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
Hype Buzz
Advertising Word-of-mouth
Overt Covert
Corporate Grass-roots
Fake Authentic
Skepticism Credibility
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)
Positive Effects Negative Effects
Showing convenience of use Extensive information on components, ingredients, nutrition
Showing new product/improved features Outdoor setting (message gets lost)
Casting background (i.e., people are incidental to message) Large number of onscreen characters
Indirect comparison to other products Graphic displays
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