Said a tiger to his lion friend as they drank beside a pool, "Tell me, why do you roar like a fool?"

"I am not a fool," replied the lion with a twinkle as reflected in the pool. "They call me king of all the beasts because I only advertise."

A rabbit heard them talking and ran home like a streak. He thought he would try the lion's plan, but his roar was a squeak.

A fox came to investigate the squeak and had his lunch in squick.

The moral: When you advertise, be sure you've got the goods! (Fable)

Twelfth Law of Branding (Branding by Advertising)

Common Word-of-mouth Beats “Highly-connected” Influencers

Newswise — Old-fashioned “word of mouth” might be more useful in advertising than previously thought, especially in digital media, according to collaborative research by a Miami University faculty member and his colleagues.

The findings, to be published in the December 2007 issue of Journal of Advertising Research, resulted from a study co-authored by James Coyle, assistant professor of marketing in Miami’s Farmer School of Business and of interactive media studies; Elizabeth Lightfoot of CNET Networks; and Ted Smith and Amy Scott of MedTrackAlert.

The findings contradict a common advertising practice of segmenting and pampering the few elite and highly connected consumers believed to have the most persuasive power by suggesting that instead, most people can influence consumer behavior through viral communication or word of mouth.

“This study provides a fresh alternative for those who have been confused by the mysticism of influencer marketing consultants,” said Smith who is a CNET Networks Research Fellow and president of MedTrackAlert.

Researchers conducted a survey of Web-site visitors, performed in-depth interviews and analyzed Web site usage patterns.

“We find that trying to track down key influencers, people who have extremely large social networks, is typically unnecessary and, more importantly, can actually limit a campaign or advertisement’s viral potential,” said Coyle. “Instead, marketers need to realize that the majority of their audience, not just the well-connected few, is eager and willing to pass along well-designed and relevant messages.”

The study reinforced that consumers respond more to messages that are unique and trusted. In addition, consumers who believe they are capable of performing the advertised behavior are more willing to pass along information to friends and relatives within their social networks.

Coyle added that this isn’t new. “It’s always been this way. What’s changed is that digital media makes it so easy for everyone to forward messages to contacts within their social networks. For most everyone, digital media just extends a very human desire to help others.”

This study brought to light the potential power of the Internet to drive influence in a wide range of industries, noted Coyle.

The Secret Of Successful Anti-Smoking Ads

Some anti-smoking ads are simply ineffective, while others actually make youth more likely to light up. Fortunately, some are successful, and a new University of Georgia study helps explain why.

Hye-Jin Paek, assistant professor at the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, found that anti-smoking ads are most effective when they convince youth that their friends are listening to the ads. Otherwise, the ads appear to stimulate the rebellious and curious nature of youth, making them more interested in smoking. Paek and co-author Albert Gunther from the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined data from surveys of nearly 1,700 middle school students, and their results appear in the August issue of the journal Communication Research.

"Anti-smoking ads have the greatest impact on smoking attitudes and behavior when adolescents think that their peers are listening to those messages," Paek said. "And that makes sense because people are more likely to listen to what their close peers say rather than what the media says."

Evidence that anti-smoking ads have the potential to make youth more likely to smoke has been accumulating for the past five years. Paek and Gunther's study adds to that evidence and helps explain how anti-smoking ads can be effective.

The researchers surveyed students in four middle schools about their exposure to anti-smoking ads and their intentions to smoke. They found that, overall, the more the students were exposed to anti-smoking messages, the more inclined they were to smoke. The exception -- where exposure to anti-smoking ads correlated with a reduced intention to smoke -- occurred among students who said their friends were influenced by anti-smoking messages.

"Perception is sometimes more powerful than actual behavior," Paek said. "What we've found is that it doesn't necessarily matter how your friends respond to the ads, but how you think your friends are responding."

Paek said many health campaigns assume that anti-smoking messages have a simple, direct and strong impact on individuals. She said that by understanding the indirect route that messages often take, health communicators can design more effective ads.

Her results suggest that campaigns don't work by convincing individuals to avoid tobacco, but rather by helping change the social norms surrounding smoking. With that in mind, she said, campaigns should be designed for a sustained, multi-year effort.

The way the message is designed is critically important, too. Rather than using an authoritarian approach along the lines of "just say no," Paek urges health communicators to emphasize that most youth don't smoke, and for good reasons.

"Advertising professionals have only recently become involved in anti-smoking campaigns," she said. "We need to develop more sophisticated appeals."

Source: Sam Fahmy
University of Georgia

Fame sells

Celebrity entrepeneurs exude confidence in their own products

What do Kylie, Paul Newman, and Celine Dion have in common" They are all celebrity entrepreneurs. But does selling their own products rather than endorsing others help boost sales"

Celebrity entrepreneurs can sell their own products better than those stars who simply endorse those of other companies, according to business analysts writing in this month's issue of Inderscience's International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Those celebs are not only more heavily involved in their own products and so have a vested interest in sales, but their direct connection to the product makes them more effective in communicating why you, the consumer, should buy it.

Endorsements by the rich and famous have long been a staple of the advertising industry. They can give an otherwise mundane product, such as a shaver or carpet cleaner, a sprinkle of star dust and turn lacklustre sales into lucrative blockbusters. They can even boost sales still further for classic brands that only need a marketing shot in the arm. Market research has shown repeatedly that celebrities can "instantly" add personality and appeal to even unknown products and make or break recognised brands.

However, pop stars, sports personalities, and film actors quick to exploit their fame and image, have themselves begun creating their own brand identity. Think about Kylie's lingerie, Paul Newman's Own food products, and Celine Dion's perfume. These and many other celebrity entrepreneurs can advertise and endorse their product directly, cutting out a third party company from the business deal.

Erik Hunter of Jönköping International Business School in Sweden working with Per Davidsson of the Brisbane Graduate School of Business, Australia, have carried out the first analysis of the marketing of celebrity products and have found that a celebrity's own involvement in the product is truly the key to its success compared with the old-style endorsement marketing.

They add that from the consumer's perspective, the celebrity's involvement in their product essentially rubs off and adds to the value of the product compared with a product being endorsed but not celebrity branded.

There are four main groups who will benefit from Hunter and Davidsson's detailed analysis. First the celebrity entrepreneurs themselves who can find out whether or not being fully involved in a product is a more effective use of their "celebrity capital" rather than simply being paid to endorse an independent brand. Secondly, marketing executives and advertising agencies can discover whether they can get better value for money in selling a product in this way. Thirdly, academic researchers and economists hoping to understand consumer decisions will benefit from the analysis.

Finally, consumers and consumer groups can become better informed as to whether a celebrity truly values their product or whether it is exploitation in the name of fame. After all, do you know whether Kylie wears her own-brand lingerie, or Celine scents up with her perfume" Does Paul Newman really drizzle his Own salad dressing on his salads" Find out and you will be on to a marketing winner.

PERSPECTIVES ON ADVERTISING

The trade of advertising is now so near to perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvements. (Samual Johnson, 1760)

The competent advertising man must understand psychology. The more he knows about it the better. He must learn that certain effects lead to certain reactions, and use that knowledge to increase results and avoid mistakes. Human nature is the same today as in the time of Caesar. So the principles of psychology are fixed and enduring. We learn, for instance, that curiosity is one of the strongest of human incentives. (Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising, 1926)

There is an extensive literature on advertising, made up of books, monographs, reports, journal articles, and speeches. David A. Revzan of the University of California lists more than 450 books on the subject of advertising written between 1900 and 1969. There are at least six advertising handbooks, eight histories, and several biographical accounts of advertising people. In addition to handbooks and historical perspectives, advertising has been approached through a variety of paths and traditions. These different paths partly reflect the perspectives of such various disciplines as economics, psychology, social philosophy, and management. They also reflect the needs of the audiences to which they are addressed. Although many of the paths cross and some are ill defined, it is possible and useful to identify some of the main tracks that have been followed through the years.

Several books with an economic perspective, including Roland Vaile's Economics of Advertising, were published in the 1920s. The depression of the 1930s increased public concern with the role advertising plays in our competitive economic system. Critics argued that advertising inhibits competition. In this environment, Harvard professor Neil Borden published a classic study of the economic effects of advertising. The evaluation of advertising as an economic force in society has continued to receive attention over the years. A recent book in this tradition is Julian Simon's Issues in the Economics of Advertising. The economic perspective tends to deal with aggregate statistics of firms and industries and is concerned with public-policy implications.

The writings of sociologists, religious leaders, philosophers, and politicians are also extensive, many reflecting critical views of advertising. Thus, in 1932, Arthur Kallet and F. J. Schlink published 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs, followed by such works as A. S. J. Basker's Advertising Reconsidered in 1935, H. K. Kenner's The Fightfor Truth in Advertising in 1936, Blake Clarke's The Advertising Smoke Screen in 1944, F. P. Bishop's The Ethics of Advertising in 1949, and later works like Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders, Francis X. Quin's Ethics, Advertis­ing and Responsibility, and Sidney Margolius's The Innocent Consumer vs. The Exploiters. Advertising is a controversial subject about which scholars, intellectuals, and businessmen tend to form strong and often contradictory opinions.

Behavioral approaches to advertising can be traced to Walter Dill Scott's 1913 book, The Psychology of Advertising. Since then, there has been a steady stream of books firmly tied to the behavioral disciplines, such as D. Lucas and C. E. Benson's Psychology for Advertisers in 1930 and, more recently, Edgar Crane's Marketing Communications. This approach is largely concerned with the analysis of the communication process, using behavioral science theory and empirical findings. The interest in motivation research in the 1950s and consumer buyer behavior in the 1960s provided impetus to this area of thought. During the past decade, in particular, an enormous amount of progress has been made in using theories and models from psychology, social psychology, and sociology to help understand buyer behavior, the communication process, and the link between the two.

The research tradition in advertising parallels the development of the various media research services discussed earlier. It has also done much to motivate academic work on basic advertising research and studies of advertising effectiveness.

The managerial tradition is really more recent in origin. Perhaps the first book truly devoted to the subject of advertising management was a case book by Neil Borden and Martin Marshall, Advertising Management: Text and Cases, published in 1950 and revised in 1959. These books, and the others that followed, approached the subject from the viewpoint of a manager faced with the tasks of preparing an advertising budget, deciding how to allocate funds to different media, and choosing among alternative copy strategies. These books were thus decision oriented and provided a contrast to the principles approach, in which the nature and role of advertising institutions and advertising techniques tended to be the point of emphasis.

Still another approach to advertising, even more recent in origin, is the model­building perspective originating from the fields of operations research and statistics. Although it had early predecessors, it really began in the late 1950s with the development of decision models concerned with allocating the media budget. Model building is so new that so far it is primarily represented in the literature in the form of monographs and journal articles. (source: advertising management by Aaker)

Twelfth Law of Branding : Advertising for Branding

Often the role of the mass media in persuasion is perceived to be limited to the impact of overtly persuasive communications such as newspaper editorials, television advertisements, and public service announcements (PSAs). However, other media content may have a more subtle, but more pervasive, impact on the beliefs of the public, regardless of whether or not this was the intention of the message producer. That is, public beliefs are often shaped by subtle but repetitive messages contained in news and entertainment media content that are not overtly persuasive. These beliefs may eventually translate into opinions and even socially relevant behaviors. WILLIAM P. EVELAND, JR.

Social reality perceptions are best defined as "individuals' conceptions of the world" (Hawkins & Pingree, 1982, p. 224). Because there are so many perceptions that individuals have about the world, so many potential causes of these perceptions, and so many levels of analysis at which to examine them, research on social reality perceptions has spanned a number of related fields (Shrum & O'Guinn, 1993).

Persuasion research can benefit from better understanding how perceptions of social reality are shaped by a number of factors, including the use of entertainment and news media, and from a review of the potential influence of social reality perceptions on attitudes and behaviors.

(Rule 1) = Product success is determined by consumers perception and a reconnection to his/her own current general mood, perception of social reality, attitude, and feelings, standings, and most important is the mood and the attitude of the country, nation's pulse, and economy through advertising

Through advertising Brands have taken the control away from retailers and have given the control to consumers. In the past (mid 1880) people had to ask retailers which soap (later Ivory did the branding), pants (Levi's did it), beer (Budweiser did it), or which coffee (Maxwell House did it) to buy. By Branding through adverting people just asked for the brand they preferred and stopped asking the retailers for advice. Ivory soap was the first. The story of the soap is very interesting.

If you ever get a chance, read the book Twenty ads that shook the world for this story. I also like the VW advertising campaign, and of course the best is the story of Apple Computer's famous 1984 Super Bowl Ad, a sixty­second minimovie for Apple Computer's Macintosh, showing a club-wielding symbol of freedom smashing the 1984 Orwellian nightmare, where Steve Wozniak gets his check book out and offers to pay for the first Ad if Mr. Jobs also paid for the second Ad. The reason they wanted to pay was the apathy of inept Apple board of directors toward the Ad. The creative genius behind Apple commercial was Lee Clow, executive vice president and creative director of Chiat/Day/Mojo, a Los Angeles-based agency.

Clow has been identified as "the force behind some of the most remarkable U.S. ad campaigns of recent years. In one famous billboard campaign for Nike, he had unidentified Olympic hopefuls in striking poses, such as clearing hurdles at the track, displayed on massive out­door billboards and the sides of buildings, with only the smallest mention of the sponsor, Nike. He has been described as having a unique ability to spot an idea and know if it will work. In discussing his creative style, Clow argues for the need to generate confidence and to take the lead in sticking to an idea.

1984...what was the mood of the country then? How did people feel about things? Did people identify themselves with the people sitting on the chairs waiting for a freedom smashing savior. Or, did people identify themselves with the freedom smashing savior? In any case, people bought into the idea and the advertising. Most definitely Ronald Reagan got the credit for the freedom smashing savior for Eastern Europe and Soviets.

How about now? I guess a good place to start analyzing the mood of the country is the Gallup Poll. Here are some of the important issues.

(Rule 2) = Advertising works the best if advertisers focus on giving more control to consumers (intrinsic motivations).

(Rule 3) = Brands provide assurance and consistency from one purchase to another; Advertisers should communicate this principle of consistency more effectively

(Rule 4) = Price competition will undercut the value of Brands; price cutting strategy lessens the goal of enhancing brand image

(Rule 5) = Consumers set the terms since they have access to more information (intrinsic motivations); Brands should position themselves on the route of this search for information and that is why websites are the best place for branding.

(Rule 6) = Advertising is the science and art of persuasion; Persuasion is the science of psychology; a good advertising is like your soda with lunch; it helps you swallow the information better; advertising brands extends into realm of complex associations

(Rule 7) = Advertising is words, wit, energy, ingenuity, science, and images that should be designed like poetry, music, and art.

(Rule 8) = P.T. Barnum, the great advertising philosopher, once said "you must gather a crowd, make traffic, then you must hold them in place. And, finally once they are calmed down, you can deliver the pitch." Even though this was around lower part of 1900, the definition is so close to selling or branding through a website.

(Rule 9) = Advertising works best when it can create desire, give it a personality to a product, and move it into the consumer's imagination (intrinsic motivations).

Here is a model from Professor AAKER:

Advertising that works is advertising that makes somebody feel something .... All advertising has some emotion. Some advertising is all emotion. (Hal Riney, Creative Director, Hal Riney & Associates)

FEELINGS EXPERIENCED

The fact is that we not only know little about how such feelings affect the persuasion process, but we do not even really know which feelings are the most relevant. There do exist many lists of feelings, emotions, and moods that may be helpful.

The psychologist Plutchik, for example, developed a list of 40 emotion words, including:

Defiant, Adventurous, Disgusted, Surprised, Inquisitive, Expectant, Enthusiastic, Affectionate, Curious, Receptive, Shy, Hopeless, Unhappy, Perplexed, Hesitant,

Afraid, Bewildered, Annoyed, Hesitant, Sad, Cheerful, Joyful, Elated, Hostile.

Any of these could be important to a given advertisement. Sadness would be aroused by a commercial showing an older woman reflecting on the loss of a mate or by an advertisement attempting to gain support for resources for a famine­stricken country such as Biafra by portraying an undernourished child. Enthusiasm and joy might be created by commercials showing people playing volleyball at a beach with upbeat, active music in the background.

Some ads can create a feeling of excitement, adventure, action, and danger.

A good example is a 30-second spot for Pepsi Free which used the tag line "Because life is stimulating enough" to communicate the message that life does not need the stimulant caffeine in cola. After watching the 16 seconds of a pair of policemen chasing a motorcycle maniac, the viewer might agree. After they lose the cyclist they stop for a Pepsi Free only to see the maniac flippantly riding his cycle on the roof of their car. Other ads can create feelings of elegance. A perfume ad showed a sophisticated woman preparing for a ball. A BMW ad showed a stylish, elegant woman slowly entering a car. Both ads surely engendered feelings of elegance, style, and class for some audience members. Among the feelings that have been studied in the advertising context in some depth are warmth, humor, and fear.

How Important is Advertising?

With over $5.2 trillion supporting sales in the U.S. economy and more than 21 million supporting jobs in the industry, advertising’s role in our economy is becoming increasingly vital.

This week, The Advertising Coalition, which the ANA is a founding member along with some other trade giants such as the AAAA and the AAF, released a major new economic study projecting the advertising industry’s impact on the U.S. for 2005.  The numbers themselves are truly impressive.

Total advertising spending by businesses in the U.S. for 2005 is estimated to reach approximately $278 billion, according to the study with $5.2 trillion in sales being driven into the U.S. economy along with the 21 million jobs. There clearly is an enormous multiplier effect from $278 billion to $5.2 trillion dollars.   Most people do not think about the three level impacts of advertising and they only think in terms of the direct impact of advertising. Therefore many people ignore that for every supplier industry oil, gas, glass, steel, paper etc. etc. that may not do consumer advertising, that consumer advertising for various products that use these components drive these segments of the marketplace as well.

Advertising’s impacts are usually discussed in a fractionated way so the global overall impact is often lost not only by outsiders but also practitioners.  The advertising industry deserves a great deal of respect across the board as a key driving force in the U.S. economy. The ANA and other industry leaders will continue to work to educate the public and policymakers on the values of what this industry has to offer, and we encourage other industry professionals to make a similar stand as well.

source: http://ana.blogs.com/jaffe/

Consumers Trust Each Other More Than Advertising

The "2005 Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) and Engagement Study" a new study of consumer behavior by Intelliseek Inc., reports that consumers are 50 percent more likely to be influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations from their peers than by radio/TV ads. Consumer trust toward traditional advertising is being challenged by growing confidence in consumer-generated-media (CGM), and the recommendations of other consumers. The research also finds important correlations between consumers who regularly skip over or delete television or online ads and those who create, and absorb consumer-generated media (defined as experiences, opinions and advice posted on the Internet by consumers for others to read and share). "Active ad skippers " are 25 percent more likely to create and respond to Internet message boards, forums and blogs. Intelliseek CEO Mike Nazzaro said "The advertising landscape is... forcing marketers to broaden and redefine the concepts of media, influence and audience reach. If consumer-generated media is the most effective and trusted form of advertising, it's critical that marketers begin to measure, manage and influence it..." Key findings from the analysis:

• Word-of-mouth behavior among "familiars" trumps all forms of advertising and is more trusted than news or "expert commentary." Positive word-of-mouth from a personal acquaintance carries just as much impact as negative word-of-mouth. Teens lead all segments in overall CGM creation. Nearly 30 percent of teens now actively create CGM by sending photos via their cell phones, 45 percent have experimented with or created a blog, and nearly 10 percent subscribe to RSS feeds. Men are more likely to spend time on Internet message boards, forums, and discussions, while women have a higher tendency to "forward something (they) had found on the Internet to others." Consumers are on track to post close to 2 billion comments on the Internet by the end of 2005.
• Key industries susceptible to GCM influence are health/medical, auto, electronics, video games and music.

Less Than 1/5 of Online Buyers Account for Almost Half of Spending

A recent report from Nielsen//NetRatings concludes that nearly a fifth of the online buying population accounts for nearly half of total online spending. These buyers, dubbed "Most Valuable Purchasers" (MVPs), spend more dollars online and make more purchases on the Internet than the rest of the online buying population.

The online retail study segmented online shoppers into four categories based on the amount of their online spending and their frequency of purchases. The MVPs, shoppers who spent the most money online and made the largest number of purchases, comprised 18 percent of the online buyers, driving 46 percent of total online spending. In comparison, those spending the fewest dollars online and making the fewest purchases made up 55 percent of online buyers. This group accounted for 21 percent of online purchases.

Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, said "Not only are the MVPs valuable based upon sales and number of purchases, they are also inordinately loyal to the retailers that they purchase from. Each retailer needs to analyze its own customer base to... develop targeted marketing programs that will maximize revenue from these shoppers."

MVPs are heavy users of comparison shopping tools as compared to other online  buying segments. In addition, they skew towards a higher household  income, are more likely to be connected via a broadband connection, and are  heavier Internet users in both overall time spent online and time spent on retail  Web sites.

For more information, please visit this Nielsen//NetRatings site.

Drilldown on Internet Advertising Presence for Videos, Movies and Theatres

A deeper look at ad sites, viewer demographics, ad types, sizes and delivery for videos, movies and theatres                   

                       Data on the Entertainment Industry/ Movies Segment Week ending October 23, 2005 US, Home and Work

                       Data on the Entertainment Industry/ Movie Theater Segment Week ending October 23, 2005 US, Home and Work

Note: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service.

Consumer Intentions: Turn Down the Heat

According to the Consumer Intentions and from BIGresearch, consumers will be keeping a wary eye on their home heating bills this holiday season, and when asked what they would do if their home heating bill increased by 50%, almost 2/3  say "turn down the thermostat" and 62% say "wear heavier clothing." When it comes to Holiday shopping, only 36.9% said the cost of heating their home would have no effect on their holiday shopping. For the 63% who said the cost of home heating would affect their holiday shopping, the top solutions were:

• Look for more special sale items
• Spend less on gifts

Joe Pilotta, VP of BIGresearch, said "Consumers say they  will cope with higher energy bills during the Holiday season by being more price conscious in order to enjoy the holidays..."

Contact: Suzanne Wu
swu@press.uchicago.edu
773-834-0386
University of Chicago Press Journals

The eyes have it: What do we see when we look at ads?

How do consumers look at advertisements? Most marketing textbooks advance the theory that looking at ads is a predominantly “dumb process,” driven by visual stimuli such as the size of the ad or the color of the text. However, new research by researchers from the Netherlands and the University of Michigan uses eye-tracking software to reveal that it may be our goals – the tasks we have in mind – that drive what we pay attention to, even during a few seconds of ad exposure.

In the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, Rik Pieters (Tilburg University, The Netherlands) and Michel Wedel (University of Michigan) perform an eye tracking experiment on 220 consumers. The consumers are split into four groups, each with a different goal, and given free rein to view a series of advertisements.

The study is self-paced – that is participants are allowed to look at the ads for as long or as short of a time as they would like. Overall, the participants looked at the 17 target ads in the study for an average of about 4 seconds only – but with notable differences in focus.

Those asked to memorize the ad focused on both the body text and the pictorial representation of the product. Those asked to learn about the brand, on the other hand, paid enhanced attention to the body text but simultaneously ignored the pictorial.

This supports the Yarbus thesis that ad informativeness is goal-contingent. Differences in pupil diameter between ad objects but not between processing goals reflect the pupil’s role in maintaining optimal vision.

“The fact that even during the few seconds of self-paced ad exposure, attention patterns already differ markedly between consumers with different goals underlines the importance of controlling and knowing consumers’ processing goals in theory building and during advertising pre- and post-testing,” the researchers write.

In other words, the eyes are a reflection of consumer goals.

Injury Attorney Domain Branding

Rik Pieters and Michel Wedel. “Goal Control of Attention to Advertising: The Yarbus Implication,” Journal of Consumer Research: August 2007.

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