Consumers Rule

1
Attitude Change and Interactive Communications Ch
apter 8
2
Changing Attitudes

• Persuasion effectiveness of marketing
  communications to change attitudes
• Reciprocity
• Scarcity
• Authority
• Consistency
• Liking
• Consensus

3
Tactical Communications Options

• Who will be source of message?
• How should message be constructed?
• What media will transmit message?
• What target market characteristics will influence
  ads acceptance?

4
Communication Model
Figure 8.1
5
Interactive Communications

• The traditional communications model doesnt tell
  the whole story
• Consumers have many more choices available and
  greater control to process messages
• Permission marketing
• Frankfurt School theorists

6
Uses and Gratifications Theory

• Consumers are active, goal-directed, and draw on
  mass media to satisfy needs
• Media compete with other sources of entertainment
  and information
• Advertising entertainment, escaping, play,
  self-affirmation
• Media play both positive and negative role

7
Updated Communications Model

• Consumers are now proactive in communications
  process
• VCRs, DVRs, video-on-demand, pay-per-view TV,
  Caller ID, Internet

Figure 8.2
8
New Message Formats

• M-commerce
• Worldwide revenue will reach 39 billion in 2007!
• Blogging
• Moblogging
• Video blogging (vlogging)
• Podcasting
• RSS (Really Simple Sydication)
• Flogs (fake blogs)
• Discussion Are flogs ethical?

9
Interactive Response Levels

• Response can be more than just a
  purchase/transaction
• First-order response transaction (sales data)
• Second-order response nontransaction customer
  feedback

10
The Source

• Source effects the same words by different
  people can have very different meanings
• Source credibility
• Source attractiveness
• Match between consumers needs and offered rewards
  of source
• Match between source and type of product
• Experts for utilitarian products
• Celebrities for social risk/impression products
• Typical consumers for everyday/low-risk products

11
Source Credibility

• A sources perceived expertise, objectivity, or
  trustworthiness
• Consumers beliefs that communicator is competent
  and provides competitor information
• Credible source is persuasive when consumer has
  no formed opinion about product
• Endorsement contract large profits

12
Sleeper Effect

• Over time, disliked sources can still get a
  message across effectively
• We forget about negative source while changing
  our attitudes
• Explanations
• Dissociative cue hypothesis
• Availability-valence hypothesis
• Discussion Theres a saying in public relations
  that any publicity is good publicity. Do you
  agree?

13
Building Credibility

• Relevant qualifications of source to the product
  can enhance credibility of message

14
Source Biases

• Consumer beliefs about product can be weakened by
  a source perceived to be biased
• Knowledge bias
• Reporting bias (hired gun)

15
Hype vs. Buzz

• Corporate paradox

Table 8.1
16
Hype vs. Buzz (Contd)

• Stealth buzz building

17
Source Attractiveness

• Perceived social value of source
• Physical appearance
• Personality
• Social status
• Similarity

18
What Is Beautiful Is Good

• Halo effect
• Good-looking people are thought to be smarter,
  cooler, and happier
• Consistency principle
• Physically attractive source leads to attitude
  change
• Directs attention to marketing stimuli (ads with
  attractive models)
• Beauty source of information (especially for
  attractiveness- relevant products)

19
Star Power

• Celebrities as communications sources
• Tiger Woods 62 million/year in endorsements!
• Famous faces capture attention and are processed
  more efficiently by the brain
• Enhance company images and brand attitudes
• Celebrities embody cultural and product meanings
• Q-Score for celebrity endorsers
• Match-up hypothesis

20
Discussion

• Many, many companies rely on celebrity endorsers
  as communications sources to persuade.
  Especially when targeting younger people, these
  spokespeople often are cool musicians,
  athletes, or movie stars
• In your opinion, who would be the most effective
  celebrity endorser today, and why?
• Who would be the least effective, and why?

21
Nonhuman Endorsers

• Often, celebrities motives are suspect as
  endorsers of mismatched products
• Thus, marketers seek alternative endorsers
• Cartoon characters
• Mascots/animals
• Avatars

22
The Message

• Positive and negative effects of elements in TV
  commercials
• Most important feature stressing unique product
  attribute/benefit

Table 8.2 (Abridged)
23
The Message (Contd)

• Selected message issues facing a marketer (full
  list on p. 280)
• Message Is it conveyed in words or pictures?
• How often should message be repeated?
• Should it draw an explicit conclusion?
• Should it show both sides of argument?
• Should it explicitly compare product to
  competitors?

24
Sending the Message

• Visual vs. verbal communication of message
• Visual images big emotional impact
• Verbal message high-involvement situations
• Factual information
• More effective when reinforced by a framed
  picture
• Require more frequent exposures (due to decay)

25
Dual Component of Brand Attitudes
Figure 8.3
26
Vividness

• Powerful description/graphics command attention
  and are strongly embedded in memory
• Active mental imagery (vs. abstract stimuli)
• Concrete discussion of product attribute

27
Two-Factor Theory

• Repetition can be a double-edged sword
• Mere exposure phenomenon vs. habituation

Figure 8.4
28
One- vs. Two-sided Arguments

• One-sided supportive arguments
• Two-sided both positive and negative information
• Refutational arguments increase source
  credibility by reducing reporting bias
• Positive attributes should refute presented
  negative attributes
• Effective with well-educated and not-yet-loyal
  audiences

29
Drawing Conclusions

• Should argument draw an explicit conclusion for
  consumer?
• Yesif argument is hard to follow or consumers
  motivation is lacking
• Noif message is personally relevant

30
Comparative Advertising

• Message compares two recognizable brands on
  specific attributes
• New OcuClear relieves three times longer than
  Visine
• Butconfrontational approach can result in source
  derogation
• Effective for a new product that
• Does not merely say it is better than leading
  brand
• Does not compare itself to an obviously superior
  competitor
• Discuss some conditions in which it would be
  advisable to use a comparative advertising
  strategy

31
Emotional vs. Rational Appeals

• Appeal to the head or to the heart?
• Many companies use an emotional strategy when
  consumers do not find differences among brands
• Especially brands in well-established, mature
  categories (e.g., cars and greeting cards)
• Recall of ad contents tends to be better for
  thinking ads
• Although conventional ad effectiveness measures
  may not be entirely valid to assess emotional ads

32
Sex Appeals

• The prevalence of sexual appeals varies from
  country to country
• Nudity/undressed models in print ads generates
  negative feelings/tension among same-sex
  consumers
• Erotic ad content draws attention, but strong
  sexual ad imagery may make consumers less likely
  to
• Buy a product (unless product is related to sex)
• Process and recall ads content

33
Discussion

• Think of ads that rely on sex appeal to sell
  products
• How often are benefits of the actual product
  communicated to the reader?

34
Humorous Appeals

• Specific cultures have different senses of humor
• Overall, humorous ads do get attention
• Funny ad as source of distraction
• Inhibits counterarguing, thus increasing message
  acceptance

35
Humorous Appeals (Contd)

• Humor is more effective when it
• Doesnt swamp message of clearly defined brand
• Doesnt make fun of potential consumer
• Is appropriate to products image

36
Fear Appeals

• Emphasize negative consequences that can occur
  unless consumer changes behavior/ attitude
• Fear is common in advertising (especially in
  social marketing)
• Most effective
• Moderate threat
• Presented solution to problem
• Highly credible source
• Not all threats are equally effective at inducing
  a fear response
• The strongest threats are not always the most
  persuasive

37
Message as Art Form

• Marketers as storytellers (allegory)
• Using literary devices to communicate product
  benefits/meanings
• Metaphor (A is B)
• Similie (A is like B)
• Resonance play on words with picture
• Pepsi ad This year, hit the beach topless with
  a Pepsi bottle cap lying on the sand (see Table
  8.3 for full list of examples)

38
Discussion

• Think of examples of ads that rely on the use of
  metaphors or resonance
• Do you feel these ads are effective?
• If you were marketing the products, would you
  feel more comfortable with ads that use a more
  straightforward, hard-sell approach? Why or
  why not?

39
Forms of Story Presentation

• Commercials as a lecture vs. a drama
• Lecture is an attempt at persuasion
• Drama is similar to play or movie
• Draws viewer into action or emotional response
  (transformational advertising)

40
Source vs. Message

• What is said, how its said, and who says it
• Which aspect has most impact on consumer
  attitudes?
• The answer seems to be related to variations in a
  consumers level of involvement

41
ELM

• Receiver will follow one of two routes to
  persuasion

Figure 8.5
42
ELM Steak or Sizzle?

• ELM research indicates that relative
  effectiveness of a strong message and favorable
  source depends on consumers level of involvement
  with advertised product
• Highly involved consumers look for steak
• Strong message arguments
• Those less involved look for sizzle
• Packaging colors/images, celebrity endorsers