reach and frequency is estimated on the basis of whether or
not, and the number of times, one could be exposed to the media vehicle
(a newspaper, a radio station), and not to the message itself. For example,
if a consumer has a newspaper subscription and a certain campaign
has one ad per week for six weeks in that newspaper, we know that the
particular consumer will be exposed to the content of the newspaper six
times during the six-week period. However, if the consumer does not
always read the full newspaper and occasionally omits the pages in which
the ad appears, the actual number of times he or she will be exposed to the
message will be lower than six.
104 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Table 4.2 Advertising media and media planning criteria

Media type Strengths Weaknesses

Outdoor Wide reach Low involvement

High frequency Low attention potential
Long message lifetime Limited amount of
Immediate reach information
Geographically flexible No context

Magazines Selective on specific target groups Long lead time

High-quality context Geographically inflexible
High involvement Sometimes high clutter
Quality of reproduction
Lot of information
Long message life

Newspapers Wide reach Limited selectivity

Short lead time Lower quality of
Flexibility reproduction
High involvement Short message life
Strong context
Lot of information
Geographical flexibility

Door-to- Geographically flexible Limited selectivity

door High reach Low involvement
Lot of information Lower quality of
Promotion-orientated reproduction
High clutter

Television Flexible High production costs

Strong (emotional) impact Very short message life
Ideal for transferring image High clutter
Supportive context Strong seasonal variation
High reach
Selective

Cinema Very strong emotional impact Limited reach

Attention-grabbing Slow reach
Positive context Very short message life
Selective to young and upmarket High production costs
target groups
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 105

Media type Strengths Weaknesses

Radio High reach Very short lifetime

High frequency Low involvement
Low production cost Low attention
Flexibility Activating
Very selective Brand building

Digital Cost-efficient Potentially intrusive

Flexible Low involvement
Brand building Low attention
Activating/interactive Clutter
High reach
High frequency
Potentially strong context
Selective
Measurable

Frequency
Frequency indicates how many times a consumer of the target group, on
average, should be exposed to the advertiser’s message within a specified
time period for it to be effective. According to the two-factor model, an
inverted-U relationship exists between the level of exposure, on the one
hand, and advertising effectiveness (memory, attitudes, purchase), on the
other. Wear-in and wear-out effects explain the nature of this relationship.
At low levels of exposure, consumers develop rather negative responses
(e.g., counter-arguments) due to the novelty of the stimulus. After a few
exposures, the reaction becomes more positive. This is referred to as
wear-in. More frequent exposures again lead to more negative responses,
a phenomenon called wear-out. Negative responses, such as irritation, can
be expected to be the highest both at low and high exposure levels, while
positive responses are optimal at intermediate exposure levels. One way to
counter or delay the wear-out effect is to make minor changes to the ad so
that the consumer is not exposed to the same ad over and over again, or to
use executional cues that evoke positive emotional responses.

The difficulty is to determine the optimal frequency level. This is linked

to the advertising objective, the type of message used, media clutter, the
product category, the competition level, the target group, and the media
used. For instance, more complicated ads may show a longer wear-in
and a postponed wear-out; humorous ads may have a short wear-in and
a quick wear-out. An important question is which is the effective fre-
quency, the minimum number of exposures, within a purchase cycle, con-
sidered necessary to motivate the average prospect in the target audience
106 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

to accomplish an advertising objective. A common assumption is that

a member of the target group is reached “effectively” only after three con-
tacts. However, one exposure may be sufficient if the consumer is reached
at the right moment, with the right message. For example, a consumer is
driving home from work and a stone shatters the car window. One ad for
Carglass mentioning that it repairs car windows 24 hours a day may be
very effective at that moment. On the other hand, a consumer may need
to see a yoghurt ad 15 times before it becomes effective. Moreover, two
exposures may be sufficient for market leaders or an established brand
image, while more might be necessary for new campaigns targeted at
infrequent users, if the objective is to increase the usage of a product or
when medium clutter is high. In other words, situational variables play
an important role. In terms of media types, on average, cinema needs
fewer exposures than television, followed by printed media (newspapers
and magazines). Radio and outdoor advertising need the highest level
of repetition. This difference is due to the nature of the medium type
(audio-visual vs. only audio or only visual, for instance), and the way in
which people are using or exposed to the medium. For instance, people do
not always listen to the radio; often the radio is just “on.” People pass by
an outdoor billboard, but often do not pay close attention to it.

Reach and weight

To understand the relationship between frequency, reach, and weight of
a campaign, a number of key concepts need to be explained first.

Total reach of a medium vehicle is the number of people who are exposed
to the medium vehicle during a specified period, for instance how many
people read The Guardian. Total reach determines the cost of advertising
in that particular medium vehicle. Useful reach of a medium vehicle is
how many consumers from the target group are exposed to the medium
vehicle. Again, only exposure to the medium vehicle can be measured, not
exposure to the message itself. Even within the same medium type, total
and useful reach can differ substantially for different media vehicles. The
greater the overlap between total and useful reach of a medium, the more
selective the medium is and the lower the cost per useful contact will be.

Total and useful reach are medium-specific. Net and gross reach indica-
tors are characteristics of a campaign (multiple media). Net reach, often
referred to as just “reach,” is the total number of target group members
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 107

Table 4.3 Reach and frequency distribution

Exposures Reach as percentage of target group

1 20.0%

2 16.0%

3 11.5%

4 6.0%

5 3.5%

6 1.8%

7 1.2%

that are reached by all media used in a campaign. Some of these target
group members will be reached several times, because they have been
reached several times by means of the same or different media vehicles.
For instance, a person can be reached three times because the ad was
placed three times in a newspaper she reads, or she can be reached
three times through one newspaper and two different magazines. Gross
reach is the total number of contacts a campaign has made, duplications
included. This represents the weight of a campaign. It is often expressed
as Gross Rating Points (GRP): gross reach as a percentage of the target
group. GRP can exceed 100%. Often, “%” is not added. These GRP can
be realized by means of the same or different media vehicles. Another
measure often used by media planners is Opportunity to See (OTS). OTS
is defined as the average frequency (number) of exposure that an average
reached target consumer has. It is calculated by dividing gross reach by
net reach. Finally, effective reach is the number of target consumers who
were potentially exposed to the advertiser’s message at least three times.
Suppose an advertising campaign reached 60% of its target consumers
with the frequencies reported in Table 4.3. In this example, percentage net
reach is 60% (20% + 16.0% + 11.5% + 6.0% + 3.5% + 1.8% + 1.2%). GRP
is 147.2. Consequently, OTS is 2.45 (147.2/60). If the consumer needs to
be exposed at least three times to be effective, then the effective reach is
24.0% (11.5% + 6.0% + 3.5% + 1.8% + 1.2%).

Cost
The cost of a medium is usually expressed as the cost per thousand people
reached (CPM). CPM is calculated by dividing the cost of the medium
108 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

(the air cost of a 15- or 30-second commercial, the cost of a one-page

magazine ad, the cost of reaching 1,000 people seeing an online ad, etc.)
by the medium’s audience. More relevant is the cost per thousand in
the target market, represented by CPM-TM. In this case, the cost of the
medium has to be divided by the useful reach. The cost per useful contact
is strongly related to medium selectivity, the extent to which a medium
proportionally reaches a certain target group better. An example is given
in Box 4.3.

Box 4.3 Practice: calculating cost per thousand

useful contacts

Suppose a fashion chain wants to reach young females (between 16

and 30 years of age). An ad is inserted in three women’s magazines, in
a TV guide, and in a special interest magazine. The following CPMs
can be calculated. Although the CPM for the TV guide is the lowest,
calculation of the CPM-TM shows that, for reaching the young female
audience, Woman I may be more cost efficient.
Table 4.4 Calculating cost per thousand useful contacts

Type of Magazine Cost Total CPM (Useful) CPM-

magazine (€) reach reach TM
(000s)

Women’s Woman I 3,250 230 14.13 115 28.26

magazines
Woman II 1,995 116 17.19 58 34.39

Woman III 1,800 106 16.98 53 33.96

TV guide TV One 3,900 585 6.67 117 33.33

Special Modern 2,260 44 51.36 7 322.8

interest Lifestyle

Media planning aims at maximizing (effective) reach, frequency, and

weight of a campaign for the budget. However, given a certain adver-
tising budget, reach and frequency cannot be increased at the same
time. Both reach and frequency can only be increased by increasing the
campaign budget. Media planning is a matter of finding the right equilib-
rium between reaching enough members of the target group frequently
enough. Let’s take two extreme examples. One extreme could be to select
 ADVERTISING PLANNING 109

a medium vehicle the audience of which is fully in the target group, and
10% of the target group is covered. An advertiser might decide to put all
her money in ads in this vehicle. That would lead to the lowest possible
CPM, and the highest GRP and frequency for the budget. This is not
a good media plan: net reach is too low and frequency is unduly high. At
the other side of the spectrum, the advertiser may select medium vehicles
that all partially cover a different part of the target group, leading to
a reach of 70%. However, this would also be a bad media plan. It would
lead to low GRP and zero effective reach. The “ideal” plan would be
a mixture of both scenarios, a compromise between reach and effective
frequency.

Scheduling
With respect to scheduling, advertisers have a number of possibilities.
A continuous schedule means that the advertiser spends a continuous
amount of money per day, week, or month throughout the whole
campaign period. In the case of budget constraints, a continuous sched-
ule might result in too low expenditures per period to be effective.
Continuous advertising at low levels is also called “dripping.” This can
be meaningful in a philosophy of 360-degree communication to have
short but frequent touch points with the target group. A pulsing schedule
means that a certain level of advertising takes place during the whole
campaign period (“dripping”), but during particular periods higher
advertising levels are used. A flighting schedule is used when advertising
is concentrated in only a few periods and not during the whole campaign
period. In other words, during some periods no advertising takes place,
and high levels are spent during peak months (“waves”). Typically, many
campaigns have two waves, a launch wave, and a couple of months later
a reminder wave. One last tactic worth mentioning is double-spotting: two
spots of the same brand (usually a longer and a shorter one) are placed
within the same advertising block (on TV or radio) to increase the likeli-
hood of obtaining effective frequency.

Finally, as mentioned before, with respect to online media, the following

has to be noticed. Due to the interactive nature of digital media, people
can react to digital ads: they can click-through on banners or on native ads
on social media, and like and share a comment on social media content.
In that respect, in the online environment, often the distinction is made
between owned, paid, and earned media. Owned media are media that
110 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

are owned by the advertiser (e.g., an electronic newsletter, Facebook

pages, brand communities). Paid media are advertisements that are paid
for (e.g., a Google AdWords campaign). Earned media is exposure to an
advertiser’s message as a result of brand engagement activities of website
visitors (e.g., liking, sharing, commenting upon a branded message),
or creating branded user-generating content (e.g., a video featuring the
brand). Companies use viral marketing to generate customer engagement
and to “earn” media.

Notes
1. De Morgen, March 16, 2021; De Standaard, April 3, 2021.
2. https://​blog​.hootsuite​.com/​instagram​-statistics/​.
3. https:// ​ w ww ​ . contagious ​ . com/ ​ n ews ​ - and ​ - views/ ​ g erman ​ - rail ​ - campaign​
-facebook​-sheryl​-sandberg​-called​-the​-future​-of​-advertising; http://​www​.our​
-work​.de/​noneedtofly​_automation/​; https://​www​.contagious​.com/​news​-
and-views/doppelganger-destinations-sell-staycations-to-germans;
https://​wersm​.com/​how​-deutsche​-bahn​-increased​-sales​-by​-24​-thanks​-to​
-instagram/​.
4. https://​contagious​.com/​io/​article/​insight​-and​-strategy​-nulla​-puo​-fermarci​
-stop​-at​-nothing.
5 Advertising effectiveness

When has an advertising campaign been successful? The answer to that

question is easy: when it has reached or surpassed its goals. Measurement
of effectiveness thus always has to refer back to the goals that were laid
down in the advertising plan. However, measuring the results of a cam-
paign is not obvious. Its effect on sales, market share, or profits can often
not be isolated, and the commercial pay-off of advertising is in many
cases only visible after a certain period of time. Therefore, in most cam-
paigns “intermediate” goals are set and results are measured accordingly,
such as the attitude toward the ad, brand awareness, brand knowledge,
attitude, preference or purchase intention, and activation, and they are
assumed to be necessary conditions or even predictors of commercial
success. There are three basic types of advertising effectiveness research:
pre-testing, post-testing, and campaign evaluation research. Following
the development of an advertising strategy, a number of advertising tools
(print advertisements, television spots, outdoor posters, online ads, etc.)
are developed and tested. This process is called pre-testing. After the
development of the campaign, it is placed in the media. The impact of
each of the tools can be assessed in post-tests. Finally, the results of the
whole campaign can be compared with its objectives in campaign evalu-
ation research.

Pre-testing

In a pre-test, advertising stimuli are tested before they appear in the

media. The general purpose is to test an ad concept, different concepts, or
finalized advertising stimuli to assess whether or not they can achieve the
purpose for which they are designed. Often, advertising agencies develop
different concepts or executions of a new campaign. The first function of
pre-testing is to select the most appropriate one. The agency then goes

111
112 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

back to the drawing board to “polish” the chosen advertising concept

into finalized stimuli. These can then again be pre-tested before media
placement. Advertising stimuli should generate a number of intermediate
processes or effects, such as creating attention, carrying over informa-
tion, evoking acceptance of the message, credibility, positive affective
reactions about the ad and the brand, activation, and purchase intention.
In a pre-test the extent to which these intermediate effects are generated
is tested. It is important to understand that pre-tests cannot be used to
forecast sales, market shares, or profits. Often, a campaign consists of
a number of similar ads, i.e., different executions of the same basic com-
munications strategy. Evidently, not all formats are equally appealing.
A pre-test can help in establishing the extent to which some executions
are more effective than others in that respect, and assist in deciding upon
the optimal frequency of placement of the various ads. However, the latter
is not an easy one to pre-test in a valid way. Usually, consumers see ads
frequently over some period of time. It is difficult, if not impossible, to
mimic this exposure process realistically.

Three basic categories of ad pre-tests can be distinguished: a number of

desirable characteristics can be tested internally, and samples of consum-
ers can be used to test communication and behavioral effects of a cam-
paign. A campaign can be tested internally by the advertising agency and/
or the advertiser by means of a checklist or readability analysis. Pre-test
checklists are used to make sure that nothing important is missing, and
that the ad is appealing, powerful, and “on strategy” (i.e., whether it targets
the right consumers with the right messages aiming at the right goals, as
laid out in the briefing to the agency), the product is shown (in use), and
the brand name is mentioned frequently enough. The problem with these
checklists is that they are often only judged by insiders, such as brand or
advertising managers and agencies. Many of the items in these checklists
should in fact be tested with members of the target group of the campaign.
Another type of internal test is the readability analysis. Good advertising
copy is simple and easy to understand “at first glance.” Several methods
have been developed to test this “readability.” For instance, a number of
words in the text (e.g., every sixth word) can be removed, and a sample
of consumers can be asked to fill in the missing words. The number of
correctly reproduced words is an indication of the readability of the text.
Research indicates that easy-to-read copy contains short sentences with
short, concrete, and familiar words, and lots of personal references.
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 113

Communications or activation effects are measured in a sample of cus-

tomers of the target group. The distinction can be made between physio-
logical or observation tests, recall tests, direct opinion measurement, and
behavioral tests.

In a physiological test the reaction of the body to advertising stimuli is

measured. Two types of physiological measurements can be carried out.
The first is measurement of arousal, i.e., the activation of the nervous
system, which is an indication of the intensity of the effect evoked by an
ad. Several observational experimental techniques are used. For instance,
the higher the arousal, the more the pupil of the eye dilates. Pupil dilation
measurement is therefore used to assess the amount of arousal during,
for instance, a TV commercial. Another measure is the galvanic skin
response. In this method, the varying humidity of the skin is measured by
means of an electric current, on the basis of which the amount of arousal
can be assessed. Most of these techniques are complicated and expensive,
while the results are often difficult to interpret. Therefore, they are not
frequently used. For an ad to be effective, it has at least to be noted, and
a minimum of information has to be carried over. An often used tech-
nique in this regard is eye camera research: it registers which sections of
a stimulus (a print ad, a website, or a TV commercial) are looked at, for
how long, how frequently, and in what order. Today, eye camera research
takes place by means of laptops on which an eye camera is mounted that
registers eye movements of participants in the study sitting in front of the
laptop. This technique can be used to improve the structure or layout of
an ad. It can also be used to test websites.

In recall tests, such as the portfolio test, the extent to which an individual
recalls a new ad or a new execution amid existing ads is tested. The ad
to be tested is put in a portfolio, together with other ads. The subject is
asked to look at the ads, and sometime later (20 or 30 minutes), the recall
test takes place. The subject has to name the ads and the brands, as well
as the content of the ad that he or she can remember. Ads that are more
frequently recognized are assumed to have drawn the attention better.
Recall tests have a number of limitations. First of all, the more one is inter-
ested in a certain product (because one is planning to buy it in the near
future, for instance), the more attention is paid to the ad and the better
it is recalled. Additionally, very often the recall test is carried out very
briefly after the exposure. The subject does not really have time to forget
the ad. Ideally, the time between the exposure and the recall test should be
114 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

as long as the time between the exposure and the buying situation in real
life, but this can hardly be organized in a controlled lab experiment like
the portfolio test. Results of recall tests, and in fact of any other advertis-
ing effectiveness test, should be benchmarked, i.e., compared to relevant
alternatives measured in comparable test groups. For instance, the results
of a test for a new car ad should be compared with the results of other car
ads or different stimuli for the same car campaign. The test of a new car
ad should not be carried out in a group of car fanatics and compared to
test results of car ads in a group of people who are not so much interested
in cars. Often, in this and other types of ad effectiveness tests, the quality
of ads is expressed as how high they score compared to other previously
tested comparable campaigns, for instance in the top 10% for recall of the
brand, the top 15% for recall of the tagline, and so on.

In direct opinion measurement tests, a jury of customers is exposed to

a number of ads and asked to rate the ads on a number of characteristics.
Ad elements that can be tested are clarity, informativeness, novelty,
evoked feelings, evoked attitude toward the ad and the brand, interest,
quality of the information, the extent to which an ad induces the person
to buy the product, and so on. The participants may be asked to rate each
ad on a number of scale items, or to order them on the basis of a number
of criteria. The most important disadvantage of the direct rating method
is that individuals are exposed to ads in a very unnatural environment.
Therefore, they may be inclined to approach the ads too rationally
compared with a real-life situation of ad exposure. This phenomenon is
known as the “consumer jury effect.” Also in this test, benchmarking is
important.

Finally, behavior pre-tests try to measure actual behavior. In a trailer test

or coupon-stimulated purchasing test, respondents visiting a supermarket
are invited to a trailer in a supermarket car park, and randomly assigned
to an experimental or a control group. The members of the first group
are shown a commercial that is being tested and asked a number of ques-
tions. The control group has to answer the same questions without being
exposed to the commercial. Several experimental groups can be formed if
different commercials have to be tested. Both groups receive a number of
coupons as a reward for their cooperation. An individualized store card
registers the items purchased. Ad effectiveness is measured by means of
differences in redemption between the various coupons. Again, the par-
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 115

ticipants know that they are being tested, and this might influence their
buying behavior.

Although pre-testing procedures are very valuable, they have some limi-
tations that should be taken into account when interpreting their results.
A pre-test will never lead to the best possible ad, but only to the best ad out
of a number of stimuli tested. Pre-testing is only “a guide to better adver-
tising.” Pre-testing is only useful when the ads are tested in an individual
interviewing procedure. Since ads are processed individually, they should
also be tested individually, and not in a group setting in which the influ-
ence of the other members of the group invalidates the test rather than
being synergetic. Most pre-tests take place in an experimental setting.
Consumers may behave differently when exposed to an ad in a real-life
situation. Some pre-test methods, such as the direct opinion method, are
susceptible to consumer jury effects. Often the effectiveness of the ad is
measured almost immediately after exposure. The effect of the elapse of
time on ad effectiveness is not assessed. The effect of repetition or fre-
quency of exposure on ad effectiveness cannot easily be assessed. In any
case, pre-tests can only provide guidance in terms of intermediate effects
of a campaign, such as ad recall or recognition, recalling or understanding
the core message, the attitude and feelings toward the ad, the extent to
which the ad supports brand image, stimulates activation, or might lead
to buying intention. They cannot predict actual sales, market shares,
number of new customers, and other “hard” campaign results.

Post-testing

A post-test is a test of the effectiveness of a single ad (TV, online banner,

radio spot, magazine) after placement in the media. Three types of
post-tests can be distinguished: measurement of exposure, communica-
tions effect tests, and measurement of behavior. First of all, the extent to
which an ad has reached its audience can be measured. Net reach, Gross
Rating Points (GRP), Opportunity to See (OTS), and other exposure
measures can be calculated (see Chapter 4). In measuring the communi-
cations or message processing effects of an ad, two types of tests are used:
recognition and recall tests. A recognition test is a test in which a sample of
ads is presented to a consumer, who is asked to indicate whether he or she
recognizes the ad or not. The underlying assumption is that ads can only
116 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

be effective when they are at least noted and processed. A well-known

recognition test procedure for print ads is the Starch test. Consumers
who say they have read a specific issue in a magazine or a newspaper are
interviewed. The magazine is opened at a random page, and a number of
questions are asked per ad. The procedure leads to four percentage scores
for each ad:

• Non-readers: the percentage of people who do not remember having

seen the ad.
• Noted: the percentage of readers who claim to have seen the ad.
• Seen/associated: the percentage of readers who claim to have read the
product and brand name.
• Read most: the percentage of readers who claim to have read at least
half the ad.

Obviously, the Starch test is very susceptible to the test subject’s honesty.

In a masked identification test, part of an ad, usually the brand name, is

covered. The subject is asked if he or she recognizes the ad, and if he or
she knows what brand it is for. Recognition and correct attribution scores
of the brand to the ad can then be calculated. Brand confusion (attribut-
ing a wrong brand to an advertisement) can be measured too. The com-
bination of recognition and correct attribution scores leads to the useful
score: the percentage of the test sample that both recognized the ad and
attributed it correctly to the brand advertised. An example of the results
of a masked identification test of a billboard campaign for a new car is
shown in Figure 5.1, together with the results of a number of categories of
control ads. Here again, benchmarking is important: the effectiveness of
an advertising stimulus can only be assessed based on comparisons with
other similar ads. “Similar” can be ads for the same product category, or
ads during the same period, or ads in the same medium. In this example,
the two waves of billboard advertising for the new car show recognition
scores of 90% and 80%, a lot more than the 50% for all advertising cam-
paigns, 60% for 20 m2 billboards (the same format of the car campaign)
and 55% for all car billboards. Correct attribution of the first new car wave
is 70%, and a lower 55% for the second wave, larger than the 40–50%
attribution of the control categories. Consequently, the useful score of the
two new car waves is much higher (56% and 44%) than that of the control
categories (20–27.5%). Masked identification tests can also be used to
measure if the target audience can attribute the tagline or main message
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 117

of an advertising stimulus, for instance by covering this tagline or message

instead of the brand name.

Figure 5.1 Masked identification test

A second type of communications effect measurement is the recall test. In

an unaided recall test, consumers have to indicate which ads they remem-
ber having seen, in a specific magazine, on TV, websites, or billboards. In
an aided recall test, the consumer’s memory is helped by means of clues
such as: What car ads did you see on TV yesterday? Unaided recall scores
are usually lower than aided recall scores, which in turn are lower than
recognition scores. Therefore they cannot be compared. A well-known
recall test is the Gallup–Robinson Impact test for print ads. Firstly, the
respondents have to read a magazine at home. The following day, the
respondents are called and asked to recall as many ads as they can. After
that, a number of questions about the content of the ads are asked. The
Gallup–Robinson procedure leads to three indicators of advertising
effectiveness:

• Proved name registration: the percentage of subjects who remember

an ad without having seen it during the test.
• Idea penetration: the percentage of subjects who have understood the
main idea in the ad.
118 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

• Conviction: the percentage of subjects who want to buy or use the

product.

Most post-test are conducted via personal or online surveys and measure
similar indicators: recognition, attribution (+ useful score), and several
quality perception attributes, such as clarity, convincingness, credibility,
likeability, originality, and how pleasant or annoying the ads are.

Finally, the effect of an ad can be tested by means of behavioral measures.

Especially in the case of direct response ads, the number of people calling
a free telephone number announced in the ad, sending back a coupon,
clicking on a weblink, or actually buying the product can be considered
a measure of the effectiveness of the ad.

Recall and recognition tests have a number of limitations. In recogni-

tion tests, consumers can say what they like; they can lie, exaggerate, or
guess. An ad that is part of a campaign of similar ads will be more easily
recognized or recalled. In integrated campaigns that use various media,
it is hard to isolate the effect of one single ad. Recognizing or recalling
advertising may be a necessary condition to buy a product, but often not
a sufficient one. Product involvement influences the results of the test.
A consumer who is very interested in a certain product category will
perform better in recognizing ads for this product category. This does
not imply anything about the effectiveness of that specific ad. Recall is,
in a number of cases, an irrelevant indication of advertising effectiveness.
The only thing recall tests measure is whether the ad has been able to draw
attention. Finally, recall scores are very dependent on the time elapsed
between exposure and recall measurement.

A specific post-testing format for online ads is the A/B test, also known
as the split test. A/B testing is a real-time real-live experiment to find
out to what extent two or more variations of an online advertisement
perform better by presenting each version to groups of users at random
at the same time, and analyzing the results to determine which variation
performs better for a given advertising goal (conversion, sales …). A/B
testing demonstrates the efficacy of online advertising stimuli, based on
behavioral effects data. Based on A/B tests, an advertiser can withdraw
specific stimuli (banners, native ads) that are not or less effective, replace
stimuli with other ones, or adapt stimuli, all in real time. This allows for
short-term optimization of an advertising campaign at minimal cost.
Elements of an ad that can be A/B tested include the headline or subject
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 119

line, imagery, CTA forms and language, layout, fonts, and colors. It is
crucial to only run one test at a time, i.e., to pick one variable to test, for
instance, the number of viewers who subscribe to an e-newsletter after
clicking on a link in a native ad, or make a purchase after exposure to the
ad. Testing one change at a time will show which affected users’ behavior
and which did not. To prove causality, an A/B test needs controls, the ele-
ments that are kept the same throughout the experiment. One variable to
control for is time, i.e., the period during which the test is run. The period
for an A/B test must be the same for both “A” and “B” variables so that the
user base seeing each version is the same. Further, substantially different
“competing” advertising stimuli should be selected to do the test, and
ideally sufficiently large subsamples of viewers should be selected that are
equally and randomly exposed to one of the test ads. But even relatively
small sample sizes can provide significant, actionable results as to which
changes are most engaging for users. A/B testing and adapting campaign
stimuli accordingly will ideally make the adapted final versions of the
advertising stimuli better, and will help to keep visitors on site longer,
more quickly click through, or convert. Determining a winner and a loser
of an A/B test is straightforward: which stimulus metrics come closer to its
goals (time spent, conversions, etc.). Further, A/B testing can also provide
inspiration to apply them in subsequent campaigns.

Campaign evaluation research

Campaign evaluation research focuses on the effectiveness of a whole

advertising campaign on brand parameters. As in post-tests, a before
or control measurement is necessary to assess adequately the effect of
a particular campaign. Communications as well as behavior effects can be
measured. Communications effects measurements can be structured fol-
lowing the HoE logic and be measured by means of surveys with samples
of the target groups: awareness, knowledge, attitude, and intention to buy.
Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) measurement is an unaided awareness
test in which the consumer is asked which brand of a specific product
category is the first one that comes to mind. Subsequently, the consumer
is asked if he or she can name other brands in the same product category
(unaided awareness). Finally, a number of brands are mentioned, and the
consumer has to indicate the ones he or she knows (aided awareness). The
advertising campaign is not mentioned but, by comparing the awareness
120 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

before and after a campaign, its effect on brand awareness can be assessed.
Furthermore, brand awareness rates of competitive products are also
measured, and can serve as a control measurement or benchmark. Often
a campaign aims at changing the target group’s opinion about certain
aspects or attributes of a brand. Measurement scales can be used to
measure this change in attitude or image components. Finally, the com-
munications effect of a campaign can be measured on the basis of a target
group of consumers’ intention to buy: “The next time you buy coffee, what
is the chance that you will buy brand X (as a percentage, or on a 10-point
scale)?” An alternative measure is the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is
based on the question: “To which degree would you recommend the fol-
lowing brand to your family or friends?” measured on a 0–10-point scale.
Customers that answer 9 or 10 are called “promoters”; those answering
7 or 8 are “passives”; and those who answer 0–6 are “distractors.” The
net promoter score is then calculated by subtracting the percentage of
people scoring 0–6 from the percentage of people who scored 8–10. NPS
can thus take values between −100 and +100. Obviously, NPS scores
should be benchmarked, i.e., compared with previous scores and/or with
scores of competing brands or companies. NPS can be a good indicator
of customer loyalty, provided the industry consists of enough players and
customers have a real choice, and customers can easily switch from one
supplier to another. On the other hand, NPS is too simple. It does not say
how results can be improved, and it is focused on existing customers and
not on new ones. It also does not give any information about competitors:
they can win a lot of new customers by attracting passives or detractors
from other companies. Passives are not taken into account. However,
they are indeed also “not satisfied” customers that can be seduced to
switch to competitors.

Besides intention to buy and to recommend, the effectiveness of an adver-

tising campaign can also be measured by means of activation measures.
They measure the extent to which people actively react to advertising by,
for instance, looking up further information, talking to friends (buzz),
visit a website, or going to a store. Online activation can be measured
by means of tracking people’s behavior when exposed to a campaign;
for instance, click on a link, leave an email address on a landing page,
subscribe to a newsletter, request an e-book, download an infographic, or
order a trial sample of the product.
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 121

As in all before/after measurements, problems of interpretation arise. The

effect of a campaign cannot always be isolated. A deteriorating image,
for instance, may be the result of, among others, a bad campaign, a price
increase, bad publicity, competitors’ actions, an inappropriate sales pro-
motion campaign, or a bad distribution strategy. Furthermore, the effect
of advertising campaigns may only become visible after some time. The
performance of a brand immediately after the campaign may therefore
underestimate its true impact in the long run.

Obviously, the ultimate objective of an advertising campaign is to make

people buy the product, become loyal, and eventually to make a (better)
profit. In behavior tests the relation between advertising and buying
behavior is studied directly. Various behavioral measures of ad effective-
ness can be distinguished, the most obvious ones being sales and market
share evolution. Again, as in all campaign evaluation measurements,
it should be noted that the evolution of market share and sales may be
attributable to other marketing mix instruments than advertising. The
effect of an advertising campaign cannot always be isolated easily. Apart
from changes in sales, more specific behavioral effects can be measured,
such as trial purchases and the degree of adoption of, or loyalty to, a brand.
An analysis combining awareness and behavioral measures to assess the
effectiveness of advertising campaigns is the awareness–trial–retention
framework. Three indicators are measured by means of surveys with the
target groups at various moments in time:

• Awareness rate: number of target group members that are aware of the
brand/number of people in the target group.
• Trial rate: number of target group members that have purchased the
brand at least once during a given period/number of target group
members that are aware of the brand.
• Retention rate: number of people that have purchased the brand at
least a specific number of times during the same period/number of
target group members that have purchased the brand at least once
during a given period.

Evidently, the period under study and the number of times a consumer
has to have purchased the product to be called a loyal consumer have to
be determined in advance, and will depend upon the product category
studied. Suppose that for two competing brands the results in Table 5.1
have been obtained after an advertising campaign.
122 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Table 5.1 Awareness, trial, and retention rates for two

hypothetical brands

  Brand A Brand B

Awareness rate 70% 20%

Trial rate 40% 20%

Retention rate 10% 70%

The end result is the same for both brands: 2.8% of the target group has
become loyal to the brand (70 x 40 x 10 = 20 x 20 x 70). However, the three
indicators show a more differentiated picture. Brand B was not very suc-
cessful in building awareness and trial. One might say that the advertising
campaign was not very effective. On the other hand, the marketing strat-
egy seems to be on target: most people who have tried the product have
become loyal to it. Brand A has had a successful advertising campaign, but
something seems to be wrong with the rest of the marketing strategy (low
retention rate). Maybe the product is of bad quality, the price too high, or
the distribution strategy inappropriate. It could also be that the product
is a luxury item, for which in the short run trial is more important than
repeat purchase.

Measuring online advertising effectiveness

The purpose of online advertising is in many ways the same as that of

traditional ads and, consequently, the effectiveness of online campaigns
can be measured by means of the same indicators. However, a particular
characteristic of the Internet is that all information about site traffic can
be tracked. Analyzing these files is one way of tracking website perfor-
mance and social media advertising campaigns. The results of online
advertising campaigns are more measurable than those of campaigns in
traditional offline media.

The most basic method to measure brand website effectiveness is by

asking for feedback on the website to find out who really visits a website
and what their evaluation of site, the brand, and sales effects are, by means
of visitor surveys (online or offline). This can be done by asking visitors
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 123

to leave a contact email address or by inserting a feedback form on one of

the web pages. Surveys may give socio-demographic, psychographic, and
webographic (Internet use data) profiles of visitors. They can also measure
attitudes, satisfaction, and intentions. In pre-testing, usability testing and
post-testing of websites, qualitative market research techniques such as
focus groups and in-depth interviewing can be used in conjunction with
quantitative Internet panel surveys to add research insights to website
visitor surveys. As to social media campaigns, advertisers need to know
upfront what their qualitative and quantitative goals are before they can
measure how successful their efforts have been in achieving them: e.g.,
driving more traffic to the website, increasing the fan base, reaching spe-
cific target groups, increasing brand awareness or brand activation, selling
more products, getting more positive reviews, establishing the brand
or company as a leader. Just as in any other effectiveness measurement
context, benchmarks should be used, such as past traffic, sales figures,
review counts, fan base, page visits, and so on.

There are several categories of metrics to assess social media advertising

performance. One framework distinguishes three categories:

• Activity metrics measure the activity of the company on social media:

number, frequency and recency of updates, reactions, photos and
videos posted, the creativity of the content, etc.
• Interaction metrics measure to what extent target audiences engage
with content: number, frequency and recency of reactions, tags,
mentions, likes, shares, favorites, links, downloads, friends, followers,
fans, shared updates, reviews, website visits, sentiment (the valence
of the reactions), recommendations, etc. These indicators are called
brand engagement measures. Three basic types of brand engagement
can be distinguished: Consumption (e.g., brand pages visited or
looking at advertisements), Contribution (e.g., liking, sharing, and
making comments on brand communication), and Creation (pro-
ducing user-generated content as a result of being exposed to brand
communication, e.g., posting a video).
• Performance metrics reveal to what extent social media activity has
contributed directly or indirectly to a company’s business results.
These measures indicate costs and return of online activity (return
on investment), such as shifts in the attitude towards the brand,
satisfaction, perceptions, sales, market share, and profit. Commonly
used performance metrics that provide an indication of campaign
124 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

cost efficiency are the CPM (views of an ad), CPC (someone clicking
through to the landing page of the campaign), and CPA (someone
doing something you intended him to do, such as leaving an email
address, becoming a lead, or making a sale).

Another social media metrics framework distinguishes four categories

of effectiveness measures (all but the last one measured relative to the
number of viewers, i.e., the number of people exposed to the post):

• Conversation rate: the number of responses to a post.

• Applause rate: the number of times anyone shows positive apprecia-
tion of a social media post (likes, favorites).
• Amplification rate: the number of times an update or a post is shared,
retweeted, etc.
• Economic value: the total short- and long-term return and cost savings
of social media activity.

Table 5.2 provides an overview of specific metrics that are often used
in tracking online advertising and e-commerce effectiveness. All social
media provide a number of these metrics, variants thereof, or metrics
that are specific for the platform, to track the effectiveness of social
media advertising campaigns. For instance, on Facebook, besides impres-
sions, click-throughs and conversions, the number of likes, shares, and
comments can also be tracked. On Twitter, the number of comments,
responses, and retweets, the ratio of negative to positive tweets, and the
number of followers can be monitored. Similar metrics are available on
Pinterest and Snapchat. On mobile, advertisers can, for instance, keep
track of visits to a physical store, check maps for directions, requests for
more information, SMSs and notifications to friends, and share locations
or offers with friends.

Plenty of tools are available to measure brand website performance

and the results of social media advertising efforts. Most social media
platforms provide their own tools to manage a campaign and to track
its effectiveness with respect to different metrics. Most advertisers use
data management platforms (DMPs) to track the effectiveness of their
campaigns. A DMP is a platform to collect, organize, and activate data
from any source, including online, offline, and mobile. It is the backbone
of data-driven marketing and allows businesses to gain unique insights
into their customers. One of the best known DMPs is Google Analytics
(Box 5.1). It allows brand and advertising managers to gain insights into
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 125

Table 5.2 Online advertising and e-commerce tracking measures

Ad display metrics and web shop performance

Impressions Number of times an ad is seen

Click-through rate Percentage of times an ad is clicked by those who have

(CTR) seen it

View-through rate Percentage of times an ad is not clicked immediately,

(VTR) but the website is visited within 30 days

Hits Number of web visits

Page views Number of pages viewed on a website

Viewability rate Share of ads that are actually seen online

Unique visitors Number of unique visitors of a website in each period

Loyalty Measured in different ways, e.g., number of page

views, frequency of single-use visits to the website,
percentage of customers who return to the site in
a year to make additional purchases

Reach Number of website visitors who are potential buyers,

or the percentage of total buyers who buy at a site

Recency Time elapsed since the last action undertaken by

a buyer, such as a website visit or purchase

Stickiness (duration) Average length of stay at a website

Acquisition rate Percentage of visitors who indicate an interest in the

website’s products by registering or visiting product
pages

Conversion rate Percentage of visitors who become customers

Browse-to-buy ratio Ratio of items purchased to product views

View-to-cart ratio Ratio of “add to cart” clicks to product views

Cart conversion rate Ratio of actual orders to “add to cart” clicks

Checkout Ratio of actual orders to checkouts started

conversion rate

Abandonment rate Percentage of shoppers who begin a shopping

cart purchase but then leave the website without
completing a purchase

Retention rate Percentage of existing customers who continue to buy

on a regular basis (like “loyalty”)

Attrition rate Percentage of customers who do not return during the

next year after an initial purchase
126 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Video advertising metrics

View time The time an ad stays in view while it plays

Completion rate How many viewers watch the complete video as

a percentage of those who were exposed to it

Skip rate How many viewers skipped the video as a percentage

of those who were exposed to it

Email metrics

Delivery rate Percentage of email recipients who received the mail

Open rate Percentage of email recipients who open the email and
are exposed to the message

Click-through rate Percentage of recipients who clicked through to offers

Bounce-back rate Percentage of emails that could not be delivered

Unsubscribe rate Percentage of recipients who click “unsubscribe”

Conversion rate Percentage of recipients who actually buy

Source:  K.C. Laudon and C.G. Traver (2019), E-commerce 2018: Business,
Technology, Society, Pearson.

how many (unique) visitors their site has per day/week/month/etc., how
visitors use their site, how they arrived on the site (from which site, using
which search terms, etc.), from which countries, and so on. Content
reports give insights into which parts of the website are performing well,
which pages are most popular, and how much time the surfer is spending
on these pages, in order to create a better experience for the visitor, pros-
pect, or customer. Social media (what visitors are sharing and where) and
mobile (know which mobile platforms work best, see where mobile traffic
comes from) are also incorporated. Conversion parameters give insights
into the number of customers that the brand or the company attracts,
how much it sells, and how users are engaging with the site. Google
Analytics can also be used for analyzing an online advertising campaign.
All digital channels such as search, display, social, affiliate, and email can
be included to see the effect on conversion rates and return. Other DMPs
(e.g., Socialbakers) give insights into the kind of attention that posts and
updates are getting. It also shows the reach, sentiment, and passion that
followers have for a name or brand. It also gives insights into the key
terms that are typically associated with a brand. DMP Buffer helps users
collaborate, plan, and publish content that drives meaningful engagement
and brand growth across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 127

LinkedIn from one dashboard. Brandwatch allows users to manage brand

conversations online, create relevant and personalized content, analyze
performance against competitors, and take crisis management action.

Box 5.1 Practice: tracking website visits with

Google Analytics

This Google Analytics example gives an overview of the visits to the

website of a course program at the University of Antwerp and com-
pares the first three months of 2020 (old website) and 2021 (new web-
site). The number of visits per day is shown for both periods in Figure
5.2. Results are shown per channel (traffic source), i.e., how visitors
reached the website (rows) in Table 5.3. Organic is traffic from search
engine results that is earned, not via paid ads (people clicking on a link
after entering a key word in Google). Direct  is any traffic where the
referrer or source is unknown, mostly visitors who went directly to
the site. Referral is traffic that occurs when a user finds the website
through a site other than a major search engine. Paid search is traf-
fic from search engine results that is the result of paid advertising via
Google AdWords or another paid search platform (i.e., clicking on the
ad). Social is traffic from a social network, such as Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, or Instagram. Other  is traffic that does not fit into another
source, for instance a paid ad on social media.1

Per channel, and for both periods, the number of visits (called “ses-
sions”), the average viewing time per session, the bounce rate (the per-
centage of people who have only visited one page of the website), and
the target conversion ratio is given. The latter is the overall percentage
of visits that resulted in one of the target conversions, such as registra-
tion for “open days,” information days, or “keep me informed,” down-
loading brochures, leaving contact details, or staying on the website for
more than three minutes. The “relative importance” column shows the
percentage of visits for each channel. Visits from UAntwerp student
and staff were removed from the data. Compared to the first quarter
of 2020, in the first quarter of 2021, the number of sessions and the
target conversion ratio have increased, and the bounce rate decreased
(which is good). However, the average time visitors stayed on the web-
site dropped.
128 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Figure 5.2 Traffic (number of visits) to a course program section

of the University of Antwerp website, first quarter 2020
and 2021

Table 5.3 Google Analytics output for a course program website

performance

Channel Period Relative Sessions Average Bounce Target

importance duration ratio (%) convers-
(%) ion ratio
(%)

All 2020 – 4451 2:42 45.39 23.80

channels 2021 – 2045 3:10 50.00 19.50
+117.65% -14.51% -9.23 +22.50

Organic 2020 89.10 3966 2:39 44.56 22.01

2021 82.93 1696 3:37 43.40 18.40
+133.84% -26.67% +2.90 +19.66

Direct 2020 7.28 324 2:17 57.72 34.57

2021 14.03 287 0:04 86.76 4.18
+12.89% +3297.36% -33.48 +726.75

Referral 2020 1.95 87 8:32 28.74 13.79

2021 0 0 0 0 0

Paid 2020 1.12 50 0:53 50.00 100.00

2021 3.03 62 5:17 59.68 100.00
-19.35% -83.17% -16.22

Social 2020 0.27 12 1:00 0 0

2021 0 0 0 0 0

Other 2020 0.27 12 0 100.00 100.00

2021 0 0 0 0 0

Note:  2020 and 2021 refer to the first three months of each year.
 ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 129

Note
1. https://​www​.smartbugmedia​.com/​blog/​what​-is​-the​-difference​-between​
-direct​-and​-organic​-search​-traffic​-sources.
6 Advertising ethics

Morals are beliefs that individuals hold concerning what is right or wrong.
Morals direct people as they make decisions. Ethics are operational guide-
lines for both individuals and organizations. They are in fact “applied
morals,” those practices and activities that are importantly right or wrong.

Different views can be held on how to apply ethical decision-making in

marketing (communications). Under the caveat emptor rule, anything is
allowed that maximizes profits within the law: what is legal must therefore
also be ethical. The ethics code view strives for standards guidelines that
go further than the law on the basis of which companies’ and industries’
ethical performance is judged, or at least to which they aspire. In the con-
sumer sovereignty approach, ethical marketing decisions are determined
by the answer to three important questions: Is the target market vulner-
able in ways that limit consumer decision-making (consumer capability)
and are consumers’ expectations at purchase likely to be realized; do
consumers have sufficient information to judge (consumer information)
and can consumers go elsewhere; would they incur substantial costs or
inconvenience by transferring their loyalty (consumer choice)? Finally,
there is the caveat venditor principle, which implies that the maximiza-
tion of consumer satisfaction or well-being should be the ultimate aim of
marketing action.

Others hold that any advertising decision should in any case be legal,
decent, honest, and truthful. Legal means that it should be allowed under
the current regulations and laws of the country in which the company
operates. Decent means that it should not contain anything that is likely to
cause widespread offence, fear, or distress; for instance, the use of shock-
ing claims or images for the sake of creating attention should be avoided,
unless a valid and acceptable reason is given. Honest and truthful implies
that it should not exploit inexperience or lack of knowledge of consumers;
no claims should be made which are inaccurate, ambiguous, or intended

130
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 131

to mislead, whether through explicit statement or through omission.

A distinction can be made between deceptive advertising and unfair
practices. Consumers are deceived when there is a claim–fact discrepancy
and the false claim is believed by customers. Moreover, the message must
be misleading (i.e., representation, omission, or practice that is likely to
mislead the customer) from the perspective of a reasonable consumer
(i.e., by a reasonable number of the group to which the practice is tar-
geted), and the deceptive practice must be material (i.e., important and
likely to impact on consumers’ choice or conduct regarding the product
and thus relate to a central characteristic). Unfair advertising are acts or
practices that cause or are likely to cause substantial harm to consumers,
which are not reasonably avoidable by consumers themselves, and not
outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or competitors, e.g.,
advertising that offends public policy as it has been established by statutes,
is immoral, unethical, oppressive, or unscrupulous, or causes substantial
injury to consumers, competitors, or other businesses.

Ethical issues in advertising

Ethical issues in advertising originate from the clash between business

practice and social concerns, such as environmental and social values and
societal notions about honesty, honor, virtue, and integrity. Marketing
and marketing communications have often been accused of many alleg-
edly unethical practices and consequences, such as creating a materialistic
culture of conspicuous consumption, playing on emotions, simplifying
real human situations into stereotypes, exploiting anxieties, employing
techniques of intensive persuasion that amount to (hidden) manip-
ulation, maximizing appeal and minimizing information, trivializing,
generally reducing men, women, and children to the role of irrational
consumer, and invading people’s privacy. Of all the marketing commu-
nications instruments, advertising is the one that receives most criticism
because of its alleged untruthful, deceptive, and manipulative nature;
offensive and in bad taste formats; and because it makes people buy things
they do not really need and compromises people’s autonomy. On the
other hand, persuasion is a legitimate form of human interaction and, as
such, there is nothing inherently unethical in trying to persuade a person
to buy a product or a service. Nevertheless, there are countless advertising
practices that are (heavily) criticized. The loudest criticisms relate to
132 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

misleading the consumer, perpetuating stereotypes, using controversial

shock tactics, covert tactics, inappropriately targeting vulnerable groups,
particularly children, and invading privacy. Additionally, a number of
industries are particularly vulnerable to unethical practices.

Deception
Advertising is expected not to be deceptive or misleading, by misusing
or omitting information on material facts (for instance, the health
side effects of medication), statistics, or research. A special category of
potentially misleading advertising is puffery, the use of hyperbole or
exaggeration of claims to promote a brand. Puffery is sometimes called
“soft-core deception.” On the other hand, puffery may be seen as a legit-
imate creative technique that is not misleading because any “reasonable”
consumer with sufficient cognitive skill knows what is going on. Indeed,
traditionally, the ethicality of advertising rests upon the “reasonable
person standard.” It is generally assumed that an ad cannot be considered
to be ethically wrong if a “reasonable person” comprehends it correctly.
Additionally, the distinction should be made between miscomprehension
and deliberate deception. The former is a problem of the consumer (and
maybe partly the responsibility of the advertiser), but is not per se an
ethical problem. Some ads are indeed unintentionally misleading in the
sense that they lead to false beliefs and material harm. However, in those
cases, advertising is just miscomprehended. But who is a “reasonable”
consumer? And what are “sufficient cognitive skills?” Should not adver-
tisers and governments strive to also appropriately inform and protect
less reasonable and less advertising literate consumers?

One specific form of deception is greenwashing. Consumers are increas-

ingly sensitive to the sustainability of economic activity and consumption
and scrutinize companies in this respect. Advertisers can serve to empha-
size the credentials of the sustainable features and benefits of its offerings
and to create a positive image regarding environmentally friendly prac-
tices. However, some businesses that would like to benefit from these
growing needs are not really addressing environmental issues as expected,
but would like to take the credit for doing so. This is the practice of green-
washing: making something appear more environmentally friendly than
it is in reality, or making it appear environmentally friendly when it is
not, with the aim of misleading or deceiving customers. Companies can,
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 133

for instance, use vague (“natural”) or false claims, claims without proof,
or false labels.

Stereotyping and idealized portrayal

Stereotyping is an automatic perceptual bias enabling people to construct
simplified images of reality. Advertising practitioners make use of stere-
otyping to quickly transfer the essential meaning of their messages. The
elderly are often depicted as ignorant and helpless, and other cultures
and/or ethnic groups are often portrayed in a stereotypical way that
may offend them and stimulate prejudices in society. One of the most
frequently used stereotypes in advertising is gender stereotyping. Gender
refers to the personal appearance, personality attributes, and socio-sexual
roles that society understands to be “masculine” or “feminine”. Gender
role stereotypes are beliefs that certain psychological and behavioral traits
dif­ferentiate women and men. From an advertising perspective, gender is
an important segmentation variable and oftentimes the basis for devel-
oping different marketing strategies that address the particular needs of
either gender. Using gender roles can increase advertising per­formance,
such as better brand evaluations and sales. However, from a societal per-
spective, the stereotypical depiction of men and women in advertising can
be problematic, as the way men and women are represented in advertising
can create or reinforce unwanted stereo­types. Advertising has often been
accused of perpetuating these stereotypes, and of proclaiming and sup-
porting conservative gender roles in society. Through the mechanism of
vicarious learning, viewers may adopt potentially stereotypical informa­
tion about appropriate and socially desirable behavior.

In research, gender role stereotypes are measured by looking at the occu-

pations (working roles, occupational types), nonworking activi­ties (family
vs. recreational vs. decorative and relationships with others), and product
categories advertised by men and women. Several studies show that
women compared to men are more likely to be presented as product users
(vs. authority); they are more likely to be presented in a dependent (vs.
autonomous) role; and are more often associated with domestic products
(body, home, food). They are more often younger; and are more likely
pre­sented at home (vs. at work) than men. The largest difference between
men and women appears in categories refer­ring to occupational status
(e.g., role and location), which suggests that stereotyping is disadvantag-
ing women against men (Box 6.1).
134 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Box 6.1 Research: gender role stereotypes in

Belgian TV advertising

A Belgian study set out to see whether gender role depiction in Belgian
TV advertising had evolved over time. From a database containing all
televised ads broadcast on Belgian commercial TV, commercials from
January 2002 to April 2003 and from January 2009 to April 2010 were
randomly selected; 250 commercials from the first period and 243
from the second period were selected, in which a total of 907 main
characters were portrayed. Both men (50%) and especially women
(71%) were mostly presented as young and least in the older age cate-
gory (11% of men, 8% of woman). Men (39%) appeared more frequent-
ly as middle-aged than women (21%). Women (19%) were depicted
significantly more often as using a product than men (11%). Women
(20%) were significantly more frequently depicted as sexual objects
than men (5%). Almost half (44%) of the women in the ads were shown
in a domestic setting, while this occurred significantly less frequently
for men (30%). Men (27%), by contrast, were proportionally more fre-
quently portrayed in a professional context than women (9%). Within
the workplace, the majority of men (55%) are shown as interpreting
a superior role, while women are most often shown in a subordinate
role (57%). Women (17%) are also more often depicted in a parental
role than men (11%). Only 1% of the men in the ads are performing
household chores, while this percentage is significantly higher for
women (12%). When women are shown in a family context, they are
vastly portrayed as dominant within the family (90%), while this is
only the case for 25% of the men shown in a family context. Almost all
(99%) women and the majority of men (66%) were rated as “not mus-
cular.” Men were significantly more often “slightly muscular” (27%) or
“strongly muscular” (5%) than women. While 89% of women in the
ads were judged to be underweight (vs. 27% of men), men were most
likely to be shown in a “normal” weight class (66% vs. 9% of women).
Overweight men (5%) and women (2%) were rare.

The study demonstrates that advertising on Belgian TV is permeated

by gender stereotypes. Notwithstanding societal and regulatory chang-
es, advertisers keep on using stereotypical gender roles to convey their
messages, and there was little decrease from 2002 to 2010.
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 135

The use of models in advertising often supports the stereotype that hap-
piness depends on physical attractiveness. Advertising often uses images
of unattainable idealizations. The ideal woman is pictured as thin, and the
ideal man as buff, and everyone is beautiful. The more these unrealistic
and unattainable images are seen, the more people will perceive them
as reflecting reality. Social comparison theory posits that individuals
compare themselves to others in order to achieve social acceptance and
that people may feel inferior if the person or group they are using for
comparison is seen as being “better” than themselves. All this leads to the
perception of an individual as a physical object viewed by others, increas-
ing the perception of the need to present as positive a physical appearance
as possible, and to perceived pressure to conform to these ideal images. As
a result, idealized advertising can negatively affect how individuals think
about themselves and on their mood and bodily perceptions, leading
to unhealthy dieting, body dissatisfaction, and a range of psychologi-
cal problems including depression and eating disorders. Models being
Photoshopped to make them look more “ideal” than they are is a common
practice in advertising. This type of advertising is deceptive and violates
the autonomy of those subjected to it. On the bright side, advertisements
that stress female empowerment (also termed “femvertising”) have also
appeared in recent years. Femvertising challenges and rejects traditional
stereotypical images in favor of personal freedom.

A particular form of stereotyping pertains to the stereotypical portrayal

and (mis)use of the LGBTQ community, especially gay men. This rep-
resentation is frequently criticized as stereotypical or even derogative.
Today, overt gay and lesbian imagery appears regularly in mainstream
advertising, especially of gay men and for brands and in product cat-
egories which are associated with edgy and unconventional imagery,
such as travel, design, fashion, and alcohol. The (mis)use of the LGBTQ
community as a progressive “anchor point” is referred to as pinkwashing
or rainbowwashing. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of represented
gay characters in advertising are white, middle-class, gender-normative,
and mostly male, otherwise described as “youthful, shirtless, hairless, and
muscular.” For LGBTQ people, the desire to be portrayed as “normal,”
that is to say part of the fabric of society and not reduced to simple
stereotypes, is important: different facets of diverse personalities should
be represented, rather than a reductionist portrayal focusing on sexual
orientation alone.
136 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

One particular form of ethically questionable stereotyping is cultural

appropriation, often of indigenous minority groups’ culture, defined as
the marketing of misappropriated “indigenousness.” It appears in brand-
ing to advertising to paraphernalia such as clothing: Jeep Cherokee, Chief
Crazy Horse liquor. Much of the imagery, brand names, or “sham rituals,”
such as war chants, misrepresent indigenous communities as primitive
savages with blatant racism. Consequently, many consider the use of
indigenous people’s cultural traditions, symbols, and folklore as offen-
sive or inappropriate. Appropriation takes many forms: non-indigenous
people that want to learn indigenous traditional spirituality then turn
it into a business (e.g., sweat lodge ceremonies); movies and books
adopting real or imagined indigenous traditions (e.g., the movie Dances
with Wolves); paintings, jewelry, or pottery using indigenous symbols;
or the natural health industry that adopts a multitude of healing philos-
ophies from Chinese traditional medicine. In short, indigenous culture
can become a commodity that is advertised, exploited, and sold in the
marketplace.

Shock advertising
Controversial or “shock advertising” is advertising that deliberately startles
and offends its audience, by means of norm violation – transgression
of law or custom (obscenity) or moral/social code (vulgarity) – or by
showing things that outrage the moral or physical senses (e.g., provocative
or disgusting images). Controversial advertising appeals and shock tactics
are widely used as a creative technique to grab the attention of the target
group by means of breaking through the clutter (Box 6.2). Controversial
advertising can be divided into two broad categories: advertising for
controversial products or ideas (e.g., politics, female hygiene products
in some cultures, tobacco, and alcohol; some may even say professional
services like dentists, lawyers, and doctors), and controversial imagery,
because it is perceived as indecent or causing offence (e.g., indecent
language, nudity, sexually oriented, gross depiction, racist, too personal).
Several well-known brands are known to have used controversial appeals,
the most frequently cited being Benetton, but also Calvin Klein, Citroën,
Moschino, Esprit, Gucci, Sony PlayStation, and Reebok. Shock appeals
are sometimes used in public service announcements, for instance AIDS
awareness campaigns, in which case they can generate a lot of attention to
and memory of the message.
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 137

Box 6.2 Practice: Suitsupply: is sex the best way to

sell suits?

Shock advertising for fashion is not a new phenomenon. Explicit fash-

ion ads started in 1980, when Calvin Klein marketed its jeans using
the then 15-year-old Brooke Shields in an attempt to rely on contro-
versial advertising to reach a wider consumer audience. In early 2021,
an ad for the men’s fashion brand Suitsupply, featuring models in an
orgy setting, kissing open-mouthed with tongues, has created anger
online. The tagline of the ad “The new normal is coming” refers to
the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and the bacchanalian promise of
a post-Covid era. The company’s CEO and founder defends the ad by
stating that post-pandemic life is on the horizon, social distancing for
extraordinary long periods of time has conditioned us to fear the prox-
imity of others, and that the campaign was simply a positive outlook
on our future where people can get back to gathering and getting close.
The physical proximity of the models in the advert is part of a broader
trend, with brands such as Diesel and Paco Rabanne all using images
recently of couples in passionate scenes.

The campaign and the resulting online buzz seem to have worked:
searches for the brand increased by 41% in the week after the advert
was launched online. Some say that this is (also) due to the social com-
ponent to these ads at a time when people long for human touch. One
progressive aspect of the latest adverts is that they also feature same-sex
couplings. Showing something provocative, like an orgy, helps build
buzz among consumers at a time when sales of suits have declined
sharply. When many are still social distancing and trying to keep their
germs to themselves, an orgy is all the more shocking. That shock can
translate into brand awareness.

A particular form of shock tactics are threat-based ads, commonly known

as “fear appeals,” messages aimed at scaring people to take a certain action
(see also Chapter 2). They are often used in social marketing campaigns
(don’t drink and drive, don’t smoke, have safe sex, etc.). Some state that
any deliberate fostering of anxiety by advertising is unethical because, like
any other ad that exerts emotional pressure, fear appeals can be regarded
as manipulative. Further, fear appeals expose a person against his or her
will to harmful or seriously offensive images. Moreover, fear may induce
138 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

reactance, defensive avoidance, and fatalism, and may lead to maladaptive

social responses, for instance heightened anxiety among those most at
risk and complacency among those not directly targeted.

Covert marketing
Covert marketing is a firm’s marketing actions whereby consumers
believe that the activities are not those of the firm. It exists in many forms,
such as stealth marketing, brand placement, native advertising, buzz mar-
keting, and influencer marketing (see Chapter 2). Some claim that brand
placement is the ultimate example of unethical, inherently deceptive
advertising, since it is both disguised and obtrusive. Often viewers are not
aware of the fact that brands are intentionally placed in TV programs or
movies, and they often do not pay conscious attention to them. Therefore,
there is a need to protect consumers from being misled. Brand placement
or native advertising and influencer marketing disclosure, i.e., communi-
cating to the viewers or readers that brands are placed in media content,
may serve to increase the accessibility of the persuasive or commercial
intent behind placed brands. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
as well as, for instance, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and
the European Commission, have developed guidelines on how sponsored
media content should be disclosed. For instance, the European “televi-
sion without frontiers” guideline stipulates that the presence of product
placement in TV programs is disclosed in advance to the consumer.1 The
FTC states that disclosures on social media (e.g., native advertising and
influencer marketing) should be made in the clearest and most conspicu-
ous possible terms that allow the message to be understood as advertising.
Disclosures should thus be easily noticed and clearly understood. The
FTC therefore imposes using the words or hashtag “sponsored,” “ad,” or
“paid” on all social media advertising messages, on top of the required
disclosures that platforms such as Facebook and Instagram impose. For
instance, Instagram offers the hashtag “paid partnership with [Brand]” in
influencers’ post headers.

Nowadays, a particularly sensitive area is influencer marketing for which

the FTC additionally developed more detailed (disclosure) rules. For
instance, influencers should not lie about their bad experience with
a product they disclose. They must disclose any time they are endorsing
a product because of a paid partnership or personal affiliation with the
brand. That includes family relationships and free  products, as well
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 139

as  paid  sponsorships. YouTube influencers must put the relationship/

endorsement disclosure in the video description and in the first 30
seconds of the actual video. Instagram influencers should add a disclosure
text overlay on their images. Disclosures should appear before “click to
read more” buttons appear. Real-time videos (for instance on Snapchat
and Instagram stories) should show a prominent superimposed verbal
disclosure or text annotation. In live stream videos, the disclosure should
be repeated regularly.

Children: a vulnerable target group

One of the most debated ethical issues is advertising to children and teen-
agers. Children are not only exposed to TV ads and online commercial
content, but also to brand placement in movies, apps and games, inte-
grated merchandising plans, and in-school marketing. Sometimes adult
products are also targeted at pre-adults (for instance, so-called “alco-
pops”). Breweries promote their beer brands to college students during
spring breaks, festivals, and so on. Companies advertise in and around
schools, air commercials during children’s programs, target children on
product packaging, on point-of-purchase displays, and during sporting
events, and place brands in programs targeted at children. Some say that
advertising to children is inherently unfair and deceptive because children
lack the cognitive skills and life experiences needed to resist persuasive
claims and because marketers take advantage of a child’s inability to make
an informed decision. In other words, they do not have a well-developed
persuasion knowledge. Persuasion knowledge (sometimes also called
advertising literacy) implies three types of knowledge: agent knowledge,
topic knowledge, and tactic knowledge. Agent knowledge describes the
beliefs about the goal of the persuasive agent (e.g., the advertiser). Topic
knowledge is the knowledge the receiver has about the topic of the per-
suasive message (e.g., knowledge about a product). Tactic knowledge
describes the knowledge about the persuasive tactics used (e.g., integra-
tion or personalization of an advertising message). Persuasion knowledge
leads to more in-depth ad processing and coping with the persuasive
attempt, for instance by being more critical toward it. In that respect,
children have a number of unique vulnerabilities. A new challenge is the
integration of advertising and other media content and the enjoyable
interactive nature of contemporary advertising formats. TV commercials
focus on entertainment and image creation and are often linked to excit-
ing website games (advergames) and brand characters. Brands targeted at
140 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

children are placed in movies. Commercially sponsored websites contain

games and promotions designed for children. Disguising advertising as
content or entertainment makes it harder for children to deploy defence
mechanisms. This new evolution is an ethical issue because it is potentially
misleading by concealing the true nature of the materials and omitting to
disclose its commercial intent (Box 6.3). Moreover, parents cannot fully
play their role as active mediators of their children’s exposure to advertis-
ing, because often they do not have the advertising literacy either to fully
understand contemporary online advertising, and because children are
increasingly exposed to these advertisements on mobile devices, the use
of which is hard for parents to monitor.

Box 6.3 Research: advertisers’ perceptions of the

ethical appropriateness of new advertising
formats aimed at children and teenagers

Nowadays, children and teenagers grow up in a predominantly online

media environment in which they encounter new integrated and/or
interactive advertising formats on a regular basis. A study conducted
through an online survey with 95 Belgian advertising professionals
tried to explore which new advertising formats are mostly used toward
children and teenagers and from which age onward advertisers think:
minors understand the commercial intention behind new advertising
formats; the usage of these new advertising formats is ethically accept-
able; minors should be made aware of the commercial intent of these
advertising techniques; and what the characteristics of an ethical data
collection and data protection policy are. The participants were invit-
ed to provide answers to these questions for each of the nine descrip-
tions of advertising formats: brand placement on television, in-game
advertising, advergames, apps, video advertising, merchandising,
online behavioral advertising (OBA), search engine marketing, and
location-based services.

The most often used advertising formats toward children were contests,
branded websites, premiums (a gift in exchange for the purchase of the
product), and advergames. Contests, banners, and branded websites
were the most often used advertising formats toward teenagers. OBA
and location-based services were the least used advertising formats to-
ward both children and teenagers. According to the respondents, the
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 141

average age at which minors can understand the different advertising

formats is around 12–13 years. In-game advertising, product place-
ment, and especially video advertising are considered the most difficult
formats to understand. On average, advertising formats are perceived
as ethical when targeted at minors from the age of 12–13 years on-
ward. The average age from which minors should be informed about
the commercial intent of advertising formats indicated is around 9–10
years.

According to the vast majority of the respondents, a proper data collec-

tion and protection policy should provide verification of the age of the
children or teenagers, allow verification of the status of the children’s or
teenagers’ parents or legal guardians, and should provide clear informa-
tion concerning the use of cookies and the possibility of disabling them
to children and teenagers. A substantial majority of the respondents
agreed that the collection of personal information of children should
be prohibited. A majority of the advertisers agreed that children should
not be allowed to register on brand websites or mobile platforms with-
out the permission of their parents or legal guardians. If teenagers are
considered as a target group the results are mixed (41.1% disagreed and
33.7% agreed). Advertisers think that it is important to notify parents
or legal guardians if personal information from their children and teen-
agers is processed. If children are a target group, collection of personal
data was perceived as unethical by the vast majority of advertising pro-
fessionals. The results for teenagers were mixed (42.1% agreed, 57.9%
disagreed). The majority of advertisers also agreed with the statement
that parents should give their permission for the data collection of their
children and teenagers.

Privacy
Technological developments have given advertisers the opportunity to
collect and analyze a massive amount of information about the target
audience, and use it in personalized or customized online advertising.
Contemporary online advertising formats often have the additional
purpose of gathering personal information from the receiver of the adver-
tising message by persuading individuals to disclose their data by having
them register or create an account on a website or application. Personal
data are also collected by tracking media users’ online activities and
142 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

preferences. These data are then used to develop highly targeted online
advertising campaigns. Contemporary online advertising techniques
raises a number of privacy concerns: Is it ethical to use information that
individuals leave behind online? Which data are collected and how? How
(long) are the data stored and used? Who has access to these data? Are
they sold to third parties? Can individuals have access to their data and do
they have the right to have certain data removed?

A particularly ethically sensitive issue in that respect is “third-party

cookies.” They are placed by a domain that is different than what is shown
in the browser’s address bar. Typically, search engines such as Google and
many social media place third-party cookies on a network of millions of
other sites. This enables them to collect massively more data than they
already gather via the first-party cookies on their own platform. Search
engines and social networking sites thus gather data about Internet users
and provide advertisers with indirect access to these data by serving as
intermediaries in the personalization process. Before they are allowed
to use any cookies, cookie-hosting websites are legally obligated to com-
municate all cookie-related information to their visitors and have to ask
for their permission regarding the cookie policy to receive their consent.
However, by choosing “I Agree” without changing any of the default
settings, users usually allow both first-party and third-party cookies to be
stored in their web browser. From the point of view of online media users,
there is a trade-off between privacy and efficiency (the privacy calculus).
Customers disclose personal information that is then used by marketers.
The more information that is disclosed, the bigger the privacy issue, but
also the more efficient advertising becomes in terms of targeting specific
audiences and the more relevant the ads that the consumer is exposed to.
At the same time, there is the “privacy paradox”: Individuals self-disclose
significant amounts of personal data yet at the same time have either
conscious or subconscious concerns about their online privacy. This
constitutes a major ethical implication: The result of having to give
consent is that individuals act contrary to what they believe (the privacy
paradox), especially in the case of immediate gratification for disclosing
personal information (e.g., receiving a discount when subscribing to
a newsletter). The benefits of having access to the site without seeing the
irritating cookie bar or without performing the interruptive act of disa-
bling cookies are also two immediate rewards that trump one’s potential
privacy concerns.
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 143

Table 6.1 GDPR principles

Lawfulness, Fairness, and The personal data needs to be processed

Transparency in a way that is lawful to the subject

Purpose Limitation The data processors can only use the

data for the objectives they’ve explicitly
described and justified

Data Minimization The information that is required has to be

relevant for its purpose and limited to what
is necessary

Trueness and Accuracy If some of the data is inaccurate, it should

be removed or rectified

Storage Limitation Data is kept in a form which permits

identification of persons for no longer than
is necessary for the purposes for which the
personal data is processed

Integrity and Confidentiality Taking all required measures to ensure all

the personal data is protected

What is needed to organize these data collection and usage methods in

a more ethical way is increased transparency and increased behavioral
control. Increased transparency relates to being honest and open about
tracking activities and data handling in such a way that it is understand-
able for everyone. Increased behavioral control relates to empowering
(potential) customers to decide for themselves how they want their data
to be collected, stored, processed, exchanged, and used. When doing this
correctly, the platform simultaneously informs (potential) customers
about what they reveal to the advertiser. While giving (potential) custom-
ers more control over their own data, the advertiser makes them more
“data literate” for the future as well. Consequently, users might be better
skilled to protect their online privacy elsewhere on the Internet.

In 2019, across Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

came into force. Any company or individual that processes personal
data by which an individual can be identified will also be held respon-
sible for the protection of that data and is responsible for the privacy
rights of every person when it comes to collecting and processing their
data. Every company who wants to do business in an EU country needs
to comply. The principles of the GDPR are summarized in Table 6.1.
Non-compliance under the GDPR may bring fines of up to 4% of the
company’s annual global turnover or €20 million, whichever is higher.
144 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Ethically vulnerable industries

There are a number of specific industries that are particularly vulnerable

for ethical issues. For instance, the tourism industry is vulnerable for
ethical misbehavior in several ways. Often, the tourism industry does not
take into account the good of the destination, which includes recogni-
tion of diverse inhabitants and cultural groups, equal respect, and equal
dignity of human beings and the ecological footprint of the industry. The
fashion industry is a global and complex industry that often does not
take the responsibility to raise awareness about consumer materialism,
counterfeit fashion consumption, fair trade concerns, social marketing
issues, and promotion of impossible lifestyles, among others. The Ethical
Fashion Forum defines a number of criteria for ethical fashion: counter-
act fast fashion and its damaging impact; promote fair wages, working
conditions, workers’ rights, and ensure sustainable livelihoods; reduction
of ecological footprint (avoid harmful substances, such as toxic pesticides,
use eco-friendly material, reduce water usage, recycle, incorporate energy
efficiency, and support sustainable standards for fashion); raise awareness
on ethical behavior; and promote animal rights. Although a number of
initiatives have been taken to advance the ethical quality of the fashion
industry, the industry still has a lot to do in terms of taking care of these
ethical principles.

One trend in the health care industry that has gained importance over
recent years is eHealth and mHealth, with important ramifications for
ethical communication. eHealth is a group of activities that use electronic
means to deliver health-related information, resources, and services.
mHealth is part of eHealth and refers to the use of mobile and wireless
technologies to support the achievement of health objectives, for instance,
health apps, wearables, and fitness trackers. Concerns have been raised
with respect to the quality of information, information transparency, and
information asymmetry (patients typically have less information than
experts and app developers), digital health literacy (can users understand
information and how apps work?), harvesting of personal sensitive data,
invasion and loss of privacy, loss of surveillance, control, and human
agency (as a result of automation), and fear of data breaches.

There is a whole range of industries that market legal but harmful prod-
ucts when consumed excessively, such as soft drinks, tobacco, alcohol,
and confectionery. Advertising has a direct impact on the consumption
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 145

of these products. Confectionery and soft drinks fail to supply proper

nourishment, food cravings occur, and people want to consume more. In
conjunction with largely sedentary lifestyles and without enough exercise
to counter excessive consumption, obesity and other health-related issues
result. The marketing of confectionery and soft drinks has been heavily
criticized for its targeting of children, its encouragement of impulse pur-
chases, and for persuading regular consumers to consume larger amounts.
Advertising has been found to influence strongly the food preferences of
children and is contributing to childhood obesity. Marketing initiatives
that target children set them up for a lifetime of bad habits and health
problems. With their limited cognitive and emotional processing capac-
ity, children are less able to evaluate critically and resist persuasive com-
munications. Globally, the promotion of confectionery and soft drinks is
dominated by television advertising that targets children. Advertisements
frequently employ visual, audio, and emotive cues that appeal specifically
to children, using fantasy images, fun/humor, and cartoon characters.
Online advertising integrated within online social networks is another
common strategy for marketing confectionery and soft drinks, and
also targets the younger population. This type of advertising frequently
employs seamless interaction with consumers through branded games,
competition prizes, and giveaways. Advertising messages and packaging
labels often suggest that confectionery and soft drink products are actually
“healthy” and “balanced.” Related to soft drinks, advertising and labeling
taglines frequently include “no artificial colors and flavors,” reflecting the
manufacturers’ attempts to enhance a product’s perceived “healthiness,”
while reducing negative health risks associated with consumption.

Like confectionery and soft drinks, bulk buy discounting is also used
extensively in alcohol promotion, which stimulates larger purchases and
increased consumption. The industry has also come under criticism in
relation to advertising that seeks to reduce the perceived risks of alcohol
consumption. Labeling beverages as “natural,” “gluten free,” “no artificial
color or flavors,” “good for you,” as well as using advertising images of
natural ingredients and healthy lifestyles, play a significant role in this
regard. Alcohol is heavily promoted through social media channels.
For instance, an Australia-wide study of Facebook brand marketing in
2014 identified nearly two million fans of the 10 most popular alcohol
brands. In 2019, the Facebook alcohol fan base for beer, wine, and spirits
grew to over 3.5 million. Similar to confectionery and soft drinks, this
type of marketing employs direct interaction and engagement, often via
146 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

competitions between the social media users that seek to turn them into
greater consumers of alcoholic beverages by normalizing daily consump-
tion. Finally, despite bans on tobacco advertising the industry is adept at
finding new ways to communicate with customers. These include vulner-
able and disadvantaged groups. One recent trend has been an escalation
in “influencer” marketing. Regulation has not prevented tobacco adver-
tisers from using social media influencers to post content that promotes
their products to young people.

Box 6.4 Practice: Libresse: purpose-based

advertising

Purpose-based advertising is defining what a company does beyond

making money, and how it can make its customers’ lives better. Libresse
is a global brand specializing in feminine care – the brand is known
for its products for periods. Historically, the intimate care category
has been framed as a problem/solution category. It was surrounded
by a negative aura and feelings of shame, a cycle that Libresse set out
to break. In 2013, Libresse created a global communications platform,
Live Fearless, to stimulate women to live the life they want without let-
ting periods hold them back. Libresse wanted to give the brand a point
of view, a sense of purpose: give women confidence, and help create
the conditions for women to live the life they want, by breaking period
and genital taboos. In 2016, Libresse launched RedFit: a campaign that
for the first time featured sportswomen bleeding and proudly asserting
that “No blood should hold us back.”

In 2017, the campaign Bloodnormal was launched. For the first time in
the history of femcare, Libresse swapped the infamous blue liquid for
red, showed period blood trickling down a woman’s leg, a girl publicly
asking for a pad, a man buying pads, the emotional journey of periods,
the pain, the intimacy, and the beauty. At the end of 2018, Libresse
decided to expand into a broader offering of products for women’s inti-
mate area. The brand wanted to stay true to Live Fearless and apply its
taboo-busting attitude to that category. The “Viva La Vulva” campaign
wanted to be a joyous and unashamed ode to the vulva, by means of
truthful, positive representations of women’s genitals through an in-
finite diversity of shapes and forms. The campaign was designed to
normalize periods and vulvas, and to push the boundaries of represen-
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 147

tations to be truer than ever to women and their vulva, and overturn
a long history of shame and objectification. Viva La Vulva is a lip-sync
music video with a twist. It shows a diversity of vulvas of every shape
and color singing loud and proud. The film ends on behind-the-scene
interviews with women, opening up about the issue, the shame, the
ignorance, and reclaiming their bodies.2

Released in Scandinavia, the campaign immediately traveled around

the world. With no paid media support at all, the Viva la Vulva ad
quickly reached over five million organic views and gained 96% pos-
itive comments on social media. There was an immediate sales uplift
at launch, meeting or surpassing targets across the campaign period.3

Self-regulation

On top of legislation and government regulation, in many countries

organizations or systems of self-regulation are in place, usually patronized
by the advertising community who, in many countries, has regulated its
industry by establishing and enforcing codes of practice or sets of guiding
principles, a process called self-regulation. Self-regulatory organizations
(SROs), which are funded by the advertising industry, ensure that these
rules are applied. They all share the same goal: responsible advertising,
prepared with a sense of social responsibility to the consumer and
society and with proper respect for the rules of fair competition. Due
to its flexibility, speed, and low cost, it is generally acknowledged that
self-regulation makes an ideal complement to the law.

The most important resource for most SROs worldwide is the

International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Advertising and Marketing
Communication Code, first established in 1937. The ICC code puts
forward a number of principles that are to be respected in all marketing
communication activities: all marketing communications should be legal,
decent, honest, and truthful; should be prepared with a due sense of social
and professional responsibility; should conform to the principles of fair
competition, as generally accepted in business; and no communication
should be such as to impair public confidence in marketing. The Code is
the global reference point for advertising standards. It is intended primar-
ily as an instrument of advertising self-regulation.
148 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) promotes respon-

sible advertising by means of effective self-regulation, while being mindful
of national differences in culture, as well as legal and commercial practice.
The EASA principles, laid down in a Blue Book, exist in addition to other
European and national laws, and are inspired by global (for instance, the
ICC code) and local ad standards, codes, or sets of principles that local ad
member state ecosystems voluntarily comply with. They are implemented
and enforced by the national self-regulatory systems that form EASA’s
network. EASA members consist of both national SROs and industry
associations. In early 2021, the EASA has 27 self-regulation organizations
members from 25 European countries and 13 industry associations
(advertisers, agencies, and media).

In 2019, the 27-member SROs received 60,682 complaints related to

35,042 ads. These numbers have remained relatively stable during recent
years. About 60% of these complaints were filed in the U.K. and a further
15% in Germany; 82% were filed by consumers, 7% by competitors, and
6% by interest groups. Misleading advertising is by far the most important
category (58%), followed by taste and decency (18%), and social respon-
sibility (14%). Within the two latter categories, ads allegedly inappro-
priate to children (25%), gender-related (25%), and other (non-gender)
discrimination issues (24%) are the most important categories. As to
media, digital advertising accounts for 42% of complaints, followed by
audio-visual (28%) and outdoor (7%). The retail industry accounts for
22.5% of complaints, health and beauty for 13%, and leisure services for
11.5%. On average, 38% of the complaints were upheld, 19% were not
upheld, and 14% resolved informally. SROs received 96,352 copy advice
requests by advertisers of agency (preliminary requests for advice about
advertising campaigns to be launched). There were also 332 cross-border
complaints.4

Ethical responsibility of advertisers, public policy, and

education

In order to improve ethical standards and behavior, the advertising

industry, governments, and the educational system need to focus more on
ethical issues and the implementation or enforcement of ethical behavior.
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 149

First of all, companies have to make an effort. Advertising managers need

systematically to identify the negative ethical consequences of their strate-
gies and actions. For example, including privacy concerns throughout an
innovation process of data-driven services protects against future harmful
use of data. Other examples are avoiding stereotypical representation of
consumer groups in advertising materials – consider the negative conse-
quences of the “sex sells” notion and exposing individuals to sexualized
and objectified images that promote the derogatory treatment of people.
Companies might also develop formal codes of conduct and protocols for
their advertising activities. They should also include ethical perceptions
and considerations in their daily work (e.g., in social media activities)
and preparation for extraordinary situations (e.g., in crisis management
plans). Companies might also participate in the development of industry
schemes or legal regulations to determine ethical standards in advertising
practices. Sustainable marketing is still a relatively peripheral concern
for marketers – instead of merely avoiding “greenwashing,” sustainable
marketing needs to become mainstream, and the advertising community
has to explore new ways of marketing to make sustainability marketing
genuinely transformational.

One of the major ethical challenges is the access that companies have to
data that are used to personalize advertising. Since the online tracking
industry is evolving at such a high pace, it is impossible for legislators to
timely and adequately regulate these practices. Consequently, companies
also have the obligation to develop and live by ethical codes of conduct
regarding the collection and use of personal data and related privacy
issues. Ethical strategies could be increased by means of transparency and
increased control by consumers. Additionally, the advertising industry
should develop best practices for the appropriate disclosure of all adver-
tising formats, especially with respect to novel online integrated and/
or interactive advertising formats (brand placement, native ads …), for
instance by developing a clear and uniform cue across media and adver-
tising formats to signal content as advertising. The advertising industry
could also develop easy-to-use tools to enable parents to monitor and/
or restrict their children’s advertising exposure and protect their privacy,
and facilitate the development of advertising literacy amongst children,
parents, and teachers, for instance by developing or assisting in the devel-
opment of awareness and educational materials.
150 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

There are several areas in which public policy should make (greater)
efforts to enforce more ethical marketing practices. One example is pro-
tecting children and teenagers. Despite existing public policy initiatives
to protect minors against potentially misleading and deceptive advertis-
ing, there still exists a lack of regulation on novel and especially online
integrated and/or interactive advertising formats, and public policy
could do more to impose rules and restrictions on the advertising and
media industry to target children and teenagers in a more fair and ethical
way. Public policy could also enforce the use of a clear and transparent
advertising disclosure cue that is uniform across media and advertising
formats. More measures could also be taken to reduce or avoid stereotyp-
ing based on gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, or the disrespectful
portrayal of people in advertising. Given the fast evolution of techniques
to collect personal information online and use it for marketing purposes,
public policy should continuously monitor and adapt privacy regulations
to protect consumers from the harmful consequences of big data-based
marketing practices.

Public policy could also contribute to more ethical marketing practices

by means of awareness campaigns about advertising tactics and their
effects on consumer behavior, that develop knowledge and vigilance
with consumers. To enable parents to cope with their children’s Internet
use and online advertising exposure, it is crucial to develop initiatives to
increase parents’ advertising literacy. Raising the advertising literacy of
parents may be done by means of public policy campaigns, supported by
the advertising industry or media, or by organizing workshops, especially
for less well-educated parents.

Finally, there are several areas in which the education system plays
a crucial role in developing sensitivities and skills that can lead to a more
ethical advertising practice. Primary and secondary schools should
develop educational materials on advertising literacy and use them in
the classroom. Also teachers and policymakers should be educated about
how contemporary advertising formats work and why these advertising
formats are effective. Additionally, it is important to properly educate
business school students to develop genuine knowledge about ethics
and develop ethical attitudes and behavior in business and marketing
practice. The reinforcement of ethical dimensions in all course modules
is important – failure to do so may send a signal that ethics is not, in fact,
operationally important.5
 ADVERTISING ETHICS 151

Notes
1. https://​ec​.europa​.eu/​commission/​presscorner/​detail/​en/​MEMO​_06​_419.
2. https://​www​.youtube​.com/​watch​?v​=​0k​-​_4WloY6Y.
3. Tanja Grubner (ESSITY GMBH); Margaux Revol, Bridget Angear (AMV
BBDO); https://​www​.essity​.com/​.
4. https:// ​ w ww ​ . easa​ - alliance​ . org/​ s ites/​ d efault/​ f iles/​ E ASA​ % 20Complaints​
%20Annual​%20Report​%202019​.pdf.
5. An extensive overview and discussion of ethical issues in marketing and
advertising can be found in L. Eagle, S. Dahl, P. De Pelsmacker, and C.R.
Taylor (eds.) (2021), The Sage Handbook of Marketing Ethics, Sage.
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156 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

https://​medium​.com/​inside​-revenue/​how​-do​-i​-target​-audiences​-on​-snapchat​
-part​-2​-76f0c048e453.
https://​multimediamarketing​.com/​mkc/​mark​etingcommu​nications/​.
https://​neilpatel​.com/​what​-is​-facebook​-advertising/​.
https://​neilpatel​.com/​what​-is​-google​-adwords/​.
https://​support​.google​.com/​google​-ads/​.
https://​themanifest​.com/​mobile​-apps/​how​-app​-advertising​-works​-app​
-monetization.
https://​vwo​.com/​ab​-testing/​.
https://​www​.aai​.ie/​resources/​uploads/​Glossary​_of​_Advertising​_Terms​.pdf.
https://​www​.ama​.org.
https://​www​.bigcommerce​.com/​blog/​social​-media​-advertising/​#what​-are​-the​
-benefits​-of​-advertising​-on​-social​-media​-channels.
http://​www​.brandstories​.net.
https://​www​.brandwatch​.com/​.
https://​www​.brightedge​.com/​glossary/​benefits​-recommendations​-ab​-testing.
https://​www​.digitalmarketer​.com/​blog/​youtube​-ad​-types/​.
http://​www​.easa​-alliance​.org/​.
https://​www​.economicsdiscussion​.net/​advertising/​definitions​-of​-advertising.
https://​www​.exchangewire​.com/​blog/​2019/​12/​18/​predictions​-2020​-the​-rise​-of​
-contextual​-advertising/​.
https://​www​.exin​.com/​article/​6​-basic​-principles​-gdpr​?language​_content​_entity​=​
en.
https://​www​.facebook​.com/​business.
https://​www​.facebook​.com/​business/​ads/​ad​-targeting.
https://​www​.forbes​.com/​sites/​louiscolumbus/​2018/​01/​18/​analytics​-are​-defining​
-the​-future​-of​-digital​-advertising/​#74508614786f.
https://​www​.hofstede​-insights​.com/​product/​compare​-countries/​.
https://​www​.iab​.com/​guidelines/​iab​-measurement​-guidelines/​.
https://​www​.investopedia​.com/​terms/​a/​affiliate​-marketing​.asp.
https://​www​.investopedia​.com/​terms/​v/​viral​-marketing​.asp.
https://​www​.lotame​.com/​what​-is​-a​-data​-management​-platform/​.
http://​www​.mcngmarketing​.com/​how​-to​-advertise​-on​-pinterest/​.
https://​www​.mobindustry​.net/​how​-to​-monetize​-your​-app​-with​-mobile​-ads​-and​
-not​-fail/​.
https://​www​.optimizely​.com/​optimization​-glossary/​ab​-testing/​.
https://​www​.politico​.eu/​article/​cambridge​-analytica​-leave​-eu​-ukip​-brexit​
-facebook.
https://​www​.socialmediaexaminer​.com/​3​-ways​-to​-advertise​-on​-twitter/​.
https://​www​.socialmediaexaminer​.com/​how​-to​-advertise​-tiktok/​.
https://​www​.theguardian​.com/​fashion/​2021/​mar/​10/​is​-sex​-the​-best​-way​-to​-sell​
-suits​-when​-were​-still​-social​-distancing.
https://​www​.weidert​.com/​whole​_brain​_marketing​_blog/​bid/​113688/​ToFu​
-MoFu​-BoFu​-Serving​-Up​-The​-Right​-Content​-for​-Lead​-Nurturing.
https://​www​.wired​.com/​amp​-stories/​cambridge​-analytica​-explainer/​.
https://​www​.youtube​.com/​ads/​how​-it​-works/​.
Index

A/B tests 118–19 Affect Infusion Model 64–5

ability 52, 53 affect transfer 29, 30
account history 97 Affect-as-Information Model 62–4
action advertising 19 affective attitude formation 50, 53–4
activation effects 113 affective conditioning 47
activation measures 120 affective response 45, 46, 47
activities, lifestyle segmentation 79 affiliate compensation commission 37
activity metrics 123 affiliate marketing 37–9
adaptation 14–17 affordability budgeting 94–5
adjustments, budgetary 96 agent knowledge 139
ADMARS 80 AIDA Model 46
Adoption Diffusion Model 46 aided awareness 90, 119
AdRank 97–8 aided recall tests 117
advergames 27–8 AIETA model 46
advertiser image 21–2 alcohol promotion 145–6
advertising 3–6 algorithms 81–2, 85, 97
contemporary formats 4, 26–43, ambient advertising 31
140–41 American Advertising Academy 3
creativity 43–4 American Marketing Association 1, 3
cross-cultural environment 8–11, amplification rate 124
12–13 anticipation 68
effectiveness 26, 70–71, 111–29 App Install ad 41
ethics 130–51 appeals 19–25
models and theories 45–75 applause rate 124
planning 76–110 approach/promotion goals 51, 53–4
types 18–19 appropriation 136
advertising audit 77 arbitrary allocation budgeting 94
advertising content research 77 arousal tests 113
advertising literacy 139, 140, 149, 150 attitude building 80
Advertising and Marketing attitude formation and change 50–62
Communication Code (ICC) attitude transfer 65
147 attractiveness 24, 81
advertising platform 99–101 attribute importance 57, 58–9
advertising-funded programs (AFPs) attribute ownership 100
27 Audience Expansion 85
advertorials 35 Audience Match 86

157
158 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

audience networking advertising brand engagement 25, 42, 55–6, 73,

39–40 110, 123
audience targeting 85, 86 brand evaluation 62–3
authority and obedience principle 70 brand identity 14
automatic bidding 98 brand image 14, 27, 47, 90
avoidance/prevention goals 51, 54 brand knowledge 46, 90
awareness campaigns, about brand liking 46
advertising tactics 150 brand loyalty 64, 69, 79, 91, 120, 121
awareness rate 121 brand messages 6, 67, 72, 74
awareness-building 80 brand placement 5, 26, 27–31, 138, 139
Awareness–Trial–Reinforcement brand program fit, program liking and
(ATR) Model 71, 92 30–31
awareness–trial–retention framework brand recall 90
121 brand recognition 90
brand switching/switchers 68, 69, 79
behavior effects measurement 118, brand takeover ads 41
119, 120, 121 brand websites 34–5
behavior pre-tests 114–15 Brandwatch 127
behavioral attitude formation/ broad keywords 83
intention 50, 59–62 budgets 7–8, 36, 93–9, 103
behavioral control 143 bulk buy discounting 145
behavioral objectives 88 bumper ads 39
behavioral response 45, 46, 72 buzz marketing 5, 31–2, 138
behavioral segmentation 79
behavioral targeting 86 call-to-action (CTA) 35, 40, 43, 73,
behavior of endorsers 25 92, 119
benchmarking test results 114, 116, campaign evaluation research 119–22
120, 123 cards 40
benefits, segmentation on basis of 80 carousel ads 40
bidding 81–2, 97, 98–9 category wants 89–90
billboard advertising 103, 106, 116, caveat emptor rule 130
117 caveat venditor principle 130
blogs 42, 55–6 celebrities 24–5, 62
Blue Book (EASA) 148 central-route processing 51, 52–3,
BoFu (bottom-of-funnel) 92, 93 54, 62
books, advertising in 28 checklists (pre-test) 112
bowling model 42 children, advertising aimed at
brand activation 3, 73 139–141, 145, 148, 150
brand ads 40 choice set 56, 79
brand analysis 77 Cialdini’s persuasion principles 69–70
brand attitudes 50–62, 66, 68, 80, 88, cinema/movie advertising 8, 27, 103,
90 104, 106, 140
brand awareness 27, 46, 80, 88, 90, 92, click-through-rate (CTR) 85, 97
119–20 codes of conduct 149
brand beliefs 57–8, 59 cognitive attitude formation 50, 53
brand communication 28, 45, 72, 123 cognitive responses 23, 45, 46, 47
brand confusion 116 collaborate, call to 43
collective advertising 18
 INDEX 159

collectivistic cultures 11 conversion rate 124

colors 10 conviction 46, 118
commitment/consistency principle cookies 82, 83, 142
69–70 cooperative advertising 18
communication(s) 2–3 copy advice requests 148
360-degree 5, 6, 109 corporate communications 19
advertising as non-personal 4 correct attribution score, masked
cross-cultural 9 identification tests 116
high- and low-context 10–11 cost 2, 103, 107–9
ICC code 147 cost per action (CPA) 98, 124
objectives 88 cost per click (CPC) 98, 124
point-of-purchase 91 cost per impression (CPM) 41, 98
responses to interpersonal 74 cost per send (CPS) 98
see also brand communication; cost per thousand people reached
corporate (CPM) 107–8, 109, 124
communications; cost per thousand in the target market
integrated marketing (CPM-TM) 108
communications cost per useful contact 108
(IMC); maintenance country-of-origin appeal 16–17
communication coupon-stimulated purchasing tests
communications effects measurement 114–15
113, 117, 119–20 covert marketing 138–9
communications mix 3, 5, 71 creative appeals 19
comparative advertising 21 creative briefs 101
comparative positioning 100 creative formats 101
competitive parity budgeting 95 creative ideas 14–15, 101
competitor advertising strategy creative strategy 101–2
research 77 creativity 43–4
competitor analysis 77 credibility 24, 36, 56, 62, 74, 75, 101,
complaints 148 112
confectionary advertising 145 crisis situations, and budgeting 96
consideration 92 cross-cultural environment 8–11,
consumer advertising 19 12–13
consumer jury effect 114, 115 cultural appropriation 136
consumer needs and wants 2, 51 cultural symbols 100
consumer responses 45–9, 105 cultural values 11–14
consumer sovereignty 130 culture see cross-cultural environment
consumption, and engagement 123 customer engagement 3, 74, 110
content marketing 5, 32–4, 35, 36, 72 customer insight 99
content reports 126 customer relationship management
contextual advertising 86 (CRM) 85
continuous schedules 109 customization see personalization/
contribution, and engagement 123 customization
control belief 61
controversial advertising 136–8 DAGMAR Model 46, 88–91, 92
convenience 2 data management platforms (DMPs)
conversion 92, 93 124–7
conversion parameters 126 decency 130, 148
160 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

deceptive advertising 131, 132–3, 135, eroticism 21–2

138, 139 Ethical Fashion Forum 144
decision funnel 56–7 ethics 130–51
declarative acts 73, 74 European Advertising Standards
deliberate deception 132 Alliance (EASA) 148
demographic segmentation 78–9 European Commission 138
demonstrations 20 eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth)
differentiated segmentation 80 42
digital advertising see online exact keywords 83
advertising exhibitions and trade fairs 3
direct action 64 Expectancy–Value Model 57–9
direct comparative ads 21 expectation 68
direct marketing 3, 91, 96 experiential hierarchy-of-effects
direct opinion measurement 114 models 46
direct traffic 127 expert endorsement 24
disclosures 138–9, 142, 149, 150 expertise 24, 36, 56, 75
display ads 38 Extended Parallel Processing Model
DMP 126–7 23–4
double jeopardy 71 eye camera research 113
double-spotting 109
dramatization 20–21 Facebook 7, 34, 35, 37, 39–40, 55–6,
dripping 109 73, 74, 84, 98, 124, 126, 138, 145
drive models 23 fashion advertising 137, 144
dual-process theories 51–5 fast thinking system 55
Dynamic Ads 40–41 fear appeals 22–4, 137–8
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 138
earned media 4, 35, 42, 74, 110 feedback, website effectiveness 122–3
economic value 124 feelings, ad-evoked 63–4, 65, 66
editorial content, brand placement feelings transfer 65
in 29 feminine cultures 12
education 16, 149, 150 femvertising 135
effective frequency 105–6 first-party cookies 82
effective reach 107 first-time users 80
effectiveness Fishbein Models 57–62
research 111–29 flighting schedules 109
strong and weak theory of 70–71 flocs (federated learning of cohorts) 83
traditional advertising 26 Foote–Cone–Belding (FCB) grid 46–9
effectiveness goals 87, 88–91 4Cs model 2
eHealth 144 4Ps model 2
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) framing 68
51–4, 56 frequency of exposure 43, 46, 103,
emotional appeals 19, 21–4 105–6, 108, 115
emotional conditioning 65–7 functional ads 43
emotional selling proposition (ESP) functional needs 51
100, 101 future-orientation 9
empowering customers 143
endorsement effect 29–30 Gallup–Robinson Impact tests 117–18
endorsers 11, 19, 24–5 galvanic skin response 113
 INDEX 161

gender 9, 10, 12–13, 133, 134, 148 idea penetration 117

General Data Protection Regulation idealized portrayal 135
(GDPR) 86, 143 ideas promotion 18
generic advertising 19 impressions 92, 97
geofilters 41 in-app advertisements 35–6
geographic segmentation 78 in-feed ads 41
geo-targeting 37, 85 in-game advertising 26, 27–8, 28–9
globalization 14, 15 inappropriate advertising 148
glocalization 14, 15, 16 indirect comparative ads 21
goals see objectives individualist cultures 11
Google 7, 86, 93, 97, 142 indulgence 13
Google AdWords 38–9, 83, 97 industrial advertising 19
Google Analytics 124–6, 127 inertia budgeting 94, 95
Google Chrome 83 influencer marketing 5, 36–7, 61,
greenwashing 132–3 138–9, 146
Gross Rating Points (GRP) 107, 109, infomercials 35
115 information processing 50–55, 62,
guerrilla marketing 31 64, 67
guided exploration 72 see also message processing
informational advertising 19
health care industry 144 informational buying motive 48
heavy users 80 innovative, high-tech products 16
hedonic needs 51, 63 Instagram 7, 34, 37, 39, 40, 73, 74, 84,
heuristic evaluation 62 85, 90, 138, 139
heuristic processing 64 institutional advertising 19
heuristic-systematic model 55 integrated advertising 26, 27, 29, 30,
hidden advertising 4, 26 102, 118, 145, 149
hierarchy-of-effect models 45–9, 50, integrated marketing communications
70, 88–91, 92, 119 (IMC) 5–6
high context cultures 11 intention to buy 60, 91, 120
high elaboration 57, 63 interaction metrics 123
high involvement 21, 46, 47, 48, 49, interactive advertising 25, 26, 27, 139,
52, 56, 91 149
high perceived brand program fit 31 Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
high plot-connected placements 29 138
high power distance 11 interest targeting 85
high uncertainty avoidance 13 Interest-Based Advertising (IBA) 81
high-assertiveness individuals 13 interests, lifestyle segmentation 79
high-context cultures 10 intermediary objectives 88, 111
high-touch culture 10 international advertising 8–11, 14–16
higher education 16 International Chamber of Commerce
homophily 56, 74 (ICC) 147
honesty 130–31 Internet use 6–7
household life cycle, segmentation interpretation 68, 121
78–9 intimate zone 9
humor 21 involvement 46, 47, 48–9, 52, 56, 72,
hybrid formats 4, 26 91, 118
162 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Kahneman, D. 55 marketing 1–2

keyword buying 35, 38–9, 93 marketing mix 2, 71, 91, 94, 121
keyword relevance 97 masculine cultures 11–12
keyword targeting 83, 85, 86 masked identification tests 116–17
KOF index 15 mass media communication 4, 5
Kotler, P. 1 materialism 10, 131
measurement scales (effectiveness) 120
landing pages 34, 97 media planning and selection 102–10
Lavidge and Steiner model 46 mediated advertising 4
lead magnet 92 medium selectivity 108, 109
legality 130 mega-influencers 36
less plot-connected placements 29 mere exposure effect 29, 67–8
LGBTQ community, stereotypical message
portrayals 135 and type of advertising 19
“life’s little pleasures” 47 see also brand messages
lifestyle segmentation 79 Message Ads 40
light users 80 message processing 43, 44, 64, 69
liking principle 70 see also communications effects
LinkedIn 40–41, 85, 98–9, 127 measurement; information
localization 14, 15 processing
location-based advertising 37 message strategy 43, 99–101
Long-Form Video ads 41 mHealth 144
long-term orientation 13 micro-influencers 36
lookalike audiences 84, 86 micro-sites 34
Lookalike Expansions 86 miscomprehension 132
low elaboration 57, 62, 65 misleading advertising 132, 140, 148
low involvement 21, 46, 47, 48, 49, 56, mobile advertising 8
69, 91 mobile device use 7
low involvement hierarchy-of-effects models, use of 135
model 46 MoFu (middle-of-funnel) 92, 93
low perceived brand program fit 31 mood effects 64–5
low power distance 11 morals 130
low-context cultures 10–11 motivated processing 64
low-touch culture 10 motivation 51–2, 53, 55
luxury products 16 movies see cinema/movie advertising
multiple attribute compensatory
macro-environment analysis 77 models 56–62
macro-influencers 36
magazines see newspaper and nano-influencers 36
magazine advertising narrative transportation 29
maintenance communication 34 native advertising 35, 39, 40, 138
manager/management modules 39, negative responses 105
97, 98 negatively valenced attributes 56
manual bidding 98 Net Promoter Score (NPS) 120
manufacturer advertising 18 net reach 106–7, 109, 115
MAO factors 51–4, 69 newspaper and magazine advertising
market analysis 77 8, 25, 35, 103, 104, 106, 116, 117
market segmentation 78–80 non-compliance, under the GDPR 143
 INDEX 163

non-motivational behavior 61 outdoor advertising 8, 104, 106, 148

non-skippable video ads 39 overlay ads 38
non-strategic creativity 43–4 overspending 95
non-users 79–80 owned media 109–10
non-verbal language 9 ownership of an attribute 100
nostalgic ads 63–4
novels, advertising in 28 paid media 41, 110
paid search 127
objective and task budgeting 96 passive engagement 73
objectives 87–93 passives 120
offline advertising past-orientation 9
budgets 96 pay per click (PPC) 37, 41, 97
campaigns 6 perceived behavioral control (PCB) 61
distinction between online and perceived brand program fit 30–31
25, 71–2, 74 perceived homophily 74
goals 87 perceived response efficacy 23
planning 102–10 perceived self-efficacy 23
targeting 82 perceived severity 23
online advertising perceived susceptibility 23
budgets 8, 96–9 perceived value 1, 90
campaigns 6 percentage of sales budgeting 95
consumers and brand Perception–Experience–Memory
communication 45 Model 68
distinction between offline and perceptual bias 133
25, 71–2, 74 performance metrics 123–4
effectiveness research 117, peripheral cues 53, 54, 56, 62, 65
118–19, 120, 122–8 peripheral-route processing 51, 53, 54
ethical issues 140, 142, 145, 148 person categorization 49
formats 27–9, 34–43, 141 personal data collection 25, 81, 82, 83,
market share 8 141–2, 149
models and theories 71–5 personal recommendation 43
objectives 92–3 personal selling 3
owned, paid and earned media personal zone 9
109–10 personalization/customization 4–5, 25,
personalized 4–5, 25, 26, 82, 141, 26, 82, 141, 149
149 persuasion 6, 131
short ad exposures 67–8 persuasion knowledge 30, 139
Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) persuasion principles 69–70, 72
81 photoshopping 135
online media use 6 phrase keywords 83
online shoppers 7 physiological tests 113
online targeting 81–6 pinball model 42, 72
opinions, lifestyle segmentation 79 pinkwashing 135
opportunity 52, 53, 55 Pinterest 40, 85, 124, 126
Opportunity to See (OTS) 107, 115 planning 76–110
organic reach 4, 35, 42 plot connection 29
organic traffic 127 point-of-purchase communications 91
original ads 43 point-of-sale communications 3
164 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

Porter’s five-factor model 81 pull advertising 93

portfolio tests 113 pulsing schedules 109
positioning 49, 57, 59, 86, 99–101 pupil dilation measurement 113
positive responses 105 purchase decisions 36, 46–9, 56–7
positively valenced attributes 56 purchase facilitation 91
post-experience advertising 68 purpose-based marketing 146–7
post-testing 115–19, 123 push advertising 93
potential customers/users 80, 93, 143
power distance 11–13 qualitative market research 123
pre-experience advertising 68 qualitative media selection criteria
pre-testing 111–15, 123 102–3
Predefined Audiences 86 quality score 97
predicting attitudes 58 quantitative market research 123
predicting behavioral intention 59–61 quantitative media selection criteria
preference 46 103
price/quality positioning 100
privacy 141–3, 149, 150 radio advertising 8, 103, 105, 106
privacy calculus 142 rainbowwashing 135
privacy paradox 142 rational appeals 19, 20–21
prize promotions 73, 74 rational conditioning 47
problem solutions 20 reach 4, 35, 42, 103, 106–7, 108–9, 115
process goals 87, 88 reach goals 87, 88
processing fluency 67, 68 reactance 23
product analysis 77 readability analysis 112
product categories 16–17, 19, 46–7, real-time bidding (RTB) 82
48, 49 real-time videos 139
Product Match-Up Hypothesis 24–5 reasonable person standard 132
product placement see brand rebranding 90
placement recall tests 113–14, 117–18
program liking, and brand program receivers 6, 19
fit 30–31 reciprocity principle 69
programmatic advertising 37–9, 81, recognition tests 115–17, 118
83, 84–5 reference groups 60
prominent integration 29 referrals 127
Promoted Pins 40, 85 regular users 80
promoted tweets 40 Reinforcement Model 69
promoted videos 40 religion 10
promoters 120 responsible advertising 147, 148–50
props, brand placement in 29 restraint 13–14
Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) retailer advertising 18, 37, 148
23 retargeting 67, 84, 85, 92, 93
proved name registration 117 retention rate 121
proxemics 9–10 ROPO phenomenon 25
psychographic segmentation 79 Rossiter–Percy grid 47–8
public policy 150 routinized response behavior 69
public relations (PR) 3, 5
puffery 132
sales funnel 4, 72, 92–3
 INDEX 165

sales promotions 2, 3, 6, 72, 73–4, 79, targeting 82, 83–7

91, 96 social media use 7
sales response models 93–4 social networking sites
salience principle 72 advertising on 39–41
satisfaction 91 data collection 142
scarcity principle 70 interactions 72
scheduling 103, 109–10 sales promotions 73–4
Search Engine Advertising (SEA) 38–9 targeting 82, 83–7
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 35 social proof principle 70
search engines 42, 82, 83, 142 social responsibility 147, 148
seasonal effects 102 social sensitivity 59–60
segment attractiveness 81 social traffic 127
segment profiles 80 social zone 9
segmentation 49, 78–80, 133 soft drinks advertising 145
segmenting–targeting–positioning Source Attractiveness Model 24
(STP) process 78–87 Source Credibility Model 24, 74, 75
selective advertising 19 space-related issues 9–10
self-disclosure 142 speech acts 73, 74
self-perception 70 split tests 118–19
self-regulation 147–8 sponsored cards 39
“selling is telling” 47 Sponsored Content 40
senders 18 sponsored geofilters 41
sex appeals 21–2 sponsored hashtag challenge 41, 87
share of market (SOM) 95, 96 Sponsored Lenses 41
share of voice (SOV) 95–6 sponsorship 3, 5, 6, 27, 40, 55–6, 139
shock advertising 24, 136–8 stakeholders, messages aimed at 19
shopping pins 40 standard pins 40
short ad exposures 67–8 standardization 14–17
short-term orientation 13 Starch test 116
showrooming effect 25 status 9, 10, 16, 51, 79–80, 99, 133
situation analysis 76–8, 91 stealth advertising 31, 138
skippable video ads 38–9 stereotyping 12–13, 133–6, 149, 150
slice-of-life ads 20 stopping power 54
slow thinking system 55 storytelling 5, 32–4
SMART goals 88 strategy 57, 60–61, 77
Snapchat 41, 86, 124, 139 see also creative strategy; message
social comparison theory 135 strategy
social learning 30 street marketing 31
social media advertising strong theory of advertising 70–71
alcohol promotion 145–6 structural attractiveness 81
brand websites 34 structural involvement 52
disclosures 138 subjective norms 59–60
effectiveness research 123–8 substantive processing 64
influencers 36 subtle integration 29
interactions 25, 72 surveys, website effectiveness 123
organic reach (earned media) sustainable marketing 149
4, 35 symbolic benefits 100
pricing 98 symbolic needs 51
166 ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

synergy 6 TripAdvisor 43
systematic processing 64 tripwire 92
trust/trustworthiness 24, 29, 32, 36, 68,
tacit knowledge 139 70, 74, 75, 93
talking head appeals 20 truthfulness 130–31
targeting 81–7, 139–40 Twitter 28, 36, 40, 85, 98, 124, 126
teenagers 36, 59–60, 139, 140–41, 150 two-factor model, exposure and
telepresence 29 effectiveness 105
television advertising 7–8, 8, 25, 27,
35, 103, 104, 106, 113, 117, 138 unaided awareness 90, 119
temporary involvement 52 unaided recall tests 117
testimonials 20 uncertainty avoidance 13
Text Ads 41 unethical practices 31, 131, 132, 137,
theme advertising 19 138, 141
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) unfair advertising 131, 139
61–2 unique selling proposition (USP) 77,
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) 100–101
59–61 usability testing 123
think-feel dimension, purchasing usage rate, segmentation 80
decisions 46–7, 48 useful contact, cost per 108
third-party cookies 82, 83, 142 useful reach of a medium vehicle 106
thought-starter lists 77–8 useful score, masked identification
threat appeals 22–4, 137–8 tests 116
tie strength 74–5 user status, segmentation 79–80
TikTok 7, 37, 41, 86, 87 user-generated content (UGC) 25, 42,
time perception 9 43, 72, 75, 84, 123
tobacco advertising 146
ToFu (top-of-funnel) 92, 93 value 1, 10, 90
top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) 68, verbal language 9
69, 79, 90, 119 Video Creation Kit 41
topic knowledge 139 video discovery ads 39
TopSnapOnly ads 41 viral marketing 41–3, 75, 110
total reach of a medium vehicle 106 vulnerable industries 144–7
touch points 5, 101–2, 109 vulnerable targets, children as 139–41
tourism industry 144
tracking warm advertising 22
effectiveness research 120, 122, weak theory of advertising 71
124, 125–6, 127 weak uncertainty avoidance 13
personal data collection 81, 82, wear-in/wear-out 105
83, 141–2, 149 Web View ads 41
trade advertising 19 weight 103, 107
traffic generators 34–5
trailer tests 114
transformational advertising 19 young people 16
transformational buying motives 47–8 YouTube 7, 36, 37, 38–9, 67, 83, 93,
transparency 143, 149, 150 97, 139
trial rate 121
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Woodrow Barfield and Technology Policy
Ugo Pagello Albert N. Link and James A.
Politics of International Cunningham
Human Rights Urban Transport Planning
David P. Forsythe Kevin J. Krizek and David A. King
Community-based Conservation Legal Reasoning
Fikret Berkes Larry Alexander and Emily
Sherwin
Global Production Networks
Neil M. Coe Sustainable Competitive
Advantage in Sales
Mental Health Law Lawrence B. Chonko
Michael L. Perlin
Law and Development
Law and Literature Second Edition
Peter Goodrich Mariana Mota Prado and Michael
Creative Industries J. Trebilcock
John Hartley Law and Renewable Energy
Global Administration Law Joel B. Eisen
Sabino Cassese Experience Economy
Jon Sundbo
Housing Studies
William A.V. Clark Marxism and Human Geography
Kevin R. Cox
Global Sports Law
Stephen F. Ross Maritime Law
Paul Todd
Public Policy
B. Guy Peters American Foreign Policy
Loch K. Johnson
Empirical Legal Research
Herbert M. Kritzer Water Politics
Ken Conca
Business Ethics Landmark Criminal Cases
John Hooker George P. Fletcher
Employee Engagement Comparative Legal Methods
Alan M. Saks and Jamie A. Pier Giuseppe Monateri
Gruman
U.S. Environmental Law
Governance E. Donald Elliott and Daniel C.
Jon Pierre and B. Guy Peters Esty
Demography Gentrification
Wolfgang Lutz Chris Hamnett
Environmental Compliance and Family Policy
Enforcement Chiara Saraceno
LeRoy C. Paddock
Law and Psychology
Migration Studies Tom R. Tyler
Ronald Skeldon
Advertising
Patrick De Pelsmacker