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Advertising Strategy, 5th edition, ebook

Table of Contents
“Advertising Strategy 5e” 1

Bibliography 319

i
ii
RTISING
ATEGY

st’s Guidebook

D. RUCKER
EDITION

1
ADVERTISING STRATEGY
A Strategist’s Guidebook

5TH EDITION

Derek D. Rucker

Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

2
Copyright © 2018 by Derek D. Rucker.
All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-59399-524-9 (print)

ISBN 978-1-97507-695-5 (ebook)

No part of this book may be reprinted in any manner without written permission
from the publisher.

Acknowledgments:
p. 159: Chart from Advertising Age Marketing Fact Pact, 2017. Copyright ©
2017 by Crain Communications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher
via The Copyright Clearance Center.
p. 276: Chart from Advertising Age Marketing Fact Pact, 2016. Copyright ©
2016 by Crain Communications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher
via The Copyright Clearance Center.
p. 284: Chart from Advertising Age Marketing Fact Pact, 2016. Copyright ©
2016 by Crain Communications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher
via The Copyright Clearance Center.

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3
 Contents

About the Author i

Acknowledgements ii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The Creative Brief 7
Chapter 2: Setting Objectives 23
Chapter 3: Segmentation and Targeting 39
Chapter 4: Consumer Insights 61
Chapter 5: Paths to Persuasion 81
Chapter 6: Insights about Information Diffusion 97
Chapter 7: Brand Positioning 115
Chapter 8: Sustaining a Brand’s Position 141
Chapter 9: Media Landscape and Channel Selection 157
Chapter 10: Media Scheduling 173
Chapter 11: Creative Strategy 201
Chapter 12: Evaluation of Creative 227
Chapter 13: Measuring and Testing Effectiveness 247
Conclusion 271
Appendix A: Brand and Agency Structure and Interaction 275
Appendix B: The History of Advertising 289
Index 307

4
5
 About the Author

Derek D. Rucker is the Sandy & Morton Goldman Professor of

Entrepreneurial Studies in Marketing at the Kellogg School of
Management, Northwestern University, where he teaches adver-
tising strategy. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from The
Ohio State University. His Research broadly focuses on consumer
insight and advertising, with an emphasis on the role of confi-
dence, power, and social hierarchy in persuasion and consumer
behavior. His work appears in scholarly outlets such as the Journal
of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of
Marketing Research, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

6
 Acknowledgements

I thank over a decade of MBA students, whose unique insights,

aspirations, and commitment continue to inform, inspire, and
enhance the view of advertising strategy presented in this book. I
give my eternal thanks to Brian Sternthal; he has helped mentor
and shape me into the academic I have become. I also thank
Sabin Gurung for his diligence in formatting and editing this
volume. Finally, I give my thanks to my family, Stacy, Charlotte,
and Connor, whose unconditional love and support have made
my life complete.

ii

7
       1

Introduction
I am an advertising strategist. A core passion and lifetime goal
of mine is to understand how to properly plan, execute, and evalu-
ate advertising. I wrote this book to share my perspective and
approach with others. If you continue to read on, you are expected
to don the mantle of an advertising strategist as well. First, let me
manage your expectations. The road of an advertising strategist is
an arduous one. An advertising strategist deals with a complicated
organism—the human being—and has to figure out how to best
educate or persuade this organism of the value of a product and/
or service amongst thousands of other messages.

To make matters worse, inherent to advertising is ambiguity. As

a consequence, it is a challenge to develop impactful advertising.
In many ways, the landscape of advertising can be likened to an
incomplete map. Advertisers have a general sense of where they
are and where they want to go, but a massive amount of ambiguity
resides in how to best get there (or even how to get there at all).
Even in the digital era where data abounds, it is a challenge for
advertisers to successfully message and reach their target. I am a
realist; I accept the inherent ambiguity in advertising. However,
I believe that with a proper plan it is possible to cut through the
ambiguity to arrive safely at one’s destination.

8
2           .   

So, how does one navigate to effective advertising? Although

people might help you chart different routes to success, my empha-
sis is on strategy. As an advertising strategist, I seek to sufficiently
reduce ambiguity so that I can successfully navigate and reach
the objectives I lay out. As I will refer to strategy throughout the
book, let me be clear on what I mean by the use of this term. The
idea behind strategy is that the ambiguity and chaos of advertis-
ing can be attenuated, and sometimes eliminated, through the
systematic application of frameworks and tools. These frame-
works will benefit immensely from data, but they also illustrate
that data in and of itself is not sufficient. Frameworks are critical
to provide the key questions to ask of the data. As an advertising
strategist, frameworks and tools allow me to plan, execute, and
evaluate advertising.

An advertising strategist, or a strategist for parsimony, is not

tantamount to an advertiser. Anybody with money can be an
advertiser; the act of advertising does not require that one does
so through the lens of strategy. In contrast, a strategist with suf-
ficient skill is similar to an expert tour guide. The strategist can
traverse treacherous roads to reach the desired destination. The
strategist knows what the important points of communication are
and how to deliver them to an audience. A strategist is also not
equivalent to a “creative,” or a person that develops the advertising
content. As a strategist, I am not responsible for the development
of creative output; I leave this function to copy writers and art
directors. As I acknowledge throughout this book, my goal as a
strategist is to develop sound strategy to both guide and assess
the outputs of my creative partners.

The Approach

The approach I take in this book is influenced by three core

9
       3

points of emphasis. Specifically, my perspective is influenced by

academic research, adopts a situational perspective, and embraces
empiricism. I elaborate on each of these points in turn.

First, academic research provides a window to understand and

develop principles and strategic tools. My development of strategic
tools arises from a rich literature in the basic disciplines of cogni-
tive psychology, social psychology, and sociology. Moreover, this
approach is augmented by the interdisciplinary field of marketing.
These literatures provide theories that guide how advertising can
be used effectively. For example, advertising strategy is informed
by fundamental ideas in human memory operation, consumer
information processing, and sociological inquiry on information
diffusion. Although I have contributed to the literature with my
own work, I draw upon the academic research of many others to
provide a clear structure to plan, execute, and evaluate advertis-
ing. Moreover, I accompany theoretical ideas with both empirical
evidence gathered in controlled settings by academic researchers
as well as everyday contexts by brand managers, agency planners,
and account executives.

L Successful advertising requires one to understand

the conditions present in a specified situation.

Second, I adopt a situational perspective on advertising strategy.

Successful advertising requires one to understand the conditions
present in a specified situation. In my experience, I have found
people all too often develop main effect beliefs. That is, they believe
that one strategy is unilaterally better than another. Examples of
main effect ideas include the following assertions: humor is more
persuasive than threat, emotional appeals are more effective than
functional appeals, three exposures is sufficient for persuasion,

10
4           .   

and digital is better than traditional. In contrast, I recognize that

the effectiveness of advertising depends on the factors present in
a specific situation. To me, it is short-sided to ask whether one
tactic or channel is more effective than another. I ask when a par-
ticular tactic or channel is more or less appropriate. For example,
rather than suggest emotional appeals are always more effective
than functional appeals, I seek to understand when emotional
appeals are more versus less effective than functional appeals.
This approach necessitates a focus on how consumer, competitive,
and contextual conditions affect advertising effectiveness. Rather
than present indelible rules for the development of advertising, I
emphasize what causes a strategy to work and thus what informa-
tion is required to understand whether advertising will work in a
specified circumstance.

Finally, I recognize that advertising is, in part, an empirical busi-

ness. Although it is possible to specify important preconditions
for the success of advertising, one still requires knowledge of what
the current conditions are. In addition, otherwise sound strategies
can yield poor performance because of unanticipated factors, such
as consumer reactions, competitor strategies, and environmental
events. A hallmark of the successful management of the advertising
function is not the development of error-free strategy, but rather
the speed and thoughtfulness with which strategists respond and
adapt to the outcomes observed in the marketplace. However, to
properly observe and respond to the environment one requires
data. As such, I place a premium on data as a basis for strategy.

Overview of Chapters

To provide a strategic perspective on advertising, the book is

organized around the development of an effective creative brief.
As will be discussed, the creative brief is a critical document that

11
       5

serves as a roadmap to plan, execute, and evaluate an advertising

campaign.

Chapter 1 introduces and discusses the creative brief as a

framework to organize advertising strategy. Chapter 2 discusses
the importance of setting objectives as well as the problems that
advertising can solve. Chapter 3 emphasizes the role of proper
segmentation and targeting. Chapter 4-6 discuss the importance of
distinct forms of insight. Chapters 7 and 8 detail how advertising
can be used to build and sustain one’s brand. Chapters 9 and 10
focus on the media channels that can be used in advertising and
how such channels can be utilized in a strategic fashion. Chapter
11 delves into discussion of common advertising tactics. Finally,
Chapters 12 and 13 discuss how advertising creative and execu-
tions can be evaluated both conceptually and empirically.

In addition to the book’s primary content, two appendices are

included for readers interested in interactions between brand and
agency (Appendix A) as well as a historical perspective of adver-
tising (Appendix B).

L A hallmark of the successful management of the

advertising function is not the development of
error-free strategy, but rather the speed and throught-
fulness with which strategists respond and adapt to
the outcomes observed in the marketplace.

12
6           .   

13
      :           7

Chapter 1
The Creative Brief
In this chapter
• The Components of a Creative Brief
• Organization of the Creative Brief
• Effective Creative Brief Writing

What does it mean to advertise? The American Marketing

Association refers to advertising as any paid form of mass com-
munication by an identified sponsor. As such, advertising consists
of traditional communication channels such as television, radio,
newspapers, magazines, and billboards. Advertising also consists
of digital media channels that include paid search, displays on
websites, and social media sites. Even platforms that might not
involve the purchase of media, such as the brand’s website, public
relation efforts, and storefronts, are important elements in brand
communications.

An advertising strategist views the varied forms of advertis-

ing and communications through a common lens. Specifically,
regardless of the channel, the bedrock of any advertisement is
the formation of a strategy. It is the responsibility of a strategist
to develop a plan to guide the creation of effective advertising.
With this purpose in mind, perhaps the single most important
document for the strategist is the creative brief. Indeed, in my own
consultations with brands, I have invested considerable time and

14
8           .   

effort to help them chisel out a suitable creative brief.

Given the importance of the creative brief, it is also the natural

place to start this book. In this chapter, my core objective is to
help the reader become comfortable with the creative brief. To
accomplish this goal, I provide an overview of the creative brief,
discuss fundamental elements of a strong creative brief, and offer
guidance on effective brief writing.

What is the Creative Brief?

The creative brief is a critical document in the development of

proper advertising strategy. As its namesake implies, this docu-
ment is used to brief creative on a brand’s advertising strategy. A
sound creative brief provides a roadmap to help guide the creative
development. In addition, the creative brief provides a means by
which to evaluate creative output. For both of these reasons, the
creative brief is one of the most important tools in a strategist’s
arsenal. At the end of the day, the soundness of the creative brief
can be the difference between effective and ineffective advertising.

L At the end of the day, the soundness of the creative

brief can be the difference between effective and
ineffective advertising.

Typically, the brief is generated by the client and/or agency and

then passed along to a creative team within the agency. Creatives
are not charged with the development of the strategy; rather,
their objective is to implement the strategy in a manner that is
effective (see Appendix A for discussion of agency structure). The
strategist must provide a clear plan for the creative team and assess

15
      :           9

whether the creative content produced is a proper execution of

the creative brief.

In some cases, a creative brief exists in the form of one brief

from the client to the agency (client-agency brief ) and a second
brief from the agency to creative (agency-creative brief ). These
two variants arise in an effort to accomplish distinct goals. Spe-
cifically, the client-agency brief conveys the core strategy sought
by the client. In contrast, the agency-creative brief is written to
excite and inspire the creative to do work that is impactful. My
own preference is to have a single brief that accomplishes both
objectives to avoid any miscommunication between the briefs. If
an agency-creative brief is created, it is important to verify the
creative content that follows is aligned with the original client-
agency brief.

The creative brief serves as a document to both plan and evalu-

ate creative content. The creative brief facilitates a proper plan
because it requires a strategist to answer a series of questions to
inform the development of an advertising execution. The docu-
ment is an evaluative tool because the creative content generated
can be assessed against the creative brief to determine whether
the strategy represented was properly executed. Indeed, after the
submission of a creative brief, brands will often go through a series
of iterative steps with the creative. The creative team might first
present a storyboard of the idea or an animatic of what form the
execution will take. Eventually, the execution will be produced.
The creative brief can be used to assess whether what is produced
by the creative ultimately fits the creative brief that was supplied.

Components of a Creative Brief

Creative briefs can take a variety of forms, and different brands

16
10           .   

have preferences as to what must be included in the brief and the

level of detail that must be provided. A variant of the template
I use is provided in Figure 1.1. In particular, my creative brief
focuses on six key elements: objective, target, insight, position,
execution, and evaluation. Figure 1.1. highlights key questions
asked within each element of the creative brief. Moreover, each
of these elements is covered, in one form or another, in this book
(see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1: The Creative Brief

Objective

The first element in my creative brief is the specification of the

objective of the advertising campaign. The objective both guides
the development of the advertising strategy and is used to assess its
effectiveness. A well-written objective has several notable qualities.

First, a clear objective is focused on what the strategist expects

the advertising to accomplish. For example, it is common to have
efforts that coincide with advertising (e.g., an independent price

17
      :           11

promotion), but a well-written objective is attentive to what the

advertising is expected to accomplish by itself.

Figure 1.2: Relation of Book Chapters to Creative Brief

Second, a strong objective is focused on at least one or more

particular goals such as an increase in brand awareness, favor-
able brand attitudes, action, or repeat purchase (see Chapter 2).
The choice of these specific objectives can be determined based
on break even analyses, market tests, or benchmarks from prior
campaigns.

Third, an objective should be written in a manner that can be

proven or falsified in a clear and reasonable fashion. For instance,
one might state that the objective is to “increase sales” or “enhance
awareness.” However, such a vague objective provides many degrees
of freedom in the assessment of success. Does an increase in one
additional sale per year constitute success? Is a raise in awareness
of 1% versus 5% equally satisfactory? A more concrete objective
would be “increase sales by 5%” or “raise awareness by 20%.”

18
12           .   

L An objective should be written in a manner that can be

proven or falsified in a clear and reasonable fashion.

As a strategist, I require an objective that allows me to recog-

nize whether a given expenditure was successful or unsuccessful.
In fact, without a clearly stated objective, one can often find an
angle that makes any advertising execution seem successful. For
example, maybe the advertising did not increase sales, but it seemed
to make the brand top-of-mind in social media circles. Although
the goal is to always succeed in my objectives, I place a premium
on an accurate assessment. When I fail to meet an objective, I
want to know that I have failed, and I want to figure out why to
better plan my next effort.

Target

The second part of my creative brief template requires the

specification of the target. An advertising objective is typically in
relation to a specific target group. Even when a brand has multiple
user groups, a given advertising campaign is rarely developed for
all possible users of the product or service. As will be discussed
in this book, differences in consumer insight and media channel
both contribute to the inability of a single campaign to target and
reach everyone.

The strategist must identify the groups or segments that are

distinct from each other. Such an identification can come from
focus groups, surveys, as well as experiments. When different
groups have been identified, the strategist must decide what group
a particular adverting campaign will target. To select a target, the
strategist must consider issues with regard to the size of the target,
the ability to reach the target, and the capacity to message to the

19
      :           13

target effectively. Chapter 3 of this book discusses issues related

to segmentation and targeting.

Of note, it is possible to effectively target more than one demo-

graphic group with a single advertising campaign. One means to
successfully reach multiple groups is through the identification of
demographic groups that have similar psychographics. That is, they
have shared interests and activities that make them amenable to
similar advertising content. In contrast, the more diverse the psy-
chographics of different groups are, the more difficult it becomes
to appeal to multiple groups with the same advertising campaign.

Insight

Insight refers generally to knowledge about how the consumer

thinks, feels, and behaves. Insight is the strategist’s ink to draw
the brand position and for the creative to represent the ideas in
the execution. In my own experience, across many audiences, con-
sumer insight appears to be among the most challenging ideas for
people to understand. Part of the difficulty is that insight comes
in a variety of forms and can be leveraged in diverse capacities. In
this book, I introduce the reader to three distinct forms of insight.

A first type of insight falls under the purview of “consumer

insight” and is central to the development of a brief. This insight
entails a meaningful human truth (Chapter 4). For most ad
campaigns, these insights are the nucleus for the position to be
developed and championed in the advertising. As such, insights
of this form are often the most utilized by strategists to inform
creative. One means to represent these insights to creative is to
describe the motivations that influence how a target group thinks,
feels, or behaves.

20
14           .   

L Insight refers generally to knowledge about how the

consumer thinks, feels, and behaves. Insight is the
strategist’s ink to draw the brand position and for the
creative to represent the ideas in the execution.

A second form of insight reflects how consumers use advertising

information to make decisions. This assessment provides informa-
tion about when different approaches to persuasion are likely to
be effective as well as to why persuasion efforts fail. Specifically,
as discussed in Chapter 5, persuasion can occur through several
separable routes, and each route has different implications for the
development of effective persuasive communications. Insights of
this nature can also be represented in the brief alongside the nature
of consumers’ associations.

A final form of insight explored in this volume concerns how

consumers share brand information. Such an insight has become
more important as brands seek to engage in greater social media
efforts where a premium is sometimes placed on the creation of
buzz and the viral nature of a communication. Chapter 6 discusses
insights around how consumers share information and therefore
serves as a basis to develop tactics to enhance discussion amongst
consumers.

Position

The position—also sometimes referred to as “positioning” —

describes the goal the brand satisfies and why it should be used
relative to the competition. A strong position is often integral to
efforts to foster a favorable evaluation of a product or service. In
addition, the position of a brand or service serves an important
step to engage the consumer in trial and purchase.

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      :           15

One means to represent the position of the brand in the creative

brief is to provide a positioning statement. The positioning state-
ment, at a minimum, specifies the category the brand elects to
compete in (i.e., the Frame of Reference), how the brand achieves
the category goal better than alternative brands (i.e., the Point of
Difference), and why the consumer should believe this information
(i.e., the Reason to Believe). Additional elements can be added to
a position such as the target and the brand personality. A proper
positioning statement offers the creative a concise summary of how
the brand desires the consumers to view the brand in response to
advertising. Chapter 7 in the book discusses the development of
the positioning statement.

Of note, in my creative briefs, I emphasize the brand positioning

that a brand seeks to achieve in a specific creative output directed
at a specific target as opposed to the overall equity of the brand.
I view the relation of an advertisement to the overall equity of a
brand to be a separate matter. Chapter 8 in this book discusses
issues around brand equity as well as how to sustain, and when
to change, a brand’s established position.

Execution

The execution portion of my creative brief encompasses two

elements: media and creative strategy.

Media strategy involves decisions about when and where to

advertise so as to maximize the target’s exposure and attention to
the advertising message. The discussion of media selection elabo-
rates on approaches to orchestrate both traditional and digital
media to ensure exposure to the advertising and to promote suf-
ficient rehearsal of the message. Chapters 9 and 10 of this text
elaborates on media strategy considerations. It is fine if the specific
media channel is not known at the time of the initial draft of the

22
16           .   

creative brief. As I shall discuss shortly, the creative brief is a road-

map that might evolve over several iterations before it is complete.

Creative strategy focuses on executional mandatories that the

creative must deliver as well as an opportunity to provide clarity
on implications of insight for delivery. For example, one might
require that a brand’s logo be represented prominently at the end
of an execution. Or, one might know that the insight suggests the
consumer prefers an upbeat tone. My objective here is to offer
only general guidelines on the creative strategy. As a strategist, I
do not seek to develop creative content—this is what a creative
partner is for—but to help the creative approach the problem in
the correct fashion. For example, a brand might communicate to
a new agency the importance of a particular color or a tone that
is central to its heritage. Of course, in some cases, the strategist
has no creative partner and is tasked with the development of the
creative strategy as well. As such, Chapter 11 delves into initial
considerations around the implementation of creative strategy.

Evaluation

Finally, my brief includes an evaluation component. The evalu-

ation component captures both whether the strategist ultimately
approves the creative content and what metrics should be used to
empirically assess effectiveness.

First, the evaluation element is a reminder that I must approve

content that is generated from the creative brief. In my experi-
ence, this approach is less common in the creative briefs used by
others. This occurrence is understandable; people prefer to view
the creative brief as “complete” before it is handed off to creative.
However, I view the process as more fluid, and the evaluation
serves as a reminder that, as a strategist, I must sign off on the
creative content I am presented with (e.g., storyboard, animatics,

23
      :           17

final production).

Second, with respect to metrics, the evaluation specifies how

the objective will be assessed. If one specifies that the goal is
to increase sales by 5%, the evaluation details how this will be
measured. For example, a brand may indicate that an experiment
between a control and treatment group will be used to assess the
stated objective. Or, if the objective is awareness via a series of
digital display executions, the brand may examine top-of-mind a
month after the launch of the campaign.

Chapter 12 and 13 discusses metrics and strategies to aid in

the evaluation of creative and the assessment of a campaign’s
effectiveness.

Organization of the Creative Brief

The organization and elements of my creative brief template

do not reflect the only way to write a creative brief. For example,
some brands and agencies prefer to separate out the media plan-
ning completely from the creative brief because they view these as
independent decisions. However, such brands do not ignore media
selection; rather, they simply choose to deal with it differently. My
preference is to integrate media channels into the brief so that I
can see all the general elements of my strategy in one place. Most
of the creative briefs I admire feature these components or, as the
prior example illustrates, they are addressed at some point in the
overall advertising process.

Although my creative brief follows a natural order (i.e., objec-

tive, target, insight, position, execution, evaluation), this flow does
not mean that this sequence must be followed for effective brief
writing. In fact, effective brief writing often involves substantial

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18           .   

revision, and it is fine to update elements of the brief as one pro-

ceeds. For example, in an effort to develop the position a brand may
have a breakthrough in how it can best represent itself relative to
competition. However, such a breakthrough might serve a novel
objective or a different target than originally specified.

L Effective brief writing often involves substantial revi-

sion, and it is fine to update elements of the brief as
one proceeds.

Figure 1.3 provides an example of a creative brief based off the

template provided. The example given is for purposes of illustration
and features a fictitious coffee shop—Charlotte and Connor’s Café
(3Cafe)—that has been written for an online advertising campaign.

Figure 1.3: A Creative Brief for Charlotte and Connor’s Cafe

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      :           19

Effective Creative Brief Writing

As already noted, a strong creative brief can take a number of

formats. How does one actually write in the content for each sec-
tion in the brief? Although a single “right” way to write a creative
brief does not exist, strong creative briefs are often based on several
common principles.

First, the creative brief has to be “brief,” it’s hard to have an

effective creative brief that is a multi-page document. Yes, it can
be a challenge to take a massive amount of information about a
target and distill it into a few actionable points for the creative
team. However, this challenge is exactly what the best strategists
do. The best briefs I have seen are no more than a page, and the
template I use is designed to fit on a single page. What’s wrong
with writing a long creative brief? Typically, long briefs signal a
lack of direction by the strategist. That is, they are long because the
strategist does not know where to focus his or her efforts. Long
briefs force the creative to make decisions that might not align
with the brand’s objectives. In fact, I have seen copy produced from
unfocused briefs that left consumers confused about the brand’s
purpose. For example, I once saw digital banner ads for a hotel
that featured a beautiful beach vista. The vista was attractive, but
it had a core problem— the hotel was located in an urban loca-
tion and could not deliver the vista featured in its advertisements!

Second, the creative brief requires due diligence. As one of my

colleagues has put it, “creative brief writing is not a race.” The
strategist has to put in both the time and effort to ensure that
each element of the creative brief is on solid ground. I have seen
two dreadful, and unfortunately reoccurring, errors on the matter
of diligence. First, I have seen individuals rush to put together the
creative brief right before a meeting with agency. This behavior
has produced create briefs devoid of any true strategy. As a result,

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20           .   

considerable time, effort, and money was required to redo the brief.
Second, I have seen creative briefs that become “backfilled” after
the creative content has been proposed. This can produce a danger-
ous scenario because the creative brief is written to confirm—an
often untested—strategy.

Third, the creative brief is a roadmap, not a contract. Earlier in

my career I thought of the creative brief as a contract with creative.
And, while it is true that a brief has some contractual elements,
I have come to view it as a roadmap for a simple reason. Namely,
as a strategist one should welcome conversations on the creative
brief with agency partners and creative. A contract implies a level
of rigidity that might be counterproductive. As a roadmap, I have
an agreement of where we need to go, but I am open to detours
or more effective routes to my destination. A roadmap invites
discussion and revision, and such adjustments might lead to a
stronger brief and thus a more successful campaign. Of course,
once the strategy is executed, we must reach our destination (i.e.,
meet our objective)

L The creative brief is a roadmap, not a contract.

Finally, while a great creative brief must be strategically sound,

it should be understandable to the creative team. Strong creative
briefs avoid acronyms, marketing lingo, and unnecessary informa-
tion. The best brief writers take the objective, insight, and position
and represent it in a manner that generates enthusiasm and excite-
ment from the creative team. Moreover, one does not have to
sacrifice strategy to accomplish these objectives. To illustrate, one
might have a concrete goal to increase sales by 5%. This objective
could be represented as “increase sales by 5%” or “transform the
brand’s place in the category with a sales increase of 5%.” Although

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      :           21

each of these are substantively the same to the strategist, which

one do you believe the creative would rather work on? The best
litmus test for a strong creative brief is arguably its ability to appeal
to both the strategist and the creative partner.

To be fair, it is a challenge to write an exceptional creative

brief, but those that do are often a step, or more, ahead of the
competition.

Chapter Summary

The creative brief is the core framework to plan and develop

executions. This chapter has offered an introduction to the cre-
ative brief, provided a template to structure a brief, elaborated on
key components of the creative brief, and discussed elements of
effective brief writing. The remainder of this book offers further
discussion around each element of the brief, in one form or another,
to help the reader ask the proper questions to competently com-
plete the creative brief.

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22           .   

29
       :           23

Chapter 2
Setting Objectives
In this chapter
• Setting Advertising Objectives
• The Purchase Funnel
• The Importance of Clear Objectives

Consider a billboard advertisement for The Economist, a business

magazine. The billboard is placed in business districts across the
United States. The advertisement features a light bulb on a red
background. Sensors cause the bulb to illuminate when people pass
directly under it. The brand name appears in the lower right corner
of the billboard. What objective is this advertisement meant to
accomplish? Why is it important to set objectives in the first place?

When I sit down with clients and ask them what their objec-
tive is, most of them respond that it is to increase sales and/or to
make money. And, this objective is reasonable; it is beneficial for
advertising to provide a return on an investment for a brand. At
issue, however, is that advertising can help increase sales through
several distinct means. Not all advertising is designed or meant
to accomplish the same objective. Moreover, people often fail to
realize that objectives affect various elements of one’s advertising
strategy and the nature of the advertising itself.

This chapter first describes objectives that advertising is suited

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24           .   

to accomplish. In addition, considerations required to properly

convey objectives in the creative brief are provided.

Objectives Advertising is Suited to Accomplish

Advertising expenditures are, perhaps increasingly, judged in

terms of their return on investment. Although few would dispute
the use of this criterion for success, a focus solely on sales can
produce suboptimal decisions. Why? Although advertising can
increase sales, it must often succeed in intermediate objectives to
do so. These intermediate objectives warrant consideration along
with sales because they provide diagnostic information about
why advertising might fail, how to adjust advertising efforts to
obtain success, and when advertising might not be the solution
to a problem in sales. A common approach that recognizes the
importance of intermediate objectives is the purchase funnel.

The Purchase Funnel

Brands and agencies often use a variant of a purchase funnel

to plan and assess the impact of advertising. This strategic device
captures stages of consumers’ journey. It is referred to as a “funnel”
because it recognizes that as consumers travel through the journey
to purchase, some portion of consumers exit at each stage. Thus,
the number of consumers that remain tends to be lower at each
stage of the funnel. The purchase funnel helps illuminate objec-
tives advertising is both suited to achieve as well as objectives that
require other marketing or brand efforts separate from advertising.

A purchase funnel focuses on the associations of a specific target

(i.e., the one specified in the creative brief for the advertising cam-
paign). A common purchase funnel, and the one I use most often,

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relies upon awareness, attitudes, action, and action repeated. For

simplification, I refer to this device as the 4A purchase funnel (see
Figure 2.1). The 4A purchase funnel provides one perspective on
the consumer journey that gives guidance for measurement and
offers evidence as to whether advertising is successful, why it is
successful, and what adjustments might be required to enhance
success further.

Figure 2.1: The 4A Purchase Funnel

Awareness

The first aspect of the 4A funnel is awareness of a product or

service. Awareness can be measured, for example, by the percent-
age of people who provide the correct response to questions such
as: “what category does this brand belong to?” or “what does this
brand do?” For The Economist, a correct response would be “a busi-
ness magazine.” Consumers’ ability to correctly identify what a
brand or product is can be thought of as brand awareness. Brand
awareness is an aided response because consumers are supplied
with the brand (i.e., aided with an initial reference) and are tasked

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26           .   

to identify the brand category. Awareness is at the top of the

purchase funnel because, in most situations, people must first be
aware of a product before they can form a positive evaluation of
it or take action to purchase it.

An alternative means to assess awareness is through a variant

measure called top-of-mind awareness. Top-of-mind awareness
is unaided and helps a strategist detect what brands are naturally
salient to the consumer in the category. A means to assess top-of-
mind awareness is to present the category in which a focal brand
holds membership and ask consumers to list the brands that come
to mind. Thus, rather than aid consumers with the brand name
and measure whether they know what the brand does, what is of
interest is whether the brand itself naturally comes to mind when
the category is given. For instance, if we wanted to gauge top-of-
mind awareness for The Economist, we might instruct a group of
consumers to name three business magazines that come to mind.
Top-of-mind awareness for The Economist is the percentage of
respondents that include The Economist among the magazines
they mention.

Although both brand awareness and top-of-mind awareness

assess consumers’ knowledge of the product, they provide dif-
ferent information to the strategist. Brand awareness provides
a signal of whether consumers fundamentally know what the
brand or product is. In contrast, top-of-mind awareness reflects
whether one’s brand spontaneously comes to mind. Top-of-mind
awareness provides information on how strongly one’s brand is
associated to the category. A benefit of top-of-mind awareness
as a measurement is that it is an indicator of the likelihood that
a brand is in the consideration set for purchase. The downside of
top-of-mind awareness as a measurement is revealed when top-
of-mind awareness is low. When top-of-mind awareness is low, it
is unclear whether such an outcome is a result of a lack of brand

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       :           27

awareness (i.e., people don’t even realize the brand or product is

in the category) or a lack of a strong association with the category
relative to competitors. For this reason, I often prefer to measure
either brand awareness or to measure brand awareness and top-
of-mind awareness in tandem.

L Brand awareness provides a signal of whether

consumers fundamentally know what the brand or
product is. In contrast, top-of-mind awareness reflects
whether one’s brand spontaneously comes to mind.

Advertising can promote both brand awareness and top-of-

mind awareness as it can inform consumers of what a product is
and does or make it salient via exposure. When advertising fails
to result in an increase in awareness this can arise from at least
two potential sources. First, a failure might have occurred in the
creative strategy. That is, the creative strategy may not have gar-
nered sufficient attention to make consumers aware of the brand
or the creative strategy might not have clearly communicated
what the product does. Second, the media strategy might have
failed to reach consumers in the correct venues or with a sufficient
frequency to produce an ingrained impression. Later chapters of
this book are devoted to the proper planning and execution of
both media and creative strategy.

Attitude

The second element of the 4A funnel reflects consumers’ attitude

toward the brand. The notion of attitudes is a foundational topic
within social and consumer psychology (see Rucker, Petty, and
Prister, 2007; Rucker and He forthcoming). The idea of an attitude
is that people hold in memory evaluations of whether they like or

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28           .   

dislike objects. The object can be a person, a brand, a category, a

particular product, a service, etc. Of importance, people often use
their attitudes as a guide to determine their behavior. Consumers
are more likely to purchase a product or service when they have
a favorable attitude toward it. As such, attitudes are often viewed
as an intermediate means towards increased sales.

Strategists can measure attitudes via people’s beliefs and feel-

ings toward a brand or product of interest. A common method to
assess attitudes is to ask consumers whether they dislike or like a
product. For example, a donut shop might have consumers taste
a new Northwestern University themed donut—a donut filled
with raspberry jam and covered with a strawberry glaze. To assess
consumers’ attitudes, the donut shop might ask consumers whether
their opinion of the new donut is positive, neutral, or negative.

In addition to the valence of an attitude (i.e., positive, neutral,

or negative), the extremity of consumers’ attitudes can be assessed.
In general, the more positive (or negative) an attitude is, the more
(less) likely consumers are to purchase a product. For example, in
the donut example, rather than simply ask whether their opinion
is positive, neutral, or negative, the company could ask consumers
to use a 9-point scale where 1 = extremely negative, 5 = neutral,
and 9 = extremely positive. The brand might be more impressed if
consumers, on average, indicate a more extreme positive attitude
(e.g., 9 on the 9-point scale) than an attitude that is positive, but
more moderate (7-on the 9-point scale).

How does one assess the effectiveness of advertising on con-

sumers’ attitudes? One approach is to measure the attitude change
that occurs with respect to people’s attitudes pre- and post- an
advertising campaign. For example, if consumers start with a
neutral attitude, the number of consumers who shift to a more
positive attitude—or become more extreme in an already favorable

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attitude— provides one measure of success.

Advertising designed to change consumers’ attitudes often relies

heavily on consumer insight and positioning. That is, the brand
must possess, and then communicate, a message that resonates
with consumers’ interests and desires. As such, when advertising
fails to produce favorable attitudes, especially when it reached the
target and fostered awareness, a strategist turns to assess whether
the insight and positioning are valid. It is also possible that the
insight and positioning are correct, but the creative execution does
not represent them in an effective fashion. That is, the creative brief
could be entirely correct, but the execution could be the wrong
output. Thus, failure to foster attitude change or persuasion often
suggests it is prudent to engage in a closer inspection of one’s
positioning and creative strategy.

L Advertising designed to change consumers’ atti-

tudes often relies heavily on consumer insight and
positioning. That is, the brand must possess, and
then communicate, a message that resonates with
consumers’ interests and desires.

Action

When consumers are aware of the product and have a favorable

attitude towards it, a next logical issue to explore is whether they
engage in action. Action can refer to any behavior taken by the
consumer, but a typical focus is on trial or purchase. The action
portion of the 4A tool is important because it is possible for adver-
tising to generate awareness and produce favorable attitudes, but
consumers might, nonetheless, fail to engage in action.

36
30           .   

If consumers are aware and hold a favorable evaluation towards

the brand and its product, why would they not engage in purchase
or trial of the product? Two prevalent reasons that consumers do
not act on their attitudes have little to do with advertising. Spe-
cifically, consumers might either be unable to find the product
(i.e., distribution) or they cannot afford the product (i.e., price).
Although these are problems in conversion, they are not inherently
problems with the advertising. That is, if actual distribution or price
barriers exist, this is not a series of problems that advertising can
easily solve. Rather, a brand might have to mount efforts to fix
distribution or lower prices.

Is advertising ever relevant to issues of price and distribution?

Yes. Advertising can be of relevance to such issues when they are
subsequently fixed or result from consumer misperception. For
example, if a product was in short supply, or consumers do not
know where to purchase a product, advertising can convey the
simple message that the product is now in stock or where it can
be obtained. Or, if product price is an issue, the brand can convey
promotional efforts with regard to sales or other price reductions.
However, with consumers’ ability to engage easily in search in the
digital area, misperceptions around distribution and price appear
to become increasingly less of a concern.

Action Repeated

It is common for many purchase funnels to end after action,

especially when action is conceptualized as purchase. At one level
this is sensible; brands view this outcome as a successful comple-
tion of the consumer journey. However, at another level it misses
a critical opportunity to learn. In particular, one can track con-
sumers beyond the initial purchase to repurchase with important
implications for strategy.

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       :           31

When repurchase is strong, such an outcome suggests that

the product has delivered on expectations and all is well. In con-
trast, a lack of repeat purchase can reflect miscommunication in
advertising or poor strategy. Specifically, if advertising represents a
product to offer a benefit that the product cannot deliver on, this
advertising campaign could produce favorable attitudes that result
in initial purchase. However, when consumers realize the product
does not deliver as promised, people might forgo repurchase (i.e.,
action is not repeated). Although some strategists might view this
approach as an effective means for short-term sales, it is the path
to perdition for long-term brand building. A far more sustainable
strategy is to find a position and/or target that a brand can cater
to that will allow it to achieve long-term revenue.

Another cause of lack of repeat is if consumers did not purchase

the product because of favorable attitudes. For instance, consum-
ers might have purchased a product due to a price promotion or
another incentive. In this situation, advertising never fostered
favorable attitudes or persuaded the consumer to purchase the
product. As a consequence, as soon as the promotion or incentive is
removed, individuals’ motivation to purchase the product withers.
This observation also further supports the importance of attitudes
as an important intermediate step in the consumer journey. Put
simply, the measurement of attitudes helps a strategist understand
whether consumers have become more favorable to a brand or
whether their response is a result of short-term promotions.

People sometimes infer that action repeated is only relevant

for products that are purchased with extreme frequency. Such
a conclusion is incorrect. The conception of action repeated is
informative with respect to whether the product is a brand of
cereal or a car. In both cases, if people purchase the cereal or car,
and then they do not repurchase, this fact is useful information for
the strategist. A key difference is that the timespan for observing

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32           .   

repeated action is longer in some categories than others. And,

as a consequence of this time difference, it is possible that other
parts of the funnel (i.e., awareness and attitudes) are more prone
to change.

A Holistic Perspective on Objectives

The premise that intermediate objectives can be important

in advertising effectiveness requires qualification. One might be
tempted to view an individual advertising execution or campaign
as successful only if it can achieve all of the objectives in the pur-
chase funnel. However, an advertising campaign can be executed
with a narrow or singular objective in mind and still be effective.

For instance, a well-established brand might often have little

need for brand awareness. However, product innovation might
provide an opportunity to reposition their brand or a particular
product the brand offers. In other situations, advertising might
serve the more proximal objective of driving consumers to retail,
where additional persuasive information is presented to consum-
mate a sale. For example, the objective in advertising cars and
other durable products might be to create traffic at retail loca-
tions where salespeople can then engage in the personal selling
needed to complete the purchase transaction. Here, advertising
is a fundamental part of the sales process, but it is not the sole or
even the most important factor to achieve the sales goal. Indeed,
in some cases, strategists might largely view the role of advertising
to be awareness, and leave the formation of favorable attitudes to
sales associates.

Yet, as online car purchasing continues to grow, the role of

advertising in generating sales might assume some of the functions
that have historically been performed through personal selling.

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       :           33

Thus, a strategist is tasked with the formation of a clear objective

and to understand how a particular campaign fits into one’s overall
marketing strategy.

Additional Layers of Analysis

The 4A tool is one variety of a purchase funnel. I prefer this

funnel because I view it as a reasonable balance between insightful-
ness and parsimony. However, it is important to note that brands
and agencies vary in the emphasis placed on what elements of
the consumer journey are important to them as well as the level
of specificity of the objective. It is certainly possible to extend the
structure of the funnel and to add additional metrics to expand
the analysis of a purchase funnel.

L Brands and agencies vary in the emphasis

placed on what elements of the consumer jour-
ney are important to them as well as the level
of specificity of the objective.

As one example, in my own academic research I have found

that people are more likely to act on a favorable attitude when
they hold that attitude with certainty or confidence (Rucker and
Petty, 2004; Tormala and Rucker, 2007). Thus, it is possible to add
an additional measurement of certainty between the objective of
attitudes and action. If one observes an attitude as favorable, but
the attitude is expressed with reluctance or doubt, advertising
can be used to increase consumers’ certainty. In a similar vein,
scholars have suggested that prior to the actual engagement in a
behavior, people form behavioral intentions. As such, it is possible
to measure individuals’ purchase intentions. Marketers are also

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34           .   

interested in whether people will advocate for the brand. These

additional layers do not invalidate the purchase funnel depicted
in figure 2.1; rather, they reveal that greater nuance can be added
as desired by the strategist.

It is also possible to specify the broad objectives listed here with

greater precision. For example, the term action could relate to a
number of different observable behaviors. In the context of a B2B
digital campaign, a specific action could be the successful click to
a company’s webpage, lead generation, or actual purchase. Thus,
within the 4A tool, more precise goals can be specified.

In summary, while additional layers and greater specification

within a layer can occur, the 4A purchase funnel is an excellent
starting point as it provides a reasonable amount of insight with
considerable parsimony in terms of what should be measured and
assessed.

On the Importance of Clear Objectives

An objective should be clear and written in a manner that allows

a strategist to assess whether it has been achieved. A common
mistake I see in the objective on the creative brief is that it is
amorphous. I have seen objectives such as “Increase sales,” and
“Obtain industry recognition.” At issue with these objectives is that
it is hard to define or validate success. For example, a brand that
sells one additional product or acquires one additional customer
can observe an increase in sales. Is that really a success? Such a
vague objective means an increase of 1% in sales is the same as an
increase in 20% or an increase in 100% (i.e., all meet the criterion
of increased sales). Similarly, what does it mean to obtain industry
recognition? Is this a matter of winning a creative award? If so,
which award? How does industry recognition affect the brand

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       :           35

(e.g., awareness, attitudes, action, action repeated)?

L An objective should be clear and written in

a manner that allows a strategist to assess
whether it has been achieved.

As an example of clear objectives, consider how one might

write the objectives for the launch of a new online video game
via a Facebook advertising campaign. A strategist might state the
objectives of the campaign are to achieve an awareness of at least
50% among those who receive the advertising and to convert 20%
of those who receive the advertising to purchase the game. These
objectives are clear and allow one to assess the performance of the
advertising. One might perform a pre- versus post-test measure-
ment to determine whether the brand achieves an awareness of
50%. In a similar vein, the brand can look at its sales to see if the
number of sales reflect a success rate of at least 20%.

Why do brands not provide clear objectives in the brief? One

reason I have encountered is that clear objectives invite scrutiny.
If a brand manager states that the objective is to increase sales by
10%, but only succeeds in an increase of 8%, this behavior would
be viewed as a failure by more senior management. However,
the brand manager might suggest that an increase of sales by
8% is a desirable outcome. To me, this is a matter of precision in
one’s objective. If 8% is an acceptable outcome, then put 8%— or
whatever is viewed as an acceptable lower bound— as the objec-
tive. Without precision, it can become a slippery slope where any
outcome can be viewed as a success.

Another reason that a creative brief can lack precision is due to

an effort to excite the creative to work on the project. The creative

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36           .   

team might be more excited when told a brand wants a campaign

to win awards at Cannes than when told a brand wants a 15% lift
in brand awareness. Indeed, this is one of the reasons, as mentioned
in Chapter 1, that some agencies invite or encourage client-agency
briefs and agency-creative briefs. However, these two goals do not
need to be mutually exclusive. One can communicate both the
aspirational and concrete goals in a parsimonious manner. For
instance, one might write, “The objective is to have creative break-
through that wins at Cannes and builds brand awareness by 15%.”

How does one obtain concrete and precise objectives in the

first place? For an established brand, the objective might be based
on prior experience or tests that provide advertising performance
parameters for a given ad expenditure. For example, some packaged
good brands have a sense of what type of volume an advertising
campaign needs to produce to do as well, or better, relative to the
average campaign. In addition, when sales are the focal objective,
it is possible to utilize tools such as the objective-task method
to approximate the expected sales when the budget is known.
The objective-task method is discussed in greater detail in media
scheduling (see Chapter 10).

Planning Objectives: An Illustration

As an illustration of planning objectives, consider The Economist

billboard described at the outset of this chapter. A plausible creative
brief for the economist is featured in Figure 2.2. The objective of
The Economist billboard might be to 1) increase young professional’s
favorability towards the publication as marked by a 20% shift in
those who report they are favorable towards the brand and 2)
increase sales of the publication by 5%. These objectives are clear
and concrete; both are quantifiable and falsifiable. Because the
brand likely has respectable brand awareness among this target, it

43
       :           37

is sensible that brand awareness might not be central. In addition,

the brand might have data that people tend to engage in repeat
action once they read the publication, so action repeated is not a
focal objective of the advertising.

Figure 2.2: Creative Brief for the Economist

Chapter Summary

At the end of the day, a clear objective is one of the most cru-
cial tools in the strategist’s arsenal to avoid ambiguity. Without a
clear objective, people can engage in revisionist history to validate
any campaign as successful on some dimension. And, in doing so,
brands can fall into the trap of continuing with a campaign that is
ultimately ineffective in accomplishing the goals that are required.
The 4A tool provides one means to consider whether advertising
is appropriate and the type of objectives that may be required in
the path to sales.

44
38           .   

Recommended Readings

Rucker, Derek D., and Richard E. Petty (2004), “When

Resistance is Futile: Consequences of Failed Counterarguing for
Attitude Certainty,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86
(February), 219-235.

Rucker, Derek D., Richard E. Petty, Joseph R. Priester (2007),

“Understanding Advertising Effectiveness from a Psychological
Perspective: The Importance of Attitudes and Attitude Strength.”
In Gerard J. Tellis and Tim Ambler (Editors), The Handbook of
Advertising (pp. 71-88). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Rucker, Derek D. and Sharlene He (forthcoming). “The Role

of Attitudes in Advertising,” In Blair T. Johnson and Dolores
Albarracín. Handbook of Attitudes, Vol 2: Applications.

Tormala, Zakary L., and Derek D. Rucker (2007), “Attitude

Certainty: A Review of Past Findings and Emerging Perspectives,”
Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1, 469-492.

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      :              39

Chapter 3
Segmentation
and Targeting
In this chapter
• Segmentation Analysis
• Usage-Based Segmentation
• Targeting Indices
• Targeting Multiple Targets

A critical decision in advertising is the selection and statement of

a target. Put simply, who will the advertising be directed towards?
This decision involves the identification of potential targets, a
discussion of the viability and advantage of different targets, and
whether to approach single or multiple targets. The choice of a
target has implications that ripple through the creative brief; this
decision guides the analysis of consumer insights, informs the
positioning, and impacts the creative and media strategy.

In this chapter, I discuss considerations related to effective

segmentation and targeting. The analysis begins with an exami-
nation of segmentation followed by a discussion of usage-based
segmentation. I then discuss targeting indices and the choice to
target single versus multiple targets. By the end of the chapter,
the reader should better understand points of discussion for the
identification and selection of a target in the creative brief.

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40           .   

Segmentation Analysis

Issues of target selection involve proper segmentation. Seg-

mentation refers to the categorization of consumers into distinct
and meaningful groups that differ from one another. It is from
effective segmentation that a strategist can select a target that will
receive the advertising.

To illustrate the process of segmentation, imagine you are a

brand manager tasked to advertise a new dog food. A survey,
indepth interviews, social listening, and in-home ethnographies
with dog owners provide insight about the motivations of dog
owners and the behaviors they enact related to the purchase of
dog food. The findings reveal three segments: Social Dog Lovers,
Functional Dog Owners, and Price Seekers (see figure 3.1). As the
figure illustrates, each segment can be understood on the basis of
characteristics that distinguish it from other segments.

Figure 3.1: Classification of Dog Owners

The division of consumers into segments allows a strategist

to consider the relative value of each segment as well as how the

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brand might effectively message to a given segment. For example,

based on the qualitative data in figure 3.1, Social Dog Lovers have
a relatively high household income and are more likely to reside
in the western United States. As such, a choice of this target has
implications for both price and geography. Moreover, the data
suggest that this target has preferences for canned flavors that may
affect the type of product and the message generated by the brand.

Segmentation analysis often involves both demographics and

psychographics. Demographics pertain to features of the target
such as age, gender, race, marital status, location, income, and
profession. Psychographics refer to interests, hobbies, activities,
and preferences of a group. One means to understand and con-
trast these two approaches to segmentation is that demographics
emphasize who the target is, whereas psychographics relate what
the target cares about.

L Demographics pertain to features of the target

such as age, gender, race, marital status, loca-
tion, income, and profession. Psychographics
refer to interests, hobbies, activities, and prefer-
ences of a group.

Demographics are widely used to describe customer segments, in

part, because such profiles can be linked to media, which are often
described in demographic terms. A brand that targets 25-44-year-
old women can identify television programs, magazines, websites,
and social media users to efficiently reach this demographic seg-
ment. At the same time, everyone in a given demographic may
not be interested in a brand’s product or service, which produces
a waste in one’s advertising spend. Psychographic segmentation
is designed to help address this concern because it focuses on

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42           .   

similarities among what consumers ultimately care about.

Psychographic analysis can be customized or it can be based

on data collected by commercial services. For instance, Strategic
Business Insights (SRI) developed a psychographic instrument,
VALS (Values and Lifestyle Program), to quantify individuals’
attitudes and opinions on topics such as travel, fashion and shop-
ping. SRI uses this questionnaire in conjunction with proprietary
and nonproprietary databases on current consumer demographics,
psychographics, and spending patterns to help their clients develop
segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies.

Geodemographic segmentation is another means to specify

psychographic segments. This strategy is based on the premise that
people who live in the same neighborhood are more likely to have
similar characteristics than people chosen at random. In addition,
mobile advertising can be used to target individuals based on their
current location. Most of these services require that the individual
consumer opt in. A popular geodemographic segmentation device
used in the United States is PRIZM (Potential Rating Index by
Zip Market). PRIZM combines socio-economic data (e.g., house-
hold income, home value, age) with lifestyle attributes (e.g., new
car purchases, vacation destinations, favorite brands) to classify
every United States zip code into one of 66 distinct categories.

The emergence of online means to identify targets has improved

the ability to target via psychographics. With the ability to track
consumers’ behaviors through digital media such as websites,
and on social media venues such as Facebook, brands are able
to infer consumers’ interests and to deliver online ads and offline
solicitations relevant to these behaviors. For example, Vespa brand
motorcycles might target consumers who indicate an interest in
motorcycles via frequent visits at the Harley-Davidson website.

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Usage-Based Segmentation

An alternative means to approach segmentation is based on

an identification of consumers’ usage of the category and brands
within the category. Specifically, four “usage-based” strategies can
be used to assess targets for advertising: brand users, competitor
users, category build, and point-of-entry.

Brand Users

In many instances, a brand’s first obligation is to sustain con-

sumption via current users, and particularly heavy users of the
brand. Indeed, for a number of established brands, 80% of the
consumption is done by 20% of the users. One survey even reported
that a heavy user of Campbell’s soup purchases more than 300
cans a year, which suggests a consumption rate of close to a can
a day!

One reason that brand users are desirable is that they have
often been convinced of the merits of a product and thus a brand’s
position. In some categories, consumers have even developed a
natural routine pattern of behavior where they purchase the brand
as long as they remember to do so. As a result, the objective of
advertising among current users is often focused more on sustain-
ing awareness and interest as opposed to an effort to persuade the
consumer (see chapter 2).

Remarkably, as important as current users of a brand are to a

franchise, firms frequently walk away from this group. Often this
occurrence happens because a brand fixates on a new consumer
trend or competitor’s action without a consideration of the impli-
cation for the brand’s current user. For instance, to take advantage
of consumers’ desire to consume healthier food products, Skippy,
which had long promoted kids’ consumption as the healthy peanut

50
44           .   

butter, switched its target to adult users. In response, Jif intro-

duced a low-sugar flanker, Simply Jif, and promoted it heavily
as the healthy alternative for kids. Within a year, Skippy’s share
dropped four points.

Competitor’s Users

Competitor’s users represent another potential target based on

usage. The advantage of this group is that they are already active
users of the category; they do need to be informed or persuaded
as to why the category is useful. The disadvantage, of course, is
that they have opted to use the brand of a competitor.

Several factors are required to determine whether it is prudent

to attempt to steal share from competitors. One factor is the
magnitude of the opportunity. Competitors who attract either
a large volume of users and/or heavy users of the category are
more desired than competitors who attract few or light users. A
second factor concerns whether one’s own brand is, or can be,
positioned in a manner to successfully attract a competitor's users.
For example, does a brand have a superior benefit in relation to its
competition that is important to consumers? Or, does the brand
have a larger media spend or superior creative strategy that makes
it more memorable? A third factor concerns a competitor’s abil-
ity and motivation to mount a defense against an attack. If the
competitor has the financial resources and motivation to combat
an attack on its users, the competitor may retaliate. A brand is in
best position to steal share when it can target many heavy users,
has a superior message, creative, or media budget, and little risk
exists in a competitive response.

A competitor is more inclined to mount a defense when the

target is central to the competitor’s portfolio. For example, Gil-
lette is more likely to defend an attack on its target in the blade

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and shaving cream categories (i.e., its central products) than in

the body wash category (i.e., its peripheral products). A key risk
in targeting a competitor’s consumers is that it might incite a
competitive battle that damages the positioning of each brand.
An escalation of advertising can ultimately damage both parties
involved. For example, when Tylenol and Advil, the two leading
analgesic brands, advertised each other’s adverse side effects, both
their positions became less clear. Excedrin took advantage of this
situation by clearly promoting a singular benefit—Excedrin pro-
vides superior relief for headaches.

L A key risk in targeting a competitor’s consumers

is that it might incite a competitive battle that
damages the positioning of each brand.

Point-of-entry

Point-of-entry refers to nonusers or non-purchasers of the cat-

egory, but nonusers or non-purchasers who will actively become
users and/or purchasers. For example, many young adults have no
need for diapers, baby bottles, or pacifiers. However, as soon as
these adults have children, they actively become in need of such
products.

To illustrate point-of-entry, consider Mike Thomas’ experience

when he arrives as a freshman at Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois. When he checks into his dorm, he receives a
coupon valued at $5 on any purchase of $20 or more at the CVS
pharmacy. Mike also sees an ad for Lakeshore Cleaners in the
Daily Northwestern. Later, Mike receives an email for a half-price
pizza at Giordano’s. All of these brands recognize that consumers
at the start of college are active in the potential switch in their

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46           .   

status from either non-category users or non-purchases to cat-

egory users and purchasers. In some cases, individuals were not
members of the category; for example, out-of-state students never
had used any restaurant in Evanston. In other cases, individuals
were members of the category, but they were not the purchaser. For
example, individuals’ toothpaste and peanut butter options might
have been made for them by their parents; however, they are now
the decision maker and thus are point-of-entry as the purchaser.
Point-of-entry is analogous to a first-mover strategy, but rather
than the product being new to the consumer, the consumer is new
to the category or new to the role of purchaser.

As alluded to, point-of-entry need not be narrowly construed as

consumers’ first entry into the category. Rather, point-of-entry also
reflects users of the category who were not previously decisional
about the category. Students who start college have used a variety
of products when living at home, but this does not require that they
have a preferred brand of shampoo, toothpaste, or detergent; they
used whatever was in the house. These individuals will be active in
the selection of a brand, and thus can be targeted as point-of-entry
consumers. Teens are point-of-entry targets for shaving products
when they begin to shave. However, adults in their 50s are also
point-of-entry because changes in their skin condition prompts
a reconsideration of their choices in this category. Thus, point-of-
entry can be broadly conceptualized as people being decisional
about what product to use in the category.

Point-of-entry recognizes that consumers are likely to be more

open-minded about the brand they use relative to current users of
the category. As such, point-of-entry becomes particularly attrac-
tive when two conditions exist: a) low brand penetration in the
category, and b) high category loyalty. Brand penetration refers to
the percent of category users that have used the brand during a
specific time period. This time period is often one year, though it

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varies with repeat purchase frequency. For example, Gain detergent

has about 10% annual penetration, which means that of every 10
consumers who purchased detergent in a year, one purchased Gain
at least once. This penetration is low compared to Tide’s 90% pen-
etration; for every 10 consumers, 9 purchased Tide at least once.

When penetration for the brand is low and loyalty in the cat-
egory is high, this is an indication that a brand must acquire
consumers before they become loyal to a competitor. For point-of-
entry to be a viable strategy, it is important to gain loyalty among
those attracted to the brand. That is, advertising can funnel nonus-
ers towards a brand, but additional strategies are typically needed
to ensure the loyalty of those who have tried the brand. Common
loyalty efforts involve promotions such as frequent buyer cards and
“buy two, get one free deals.” Airline frequent flyer programs and
credit card reward programs are loyalty devices. Another means
to garner loyalty is to remind customers of a brand’s benefits or
introduce new benefits. Of course, loyalty can also be achieved
by having a superior product or a product that provides a great
experience that consumers are reluctant to give up.

Category Build

Whereas point-of-entry refers to nonusers who will actively

enter the category, another nonuser segment is composed of indi-
viduals who do not plan to use the category in which a brand holds
membership. Targeting this segment is referred to as a category
build because the goal is to enlarge (i.e., build) the category.

A category build is directed toward consumers who are passive;

they have achieved the goal served by the category through the
use of an alternative category. They are passive in the sense that
they will not enter the category without being prompted to. For
example, in Argentina ABInBev has an 80% share of the beer

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48           .   

market, but only a 37% of throat (i.e., consumption of all bever-

ages). Thus, the firm might attempt a category build where the
goal is to increase the percentage of share in throat; a successful
strategy would mean that beer would occupy a larger consump-
tion of all beverages.

L A category build is directed toward consumers who

are passive; they have achieved the goal served
by the category through the use of an alternative
category.

Category build is an appropriate strategy when a) the category

is not saturated (i.e., an opportunity for growth exists) and b) the
firm has a means to direct the demand generated for the cat-
egory to its brand. A lack of saturation is typical when a category
is new, as was the case for tablet computers, Greek yogurt, and
smart watches. A lack of saturation can also occur in a mature
category that has lost its consumer base. For example, during the
last decade consumption of beer in the US has declined in the face
of competition from mixed drinks. In addition, categories with
seasonal skews in sales, such as hot cereal and BBQ sauce, may
be unsaturated in their non-peak seasons. To illustrate, a majority
of the BBQ sauce in the United States is sold for Memorial Day,
July 4th, and Labor Day holidays. Advertising at other times of
the year might stimulate category use.

At issue with the category build strategy is that firms must

advertise to inform consumers of the benefits of the category. A
risk of this strategy is that consumers might become aware of the
category but select a competitor. Such an outcome can be especially
likely when the competitors take the momentum of a category
build and use their own advertising to differentiate themselves. As

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such, it is important that a brand have a means to direct consum-

ers towards their brand once they have convinced consumers of
the merits of the category. One assumption is that brands attract
category sales in proportion to their share of market. Thus, it is
typical for market leaders to engage in category build. In the
absence of market leadership, firms with stronger sales forces than
their competition might use advertising to build the category and
employ their sales force to direct this demand to the firm’s brand.

A summary of the different usage-based segmentation

approaches, along with critical questions, is offered in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2: Usage-Based Segmentation

Targeting Indices

One quantifiable aspect segmentation analysis comes in the

form of targeting indices. Targeting indices allow a brand to
compare different segments, or markets in the case of geographic
locations, to one another. These comparisons, in turn, can help
inform usage-based targeting as well as targeting more generally.

Two important targeting indices are the brand development

56
50           .   

index (BDI) and the category development index (CDI). A BDI is

an indicator of how a specific market or segment performs for a
brand. A BDI is computed by taking the percentage of a brand's
sales due to a specific target (e.g., Males 18-34) divided by the
percentage of the market population attributed to the specific
target (i.e., Males 18-34). A CDI provides an indicator of how a
specific market or segment performs for the category. A CDI is
computed by taking the percentage of the category sales due to
a specific target (e.g., Females 18-24) divided by the percentage
of the market population attributed to the specific target (i.e.,
Females 18-24).

Mathematically, these indices are defined as follows:

BDI = (%Brand Sales / %Market Population) x 100

CDI = (%Category Sales/ %Market Population) x 100

For both the BDI and CDI, an index of 100 indicates a market/
segment is of average performance for both the brand and the
category. An index greater than a 100 (e.g., 150) indicates that
a brand is doing well in a given market/segment or that a given
market/segment is performing well for the category. In contrast,
an index below a 100 (e.g., 50) indicates a brand is not doing as
well in a given market/segment or that a market/segment is not
performing as well for the category. An example of how varia-
tion in BDI and CDI might occur is given in table 1. Table 1
depicts four small markets that a local brand might be interested
in advertising in; the four markets vary in population, category
sales, and brand sales.

To illustrate the calculations of CDI and BDI, consider Market

B. This market has a population of 10000. This is 36% of the total
of the four markets under consideration. The category sales in this
market, which is the total sum of all sales for one’s own brand

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and one’s competitors, is $250,000. Because $250,000 represents

50% of the category sales, the CDI is 139 (50/36 x 100). Because
the brand sales in this market are $150,000, which is 60% of the
brand’s total sales, the BDI is 167 (60/36 x 100). These numbers
suggest that Market B is both important for the category (i.e., it
accounts for above average category consumption) and that the
brand is performing well in this market.

Table 1: Example of CDI and BDI in Four Market

Although the previous example focuses on different geographic

markets, CDI and BDI can be applied to any demographic variable
and thus segment of consumers. For example, a brand could com-
pute the BDI and CDI for Males versus Females or for consumers
18-34 versus 34-52. A brand might find that the BDI among
Males is 150, whereas the BDI among females is 50. This result
would indicate that the brand performs better among males than
females. Moreover, one can specify and compare even more specific
targets such as 18-34 Female Head of Households with children.

The CDI and BDI can be used to produce a fourfold classifica-

tion or matrix to aid the consideration of a target (see figure 3.3).
This classification is both descriptive and has strategic implications.
To start with the descriptive nature of this classification, let us
be clear on what the general observation is for each quadrant in
the matrix (figure 3.3, top panel). When both BDI and CDI are

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52           .   

low, this result suggests that a brand exhibits poor performance

against a segment/market that is low in usage of the category.
When BDI is low and CDI is high, this combination reflects a
brand that exhibits poor performance in a segment/market where
usage is high. When BDI is high and CDI is low, this outcome
signals that a brand's performance is strong, but the overall cat-
egory usage for this market or segment is weak. Finally, when BDI
is high and CDI is high this suggests that a brand’s performance
is strong against a market or segment that exhibits strong usage.

This classification has strategic implications for possible

responses to each segment in a given quadrant within the matrix
(see figure 3.3, bottom panel). First, when both BDI and CDI are
high, the initial course of action considered is to sustain demand.
Demand might be sustained through the continued emphasis
on one’s current users or an attack against competitor’s users. Of
course, factors such as heavy loyalty, market saturation, and com-
petitor response, require additional consideration. For example,
if loyalty is high among target consumers, then the brand might
not benefit from additional advertising spend against them. Or,
if the market is saturated (i.e., growth is impossible) additional
advertising spend might not be warranted. These observations
reveal an important element of targeting indices. They do not
provide a boilerplate recommendation of how to proceed; rather,
they offer a potential starting point that must then be accompanied
by additional considerations.

Second, when BDI is high but CDI is low, it suggests an oppor-

tunity for a brand to attempt to build the category for that market/
segment. That is, the brand exhibits strong performance, but it
requires more usage in the market/segment. As already discussed,
considerations around a category build strategy can be used to
assess whether this strategy is viable for the brand.

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Figure 3.3: Analysis of BDI and CDI

Third, in situations where CDI is high but BDI is low, an

opportunity to grow the brand within the market/segment might
be present. This often entails either point-of-entry or the target-
ing of competitors’ users. Considerations around competitors are
similar to those discussed under conditions of a sustain strategy.
As noted previously, point-of-entry is particularly desirable if the
low brand penetration is accompanied by strategies to stimulate
brand loyalty.

Finally, when both CDI and BDI are low, this often produces
a question mark for the brand as whether it is sensible to proceed.

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54           .   

Specifically, a brand must consider both how to build the category

and how to build its representation within the category. As such,
whereas the other quadrants only require moving consumers on
one index, this quadrant requires movement on two. The greater
difficulty here might make the consideration of other targets the
judicious decision.

The matrix in figure 3.3 is a means for strategists to identify

and discuss opportunities. Whether a brand can take advantage
of an opportunity requires additional considerations related to
consumers and competitors. For example, Bull’s-Eye barbeque
(BBQ) sauce had low BDI in the Southwest, which was a high
CDI region for the BBQ sauce category. Market penetration in
this area would have been attractive, except that KC Masterpiece
was the major brand in this region and consumers in this region
preferred KC’s Memphis-style flavor to that of Bull’s-Eye. In
addition, it was likely that KC Masterpiece would have responded
strongly to Bull’s-Eye’s attempt to steal share, which given the rela-
tive strength of the brands, would make this strategy unattractive.
Alternatively, Bull’s-Eye might attempt to build the category in
the central region of the country where its BDI is high and the
CDI is low. This opportunity would seem particularly attractive
if Bull’s-Eye also had the largest share of market in this region.

Targeting Multiple Segments

Many brands have more than one target. For example, fast-food
chains cater to men, women, and children. How does a brand
navigate multiple targets? One approach is to use the same adver-
tising campaign to reach multiple targets. Although permissible,
the challenge is to find a brand position and creative strategy that
can be effective with multiple targets. Another means to address
multiple targets is to have different advertising campaigns directed

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at different targets; each target will receive a different creative brief

suitable for the target of interest. For example, brands such as Old
Spice and Geico have used different spokespeople, advertisements,
and media channels to speak to different segments.

Multiple Targets in a Single Execution

In some cases, a brand is cognizant that it has multiple targets

of relevance that might see the same exact advertisement. One
means to approach this situation is to rank each segment on the
basis of their importance to the brand. A simple tool to accomplish
this task is the use of a targeting bullseye (see figure 3.4). At the
center of the bullseye is the “own” target. This target is most critical
to the health of a brand. An “attract” target is one that helps to
sustain the brand over time. Finally, an “accept” target is composed
of people who are important not to alienate.

Figure 3.4: The Targeting Bullseye

To illustrate, for Harley-Davidson, the “own” target might be

composed of burly blue-collar guys who sport tattoos and would be
just as likely to beat the crap out of you as look at you. This target
is critical because it is a magnet for the other targets. The “attract”
target might be composed of millennials (born 1980-2000) who

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are point-of-entry consumers and are likely to buy a brand with

a more contemporary image such as Suzuki, Honda, or Kawasaki,
rather than a Harley. This target is important because it represents
the next generation of Harley owners. Finally, Harley needs to
accept the spouses of potential riders so that they do not block
the purchase of the product category.

As a consequence, if Harley-Davidson were to target millen-

nials in an effort to grow the brand, they might pay particular
attention to ensure that the advertisement does not alienate the
core blue-collar rider (e.g., they might avoid stating the brand is
now white collar). In addition, given the potential influence of
spouses, the brand might be sure to represent itself in a manner
that does not alienate the spouses of millennials (e.g., they might
avoid overemphasizing the rebel nature of bikers).

For some brands, the own target is appealed to at the cost of

alienating other segments. For example, in an effort to gain usage
from 18-24-year-old adults, Quiznos aired advertising that was
likely to alienate older age segments. In one commercial, a man was
shown wrestling his dog for a Quiznos’ sandwich. The sandwich
falls apart and, despite being in pieces on the floor, the man reas-
sembles it and takes a bite. This message resonated with the target
because it emphasized the lengths a person would go to consume
a Quiznos. The problem with the advertising, however, is that it
alienated older adults who associated the commercial, and thus
the brand, with disgust. This alienation limited the opportunity
for Quiznos to grow brand.

Multiple Targets via Different Executions

An alternative means to advertise to multiple targets is to

develop different executions and use specific media channels to
selectively reach each target. Of course, a key issue that arises in this

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approach is that the development multiple advertising campaigns

requires more resources in the form of time, money, and creative
talent. One means for brands to assess whether it is sensible to
target multiple targets with their advertising budget is to ask a
structured set of questions presented in figure 3.5.

Assessed first is whether current users’ demand for the brand

is saturated (step #1). As noted earlier, if usage is not saturated
among current users, it is often easier to encourage these users to
consume more, as they are already likely to be favorable toward
the brand’s position. They simply need advertising to keep the
brand at the forefront of their minds.

Figure 3.5: Targeting Multiple Users

When brand consumption among current users is saturated, an

assessment is made as to whether the firm’s resources is sufficient
to protect its current users and attract nonusers (step #2). That is,
the brand must have sufficient resources to keep awareness strong
among current users or, alternatively, possess sufficient loyalty such
that advertising is not required. If one of these conditions is not
met, a strategist must ask whether the value of new users exceeds
the potential loss of current users in the absence of marketing and
advertising support.

If current users are protected by either marketing resources or

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high brand loyalty, the next concern that arises is whether target-
ing new users will alienate current users (step #3). For example, if
current users do not like the new target, or do not like the adver-
tisements, they may withdraw from the brand. If users are unlikely
to be alienated, the brand is in position to target the new segment.
If current users are not protected from alienation, a strategist must
consider whether advertising might risk alienation. It warrants
mention that, when targeting an additional segment, the media
channel offers one means to avoid alienation by limiting a focal
target’s awareness of another target.

L If current users are not protected from alienation, a

strategist must consider whether advertising might
risk alienation.

A campaign for Red Bull illustrates the use of these criteria. Red
Bull is an energy drink that is targeted primarily at those between
18-30 years of age. This is Red Bull’s “own” target. Target consum-
ers use Red Bull primarily as a social drink. This consumption
often entails combining the drink with vodka to provide a sensa-
tion of being sped up and slowed down at the same time. Brand
promotion initially involved sponsorship of extreme sports events
(e.g., BMX biking, kite-boarding, skydiving) with trendsetters in
the youth culture, which gave Red Bull its street credibility. As
brand demand grew, the “Red Bull gives you wiiings” campaign
was introduced. This campaign enabled Red Bull to maintain a
leadership position in the category.

When Red Bull was challenged by Monster for market share

dominance and category growth slowed, Red Bull considered
the expansion of its target to include golfers. Research indicated
that a substantial number of golfers used Red Bull to sustain

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their energy through 18 holes of play. To take advantage of this

opportunity, the proposal was to target individuals 50 years of age
and older and to develop an advertising campaign that featured
the endorsement of celebrity golfers such as Jack Nicklaus. At the
same time, the wiiings campaign would be executed to sustain the
18-30-year-old target.

To assess the opportunity for Red Bull presented by golfers,

consider the series of question depicted in figure 3.5. With the
entry of competitors and slowing growth in category, it seemed
evident that current users were saturated (step #1). As the leader
in the category, Red Bull had the resources both to protect current
users and to target golfers (step #2). At issue was whether efforts
to attract the golfers via advertisements would alienate the current,
and younger, user target (step #3). Even though older adults aspired
to be more youthful, advertising to golfers would require a differ-
ent type of campaign than that used to attract 18-30-year-olds.
Younger users might take issue with the older target of golfers
and/or creative executions designed to talk with an older target.
An abandonment of current users in favor of older adults did not
appear to be viable because most of the demand for Red Bull was
sourced from current users. Therefore, for targeting new users to
be viable, the brand had to find a way to target new users without
alienating its current users.

The solution adopted by the brand was to advertise to golfers in

vehicles not typically encountered by the 18-30-year-old target.
Magazines such as Golf Magazine and golf tournament brand
promotions seemed appropriate for this purpose.

Chapter Summary

A strategist’s choice of a target is a fundamental element of the

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creative brief. In this chapter, I discussed how targeting can be

accomplished through segmentation via demographics, psycho-
graphics, and usage. Moreover, targeting indices can be constructed
in the form of BDI and CDI to guide discussion of target selec-
tion. Finally, it is possible to target multiple segments, either in
separate executions or via the same execution, with the proper
consideration of the targeting bullseye and issues related to satu-
ration, protection, and alienation.

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Chapter 4
Consumer Insights
In this chapter
• Definition of a Consumer Insight
• Fundamental Motivations
• Factors that Influence Motivations

You are tasked with the development of the “insights” portion of

the creative brief. What will you write? How do you know you have
an insight that can serve as a pillar for your advertising strategy?
How do you know if you have an insight at all? These can be dif-
ficult questions to answer. The insights portion of a creative brief
often poses a challenge to even seasoned strategists. The good news
is that this chapter aims to demystify what a consumer insight is
and to offer initial guidance as to the nature of consumer insights.

To accomplish these objectives, I start with a discussion of what

does and does not constitute an insight. Subsequently, I share
several findings that have emerged in the academic literature with
regard to fundamental human motives that shape what consumers’
value. In this discourse, I also provide thoughts and discussion
on how insights can be effectively discovered and tested. Finally,
as an illustrative example of how insight can be used, I provide a
discussion of how consumer insights can be leveraged to advertise
Dewar’s Scotch.

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Definition of a Consumer Insight

What constitutes a consumer insight? People often have a hard

time when asked to articulate or define what a consumer insight
really is. I offer a definition that embeds criteria for the identi-
fication of an insight. Specifically, I define a consumer insight
as a meaningful human truth (see figure 4.1). The definition of a
consumer insight as a meaningful human truth provides a par-
simonious means to convey three critical ingredients to help a
strategist assess whether they have a consumer insight as opposed
to a simple observation, a fact, or worse, a misleading piece of
information. To better understand this definition, I next articulate
the importance of each component.

Figure 4.1: A Recipe for Consumer Insight, Three Critical Ingredients

First, a consumer insight is about a human. That is, an insight is

about how a person thinks, feels, or behaves. A consumer insight is
not about what a brand can do for the consumer; what a brand can
do should be reflected in one’s positioning statement. A position-
ing statement is a response to an insight; it is not an insight itself.
Nonetheless, a common mistake I have seen in creative briefs is
that people emphasize what the brand can offer the consumer as
the insight. This approach is not an insight by definition because
it does not reflect how the consumers thinks, feels, or behaves;

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it is not about the consumer. To illustrate this error, consider a

firm that states their insight to be that their business gives more
hands-on attention and time to consumers than any other firm.
This statement reflects what a firm does; it does not explain what
the consumer wants or values. If the consumer does not value
hands-on attention, then this position will likely be ineffective.
An insight must inform creative as to how the target thinks, feels
or behaves in a manner that offers value. Once an insight is estab-
lished, the proper positioning to be conveyed in the advertising
can be developed.

L The definition of a consumer insight as a meaning-

ful human truth provides a parsimonious means to
convey three critical ingredients to help a strategist
assess whether they have a consumer insight as
opposed to a simple observation, a fact, or worse, a
misleading piece of information.

Second, a consumer insight is meaningful. Put simply, what

makes an insight “insightful,” as opposed to just an observation
or a fact, is that it gives the strategist and/or the creative a unique
or special piece of information about the consumer. For example,
Snickers, which is a candy bar packed with peanuts, could have
looked at their target consumers and observed, “People who like
Snickers like chocolate.” This might be a true observation about
the target, but it does not provide a very meaningful observation
compared to what is already known about consumers. It simply
restates a fact that most would conclude is obvious. In contrast,
Snickers observed that, “When people are hungry, they don’t act
like themselves.” This latter observation was a far more meaningful
piece of information because it revealed that consumers were aware
that they acted irritated and grumpy when they were hungry. Based

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on this insight, Snickers launched a series of successful advertise-

ments that related to consumers that they were not themselves
when they were hungry and that Snickers was the solution to this
problem. Consumer insights vary in their meaningfulness, and not
all insights have to be completely surprising or counterintuitive;
rather, they should be meaningful enough to provide a point of
action and differentiation from the competition.

Finally, a consumer insight is a truth. Put simply, a consumer

insight is accurate and captures an aspect of the human condition
that is true or at least true for the target represented in the brief.
Although this point might strike some readers as obvious, a major
issue that leads to poor advertising is people operate under inac-
curate or false insights. For example, while I will not name the
parties involved, I have encountered situations where an agency
has explicitly stated that the creative strategy was developed first
and then an insight was written into the creative brief to justify
the strategy. The problem with this approach, of course, is that an
insight simply made up with no data to support it could be false
or inaccurate. I have observed several instances of failed campaigns
where, when the insight was discussed, it was clear no evidence
was provided to support its validity. A meaningful observation
about a human that is ultimately untrue is not a consumer insight.

L A consumer insight is accurate and captures an

aspect of the human condition that is true or at least
true for the target represented in the brief.

Of note, the idea of a consumer insight is equally applicable

for business-to-business (BtoB) brands. For example, when BtoB
brands advertise they also have targets—they have people in other
businesses who must attend to the advertising, respond favorably

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to the positioning, and ultimately make a purchase decision. For

example, Sungard Availability Services provides disaster recovery
services to help manage and protect IT services. The brand ran
a critically acclaimed digital campaign that touted Sungard as a
brand that could help IT services survive a zombie apocalypse.
The campaign was complete with an online brochure that could
be downloaded; the brochure explained how Sungard helped busi-
nesses even in the case of a zombie apocalypse. On a surface level,
the customer insight here appeared to be that people in BtoB have
strong concerns about the sustainability of their data and their
ability to protect their applications. However, at a deeper level, the
insight pushed further on the idea that the zombie apocalypse was
a strong metaphor that the target would resonate with. Indeed,
the execution was aired as large parts of America had become
entranced by Zombie-themed movies and television shows (e.g.,
The Walking Dead). Thus, the zombie apocalypse metaphor served
as a way to communicate that Sungard understood these concerns
and that they would go to great lengths to protect businesses.

The Role of Consumer Insight

A central role of a consumer insight is to help inform the brand

position. Once a meaningful human truth is discovered it allows
a brand to consider how and/or why the brand best meets that
need. Of course, if a specific insight is not something a brand can
respond to, they are often forced to look for a different insight.
For example, consider a brand whose insight is that the consumer
wants to feel that they are the elite of the elite when it comes to
quality. If the brand has poorer quality than its competitors, the
brand would find it difficult to execute with this insight.

Consumer insight can also have implications beyond the devel-

opment of the position. For example, insight can also help creatives

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understand the tonality of the message to be delivered. For exam-

ple, in the diet category, a brand might observe that consumers
are not responsive to the negative connotations that accompany
being out of shape. As a consequence, the brand might inform
creative that the message has to be upbeat and positive. Consumer
insight can also inform how consumers are persuaded and share
information, which are points I will revisit later in this book (see
Chapters 5 and 6). Finally, consumer insight can also inform the
choice of media channel, especially when the insight reflects a
target’s preference for a new and untapped media channel.

Fundamental Motivations: Agency, Communion, and

Gratification

Although a discussion on the nature and types of consumer

insights can span volumes, a useful place to start concerns funda-
mental human motivations. Academic research suggests that many
behaviors derive from one of three fundamental motivations or
motives. Specifically, at a minimum, people’s behaviors are thought
to be governed by concerns related to agency, communion, and
gratification. These motivations are thought to direct and guide
what consumers value and, as a result, the type of brands and
brand positioning consumers respond to. In a given category or
consumption context, one or more of these motivations can influ-
ence consumers’ desire to learn about, consider, purchase, and even
share information about, a brand.

A first fundamental motivation is agency. Agency reflects a

self-focused desire to pursue and achieve one’s own individual
goals (Bakan 1966). Agency is often reflected by the pursuit of
self-mastery, self-enhancement, individuality and competence.
As such, when humans are motivated by agency they direct their
efforts towards products and services that are self-validating or

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allow them to exhibit self-mastery. For instance, in the context

of scotch consumption, some consumers might be motivated by
the belief that drinking scotch is testimony to their maturity, and
they might seek brands that underscore their own individuality.
Along similar lines, a Rolex watch not only offers the purchaser
an accurate timepiece, it can symbolize that they have arrived
(Rucker and Galinsky 2008, 2009).

L Agency reflects a self-focused desire to pursue and

achieve one’s own individual goals.

Communion pertains to individuals’ desire to have an affiliation

with others. In its simplest form, communion recognizes that
humans are social animals that exhibit a need to interact with
others and belong to social groups (Bakan 1966). Communion
is associated with both a desire to connect with others as well as
an orientation towards helping others. When humans are moti-
vated by communion they exhibit a responsiveness to products
and services that emphasize how products allow them to connect
with others. For example, work by Dubois, Rucker, and Galin-
sky (2016) suggests that individuals with a propensity towards
agency are more persuaded by messages that reinforce competence.
However, individuals with a propensity towards communion are
more persuaded by messages that reinforce warmth. As a practical
illustration, in effort to promote Yellow Tail’s sangria product, the
brand focused on usage in social occasions where motives related
to a desire to interact with others would likely be prevalent (i.e.
communion).

Gratification refers to the hedonic value associated with con-

sumption. This motive is often viewed as more emotional in nature
because it focuses on how a consumer feels from the experience

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as opposed to concerns for agency or communion. In the domain

of consumption, some products are consumed primarily for the
pleasure they provide. For instance, ice cream might be consumed
purely for the hedonic experience of how it tastes on the tongue.
In the quick serve category, Quiznos promoted the gratification
that results from consuming the brand with the slogan, “mmmm…
Toasty!” Notice, this slogan has little to do with individuals’ own
desire for agency or their desire to connect with others; it is purely
about the experiential consumption of the product.

Factors that Influence the Dominant Motivation

The motivation present in an individual can affect what aspects

of the world they view to be important at a given moment in time.
As a consequence, a proper understanding of consumers’ motiva-
tions can allow advertisers to develop communications that are
more likely to resonate with those motives. The challenge is that
all of these motivations tend to guide behavior under different
circumstances. Put differently, consumers navigate the world with
a mix of agency, communion, and gratification. A strategist must
understand what motivation is likely to be central or dominant
in a given context.

In some cases, the core motive varies by category. These funda-

mental motivations can differentiate one product category from
another. Soft drinks serve as a reward to be consumed after some
activity and thus relate to gratification. In contrast, sports drinks
are a means of rejuvenation consumed during an activity, which
might fulfill consumers’ desire for agency. Motives can also vary in
the same category as a function of the potential target. For example,
in the technology category, “technology zealots” or experts might
focus on competence and thus relate to products that have superior
specifications. In contrast, “technophobes” or novices might focus

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solely on not being overwhelmed and thus relate to products that

offer a gratifying experience that is easy and enjoyable.

Ethnographic research, focus groups, and surveys can all pro-

vide insight into what motivations drive consumer behavior in a
given category or specific targets within a category. For example,
in an examination of peanut butter by the Jif brand, one insight
that emerged was that parents held a desire to feel competent as
a parent and that this agency motive could be met by observing
their children’s own gratification. In another example, Goodby,
Silverstein, and Partners conducted focus groups with consum-
ers to understand milk usage. One insight that emerged was that
consumers missed milk because it undermined the pleasure and
enjoyment of other foods it was consumed with (e.g., cookies,
cake, and peanut butter). This led the brand to develop the “Got
Milk” campaign that focused on the gratification that could not
be enjoyed in the absence of milk.

L Ethnographic research, focus groups, and surveys

can all provide insight into what motivations drive con-
sumer behavior in a given category or specific targets
within a category.

The dominant motivation present in consumers can also be

triggered by changes in the environment. For example, one factor
that might undermine consumers’ feeling of agency is their current
psychological state of power. Research has found that individuals
induced to feel powerless exhibit a desire for status-related items;
this occurs, in part, due to a desire to restore their agency (Rucker
and Galinsky 2009). Economic changes might also affect the
motives prevalent within individuals. Some evidence suggests that
a recession prompts women to increase their spending on beauty

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products. This so-called lipstick effect is thought to be motivated

by the desire to enhance attractiveness to those who have money
(Hill and colleagues, 2012).

Finally, while a motive may often be focal, it is possible that

in some consumption situations a combination of agency, com-
munion, and gratification might stimulate brand choices. For
instance, to promote energy conservation, Duke Energy included
information in customers’ bills that indicated how their conserva-
tion stacked up against that of their neighbors. This approach gave
consumers a standard that, if met, would provide them a sense of
agency as individuals, but also allowed them to feel as if they were
a part of their community. For homemakers, baking a cake offers
gratification of a tasty treat and stimulates a sense of community.
These insights appear to be the basis for Pillsbury’s slogan “Nothin’
Says Lovin’ Like Somethin’ from the Oven.”

L In some consumption situations, a combination of

agency, communion, and gratification might stimulate
brand choices.

Individual Characteristics

One cluster of factors that can be used to predict or anticipate

consumers’ motivations are demographic characteristics of the
individual. Although an exhaustive discussion of such factors is
beyond the scope of this book, I provide two illustrative examples
with respect to gender and social class.

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Gender

Men and women differ in how they respond to persuasive mes-

sages. Women, compared to men, tend to be slower and more
thoughtful in making decisions; they exhibit greater uncertainty
and less overconfidence about their decisions, and they are more
persuadable and less dogmatic. One explanation for these dif-
ferences is that Women are encouraged to be communal, which
prompts a consideration of both the self and others in decision
making and fosters motivations tied to communion. By contrast,
men are socialized to behave with agency, which entails a self-
expressiveness and goal-directedness (Bakan 1966). One result
of this observation is that gender may sometimes serve as a proxy
for whether a consumer is more inclined to be motivated via agency
or communion. Namely, men might be more inclined to focus on
how a product relates to their needs for agency, whereas women
might be more inclined to focus on how a product relates to their
needs for communion.

The origins of these gender differences can be traced, in part,

to how children are socialized. Alice Eagly, Wendy Wood, and
Amanda Diekman (2000) use social role theory to explain how
differences in the socialization process across the genders affects
behavior. For example, prior investigations of children’s activities
suggested that boys were frequently asked to go to the store or to
act on their own in a manner that required individual agency. In
contrast, prior investigations suggest girls were given tasks that
required them to coordinate with or navigate among the other
members of the household, which puts an emphasis on concerns for
communion. Similarly, in studies of parent-kid play that involved
the completion of a puzzle, boys were encouraged to complete a
part of the puzzle by themselves, which enhances the develop-
ment of their agency. In contrast, girls and parents tended to solve
the puzzle together, which enhances girls’ communal skills. Such

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differences may contribute to the greater representation of men

in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (see Diek-
man et al. 2010).

The observation that gender differences may exist in consum-

ers’ natural focus on agency versus communion has implications
for advertising in the form of the positioning that is likely to be
effective. For males, messages that focus on benefits related to
competence (e.g., engine performance) might be more effective
than ones that promote benefits related to community (e.g., room
for the entire family).

Now, a word of caution is warranted with respect to gender.

Gender differences only appear to emerge in a limited set of cir-
cumstances. In many situations, these differences are muted by
contextual factors. For example, in some categories both men
and women might be motivated by gratification, such as when
planning a vacation destination. Or, gender differences might
become moot for individuals socialized into a particular profession
that tends to emphasize agency (e.g., doctor) versus communion
(e.g., nurse). Finally, these differences, documented across several
decades, may face erosion as the social roles between women and
men change.

L Gender differences only appear to emerge in a lim-

ited set of circumstances. In many situations, these
differences are muted by contextual factors.

Social Class

Social class refers to individuals’ standing in society based on

factors such as their relative wealth and education. The availability

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of demographic information, and particularly the educational

attainment of the target, provide potentially easily accessible indi-
cators of social class. When social class is an appropriate basis for
segmentation, it can offer insight about the product benefits that
are likely to appeal to consumers.

Research on social class suggests that it can contribute to

consumers’ orientation towards agency and communion. In par-
ticular, upscale people have been found to have a proclivity towards
individual agency. Brand information that reinforces a feeling
of individuality is particularly appealing to these individuals. In
contrast, downscale people value functionality and believe that
luck is critical to success. They have been found to exhibit a more
communal motive than upscale individuals, which is reflected in
their belief that the collective wisdom of the market will lead to
better decisions than ones they make themselves.

Since the 1980s upscale individuals’ purchases of expensive

products have not been focused solely on luxury items. Expen-
ditures for high-ticket functional items have increased. Products
such as $400 Dualit toasters, an industrial strength product that
browns toast evenly, have become very popular, as have $20,000
oversized slate shower stalls, road bikes priced at $5,000 dollars or
more, and $300 hiking boots. And the demand for higher-priced
items extends to categories that at one time were quite inexpensive:
a $4 cup of coffee or bottle of water, a $5 toothbrush, and $50
T-shirts have attracted substantial demand.

In his book Bobos in Paradise, David Brooks has labeled indi-

viduals who engage in the purchase of expensive functional items
as Bobos, that is, people who value the luxury demanded by the
bourgeois and the functionality embraced by bohemians. Brooks
describes how Bobos reconcile these disparate values: “They are
prosperous without seeming greedy; they have pleased their elders

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without seeming conformist; they have risen toward the top with-
out too obviously looking down on those below.” Thus, when
advertising to Bobos, two guidelines emerge: highlight features
that are both unique and utilitarian.

Differences in social class do not preclude overlap in the con-

sumption habits of consumers that differ in their social class.
In fact, upscale people often engage in downscale consumption
exhibited by the lower social class. Upscale individuals shop at
Saks as well as at Dollar stores. However, downscale consumers
typically confine their consumption to downscale products and
services. This asymmetry in social class behavior might explain
why so little advertising media exists that is purchased to target
specifically downscale consumers: An upmarket exists for these
products, which implies the use of mass advertising.

L Differences in social class do not preclude overlap

in the consumption habits of consumers that differ in
their social class. In fact, upscale people often engage
in downscale consumption exhibited by the lower
social class.

It warrants mention that downscale consumers also purchase

high-ticket items. However, they often do so in categories that
they perceive as functional. For example, they were among the first
to purchase televisions and color televisions, and among the first
to buy flat-panel televisions. These individuals are better able to
afford these products than some of their more upscale counter-
parts because of their limited spending for housing and lifestyle
activities. The purchase of luxury items also provides downscale
consumers with a feeling of elevated status, at least among their
peer groups (Charles, Hurst, and Roussanov 2009).

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Dewar’s Scotch: The Strategic Use of Consumer

Insight

To understand how a consumer insight can be used, let us con-

sider a campaign by Dewar’s Scotch. The popularity of Scotch in
the US and other countries had eroded over several decades. Survey
data indicated that men aged 45 and older consumed almost 75%
of the scotch volume, and that these individuals drank less scotch
as they aged. In contrast, those under the age of 35 represented
about 70% of scotch drinkers, and they consumed only 25% of
the category volume. At the same time, these younger consumers
were largely responsible for the increase in the sales of both vodka
and rum, which are often consumed in mixed drinks.

As the category leader in scotch in the United States, Dewar’s

attempted to grow demand for the brand and the scotch category
by targeting point-of-entry consumers aged 25-34. This “transi-
tional” segment was a substantial consumer of alcoholic beverages
in the process of making long-term beverage choices. Although
21-24-year-olds also consumed a significant number of alcoholic
beverages, they were not targeted by Dewar’s because they were
thought to be in an experimental phase—trying a variety of bever-
ages—and they were targeted by other categories, which included
beer brands that had substantially larger advertising and marketing
budgets than Dewar’s.

Dewar’s had positioned itself as the premium scotch for the

consumer interested in expressing his individuality. To put this in
the language of human motivation, Dewar’s had positioned itself
to speak to those with a strong motive for agency. To support this
position, the brand’s advertising presented the profiles of various
Dewar’s users, who were depicted as interested and accomplished
individuals that took risks in their profession and were successful.
The brand was also supported by advertising that used Scottish

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imagery to highlight Dewar’s country of origin and promote its

authenticity. This heritage was expected to be attractive to this
transitional segment.

To assess whether their positioning strategy would be an effec-

tive means to attract this transitional target, consumer insight
analysis was undertaken. Taste tests and focus groups were con-
ducted to understand why scotch represented such a small share
of spirit consumption among the transitional target. These focus
groups revealed two impediments to scotch consumption for the
transitional target. One impediment was perceptual: The transi-
tional target characterized scotch drinkers as people who were
older than themselves and whose lifestyle was less active than the
one that they aspired to. The other impediment was sensory: The
transitional target did not enjoy the taste of scotch, which they
characterized as producing a burning sensation. Blind taste tests
were used to confirm that the taste of rum, vodka, and gin were
indeed preferred to the taste of scotch.

Over time, Dewar’s systematically introduced several advertis-

ing strategies to overcome these impediments. To address this
segment’s perceptual concerns, advertising focused on depicting
drinkers as mature, sophisticated, and hip individuals. Celebri-
ties such as writer-director Quentin Tarantino were shown in
Dewar’s advertising to reinforce this point. The goal was to change
a negative referent—older individuals—into a referent that the
transitional target wished to emulate. This strategy had the benefit
of appealing to the transitional target without alienating the cur-
rent older user. Note, that this strategy recognizes that the target
did indeed desire agency, but it did not view Dewar’s positioning
as consistent with that agency.

Another approach Dewar’s pursued to address the belief that

scotch was for older people. Specifically, focus groups suggested

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that scotch seemed distinct from younger consumers’ social group

and thus may have been off-putting to consumers need for com-
munity. Put differently, while agency may have been focal, these
individuals also had a desire for communion. As such, the brand
saw a need to change the perception of who drank scotch to be
more inclusive of the target. Advertising showed individuals in
their late 20s and early 30s enjoying scotch in a social context.
One concern with this approach was that it might alienate the
current user, who represented the majority of the category con-
sumption. The brand’s hope, a calculated risk, was that showing
the aspirations of younger consumers would still resonate with
the older current user.

In contrast to the approaches described above, which were

intended to address perceptual issues, an alternative approach
focused on responding to the sensory impediments of scotch con-
sumption by the transitional target. The brand attempted to adapt
to the target’s sensory complaints by recommending that scotch
be mixed with a variety of other products, such as lime juice and
ginger beer or amaretto. Along the same lines, Dewar’s introduced
Highlander Honey, a scotch that was infused with honey that
offset the bitter taste with a hint of sweetness. This strategy was
also a means to respond to consumers' need for gratification; the
experience had to be pleasant.

Dewar’s also responded to complaints about the sensory experi-

ence of consuming scotch by challenging the transitional target
to adapt to it: They had grown up and their taste should follow
suit. Advertising presented this idea by showing a young person
engaged in a juvenile behavior (e.g., dancing with a lampshade on
his head) and suggested that it was time to move on to more adult
pursuits, which included scotch consumption. Thus, rather than
adapting to the sensory preferences of the transitional target they
were told to adapt to the taste of scotch. Although evidence exists

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that labeling people–in this instance adults–can prompt behavior

consistent with the label, the possibility also existed that such an
aggressive campaign might alienate the transitional target.

At the end of the day, Dewar’s succeeded in making inroads

into increasing scotch consumption among the target. Although
they identified a fundamental insight related to agency, they also
addressed concerns around community (i.e., how others would
seem them). This discussion reveals that, as essential as consumer
insights are in designing strategy, they do not provide evidence
as to the most effective strategy. At any point in the research pro-
cess an effort is made to use whatever insights about consumers
are available to suggest how their demand might be attracted,
sustained, and increased. Although additional research can be
conducted to address such ambiguities, at some point the virtue of
a strategy is tested empirically by its introduction. For example, it
is possible that Dewar's might offend current users by advocating
that scotch be mixed with other beverages. However, the validity
of this concern requires additional research. Whether research
to address this issue is recommended depends on an assessment
of the costs of making an error versus the cost of forestalling the
implementation of a strategy.

Chapter Summary

A consumer insight is a meaningful human truth. One preva-

lent form of consumer insight resides in consumers’ motivations.
Fundamental motivations—the desire for agency, communion,
and gratification—guide what consumers value and thus how they
respond to advertising. An understanding of consumer motivations
provides a means to inform and develop advertising to success-
fully highlights the link between consumer motivations and the
benefits derived by brand purchase and use.

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Recommended Readings

Bakan, David. (1966), The Duality of Human Existence. Chicago:

Rand McNally.

Brooks, David (2000), Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class

and How They Got There. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Charles, Kerwin Ko, Erik Hurst, and Nikolai Roussanov (2009),

“Conspicuous Consumption, and Race,” Quarterly Journal of Eco-
nomics, 124, 425-467.

Diekman, Amanda B., Brown, Elizabeth R., Johnston, Amanda

M., and Clark, Emily K. (2010), “Seeking Congruity between
Roles and Goals: A New Look at Why Women Opt Out of
STEM Career,” Psychological Science, 21, 1051-1057.

Dubois, David D., Derek D. Rucker, and Adam D. Galinsky

(2016), “Dynamics of Communicator and Audience Power: The
Persuasiveness of Competence versus Warmth,” Journal of Con-
sumer Research, 43 ( June), 68-85.

Eagly, Alice H., Wendy Wood, and Amanda B. Diekman (2000),

Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: A current appraisal,
in Thomas Eckes and Hanns M. Trautner (Editors.). The devel-
opmental social psychology of gender (pp. 123-174). Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Hill, Sarah, Christopher D. Rodeheffer, Vladas Griskevicius

and Andrew E White, (2012), “Boosting Beauty in an Economic
Decline: Mating, Spending and the Lipstick Effect,” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,103, 275-291.

Levy, Sidney J. (1999), Brands, Consumers, Symbols and Research.

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Thousand Oaks California: Sage Publications, 390-405.

Rucker, Derek D., and Adam D. Galinsky (2008), “Desire to

Acquire: Powerlessness and Compensatory Consumption,” Journal
of Consumer Research, 35, 257-267.

Rucker, Derek D., and Adam D. Galinsky (2009), “Conspicu-

ous Consumption versus Utilitarian Ideals: How Different Levels
of Power Shape Consumption,” Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 45 (May), 549-555

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Chapter 5
Paths to Persuasion
In this chapter
• Cognitive Path to Persuasion
• Metacognitive Path to Persuasion
• Perceptual Path to Persuasion

Consider two consumers, Phil and Beth, who are at a bar and
must decide what beer to order. Phil has recently seen a digital
display advertisement that showcased three Corona beers on a
dock in the foreground and a tranquil sea in the background. The
ad caused Phil to think of Mexico because Corona is produced
in Mexico and because the water reminds him of an Acapulco
beach where he vacationed. The ad also reminds Phil of his friend
Derek, who often orders Corona. Phil also remembers the taste of
refreshment when he drank a Corona on the beach in Acapulco.
Phil's thought process is easy and fluent, and this result makes
him feel good about Corona. When Phil has to decide what beer
to order, these thoughts about Corona and the ease of the process
both prompt him to request the brand. In contrast, Beth’s response
to Corona does not come from any rich memories of a beach in
Acapulco. Instead, Beth visualizes the image of Corona’s long-
necked clear bottle that lets her see the beautiful golden hue of
the beer. This perceptual cue suggests to Beth that the beer is pure
and prompts her to choose this brand.

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In this scenario, both Phil and Beth have a favorable evalua-

tion of, and subsequently choose, the same beer. Yet, the means by
which they were persuaded involve different types of information
processing. Phil’s path to persuasion is, in part, cognitive. He relies
on the associations to Corona beer stored in his memory. Phil is
also persuaded via a path that is metacognitive, which refers to the
fact that it involves thoughts about thoughts. When Phil reflects
on the selection of Corona, his assessment of the process feels easy
and right. In contrast, Beth’s selection of beer involves a perceptual
path. Her decision is based on the physical characteristics of the
beer that come to mind, such as the features of the bottle and color
of the beer (see figure 5.1 for paths to persuasion).

Figure 5.1: Three Paths to Persuasion

In this chapter, I describe how consumers use cognitive, meta-

cognitive, and perceptual paths to process information and reach
decisions. I term these paths to persuasion because they involve
persuasive outcomes in the form of either favorable beliefs (e.g.,
attitudes) or behavior (e.g., purchase). This discussion represents
insight as to how people think about and process information to

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make decisions. Although less utilized in typical brief writing,

an understanding of how people process information and make
decisions has critical implications for how advertising might be
developed and presented.

The Cognitive Path to Persuasion

A first means by which people process information is through

what I will term the cognitive path to persuasion. The cognitive
path to persuasion involves an emphasis on consumers’ thoughts
about a product. The path is cognitive because it emphasizes the
mental action and thinking involved in the acquisition and pro-
cessing of information.

Figure 5.2: The Cognitive Path to Persuasion

Steps in the Cognitive Path to Persuasion

One means to understand the cognitive path is through the

four steps depicted schematically in figure 5.2. When a consumer

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is exposed to an advertisement, the information received is rep-

resented in working memory or what a consumer is thinking
about at the moment (step #1). This information can prompt the
retrieval of thoughts relevant to beer and Corona from long-
term memory, which is the repository of all information that an
individual has learned. For example, the Corona advertisement
might bring to mind associations related to brand attributes (e.g.,
Corona is refreshing), information about the occasion of use (e.g.,
Corona is perfect for a hot day), or even an emotion (e.g., drinking
a Corona is relaxing; step #2).

Given that working memory is limited in capacity, the consumer

must store their thoughts about the advertisement in long-term
memory. The transition of information from working to long-term
memory involves amplification of the information (step #3). The
term amplification refers to the degree to which information is
accessed or thought about extensively in association with other
thoughts. The larger the number of associations that people have
to a brand, and the greater their strength, the greater the ampli-
fication of these thoughts, and thus the more accessible they are
when making a judgment. Finally, when consumers need to make
a decision, they rely on relevant information that is accessible in
memory. The extent to which information has been amplified (i.e.,
successfully encoded into long-term memory) and recently pro-
cessed enhances its retrieval from long-term to working memory,
and thus increases the likelihood of its use in making a decision
(step #4).

L The term amplification refers to the degree to which

information is accessed or thought about extensively
in association with other thoughts.

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In the Corona example, the digital display ad conveyed that

Corona was refreshing (i.e., working memory), but it also prompted
Phil to think about Corona, which led him to remember his trip
to Mexico and the Acapulco beach where the Corona he drank
was refreshing (i.e., his long-term memory). Thus, the claim that
Corona was refreshing was all the more persuasive because of its
association to prior knowledge that Phil had in long-term memory.
This amplification made the belief that Corona was refreshing all
the more accessible when Phil ordered a beer, see figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3: Cognitive Path to Persuasion Applied to Corona

The cognitive path to persuasion has several implications for

advertising. First, the idea that individuals use their own brand
thoughts offers a rationale to target current users of the category
and brand (see Chapter 3). These individuals are likely to have
favorable dispositions toward the brands they use, and are thus
likely to be more easily convinced by advertising than nonusers.
Second, the cognitive path to persuasion reveals that verbatim
recall of a message is not an accurate indicator of advertising
effectiveness in most instances. Put simply, persuasion via the

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cognitive path is not based on what the message states; persuasion

is a result of what the consumer draws from both the message
and their own knowledge. As an example, in response to an ad
claiming that a cell phone carrier provides coverage on six of the
seven continents, a consumer might recall this benefit but infer
that the service is incomplete.

The Effect of Different Levels of Thought

Imagine a billboard for a furniture store that presents a picture

of a celebrity spokesperson as well as a list of several relevant brand
attributes (e.g., fine craftsmanship, exotic woods). Motorists driv-
ing by the billboard might not have time to consider these benefits
or the appropriateness of the celebrity spokesperson for the product
category. Nevertheless, they might be persuaded by the billboard to
shop at the store by merely noticing that a celebrity endorsed the
store and that numerous reasons were listed for shopping there.
A judgment made with limited effort that relies on simple cues
rather than thoughtful elaboration of message content is referred
to as peripheral processing (see Petty and Cacioppo 1986; Rucker,
Briñol, and Petty 2011).

L A Judgment made with limited effort that relies on

simple cues rather than thoughtful elaboration of mes-
sage content is referred to as peripheral processing.

In contrast, motorists stuck in traffic might take the time to

consider the information presented on the billboard. As they read
through the list of features, they might evaluate each in relation to
their prior knowledge about the category and brand. This extensive
thinking about the message results in thoughts reflected in the

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evaluation of the store. This is referred to as central or systematic

processing (see Petty and Cacioppo 1986; Rucker, Briñol, and Petty
2011).

Both peripheral and central processing utilize the cognitive path.

The presence of positive brand cues can enhance persuasion when
information is processed in a peripheral fashion. In contrast, the
presentation of strong arguments can enhance persuasion when
information is processed in a central fashion. However, research
suggests that central processing tends to produce attitudes or
beliefs associated with greater confidence, longer-lasting impact,
and greater resistance to competitors’ attempts to change them
(Rucker and Petty 2006). Thus, all else equal, the central path
might be a more desirable path by which to achieve persuasion.

The Metacognitive Path to Persuasion

Where the cognitive path to persuasion involves processing

message content and relating it to one’s own knowledge, the meta-
cognitive path reflects a subjective experience that accompanies the
processing of information. The premise is that brand evaluations
depend not only on thoughts about a brand (cognitions), but
also the feelings about the process by which that knowledge was
acquired (metacognitions). Individuals can assess whether the
manner in which they processed information feels right or correct.

This path is “metacognitive” because it involves thoughts about

how information is processed or how a judgment is made as
opposed to thoughts about the message content. I provide exam-
ples of two different metacognitions to illustrate how this path
to persuasion operates.

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Feelings of Ease

Consider two ad executions for BMW. One makes the request

that you think of two reasons to purchase a BMW; the other asks
that you think of ten reasons to purchase a BMW. Which one
will result in more favorable evaluations of this brand? If message
recipients follow the cognitive path by focusing on the relevant
reasons that they generate, one might expect that they would
be more persuaded by the generation of ten reasons as opposed
to two. Logically, ten favorable reasons to purchase a product is
more impressive than only two reasons. Yet, research has found
the opposite: the generation of two reasons can produce more
persuasion than the generation of ten (Tybout and colleagues
2005). Why does this occur?

This outcome can be explained via the metacognitive path to

persuasion. Specifically, in the process of generating reasons, indi-
viduals may consider and reflect on how easy or difficult it is to
generate the requested number of reasons. Because thinking of ten
reasons is relatively difficult, consumers might infer that BMW
must not be that attractive or it would have been easy to generate
ten reasons. In contrast, because thinking of two reasons is rela-
tively easy, consumers might infer that the BMW is very attractive.

This process is metacognitive because brand evaluations depend

on the feeling about the judgment process—whether it was easy or
difficult—rather than the actual content of the reasons generated,
which would reflect the cognitive path.

These alternative outcomes raise an intriguing question: When

will brand evaluations be based on the cognitive versus metacog-
nitive path to persuasion? Tybout and colleagues (2005) provide
one excellent example of when one path is more or less likely to
operate. Specifically, when message recipients believe they know

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either a lot (or a little) about the advertised brand they adopt the
cognitive path. In these cases, feelings about how easy or difficult
it is to make a decision are obvious (e.g., thinking of two reasons
is easy for someone who knows a lot), and thus they do not rely
on subjective feelings. In contrast, when message recipients are
uncertain about how difficult it is to generate reasons, they rely
on subjective feelings of ease as a basis for their brand evaluations.

These observations suggest that the metacognitive path, at least

with respect to ease, is less likely to be used by those with substan-
tial experience with a brand or category or who are at the point
of entry into a category.

Feelings of Fit

People also use the metacognitive path to persuasion in the form

of “feelings of fit.” Feelings of fit refer to an alignment between
individuals’ self-regulatory goals and the means of goal pursuit
represented in the message. Self-regulation refers to internally
initiated strategies that involve how consumers plan to achieve a
goal and how they monitor progress towards a goal.

Within the marketing literature, academics have studied self-

regulation with regard to whether consumers engage in goal pursuit
with a more prevention or promotion focus. A prevention focus
entails a preference for vigilance and an orientation toward safety
and security, with an inclination to limit mistakes and losses. In
contrast, a promotion focus involves being eager and oriented
toward accomplishment and growth. Chronic individual differ-
ences exist in people’s focus, but individuals can also vary in their
focus across situations (see Cesario, Grant, and Higgins 2006).

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90           .   

L A prevention focus entails a preference for vigilance

and an orientation toward safety and security, with an
inclination to limit mistakes and losses.

To effectively persuade individuals with different goal orien-

tations, a message must be framed in a manner that fits with
individuals’ regulatory focus. When fit occurs, people have an
experience of feeling right and an engagement that influences
their brand judgments (Aaker and Lee 2004; Cesario, Grant, and
Higgins 2006). Importantly, messages can be framed in a manner
that does not change the actual arguments and thus does not affect
persuasion via the cognitive path.

To provide an example of persuasion via feelings of fit, consider

two potential advertisements for Crest Pro-Health. One advertise-
ment focuses on a comparison of the brand against other brands
on seven features, where Pro-Health is at parity with other brands
on four features (cavities, tartar, whitening and fresh breath) and
dominates on three features (sensitivity, gingivitis, and plaque). In
the other advertisement, a husband queries his wife in a rapid-fire
fashion about whether the brand has each of the features specified
above, one after another. Which advertisement would be more
effective?

To answer this question from a metacognitive perspective, we

actually need at least two pieces of information. First, we need
to know if the target is more promotion or prevention oriented.
Second, we need to know what message is more aligned with a
promotion versus prevention focus. On the first matter, the brand’s
target for these ads is a consumer who wants to avoid cavities and
gum disease, which is consistent with a prevention focus. On the
second matter, the first advertisement that compared the brands on

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a large number of features reduced the chances of making an error,

which is consistent with the safety valued by prevention-focused
individuals. In contrast, the second advertisement, which engaged
in the rapid-fire presentation of information, is more consistent
with locomotion preferred by promotion-focused individuals
due to the emphasis on eagerness and achievement (Malaviya
and Sternthal 2009). Thus, based on feelings of fit, even though
the actual arguments are the same in both advertisements, the
prevention-focused target should respond more favorably to the
first commercial that focused on comparisons.

The brand ultimately tested the executions before a decision as

to which should go to market was made. Consistent with the stated
predictions, testing revealed that, for those with a prevention focus
(i.e., the target), the comparison commercial was more effective
in gaining trial of Pro-Health than the rapid-fire execution. This
commercial was ultimately aired. Of course, had the target been
individuals who wanted gains such as whiter teeth and fresher
breath, the rapid-fire ad would likely have been more effective
(see Malaviya and Sternthal 2009).

As another example of how people’s orientation towards pre-

vention or promotion affects how they prefer information to be
presented, prevention-focused individuals are more persuaded by
a message when the information presented is concrete (e.g., this
car gets 60 miles per gallon) rather than abstract (this car has
good gas mileage). Concrete information ensures knowledge of
precisely what is offered that helps consumers avoid errors, which
is what prevention-focused people want. In contrast, those with
a promotion focus are more persuaded by abstract information
because it allows them more freedom to imagine the various ways
in which the product might lead to goal achievement (Lee and
colleagues 2010).

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92           .   

This analysis underscores the importance of identifying when

a promotion or prevention focus is likely to be active. Cultural
background is one factor that might influence people's orientation.
Individuals from interdependent cultures (e.g., China and other
Asian countries) appear more prone to favor a prevention focus
because they place high value on safety and security. However, indi-
viduals from independent cultures (e.g., North America, Western
Europe) appear more inclined to adopt a promotion focus because
they put a premium on accomplishment. The consumption context
is another factor that might influence the orientation adopted.
During a recession, people might adopt a prevention focus over
a promotion focus because they want to conserve resources. In
contrast, when economic conditions are strong, consumers might
be more likely to be promotion focused.

The Perceptual Path to Persuasion

A final path to persuasion involves perception. The perceptual

path recognizes that, in some situations, consumers rely on their
perceptions of thin slices of information as a basis for judgment.
For example, consumers might quickly select the gold and brown
package when purchasing chocolate morsels without checking the
brand name (Nestle). Or they might quickly scan advertisements
on billboards, the internet, and signage at sporting venues. In these
situations, prior information in memory that might be relevant to
the message plays a more limited role than depicted in describing
the cognitive path to persuasion. Nor are consumers focusing on
metacognitive experiences such as feelings of ease or fit. Instead,
consumers’ decisions are heavily based on physical features of
the brand, product, or environment. Such features might include
specific color schemes, shapes, or brand iconography (e.g., logos,
characters, fonts, etc…).

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Importantly, such perceptual processing could be viewed as

one form of heuristic or peripheral processing and therefore more
likely to occur when resource allocation to the message processing
task is low. However, unlike peripheral processing that still relies
on cognition, perceptual processing is a different type of learning
than that observed when persuasion involves the cognitive path.
Perceptual processing is typically characterized by poor verbatim
recall of a message. For example, after quickly scanning a Corona
digital display ad, people might exhibit poor recall of the informa-
tion presented. Yet, when these individuals are asked to indicate
their brand choice they are more likely to select this brand than
if they had not been exposed to the advertising.

L The perceptual path recognizes that, in some situ-

ations, consumers rely on their perceptions of thin
slices of information as a basis for judgment.

Research by Angela Lee (2002) documents one process by which

the perceptual path to persuasion operates. She found that the
repeated presentation of a brand name enhances people’s feel-
ing of familiarity with it and thus increases the likelihood of the
brand’s selection. For example, suppose that prior to visiting a
store you have seen the Dr. Pepper brand name on signage at a
sporting venue, on Facebook, and in movies. When a subsequent
soft drink brand choice is required, the Dr. Pepper bottle appears
highly familiar and this familiarity fosters a feeling of liking and
helps to reduce feelings of uncertainty. The result is a greater likeli-
hood of purchasing Dr. Pepper than would occur in the absence
of these repeated brand name exposures. Of course, this prefer-
ence might be overcome if consumers were to exert the effort to
consider the brand’s benefits in relation to those of other brands
(i.e., the cognitive route).

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Chapter Summary

This chapter examined the process by which consumers are

persuaded. An important distinction was made among three paths
to persuasion: Cognitive, metacognitive, and perceptual. Each can
be effective in persuading consumers about a brand. The nature
of processing associated with each path, as well as factors that
facilitate the likelihood that persuasion will occur through a given
path, are summarized in table 5.1. As strategists, clear knowledge
of how consumers are likely to make decisions—based on cogni-
tion, metacognition, or perception—can be a powerful insight in
the construction and delivery of advertising.

Table 5.1: Three Paths to Persuasion

Recommended Readings

Cesario, Joseph, Heidi Grant, and E. Tory Higgins (2004),

“Regulatory Fit and Persuasion: Transfer from Feeling Right,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86 (3), 388–404.

101
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Lee, Angela Y., (2002), “Effects of Implicit Memory on

Memory-Based versus Stimulus-Based Brand Choice,” Journal
of Marketing Research, 39(4), 440-454.

Lee, Angela Y. and Jennifer L. Aaker (2004), “Bringing the

Frame into Focus: The Influence of Regulatory Fit on Processing
Fluency and Persuasion,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychol-
ogy, 86(2), 205-218.

Lee, Angela Y (2010), Punam Keller and Brian Sternthal,

“Value from Regulatory Construal Fit: The Persuasive Impact of
Fit between Consumer Goals and Message Concreteness,” Journal
of Consumer Research.

Malaviya, Prashant and Brian Sternthal (2009), “Parity Product

Features can Enhance or Dilute Brand Evaluation: The Influence
of Goal Orientation and Presentation Format,” Journal of Consumer
Research, 36, 112-121.

Petty, Richard E., and John T. Cacioppo (1984), “The Effects of

Involvement on Responses to Argument Quantity and Quality:
Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion,” Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 46, 69-81.

Petty, Richard E., and John T. Cacioppo (1986), The Elaboration

Likelihood Model of Persuasion. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances
in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 123-205). New York:
Academic Press.

Rucker, Derek D., and Richard E. Petty (2006), “Increasing

Effectiveness of Communications to Consumers: Recommenda-
tions Based on the Elaboration Likelihood and Attitude Certainty
Perspectives,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 25 (1), 39-52.

102
96           .   

Rucker, Derek D., Pablo Briñol, and Richard E. Petty (2011),

“Metacognition: Methods to Assess Primary from Secondary
Cognition,” In Karl C. Klauer, Andreas Voss, and Christoph Stahl
(Editors), Handbook of Cognitive Methods in Social Psychology (pp.
236-264). New York: Guilford Press.

Tybout, Alice, M., Brian Sternthal, Prashant Malaviya, Yiorgos

Bakamitsos, and See-Bum Park (2005), “Information Accessibil-
ity as a Moderator of Judgments,” Journal of Consumer Research,
32, 76-85.

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Chapter 6
Insights about
Information
Diffusion
In this chapter
• Information Diffusion
• Models of Diffusion
• The Role of Advertising in Diffusion

On September 3, 2013, the Norwegian comedy team Ylvis

aired a song and dance video titled “The Fox” (“What Does the
Fox Say?”) on YouTube to promote their Norwegian television
program. The video received two million views in the first three
days, 20 million in the first week, 100 million by the first week
in October, and over 240 million by the end of November. Less
than a year after its release, “The Fox” had over 430 million views.
This remarkably rapid diffusion of a song on YouTube has been
offered as compelling evidence that social media provides plat-
forms that fuel virality. The theory is that social media facilitates
the transmission of content from person to person in the same
way viruses spread. The result is an epidemic.

Closer inspection of the events related to the diffusion of “What

Does the Fox Say?” provides evidence to support the argument

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that social media played an important role in the process. Two

days after “The Fox” was posted, comedian and writer Felicia Day
blogged about the song to her 2.28 million followers, and Jeff
Wysaski, who runs the website Pleated-Jeans, praised the song on
Tumblr to his 31,500 followers. YouTube then tweeted about “The
Fox” to its 43 million followers. These social media sources were
instrumental to obtain the first 20 million views. However, it was
Ylvis’ October 2013 appearances on the Ellen DeGeneres Show
(2.7 million viewers), The Tonight Show (1.7 million viewers),
the Today Show (4.5 million viewers), as well as their November
appearance on “Dancing with the Stars” (17 million viewers),
along with news coverage of this song, that appeared to propel
the number of YouTube views from 20 million to over 240 mil-
lion three months after the initial airing. Not only does each of
these sources attract a large audience, it attracts the attention of
other forms of media.

In this chapter, I discuss insights related to the process by which

diffusion of information occurs. This discussion paves the way to
understand the role of social media in the dissemination of brand
information. Examined first are depictions of the diffusion process
in business-to-consumer and business-to-business settings that
predated social media. This is followed by a discussion of how
information is diffused and the roles of traditional, digital, and
social media in this process.

Models of Diffusion

Rogers’ Two-Step Diffusion Model

Everett Rogers theorized about the diffusion of innovations,

which is informative about the factors that result in the adoption
of new products. Rogers (1962) identified five segments of the

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population involved in the diffusion process and the temporal

order in which their influence occurs (see figure 6.1). Diffusion
begins with Innovators, who typically have the ability to understand
complex technical information; they are venturesome and willing
to take risks. Early adopters are more integrated into social systems
than innovators. They have a reputation for discretion and success
in the implementation of new ideas within the domain of their
expertise. Early adopters are populated by opinion leaders who
are critical agents in the rapid diffusion of product information
and product adoption given their experience with the product. The
early majority deliberates longer than the early adopters, and they
are influenced by those that adopt before them. The late majority
is skeptical about adoption; their adoption typically occurs out
of economic or functional necessity. Laggards are focused on the
past, and their adoption, if it takes place at all, occurs when the
product is well-established. Figure 6.1 indicates the percentage
of the population typically thought to represent each of the five
segments.

Figure 6.1: Rogers’ Diffusion Model

Rogers’ diffusion model highlights the critical role of opinion

leaders in the adoption process, which has prompted marketers’

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100           .   

attempts to target these individuals. When the diffusion is for a

high tech or medical product, opinion leaders are often readily
identified: they are individuals who have expertise in the topic, as
evidenced by visibility in their field (e.g., tech bloggers, doctors).
For consumer package goods, opinion leaders are more difficult to
identify. However, even when opinion leaders such as Lebron James
or Taylor Swift emerge as brand spokespeople or advocates, their
expertise is relegated to a limited number of product categories.
Bzzagent is an online service that provides this type of service by
airing the opinions of consumers who have used a brand.

Moore's Crossing the Chasm Model

Geoffrey Moore applied Rogers’ diffusion model (1991) to

the adoption of technology, with a focus on business-to-business
contexts. The model includes the same five segments as those
featured in Rogers’ model. The innovative idea in Moore’s model
is the concept of the chasm, which is illustrated in figure 6.2.
For disruptive technologies, the chasm occurs when techies’ and
visionaries’ enthusiasm for an innovation is stifled by pragmatists,
who are focused on the substantial business risk associated with
adopting an innovation. Although pragmatists’ behavior reflects
good judgment—because innovations frequently do not work
as promised—their reluctance to adopt innovations is a major
impediment to their diffusion.

Moore identified two commonly used means to cross the chasm

in a business-to-business context. One method is brand-driven.
Specifically, the firm with an innovation collaborates with a single
business client to promote the firm’s technical skills and thereby
gain new product adoption. The goal of this strategy is to leverage
the success of one client to speed the rate of adoption by other
firms. The other means to cross the chasm is customer-driven.

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Here, the firm with an innovation is helped by pragmatists’ rec-

ognition that the risks involved in adopting an innovation are
outweighed by the problems experienced without it. The assump-
tion is that given the herd mentality of the pragmatists, when a
few firms experience success with an innovation, others will adopt
it in droves, which Moore refers to as a tornado. Common to both
the customer and brand-driven approaches of these approaches is
that at least one of the firms is willing to assume the risk of failure.

Figure 6.2: Moore’s Diffusion Model

Moore’s model offers important insights about the diffusion

process and particularly about why diffusion of disruptive innova-
tions is often slow (i.e., the chasm). The model also suggests brand
and customer-driven approaches to overcome impediments to
adoption. This conceptualization is useful in business-to-business
contexts. However, as Moore has noted, the diffusion of recent
disruptive innovations by firms such as Google, YouTube, Face-
book, and Twitter were not impeded by the chasm because the
diffusion process is disconnected from its monetization: The finan-
cial risk attendant to innovation is borne by investment bankers
and not the innovating firms. This reality has stimulated firms
to be aggressive in introducing innovations, and has prompted
consumers to adopt innovations that deliver less than promised

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performance, if for no other reason than that they are free. Along
these lines, for a number of years after its launch, Twitter did not
have a revenue model; it relied on the support of a large number
of venture capitalists.

The emergence of social media, and particularly LinkedIn, has

enhanced business-to-business firms’ ability to accelerate the diffu-
sion process. Although LinkedIn has been used more as a human
resource (e.g., for posting resumés) than a marketing tool to this
point, it is an important platform for promoting rapid diffusion of
innovations in business-to-business marketing contexts. LinkedIn
members can share knowledge with other users through groups
composed of LinkedIn users who have a common interest. And,
advertising can be posted on a firm’s LinkedIn page, or on the
relevant target members’ pages

Gladwell’s Multiple Agent Model

In The Tipping Point (2000), Malcolm Gladwell contends that

social epidemics—including rapid product diffusion–depend on
the involvement of a small set of people with specialized skills.
Their involvement creates a tipping point, that is, sufficient
momentum to produce an epidemic (which is similar to Moore’s
tornado). Gladwell’s conception of this process can be understood
as an extension of Rogers’ and Moore’s diffusion models. The
tipping point is similar to Moore’s notion of crossing the chasm,
but applied in a business-to-consumer rather than a business-to-
business context.

Two other distinctions between Gladwell’s view and that of

his predecessors warrant mention. Whereas Moore attributes
the tipping point to the initiative taken by firms to recruit initial
customers by collaborating with them or to customers’ recognition

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of the dire need for innovation, Gladwell identifies three factors

that influence the tipping point: The Law of the Few, Stickiness, and
Context. And, whereas Rogers and Moore focused on the diffu-
sion of innovations, Gladwell’s interest is in strategies that result
in the rapid expansion in product demand, regardless of whether
the product is innovative or not.

Gladwell’s Law of the Few identifies three types of change

agents who facilitate rapid diffusion of products and information:
mavens, connectors, and salesmen. Mavens refer to individuals who
use diverse sources to gain knowledge about new and existing
products. They then share this knowledge with friends and family,
in the hopes to help others make good decisions (Feick and Price
1987). Mavens differ from Rogers’ conception of opinion lead-
ers in that they often have extensive cross-category knowledge,
whereas opinion leadership is typically within a narrow domain.
Mavens’ success in brand diffusion is based on their expertise and
trustworthiness. Connectors are agents who are characterized by
their limited expertise about the products they help to diffuse, but
who have a social network that includes a large number of strong
and weak ties. These characteristics enhance the rapid spread of
information to disparate segments of the population, which is
often critical for rapid diffusion of brand information. Salesmen
are agents who possess strong powers of persuasion. Because they
are charismatic, their enthusiasm rubs off on those around them.
Salesmen use their attractiveness and trustworthiness to gain the
credibility needed to persuade others.

L Gladwell’s Law of the Few identifies three types

of change agents who facilitate rapid diffusion of
products and information: mavens, connectors, and
salesmen.

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The law of the few is illustrated by Hush Puppies, a brand of

shoe that experienced a sales decline in the mid-1990s and then
exhibited rapid growth (Gladwell, 2000). The mavens for Hush
Puppies were a small number of kids in New York. These kids
were not main stream; their goal was to standout. With few people
wearing Hush Puppies, they adopted the brand. These individuals
might be classified as mavens. Several designers who were look-
ing for haute couture in an era when people were dressing down
adopted Hush Puppies. These individuals served as connectors.
The endorsement of these designers prompted celebrities of the
time, such as Lady Diana, Tom Hanks, and David Bowie to wear
the brand, thus serving the salesperson function that stimulated
widespread adoption.

Gladwell’s analysis of mavens, connectors, and salespeople not

only identifies the key agents for diffusion, but also specifies the
functions that need to be performed to stimulate the diffusion of
product information. One function is to provide people with the
knowledge to make informed decisions. This is the role of the
maven. Also needed is an agent who facilitates the dissemina-
tion of this knowledge to a large number of people, which is the
task performed by connectors. Finally, adoption depends on the
product presentation so that it captures the interest of potential
users, which is the role of the salesmen.

A second factor to promote rapid diffusion identified by Gladwell

is stickiness, which refers to persuasive devices that enhance the
memorability of information. Presumably this is the informa-
tion that would be used to help speed the diffusion of a product.
Enhancing stickiness requires knowledge of which of these factors
are determinants of consumption in particular contexts, which in
turn depends on insight about consumers’ goals and how specific
product benefits address these goals.

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Context is the third factor that accelerates the occurrence of

a tipping point. It entails presenting a brand in a situation that
invites action. As Moore notes, crossing the chasm is often facili-
tated by a context in which an innovation addresses a problem
that is impeding firms’ success. More generally, a consideration
of context, like stickiness, requires consumer insight that offers a
means of situating a brand in individuals’ lives. Gladwell illustrates
the concept by describing a situation in which students who were
motivated to go to the health center did not exhibit that behavior
in response to health center messaging until the location of the
facility and the hours of operation were included in the appeal.
Although students knew where the health facility was, and had a
general knowledge of its hours, presenting this information made
the task seem easy—a perception that enhanced compliance with
the message advocacy.

Social Media Diffusion Model

The diffusion models considered to this point predated the

emergence of social media. Nevertheless, they remain valuable
in describing diffusion processes in situations where social media
are not a focal means of diffusion. Moreover, they are useful in
specifying the activities that enhance and impede rapid diffusion.
With the emergence of social media, depictions of the diffusion
process relied on contagion as an analogy to represent the process
by which virality occurred. Similar to the spread of infection, the
notion was that once information was seeded with a person, that
person shared it with other people, each of whom shared it with
other people until virality was observed.

In the past several years, sociological research has provided a

discipline-based perspective to describe the role of social media
in the diffusion process (e.g., Bakshy et al. 2011; Goel, Watts and

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Goldstein 2012; Sun, Marlo and Lento 2009). An important

finding is that 80% of individuals’ communications by phone, on
Facebook, and other media involve five to ten people with whom
they have close ties and with whom they share values and interests.
This phenomenon is referred to as homophily. These groups are
composed of family, friends from college and the places a person
has lived and worked, and the parents of kids’ friends (Adams
2011). These affiliations occur in online communication as well
as in other contexts. This view is depicted in figure 6.3.

Figure 6.3: Social Media Diffusion Model

The depiction of the social media diffusion model suggests

that the rapid diffusion of information requires a brand to reach
many of the five-to-ten person groups with close ties. Support
for this contention is offered in recent sociological research. In an
investigation of the diffusion of brand pages on Facebook, it was
found that cascades (diffusion from person to person) originate
with a large number of individuals, each of whom initiates the

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transmission of information to a small number of other people,

which then creates a substantial network (Sun et al., 2009). Con-
sistent with this observation, an analysis of a variety of different
social media—including Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo—found
that over 79% of people did not have a single person adopt their
information (e.g., like a brand they liked), less than 4% had adop-
tions by more than one person, and less than 1% had adoptions
by more than seven people. Thus, most cascades are very short,
which would limit the chances that they would promote rapid
diffusion of brand information and adoption (Goel et al. 2012).
Nevertheless, a few individuals could initiate extremely large cas-
cades, which would help make information about a brand spread
quickly. The possibility that this hypothesis is true seems remote,
however, given the observation that about 90% of adoptions were
the result of cascades of four or fewer (Goel et al. 2012).

This analysis offers insight about the rapid diffusion of “The

Fox” described at the outset of the chapter. Discussion of the “The
Fox” via YouTube tweets, blogs, and Tumblr created a substantial
number of views, and more importantly alerted mass media to the
song. This resulted in Ylvis’ appearance on talk shows and other
network programs, which seeded the song with many groups that
then shared it within each group. This scenario underscores the
importance of social media in creating attention that prompts large
audience media and particularly television to broadcast informa-
tion that leads to its seeding in many small groups that diffuse it
through social media. The result is rapid diffusion. At the same
time, it warrants mention that individuals who have a large fol-
lowing on social media can also serve the same broadcast function
as television (Bakshy et al. 2011). For example, Justin Beiber, who
has more than 50 million Twitter followers, offers a viable media
platform for targeting female teens.

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The Role of Advertising in the Diffusion Process:

The Acquisition, Acceleration, and Adoption Model

The review of diffusion models offers important insights in

depicting how information receives widespread exposure. In this
section, I examine the role of advertising in stimulating adop-
tion by describing a three-stage process. The acquisition stage
involves informing a substantial target audience about a brand,
the acceleration stage entails the sharing of brand knowledge among
consumers, and the adoption stage revolves around brand purchase,
and where relevant, repurchase. The value of this framework derives
from its identification of the triggers for acquisition, acceleration,
and adoption.

Acquisition

An initial task in the adoption process is to inform a substantial

number of target customers about the existence of a brand and
the brand’s position. Successful audience acquisition often requires
messaging that stimulates one or more fundamental motivations—
agency, communion, and gratification (see Chapter 4). Acquisition
can be achieved using digital, social, and traditional media.

L Successful audience acquisition often requires mes-

saging that stimulates one or more fundamental
motivations—agency, communion, and gratification.

When a firm’s objective is to reach a large number of consum-

ers where the target individuals cannot be specifically identified,
television is often the focal medium. In this scenario, social media
patterns are useful to provide additional brand information. For
example, Cialis, an erectile dysfunction product, launched the brand

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with television advertising on the Super Bowl. This vehicle exposed

the brand to a large number of consumers and it informed them
of its 36-hour effectiveness. Although the Super Bowl spot was
not rated among consumers’ favorites, it led to more visits to the
brand’s website than other brand advertising in that Super Bowl.
Moreover, Cialis’ reported a 35% increase in sales that year.

It might be argued that television was required for Cialis to

acquire an audience because at the time it was an unknown brand.
But even when a brand has a large number of fans, mass media
might be needed to ensure audience acquisition. Consider, for
example, the choices facing the Oreo brand of cookies. The brand
has over 43 million fans on Facebook; it would seem that a much
larger audience would be attracted by posting a message on its
Facebook page than would be achieved by any television program,
with the exception of the Super Bowl, which attracts over 100
million people. But because Facebook shows a brand post only to
the most engaged fans of a brand, five brand posts on Facebook in
a week is on average seen by about 15% of a brand’s fans. Thus, in
the absence of other Facebook devices to boost exposure, Oreo’s
posts would be exposed to about 5.1 million fans, which is fewer
than the audience watching popular prime time television shows.

In other instances, social media offer a promising means of

target acquisition. This is the case when a community exists that
is passionate about some activity. For example, acquisition of those
interested in wine or baking might be achieved by using Facebook
analytics to target individuals who specify an interest in these cat-
egories, or by using hashtags such as #wine or #baking on Twitter.

For many brands, audience acquisition involves the use of digital,

social, and traditional media. In Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl”
campaign, the brand crowdsourced the development of ideas for
commercials that were entered into a contest. Doritos promoted

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the contest to target consumers through a website that presented

contest rules, a PR campaign that included an article about the
contest in the Wall Street Journal, and advertising on over 1000
radio programs. Discussion of the ads and voting took place on
Facebook. The five commercials that received the most fan votes
were the finalists. Two ads were shown on the Super Bowl: one
picked by the fans, one picked by Doritos management. The win-
ning ads were posted on YouTube and viewed more than 3.7
million times.

Acceleration

Once an audience has been acquired, an effort is made to diffuse

information to additional potential customers via word-of-mouth.
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Ins-
tagram, and Google offer the opportunity to share information in
a manner than results in the rapid diffusion of brand knowledge.
Again, the fundamental motivational factors discussed in Chap-
ter 4—agency, communion, and gratification—are implicated in
explaining why acceleration occurs. In addition, acceleration can
be enhanced by the presence of executional devices that are in
some way incongruous so that they are iconic and emotionally
provocative.

A European online campaign for Fiat illustrates the accelera-

tion process. Fiat developed a computer program on a jump drive
that they termed eco-drive. Fiat owners could insert the drive
into a USB port in their cars to collect information about the
eco-friendliness of their driving behavior and then download the
information to a computer to learn about their performance: how
it had changed over time, how it might be enhanced, and how it
compared in eco-friendliness to others. This included people in
their community as well as those in their country and around the
world.

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This campaign was based on the insight that people who are
considering the purchase of a Fiat value ways to improve the envi-
ronment (i.e., competence), and are thus motivated by the presence
of standards that enable them to assess their performance. They
are also concerned about how the performance of their commu-
nity compares to that of other communities in the country and
around the world. Attention to the ad was enhanced by the use
of an amusing animated story that increased attention to the ad
and the desire to share it with others.

Adoption

Two considerations guide a brand’s efforts to gain adoption.

One is to induce consumers to purchase the brand. Both initial
and repeat adoption of a brand is stimulated by a variety of mar-
keting mix tactics that draw on the fundamental motivations.
Such tactics might include advertising that informs and reminds
consumers of a brand’s benefits and promotes new product offer-
ings, price incentives and in-store signage and displays that induce
trial and repeat purchase, and distribution methods that facilitate
the acquisition of the product or service.

The other consideration for enhancing brand adoption entails

creating barriers to successful competitive entry and emulation. The
same tactics as those described above to gain consumer adoption
are used to create barriers to competitors’ success. For an established
brand, advertising news related to the brand’s equity is an impor-
tant means of limiting competitors’ sales. Similarly, when launching
a startup, substantial resources are allocated to all elements of the
marketing mix to achieve scale quickly and thus limit the success-
ful entry by competitors. For example, when Zalando launched
an online shoe and sports goods business in Europe, it offered a
broad assortment of branded products, low prices, free delivery,
and liberal product return policies. Advertising expenditures at

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launch rivaled McDonald’s ad expenditure. Zalando was willing

to incur substantial losses at launch in order to motivate consumer
purchase and create a barrier to competitive entry that enabled
the brand to achieve scale. The idea of acquisition, acceleration,
and adoption is schematically represented in figure 6.4.

Figure 6.4: The Acquisition, Acceleration, and Adoption Model

Chapter Summary

The history of diffusion models suggests that the functions

performed by agents such as Rogers’ opinion leaders, Moore’s
visionaries and pragmatists, Gladwell’s mavens, connectors and
salespeople can be performed by many different people engaged
in social media. However, in most situations, social media chan-
nels are likely to be insufficient to stimulate widespread diffusion.
Traditional media— particularly television—are needed in the
acquisition of target individuals, who then accelerate diffusion by
sharing it with a relatively small group of close ties. In situations
where a community is already in place, social media might be suf-
ficient to stimulate brand diffusion. However, the general insight
about the diffusion process underscores the view that social media,
at present, is not a replacement for traditional media; rather, social
media is a complement to traditional media channels.

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Recommended Reading

Adams, Paul (2011). Grouped: How Small Groups of Friends

are the Key to Influence on the Social Web. New York: New Riders.

Bakshy, Eytan, Jake M. Hofman, Winter A. Mason and Duncan

J. Watts (2011). “Everyone’s an Influencer: Quantifying Influence
on Twitter.” Proceedings of the Fourth ACM International Confer-
ence on Web Search and Data Mining. Association of Computing
Machinery, 65-74.

Feick, Lawrence F. and Linda. L. Price (1987), “The Market

Maven-A Diffuser of Marketplace Information,” Journal of Mar-
keting, 51, 83-97.

Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things

Can Make a Big Difference. New York: Little Brown.

Goel, Sharad, Duncan J. Watts and Daniel G. Goldstein (2012).

“The Structure of Online Diffusion Networks,” Proceedings of the
13th ACM Conference of Electronic Commerce, 623-638.

Moore, Geoffrey (1991). Crossing the Chasm. New York: Harper

Business Essentials

Rogers, Everett (1962). Diffusion of Innovations. New York:

Free Press of Glencoe.

Sun, Eric, Itamar Rosenn, Cameron Marlo and Thomas M.

Lento (2009). “Gesundheit! Modeling Contagion Through Face-
book News Feed.” Proceedings of the Third International ICWSM
Conference, 146-153.

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Chapter 7
Brand Positioning
In this chapter
• The Positioning Statement
• Frame of Reference
• Point of Difference
• Reason to Believe

In 1972, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, Knight’s former track

coach, launched the first Nike shoe. This running shoe featured a
waffle sole that provided better traction and more cushioning than
that offered by competitors. To promote Nike shoes, a premier
long-distance runner of that time, Steve Prefontaine, was hired as
a spokesman. By 1974, the Nike Waffle was the best-selling train-
ing shoe in the United States. Several years later, Nike established
Athletics West, a facility for the Olympic training of world-class
athletes.

One means to capture the equity of Nike as a brand is through

a brand position statement:

For those that engage in athletic activity, Nike provides authentic

athletic footwear that offers superior athletic performance because the
shoes are designed for professionals. Nike is aggressive and innovative.

To sustain that position, the brand has relied on the image

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of world-class athletes such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James,

Derek Jeter, Rafael Nadal, and Maria Sharapova. The brand has
also supported the position through the constant development of
state-of-the-art foot-wear that features technology such as the
NIKE-AIR® cushioning. The brand’s personality is aggressive
and innovative in pursuit of outstanding performance.

Although a positioning statement can be written in different

ways, the Nike scenario identifies critical elements that are often
featured in positioning statements. Specifically, the Nike position-
ing statement can be deconstructed into five elements:

Target: People who engage in athletic activity

Frame of reference: Athletic footwear
Point(s) of difference: Superior athletic performance
Reason(s) to believe: The shoes are designed for professionals
Brand personality: Aggressive and innovative

In this chapter, I examine how a brand position is developed

and articulated. As I have discussed the target elsewhere (Chap-
ter 3), here I focus on the importance of the frame of reference,
point of difference, and reasons to believe. Finally, I discuss brand
personality through the lens of brand archetypes.

Fundamentals of Brand Positioning

Advertising strategy is influenced significantly by a brand’s

actual or desired position. Specifically, advertising is often used
to convey, or must at least remain consistent with, the elements
of the brand’s position. To provide another illustration of a brand
position, consider the following positioning statement for Volvo:

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For upscale individuals (target), Volvo is the family sedan

(frame of reference) that offers the best balance of safety
and durability (points of difference) because Volvo has a
history of intelligent design (reason to believe). Volvo is
family-oriented and genuine (brand personality).

Importantly, the same elements of a positioning statement are

as relevant business-to-business brands. For example, a positioning
statement for Grainger could be written as follows:

For large corporate customers, responsible for the purchase

of industrial maintenance supplies and equipment (target),
Grainger is the maintenance, repair, and operations firm
(frame of reference) that keeps your business running more
smoothly than competitors (point of difference) because it
has the largest inventory of industrial supplies (reason to be-
lieve) that are delivered in a friendly and reliable manner
(brand personality).

A brand’s position can also be understood in terms of the hier-

archical organization of information in memory. Specifically, a
brand’s positioning can be depicted in terms of a triangle shown
in figure 7.1. This representation conveys the frame of reference
as the relationship between a brand and a category. The frame of
reference identifies the goal accomplished through the use of a
brand’s product or service. That is, it tells us the general purpose
for which the product or service was created. The point of differ-
ence reflects a benefit or how a brand is superior to its competition
in achieving the category goal. Both the frame of reference and
the point of difference can be supported by reasons to believe.
Reasons to believe are elements that provide evidence for category
membership as well as a particular function offered by a brand.
Consumers tend to be more focused on the point of difference; as

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a consequence, more attention is often given to conveying reasons

to believe to support the point of difference as opposed to reasons
to believe to support the frame of reference.

Figure 7.1: The Positioning Triangle

As noted in the discussion of the Volvo positioning statement,

the frame of reference might be family sedans. This frame of refer-
ence would include competitors such as Honda, Toyota, Nissan,
and Buick. The price, size, and features of the Volvo might be
highlighted to qualify it as a member of the category of family
sedans. To convey the balance of safety and durability, the brand
might leverage features such as front and side airbags, a crumple
zone at the front of the car, a uni-construction body, a reinforced
roof, as well as impressive government crash test results (figure
7.2). Thus, reasons to believe are tangible attributes that support
the plausibility of a functional benefit.

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Figure 7.2: The Positioning Triangle Applied to Volvo

The Establishment of the Frame of Reference

Advertising a brand’s position, especially a new product or ser-

vice, often begins with the presentation of its frame of reference.
Consumers need to know the goal a brand helps the consumer
achieve before they can assess how the brand dominates the alter-
natives against which it competes. Thus, it is important to know
that Nike makes athletic shoes before consumers can appreciate
the brand’s superior performance. For established brands, the frame
of reference and point of difference can be presented together,
whereas when a brand is new it is generally prudent to inform
consumers about its frame of reference in some detail. Once con-
sumers know the frame of reference, its point of difference can
be described in detail.

The frame of reference is a strategic tool that specifies the goal

achieved by a brand and thus suggests the competitive context in
which the brand operates. The most common way to represent

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a brand’s frame of reference is its category membership. This

representation of a frame of reference was used to describe the
positioning of Nike, Volvo, and Grainger. Alternatively, the goal
of using a brand might be communicated by an exemplar, points
of parity, or goal-based framing. Next, I describe each of these
approaches to identifying a frame of reference and discuss when
it is most appropriate to use each.

Use of Category Membership to Establish Frame of Reference

When a category is well established and understood by custom-

ers, the category itself is typically used to describe the frame of
reference. For example, the frame of reference for the Pepsi brand is
soft drink. Because most people are aware that soft drinks provide
good tasting liquid refreshment, the category provides a shorthand
way of indicating the goal in purchasing Pepsi products. Similarly,
many consumers are aware that coffee shops serve both coffee and
baked goods, and typically offer the consumer free wireless access.
Thus, a new local coffee shop can convey substantial information
simply by calling the brand a “coffee shop.”

L The preferred category frame is typically one that

provides a substantial target and at the same
time enables the brand to be differentiated from
competition.

Although the specification of a brand’s category member-

ship might appear to be a straightforward task, for some brands
ambiguity exists in identifying the most appropriate frame of
reference. For example, although it is appropriate to frame Volvo
as a family car, a broader or wider frame—such as cars—or a
narrower frame—such as mid-priced family sedans —could be

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chosen. The preferred category frame is typically one that provides

a substantial target and at the same time enables the brand to be
differentiated from competition.

To illustrate the virtue of selecting a category that provides a

broad frame, consider the strategy developed by Lever 2000, which
is positioned as follows:

For families (target), Lever 2000 is the body soap (frame of

reference) that offers complete care (points of difference)
because its hydrating formula moisturizes the skin as it de-
odorizes (reason to believe).

This frame of reference defined Lever 2000 broadly as part

of the larger category of body soap. However, within this large
category, the brand distinguished itself as the only member with
complete care (i.e., due to moisturizing and deodorizing). In a
category where other brands had covered a variety of niche points
of difference such as moisturizing and deodorizing, it made sense
for Lever to adopt a broad frame of reference because this made
its point of difference—“does it all”—clear and persuasive to con-
sumers.

Efforts to present a clear and distinct position can also lead to

the adoption of a relatively narrow frame of reference. When The
Movie Channel (TMC) launched its brand, competitors such as
HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime touted the fact that they offered
much more than movies such as concerts, dramas, and comedy
shows. To differentiate its brand, TMC used a movie channel
frame of reference and conveyed to its audience that it had more
movies than any other movie channel. TMC’s focus on movies
made it the one movie channel worth paying for based on its
point of difference of having more of the movies people wanted

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to see. In this case, the competition had adopted a broad position

of entertainment, which provided an opportunity for TMC to
compete with a narrow frame. As another example, Johnsonville
claimed that it made the best tasting sausages because “sausage
is all we do.” More generally, small brands often use a narrow
frame of reference to develop a strong reason to believe their point
of difference. Of course, the smaller the niche represented by a
frame of reference, the more limited the demand for the brand.
For instance, a restaurant that positions itself as being the best
place to dine for special occasions may reduce visits by the average
consumer to once a year or less.

Importantly, the frame of reference is a strategic choice. For

some brands, several different categories might be plausibly chosen
as frames of reference at the same point in time. Arm & Hammer
baking soda is positioned as a cooking ingredient, but it also has
membership in the deodorizer category because it provides a fresh
smell when left open in the refrigerator or poured down the drain
of sinks or tubs. In fact, this latter frame of reference essentially
invites consumers to throw out what they just bought by pouring
their money down the drain.

Use of Exemplar to Establish Frame of Reference

Another approach to represent the frame of reference to the

consumer is through an exemplar. This approach entails the choice
of a clear member of the category. For example, when Taco Bell
wanted to be thought of as part of the breakfast frame of reference,
the brand launched a campaign to compare itself to McDonald’s
breakfast. The idea behind this approach is simple: people already
understand that McDonald’s is a choice for breakfast. As such,
when Taco Bell commented on McDonalds, this caused consum-
ers to think about Taco Bell as a breakfast choice as well; Taco
Bell then distinguished itself with its unique breakfast offerings.

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Brands can also be used as exemplars to announce a brand’s

frame of reference. Subaru promoted the safety of its cars in
advertising by suggesting, “If you liked Volvo, consider Subaru.”
Although these brands are not sold at the same price point and
thus do not compete directly with each other, the use of Volvo as
an exemplar suggested that Subaru’s frame of reference was the
“safe car.” A sample positioning triangle for an exemplar frame
of reference is shown in figure 7.3 (top).

Figure 7.3: The Positioning Triangle for an Exemplar and a Point of

Parity Frames of Reference

Points of Parity to Establish Frame of Reference

Points of parity are another means used to convey a brand’s

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frame of reference. Points of parity refer to common features

that are expected of any member of the category. For example, if
I told you that the new business across the street brewed coffee,
had breakfast pastries, provide free wireless access, and had ample
room to sit and work it might become clear to you that this is a
place that fulfills the role of a coffee shop.

In a similar fashion, when the Apple watch launched in the

market, it helped build its frame of reference by informing con-
sumers what could be expected from the product. Specifically,
one could expect that such a device would tell time, be able to
take phone calls, and provide apps for Twitter and sports services.
As Apple and other brands continue to advertise these points of
parity, consumers become knowledgeable about the goals these
brands achieved. This knowledge led to a category name—smart-
watch—that was adopted as the frame of reference. These points
of parity become expectations of what the minimum a product
in the category will be able to do; products must differentiate
themselves through points of difference.

Points of parity are also used to gain precision in communicat-

ing a brand’s frame of reference. For example, telling consumers
that Volvo has front wheel drive, gets about 25 mpg on the high-
way, and has airbags and anti-lock brakes showcases the goal that
might be achieved if a Volvo were purchased, despite the fact that
these features are not points of difference (i.e., many other brands
offer the exact same attributes). This precision reduces ambiguity
that emerges when category membership or exemplars represent
multiple dimensions. For example, if Volvo were to use Audi as
an exemplar to indicate Volvo was sporty and safe, for many con-
sumers only the sporty benefit would be salient. Such an approach
might create a frame of reference—sports cars— in which Volvo
might not be able to compete successfully. The positioning triangle
that depicts the use of points of parity to establish the frame of

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reference is shown in figure 7.3 (bottom).

Use of Goals to Establish Frame of Reference

In some situations, the frame of reference can be established

through an emphasis on the goal a service or product fulfills.
After all, the frame of reference is essentially built around the
accomplishment of a particular goal.

A direct statement of the goal accomplished can be useful when

several categories are involved in goal achievement. This approach
brings to mind one’s own brand and category. For example, the goal
to lose weight or have a romantic evening can be accomplished via
a number of categories. One could have a romantic evening via the
choice of a restaurant, a romantic getaway, or the choice of apparel.
To emphasize that a brand is relevant, it might specify its relation
to the goal (e.g., Carol’s Bed & Breakfast is the perfect romantic
getaway). In a similar manner, Weight Watchers is framed as a
weight loss firm that provides its patrons with recipes along with
social support. London is promoted as the city to have fun in by
visiting historical, cultural, and kid-friendly venues. Each of these
approaches represents the idea that several categories are involved
to achieve the broader goals, and thus one highlights the relevance
of their offering via a statement of the goal.

Defining frame of reference as a goal reveals that brands from

different categories can sometimes be competitors. Thus, while
Weight Watchers is focused on the consumption of food (i.e.,
what consumers eat), it might compete with athletic clubs because
both are means to achieve weight loss. Along the same lines, ice
cream shops such as Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone compete
with McDonald’s, which sells a substantial amount of ice cream.
Similarly, Hallmark competes with email, flowers, and phone calls
as a means to express sentiments. These observations highlight the

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importance of considering categories that achieve the same goal as

part of the competitive set. Failure to do so raises the possibility of
a brand being blindsided by another category. For example, Ency-
clopedia Britannica considered their competition to be other hard
copy encyclopedias, which delayed the development of an online
version to compete with Wikipedia and other online sources of
information. In a similar fashion, Uber has become a competitor
to both traditional taxi services but also to car ownership.

The Development of a Point of Difference

A frame of reference represents the goal accomplished by a

brand and thus highlights similarities among members of a cat-
egory or differences between categories. In contrast, the point of
difference is a benefit that is viewed by consumers as a compel-
ling way to achieve a goal that also sets the brand apart from
competition. The benefit that serves as a point of difference is
often functional. A brand is claimed to be superior in terms of a
function it offers such as taste, convenience, or the status it con-
veys. However, as discussed in the next chapter (Chapter 8), it is
possible for a brand to ladder up to emotion.

The choice of the benefit to serve as a brand’s point of dif-

ference is partially the result of a brand’s rank in its category.
Category leaders typically feature the benefit that is most likely to
stimulate category demand. Tide promotes its superior cleaning
and Budweiser features its better taste. Brand leaders often use
their greater resources (i.e., marketing budgets) to maintain their
position even when the features for which they claim superiority
are no better than those of their competitors. Recall, what often
matters in persuasion is what the consumers believes, not objective
reality (see Chapter 4).

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L The choice of the benefit to serve as a brand’s point of

difference is partially the result of a brand’s rank in its
category. Category leaders typically feature the ben-
efit that is most likely to stimulate category demand.

In contrast to leading brands, follower brands tend to adopt

niche-positioning strategies. The second leading brand in a cat-
egory selects a niche feature and the third brand selects another
niche feature. The selection of niche features continues until only
price is left to compete on. In the detergent category, for instance,
Tide promotes superior cleaning, Surf advertises its deodorizing
benefit and Arm & Hammer is the low-cost brand.

Evaluation of a Point of Difference

One means to evaluate the adequacy of a benefit selected as a

point of difference is to invoke four criteria (see figure 7.4). First,
is the benefit desired by consumers? Put simply, the benefit selected
as the point of difference must be meaningful to the consumer.
If the answer is yes, the next issue concerns whether the position
can be owned. To answer this question, a comparison with the
competition is typically required. A brand must be able to distin-
guish itself in a meaningful way from the competitors. As will be
discussed shortly, one means to accomplish this is to have a clear
and strong reason to believe. Third, it is important to determine
whether the brand’s position is navigable. Can it be steered in a
manner so that the brand delivers on its promise reliably? The most
efficient way to kill a brand is to adopt a position that it cannot
deliver! Finally, one must consider whether the brand’s position
is likely to endure over time. That is, will the position be able to
last multiple years or, at a minimum, the course of an advertising
campaign? For example, as competitors innovate in a space it is

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possible that a point of difference might erode.

When a brand has acceptable performance on these four cri-

teria—Desired by consumers, Owned by the brand, Navigable
by the brand, and able to Endure—this suggests that the benefit
chosen for the point of difference is DONE right!

Figure 7.4: Evaluating a Brand Position

To illustrate DONE, consider Guitar Hero, which offered

consumers the benefit of feeling like they played guitar without
having to devote the time required to master the instrument. For
a number of consumers this was a benefit that was desired. This
point of difference would appear to be owned because Guitar Hero
was the first mover in this category. The combination of a guitar
that required only limited dexterity to operate and coordinate
with the music videos that accompanied it suggests that Guitar
Hero’s position was navigable—it delivered the promised benefit.
And with the Guitar Hero’s large repertoire of music and the
availability of a new point-of-entry target every several years, this
brand position was expected to endure over time.

Multiple Points of Difference: Brand Value

In most instances, effective communication of a position dictates

that only a single point of difference be presented. This is because
the presentation of a brand benefit usually requires substantial
attention and rehearsal. The introduction of multiple points of dif-
ference often results in consumer confusion and no benefit being

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retained. However, when a point of difference becomes well known

by a consumer, additional ads may be considered to introduce new
points of difference. Self-paced media such as newspapers, maga-
zines, and digital are good channels to use when it is important to
present multiple points of difference at the same time.

One situation where the presentation of multiple points of

difference becomes desirable pertains to value. Brand value is a
function of two factors, the brand’s quality and its cost. Quality
can refer to functional qualities of the product as well as the psy-
chological qualities experienced in the use of the product. Cost
refers to the price of the product as well as the time required to
obtain the product. Thus, value can be expressed in terms of an
equation where value is enhanced when a brand’s functional and
psychological quality increase in relation to its cost in terms of
money and time. The value equation is represented as follows:

Value = [Quality (Functional + Psychological)]

Cost (Price + Time)

Historically, value was represented by quality in relation to

price. Time has been added to the equation more recently because
it has become a major cost in the purchase and use of products.
Due to increasing demands in the workplace, many people now
experience time famine, or lack of time to accomplish the tasks they
need to manage. The result is that time has become an increasingly
important factor in customers’ assessments of value. The emergence
of Progressive Insurance, GEICO, and Esurance testifies to the
importance of time. All these companies promise the customer
the ability to secure insurance in only a few minutes.

Several value-based strategies are available to present a brand’s

point of difference. Brands such as McDonald’s compete on all
elements of the value equation. McDonald’s seeks to offer good

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quality foods accompanied by fast service and a low price, which

has the psychological benefit of making consumers feel they are
smart shoppers. Other brands use a value position by offering the
same quality as competitive offerings, but at a lower price. This
strategy, with its focus on the denominator of the value equa-
tion, is followed by brands such as Suave shampoo and WalMart.
Brands can also compete in the numerator of the value equation
by offering superior quality in the products and the experience
of using it. Apple computer, Starbucks, and Williams Sonoma
utilize this strategy.

The Selection of a Reason to Believe

One or more reasons to believe—or proof points—typically

support a brand’s selected point of difference. Consumers do not
readily accept a point of difference purely by virtue of a brand's
statement. I examine two commonly used reasons to believe in
positioning and advertising a brand: attributes and image. I also
discuss how to position a brand when it has no apparent reason
to believe it is superior to competitors’ offerings.

Attributes

In most categories, attributes serve as the most powerful means

to both support a function and to promote rapid brand growth.
Attributes can take the form of ingredients ( Jif has more fresh
roasted peanuts), country of origin (Dewar’s Scotch is made in
Scotland), as well as brand heritage (Volvo is safe). The value of
attributes is that they can often be readily observed and verified.
As such, it is often easier to convince consumers of the veracity
of attributes relative to other reasons to believe.

Despite the power of attributes in these various forms, a key

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limitation is that they are often not sustainable in the long term
because they can be imitated by competitors. In the smartphone
category, RIM Blackberry, which had 35% of the global smart-
phone share in 2010, dwindled to 2% share three years later. Much
of this loss was attributable to the dramatic inroads made by Sam-
sung, a brand that introduced many innovative product features
during this period that helped grow its global share of smartphones
from 8% to 38%. The attributes promoted by Samsung provided
reasons to believe it was the cutting-edge smartphone.

Thus, attributes can provide compelling reasons to believe a

brand benefit that often produce sizeable short-term growth, but
barriers to competitive entry such as superior technological skills
and patents are required if a brand is to sustain its gains in the long
run. Brands that focus heavily on attributes often find themselves
in the business of innovation.

Image

When few barriers exist to competitive emulation of attributes,

image is often used as a reason to believe a brand benefit. When
image is employed, features might be presented, but the focal
elements conveyed in advertising are who uses the brand and in
what context. Notice, image serves as a reason to believe because
it still supports a desired function. This function could be related
to quality or style. For example, if a person desires to “look profes-
sional” or “hip,” he might look to spokespeople as evidence that
the brand will provide this function. Similarly, if a person wants a
product of superior function, he might look to professional athletes
that endorse the product.

As an example of the use of image as a reason to believe, consider

IKEA. To promote its furniture as the most contemporary in its
price range, IKEA shows the types of people who find its products

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attractive and the living environments in which IKEA products

are found. The products IKEA offers are present in its advertising,
but their features are not discussed. Rather, the brand uses the
imagery associated with its products as evidence for its position.
Similarly, a variety of fragrances hire celebrities to promote the
attractiveness of their brands to a particular segment. Lady Gaga
promoted Fame, Maria Sharapova endorsed Avon Luck, Taylor
Swift was the spokesperson for Starstruck, Beyoncé promoted
Heat, and Brad Pitt was featured in Chanel No. 5 advertising. The
use of image reasons to believe reflects the belief that, at least in
some cases, consumers are interested in how well a brand fits them
rather than its ingredients. Celebrities who have large followings
on social media are particularly attractive to brands.

Image and attribute reasons to believe are sometimes featured

together in support of a brand benefit. Apple’s iconic “Get a
Mac” campaign featured actors Justin Long as “Mac” and John
Hodgman as “PC.” The executions were designed to personify the
computer systems they represent; Mac is young, friendly, confident,
and sports a comfortable and casual look. In contrast, “PC” is an
uptight, insecure, socially inept individual who wears drab, ill-
fitting clothing. Although the reasons to believe Apple’s superiority
rests partly in image, the executions also involve a conversation
where Mac dominates PC on a particular discussion (e.g., ability
to make movies). In the three months following the launch of this
campaign, Mac sales rose 12%. Microsoft launched a counterat-
tack with commercials that feature Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld
as well as other personalities. This response was met with Mac vs.
PC spots that sustained the impact of the “Get a Mac” campaign
by making fun of VISTA and other PC features.

Category Essence

In some cases, brands might lack a reason to believe that they are

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superior to the competition in an important way. Most airlines offer

similar services and amenities, many phones offer the same fea-
tures, and most hotels at the same price point have similar rooms,
restaurants, and lobbies. In these instances, consumer insight about
the category can be called upon to differentiate a brand.

Specifically, a brand might offer a point of difference that it

is “best in class” because the brand understands the consumer
better than any other brand. The idea that a brand understands the
consumers’ needs in a category, and therefore can best serve the
consumer, is referred to as category essence. Category essence oper-
ates under the idea that if a brand demonstrates an understanding
of consumers’ problems, it is the best solution. To illustrate, Lee
Jeans promoted the brand by showing the problems women
encountered in trying to fit into jeans. Consumers were urged to
buy Lee Jeans as a remedy for this problem. Although the brand
suggested a point of difference (i.e., better fit), the brand gave
neither an attribute or an image reason to believe this point of
difference. Nevertheless, the campaign succeeded in stimulating
purchase. One explanation for the persuasiveness of the Lee Jeans’
campaign is that consumers inferred Lee Jeans’ understood their
problem. Because the brand understood the problem, consumers
further inferred that the brand must have developed a solution.

L Category essence operates under the idea that if a

brand demonstrates an understanding of consumers’
problems, it is the best solution.

The use of category essence is often a strategy of last resort

because competitors typically have access to the same consumer
insight and could thus emulate a category essence strategy. More-
over, if a competitor can find a viable attribute or image, this

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is often a stronger reason to believe. The approaches to support

a brand’s position examined in this chapter are summarized in
Table 7.1.

Table 7.1: Reasons to Believe to Support Positioning

Positively and Negatively Correlated Attributes and

Benefits

When developing a positioning statement, it is important to

consider how various pieces relate to one another. For example,
when multiple attributes or benefits are in place, one must consider
whether they are positively or negatively related to one another.
When they are positively correlated—that is they naturally go
together such as smaller cars being associated with greater gas effi-
ciency—consumers are more inclined to accept that the brand has
the represented benefits and/or attributes. However, when benefits
or attributes are negatively correlated—that is, they seem to conflict
with one another, such as larger cars and greater gas efficiency—
consumers are typically skeptical. For example, Volvo attempted
to compete with Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes on performance

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by showing how nimble the Volvo S60s was on a slalom course.

This campaign had little effect on S60 sales. The impact of Volvo’s
performance claim was likely limited by its negative correlation
with Volvo’s heritage of safety. Volvo’s equity as as safe car made
consumers skeptical about its performance claim. Similarly, a
claim that a product is low in calories often undermines the claim
that it tastes good, and promoting a brand as inexpensive under-
mines a high-quality claim.

One way to address the problem of negatively correlated attri-

butes and/or benefits is to represent the attributes and/or benefits
as positively correlated. BMW, which was initially known for
performance, introduced safety as an additional factor. However,
BMW demonstrated its safety by showing its superior stopping
and maneuverability; these points of difference were aligned with
performance. This strategic positioning led to the formulation of
BMW as “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” When Ford purchased
Volvo, they attempted to follow this approach with the slogan
“Protect your body, ignite your soul,” by making safety the basis
for enjoying performance. Thus, an important aspect of positioning
strategy can be to find a plausible means of making benefits that
are seemingly negatively correlated appear to be positively related.

L An important aspect of positioning strategy can be

to find a plausible means of making benefits that are
seemingly negatively correlated appear to be posi-
tively related.

Making a Point of Difference a Point of Parity

One approach brands use to gain advantage over the competition

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is to suggest to consumers that a competitor’s point of difference

has become a point of parity. When performed successfully, the
strategy elevates the advertising brand’s points of difference and
minimizes the reasons consumers have to buy a competitor's brand.
In the cleaning category, for example, Clorox was promoted as a
powerful cleaner, whereas Oxi Clean was seen as safer for the envi-
ronment. Clorox developed advertising that showed it being used
to clean the toilet bowl, but at the same time it was safe enough
so that the family dog could drink out of the bowl without being
harmed. Rather than saying Clorox was stronger, this advertising
aimed to make Oxi Clean’s safety point of difference a point of
parity, thus making Clorox’s heritage of cleaning power the only
point of difference between the brands.

When category demand is not growing, substantial use is made

of this approach to steal share from competitors. However, cau-
tion in this strategy is warranted. Specifically, in cases where two
brands aggressively attempt to use this strategy by representing
the other brand's point of difference as a point of parity, confusion
about each brand’s position might occur. Competition between
Olay and Dove deodorant illustrates this problem. Olay aired
advertising that both promoted the brand’s superior dryness as
a point of difference and presented Dove’s moisturizing point of
difference as a point of parity. At the same time, Dove advertised
the reverse. The result was confusion about what each brand stood
for and smaller players gained share based on price.

Brand Personality

Consumers often anthropomorphize brands. The recognition of

this practice has prompted strategists to create brand personalities.
The focus on brand personality has led some brands to incorporate
brand personality into the positioning statement.

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One means that brands have adopted to find and label their
personality is via the use of archetypes. Archetypes were initially
developed by psychiatrist Carl Jung in his research on cultural
mythologies. Variants of Jung’s archetypes have since been used to
personify brands. Although various archetypes have been proposed,
twelve archetypes are particularly common. These archetypes are
described in table 7.2; the reader is directed to read this table
before proceeding further.

Although the archetypes are qualitatively distinct, clusters of

archetypes exist that share characteristics along two dimensions.
The first dimension is whether the archetype pertains to motives of
agency versus communion (see Chapter 4), and the other is order
versus change. The Magician, Outlaw, and Lover archetypes are
similar to each other in that they all involve change and a sense
of communion. The Lover, Everyman/woman, and Caregiver, also
involve communion, but they are associated with order rather than
change. The Ruler, Creator, and Innocent are related to order and
a focus on the self (i.e., agency). The final three archetypes of the
Sage, Explorer, and Hero relate to self and change.

Archetypes are metaphors intended to capture the essence of

the brand. They elevate the analysis of consumers’ motivations for
product use from purely rational factors to a more symbolic level.

L Archetypes are metaphors intended to capture the

essence of the brand. They elevate the analysis of
consumers’ motivations for product use from purely
rational factors to a more symbolic level.

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Table 7.2: Common Archetypes and Brand Examples

Archetypes also provide a characterization of the brand that

can be useful in the strategic assessment of whether a specific
feature fits with the brand’s persona. For example, it would be
inappropriate for Doritos, which typically adopts a Jester archetype
in advertising, to present detailed information about the brand’s
ingredients, or for Quaker Oats, which is most readily categorized
as a Caregiver, to develop humorous light-hearted appeals. As

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such, archetypes can be a means to help creative understand the

tonality or delivery that a communication should take.

Archetypes discipline product development and advertising

strategies by helping a brand adhere to its character. This function
is often best served when a brand is associated with one archetype,
as is the case for Harley Davidson. However, the value of arche-
type analysis is less clear when a brand is associated with multiple
archetypes. For example, Apple is characterized as a Magician,
but it can also be viewed as a Creator or an Outlaw. Academic
inquiry into understanding how to best use archetypes remains
an open area of exploration.

Chapter Summary

Key aspects of positioning are the development of a frame of

reference, a point of difference, and a reason to believe.

The frame of reference signals the purpose or goal of using the

brand. The frame of reference can be represented by a category, an
exemplar, points of parity, or by a statement of the goal itself. The
strategic selection of a frame of reference can be used to help grow
a brand by attracting demand from other categories. Moreover,
proper understanding of the frame of reference can reduce the
likelihood of being blindsided by competitors who achieve the
same customer goal as one’s own brand, but who hold member-
ship in a different category.

Points of difference are represented by benefits that distinguish a

brand from its competitors in ways that are important to consum-
ers. The DONE framework can be used to assess a potential point
of difference or benefit. Points of difference can be supported by
attribute or image reasons to believe. Although attributes typically

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are most effective in stimulating demand, they are often readily

imitable. As a consequence, brands often turn to image to support
a position. When a brand is at parity with competitors, consumer
insight can be used to distinguish a brand from its competitors.

Finally, a brand’s equity can be personified by associating it

with an archetype that may be used to inform creative strategy.

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Chapter 8
Sustaining a
Brand’s Position
In this chapter
• Strategies for Sustaining a Position
• Laddering Down versus Laddering Up
• Sustaining a Position versus Repositioning

Reebok emerged as a major athletic shoe brand in the mid-

1980s. Brand development was based on the observation that
women were exercising in substantial numbers and sought to gain
every ounce of benefit from exercise. Reebok’s position stated that
women could enhance their performance through exercise if they
wore a shoe that provided both exceptional comfort and fit. This
benefit of the brand—the point of difference— was supported
by the production of shoes made from garment-quality leather.
When research indicated that the vast majority of consumers
who wore athletic shoes never ventured onto a court or used the
shoes to engage in athletic activities, Reebok aired advertising
that showed people wearing Reeboks to do everyday activities
like walking and picnicking.

This campaign helped Reebok to surpass Nike as the leading

athletic shoe in the United States. Many consumers viewed and
purchased Reeboks as the casual shoe of choice. Within two years,

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however, Reebok’s market share dropped from 33% to 18%. Why?

Reebok advertising had reframed the brand as a member of the
same category as casual brown shoes rather than a member of the
athletic shoe category. As competition in the casual shoe category
increased, Reebok lost share to this competition. In contrast, Nike
continued to advertise its superior athletic performance, which
made Reebok less attractive as an athletic shoe than Nike. As such,
Nike gained share in the athletic shoe category, which further
dampened Reebok sales.

To recoup market share, Reebok attempted to position itself

once more as an athletic shoe with superior performance. To
build this point of difference, Reebok focused on the develop-
ment of product innovations. The brand developed the PUMP,
which enabled the Reebok wearer to get a snug fit by varying the
air pressure in the shoe. Reebok also introduced the first cross-
training shoe, and launched an advertising campaign that featured
celebrity athletes to promote brand performance. However, none
of these initiatives were successful in restoring Reebok’s share or
its position as the superior performance shoe.

This history underscores the more general finding that once a

brand’s position has gained traction with consumers, it is difficult
and costly to change it. Thus, it is important to develop strategies
that sustain an established brand position. The purpose of the
present chapter is to examine such strategies. They include efforts
to maintain the same strategy and execution over time, maintain
the same strategy but represent the position in a contemporary
manner, and to enrich the brand’s position either by introducing
additional reasons to believe the brand’s position or by using func-
tional benefits to infer emotional ones. As part of this discussion,
I assess the virtues of sustaining a brand position and examine
when a change of position is likely to be needed.

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L Once a brand’s position has gained traction with con-

sumers, it is difficult and costly to change it.

Strategies for Sustaining a Position

Can you name a brand with a well-established position that was

repositioned successfully? Better yet, can you name ten? The fact is
very few successful cases of repositioning exist. One reason for this
is that a consumer does not simply learn a new position. Rather, to
learn a new position a consumer must unlearn the current brand
associations that exist. As a result of this difficulty, the preferred
strategy for a new brand is to adopt a sustainable position to start.

However, the challenge in sustaining a position is that con-

sumers tire of the same advertising due to a phenomenon called
“wear-out.” The downside of wear-out is it can lead consumers to
disengage from advertisements and a brand. As a consequence,
a brand must consider how to advertise to maintain consumers’
interest and attention. Next, I discuss several strategies to sustain
a brand’s position over time.

Maintaining the Same Position and Creative Execution

In some cases, a brand can actually sustain its position through

the same position and creative execution over time. The brand
simply changes the creative content. Marlboro cigarettes is a brand
that has followed this strategy. Since the 1950s, Marlboro was
promoted as the masculine cigarette brand. In the United States,
advertisements featured cowboys who exhibited a goal-directed
and self-assured demeanor (i.e., agency). Although the brand
changed the scenes, the general position and the theme were the

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same. Sustaining a similar position and execution has been success-

ful for Marlboro because the symbolism of smoking as a masculine
activity has not changed significantly over time.

Maintaining the Same Position and Changing the Execution

For most brands, it is not possible to follow the same position

and execution over time. Consumers can become bored of the
advertising or the cultural can change in a manner that dampens
the relevance of the same creative strategy. The challenge is to
maintain the same position over time and change the instances
in which the position is presented so as to create news and sustain
the perception that the brand is contemporary. For example, from
the time of its launch, Nike has been positioned as the brand for
those who aspire to achieve peak athletic performance. However,
the personification of this benefit has changed over time. Specifi-
cally, to stay contemporary, the brand has continually changed
and added to its spokespeople. Nike was long associated with
Michael Jordon, now retired, but it has formed new relationships
with active players, such as LeBron James.

A similar strategy was used by Betty Crocker, which produces

a variety of baked goods. The brand was represented by a ficti-
tious modern homemaker who relied on Betty Crocker mixes to
produce superior baked goods. Over time, eight different Betty
Crocker icons have been used; she was young or middle-aged,
professional or a homemaker, and multicultural or not. The choice
of icon depended on how women’s roles were perceived in the
culture at a point in time. But despite these executional changes,
Betty Crocker’s position as a producer of quality baked goods did
not change. The strategy of maintaining the same position and
changing the execution so that it is contemporary is referred to
as modern instantiation of a position.

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Another approach to modern instantiation is to update the

iconography presented on the package. For example, Pepsi has
changed its package design to make the brand more contemporary.
The presentation of the brand name vertically rather than hori-
zontally was adopted for this purpose. However, the traditional
Pepsi red, white, and blue colors in the form of circles and stripes
remained so as to link the package to the brand’s equity.

Modern instantiation of a position can also be achieved by the

association of the brand’s benefit with a contemporary goal. Along
these lines, Special K is positioned as a nutritional cereal. Initially
the functional benefit of the brand was that it helped women
maintain a slim figure. More recently, the nutritional benefit has
been associated with the goal of being physically fit, which is in
keeping with the motivation expressed by contemporary women
for consuming nutritional products.

Enriching the Position

In some situations, it is necessary to enrich the brand position

in order to sustain consumers’ interest and engagement with the
brand. In particular, brands may consider building on the foun-
dation of a functional benefit with advertising that explains the
emotional benefit offered by the brand. By emotional benefit, I refer
to a higher-order benefit of how it feels to use a specific brand.

To illustrate, consider Pantene, a shampoo marketed by P&G.

The brand’s target is women 25-54 who are concerned with their
appearance and aspire to achieve beauty. Pantene’s functional ben-
efit is that regular use will make hair healthy: shiny, smooth, and
strong. The reason to believe this benefit is that Pantene contains
a special ingredient or attribute, the Pro V vitamin formula. How-
ever, Pantene has also used this benefit to support an emotional
benefit to consumers: it makes consumers feel confident about

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their appearance.

One way to think about reasons to believe, functional benefits,

and emotional benefits, is that these inferences are like rungs of
a ladder; the consumer need that is met by a brand progresses
from physical and functional to social and self-actualizing as the
ladder is ascended. I refer to the inferential process to enrich a
brand’s position as laddering. The bottom rung of the ladder is
the reason to believe that supports a functional benefit, which
informs consumers about why they should prefer a brand to its
competition in achieving some goal. A brand might be presented
as more economical, convenient, efficient, or healthy than com-
petitors’ offerings. The top rung of the ladder is the emotional
benefit supplied by the function. For example, a car that offers
the functional benefit of safety might provide the consumer with
the emotional benefit of peace of mind.

Importantly, a brand that uses laddering can direct advertising

efforts to either reinforce the reasons to believe the functional
benefit or to reinforce the emotional benefit reaped from the
functional benefit. I refer to advertising that places particular
emphasis on supporting a functional benefit with the reasons to
believe as laddering down. In contrast, I refer to advertising that
places emphasis on the emotional benefit derived from a functional
benefit as laddering up (see figure 8.1). I elaborate on each of these
ideas in greater detail.

Laddering Down. Laddering down entails the use of advertis-

ing to provide support for a functional benefit with a reason to
believe. This reason often takes the form of an attribute or image
(see Chapter 7). Although a reason to believe is always part of a
positioning statement, laddering down places more emphasis on
the reason to believe as opposed to the functional benefit. For
example, Colgate Total toothpaste is positioned as offering superior

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dental hygiene. The brand uses its Triclosan ingredient to support

the benefit claim of superior protection against gingivitis. Triclosan
represents Colgate’s reason to believe its functional benefit. For
fragrances, the reason to believe a functional benefit (i.e., a desir-
able smell) might be image-related, such as the endorsement of
a celebrity like Paris Hilton or Brad Pitt.

Figure 8.1: Laddering Down versus Laddering Up

Laddering down can help sustain a brand’s functional benefit

by presenting multiple reasons to believe that benefit over time.
Along these lines, United Airlines could be positioned as the most
convenient airline, and this functional benefit might be sustained
by introducing new reasons to believe in it as the campaign pro-
ceeds. For example, United might highlight attributes such as the
multiple times it has its curbside check-in, and its online boarding
pass service in successive commercials.

The use of multiple attributes sustains a brand’s position by

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continually providing news in the form of reasons to believe. More-

over, keeping the functional benefit (and icons) the same across
ads enhances the likelihood that people will link the brand and
the benefit. The laddering down strategy that entails presenting
multiple reasons to believe a functional benefit is referred to as
the Big Idea and was developed by the Leo Burnett Advertising
Agency. This idea is discussed further in Chapter 11.

Laddering Up. Laddering up uses the functional benefit as a

means to place emphasis on the emotional benefit derived from a
product or service. For example, McDonald’s ladders up by using
its functional benefit—a restaurant that has the meals kids love
most—to infer an emotional benefit: McDonald’s is the restaurant
that makes parents feel good about their parenting.

Doug Milliken of The Clorox Company developed an alterna-

tive metaphor to the ladder. It is the bridge shown in figure 8.2.
At one end of the bridge is the brand’s reason to believe (why
I believe). As one proceeds toward the other end of the bridge
the functional benefit is encountered first (why I like the brand),
followed by the emotional benefit (how it makes me feel), and
finally the goal that is achieved (why I care about this). The addi-
tion of the goal is viewed as a another layer beyond emotion, but
this point is debatable.

Figure 8.2: The Bridge Metaphor for Brand Positioning

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Although the bridging metaphor includes the same inferential

steps as the ladder, the bridge is instructive in highlighting the
fact that when a position identifies reasons to believe and the
accompanying functional benefits, the focus is on the brand. In
contrast, a position developed in terms of emotional benefits and
goals focuses attention on how consumers situate a brand in their
life space. The bridge also highlights the fact that consumers can
be situated at a number of stations on the bridge. One segment
might only be interested in the functional benefit. For example,
blue collar worker's only concern might be that a shampoo cleans
their hair. However, white collar workers might be attracted by
the emotional benefits of a brand.

The bridging concept highlights the importance of associating

a brand with consumer goals. This can be achieved by relating
the brand to disparate objects that prompt the same feeling as is
experienced when using the brand. To convey that Old Navy helps
consumers achieve the goal of unpretentiousness, the brand might
be associated with things that share this characteristic, including
holding clerical jobs, driving a Ford Focus or Honda Civic, going
to movies, and eating at McDonald’s. In contrast, to suggest that
Banana Republic helps consumers be sophisticated, the brand
might be associated with those who hold managerial positions,
drive a BMW, attend the symphony, and dine at restaurants that
received multiple dollar signs in reviews.

In some cases, laddering or bridging can be achieved in a single

ad, particularly if the medium used to transmit information is
self-paced. In many situations, however, laddering and bridging
require the development of multiple executions over time to cap-
ture different stages of the ladder or location on the bridge. When
this is the case, devices that enhance the linkage among the ads
are important because they solidify the connection between the
rungs of the ladder or locations on the bridge. To enhance the

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impact of a laddering/bridging strategy, McDonald’s advertising

repeats reasons to believe promoted in earlier ads as a basis for
inferring the functional benefit that is being promoted currently,
and it enhances linkage of the message content to the brand by
presenting the golden arches and the McDonald’s jingle.

Extending the Position

An emerging approach in marketing is to use advertising to

extend a brand’s position to associate it with issues and initia-
tives beyond those specifically related to the brand. I refer to this
strategy as brand purpose. For example, Method products are
used to clean households and their contents in an environmentally
friendly manner. Brand purpose is achieved through an extension
of this benefit to cleaning the environment. Method achieves brand
purpose by using recyclable bottles, occupying a LEED-certified
building, providing incentives to employees to walk, bicycle, or take
public transportation to work, and by partnering with trucking
firms that use biodiesel trucks. Along the same lines, Coca-Cola
is a beverage that delivers happiness not only through its products
but also through its support of institutions like a recycling plant
in Sao Paulo that is run by individuals who formerly lived on the
street—which enhances their happiness.

Several factors have been suggested to prompt the emergence of

brand purpose. One is that a firm’s ability to attract employees—
and particularly millennials—is enhanced by their engagement
in social good that goes beyond the immediate benefits of the
firms’ products. Target is an attractive employer, in part, because
it has an ongoing program to help the community by donating
to tornado relief efforts and by collaborating with Major League
Baseball to enhance kids’ education.

A focus on brand purpose has also emerged because it addresses

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the challenge of sustaining 24/7 consumer engagement on digital

and social media by providing brand news. Associating a brand
with causes that consumers are passionate about and that are
related to the brand’s equity is a means to sustain a brand’s con-
versation with consumers. Along these lines, Dove has developed
the Campaign for Real Beauty, which advocates for the empower-
ment of women.

Sustaining a Position versus Repositioning

Sustaining a position is the preferred strategy because it serves

as a barrier to competitive entry. When a brand has maintained
its position over a significant period of time, competitors cannot
readily compete by emulating it. American Tourister, which was
known for its soft-sided luggage, was unsuccessful in promoting
the durability of the brand because it was a position Samsonite had
presented in its advertising for many years. In fact, the day after
seeing an ad for American Tourister that promoted its durability,
almost 40% of those who were exposed to it thought that the ad
was for Samsonite. Similarly, because Nike adhered to a position
of superior performance since its inception, Reebok was unable to
convince people that it was the superior performance shoe. Thus,
similar to product, price, and distribution strategies, advertising
can serve as a barrier to competitive entry.

Sustaining a position is also beneficial because the alterna-

tive is repositioning, which is costly to achieve and often fails
despite significant marketing expenditure. Along these lines, Dash
was positioned as a detergent for frontloading washers that was
superior to alternative detergents because of its unique low suds-
ing formula. When the popularity of frontloaders waned, Dash’s
attempt to reposition the brand as a deodorizing detergent failed.
Tab, a diet soft drink produced by Coca-Cola targeted at women,
attempted to reposition the brand when other brands made inroads

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by targeting men with their diet soft drinks (e.g., Diet Pepsi). This
repositioning entailed changing the color of the can from pink
to red. This effort failed to attract men. These examples illustrate
the fact that once a brand has gained traction in a position, efforts
should be made to leverage the brand’s equity by using modern
instantiation, laddering, or some other brand-sustaining strategy
before considering repositioning.

Nevertheless, circumstances exist when repositioning can be

effective. One is when few consumers are aware of the brand’s
original position. Marlboro, which was initially positioned as a
woman’s cigarette, was repositioned successfully as a masculine
cigarette because few consumers were familiar with the brand.
Repositioning also warrants consideration when the target is point
-of-entry consumers who are unfamiliar with the brand’s previous
position. Miller beer repositioned the brand by targeting point of
entry consumers aged 21-27 who were unaware of problems with
the beer’s quality because it had occurred prior to the time when
they had an interest in the beer category. Similarly, Old Spice
repositioned their Glacial Falls scent by renaming it Swagger.
This repositioning helped infuse the brand with more meaning.
Repositioning in such cases benefits from the fact that the brand
does not need to overcome negative associations consumers have
about the brand.

Repositioning can also be more likely to succeed if the modifica-

tion in the position is small. Aleve was successful in repositioning
from an analgesic frame of reference (general pain relief ) - where
its infrequent dosing point of difference was not an important
benefit to most consumers - to a narrower position of arthritis
pain relief for which infrequent dosing was important to those
suffering from chronic pain. Because the frame of reference was
a subset of the prior frame, consumers were able to readily under-
stand Aleve’s repositioning.

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Finally, repositioning is considered when a brand is a first entrant

and a second entrant joins the category. When Miller introduced
Lite, the first light beer, it was positioned as the brand that had
great taste—a frame that linked Lite with the beer category—and
was less filling, which indicated why it was superior to other beer.
When Budweiser subsequently introduced a light beer, a category
labeled "light beer" emerged. Being less filling—a point of dif-
ference in relation to beer —was a point of parity for light beers.
In effect, the frame of reference changed from beer to light beer,
which is why repositioning is sometimes termed reframing. A
new point of difference was required to compete in the light beer
category, which Budweiser seized by promoting the superior taste
of Bud Light as the functional benefit and Budweiser’s heritage
of producing superior beers as the reason to believe.

L Repositioning is considered when a brand is a first

entrant and a second entrant joins the category.

In the vast majority of situations, repositioning is not a viable

strategy because it requires a significant amount of time and sub-
stantial resources that most firms are unwilling to allocate. VW
successfully repositioned Škoda from the lowest priced car to a
value car. But it took almost a decade for Škoda to become a viable
brand throughout Europe, and it required substantial expenditures
to develop the production facility, different models, dealerships,
and marketing support necessary to be a successful brand.

Chapter Summary

Figure 8.3 summarizes the process of developing and sustaining

a position. The overall framework can be decomposed into three

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separate decision trees related to (1) establishing the frame of

reference, (2) developing a point of difference, and (3) sustaining
a position. Within each of these trees, strategies a brand might
adopt to accomplish the goal are enumerated.

Figure 8.3: Summary of Positioning Strategies

The first decision tree involves establishing a frame of reference.

In addressing this issue, a decision is required about whether the
frame of reference is other brands in the same category as the target
brand, or whether it includes brands from disparate categories
that can accomplish the same goal as the focal brand. A brand’s
frame of reference can be made operational by highlighting its
category membership (approach 1), relating it to an exemplar from
a desired category (approach 2), providing points of parity with
other brands having the same frame of reference (approach 3),
or emphasizing the goal that is accomplished by using the brand
(approach 4). When a brand has leadership in a category and the
category is unsaturated, the positioning strategy might entail a

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category build (see Chapter 3), which would promote the supe-
riority of the category in which a brand holds membership over
other categories. In effect, a category build is a means of promoting
the selected frame of reference. Category build can stand alone,
or it can be achieved in conjunction with a brand build strategy
focused on the point of difference in which separate ads for each
strategy are typically developed.

When a category build is not a viable strategy, brands are recom-

mended to focus on the development of a point of difference. A
category leader often claims the benefit that stimulates category
demand as its point of difference, and outshouts competition on
this benefit. Followers typically adopt a niche, where they have a
barrier to competitive entry. In assessing a brand’s point of differ-
ence, a brand must determine whether a viable benefit is available.
Chapter 7 discussed the selection among benefits via the DONE
framework. If a viable benefit cannot be selected, advertising is
not the means to stimulate demand for the brand. Rather, con-
sideration should be given to modifying the product (approach
1). Alternatively, a brand might consider whether it can dominate
in another category. For example, a tasty health snack might be
more successful if framed as a dessert than a health food (approach
2). This latter option entails a return to the establishment of the
frame of reference.

Once a viable point of difference is found for a brand, a brand

should decide how to support that benefit via a reason to believe.
As noted in Chapter 7, the reason to believe can take the form of
an attribute, image, or category essence. Once the reason to believe
is selected the brand can take action to promote the point of dif-
ference as well the reason to believe. This could entail advertising
that represents both in the same execution or represents the point
of difference and the reason to believe in a planned sequence.

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When a point of difference is established, brands are typically

faced with how to sustain it over time or, in some circumstances,
whether to reposition. When the established position remains
viable, the brand positioning can be sustained using a variety of
different strategies. The simplest is to sustain the same benefit
and creative execution over time with mild variation in content
(pure maintenance; strategy 1). In most cases, however, if the same
benefit is to be presented, a modern instantiation is required to
ensure that the brand is perceived as contemporary (strategy 2).
Another option is laddering (strategy 3). Laddering down entails
introducing different reasons to believe over time that support a
benefit, sustain news, and maintain the brand’s position. Laddering
up entails the use of the functional benefit to infer the emotional
benefit received. A brand can also sustain customer engagement
by the pursuit of a brand purpose, which involves extending the
emotion created by the brand to other endeavors important to the
target and related to the brand.

Finally, if an established position is no longer viable, perhaps

due to change in product functionality or consumer needs, brands
must consider a change in the product, the target, the category,
or the position. Indeed, as this last remark indicates, the decision
to reposition can, in many cases, be an entire reboot of a brand
from square one.

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Chapter 9
Media Landscape and
Channel Selection
In this Chapter
• Paid, Owned, and Earned Media
• Strategic Media Selection
• Brand-Driven versus Customer-Driven Moment

In 2015 Heinz controlled over 60% of the ketchup category

with an estimated $470 million dollars in sales. However, the
brand had decided ketchup was not enough and launched a new
Heinz mustard. The campaign, by the advertising agency David,
leveraged the brand’s equity in ketchup with the tagline “Ketchup’s
Got a New Mustard.”

The campaign appeared in multiple media channels. Com-

mercials, aired both on television and on digital properties such as
YouTube, brought to life the relationship between Heinz ketchup
and Heinz mustard by presenting Heinz mustard as the perfect
companion for ketchup's category leader. In addition, the brand
purchased both digital display ads and print executions to introduce
its mustard offering; the executions displayed Heinz mustard and
ketchup side by side. The brand also used public relations and press
releases to announce its new product to the world. At retail, Heinz
ketchup bottles were accompanied with promotional coupons for

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Heinz mustard. The brand gained immediate share in the mustard

category and now owns 9% of the category.

The launch of Heinz mustard illustrates that often many dis-

tinct media channels are used to advertise and market one’s brand.
In this chapter, I provide an overview of the media landscape to
give the reader an understanding of how media is discussed and
conceptualized in the business. In addition, I share strategic con-
siderations that can be used to guide one’s media choices.

Media: Paid, Owned, and Earned

A first means to understand the media landscape is through the

idea that media is often categorized on the basis of one of three
distinct forms. Specifically, media can be paid, owned, or earned.

Paid media represents the traditional purview of advertising.

Paid media is any media that a brand pays a fee to be presented in.
Such media include digital, television, radio, newspapers, maga-
zines and outdoor. Table 9.1 provides actual and projected paid
media expenditures for the United States for 2016-2018. The total
expenditure on media advertising in the United States for 2016 was
about $190 billion, which is a 4.5% increase over 2015. The leading
paid media in 2016 was television, however, all digital activity is
expected to eclipse television in 2017. Of course, this is partially
a positioning game for the rise of digital. If one pits all of digital
(e.g., online video, classified, paid search, internet radio, podcasts,
mobile, etc..) against all of traditional (e.g., television, newspapers,
radio, and magazines)—arguably a more proper comparison—
traditional media is forecasted to remain larger. Nonetheless, the
growth of digital media is a reality, and it has increased in share
due to the creation of new advertising opportunities in mobile
advertising, applications, and social media.

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Table 9.1 Paid Media Expenditures 2016-2018

Source: Advertising Age Marketing Fact Pact 2017

Owned media refers to marketing efforts that do not involve

payment to a media channel. For example, storefronts can serve as
means to represent and market the brand, however, these efforts
do not involve payment to a third party. Starbucks built much of
its equity as an upscale experience based on how its coffee shops
were furnished, the music that played, and the in-store displays
for their offerings. A large in-store banner ad can advertise a
new latte or a breakfast item, which might lead to an increase
in consumers’ basket, but it does not involve paid media. In the
digital sphere, brands can own properties such as websites, mobile
applications, blogs, and social media channels where they can
communicate with consumers without having to directly pay for
the communication. For example, American Airlines offers an
application to communicate to its consumers both flight times
and potential upgrade options. Of note, because owned media
does not involve payment for the communication, these channels
are not technically advertising (see Chapter 1). Nonetheless, these
channels can benefit as much from sound advertising strategy as

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paid media channels.

Earned media, as with owned media, does not involve a transac-

tion fee for the communication. However, whereas owned media
literally refers to properties the brand owns, earned media refers
to communications that are not owned by the brand. Examples
of earned media include news coverage in print, on television, or
online. Thus, when an outlet such as Advertising Age or the New
York Times discusses a brand—in print or online— this is con-
sidered earned media. As another example, Old Spice once had
their spokesperson appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show, which
reaches millions of fans. Earned media is prevalent in digital in
various forms such as reviews, blogs, and tweets.

Finally, some media platforms offer a mix of paid, owned, and

earned. For example, a brand’s appearance in response to consumer
search on platforms such as Google can be paid for, but brands
can also appear organically. In a similar vein, a brand can pay for
advertisements in YouTube, but users can also organically com-
ment on the advertisements that appear; as such, the YouTube
platform offers a blend of paid and earned media. A schematic
with representative examples of paid, earned, and owned is pre-
sented in figure 9.1.

Although a single formula to balance paid, owned, and earned

media does not exist, brands often coordinate with PR teams to
obtain voice in all three of these general media types. For example,
Heinz mustard purchased television, digital, and print executions
to introduce their mustard (i.e., paid media). The brand also put out
press releases on their web properties (i.e., owned media). Finally,
the brand’s public relations team helped push content for coverage
to various media outlets (i.e., paid media). A strategist should ask
what opportunities exists in paid, owned, and earned media and
develop an overall media plan that best suits the brand's strategic

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needs, a matter that I discuss next.

L Although a single formula to balance paid, owned,

and media earned does not exist, brands often coor-
dinate with PR teams to obtain voice in all three of
these general media types.

Figure 9.1 Paid, Earned, and Owned Media

Strategic Media Selection

How does a strategist select what media to advertise in or to

share information about their brand, product, or service? Although
natural constraints exist, such as budget, media selection can, and
arguably should, be based on a consideration of advertisers’ needs
in the communication of brand information. That is, just as with
other decisions related to advertising, media selection should be

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strategic.

In this section, I discuss four strategic issues that advertisers can

use to guide their media selection. These relate to issues of reach,
comprehension, attention, and consumer sharing. The goal of this
discussion is not to narrow how one media channel can or should
be used; rather, I use examples to help the reader understand the
type of questions that can be asked around media selection.

Reach as a Media Selection Strategy

Reach refers to efforts to have as many people as possible see

a single execution. A brand that wishes to prioritize reach as a
selection strategy emphasizes the unique impressions obtained.
For example, when a brand has a relatively mass-market product,
such as a department store or a wireless phone service, they have
a greater interest in a larger target compared to when a brand has
a more niche target, such as individuals who engage in steampunk
fashion. The idea of reach can be contrasted with frequency and
continuity (see Chapter 10).

L Reach refers to efforts to have as many people as

possible see a single execution.

In terms of strategic goals related to reach, television and You-

Tube.com represent two platforms that can lend themselves well
to this goal. For example, the Super Bowl has historically been
viewed as the single largest reach vehicle because over 100million
people watch the event; as such, a single advertisement has the
potential to be seen by a massive crowd. In addition to its ability
to potentially reach a larger number of people, television costs
scale with the size of the audience attracted to the program. For

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example, a late-night show with poor ratings might command only

$50,000, whereas a 30-second spot on the Super Bowl can com-
mand upwards of $5,000,000. Thus, one pays relative to the reach
desired. Live sporting events have become particularly attractive
in the age of digital video recorders (DVRs) based on the notion
that consumers are more prone to watch commercials when live
as opposed to recorded.

With respect to YouTube, this video-sharing social network

medium has more than a billion monthly users. The sheer number
of visitors to YouTube make it a potential candidate for a reach
strategy. Although Youtube offers various types of advertising
options, the one most relevant to a reach strategy is to purchase
space on the Homepage Redzone, where banner advertising,
videos, or a combination of these formats can be presented to a
large number of daily visitors. The cost is approximately $300,000
per day. Other features of YouTube are advertising placed before
or after desired content; with a sufficient spend these can also
achieve large reach.

Comprehension as a Media Selection Strategy

In some cases, brands might prioritize consumers’ ability to

process brand information over the reach offered by the media
form. That is, brands want to make sure individuals think carefully
about the information presented in the formation of their opinions
and beliefs. Brands might place an emphasis on comprehension
when they have highly complex or technical products that require
thoughtful evaluation. One means to aid comprehension is to select
mediums that allow the consumer to self-pace their processing
of information. Although self-pacing can occur in television and
YouTube (i.e., one can watch commercials multiple times), maga-
zines and websites are often better suited for this task.

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To illustrate, magazines allow consumers to read advertising

messages at their own pace, which facilitates the processing of
more technical or complex brand information. As with other
media forms, costs vary based on both the number of consumers
reached and the exclusivity of the audience. A four-color, full-page
ad, in Fortune might cost about $150,000; the same ad in People
magazine might cost more than $300,000. Business and trade
publications also exist for business to business brands. Business
magazine advertising can be efficient because the vast majority
of those reached are prospects that are more inclined to have
an interest to learn about the option. In addition, the unit cost
of advertising is low; the costs can range between $3,000 and
$25,000 per page, based on factors such as color, placement in the
magazine, and audience size.

In the digital sphere, websites provide another opportunity for

consumers to self-pace their exposure to detailed brand informa-
tion as well as written presentations with audio-visual information.
Brands can segment the market on their websites by develop-
ing multiple landing pages for different segments. For example,
Dove has separate landing pages for its women’s products, men’s
products, and the campaign for real beauty. For small firms with
limited resources, a Facebook page might be used in lieu of a
brand website. Given the number of people who have Facebook
accounts, it is likely that a reasonable number of target customers
are users of this platform.

Attention as a Media Selection Strategy

Brands can also prioritize media selection in an effort to gain

attention. Unlike comprehension, when attention is desired a
greater emphasis is placed on media that will catch consumers’
interest. Brands do not necessarily need consumers to scrutinize
the information presented carefully; rather, consumers just need

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to recognize the advertisement in their environment. For example,

a brand with a relatively simple message, such as Heinz mustard,
may not need consumers to actively read and understand every
piece of copy. Rather, the primary goal is to have media that will
easily capture the attention of the consumer.

One means to use media to capture attention is through the

selection of media that target consumers at or near the moment
they are decisional about the category. The selection of media for
the right moment can be both brand-driven and customer-driven.

Brand-driven Moment. Brand-driven moment is proactive—the

brand aims to advertise to consumers at times when consumers
are prone to think about or make a purchase in the category. The
nature of the media that is most relevant to the moment often
depends on the brand and the category. However, I offer illustrative
examples with respect to the use of outdoor, transit, and display
advertising to achieve brand-driven moment.

L Brand-driven moment is proactive—the brand aims

to advertise to consumers at times when consumers
are prone to think about or make a purchase in the
category.

Outdoor advertising takes several forms, the most prominent

of which is billboards. An outdoor location allows the advertiser
to reach a broad spectrum of the population and to register its
brand name and perhaps a slogan. Billboards can be strategically
selected to to reach consumers at the moment they are thinking
about the category (e.g., fast foods). For instance, Yellow Tail wine
used billboards to advertise its products on highways that might
naturally reach consumers on their way to the grocery store. The

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cost of billboards is often low with a range between $1,000- $2,500

per month, per billboard. Billboards on vehicles also provide an
opportunity to reach people at the moment when the category in
which a brand has membership might be of interest. For example,
in Istanbul, a detergent manufacturer advertised on the tops of
buses. People saw the ad when they engaged in the common
practice of hanging laundry to dry on their apartment balconies.

Transit advertising is presented on rapid transit cars, airline

terminals, and the like. By judicious selection of the corridors
in which transit advertising is placed, it can be made a highly
effective medium. Indeed, the Australian Metra encouraged safe
practices around trains in their “Dumb ways to die” campaign,
in part, by creating special graphics that were wrapped on their
trains. Transit advertising is often better suited to the transmis-
sion of brief messages. This limitation can be offset somewhat
by “take-ones” that either provide the consumer with additional
information or a URL where more information can be obtained.
Transit can reach commuters who are traveling to shopping or
other product consumption destinations. Transit ads cost about
$300-$400 per ad, based on the number of insertions and place-
ment on the transit vehicle.

Display advertising involves payment to an Internet company for

a hyperlinked banner or logo on one or more pages. Approximately
40% of advertising on the Internet is display; prices vary based on
features such as the number of visitors to the website. Effective use
of display ads requires the efficient targeting of online consum-
ers based on their demographic characteristics and their product
interests. Display ads can be used to achieve moment through the
use of factors such as time of day. For example, rather than run
advertisements sporadically, Dominos pizza can run executions
for its pizza around hours of peak consumption such as early
evening or weekends. Dominos essentially presents advertising

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at moments where the consumer is decisional about the category

(i.e., they are hungry).

Customer-driven Moment. In contrast to brand-driven moment,

where a brand tries to push information at a time that is relevant
to the consumer, customer-driven moment focuses on making sure
the brand is able to respond when consumers are actively engaged
in search. Twitter, paid search, and directories are examples of
mediums that can respond to customer-driven moment.

L Customer-driven moment focuses on making sure

the brand is able to respond when consumers are
actively engaged in search.

Twitter can be used to identify relevant communities for a brand,

based on the content of their posts and who they follow. Twitter
allows brands to engage customers in real time with brief messages
that can be enhanced by links to other websites (using bitly.com
or some other service that shortens links) and photos (by click-
ing on the icon “view photo”). Twitter users post tweets about
or follow topics of interest to them. These topics are organized
primarily by interests (music, sports, entertainment), and popular
Twitter accounts (Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift). Users curate (cull and
select) lists of followers that publish content they are interested
in. Twitter can be used to respond to consumers who are actively
engaged in a conversation about a category or brand and thus
help garner attention at the moment consumers’ are interested.
However, caution is warranted in the selection of tweet content.
Brands that use hashtags run the risk of being taken over by con-
sumers or competitors. McDonald’s Twitter campaign hashtag
#McDStories, which was intended to present stories about the
farmers who supply the restaurant chain’s produce, was co-opted

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by stories about McDonald’s related to food poisoning, weight

gain, and poor employee hygiene.

L Caution is warranted in the selection of tweet content.

Brands that use hashtags run the risk of being taken
over by consumers or competitors.

Paid search involves a brand paying for content to be displayed

based on Google (~67% of search share), Microsoft’s search sites
(~17.9%) and Yahoo (~11.3%). Paid search reflects customer
driven-moment because consumers are actively in the process of
seeking information. Globally, paid search is a massive business
with an estimated spend of over 80 billion dollars. Paid search
typically operates based on an auction; placement on the search
site’s landing page depends in part on a firm’s bid. The highest bid
generally gets the first position on the key words it purchases, and
generally pays the amount necessary to hold that first rank, which
is the next-highest bid. Search engines such as Google also give
consideration to the relevance of the advertiser for the key words
in selecting the order of sites listed on the search engine.

Directories are also a source for customer-driven moment. Books

that list people, professions, institutions, and the like are termed
directories. The idea is that people consult these directories when
they have a particular need. Perhaps the best-known advertising
directory is the Yellow Pages. However, since 2007 the number
of Yellow Page searches (as indicated by consumer surveys) has
dropped by approximately a third. The decline is associated with
increased utilization of online searches, which includes Yellow
Pages (YP.com) a website with links to more than 18 million busi-
nesses that can be accessed by mobile devices. YP.com competes
with services such as Google, Microsoft search sites, and Yahoo.

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It is clear that mobile is rapidly becoming the predominant means

of achieving moment.

Sharing Brand-Relevant Content as a Media Selection

Strategy

A final strategic consideration in media selection is the extent to

which a media form allows brand-relevant content. Media vary in
the extent to which they promote sharing of information between
a brand and its customers as well as the sharing of information
among consumers. Consumer sharing can be especially beneficial
for several reasons. First, sharing of information is often earned
media and thus is, by definition, cheaper than media that must
be paid for. Second, information shared by consumers with one
another is often viewed as more trustworthy and unbiased than
information that is shared by a brand. As such, positive word-of-
mouth tends to exert a greater influence on behavior.

Although consumers have engaged in word-of-mouth com-

munications for decades, digital has become a critical platform
to facilitate the sharing and exchange of information. Common
media platforms include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest,
and Snapchat. As an example, the Facebook social media platform
has over 2 billion users. Brands can use Facebook as an advertis-
ing platform to reach fans, that is, those who have liked a brand
on the platform. Liking occurs in a variety of ways: Individuals
might like a brand spontaneously, in response to a request made
by other consumers, or to gain access to online content, rewards,
or other positive outcomes contingent on liking. Whatever the
origin of these fans, Facebook categorizes them as media owned
by the brand, and thus no expense is incurred in reaching these
individuals.

Friends of the brand’s fans can also see a brand’s post on a

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fan’s newsfeed. Facebook views friends of fans as earned media

because it is a brand’s fan base that enables a brand to reach the
friends of fans. The diffusion of brand information on Facebook
is highly dependent on the friends of fans. When a brand has a
substantial number of fans that are highly engaged with a brand,
a large number of friends of fans are exposed to a brand post
without incurring a cost. Of course, Facebook also has means
to pay for advertising as well, such as promoted posts. Indeed,
Facebook generates the most advertising revenue among social
media ($6.9 billion).

As another example of a platform that faciliates the sharing

of information, LinkedIn is a business platform where people
post their education and job histories. It has about 296 million
members, of which 187 million are active monthly users. LinkedIn
members can share knowledge with other users through groups
composed of LinkedIn users who have interest in a topic, as well
as follow and engage with the more than 300 LinkedIn Influencers
that include Jack Welsh, Bill Gates, Meg Whitman or Senator
Elizabeth Warren. Firms can promote their brands via LinkedIn in
a number of ways. One option is to join groups in areas of interest
such as entertainment, energy, and communications where group
members have particular expertise or engagement. For example,
Citibank partnered with LinkedIn to launch a women’s network
called Connect on the LinkedIn platform, which attracted 120,000
people the first year after its launch. A LinkedIn community man-
ager oversees the online activity for the group by posting videos
and articles, starting conversations, and conducting polls.

Multiple Strategic Objectives

The previous discussion suggests strategic questions that can

be used to guide media selection. Two additional questions often

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follow on the topic of strategic selection of media.

First, one might wonder whether it is possible to select media

that accomplishes all these objectives simultaneously. Although
some venues, such as the Super Bowl, might naturally lend them-
selves to multiple strategic objectives such as reach (due to audience
size) and comprehension (due to increased likelihood of ads being
discussed and watched again) they often have financial or other
costs (e.g., the event itself may not be at the right moment for a
given brand). More generally, the inherent tradeoffs in different
media channels often force brands to use multiple media forms.
For example, to promote its mustard, Heinz used television as a
means to achieve reach, but they used in-store display and coupons
in an effort to advertise to consumers when they were close to the
moment of a purchase. In addition, Heinz used digital platforms
to allow for the easy sharing of information. Thus, rather than look
for a silver bullet in terms of one media form, the savvy brand
manager asks what each media form is doing and whether the
overall mix is sensible for the brand based on the brand’s needs
and objectives.

L The inherent tradeoffs in different media channels

often force brands to use multiple media forms.

Second, one might wonder, if tradeoffs must be made, how

should one choose among the strategic objectives outlined here.
This issues often hinges on other elements of a brand’s strategy
and resources. For example, a brand with a new product launch
with mass appeal is more likely to prioritize reach in its strate-
gic selection of media. In contrast, a more niche product that
requires substantial processing of the information, such as a new
medical treatment, might prioritize media forms that allow for

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comprehension. Thus, the questions shared in this chapter set

the stage for what a strategist should ask and consider, but the
answer will depend on the brand’s specific needs. Chapter 10
offers further discussion of strategic decision points with respect
to media scheduling.

Chapter Summary

This chapter has provided a brief primer on the media land-

scape. At a broad level, media can be categorized as paid, earned,
or owned. To aid in media selection, four strategic considerations
can be used to help guide and select one’s media. As a reminder, the
goal of this chapter has not been to pigeonhole a particular media
form (e.g., television, digital, magazines) into only one strategic
goal. Rather, the goal of this chapter has been to illustrate how
a platform can achieve a goal and to help the reader think about
media selection from a strategic perspective with regard to reach,
comprehension, attention, and sharing.

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Chapter 10
Media Scheduling
In this chapter
• Vehicle Selection
• Reach Versus Frequency
• Concentration versus Continuity
• Media Dominance
• Budgeting

This chapter examines the elements involved in the develop-

ment of a media plan. Whereas the previous chapter dealt with
a general discussion of media, this chapter focuses on particular
vehicles within a general media form. In addition, to develop a
sound media plan a strategist must consider issues related to the
reach and frequency delivered by a media schedule during each
month as well as decisions about the continuity of advertising
over the year. Moreover, the issues of media scheduling relate to
the consideration of the development of an advertising budget.

Vehicle Selection

Although a variety of general media channels exists—digital,

television, magazines, newspapers, radios, outdoor— brands must
decide what particular “vehicles” they will use in the general media
channel. I use the term vehicle to reflect the specific choices made

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in a given medium. For television, a vehicle might be a commercial

placement in prime time versus late night; a vehicle could also be
the specific television content a spot will be purchased in: Super
Bowl versus The Walking Dead. For radio, the vehicle selection
might entail airing an ad on a chosen station in drive time or late
night. For magazines, the vehicle might be the end-of-the-year
issue of Time magazine. For digital, Google, Bing or Facebook
might be selected for a specified period of time.

To consider the specific vehicle to be utilized within a given

medium, a strategist aims for efficiency with regard to the dol-
lars spent. One important aspect of efficiency in a media plan is
termed audience. Audience refers to the number of people exposed
to a vehicle. The assumption is that if consumers are exposed to
a vehicle, they will also be exposed to the advertising within that
vehicle. This assumption is necessary because measuring exposures
to advertising directly has often been prohibitively expensive,
especially in print and television. Indeed, an advantage of today's
digital media, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, it is often easier
to link the presentation of executions to impressions because the
executions appear simultaneously with the media.

To understand how audience is calculated, I provide illustrative

examples of both print and television. Digital platforms, such as
websites, as well as digital television, provide more direct measures
and thus do not often require the same estimations.

Audience Calculation in Print

An audience includes people who subscribe to a vehicle as well

as pass-along (e.g., individuals who did not buy a magazine but
read it, such as patients at a doctor’s office). One means used to
estimate readership for print vehicles is circulation data. Various
services, such as the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) and

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Kantar Media/SRDS, routinely publish circulation data used by

agencies and advertisers. AAM reports the number of copies of a
vehicle that were printed, the paid circulation in subscription and
newsstands, promotional copies, renewals, and new subscriptions.
Audiences are estimated through surveys where a representative
sample of consumers must exhibit their familiarity with the print
vehicle under consideration to be counted as a member of the
audience.

Effective audience refers to the number of people exposed to

an advertisement that have the demographic and geographic
characteristics that match the brand’s target. Effective audience
is the critical measure in assessing various vehicle alternatives.
Put simply, holding cost fixed, it is more wasteful to spend on a
magazine that has 10 million subscribers, but only 1 million rel-
evant target readers, compared to a magazine that has 10 million
subscribers and 9 million relevant target readers. Thus, a strategist
desires vehicles that disproportionately reach people with the
same profile as those in the target per thousand people reached
by the vehicle. In the digital space, AAM also provides informa-
tion for digital media that helps brand have oversight of their ad
placements, which include unseen ads, illegitimate clicks, and
fraudulent traffic. Kantar provides information about circulation
and other audience data as well as the rates for media placement
across media platforms.

L Effective audience refers to the number of people

exposed to an advertisement that have the demo-
graphic and geographic characteristics that match
the brand’s target.

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Audience Calculation in Television

Syndicated services provide audience estimates for television

programs. For example, Nielsen recruits a sample of approximately
20,000 representative homes from around the country for national
ratings. An electronic device called a people meter is placed in each
home attached to the occupant’s television set. It is used to keep
track of whether the television set is on or off and the channel to
which it is tuned. Also, viewers input a code to indicate who is
watching. In addition, Nielsen collects hand-written diaries that
capture people’s viewing habits from over 30,000 individuals.
Arbitron offers a competitive service that uses a diary to estimate
ratings and has a meter system to measure viewing. These prac-
tices are in a state of evolution as digital monitoring of audiences
becomes easier.

To illustrate the types of data available from the Nielsen ser-

vice, consider a simplified situation where a market consists of
10 homes. These homes can tune into one of three channels. As
table 10.1 indicates, three homes are tuned to Program 1, two to
Program 2, and two to Program 3. One home does not have a
working set, and two homes have the television turned off. Several
measures are collected:

Houses Using Television (HUT) and People Using Television

(PUT). HUT reflect the number of households using television.
In table 10.1, HUT is 70%. In real world settings, HUT increases
gradually during the day, peaks during prime time at about 60% of
households, and declines late at night. Another measure is People
Using Television (PUT), which is based on whether an individual
is using television rather than whether anyone in the household
has the television on.

Rating. This measure is of interest to advertisers because it

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quantifies the percent of all homes tuned to a particular program

on which a commercial might be aired. Here the assumption is
that all households have televisions. The rating for Program 1 in
table 10.1 is 30%. Advertisers are most interested in the rating
measure in selecting television vehicles because it provides an
indicator of the relative popularity of the program.

Share of Audience. This measure is of particular interest to a

television station manager and to a network. It is used to inform
the decision of whether a program stays on the air. The particular
number that determines the fate of a show varies by network and
time slot. Share of audience is computed by dividing the percent
of homes that watch a program by HUT. Thus, the share of audi-
ence for Program 1 in table 10.1 is 43% (i.e., 30% divided by 70%).

As noted, ratings provide the advertiser with a measure of the

audience. Of greater interest is the rating for a particular target or
segment of the population—as with print, the effective audience.
For this purpose, Nielsen provides demographic data similar to
that available for print.

Table 10.1: An Example of Television Viewership

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Table 10.2 summarizes the elements of vehicle selection for

print as well as television advertisements that a manager should
consider evaluating when analyzing the potential media plan.
These elements include circulation, audience, and effective audi-
ence. Similar approaches can be applied to digital channels, but
as noted, digital platforms have the advantage of more directly
measuring the effective audience.

Table 10.2: Considerations for Vehicle Selection

Reach, Average Frequency, and Tonnage

A media schedule or plan refers to the placement of advertising

within any particular month and the placement of advertising over
the year. Two goals guide the development of a monthly media
schedule: reach and average frequency. Reach, referenced in Chap-
ter 9, refers to the total number of unique people or households that
will be exposed to a schedule at least once over a specified period
of time. Average frequency—sometimes simplified as frequency—
refers to the average number of times a person or household is

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exposed to an advertisement. A mean and an estimate of variance

about the mean specify average frequency. Reach and frequency
are generally discussed in terms of a four-week period or a given
month.

L Reach refers to the total number of unique people

or households that will be exposed to a schedule at
least once over a specified period of time. Average
frequency—sometimes simplified as frequency—
refers to the average number of times a person or
household is exposed to a schedule.

Consider the placement of two print ads, one in Time and one
in Newsweek. First, AAM or Kantar Media SRDS is consulted
to determine the size of the audience for each magazine. Assume
the audience (circulation + pass along) is 20 million people for
Time and 15 million for Newsweek. The total or gross audience is
a function of both the total number of exposures and the size of
the audience. That is, a consumer who is exposed to an advertise-
ment multiple times counts each time towards the gross audience.
Specifically, the gross audience in this example can be computed
as follows:

Gross Audience = ∑ (insertions x audience)

= (20 x 1+ 15 x 1)
= 35 million

Gross audience can be used to determine the maximum reach.

In the preceding example, reach would be 35 million only if no
overlap existed in readership between Time and Newsweek. How-
ever, usually overlap exists across vehicles, which is referred to as
duplication. To estimate reach, duplication must be subtracted from

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the Gross Audience. To determine duplication, syndicated service

data such as that provided by Kantar Media SRDS is consulted.
For example, suppose that duplication is five million as shown
in figure 10.1. Thus, the two vehicle schedule provides a Gross
Audience of 35 million exposures, reaches 30 million people, and
reaches each person with an average frequency of 1.17 times.

Figure 10.1: The Computation of Average Frequency

Several questions are prompted by this analysis. What should

the level of average frequency be? The answer to this question
depends on a number of factors—most importantly, how often
consumers are decisional about the category. The more frequently
they make decisions, the greater the frequency that is needed.
I will discuss these criteria later in this chapter. Another issue
is whether a gross audience is a useful basis to select a vehicle.
Typically strategists are interested in effective audience, that is,
consumers with the profile a brand desires to target. The analysis

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of effective audience is the same as it is for gross audience.

A similar analysis is employed in the design of a television

schedule. To illustrate the approach, consider a brand that has
placements on two half-hour television programs with ratings
of 60 and 40 (i.e., 60% and 40% of all homes are watching these
program when they air). For television, the tonnage is called Gross
Rating Points (GRPs). Tonnage as expressed by GRPs, measure the
sum of the ratings for a particular placement. A 100 GRPs can be
thought of as reaching the entire audience, on average, one time.

GRPs = ∑ (insertions x ratings)

100 = (60 x 1+ 40 x 1)

GRPs of 100 can be obtained with a smaller audience if mem-

bers of the audience see the same execution multiple times. For
example, imagine that a brand places two advertisements in the
same same hour-long television program with an audience rating
of 50 (i.e., 50% of all homes are watching the program). This
approach would yield the following equation:

GRPs = Reach x Average Frequency

100 = 50 x 2

Here, 100 GRP are obtain as in the previous example; however,

this schedule reaches only 50% of the households, but it does so
2 times. In short, GRPs must be understood as a function of both
reach and frequency. This observation sets up the logical question
of when greater reach versus greater frequency is desired.

Reach vs. Frequency

Advertisers have long debated the trade-off between reach and

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frequency. This is a trade-off because for any particular level of

GRP (e.g., 100) reach must be decreased to enhance frequency
and vice versa. Over the history of advertising perspectives, dif-
ferent views have developed as to the proper trade-off between
reach and frequency. For example, in the 1970s, it was common to
favor a reach approach. Budgets tended to be sufficient to ensure
reasonable frequency and still obtain high levels of reach. I con-
sider several perspectives on how to navigate the reach versus
frequency trade-off.

The (Incorrect) Rule of Three Exposures

In the late 1970s and ‘80s brands began to favor a frequency

approach over a reach approach. It became commonly disucssed
that a brand had to have at least three exposures, which was referred
to as the “three plus frequency rule.” This rule was presumably
based on a 1979 Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) study.
However, a critical problem existed from this conclusion. The
investigator responsible for that study, Michael Naples, explicitly
stated that brands needed to figure out their own frequency. That
is, Naples suggested success was not optimized at three exposures
by default.

The rule of three exposures were exacerbated when a General

Electric researcher, Herb Krugman, also advocated three exposures.
The problem was that Krugman was not literal. Krugman suggested
at least three types of exposures were required. The first type gets
people to say “what is it?” I have discussed this question in this
book in terms of frame of reference. The second type of exposure
gets people to say “what of it?” This question was examined in the
discussion of points of difference. And the third exposure prompts
the consumer to make a decision. This involves the amplification
of positive brand thoughts which can be achieved by the repeti-
tion of the advertising message or the use of promotions to push

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consumers to trial. To be crystal clear, Krugman’s argument was

not that three was the right number of ad exposures, but that
consumers goals change as the number of exposures mount. The
number of exposures that make people decisional is an empirical
question and varies by both brand and category.

The (Incorrect) Rule of A Single Exposure

In the late 1990s, a new rule of thumb emerged. Based on

research with selected brands, the conclusion emerged that a
single exposure to an ad was the appropriate level of frequency.
This is generally referred to as the C-curve because of the shape
of the response function (see figure 10.2). The C-curve implies
that frequency should be traded for greater reach as the value of
an additional exposure is much lower than the value of reaching
another person.

Figure 10.2: The C-Curve

Evidence for the C-curve has been found in several stud-

ies. However, these studies often had confounds that made the

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C-curve sensible for the brand being researched; these studies

did not provide evidence to support a general rule. For example,
some studies were for major brands in their category that have
had a stable position and a long-lived advertising campaign. A
single monthly exposure was sufficient to remind consumers of
the brand’s position. However, just as it is incorrect to conclude
that three exposure is the magical number, it is inappropriate to
conclude that all brands follow the C-curve.

Repetition, Amplification, and Wear-out

Considerable evidence indicates that in most cases some repeti-

tion of advertising, which naturally occurs with frequency, enhances
consumers’ responses. This outcome is not surprising from an
information processing perspective, provided the arguments
attached to an advertisement are strong. Repetition enhances
both amplification and recency, two factors thought to stimulate
the accessibility of information in long-term memory. I refer to
this response function as the S-curve (figure 10.3; portion of curve
between zero and five exposures, which resembles an S). This
function suggests that additional exposures can be more effective
than a single exposure.

The issue with repetition is that very substantial levels of repeti-

tion can foster wear-out; people become less favorable toward a
product as repetitions mount (figure 10.3; portion of curve that is
over five exposures). Advertising wear-out is a significant problem
because brands are essentially spending money to no avail. And,
in the extreme form, advertising wear-out can lead consumers to
become more negative towards a brand. Wear-out is thought to
occur, in part, because once people have learned the information
conveyed in an ad, they use additional ad exposures to scrutinize
the message assertions. In some cases, consumers, may simply
dismiss the information as old news and not think about it. Or,

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consumers who tire of a commercial may become annoyed that

a brand has wasted their time with the exposure. In either event,
wear-out is a problem that advertisers must strive to avoid.

Figure 10.3: S-Curve and Wearout Phenomenon

L Substantial levels of repetition can foster wear-out;

people become less favorable toward a product as
repetitions mount.

To combat wear-out, a common approach used by advertisers is

to change the context in which advertising is presented while sus-
taining the same theme. For example, a soft drink producer might
emphasize thirst quenching in all of the commercials included
in a campaign, but use different scenes and actors to deliver this
appeal. Absolut Vodka was famous for a print campaign that did
exactly this; it showed the iconic bottle dressed up in different ways.
Indeed, the astute reader will notice this relates to the discussion
of sustaining a brand position (see Chapter 8).The effectiveness

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of this approach depends on the news it delivers. If the different

scenes provide news and interest by showing the different con-
texts in which the brand is appropriate, the ad is likely to sustain
interest and reduce the risk of wear-out. If the different contexts
do not provide news, wear-out may ensue.

The Correct Rule: Be Wary of Exposure Rules of Thumb

The prior discussion indicates that a simple rule of thumb about

the appropriate level of frequency is unlikely to result in an effective
media strategy. One exposure, three exposures, or five exposures
is not a magical number. Instead, many considerations underlie
the choice of the reach and frequency level. Some of these are
summarized in table 10.3. Most of these criteria should be self-
explanatory to the reader. However, the meaning of planned vs.
unplanned purchase warrants additional discussion.

L One exposure, three exposures, or five exposures is

not a magical number. Instead, many considerations
underlie the choice of the reach and frequency level.

An unplanned purchase implies that people have no intention

of using the brand now or in the future. Unforeseen events prompt
them to consider it. For many adult consumers, the purchase of
cough medicine for themselves is unplanned. They do not foresee
getting a cough, have no intention of buying a cough medicine, and
are thus not interested in advertising by cough syrups. Only at the
onset of a cough do they become more attentive to information
about cough medicines. To attract these consumers, frequency
is needed so that the advertising is present when the unforeseen
event occurs.

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Table 10.3: Circumstances When Reach and Frequency are Appropriate

This example does not imply that a particular category is always

planned or unplanned. Cough syrups might be a planned purchase
for households in which children are present. If this were the case,
a reach strategy might be appropriate.

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Concentration vs. Continuity

Reach and frequency are used to decide how advertising is

placed in a given 4-week period or month. In contrast, concen-
tration and continuity represent a tradeoff with regard to the
placement of advertising over the year. Concentration involves
the presentation of advertising in certain months but not in others,
whereas continuity entails sustaining the presence of advertising
over the year. An ad budget is allocated to reach, frequency, and
continuity in accordance with brand goals. Spending more heavily
on one of these elements necessitates a reduced spend on one or
both of the others.

As noted, continuity involves spending one's ad budget relatively

evenly throughout the year. The alternative is a concentration
strategy, which might entail spending advertising dollars during
a particular period. Historically, advertisers used a concentration
strategy for seasonal products and continuity otherwise. However,
as the cost of media rose at a faster rate than advertising budgets,
two types of concentration approaches emerged: flighting and
pulsing. Flighting involves advertising for some period, followed
by a hiatus with no advertising and then by another flight. Puls-
ing entails the same general approach as flighting, except that low
levels of advertising replace the hiatuses. The idea in flighting and
pulsing is to deliver the impact of concentration with the sustain-
ing value of continuity. Figure 10.4 depicts continuity over the
year and concentration approaches.

Concentration has the virtue of delivering a substantial brand

presence. A critical disadvantage, however, is significant forgetting
may occur during the periods when advertising is absent. This state
of affairs would seem acceptable only when dealing with a seasonal
product; even then, caution is warranted in using concentration.
Too often advertisers use concentration in the belief that sales are

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seasonal, which creates seasonality in the advertising and demand.

To illustrate this point, consider the experience of a soft drink

manufacturer. Category sales were seasonal, with 65 percent of
sales occurring during the period from May to October. Soft drink
advertisers spent the vast majority of their ad budgets against this
season. In an attempt to alter this pattern, the soft drink manufac-
turer experimented with a more balanced budget by advertising
contra-seasonally. The result was increased non-seasonal consump-
tion and sustained seasonal consumption. This outcome suggested
that soft drink consumption was not as seasonal as was assumed.
Rather, disproportionate advertising against the summer season
became a self-fulfilling prophecy that ensured continued season-
ality. Other soft drink manufacturers quickly changed to a more
balanced spending pattern. As a result, the six-month "soft drink
season" accounts for less than 60% of annual sales today.

Figure 10.4: Continuity and Flighting

Whether concentration or continuity is being considered, an

important issue in planning a media schedule is how to space
repeated exposures to advertising. As the time interval between
exposures to an advertisement increases, the perception that the
information contained in the ad is unfamiliar increases, and this
enhances the likelihood that the audience will attend to the adver-
tising message. The implication is that the spacing of repeated
exposures operates in the same way as exposures themselves, that
is, by affecting the effort devoted to processing a message. However,

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there comes a point where the interval between exposures is so

large that there is little savings of the information learned from
prior advertising exposures. In this event, each exposure has the
same impact as an initial exposure. In addition, concentrating
advertising can be useful during a new product introduction (e.g.,
new model cars), or at the end of a season when it is important to
reduce inventory (e.g., hot cereal in March). For a discussion of
message spacing the reader is referred to Malaviya and Sternthal
(1997).

Strategies for Dominance

In developing a media plan, it is important to make media

and vehicle choices that enhance the likelihood that advertising
will be noticed and has the capacity to influence attitudes and
choice. For large advertisers, such dominance can often be achieved
by out-shouting the competitor, that is, by buying greater reach,
frequency, and continuity. Put simply, a large advertising budget
provides a strategic advantage over a small budget because one
can use additional resources to increase media presence.

Although this observation might seem discouraging for small

brands, or even large brands with tight budgets, the good news
is that all brands can take into consideration four strategies that
help achieve media dominance beyond the amount of money spent
on media. I view these as elements that can facilitate, especially
for small brands or brands with a limited budget, competitive
dominance: Matching, monopoly, mindset, and moment (The
4M framework; see figure 10.5).

Matching entails the selection of vehicles that are most likely

to reach the target audience and thus limit waste. For example, a
new brand of dog food is likely to have more waste if it purchases

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display ads on ESPN.com—where many non-dog owners are

likely to visit—than if it purchases display ads on websites dedi-
cated specifically to the care of dogs—where dog owners are likely
to visit. Central to matching is an identification of the target’s
demographics and/or psychographics and the selection of vehicles
that are most efficient in matching these characteristics. This idea
was discussed in Chapter 9 with regard to the notion of effective
audience. Efficiency can be measured in the cost per thousand
target individuals reached (CPMs). The lower the CPMs, the
more attractive the vehicle.

Figure 10.5: The 4M Framework for Vehicle Selection

Monopoly involves the selection of vehicles to limit the pres-

ence of competitive advertising—and ideally all advertising—in
that vehicle. Because competitors often target the same people,
the same media are most efficient for all competitors. This cre-
ates problems on multiple fronts: a brand competitor might have
a superior position or the creative might be better remembered,
which inhibits the effectiveness of a brand’s own campaign. In
contrast, when vehicles allow for monopoly a brand does not have
to fight as vigorously for the consumers’ attention. Brands with
smaller budgets, in particular, might seek vehicles to achieve a

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monopoly. Monopoly can also be achieved through the use of a

concentration strategy. For example, the soft drink brand Sunkist
might choose to spend its small advertising budget between April
and June when soft drink consumption is somewhat higher than it
is earlier in the year. Spending the budget in such a concentrated
manner would enhance the likelihood that Sunkist’s advertising
would be dominant in the soft drink category during this period.

Matching and monopoly have been used in vehicle selection

for many years; most people in the industry have heard and based
media selection decisions on these criteria. More recently, two
additional criteria for choosing media and vehicles have emerged:
mindset and moment. Mindset entails the selection of media and
vehicles that reflect a shared interest—that is, a demonstration that
the brand and consumers are likeminded. This goal can be achieved
in a number of different ways. One is affiliation. For example,
Marlboro sponsored a NASCAR racecar, which highlights the
notion that Marlboro and its consumers have a shared interest
in racing. Along the same lines, Panasonic is a major sponsor for
Jeff Gordon. Of course, with a cost for NASCAR sponsorship
between $350,000-$500,000 per race, and with 30 to 40 races per
year, affiliation in this manner requires a substantial investment.

L Mindset entails the selection of media and vehicles

that reflect a shared interest—that is, a demonstration
that the brand and consumers are likeminded.

Mindset can also be achieved through the creation of intimacy

with the target. Along these lines, Marlboro sponsors a contest
where entrants provide information about themselves in order be
included in a drawing for a vacation on a dude ranch. This prize
is a means of affiliation. In addition, Marlboro sends contestants

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birthday cards with coupons that can be redeemed for Marlboro

products, thus building intimacy. Similarly, Perka, a mobile applica-
tion that tracks consumers’ visits to various locales, creates intimacy
by upgrading individuals’ status in accord with the frequency of
their visits from visitor, to regular, to VIP.

Mindset can also be achieved by having consumers serve as

advocates for the brand. BzzAgent is one such service. Consumers
join BzzAgent by completing a survey indicating their product
interests and demographic information. This information is used
by BzzAgent to select consumers that correspond to the brand’s
target. It then sends them product to try and invites them to share
their views about it online.

Finally, moment can be used to achieve dominance. As discussed

in Chapter 9, moment involves reaching consumers when they
are likely to be decisional about the category. Moment applies not
only to the general medium selected, as detailed in Chapter 9, but
also the particular vehicle selected within a given medium. For
example, a detergent manufacturer might advertise in Laundro-
mats to reach people when they are thinking about and perhaps
selecting a detergent; a cosmetic manufacturer might advertise its
makeup on subways to reach women when they return home and
plan their evening activities. To identify when people are decisional
it is often helpful to conduct ethnographic studies, which track
people over a period of time to identify when they are thinking
about the category in which a brand holds membership.

Budgeting

Media scheduling questions and decisions help a brand consider

what vehicles to use and how often to use those vehicles. However,
these decisions also relate to the general issue of budgeting. How

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much should a firm spend on advertising? An accurate estimate

of how much to spend on advertising requires empirical research.
But even if such an investigation is contemplated, some budget
levels must be selected for test purposes. I describe rules of thumb
that provide initial estimates of how much to spend on advertising.
I then discuss the objective-task method as a means to assess the
effectiveness of one’s advertising spend. Finally, I discuss the use
of empirical tests to determine advertising spending.

Rules of Thumb

Perhaps the most common rule of thumb to estimate the ad

budget is to use percent of sales. I have spoken with a number
of brands that are aware, or have used, this approach to budget
estimation. It can involve using the sales from the prior year, or an
estimate of sales for the coming year and multiplying that number
by some percent of sales that has been used traditionally by the
firm. As an example, Coca-Cola recently spent 8% of sales on
advertising, whereas Apple spent less than 1% on advertising. Per-
cent of sales is easy to compute and easy to justify to management
when the percentage chosen can be related to historical spending.
But an important caveat is order; it is based on the premise that
sales influence advertising rather than the reverse, and it might
not reflect the objectives set for advertising. For example, a budget
based on percent of sales might lead a firm to reduce advertising
in anticipation of, or response to, declining sales, which might be
the very situation when an increase in ad expenditure is needed.

Another rule of thumb is competitive emulation or parity. This

approach involves a firm tracking competitors’ ad spending—either
individual or category— and emulating competitors in terms of
either the absolute advertising expenditure or some percent of
competitive expenditure. The tracking of competitors’ ad expen-
ditures is facilitated by services such as Competitrack and Kantar

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Media Ad Intelligence. The value of competitive emulation is that

it focuses a firm on its advertising share of voice (SOV), that is,
its ad expenditure vs. the expenditure by all advertisers in the
category. Low SOV levels have been found to stimulate demand
for the category rather than for the firm’s brand. For a number of
years, B.F. Goodrich’s low SOV and the similarity in its name to
the leading tire manufacturer, Goodyear, resulted in Goodrich ad
expenditures enhancing Goodyear sales! Competitive emulation,
via an increase in share of voice, might reduce the occurrence of
this outcome. However, competitive emulation per se can be a
poor approach to budgeting because it assumes competitors know
the appropriate amount to spend and that a firm is in the same
market circumstance as the company it is emulating. Further, the
strategic use of media dominance strategies—matching, monopoly,
moment, and mindset— might allow a brand to do more with a
smaller budget.

I have also been explicitly told people use heuristic, “all you
can afford.” This involves calculating all the marketing costs and
then allocating what remains to advertising. All you can afford is
typically invoked when a firm has limited resources to spend on
marketing. This approach sometimes leads to cutting advertising
when it might be an important means to increase demand. Thus,
while a rule of thumb, the veracity of this in terms of effective
spend is highly questionable.

Objective-Task Method

One tool to plan and assess a media budget is the use of the
objective-task method. The objective-task method can be used to
evaluate whether a specified ad budget is sensible with regard to
profit and it can help a strategist consider the link between media
spend and profit. The objective-task method involves three basic
steps.

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L The objective-task method can be used to evaluate

whether a specified ad budget is sensible with regard
to profit and it can help a strategist consider the link
between media spend and profit.

A brand must first set a desired profit for the marketing cam-
paign. For example, a brand might set the desired profit to be an
increase in $10 million dollars over a 3-month period. Once a
desired profit is set, a brand identifies what tasks it will undertake
to increase the profit. These tasks involve the selection of media.
For example, the brand might decide it needs to advertise in digital,
television, and print as part of its campaign. Although media is
typically thought of in terms of advertising, one can also model
owned and earned. The selection of tasks sets up the final step in
the process which is to estimate the costs.

Advertising costs are a function of the total cost of media and

creative. Media costs, as discussed in this chapter are a function of
reach, frequency, and continuity. With this information in place
it is possible to examine the relationship between the expected
costs, the anticipated ad-related sales, and the profit.

Specifically, the estimated profit from a planned advertising

campaign can be obtained through the simple equation:

Profit = (Profit Per Sale x Ad-Related Sales) – Advertising Costs

In this equation, profit per sale is often fixed, but it can be

adjusted based on promotions and bulk discount. Ad-related sales
is a function of the amount of action and action repeated due to
the advertising. Although not needed for the calculation of the
profit, one can also examine awareness and attitude as a means to

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anticipate change in action and action repeated. For example, if a

brand anticipates that 2 out of 10 consumers aware of an adver-
tisement purchase the product, awareness can be an important
intermediate metric. Finally, advertising costs, in its simple form
is the cost per exposure multiplied by the number of exposures
(i.e., reach, frequency, and continuity) as well as any costs associ-
ated with creative (e.g., agency and production costs). Of course,
this computation can become complicated as the number media
channels increases. A graphic representation of the objective-task
method is provided in figure 10.6.

Figure 10.6: The Objective-Task Method

Of note, the objective-task method encourages strategic think-

ing and allows for falsification. On the first point, one can find
situations where the costs of media, based on the expected change
in ad-related sales, is not profitable. For example, a brand with a
niche market might realize that a 5-million-dollar Super Bowl spot
can only reach a small fraction of relevant consumers, and such
consumers do not have the buying power to offset the 5-million-
dollar cost of the advertising. On the second point of falsification,
via the collection of data and proper experiments, one can explore
whether or not one's advertising succeeded in producing the desired

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return on investment. Of course, the objective-task method is less

useful when profit is not a focal concern (e.g., one has the objective
to build brand awareness).

Empirical Approaches to Budgeting

Several research procedures are available to help determine

the appropriate ad budget. Typically, when these procedures are
followed, budget assessment is but one of the concerns being
addressed empirically. For example, one might also want to know
whether a campaign is enhancing awareness or repeat action, which
is collected as part of these efforts.

Perhaps the most thorough and costly approach to budget esti-

mation involves the use of test markets. This approach involves
exposing some consumers to the advertising and not exposing
other consumers. As a consequence, one can look at the amount
spent on advertising and the change in metrics such as awareness;
this data allows one to put empirical numbers to the objective-
task method. One can even test different media levels in different
markets. The selection of test markets involves at least two criteria.
One is the representativeness of the city. In some cases, cities are
chosen because they are representative of the country as a whole,
and in other cases because they represent some segment of inter-
est such as a segment where high brand or category development
is perceived (see Chapter 3). The other criterion for test market
selection is containment. Containment refers to the extent to
which the effect of some marketing effort can be localized. At
issue is the extent to which advertising and distribution will be
limited to the test city. Dayton, Ohio offers good containment
because advertising in this city covers only the city and because
product placed in Dayton is likely to be sold only in Dayton and
not shipped to other cities. Once the cities are selected, the effect
of one’s spending on advertising, as well as the effect of different

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spend levels, can be compared by randomly assigning different

cities to different budget levels.

Although test markets are effective for planning an advertising

budget, they are expensive. A less expensive alternative to budget
estimation involves using correlational analysis. This involves exam-
ining the co-variation in a firm’s ad expenditures and sales. In a
growing number of firms, the databases are now available to do
such analyses on a market-by-market basis. This allows the brand
to take various actions; for example, a brand might place greater
expenditure on those markets where a high co-variation between
ad expenditure and sales. The problem with co-variation to infer
the appropriate ad budget is that there is more ambiguity as to
whether the advertising caused the response. Nonetheless, several
firms use this approach with varying degrees of effectiveness as a
means to direct their spend.

Chapter Summary

The development of a media plan via media scheduling involves

the selection of vehicles that achieve the desired reach and fre-
quency during each month of the year, and that provide the
continuity or concentration needed over the year. In the develop-
ment of a media schedule, brands should consider opportunities to
dominate the competition. Dominance can be achieved through
a larger ad budget, but it can also be achieved by considering
opportunities for matching, monopoly, mindset, and moment.
The advertising budget required often involves the use of rules of
thumb to determine the general level a brand should spend on
advertising. These rules reflect a consideration of the anticipated
sales, competitive spend, and the advertising resources available to
a brand. The objective-task method provides a more quantifiable
means to assess one’s budget against a desired return on investment.

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Empirical investigations in which the advertising budget is varied

can be used to provide a more compelling rationale for the alloca-
tion to advertising.

Recommended Readings

Malaviya, Prashant (2007), “The Moderating Influence of

Advertising Context on Ad Repetition Effects: The Role of
Amount and Type of Elaboration,” Journal of Consumer Research,
34, 32-40.

Malaviya, Prashant and Brian Sternthal (1997), “The Persuasive

Impact of Message Spacing,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 6,
233-255.

Schumann, David, Richard E. Petty, and D. Scott Clemons

(1990), “Predicting the Effectiveness of Different Strategies of
Advertising Variation: A Test of the Repetition-variation Hypoth-
eses,” Journal of Consumer Research, 17, 192-202.

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Chapter 11
Creative Strategy
In this chapter
• Message Elaboration
• Message Factors
• Source Factors
• Audience Factors

Green Giant marketed its frozen vegetables as fresher than

competitors’ vegetables. At issue was how to best communicate
their positioning of freshness in their advertising. How could
the brand motivate consumers to pay attention to a product in a
low-involvement category such as frozen vegetables? Should the
execution focus on freshness and reiterate this benefit throughout
the commercial? Should a spokesperson testify to the freshness
of the vegetables? Should the brand entertain consumers through
the use of humor? Some device was needed if information about
Green Giant was to break through the boredom barrier and help
consumers attend to and encode the benefit of freshness.

Green Giant and its ad agency, Leo Burnett, ruled out the use
of an actor to inform consumers about Green Giant’s quality. The
brand was concerned that a spokesperson would be viewed as
pedantic, preachy, and boring. The agency affirmed that consum-
ers did not think about frozen vegetables in a serious manner and
neither should the brand’s advertising. Thus, an animated character,

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Sprout, was introduced to represent the consumer. Sprout was

uninformed about what determined the quality of vegetables, so
he was eager to learn this information. In each commercial, Sprout
learned another reason why the brand was high-quality. To help
consumers remember that the commercial was for Green Giant,
Sprout appeared in all the ads, the Green Giant was shown in
the background, and the reasons to believe the brand’s superior
quality were always discussed.

In this chapter, I examine creative strategies to enhance the

likelihood that consumers both learn the brand’s position and are
persuaded by it. This primarily entails the development strategies
for message elaboration.

Message Elaboration

As defined in Chapter 5, I use the term amplification to capture

the degree to which information is accessed or thought about
extensively in association with other thoughts. The term “message
elaboration” refers to the amount of thought given specifically to
the content of the message.

Message elaboration was introduced by Richard Petty and John

Cacioppo (1986) to capture the amount of message-relevant think-
ing. That is, where amplification can occur as a result of message
elaboration, it could also occur independently. For example, people
might respond to a message via the associations in their long-term
memory. Message elaboration thus captures the amount of think-
ing dedicated to the information presented in the advertisement.

The valence of thoughts that follow message elaboration can

be positive, neutral, or negative toward a message advocacy. For
example, an advertisement for Clearasil acne medication might

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show a before and after picture to demonstrate the effectiveness of

the product. Some consumers might elaborate on this information
with positive thoughts such as, “The product helps reduce acne,”
whereas others who saw the same commercial might think, “The
product didn’t completely eliminate the person’s acne.” Still others
might generate thoughts unrelated to the message, such as “The
person in the ad seems familiar. Have I seen him before?” Posi-
tive, neutral, and negative thoughts are important contributors
to a people's attitudes and thus persuasion. Consumers’ attitudes
tend to become more positive, and thus persuasion increases, as the
proportion of positive to negative and neutral thoughts increase.
And, more positive attitude towards a brand are associated with an
increased likelihood of purchase (Rucker, Petty, and Priester 2007).

L The term “message elaboration” refers to the amount

of thought given specifically to the content of the
message.

In addition to the nature of the thoughts that follow mes-

sage elaboration, the amount of message elaboration is important.
Some consumers may process a message in a very shallow fash-
ion, whereas others consumers may process a message in a very
thoughtful manner. Importantly, the more carefully consumers
process a message the more their subsequent evaluations of the
brand are determined by the strength of the message arguments.
In contrast, the less carefully consumers process a message, the
more their subsequent evaluations are determined by peripheral
cues or heuristics (Petty and Cacioppo 1986). For example, under
time pressure consumers might pick out a box of chocolate because
of the familiarity of the name or the attractiveness of the package
as opposed to knowledge about the quality of the product. Given
that brands have a strong point of difference, it is often the case

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that message elaboration is desired. This chapter focuses on how

to enhance message elaboration.

Finally, the greater the amount of thinking needed to process a

message, the greater the cognitive resources required. At the same
time, the allocation of significant resources does not necessarily
result in greater processing of the message content because the
consumer could focus on the music or colors presented in the ad
rather than the information or implications of the message itself.
Thus, message elaboration requires both motivation and ability to
attend to the information presented in the advertisement.

L Message elaboration requires both motivation and

ability to attend to the information presented in the
advertisement.

To understand how brands can motivate message elaboration,

I rely on several creative strategies used in advertising based on
the study of persuasion. Specifically, I discuss how factors related
to the structure of the message, the source of the message, and
audience characteristics affect message elaboration.

Message Elaboration Through Message Structure

Agencies have developed several techniques to structure the

message in manner to enhance its elaboration by consumers. Here,
I share several of the more common devices utilized by creatives
in advertising.

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Hard and Soft Sell

Hard sell is a message technique developed in the 1960s and

credited to Rosser Reeves of the Ted Bates advertising agency.
The strategy involves advertising in which a simple associative
bond is developed between a brand and its functional benefit:
“buy this brand, get this benefit.” Advertising for Rolaids, for
example, uses a hard sell with the slogan “Rolaids spells relief.”
Similarly, M&Ms candy used a hard sell with its promise “it melts
in your mouth, not in your hands.” By announcing the brand and
its benefit, a hard sell strengthens the associative bond between
the brand name and the brand benefit. The simple nature of the
strategy makes it easy for consumers to process the message. In
contrast, in the absence of a strong functional benefit, the hard sell
is not effective. When Bates was hired to advertise for an airline
that did not have a point of difference important to consumers,
the agency struggled to develop effective advertising, and they
eventually lost the account.

A variant of the hard sell approach is called the soft sell (see
work by Rucker and Galinsky 2009). Whereas the hard sell empha-
sizes the functional benefit in the form of quality, the soft sell
emphasizes functional benefits that pertain to social status. For
example, Mercedes, in one print campaign, emphasizes the status of
those who own the car rather than the quality or the safety of the
vehicle. However, the logic of the soft sell approach is ultimately
the same as that for hard sell; the simple association makes it easy
to process and elaborate the central argument of the message and
thus to commit it to memory.

A limitation of both the hard and soft sell approaches lies in

their simplicity. Because the message contains little information
beyond the connection between the brand and its benefit, addi-
tional exposures to this type of message are not likely to provide

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much information to enhance elaboration. Thus, after consumers

have learned the benefit, a risk exists that they will disengage
from subsequent advertising or generate thoughts unrelated to
the message that reduce persuasion.

The Big Idea: Convergent Reasons to Believe

The “Big Idea” approach was pioneered by the Leo Burnett ad

agency. This approach involves identifying a functional benefit that
is important to consumers and presenting a variety of reasons to
believe the benefit. At the same time, the context is kept constant
so that people can easily associate the advisement with the brand
name to ensure brand linkage. I term this approach the Big Idea I.

Figure 11.1: Big Idea I

Advertising for Green Giant described at the outset of this

chapter illustrates the application of the Big Idea I. The setting is
always in the valley and features a cartoon animation, this informs
the consumers at the outset that Green Giant is the sponsor. Dif-
ferent ads featured reasons to believe the superior quality in the
form of the vegetables being fresh frozen, vacuum-packed, and

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packed in butter sauce. The reliable use of this context, and the
fact that the benefit is always superior quality, link the individual
executions together as a campaign. By changing the reasons to
believe the superior quality benefit over time, news is provided to
sustain consumer interest. The Big Idea I is represented in figure
11.1 in the context of the positioning triangle.

Figure 11.2: Big Idea II

A variant of the Big Idea, which I refer to as Big Idea II, involves
the introduction of a reason to believe to activate an associative
network that consists of multiple functional benefits (figure 11.2).
Here, the goal is to develop the campaign around the different
functional benefits implied by the same reason to believe, such
as a product attribute. For example, consider a tire system that
monitors the air pressure in each tire and reports the results to
the driver via a dashboard indicator. In addition, the tire runs flat
for 500 miles. These attributes imply that low air pressure can
be detected quickly and thus increase the driver’s safety as well
as improve gas economy. The run-flat feature also suggests the
benefit of not needing a spare tire, which would offer more usable
trunk space and increase gas mileage. By presenting the safety,

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economy, and space implications, an associative network is built

to facilitate recall of the benefits related to the monitoring and
run flat attributes when making a tire decision.

Story Grammar

The story grammar approach was popularized by Doyle, Dane,

and Bernbach (now DDB Needham) in the 1960s and is argu-
ably the most used method in advertising today. Story grammar
is based on the notion that people store information in memory
with the following structure: problem (or opportunity), episodes
to address the problem, and outcomes (see figure 11.3).

Figure 11.3: The Elements of Story Grammar

From an early age, children exhibit the ability to process infor-

mation that is presented in a problem-episode-outcome story
grammar format. Children manifest evidence for this ability by
their understanding of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Advertising
messages rely on this learned structure by showing the problem
that the brand solves and then detailing the step-by-step process
by which it creates a successful outcome.

The classic example of DDB’s story grammar approach is the

introductory campaign for VW in the early 1960s. The commer-
cial opens by showing a snowplow driving a Volkswagen in a
snowstorm to get to a snowplow. The problem is getting to the
snowplow, the episodes are challenges faced by the VW owner
making it through the snow, and the solution is the VW owner
reaching the snowplow. Linkage of the benefit to the brand is
achieved by making the brand the hero and the solution to the
problem. This classic commercial highlights the value of the story

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grammar approach. It illustrates the performance of the brand via

the brand as the solution to the problem in the story. Moreover, if
an individual remembers part of the story, it often incites memory
of the remainder of the story.

In some cases, the story grammar is extended over time so that

each ad becomes part of a serial presentation. One such example
was a series of mini-drama ads by Nestle promoting its Gold
Blend brand in the UK, and its Taster’s Choice brand of instant
coffee in the United States. The ads followed the paths of two
amorous neighbors, Tony and Sharon, whose relationship slowly
developed over many cups of instant coffee. This love story was of
such interest to consumers that it later inspired a novel titled Love
Over Gold. In the United States, the campaign initially increased
Taster’s Choice share of the instant coffee market by 10%, at a
time when category demand was flat. But as the serial continued,
consumers became more interested in the developing relationship
between Tony and Sharon than in the coffee.

Of note, story grammar can be ineffective when the brand is

not central to the story. The risk is that consumers will remem-
ber the story, but not the brand. Put simply, a story can also lead
consumers away from elaborating on the message. For example,
Ameriquest mortgage ran a series of commercials that depicted
interesting and entertaining stories. In one commercial, the brand
tells the story of a man cooking dinner for his girlfriend; however,
due to a series of misfortunes, the girlfriend believes the man
has actually killed her cat. After the story ends, a brief introduc-
tion to Ameriquest mortgage was made. Consumers loved the
commercial and remembered the story very well; however, very
few remembered the brand because the brand was not central to
the story. Put simply, a story can also lead consumers away from
elaborating on the message.

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Comparative Advertising

Another strategy to encourage message elaboration is com-

parative advertising. Comparative advertising involves pitting the
benefits or reasons to believe of in support of a firm’s brand against
one or more competitors. Comparative advertising can increase
elaboration because it challenges consumers to make connections
between brands and understand how they relate to one another.

A famous example of comparative advertising is the “Pepsi

Challenge.” Pepsi introduced this campaign when it was a distant
second brand to Coca-Cola in the soft drink category. The “Pepsi
Challenge” encouraged consumers to compare the brand to its
rival Coke. As the Pepsi Challenge was introduced to each new
market, sales of the brand increased. Comparison was successful
because the challenge led consumers to elaborate on a point of
difference of Pepsi— taste— that was important to consumers.

Comparative advertising is often used by follower brands but not

by category leaders. The leading brand in a category is often the
brand with the strongest association with the product category, so
such a comparison would be unlikely to enhance brand member-
ship in the category. The identification of the competition might
also legitimize competitive brands that consumers may not have
previously considered as viable alternatives. Moreover, disparaging
a smaller brand might be interpreted as bullying by consumers.

Would a leading brand ever compare itself with the competition?

This tends to occur when the comparison offers a more powerful
way to show superiority on some benefit than is possible by simply
presenting the merits of the advertised brand. Thus, it can be useful
for a market leader to use comparison when they believe that the
increased power of a comparison offsets the potential liabilities of
enhancing consumers’ perception that a competitor has category

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membership. For instance, in categories where consumers know

the follower brand, identifying the brand in advertising provides
no news.

L It can be useful for a market leader to use compari-

son when they believe that the increased power of a
comparison offsets the potential liabilities of enhanc-
ing consumers’ perception that a competitor has
category membership.

Analogies

Analogies are commonly used advertising devices that foster

elaboration of a brand benefit by relating the brand—termed the
target—to some other object or concept that is known to consum-
ers—termed the base. Analogies aid elaboration because they help
consumers form association and structure around a category that
can be difficult to understand. For example, analogies are particu-
larly popular when the task involves the promotion of services
and other abstract entities. EDS (Electronic Data Systems), an
information technology equipment and services firm, conveyed
the benefit of using its services by showing individuals who were
proficient cat herders. The goal of the execution was to compare
the challenge of herding cats to the challenge of dealing with
complex data.

Although analogies can facilitate the understanding and there-

fore help people learn abstract information, several precautions
are warranted in the use of analogy. First, consumers must have
expertise in the base in order to map relationships in their memory
from the base to a target. In the EDS example, most of the ad
focused on explaining the challenges of herding cats. Viewers had

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to make the link between cat herding, and had to generate reasons
about why EDS was particularly skilled in providing high-tech
services on their own.

Substantial cognitive resources by the consumer are also typically

required to link the base to the target (see Roehm and Sternthal
2001). Moreover, the difficulty of this task is often exacerbated by
the presence of competitors who also use analogies to highlight
their brand’s point of difference. For example, casual inspection
of ad pages within Fortune, Business Week, and other business pub-
lications, where many consulting services advertise their brands,
reveals that many of these advertisers use analogies to talk about
their brands’ benefits. For example, Deloitte Consulting advertis-
ing portrayed its client as a ringmaster, where, with the help of
Deloitte, the client could restore order amidst chaos.

Message Elaboration Through Source Factors

Features of the message source can also facilitate elaboration

of advertisements. In advertising, a source often takes the form
of the spokesperson that delivers a persuasive appeal. Spokes-
people are typically characterized by their attractiveness, expertise,
and trustworthiness. Attractive spokespeople are not difficult to
find; celebrities often serve this purpose. Experts too are avail-
able. Anyone who has detailed knowledge about the category and
brand can serve as an expert. This includes CEOs and others who
work at the sponsoring firm and consumers who have substantial
experience with a category.

More difficult to identify are those who are perceived as trust-

worthy—that is, motivated to share their knowledge in an accurate
and unbiased manner. Consumers understand that spokespeople
are paid for their advocacy, and this knowledge undermines the

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trustworthiness of most spokespeople. One way to overcome this

problem is to identify spokespeople whose integrity is unques-
tionable. For example, British Telecom used theoretical physicist
Stephen Hawking to support the proposition that communication
could be used to better the world. I examine the virtues of using
spokespeople along with a discussion of potential risks.

Attractive Spokespeople

In some instances, spokespeople are selected because they

are attractive to the consumer in some capacity; that is, they are
dynamic, likable, or of high status. Former football player Tim
Tebow served as a spokesperson for TiVo, and model Carly Foul-
kes promoted the T-Mobile brand. Attractive people are typically
chosen as spokespeople because their presence enhances attention
to the advertisement. Of note sources factors can affect persuasion
in distinct ways (see Rucker, Petty, and Priester 2007).

However, in the consideration of the use of attractive spokes-

people, it is important to examine what is recalled when a celebrity
spokesperson is the brand advocate. Often the brand is associated
with the celebrity rather than the brand information presented
in the message. For example, seeing Tim Tebow advertise for
TiVo might enhance customers’ memory of the brand name, given
its similarity to Tebow’s name, but it also might evoke a greater
association with his football career than the brand. The result of
additional associations to a spokesperson can reduce the associa-
tions people have to a brand’s benefits. Indeed, in some cases,
spokespeople can garner greater attention to the advertisement
but ultimately undermine the processing of arguments required
for persuasion (see Petty and Cacioppo 1986).

Attractive spokesperson can be particularly effective when that

person’s attributes personify the brand’s benefit. For example,

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LeBron James is an appropriate spokesperson for Nike because,

not only is he a celebrity, but his basketball skills personify Nike’s
commitment to performance and aspiration to greatness. Similarly,
the endorsement of Max Factor cosmetics by Gisele Bundchen,
the Brazilian model, serves as a means to convey the idea that the
brand offered cutting-edge products for fashion forward women.
Thus, using a spokesperson that personifies the brand benefit can
stimulate greater elaboration of a brand’s benefit compared to a
spokesperson who is merely likable or of high status.

Experts and Trustworthy Spokespeople

Substantial evidence suggests that personification of a brand

benefit is not the only means by which spokespeople influence
elaboration. Those who are credible by virtue of their knowledge
about a brand or category (i.e., experts) and who are motivated to
share this knowledge (i.e., trustworthy) can influence elaboration
by reducing consumers’ motivation to retrieve their own thoughts
about a message. That is, rather than retrieve their own informa-
tion, consumers are more prone to listen and elaborate on what
is said in the message. In contrast, less expert and trustworthy
spokespeople prompt consumers to activate their own repertoire
of thoughts in response to a message.

L Those who are credible by virtue of their knowledge

about a brand or category (i.e., experts) and who are
motivated to share this knowledge (i.e., trustworthy)
can influence elaboration by reducing consumers’
motivation to retrieve their own thoughts about a
message.

These observations imply that an expert and trustworthy

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spokesperson is of particular value when people are opposed to

the position taken in a message. This follows from the finding
that such sources reduce retrieval of consumer’s own thoughts,
which in this instance would be negative thoughts or counterar-
guments to the message. Thus, the presence of trustworthy and
expert spokespeople can enhance the impact of messages that run
counter to the attitude held by message recipients.

However, when people favor a message advocacy, as they might

if they were users of a brand, spokespeople who are not known for
their trustworthiness and expertise could be more persuasive than
those with greater credibility on these dimensions. In this case,
such spokespeople might stimulate the activation of consumers’
own thoughts, which are likely to be favorable toward the brand.
This observation does not give the strategist license to use the least
trustworthy and expert spokesperson available when advertising
to those favorable to a brand. To do so might still undermine
persuasion. Rather, the implication is that using a less trusted or
expert spokesperson in these circumstances is less of a concern
than it would be if consumers were unfavorable toward the brand.

In addition, in some cases, the use of a non-expert or an

untrustworthy source can increase general scrutiny of a message.
Specifically, when consumers have to make a decision of how
carefully to process an advertisement, they may be warier of adver-
tisements from an untrustworthy source. As a consequence, they
might pay greater attention to what is said. Interestingly, if an
advertisement has extremely compelling arguments, this greater
scrutiny might enhance persuasion (see Priester and Petty 2003).

Risks of Spokespeople

It is important to recognize that spokespeople’s behavior out-

side of, or apart from, the advertisement can damage the brand.

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Strategists must consider the potential value added by spokes-

people against the potential risks that are incurred. Brands vary
in the vetting process used to secure spokespeople. For example,
Gatorade goes to great lengths to meet with and understand the
personality and habits of their spokespeople in order to ensure
that a spokesperson represents the brand values. Of course, even
a strong vetting procedure is not airtight; Gatorade sponsored
Tiger Woods and was as surprised as the country when news of
his extramarital affairs surfaced.

To help the strategist understand the potential risks of spokes-

people, I share several potential threats. First, spokespeople can
engage in behavior that embarrasses or tarnishes the brand and
thus destroys the spokesperson’s ability to personify the brand’s
benefit. Ben Curtis, who became well known for saying “You’re get-
ting a Dell, dude,” was caught with drugs and therefore personified
an activity that Dell did not want to be associated. And, as noted,
Tiger Woods, was hired by Gatorade to personify excellence and
virtue, but his extramarital affairs destroyed his personification of
the latter element.

Spokespeople can also dilute the brand; that is, they can ulti-
mately fail to do little for the brand because they bring with them
additional brand associations that are focal to the spokesperson.
For example, John Gilchrist portrayed a young picky eater named
Mikey in Life cereal commercials. Gilchrist was subsequently
hired to endorse Pepto Bismol, Jell-O, and Skippy peanut butter.
Although Mikey was shown liking these brands, none experienced
the same lift in business as Life. Mikey’s overexposure diluted his
impact. Similarly, Michael Jordan’s association with Nike was so
strong that when people saw advertisements for other brands that
featured Jordan, they often recalled Nike and not the advertised
brand!

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Successful spokespeople often realize that they are an impor-

tant part of a brand’s equity and threaten to defect when their
contract demands are not met. Jared Fogle, who lost 245 pounds
on a Subway diet, quit as spokesperson in a disagreement with
the brand, but was rehired when Subway sales dropped 10%.
Fogle was later arrested for, and plead guilty to, possession of
child pornography. Needless to say, this act permanently ended
his relationship with Subway. Some brands, such as Old Spice,
have avoided concerns of defection by intentionally limiting how
long they use a spokesperson.

In some cases, spokespeople have little connection to the brand,

but are of interest in their own right, which results in distracting
consumers from the brand message. Taco Bell used a Chihuahua
as the spokesperson for the brand. Although consumers loved the
dog, this spokesperson did not enhance sales. In fact, during the
Chihuahua campaign, Taco Bell sales fell by approximately 10%.

Whenever a spokesperson is used in advertising, some risk exists

in their death. This results in the advertising being pulled and the
development of a new campaign, which is both expensive and
time-consuming. Grape-Nuts stopped airing commercials featur-
ing Euell Gibbons when he died.

Thus, despite the fact that spokespeople can be powerful

instruments in advertising, at least five dangers exist that require
consideration when the use of a spokesperson is contemplated.
Spokespeople can destroy, dilute, defect, distract, or die. This is not
to say that only five threats exist; these observations underscore
the fact that caution is warranted when a strategist considers the
use of a spokesperson.

L Spokespeople can destroy, dilute, defect, distract, or die.

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Overcoming Spokesperson Liabilities

One approach to temper the degree of risk associated with

spokespeople is for a brand to use multiple spokespeople. When a
brand has multiple spokespeople, it is easier to shift attention away
from the misbehavior of a single spokesperson. Of course, the cost
of this strategy can limit its use to advertisers with large budgets.

A less expensive approach is to use testimonials from consum-

ers. Testimonials can have great impact when the spokesperson is
someone like the target audience but more experienced with the
category than the audience. Moms with several kids under the age
of six are persuasive spokespeople for products such as diapers and
infant formula. The rise of social media has facilitated the ability
of the everyday consumer to participate in representing a brand.

Finally, to address both the cost and concerns about spokes-

people, firms can use iconography in lieu of spokespeople for their
brands. Examples include the Aflac duck, the GEICO gecko,
M&M candy colors, and Erin Esurance. Although such characters
often do not have the same status as celebrities or experts, they offer
a viable way to promote elaboration of the message benefit and
enhance brand-benefit linkage without the risks that accompany
living spokespeople.

L To address both the cost and concerns about

spokespeople, firms can use iconography in lieu of
spokespeople for their brands.

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Message Elaboration Through Audience Factors

The recipient of an advertisement is also important to message

elaboration. Also referred to as the audience, consumers’ own
motivation and ability affects their elaboration of advertisements.
Although a variety of audience characteristics affect message
elaboration (see Rucker, Petty, and Priester 2007), I focus on two
audience characteristics: uncertainty and positive mood.

Uncertainty

When consumers feel uncertain about a topic, especially

when that topic is important, they are motivated to reduce this
uncertainty. Engagement in information search and elaboration
of content related to the message topic serves this purpose (see
Petty and Cacioppo 1986; Rucker, Petty, and Priester 2007). For
example, when consumers are uncertain about which new car to
buy, they are likely to seek out information and be more receptive
to the information in advertisements related to cars.

Advertisers attempt to raise uncertainty to motivate consumers

to elaborate on the remainder of the message. One approach used
to induce uncertainty involves fear appeals. These appeals introduce
uncertainty by warning consumers about negative events that
may befall them. The fact that consumers are told about negative
outcomes they had not considered introduces uncertainty that the
consumer is motivated to resolve via some form of elaboration.
However, it is important to note that the induction of uncertainty
does not guarantee that consumers will resolve the uncertainty
through favorable elaboration of the message content. Rather, the
effectiveness of uncertainty produced by fear appeals depends on
precisely how uncertainty is resolved.

In particular, the uncertainty that arises from fear appeals can

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be responded to by one of two psychological systems thought to

operate in parallel. One system is called danger control. The danger
control system processes information regarding what constitutes
danger, who is in danger, and how to control danger (see figure
11.4). This information is stored in memory and can stimulate
actions that are adaptive to cope with danger by reducing or elimi-
nating the danger.

Figure 11.4: Danger Control versus Fear Control

The other system is fear control, which involves the processing of

information about the dire consequences of noncompliance with
the message advocacy. Triggering fear control prompts habitual
and idiosyncratic means of dealing with the dire consequences of
non-compliance. These actions are not necessarily aimed at reduc-
ing the threat, but instead are individual coping mechanisms for
dealing with the fear induced by the message. For some people,
this entails coping with fear by ignoring the message (i.e., reduc-
ing message elaboration); for other people, it involves eating; and

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for still others it prompts smoking.

To clarify the implications of this view, consider a commercial

advocating that people should stop smoking. If the advertiser’s
intention is to induce message elaboration and a favorable response
to the message, the audience should be told about what constitutes
danger with regard to smoking. Operationally, this might involve
telling people that danger exists if they have a hacking cough, or a
walk up a flight of stairs will cause a shortage of breath. In addi-
tion, to help consumers understand the right adaptive action, the
message might include recommendations to place cigarettes in
inconvenient locations or to draw a circle around the middle of
the cigarette and only smoke them down to that line. By contrast,
one would avoid showing gory illustrations of smokers’ blackened
lungs, or stating dire consequences such as “Be sure you have a
lot of insurance; your kids will need it to go to college.” Focusing
on dire consequences alone might trigger fear, and thus induce
a fear control response. This response might not foster message
elaboration. In fact, some people might even light up a cigarette
as a means to cope with the fear induced by an anti-smoking
commercial!

Positive Mood

Research suggests that positive mood also can facilitate elabora-

tion of message content. In particular, the Hedonic Contingency
Model suggests that people process messages when they are
expected to maintain positive mood (Wegener, Petty, and Smith
1995). This work suggests that the induction of a positive mood
early in a commercial can lead consumers to engage in message
elaboration to maintain that positive mood.

The idea that consumers will process and attend to information

to maintain a positive mood may partially account for the fact

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that humor is used widely in advertising. Advertisers use turns-

of-phrase, double entendre, slapstick and the like to stimulate
message processing. The available evidence suggests that humor
can be an effective device for gaining attention and motivating
an audience to elaborate on the message information. However,
evidence also exists that humor can undermine persuasion. Thus,
the question is when will humor be an effective persuasive device?

First, and perhaps most important, the effective use of humor

should prompt an audience to focus on the brand’s benefit.
Humor motivates consumers to attend to information related to
the humor. If this information is brand-related, humor can foster
elaboration of this information. If, however, the humor involves
borrowed interest and is not related to the brand, it can distract
from processing message content. Indeed, a common misstep in
the use of humor is that it is focused on something funny in the
advertisement but unrelated to the brand. As a consequence, the
advertisement successfully engages consumers, but produces no
elaboration of the brand content and therefore proves ineffective.
For example, in an ad for Sprint, two men are in a locker room
bragging about the features of their smartphones. Finally, one
makes the claim that the phone has theft prevention, which he
demonstrates by flinging the phone at the other person’s head.
Viewers might remember the theft prevention feature, which is
not offered by the brand.

A second guideline is that humor should often be focused on

the product and not the user. Making the product user the brunt
of the joke might stimulate counterarguments and thus limit per-
suasion. If it is not feasible to focus humor on the product, it is
preferable to make nonusers of the product rather than users the
focus of the humor. This approach is illustrated by an Argentinean
ad for Dr. Scholl’s foot powder. A fisherman is shown sitting on
a dock with his feet in the water. Before he can cast his line, the

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fish come to the surface, apparently dead from his foot odor. The
remedy for this nonuser is Dr. Scholl’s foot powder.

Third, humor typically requires multiple advertisements to

sustain brand news. Because humor stimulates attention, mes-
sage recipients quickly learn the brand news presented in an ad.
Repeated exposures to the same humorous appeal, or different
appeals that promote the same benefit can be susceptible to wear-
out (see Chapter 10). For example, Nestle used a pool of ads to
promote its Butterfingers brand. Cartoon character Bart Simp-
son was shown in several ads stopping people from eating his
Butterfingers (“Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger”).
However, the same crispy, crunchy, peanut-buttery benefit was
presented in all of the ads. In the absence of news, this approach
has the potential for wear-out. To combat wear-out, different
benefits might be considered in different ads in the pool or the
creative copy, such as the context or colors, can be changed.

L Repeated exposures to the same humorous appeal,

or different appeals that promote the same benefit,
can be susceptible to wear-out.

Chapter Summary

Stimulating recipients to elaborate on a message can enhance

the persuasive impact of a message with strong arguments. In
this chapter, I have discussed a number of strategies to serve this
purpose—strategies related to properties of the message, the
spokesperson, and the audience. This chapter is not intended to
suggest that a brand manager should dictate the precise creative
output of the agency (i.e., do a hard sell and use a spokesperson).

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In fact, this action is discouraged because the client’s role is to

develop the strategy - represented in the creative brief - and to
evaluate the correspondence between the strategy and its execu-
tion. Rather, the creative strategies reviewed here provide the client
with insight into why a creative strategy might succeed or fail at
the generation of elaboration, which can provide useful points of
discussion with one’s creative partners. Of course, for strategists
who must develop creative themselves, the present discussion
serves as a basis for such an undertaking.

Recommended Readings

Briñol, Pablo and Richard E. Petty (2009), “Persuasion: Insights

from the Self-Validation Hypothesis,” in Mark P. Zanna (Editor),
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 69-118. New York:
Elsevier.

Lee, Angela Y., and Brian Sternthal (1999), “The Effects of

Positive Mood on Memory,” Journal of Consumer Research, 26,
115-127.

Meyers-Levy, Joan and Laura Peracchio (1995), “Understanding

the Effects of Color: How the Correspondence between Available
and Required Resources Affects Attitudes,” Journal of Consumer
Research (September), 22, 121-138.

Petty, Richard E., and John T. Cacioppo (1986), “The Elabo-

ration Likelihood Model of Persuasion,” in Leonard Berkowitz
(Editor), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 19, pp.
123-205). New York: Academic Press.

Priester, Joseph R., and Petty, Richard E. (2003), “The Influ-

ence of Spokesperson Trustworthiness on Message Elaboration,

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Attitude Strength, and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Con-

sumer Psychology, 13, 408-421.”

Roehm, Michelle L. and Brian Sternthal (2001), “The Moderat-

ing Effect of Knowledge and Resources on the Persuasive Impact
of Analogies,” Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 257-272.

Rucker, Derek D., and Adam D. Galinsky (2009), “Conspicuous

Consumption versus Utilitarian Ideals: How Different Levels of
Power Shape Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 45, 549-555.

Rucker, Derek D., Richard E. Petty, Joseph R. Priester (2007),

“Understanding Advertising Effectiveness From a Psychological
Perspective: The Importance of Attitudes and Attitude Strength.”
In Gerard J. Tellis and Tim Ambler (Editors), The Handbook of
Advertising (pp. 71-88). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wegener, Duane T., Richard E. Petty, and Steve M. Smith

(1995), “Positive Mood Can Increase or Decrease Message Scru-
tiny: The Hedonic Contingency View of Mood and Message
Processing,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 5-15.

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Chapter 12
Evaluation of
Creative
In this chapter
• The Creative Brief as an Evaluative Tool
• The ADPLAN Tool
• Client-Agency Relations

Imagine that you are the brand manager for Volkswagen (VW).
The agency has just delivered a creative pitch based on the cre-
ative brief you had given to them. The agency has presented a
provocative concept for the introduction of the new VW Passat.
The storyboard presented a print campaign, but if accepted would
serve as a basis for the much costlier television campaign, along
with placements in social media.

The actual print ad featured a picture of a white four door

VW Passat with chrome wire hub caps that was shown on a blue
background that took up the top two-thirds of the page. Beneath
this visual was the headline “Boat” in bold letters. The text for this
ad is reproduced in figure 12.1. What feedback would you give
creative on this potential execution? How would you even think
about what topics to raise and how would you communicate these
professionally to the creative team?

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Some misperceptions take time to die.

This one will take less than seven seconds.

That’s how long the Volkswagen Passat 2.0 takes to

reach 60 mph.

Faster than the BMW 525i, Lexus LS 250, and

Mercedes C230!

And yet it manages to best them all in fuel effi-

ciency as well -- delivering up to 6 mpg or more!

Not your typical luxury liner. Although it does of-

fer a boatload of performance features like four
corner suspension, push button ignition, and the
Electronic Stabilization Program.

But what’s most surprising is that even with better

fuel efficiency and more torque than those other
cars, the Passat costs about $10,000 less.

How’s it possible? Simple. It’s Volkswagen.

Figure 12.1: Copy from Print Execution for Volkswagen Passat

In this chapter, I discuss how to evaluate advertising either prior

to, or in lieu of, experimental test results (see Chapter 13). This
approach entails two steps. The first step is a comparison of the
advertising produced by the agency against the strategy represented
in the creative brief. The second step is to assess the execution
against a set of six criteria: Attention, Distinction, Positioning,
Linkage, Amplification, and Net Equity. Collectively, I call this
ADPLAN, and it is a primary tool I use to quickly situate my
thoughts around an execution. Finally, in this chapter I also discuss
the management of client-agency interactions in the development
of an advertising campaign.

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The Creative Brief as an Evaluative Tool

The creative brief was introduced in Chapter 1 as the key strate-

gic and planning document that specifies the advertising strategy
and guides the creative work and the media selection. As such, the
creative brief is used to evaluate how well the advertising repre-
sents the strategy. Departures from the brief often are a source of
important discussion between the agency and client. A reminder
of the format used for the creative brief discussed in Chapter 1 is
presented in figure 12.2.

Figure 12.2: The Creative Brief

Consider a creative brief that might be produced by Dandamudi,

which sells kitchen cabinets as well as granite and other kitchen
surfaces in the Chicagoland area (figure 12.3). The brief is meant
to raise brand awareness and situate the brand in the high-end
cabinetry space. The brand also does countertops, but the promo-
tion of this product is not the core objective of this campaign.

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Dandamudi requests that the advertising depict cabinetry that is

of high quality and has a unique feel. They also want to build on
the heritage of serving Chicago for over 30 years.

Figure 12.3: Dandamudi Creative Brief

The creative brief serves as a basis for the evaluation of the

execution. Assume, for example, that the creative execution pro-
duced by this brief shows a kitchen with a high ceiling and purple
cabinetry etched in brown. The name “Dandamudi” is the only
text in the execution and it appears in a red font. A comparison
of the creative brief with the execution might raise a variety of
questions. First, is the look of the ad consistent with Dandamudi’s
position and the type of product desired by its target? Specifically,
does the décor and color scheme fit the strategy presented in the
brief? What action should be taken given that no mention was
made of the 30 years of service specified in the brief?

The creative brief provides a starting point to assess whether the

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execution is consistent with the proposed strategy. For example,

the fact that the 30 years of service was not mentioned allows
the client to point out a misalignment between the brief and the
execution. At the same time, the client might complement the
agency on the choice of a purple cabinet scheme that would reso-
nate with the uniqueness desired by the target. Thus, the creative
brief provides an initial means to evaluate the soundness of the
developed creative execution.

At issue, however, is that an execution can meet parameters set

forth in the creative brief and still fail with respect to the objective
stated in the brief. To illustrate how an execution can meet the brief
but fail, consider a campaign conducted by Quiznos, a sandwich
chain. Quiznos had the objective to significantly increase sales.
Quiznos hired an agency to develop a campaign that would be
both highly attention-getting for the 18-24-year-old male target
and feature Quiznos products. The agency produced an ad that
included sponge monkeys that sang about the brand’s offerings.
Different Quiznos sandwiches were shown at the end of the ad.
A comparison of the execution to the brief would suggest it met
the brief - it was indeed attention-getting for the 18-24-year old
male target. However, a discussion might have examined whether
sponge monkeys was an appropriate executional device. Although
they are likely to gain the attention of the target segment that
Quiznos wanted, it might have undermined appetite appeal or
alienated other targets (e.g., women).

L An execution can meet parameters set forth in the

creative brief and still fail with respect to the objective
stated in the brief.

As it turned out, the Quiznos' advertising had only a modest

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impact on sales, which led to the agency being replaced. Whether

the problem was the brief, its execution, or both is an open issue.
Of importance, it is possible to catalogue various aspects of an
execution that could lead the execution to fail, even when it meets
the brief. I discuss these elements next as they serve as basis to
raises questions to aid discussion with one’s creative partner.

The ADPLAN Tool

Although creative executions can be evaluated on a number of

dimensions, over the last decade I have developed a tool to help
structure a strategist’s assessment of executions based on six dimen-
sions: attention, distinction, positioning, linkage, amplification, and net
equity. The importance of each of these dimensions is supported
by both academic research and interactions with practitioners.
Collectively, known as the ADPLAN tool, these elements help a
strategist articulate and express potential problems in an execution
that may inhibit its effectiveness.

Each element of the ADPLAN tool is comprised of one or

more questions that the strategist can ask of the execution (see
figure 12.4). Moreover, if desired, it is possible to answer each of
the questions via test and measurement (see Chapter 13). However,
in many cases, simply thinking through and discussing these ques-
tions can be a powerful means to judge the merits of an execution.
Effective advertisements tend to perform well on most of the
ADPLAN criteria, and elements where deficits exist must often
be compensated for in some fashion.

Next, I discuss each aspect of the ADPLAN tool in greater

detail. I will use ADPLAN in the context of the VW Passat copy
discussed at the outset of this chapter.

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Figure 12.4: ADPLAN Evaluation Criteria

Attention

Copywriters’ and art directors’ primary concern is often to

develop an advertisement that breaks through the boredom bar-
rier. Much of advertising is ignored or forgotten. To address this
issue, it is important to assess whether the ad captures people’s
attention. Attention concerns issues of both immediate capture
(i.e., do people pay attention to the execution when it enters the
consumers’ environment) and sustained interest (i.e., do consum-
ers process the entire execution). For example, YouTube provides
consumers with the ability to skip some executions. A consumer
that skips the ad after five seconds may have attended to its appear-
ance but ignored the overall message.

The VW ad draws attention by its headline “Boat.” One reason

for this is that incongruity tends to prompt attention. The descrip-
tor “boat” is inconsistent with the audience’s expectation because
boat is a pejorative way to describe a car; it implies that it is a large,

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difficult-to-maneuver, and a gas-guzzler. In addition, it runs afoul

of the heritage of VW in the United States, which is associated
with smaller cars. Attention can be sustained by the inclusion of
news, which VW does by telling people about the performance
delivered by the Passat. To be fair, this might not be the most
attention-grabbing ad ever created, but it may be sufficient for
the brand’s purpose.

Of note, when an advertisement is modest in attention, addi-

tional means to draw attention can be used. For example, the media
context in which an advertisement appears can affect consumers’
attention. Ads presented during the Super Bowl tend to receive
more consumer attention than ones presented in other vehicles.
Alternatively, media can draw attention by their resonance with
customers’ moment and mindset as discussed in Chapter 10. Along
these lines, Passat advertising might be presented on Edmunds.
com website that reviews auto performance, or on search websites
such as Google to reach targeted customers who have previously
visited BMW and Mercedes sites.

To assess attention empirically, consumers might be asked to

recall information about the brand, which is compared to the
information presented in the advertising. The empirical measure-
ment of attention is discussed in more detail in Chapter 13.

Distinction

Distinction refers to whether the tone and manner of the

execution distinguishes the advertising from other executions.
Frequently, consumers make choices within a product category
and thus view ads for competitor's brands. Distinctive ads present
executions that are unique and not easily mistaken for competi-
tors’ executions.

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Distinction is important because it can aid attention. Tellabs, a

telecommunications provider for companies that market services
in this category, presented a print campaign that featured animals
and nature scenes to motivate the discussion of its benefits. For
example, owls were used when the feature was the vigilance with
which Tellabs equipment monitors its customers’ networks, and
goats served as the visual when discussing the scalability of Tellabs’
equipment. Because the campaign was published in technology-
oriented magazines, the Tellabs executions were highly distinct.
Not only were these ads noticed, but they were also the topic
of discussion within firms that purchased telecommunications
products.

Distinctiveness can also enhance memory and brand linkage,

especially if it is sustained over time. Six Flags amusement parks
employed a dancing mascot, Mr. Six (a.k.a. “the Ambassador of
Fun”), which instantly informed the viewer that the ad was for
Six Flags and it was a place to have fun. In a similar vein, Apple’s
silhouette ads use vibrant colors and dancing figures to promote
its Ipod products. Even though the brand name was not refer-
enced until the very end, as the campaign continued, consumers
recognized the ads within seconds of the execution

With regard to the VW Passat ad, it appears to have limited

distinction. The distinction occurs in the headline “Boat.” This
headline is unlike the ones used by other brands in the category.
However, the visual that includes a picture of the car with copy
under it is similar to that of most car ads. In contrast, Quiznos’ use
of sponge monkeys to promote its sandwiches and Dandamudi’s
use of a purple kitchen are highly distinct in their execution com-
pared to the competition.

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Positioning

As articulated throughout this book, part of sound advertising

is positioning (see Chapters 7 and 8). Ads that grab attention and
are distinct can fail if they do not properly associate the brand to
the desired frame of reference and the brand’s point of difference.

The assessment of positioning as part of the ADPLAN tool

differs from the use of positioning in the creative brief. Whereas
a comparison of the execution to the creative brief asks whether
the specifics of the positioning requested are represented, the
ADPLAN tool asks the general question: what frame of reference
and point of difference will be activated by the consumer? For
example, it is possible that the desired position is represented, but
it is sufficiently ambiguous that other positions might be inferred
by the consumer.

In the Passat ad, it is immediately evident that the frame of

reference is a car. The desired frame of reference is achieved by
the visual of the brand and the VW logo; few, if any, additional
frames of reference are likely to be active. Moreover, the frame
of reference is refined and narrowed to that of a mid-sized luxury
car. This narrowing is a result of naming BMW, Lexus, and Mer-
cedes as reference brands. The copy also delivers the value point
of difference: greater performance at a lower purchase price and
maintenance cost. The value proposition is supported by reasons
to believe. The price of the Passat is listed, as is the savings that
this price represents. The greater fuel economy is also supported
by factual information.

In the assessment of the positioning, an assumption is made

that the positioning is appropriate for the target. Again, the evalu-
ation task does not involve revisiting the adequacy of the position,
but rather evaluates whether the frame of reference and point of

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difference are delivered in the creative execution. In the VW Passat

ad, it might be argued that consumers will not be convinced that
VW is a member of the luxury frame of reference, and there is the
possibility that this frame of reference will be perceived as incon-
sistent with the VW claim of greater fuel economy. Alternatively,
consumers might interpret the luxury frame to mean that Passat
is more luxurious than the brands in its own class—Honda and
Toyota.

Linkage

Linkage refers to whether a strong association exists between the

brand name and the benefit claimed in advertising. Executions that
exhibit strong brand linkage are ones where the category, brand,
and benefit are easy for consumers to relate to each other, whereas
executions with weak brand linkage leave the consumer unsure
about the brand that sponsored a recalled advertising message or
the nature of the benefit. Linkage is separate from positioning
because the positioning could be represented in the execution,
but the consumer could fail to remember it.

One factor that can undermine the linkage to a brand is the late
identification (late ID) of the brand. By withholding the brand
identity until the end of the ad, the audience is invited to make
its own associations to the message content. Audiences might
associate the commercial with some other brand or category. The
rationale for using a late ID is that it serves as an engagement
device. That is, the lack of brand identification builds suspense that
leads consumers to pay attention to the execution. This rationale
can be justified if brand linkage is not compromised. In addition,
a late ID is sometimes used strategically to reduce the likelihood
of consumers’ counterarguing the message advocacy. For example,
when Tums found that people often responded to their advertis-
ing by arguing that such a small tablet could not be as effective

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an antacid as Tums was claiming, a late ID was introduced. The

commercial showed an extreme close-up of a green Tums tablet
that turned slowly as its effectiveness was being described. Only
at the end of the commercial had the tablet turned sufficiently so
that the brand name was visible. This commercial not only halted
brand erosion, but resulted in a significant upturn in business. The
late ID forestalled the audience from counterarguing the claims
until a point when it would have required consumers to expend
great effort to activate their prior knowledge to offset what they
had learned about Tums.

It should be noted that the difficulties posed by a late ID appear

more prominent in the United States than elsewhere in the world.
In Europe, Asia, and South America, late ID is more frequently
and effectively used in advertising. In these countries, advertising
is often viewed more as entertainment than a means of obtaining
brand information. Historically, late IDs are a way of delivering
entertainment by maintaining suspense about the goal of the
commercial until the end. Late IDs are also effective outside the
United States because the total number of ads that are presented
to consumers is much smaller than the number to which Ameri-
can consumers are exposed, and because each ad is presented for
a much longer period of time than in the United States. These
factors make it relatively easy for those in countries other than
the US to keep track of the benefit that a brand is advertising.
These observations suggest that as the density of advertising in
other countries increases, the difficulty in using late IDs that is
experienced in the United States is likely to surface elsewhere.

Another factor that can undermine brand linkage is message

content that is not related to the brand’s equity. For many years,
Special K ready-to-eat cereal promoted staying slim as its point of
difference. When woman complained that Special K advertising
objectified women, a new commercial was aired featuring men

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complaining about their figures. The intent of this ad was to sug-

gest that like men, women should not concern themselves with
their figures. Although many consumers found this advertising
entertaining, they did not associate it with Special K, which was
positioned as a brand that enhanced women’s figures. Sales fell
dramatically and the campaign was retracted within a year. This
result suggests that brands should be cautious when straying from
their equity. If a strategic change must occur, special effort is likely
required to sustain brand linkage.

For the VW Passat ad, the question is whether consumers recall

it as a VW Passat ad and attach the superior value message to the
Passat. The category representation seems strong given that the
advertisement feature the product in the center of the execution.
However, the fact that the super value message is embedded within
substantial text may raise concerns as to whether consumers will
be able to extract this detail.

Amplification

As noted in Chapter 5, amplification refer to the degree to

which information is accessed or thought about extensively in
association with other thoughts. Importantly, amplification can
produce thoughts by consumers that are favorable or unfavorable
to the message. In assessing creative executions, I ask whether the
result of amplification is positive or negative thoughts. A strong
insight and point-of-difference can help foster favorable thoughts
from the consumer, whereas weak arguments or offensive content
can lead to negative thoughts.

In assessing amplification, consideration must be given to

whether the associations generated will be positive or negative.
Advertising will not enhance brand evaluation when it provokes
people to counterargue successfully. In the Passat ad, people might

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have positive associations to the brand because they view the

price to be comparable to that of a Honda or Toyota, but with the
features of a luxury car. Alternatively, people might acknowledge
that the brand has a powerful engine and good gas economy,
but the price quoted in the ad might lead them to discount the
Passat because they believe that VW does not offer the same
luxury or dealer service as the BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes. In this
instance, advertising would prompt amplification in the form of
negative associations, which would undermine ad effectiveness.
If this problem were anticipated, it could be overcome by ensur-
ing that the discrepancy between people’s current beliefs and the
brand promise is relatively small or by providing evidence that
limits counterargumentation. The Passat advertising uses the latter
approach to limit counterargumentation to its message.

How might the valence of consumers’ thoughts be assessed? One

way to address these questions is to measure consumers’ thoughts
about the brand. These measures are discussed in Chapter 13.

L In assessing amplification, consideration must be

given to whether the associations generated will be
positive or negative. Advertising will not enhance
brand evaluation when it provokes people to coun-
terargue successfully.

Net Equity

The final element of the ADPLAN tool is Net equity. Net

equity refers to the degree to which an execution reflects the prior
associations that consumers have to a brand. BMW has equity
as the ultimate driving machine and Hallmark has equity as the
best-quality greeting card. An execution with strong net equity

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maintains or builds on the equity a brand has established or wishes

to develop. An execution with poor net equity fails to reinforce or
even walks away from the brand’s equity.

Brands often fail to support their equity in an effort to gain

incremental volume, react to consumer trends, or to respond to
competition. Tic Tac had equity as a powerful breath freshener.
The brand targeted consumers concerned about their caloric intake
and advertised that it had fewer calories than other breath fresh-
eners. As Tic Tac focused on fewer calories, other brands focused
fresher breath. The result was a steep decline in Tic Tac’s market
share. In response, Tic Tac returned to, and secured its equity in
fresher breath, and it regained market share. If a brand abandons
its equity, it should be accompanied by a justification in terms of
the magnitude of an alternative opportunity. In the vast majority
of cases, such justification is not available and a brand’s advertising
should be evaluated in terms of how well it sustains the net equity.

A benefit of having strong equity is that the brand becomes

synonymous with the benefit and thus the equity serves as a bar-
rier to competitive entry. For example, Axe established its equity
as the brand that enhanced men’s attractiveness to women. When
Tag body spray was launched using the same position as Axe,
consumers who had seen a Tag commercial sometimes reported
that the brand advertised was Axe. The result was that Axe’s share
was unaffected by Tag’s advertising.

L The key benefit of having strong equity is that the

brand becomes synonymous with the benefit and
thus the equity serves as a barrier to competitive entry.

VW has equity in being economical—a benefit featured in the

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Passat ad—but consumers might view placement of the brand in

the luxury frame of reference as inconsistent with its equity. As
such, the client and creative team may have a greater discussion
around the issue of equity. Equity can be assessed through empiri-
cal measures such as brand associations. A detailed discussion of
how to conceptualize, measure, and manage equity is offered in
Keller (1993).

Summary of ADPLAN

The ADPLAN tools provides a set of questions for brand man-

agers to ask and consider prior to engaging in empirical testing.
By a reasoned discussion of attention, distinctiveness, position-
ing, linkage, amplification, and net equity, brand strategists can
identify factors that might undermine the impact of advertising,
and develop solutions to these problems prior to spending money
on a copy test.

All else equal, the effectiveness of advertising increases as adver-

tising performs better on each of the ADPLAN dimensions. Ads
that are strong on attention and distinctiveness but do not establish
the brand’s position invite consumers to develop their own view
of the brand’s position and allow competitors to usurp the brand’s
position. Thus, the goal of an advertising execution is to ensure
that the brand name is processed, is linked to information about
the goal the brand helps consumers achieve, and specifies how it is
superior in achieving this goal. However, a single ad does not need
to satisfy all the ADPLAN criteria to be effective. For example,
a brand could use different advertisements, or advertisements in
different media, to address limitations in a single execution. Alter-
natively, issues related to linkage might be overcome by repeated
exposure to help the consumer solidify the link. Thus, rather than
an all or none framework, ADPLAN invites a strategic discussion

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of an execution, which helps the strategist interact with creative.

Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial performs well on most of the

ADPLAN elements. This execution, which can easily be found
via a google search, is arguably the most attention-getting and
distinctive commercial ever produced. However, it did more than
attract people’s attention. It presented the foundation of Apple’s
position by featuring a woman engaged in unique actions. The
female icon suggested a communal brand, which provided the
basis for Apple’s user-friendly benefit, and her unique actions
distinguished the brand as being different from other platforms.
A concern, however, might be that the execution does not tell
the user about the functional benefit of the product. In fact, in
response to this concern, the brand followed this execution with
additional advertising. Specifically after the Super Bowl, Apple
purchased print media that listed and conveyed product features.

Client-Agency Relations

The quality of advertising is affected by the client-agency rela-

tionship. The client (i.e., brand) and the agency have distinct roles.
The brand, in most cases, is responsible for the development of
the target, insight and position. In some cases, this development
can be done in conjunction with the ad agency, but the brand is
ultimately responsible for the soundness of the strategy. The brand
is also responsible for evaluating how well the creative and media
fit with the target and position established for the brand. The ad
agency, in contrast, is responsible for developing the creative and
refining executional elements for desired media channels.

If the brand manger’s analysis using a tool such as ADPLAN

suggests concerns about the execution, it is the agency’s respon-
sibility to modify the advertising to address these concerns. In

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many cases, brand managers erroneously attempt to facilitate this

process by suggesting specific ways of fixing advertising (“make
the logo bigger” “say zesty rather than tasty”). This task should
be left to the agency. Most brand managers are not adept at the
development of copy or the artwork, and their suggestions about
how to perform these functions more often undermine advertis-
ing than facilitate it.

Instead, the role of brand manager should be to make sure the

creative copy aligns with the strategic plan provided in the creative
brief. When discrepancies arise, the brand manager should notify
the account manager of the problem, who in turn will consult with
the creative team to offer a solution. In many instances, account
planners, who are responsible for consumer insights developed by
the agency (see Appendix A), can facilitate a dialogue between
the brand and the agency personnel. However, it is important to
remember that agencies exist to serve brands; brands should not
concede their brand strategy in the service of creative, but strate-
gically weak, executions.

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, I focused on criteria that can be used to assess

the creative copy before a decision to approve it for production, test,
and/or release. A first step should be to ensure that the proposed
execution aligns with the creative brief. A second step is to assess
whether the creative meets the ADPLAN criteria. Both of these
steps can provide low costs means to limit errors in advertising
before conducting more formal tests or making the decision to
launch a campaign. Common to both these steps is that the brand
should raise concerns and problems, but the advertising agency
should be asked and allowed to remedy them.

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Recommended Readings

Keller, Kevin Lane (1993), “Conceptualizing, Measuring, and

Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity,” Journal of Marketing,
57 ( January), 1–22.

Petty, Richard E. and John T. Cacioppo (1979), “Issue

Involvement can Increase or Decrease Persuasion by Enhancing
Message-Relevant Cognitive Responses,” Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 37, 1915-26.

Rucker, D. D. and Richard E. Petty (2006), “Increasing the

Effectiveness of Communications to Consumers: Recommenda-
tions Based on the Elaboration Likelihood and Attitude Certainty
Perspectives,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 25, 39-52.

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Chapter 13
Measuring and
Testing Effectiveness
In this chapter
• Decision to Measure and Test
• Elements of Measurement and Test
• Role of Number of Exposures

Gatorade is a sports drink designed to replace fluids and nutri-

ents lost in the course of exercise and other strenuous activities.
Initially developed at the University of Florida, the drink was
referred to as “the lemonade that Gators drank.” Quaker Oats
purchased Gatorade from Stokely-Van Camp in 1983. At the
time of the acquisition, Gatorade distribution was limited to the
southern part of the United States and did not extend to the
northern states. Thus, Southerners were exposed to the brand and
many had tried it. In contrast, Northerners had little familiarity
with the brand.

Given consumers had different knowledge about the brand,

the brand was confronted with the issue of whether a national
advertising campaign was feasible, or whether separate campaigns
for each geographic area were required. The brand tested two
campaigns. One featured distinct advertising executions devel-
oped separately for southern and northern states that consisted

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of varied levels of brand information based on anticipated differ-

ences in consumer knowledge. The other campaign was national
in scope and attempted to appeal to both segments through a
strong emphasis on the benefit of offering the hydration needed for
peak sports performance. The results of the test market suggested
that both campaigns performed similarly in terms of consumers’
favorability towards, and intention to buy Gatorade. The brand
aired the national campaign given cheaper media costs and a more
consistent brand message.

This example highlights that advertising is an empirical enter-

prise. It requires a sound creative brief to guide the development
of creative execution. However, when several alternative executions
are on strategy, or several viable strategies are available, empiri-
cal research is required to select the one that is most likely to be
effective. In the case of Gatorade, no theory exists that perfectly
predicts which campaign will be more effective. Indeed, many
brands test their executions on a routine basis. Budweiser, for
instance, tests spots prior to their appearance in the Super Bowl.
Moreover, various brands use digital formats, such as Facebook,
to evaluate the effectiveness of different executions against one
another. Even when brands do not test before their release in
market, a number of brands gauge the in-market effectiveness to
judge whether to continue or end a campaign.

In this chapter, I examine approaches to measuring advertis-

ing effectiveness. To accomplish this goal, I first discuss critical
decisions with regard to the use of measurement and test. I then
examine the type of empirical measurements that can be taken
with respect to what consumers have learned, what opinions they
have about the brand, and various behaviors that might result from
their exposure to advertising. Finally, I offer thoughts on the role
of number of exposures in test.

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The Decision to Measure and Test

When should one measure the effectiveness of advertising?

How does a strategist make a decision to test prior to the release of
advertising? One might counter these questions with the response,
“Why not measure and test everything?” The reality is that both
measurement and test require two resources: time and money. As
a consequence, it would be prohibitive to measure and test every
aspect of a brand campaign all the time. In fact, if one considers
all the factors that can vary in advertising, such as infinite creative
strategies and media mixes, as well as all the measurements that
can be taken, it is literally impossible to measure and test all ideas.
A strategist must decide when to allocate resources to measure-
ment and test.

Opportunities to Measure and Test

Although executions can be tested at any point, a useful means

to structure the decision to test is based on three general periods:
pre-release, post-release, and conclusion.

Pre-release involves the measurement and test of creative execu-

tions prior to their release in the market. For example, brands
routinely test early ideas with focus groups and panels prior to
the production of the execution. To accomplish this goal, brands
either present a test audience with storyboards or animatics (e.g.,
computer generated mock ups of an ad) and assess their responses
on a variety of measures such as awareness, favorability, and action.
The benefit of this early test is that it is relatively lower in cost to
implement. Moreover, these early tests can help a brand explore
several viable strategies before a decision to produce a specific
one is made. Of course, even after a spot is produced it is possible
to test consumers’ reaction to the spot. Indeed, some brands will

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use test to decide whether or not a particular execution should

be given a larger or small media budget based on how favorable
consumers’ responses are to it.

Pre-release can also involve the use of test markets. Although

such tests are more expensive than focus groups or panels, they
allow a strategist to explore consumers’ reaction under market
conditions. Test-markets involve showing different groups the
desired advertising and measuring their response. The Gatorade
example at the beginning of this chapter represents the use of
test-markets. Test-markets can be used to test both the creative
strategy as well as various elements of the media strategy (e.g.,
reach versus frequency, number of exposures, etc…). A discussion
of test markets is offered in the context of behavioral measures
later in this chapter.

Post-release involves the measurement of executions that are live

in the marketplace. Brands can track how advertising is performing
and adjust their media spend in response. Live campaigns can also
use test in the form of a comparison of different executions being
used in the campaign. For example, a brand might release a live
digital campaign and track the click through to different ads in the
campaign. As the brand observes differences in the click through
rate, the brand may adjust the frequency of different advertise-
ments. Moreover, as consumers’ interest in a campaign changes,
which might be observed via a decrease in shares or online discus-
sion, the brand can adjust their advertising. Thus, measurement
during a campaign can help brands respond to market conditions.

Conclusion involves a final assessment of what transpired as a

result of the advertising effort. Thus, this measurement is taken
after the advertising has ended. For example, a brand might mea-
sure the change in sales that has occurred since the launch of the
campaign. Although the campaign is over, the brand can use the

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results to inform their next strategy. A brand might learn, for

instance, that the campaign achieved massive awareness but it did
not lead to purchase. In this situation, the brand might reconsider
the positioning featured and/or whether a different message or
promotions are required to move consumers towards action.

Factors Related to the Value of Measurement and Test

Not all tests are equally informative or valuable. At a general

level, perhaps the single biggest factor that influences the value
of test is the degree of ambiguity present. Ambiguity refers to
the general uncertainty with respect to the effectiveness. Several
factors foster ambiguity such as a change in target, a change in
position, a change in media, a change in creative strategy or the
presence of multiple viable executions. When a brand’s advertising
changes on one or more of these factors, such departures might
elicit changes in consumers' responses that can be explored via
test and measurement. As noted, when several plausible executions
exist, some brands specifically test different creative executions in
the form of animatics to empirically assess which is most likely
to be effective.

In contrast, test is often less informative when a brand’s depar-

ture from prior advertising is minimal, especially in the case where
prior advertising is successful. For example, Wrigley Gum tracks
how various campaigns perform in market. When they see con-
sumers’ interest in a campaign start to decline—via surveys and
digital metrics—they generate new creative to refresh consumers’
attention to the advertising. This new creative often represents
slight departures that remain on the original creative brief. Given
the prior campaign worked overall, ambiguity is relatively low, and
thus the need to test the new content prior to release is viewed
as low. However, while the brand might not test the new creative
pre-release, the brand continues to monitor and track its response

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in market.

Disagreements over the creative evaluation (see Chapter 12)

are also a sign that test and measurement might be warranted,
especially early in the process. For example, a brand and agency
that disagree on whether consumers will have favorable thoughts
to an execution can conduct a focus group to assess the empiri-
cally reality of consumers’ amplification. Indeed, my own view is
that test and measurement often provide the greatest return on
investment early in the process because they can identify problems
before those problems are placed into production. In contrast,
while consensus by the brand and client on a creative execution
does not guarantee success, it often suggests less scrutiny of the
creative work is required, especially if the strategist has done due
diligence in the creative brief.

L Test and measurement often provide the greatest

return on investment early in the process because
they can identify problems before those problems
are placed into production.

Other factors that affect the decision to engage in test and mea-
surement concern firm resources and accountability. On the matter
of resources, as resources become scarce, brands often elect to forgo
test and measurement so more money can be spent on media. In
such cases, conceptual tools, such as the ADPLAN criteria (see
Chapter 12) can still be leveraged, and arguably are all the more
important. On the matter of accountability, a brand manager that
asks for a larger budget might be held more accountable for the
results and thus may need to use measurement to validate (or
invalidate) the success of the advertising.

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Elements of Test and Measurement

Tests, especially those during pre-release, are conducted with

focus groups or panels. Such “copy tests” can be provided via a
number of services, but the offerings are generally similar. For
example, video tests, which might be appropriate for television or
digital, often involve showing a brand’s ad to consumers who have
the same demographic or psychographic profile as those targeted
by the brand. Some services show the brand in the context of a
television program and ads for noncompeting brands, whereas
others simply show target consumers the ad of interest. In some
cases, respondents are asked to indicate their brand preferences
prior to seeing the advertisement in order to establish a baseline.
When the presentation is complete, the audience is asked a series
of questions about the advertising that pertain to what they learned
about the brand, how they feel about the advertising as well as
the advertised brand.

L Copy tests typically serve two separate purposes.

One is to determine the impact of a given adver-
tisement or series of advertisements. The other is
to offer insight about why advertising had the effect
observed.

Copy tests typically serve two separate purposes. One is to

determine the impact of a given advertisement or series of adver-
tisements. The other is to offer insight about why advertising had
the effect observed. Impact can be assessed via a comparison of
metrics produced by a current creative execution against its pre-
decessors, or as variables in a model that attempts to predict sales.
In addition, copy-testing services provide norms to be used as
benchmarks in evaluating effectiveness of the ads being tested. For

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example, Ace Metrix provides a number of metrics as to how con-

sumers respond to various car advertisements that allow brands to
assess their relative performance against other ads in the industry.

As a starting point, I examine the value of frequently adminis-

tered and reported measures. Often the bulk of these measures are
used to test responses to television advertisements because of the
high cost of this media relative to other forms of media. However,
evaluation of the creative aspect of a message is often independent
of the platform; a video shown online on the brand’s landing page
or on YouTube can be evaluated in the same manner as a television
execution. As such, after a discussion of the type of measures avail-
able, I evaluate the procedures used to test advertising effectiveness
and suggest when differences in media are relevant.

Learning Measures

A first set of measures can be used to assess learning or what

the consumers take away from the advertisement. Brand awareness
provides an indication that the brand name is registered in memory,
and measures of ad recall and brand recall offer an indication of
what consumers have learned about a brand.

L Brand awareness provides an indication that the

brand name is registered in memory, and measures
of ad recall and brand recall offer an indication of
what consumers have learned about a brand.

Brand Awareness. Brand awareness has several distinct forms.

One measure of awareness involves presenting consumers with the
brand name and asking them to identify the category in which the
brand holds membership. This type of awareness is referred to as

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aided awareness. When given the brand name “Starbucks,” aided

awareness would be exhibited if the respondent stated that it was
a coffee shop. An alternative indicator of brand awareness involves
the use of a category cue to prompt the retrieval of brands that
would be considered when purchasing the category. For example,
in the coffee category consumers can be asked to list the brands
they would likely purchase. For instance, in response to the coffee
prompt one might say Dunkin' Donuts and Pete's. This indicator
of awareness is referred to as top-of-mind (abbreviated TOM)
awareness. Greater TOM awareness is generally associated with a
higher likelihood of purchase. TOM awareness can be important,
relative to aided awareness when a brand is well established. When
a brand is well established it may be difficult to increase aided
awareness, but it may still be possible to increase TOP awareness.

Ad Recall. A majority of measures are based on the assumption

that if consumers learn the content of an advertising message, this
knowledge will enhance their likelihood of brand purchase. Thus,
in copy tests, consumers are asked to indicate the brand names
for the ads that they remembered seeing. If the respondents fail
to recall the brand name of a target ad (i.e., one of the ads being
tested), they are prompted with the target ad’s category (e.g., “Do
you remember seeing an ad for automobiles?”). If this fails to
elicit memory of the brand name for the target ad, they are given
a brand prompt (“Do you remember an ad for VW?”). The recall
data are typically available in the form of the respondents’ verbatim
responses as well as a summary score that reflects the percentage of
viewers who demonstrated recall of critical message information.

Although recall of the advertising content can provide an indica-

tion of the extent to which consumers pay attention to the ad and
what they learned from it, predicting purchase behavior solely on
the basis of ad recall can be inaccurate. One problem in relying
on ad recall is that consumers often have difficulty tracing the

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origin of their knowledge once it is represented in memory. This

outcome occurs because advertising information is associated with
consumers’ prior knowledge as part of the storage process. When
asked to recall the contents of a specific ad, people can conjure
up brand-related information. The difficultly lies in determining
whether the information they retrieved was based on the message
that they are being asked about, some other message they might
have seen for the brand, or self-generated knowledge. For example,
a consumer might recall superior performance for a Nike ad, not
because the ad conveyed this point-of-difference, but because that
is how they think about the Nike brand.

L Although recall of the advertising content can pro-

vide an indication of the extent to which consumers
pay attention to the ad and what they learned from
it, predicting purchase behavior solely on the basis
of ad recall can be inaccurate.

Brand Recall. Consumers typically make purchase decisions

based on what they know about a brand, rather than on what
they remember from an advertisement. Thus, consumers’ recall of
information about a brand can be a better indicator of ad effec-
tiveness. Brand recall differs from ad recall in that it often solicits
what people know without making reference to the origins of their
knowledge. To determine what advertising contributed to this
brand knowledge, an experiment is required where consumers are
randomly assigned to alternative creative executions for the same
brand or a no-message baseline. Differences in brand recall reflect
the attention paid to each ad and what was learned from each.

Although brand recall is indicative of what consumers know

about a brand, it still is not an excellent predictor of consumers’

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behavior. Brand evaluations and choice are determined not only

by brand knowledge, but also by consumers’ idiosyncratic associa-
tions to that information. For example, consumers might exhibit
excellent recall of an advertising claim that a shampoo is lower in
price than the ones offered by the competition, but the response
to this information could vary greatly. For some consumers, the
lower price implies the product is of low quality, which limits
their interest in purchasing the brand. For other consumers, the
lower price represents a good value, and thus results in a greater
inclination to purchase. Although in both cases the recall was
accurate, these idiosyncratic responses to advertising information
make it difficult to predict whether purchase will occur on the
basis of recall alone.

Evaluative Measures

Unlike learning measures, evaluative measures offer insight

as to how people feel about a brand. Consumers’ evaluations of
a brand can be assessed through several measures. These include
attitudes, certainty, thoughts, moment-to-moment responses, and
physiological responses. As a group, these measures differ from
learning measures because they reflect what consumers’ disposi-
tions are about the information learned in an advertising message.
For example, two consumers may have similar brand recall, but
differ with regard to whether what they recall (e.g., that car is
stylish) leads them to hold a favorable or unfavorable evaluation.
A consumer who values style is likely to be more favorable to a
brand that emphasizes style over a consumer who values safety.
This insight is important because favorable evaluations of a brand
are often a necessary, albeit insufficient, precursor to purchase.

Attitudes. An attitude measure is perhaps the most frequently

used evaluative measure of consumers’ disposition towards a brand.
An attitude represents a general evaluation of something, a degree

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of liking or disliking. Attitude measures entail asking consumers to

evaluate a brand on items such as bad-good, unpleasant-pleasant
and dislike-like (see figure 13.1 for examples). In addition, more
specific brand characteristics such as consumers’ feelings about
a brand’s price and quality can be included. Importantly, a large
literature in social psychology suggests that attitudes are often a
catalyst for behavior (see Rucker, Petty, and Priester 2007). Thus,
the more favorable consumers’ attitudes toward the brand are after
seeing advertising, the more effective the ad.

Figure 13.1: Sample Evaluative Measures

Attitude Certainty. A potential limitation of attitude measures

is that they can lack sensitivity. Attitudes represent lasting general
impressions and unless advertising delivers significant brand news,
attitudes toward a brand might be unaffected by advertising in
the short run. Consider an ad for Kraft cheese that describes its
nutritional value. This ad is not likely to change consumers’ atti-
tudes toward the brand because they are likely to have learned
this information from prior Kraft advertising. However, this does

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not necessarily imply that consumers are unaffected by Kraft

advertising.

Even when attitudes are not affected, consumers’ certainty

about their attitude might be influenced by the presentation of
advertising. Attitude certainty represents consumers’ subjective
degree of confidence in their attitudes. Importantly, research on
attitude certainty suggests that consumers’ behavioral intentions
and behavior can be better predicted by a joint calculation of how
favorable consumers are towards a product (i.e., their attitude)
and how certain they are of their attitude (i.e., attitude certainty)
than by the use of attitudes alone. Consequently, when advertis-
ing enhances certainty in a favorable attitude, this can produce
an increase in the likelihood that consumers will engage in the
behavior advocated in the ad, even when the attitude toward the
brand is not affected by the advertising (for reviews see Rucker,
Tormala, Petty, and Briñol 2014; Tormala and Rucker 2018).

L Research on attitude certainty suggests that consum-

ers’ behavioral intentions and behavior can be better
predicted by a joint calculation of how favorable con-
sumers are towards a product (i.e., their attitude) and
how certain they are of their attitude (i.e., attitude cer-
tainty) than by the use of attitudes alone.

Thoughts. Thoughts often underlie consumers’ attitudes and

thus can be used to diagnose why an execution led to favorable
or unfavorable attitudes. For example, individuals might hold a
negative attitude towards a fast food restaurant because when
they saw the advertisement they conjured up the thought that the
fries dripped in oil. Such thoughts would be valuable in guiding
modifications to the advertising; that is, the advertising would

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need to be fixed to avoid the generation of the dripping oil. In

addition, just as the impact of a brand attitude is influenced by the
degree of certainty with which it is held, so too are brand-related
thoughts (see Rucker and Petty 2006).

Moment-to-Moment Measures. Measures have also been devised

to evaluate consumers moment-to-moment interest in what is
being presented in an ad. One such measure entails asking respon-
dents to turn a dial, or move a joystick, to indicate the level of
their moment-to-moment interest in an advertisement. Often,
interpretation proceeds in a literal way where those portions of
an ad that yield high interest are considered effective, whereas
portions corresponding to weak interest are deemed ineffective.
Brands then use these results to omit low interest portions of the
ads or to elaborate further on those portions of the ad deemed
more interesting.

As intuitive as this approach is, in many situations a response

at the moment is influenced by the preceding information. Evi-
dence suggests, in some cases, that the general trend in interest in
a commercial and the amplitude of peak interest might be more
indicative of ad effectiveness than the response to a specific portion
of the copy. Even if these indicators are used, moment-to-moment
measures require an active response such as turning a dial that
could draw attention away from the content of the ad itself and
potentially influence the evaluation of the ad and responses to
other measures. Baumgartner, Sujan, and Padgett (1997) offer a
detailed discussion of moment-to-moment measures.

Physiological Measures. Some copy tests attempt to bolster

traditional evaluative measures with indicators of consumers’
physiological responses during ad exposure. Pupil dilation, eye
movement and voice stress, among other measures, have been used
for this purpose. These measures might be perceived as attractive

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because interpretation of an ad’s impact is uncontaminated by the

researcher’s questions, or misinterpretations of respondent answers.
However, it is premature to assume such measures are either error
free or a more direct path to truth. For example, pupil dilation
measures are responsive to both changes in attention and changes
in luminosity. When an ad confounds these factors, unequivocal
interpretation of changes in dilation is not possible. Furthermore,
as with other evaluative measures, these do not provide direct
assessments of the impact on actual purchase behavior or loyalty.

Another measure involves the tracking of eye movement, which

enables a determination of the path individuals’ eyes follow as
they move across a page as well as those spots where they hold
their gaze. This type of testing can be used to understand what
consumers’ find interesting as well as what they are and are not
seeing in the ad. This technology can be applied to both traditional
print executions as well as webpages. Indeed, the phenomenon of
“banner blindness,” where consumers exhibit an ability to block out
banner ads and focus on the webpage content, was documented
by eye tracking measurement.

An emerging technology involves the use of functional magnetic

resonance imaging (fMRI) and more conventional electroencepha-
lograms (EEGs) to observe which areas of the brain are active
when test subjects view or hear various promotions. To date, it has
been shown that different regions of the cortex are responsive to
different stimuli, and researchers have suggested such measures
may provide insight into the type of content that prompts con-
sumer engagement. However, the unique contribution of these
measures as an assessment of advertisement effectiveness remains
an important direction for future research.

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Behavioral Measures

Many would agree that behavioral measures offer the best means
to assess the effectiveness of advertising, especially when it comes
to return on investment.

The most rigorous behavioral measures involve conducting a

test market where different ads or different levels of exposures are
presented in different but comparable markets, and consumers’
purchase is tracked over time. Such matched-market testing is
offered by services such as IRI, GameChanger, and Bases. These
companies expose similar markets to different advertisements.
Within these markets, when consumers purchase at supermarkets,
drug, and other outlets, they swipe a card that indicates what was
purchased, the quantity bought and whether or not it was on
sale. Thus, the advertiser is informed about the ads to which the
consumer was exposed and the purchases made in the advertised
category after ad exposure. In this way, the effect of different
advertising strategies on consumer purchase can be determined.
In addition, such services can be conducted over a period of weeks
or months to obtain observations about household brand loyalty
after purchase.

Online executions can also be tested within the same market.

For example, brands might look at different versions of online
executions and examine click through as well as ultimate purchase.
The advantage of this approach is that one can essentially expose
the same population to different executions and examine in real
time which executions are more effective. One disadvantage of this
approach, compared to matched-market testing, is that it is often
much more difficult to understand the other purchases consumers
may have made, or observe long-term loyalty.

Although these measures of actual behavior offer important

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information about the effect of advertising, their cost often

prompts the use of proxies for behavior. Measures such as pur-
chase intention, willingness to pay and brand switching/loyalty
fall into this category.

Purchase Intention and Willingness to Pay. When behavior cannot

be directly observed, for example when a brand tests copy pre-
release, a proxy for behavior is consumers’ intention to buy. This
information is usually acquired by asking consumers their inten-
tions after viewing and advertisement for the brand and comparing
their responses to those who have not been exposed to the advertis-
ing. An alternative to purchase likelihood is consumers’ willingness
to pay. Here, the consumer is asked to indicate how much they
would be willing to pay for a product. Again, the impact of adver-
tising is compared to a control group that was not exposed to the
advertising. The assumption is that for both these measures, to the
extent an advertisement increases consumers’ perception of brand
value, it has the potential to increase their likelihood of buying
the brand, as well as their willingness to pay.

Brand Switching and Loyalty. Copy tests can also include mea-
sures of choice. These measures essentially ask consumers what
product they would buy within a category. Consumers are typi-
cally asked to record various brand preferences prior to viewing
the ad presentation and then repeat this process after viewing
the advertising. Such measures allow for the investigation of the
effects of advertising on brand switching.

Measures of brand switching are of interest when the goal

of advertising is to steal share from competitors. In many cases,
however, the goal is to sustain current user loyalty. When this is
the objective of advertising, the use of choice as a measure of ad
effectiveness requires the assumption that the same execution that
best promotes switching also best sustains loyalty. Alternatively,

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when the goal is to maintain brand loyalty, it might be useful to

examine how advertising enhances consumers’ repeat brand pur-
chase.

Finally, because accumulating responses on switching measures

over an extended period can be costly and time consuming, a proxy
for loyalty can be used. This proxy involves evaluating whether
brand loyalty is sustained when a target ad is presented in the
context of other ads in the same category. Along these lines, an
experiment is conducted in which the target ad is presented in
the context of ads for competitive brands or in the context of ads
for brands in other categories. The extent to which consumers
sustain their purchase of the target brand in the competitive and
noncompetitive contexts offers a measure of loyalty: the smaller the
difference in loyalty between these contexts, the greater the loyalty.

What Measure Should Be Used?

These measures, in aggregate, represent different approaches to

assessing awareness, attitudes, and action first discussed in Chap-
ter 2. What measure should be used to assess the effectiveness of
an ad? As opposed to a single best measure of advertising effec-
tiveness, the measures provide the greatest value when used in
combination. A mix of measures allows an advertiser to observe
complementary inferences about an ad’s effectiveness. Behaviors
in response to advertising are informative about the outcome of
exposures to advertising. Learning and evaluation measures provide
diagnostics that are informative about why advertising had the
effect it did. A lack of brand learning in a copy test indicates that
consumers did not attend to the advertising, or that they lacked
the motivation or resources to properly process it. This outcome
also suggests that a change in media exposures may be required
or that the creative attention of the advertising must be improved.
Good ad performance on learning measures, but unfavorable brand

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evaluation implies that attention is sufficient, but that the brand

position, or the creative communication of that position, require
modification. And, the presence of both learning and favorable
evaluation suggest that the advertising should have impact on
behavior.

L As opposed to a single best measure of advertising

effectiveness, the measures provide the greatest
value when used in combination. A mix of measures
allows an advertiser to observe complementary infer-
ences about an ad’s effectiveness.

Of course, when a brand has a very specific objective (e.g.,

awareness) certain measures are clearly better related to this objec-
tive than others. As such, when resources are scarce, the measures
presented here can be prioritized based on the brand’s interest in
learning, evaluation, and behavior.

Number of Exposures

Copy testing procedures usually entail showing the target ad

once or several times within some context (e.g., a television show,
among other ads). An assumption often made is that if execu-
tion A is superior to execution B at a test level of ad exposures,
this relationship will be preserved regardless of the actual level
of exposures when the advertising is viewed on television, online,
or on mobile devices. Thus, if three exposures to a Tylenol ad in
which brand claims are made about headache relief outperforms
three exposures to a Tylenol ad where the brand is shown to relieve
muscle aches, the assumption is that the superiority of the head-
ache execution would persist and dominate whether consumers see

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the spots once, twice, three times, etc…. This assumption might
hold when the alternative executions being tested are similar in the
processing demands they impose. However, when one ad requires
more effort than another to process, inferences from copy tests
might be inaccurate.

To illustrate this issue, consider the impact of three different

executions for the same brand of ice cream. In this illustration, the
effort required for people to comprehend the message content is
varied by how the message is presented. In Ad 1, a message about
the brand is sung to music. This ad is the most effortful to process
as the message recipient must listen to the music and decipher
the lyrics at the same time. In Ad 2, moderate effort is required
as the recipients are told the main message theme (i.e., the hook),
which is then followed by the same theme being sung to music.
Finally, Ad 3 requires the least processing and entails the message
being read dramatically.

As illustrated in figure 13.2, the advertisement that requires the

most processing (i.e., Ad 1) also requires the most exposures to
be highly effective. Increasing exposures to this ad increases the
likelihood that people will comprehend what is communicated
about the brand, and thus enhance their favorableness toward
it. For Ad 2, people first learn the message content, which make
them favorable to the brand, but they then activate their own
thoughts, which are less favorable than the information presented
in the ad. Thus, there is a decline in ad effectiveness as exposures
mount. A different outcome emerges for the least effortful ad to
process, Ad 3, which is the one that is read dramatically. Here,
the simplicity of the ad allows people to learn its contents with a
single exposure. Additional message repetition results in wear-out
and thus reduced effectiveness.

These outcomes indicate that the read message would be most

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effective at low exposure (e.g., 1), the hook with music would be
most effective at moderate exposure (e.g., 7), and the ad that is
sung to music would be most effective at high exposure (e.g, 15).
Thus, the effectiveness of a given advertisement can be highly
dependent on the planned average frequency of exposure to the
target consumer. Anand and Sternthal (1990) provide a more
detailed description of the effects described here. Of note, many
firms fail to consider or test exposures, which opens up the pos-
sibility of selecting a less effective advertisement if exposures in
test are not matched carefully to planned exposures in the market.

Figure 13.2: Effectiveness as a Function of Execution and Exposures

L The effectiveness of a given advertisement can be

highly dependent on the planned average frequency
of exposure to the consumer.

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Chapter Summary

The measurement and testing of advertising effectiveness offers

the strategist a critical control function. Tests can be informative of
the demand that will be generated by a campaign, whether to adjust
one’s advertising over the course of a campaign, and/or to learn
from a past campaign to inform future efforts. Equally important,
tests of advertising effectiveness indicate why advertising has the
effect observed and thus provides a basis to improve an individual
advertisement or an advertising campaign. Performing tests of
advertising effectiveness prior to market release can also allow
the advertiser to make an assessment of the advertising invest-
ment before committing resources to media, which represent the
bulk of the ad expenditure. Furthermore, as a manager acquires
test data over time, past investments and executions can provide
benchmarks to guide future campaign evaluations.

Recommended Readings

Anand, Punam and Brian Sternthal (1993). “The Effects of

Program Involvement and Ease of Message Counterarguing on
Advertising Persuasiveness,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1,
225-238.

Baumgartner, Hans, Mita Sujan, and Dan Padgett (1997),

“Patterns of Affective Reactions to Ads: Integration of Moment-
by-Moment Reactions into Overall Judgments,” Journal of
Marketing Research, 34, 219-232.

Rucker, Derek D., and Richard E. Petty (2006),” Increasing

Effectiveness of Communications to Consumers: Recommenda-
tions Based on the Elaboration Likelihood and Attitude Certainty
Perspectives,” Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 25 (1), 39-52.

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   :            269

Rucker, Derek D., Richard E. Petty, and Joseph R. Priester

(2007), “Understanding Advertising Effectiveness from a Psy-
chological Perspective: The Importance of Attitudes and Attitude
Strength,” In Gerald. J. Tellis and Tim Ambler (Eds.), The Hand-
book of Advertising (pp. 71-88), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Rucker, Derek D., Zakary L. Tormala, Richard E. Petty, and

Pablo Briñol (2014), “Consumer Conviction and Commitment:
An Appraisal-Based Framework for Attitude Certainty,” Journal
of Consumer Psychology, 24 (1), 119-136.

Tormala, Zakary L. and Derek D. Rucker (2018), “Attitude

Certainty: Antecedents, Consequences, and New Directions.”
Consumer Psychology Review, 1 (1), 72-89.

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277
    271

Conclusion
I began this book with a recognition that it can be difficult to
understand and traverse the topography of advertising. This dif-
ficulty arises, in large part, from the inherent ambiguity present
in the advertising landscape. For the unseasoned advertiser, the
infinite number of possible approaches to advertising makes it
a challenge to map out the path to success. Moreover, for each
path to success, a larger number of paths to failure often exist.
Nonetheless, the ability to chart the path of success can ultimately
determine whether advertising is a source of profit or cost for a
firm. As such, it becomes central to address the inherent ambiguity
in advertising and resolve it.

To overcome this ambiguity, I have offered the reader the per-

spective of a strategist. I have provided and shared tools to allow the
reader to become an architect able to draft a successful advertising
strategy. The utility of these tools resides in both the academic rigor
that underpins them as well as evidence from real market prac-
tices. Of paramount importance among these tools is the creative
brief. Successful advertising requires tremendous coordination and
thought across the objective, target selection, insight generation,
brand positioning, media selection and scheduling, and evaluation.
The creative brief provides the core means to properly integrate
these fundamental elements. In essence, the creative brief is the

278
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primary blueprint to draft a successful strategy.

Although the creative brief provides the blueprint, it must be

completed with a variety of other tools. Put simply, it requires an
architect to implement the blueprint—the creative brief requires
a strategist. The strategist must set a proper objective, identify a
target, extract an insight, develop a position, inform media and
execution decisions, and set the stage for evaluation. Each of these
tasks can be aided by a variety of tools offered within the chapters
of this book. However, the effectiveness of these tools depends
critically, if not solely, on the strategist that wields them. A strate-
gist is charged to understand how to use the various tools offered
and when a particular tool is required. As the strategist’s experi-
ence improves, the strategist becomes more adept in their use of
the tools. It becomes easier to identify and apply the proper tool
in a given situation. And, for the seasoned strategist, additional
and novel tools can be acquired for more specialized situations.

Seasoned strategists are able to adapt, improvise, and overcome

the specific challenges they encounter. Of course, even for the
most thoughtful and skilled strategist, it merits a reminder that
advertising is often an empirical business. One might generate an
insight, but whether that insight is valid might require an empirical
test. It is part of the skill of the strategist to become attuned to
when sufficient data is present to support assumptions and what
assumptions most merit investment in data collection. Moreover,
even the best laid plans encounter changes in the competitive
environment and cultural context that cannot be fully anticipated.
The skilled strategist develops an agility to respond to these situ-
ations, always with an emphasis on strategy, to turn momentary
setbacks to potential opportunities.

As this book closes, I congratulate the attentive reader that

has striven to become a strategist. Although the road to a master

279
     273

strategist is an arduous one that requires repetition, the payoff is

a perspective that allows advertising to be both enjoyable and a
powerful means to secure, maintain, and grow one’s brand in the
marketplace. I hope this book is but the start of this journey and
that a clear path ahead awaits you.

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281
 :       275

Appendix A
Brand and Agency
Structure and
Interaction
In this Appendix
• Brand Structure
• Agency Structure
• Agency Compensation

According to the publication Advertising Age, the total mea-

sured media spending in 2016 was approximately 190 billion
dollars; the projection for 2018 is over 204 billion. Across all media
and marketing activities (e.g., public relations, direct mail, sales
promotion, etc…) the cost to brands was over 421 billion dollars
in 2016 and the projection for 2018 is close to 450 billion. Major
advertisers include automobile manufacturers, pharmaceutical
firms, communication and technology marketers, and food and
beverage companies. An analysis of ad spending trends is found
in Advertising Age’s “2017 Leading National Advertisers report.”
The largest worldwide advertisers are shown in table A.1.

Today’s brands must develop effective advertising in a finan-

cially driven environment. To achieve this objective, most brands
must use a wide variety of media that include broadcast, print,

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digital, and social media. The search for advertising efficiencies

has prompted efforts to globalize advertising strategy. At the same
time, greater ad effectiveness is sought through the development
of better consumer insights as a basis for advertising strategy.
To improve the impact of their ad expenditure, brands have also
changed how they employ agency resources in advertising planning,
media buying, and marketing services. Brands have also changed
the manner in which they compensate agencies for their services.
Agencies have had to reinvent themselves to address their clients’
needs. This appendix provides a brief primer on the client-agency
relationship in the context of these developments.

Table A.1: Leading Global Brand Advertisers,

by US dollars spent in millions in 2016
Source: Advertising Age Marketing Fact Pact 2017

Advertisers: Brand Structure

The term advertiser refers to the brand or firm that pays for

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the advertising. Consumer products brands and other firms that

advertise extensively employ a brand organization system to per-
form the advertising function. Although the specific nature of this
organization varies from firm to firm, a prototypical organization
is depicted in figure A.1.

Figure A.1: Brand Organization

On the side of the client, the two parties closest to the adver-
tising are the assistant brand manager and the brand manager. A
chief responsibility of the assistant brand manager is to ensure
that the brand manager has the data needed to make decisions to
support the execution of the marketing strategy. Brand managers
are involved in strategy development and are typically responsible
for the coordination of manufacturing, finance, research, and other
support functions. They also have primary responsibility for the
execution of marketing strategy. Category managers reside above
multiple brand managers and are responsible for the develop-
ment of strategy and the management of the relations within the
distribution channel.

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In dealing with an advertising agency, the client’s task is to

develop the advertising strategy. As discussed throughout this
book, the advertising strategy is concisely represented in a creative
brief. The client also assesses the extent to which the storyboard,
inspirational image, or final execution developed by the agency
corresponds with the strategy, and requests that the agency address
any lack of correspondence. As discussed in Chapter 12, it is not
the client’s responsibility to fix off-strategy executions. Most cli-
ents—and advertising professors—are not capable of copy writing
and art direction. These tasks are best left to the agency.

L It is not the client's responsibility to fix off-strategy

executions.

Although the organizational structure in figure A.1 represents

the approach followed by a number of firms, innovations are
emerging. Procter & Gamble introduced Market Development
Organizations (MDOs) to complement their brand manage-
ment structure. Whereas traditional line management such as that
depicted in figure A.1 has responsibility for product, packaging
and advertising, MDOs serve another function. Their responsibil-
ity is to work as sales teams to develop co-marketing programs
with retailers, configure the placement of products within the
store, develop relationships with other marketers, and design new
approaches to reach important but untapped segments. In effect,
the store is viewed as a marketing medium. Retailers benefit from
sophisticated merchandising of their offerings and the MDOs
benefit from the detailed consumer information collected by retail-
ers as part of conducting business.

In the past several years, a substantial number of changes have

occurred in clients' needs and goals. To an increasing extent, brands

285
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are faced with the dilemma of how to promote parity products

with a limited advertising budget on a global basis. This challenge
has increased brands’ need for even greater consumer insight so
that effective marketing and advertising programs can be designed
even in the absence of product differentiation and substantial ad
budgets. With the downsizing that occurred in the past decade,
internal resources to provide this information were often lacking.
Brands thus have turned to consulting firms to facilitate their
advertising planning.

Efforts to enhance brand growth have prompted a greater focus

on neglected segments, particularly Hispanic and African Ameri-
can consumers, who collectively represent about one quarter of
the American population. In addition, the emerging opportunities
for segmentation and the pressure for more efficient advertising
spending has increased advertisers’ interest in alternative media
such as events, direct marketing and public relations. Approaches
to develop integrated marketing communications (IMC), which
involve the selection and coordination of various media vehicles,
has become a topic of substantial interest. Digital and social media
have emerged as key vehicles to develop integrated marketing
communications.

L Although the executional elements of advertising

vary from country to country, more and more firms
want to develop a global brand position.

Finally, a desire to develop a global advertising strategy is preva-

lent among many brands. Although the executional elements of
advertising vary from country to country, more and more firms
want to develop a global brand position. For example, P&G, which
had a global strategy only for Pantene, Always, and Pringles a

286
280           .   

decade ago, now has many of its brands in the pursuit of a global
strategy.

Agencies: Agency Structure

The structure of advertising agencies, as with brands, varies from

agency to agency. However, a common organizational structure for
an advertising agency is depicted in figure A.2. I provide a brief
description of each of these roles.

Figure A.2: Agency Organization

Plans Board: This board reviews the advertising developed for

each client. This includes an examination of the objectives and
budget, the segmentation and brand positioning, as well as the
creative and media strategy.

Executive Committee: This committee seeks new business and

organizes presentations in an effort to attract new clients.

Creative: Creative includes copywriters who develop the copy

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for advertising and art directors who develop the layout and art-
work for the advertising copy. They report to a creative director,
who often has a background in copywriting or art direction. In
many cases, a team of creatives will support a given advertising
campaign. Creative teams can specialize in particular media forms
(e.g., digital display versus television), but creative often produces
content for multiple media channels.

Account Services: The account services group includes account

supervisors and account executives tasked with the management
of the client’s advertising. The responsibilities of these individu-
als involve coordination across the creative, media and research
departments. Account services also serve as the agency’s liaison
to the client.

Account Planning: Planners are responsible for the development

or articulation of the consumer insight such that the advertising
reliably reflects the voice of the consumer. Although insight can
come from the client, planners can also be tasked to conduct
research to guide and enhance preliminary creative work. Planners
generally have the same status as account executives within the
agency, but are presented as account executives’ subordinates to
the client. This distances the planner from the client, and allows
the planner to have perspective to interact with the creative team.

Marketing Services: Individuals that occupy this role conduct or

contract research. Marketing services may include a department
specializing in public relations, direct marketing and/or consumer
promotions.

Media Services: Media planners develop the media plan, media

objectives, and the selection of media vehicles. Media buyers nego-
tiate the purchase of space and time.

288
282           .   

Internet: Develops databases, web pages and Internet advertising

for clients. This function also involves the development of a com-
munication strategy for clients. Measurement of ad performance
in terms of exposure to advertising, click throughs, downloads
(e.g., apps) and purchase is often performed as part of the Inter-
net activity. In some cases, this function has also added to it data
scientists responsible for the acquisition and interpretation of data.

Social Media: People in this function often are tasked to seed

content as well as observe consumer discussions on websites and
platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Often agencies
are contracted for high profile events, such as the Super Bowl, to
be ready to post content should interesting events transpire, such
as an unexpected blackout. In some agencies, this function also
includes analytical or data scientists.

Management Services: This group includes a personnel depart-

ment that is responsible for hiring and fostering the development
of personnel, a legal department that reviews the fairness of adver-
tising prior to its media dissemination, and accounting, which
supervises payroll and payment to the media. Traffic is responsible
for ensuring that client advertising done by the agency is made
available in a timely manner to the appropriate mass media for
airing or printing.

Full service ad agencies generally have the organizational struc-

ture and perform the tasks previously discussed. However, as with
brands, dramatic changes have occurred during the past few years
in how ad agencies do business. As noted earlier, many agencies
now have account planners who are charged with the development
of the consumer insight for their clients. Media departments in
many agencies are now divisions that have separate profit and
loss responsibility. Along these lines, Publicis’ media agency is
Starcom MediaVest Group and Omnicom’s media agency is OMD

289
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Worldwide. Because of their substantial media purchases, these

departments offer the advertiser efficiencies in media buying.
As a result, an agency’s media services group often competes for
accounts from clients who have their creative done at some other
ad agency. Along the same lines, agencies that specialize in social
media such as Socialdeviant compete with agencies that manage
a client’s other services.

Agencies have also developed other capabilities to keep up

with their clients’ needs. Advertising to Hispanics and African
Americans, which was once handled by agencies specializing in
these minority segments, is now handled within general market
agencies. This integration has been achieved largely through the
acquisition of minority-oriented agencies by major ad agencies.
For example, Burrell Communications was the largest agency in
the African-American segment; this group is now part of Publicis.

Although some brands have moved towards the allocation of

various advertising tasks to different firms on a piece-meal basis,
other brands have worked to consolidate the advertising function
among a small number of agencies. In response, large agencies
have been in an acquisition mode to satisfy their clients’ need
for a global presence, to provide direct marketing, PR and other
marketing services that are the basis for integrated marketing com-
munications. The approach of these large firms is to offer superior
media selection and buying efficiencies to their clients. The result
of this strategy is the presence of ad organizations composed of
several ad agencies. The largest ten advertising organizations, by
2014 revenue, are shown in table A.2.

Agency Selection

Brands can make the advertising function in house themselves

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or buy the advertising function via an external agency. The decision

to perform the advertising function in-house is typically made for
several reasons. It is often attractive due to cost; it is often cheaper
to use an internal unit than an external agency. In-house agencies
are also attractive when a need for quick decision-making is pres-
ent, or when the creative has the potential of being controversial.
In this latter case, agencies are often reluctant to participate for
fear of alienating their other clients. The decision to do advertis-
ing in-house assumes that the firm has the marketing acumen to
develop and execute the advertising strategy and that the presence
of an agency’s opinion on the business will not be missed or will
be addressed in some other manner.

Table A.2: Top Ten Advertising Organizations based on 2014 Revenue

Source: Advertising Age Marketing Fact Pact 2016

291
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When one decides to use an external agency, a number of criteria

can be used to select the specific firm. One important criterion to
select an agency is the expertise the agency has with the category
or brand. Agencies that are familiar with the client’s business
are preferred to ones that are less familiar with it because they
understand both the consumer and the media channels. Expertise
often emerges because an agency has had a previous client in the
industry of interest. For example, in the airline industry it is not
uncommon for carriers to select an agency that has been recently
fired by another airline. For this reason, clients sometimes include
non-compete clauses in their contract with an agency that ensure
the agency will not immediately become a competitor’s agency. In
some instances, it is judicious, however, to select an agency with
no category experience. When this action is taken, it is often with
the goal of prompting the agency to develop fresh insights about
consumers and to increase the chances that the creative execution
does not closely resemble that of competitors.

Agency style is another important factor in agency selection.

Agencies acquire a reputation for a particular approach and brands
select agencies whose approach corresponds with their perceived
needs. Leo Burnett is known for the development of a big idea
as exemplified in their campaigns for Green Giant. Wieden &
Kennedy is recognized for its attitude campaigns for clients such
as Nike as well as its ability to target the young male consumer.
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has a reputation for using consumer
insight to do break-through advertising as evidenced in their Got
Milk campaign. Crispin, Porter, & Bogusky is associated with
edgy advertising as exemplified in their creative work for Burger
King (i.e., "the Creepy King"), and for its use of non-traditional
advertising vehicles as illustrated by its advertising for Mini Cooper
(e.g., purchasing seats at a nationally televised baseball game and
placing a Mini in the seats).

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Size has become an increasingly important criterion in select-

ing an agency. Large brands frequently desire agencies that are of
sufficient size to have a local presence wherever the brand requires
it. Brands are also increasingly demanding that agencies have the
sophistication to handle the complexity of today’s media strategy
development and buying. When advertisers have particularly cut-
ting edge creative needs, smaller agencies are sometimes hired to
perform the creative task.

Relations between the personnel of the agency and its client are
important determinants of agency selection, and particularly of
agency longevity with a client. Over time, the relations between
top management of the agency and client often deepen, and these
personal relationships help sustain the business relationship. More
often than not, an agency is terminated when the relations between
the senior management of the agency and client sour, or when
the personal relationship is lost because of new management on
either the client or agency side.

During the last decade, a decline has occurred in the length of

client-agency relations. An unusually high number of long-lived
relationships between advertiser and agency were terminated. Leo
Burnett lost the McDonald’s business, which it had held since
the early 1980s, BBDO lost the Pepsi-Cola business it held for
several decades, and Harley Davidson parted ways with its agency
of 31 years—Carmichael Lynch. A recent survey reported that, on
average, client-agency relations now last between five and six years.

Agency Compensation

In 1841, Volney Palmer established the first advertising agency

in Boston. Palmer operated as a broker who brought a client that
wished to advertise together with a medium, a service for which

293
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he charged the medium a commission of 25%. Palmer’s legacy is

the commission system that was the primary means of agency
compensation for the 150 years that followed. It involves having
the advertising brand pay the agency for advertising space and
time purchased. In turn, the agency pays the medium and the
medium provides a commission, typically 15% of billings, to the
agency. For example, when an advertiser buys $1 million of time
from a television network, the advertising brand pays the network
this amount through the agency. The network pays the advertiser’s
agency a commission of $150,000.

A dramatic shift in agency compensation began in 1990

when Y&R and Needham ad agencies began to advocate for
performance-based compensation. Under this plan, the agency’s
compensation was a reflection of the client’s success. Today, more
than two-thirds of advertisers use some form of performance-based
compensation; the specific nature of the compensation various
greatly between firms.

L Clients have shown an increased interest in a perfor-

mance-based system because it involves having the
agency share the risk with the client.

Clients have shown an increased interest in a performance-based

system because it involves having the agency share the risk with the
client. In some situations, the agency is compensated on the basis
of sales and market share. Although the agency does not control
some aspects of the marketing plan, larger firms have developed
models that factor out marketing variables other than advertising
and thus they are able to estimate the contribution of advertising.
It is also common for advertisers’ performance to be judged on
the basis of communication criteria such as brand awareness and

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brand attitude and preference rather than on the sales response.

One of the ramifications of performance-based compensation

is that it changes the way agencies approach the communication
task. Several years ago, Anheuser-Busch had the goal to increase
the number of Bud Light tap handles in pubs. Its agency, DDB
Needham, was given this assignment, for which they were to be
compensated in accord with the increase in Bud Light tap handles.
Their strategy was to offer beer drinkers the opportunity to star in
a local Bud Light commercial. To select a winner, casting calls were
held at participating pubs, which added taps for the event. People
mobbed the participating bars and consumed large quantities of
beer while waiting to audition.

The squeeze in agency compensation has occurred for several

decades. This momentum resulted in a significant reduction in the
number of agency personnel. In the early ‘70s the rule of thumb
was about 10 people for every million dollars in billings (i.e., total
$ placed for a client in space and time—not agency revenue). By
the mid-1980s, the average number of people for each million
dollars in billings had fallen to about 2.4, and currently it is under
one person per million in billings. Whereas advertising agency
CEOs historically were responsible for overseeing new business
acquisition and monitoring the performance of current clients, in
many agencies today they also work on client businesses.

295
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Appendix B
The History of
Advertising
In this appendix
• Historic Eras of Advertising
• The Present Era of Advertising

This appendix highlights the role of advertisers, advertising

agencies, and media in the development of advertising within
the United States. It serves as a basis for anticipating the nature
of future developments in the institutions that guide advertising
practice. For discussion purposes, the history of advertising is
divided into eight eras.*

Pre-1900: Era of Evolution

The Industrial Revolution prompted increased interest in

extending the sale of goods beyond local markets. At the same time,
newspapers began to emerge as the primary means of mass com-
munication in the United States. By the middle of the nineteenth
century, there were over 1700 newspapers in the country.
*
The contribution made by Melissa Waters and Brian Sternthal to the
historical analysis is acknowledged with thanks.

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Newspaper advertising during the first half of the 19th century

was restricted in terms of the size and content of the ads. Adver-
tising had to fit a half-inch square and only included copy (i.e.,
written text). In response to these constraints, advertisers began to
experiment with so-called iteration advertising. This entailed the
repetition of a slogan such as “Royal Baking Powder is Absolutely
Pure” or “Use Sapolio” as many times as would fit in the space.
Media scheduling often focused on placing ads in the same pub-
lications repeatedly so that the audience would receive multiple
exposures of the advertising message. These slogans became the
predominant approach to print advertising by the turn of the
century, and represent the antecedents for slogans such as Milk’s
“Got Milk” and Burger King’s “Have it your way.”

During the second half of the 19th century, a number of devel-

opments changed the nature of advertising. The population of the
country expanded rapidly, spurred by liberal immigration policies.
Between 1830 and 1860, the population of the United States grew
from a little over 10 million people to over 30 million. The popu-
lation also became more literate: Illiteracy fell to about 10% by
1900. The number of magazines expanded from under 700 at the
time of the Civil War to about 3300 in 1885. And transportation
improved considerably as railways were built to link all parts of the
country. Thus, by the turn of the century a substantial population
existed throughout the country that could read and be reached by
both mass media and a distribution system.

After the Civil War, manufacturers began to brand their goods

to attract national markets. For example, Soup became Campbell’s
Soup. By the 1870s, brands such as Coca Cola, Maxwell House,
and Levis had been established. Magazines became the vehicles
of choice to make consumers aware of branded products. Start-
ing with Volney Palmer in the mid-1800s, advertising agencies
emerged as brokers between the advertiser and the media. Agencies

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helped their clients choose the magazines to advertise based on

the type of audience the publications attracted. Segmentation was
implemented by choosing magazines that were primarily read by
women, farmers, religious believers, or sports fans. Advertisers
also selected magazines on the basis of the number of readers
they attracted. Magazine publishers enhanced the attractiveness
of their vehicles by lowering the price consumers paid for their
magazines. To ensure the profitability of their publications, they
began to sell space to advertisers. The legacy of this practice is that
today, advertisers, rather than readers, account for the majority of
a publication’s revenues.

L The agency’s function as a broker between advertiser

and medium changed in the latter part of the 1800s.
Agencies were caught between the need to obtain
the best prices for their clients and to gain favor with
media sellers who were the source of their revenues.

The agency’s function as a broker between advertiser and

medium changed in the latter part of the 1800s. Agencies were
caught between the need to obtain the best prices for their clients
and to gain favor with media sellers who were the source of their
revenues. Advertisers resolved this conflict through the adoption of
an open-contract-plus-commission plan that allowed the advertiser
to know what agencies paid for space. Agencies also differentiated
themselves by adding to the specific services that they offered
their clients. Of these services, creative and art services were the
most important. Ads made around the turn of the century often
included entertainers and sports figures as product endorsers,
one forerunner of today’s spokespeople. Finally, agencies began
to oversee the quality control of media choices. Clients’ demands
that media choices be justified led to the creation of the Audit

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Bureau of Circulation (ABC), a service that provides certified

readership for advertising vehicles.

1900-1929: Era of Creative Development

During the early 1900s, work by psychologists such as Walter

Dill Scott—who served as president of Northwestern Univer-
sity— and Daniel Starch influenced how advertising messages
were developed. Their notion was that advertising should make
it easy to learn the brand name and the brand benefit. This goal
was achieved by the use of mnemonic devices in advertising copy.
Slogans and images, such as Ivory’s “99 44/100 per cent pure,”
Prudential’s “Rock of Gibraltar,” and Schlitz’s “the beer that made
Milwaukee famous,” emerged in the early 20th century. Similar
advertising is used today in contexts such as political advertising,
where brand name recognition and a sound bite can be important
determinants with respect to voter choice.

After World War I, advertisers began to recognize that women

made the majority of the consumer products purchases. This
prompted advertisers to focus their advertising on this target. To
resonate with the female head of household, slice-of-life advertis-
ing was used that depicted everyday situations in which the brand
was presented as the hero.When radio was introduced to the mass
market in 1921, broadcast stations were initially prohibited from
advertising. However, by the following year, radio advertising in
the form of program sponsorship was sanctioned. Advertising
agencies applied their print practice of charging the media rather
than the advertiser for their services to radio. Agencies were often
instrumental in the development of radio programming, which
was sold to sponsors. The National Carbon Company sponsored
the first regular entertainment program, “The Eveready Hour,” as
a vehicle for encouraging greater use of radios and thus a greater

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need for the batteries they manufactured.

By 1929, radios were in about 40% of American homes. Adver-

tisers modified their mnemonics to accommodate radio. Jingles
became a prominent device for this purpose. Studies at the time
reported that listeners were more prone to like advertising when it
was presented in jingle form rather than merely spoken. The prac-
tice of using jingles remains prevalent today in radio advertising.

As the advertising industry grew, attempts were made by the

industry to self-regulate. In the early 1900s, trade associations
emerged to police advertising practice. Among these institutions
were the Association of American Advertising Agencies (4As), the
trade association for ad agencies, and the Association of National
Advertisers (ANA), the trade association for manufacturers.

1930-1947: The Era of Credibility Development

The onset of the Great Depression affected advertising practice

significantly. To accommodate consumers’ limited budget, advertis-
ers began to implement a variety of incentives. These incentives
included premiums, prizes, and two-for-one deals. As these prac-
tices became widely used, brand loyalty dropped. For example,
between 1929 and 1934, Hellman’s mayonnaise market share
dropped 22 points and Listerine’s market share declined 12%.

L The onset of the Great Depression affected adver-

tising practice significantly. To accommodate
consumers’ limited budget, advertisers began to
implement a variety of incentives.

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During the Great Depression, the consumer movement emerged

and a vocal group of consumer advocates began to question adver-
tising practices. Books, such as 100 Million Guinea Pigs, published
in 1933, and Eat, Drink and be Wary, published in 1935, warned
consumers about the abuses of advertising, and advertisers were
urged to use the vehicle as a means of conveying product infor-
mation rather than deception. From these concerns, Consumers’
Union emerged as an organization to affirm truth in advertising.
In 1938, the Wheeler-Lea Amendment to the Federal Trade
Commission Act was passed; this act gave the FTC the power
to regulate unfair advertising practices.

Advertisers responded to their critics by changing the nature

of advertising copy. Rather than relying on slogans and jingles to
ensure consumer recall of the advertiser’s brand, the goal of ad copy
became salesmanship in print. This concept was made operational
by telling consumers why they should buy the advertised product.
Albert Lasker, head of the large Lord and Thomas agency, and his
copywriter, John Kennedy, were perhaps the foremost proponents
of the reason-why copy approach. In advertising Schlitz beer,
Lasker announced that Schlitz had greater purity because the
bottles were steam cleaned. Though all brewers used this method,
Lasker preempted competitors from using this attribute, lest con-
sumers viewed them as “me-too” brands. As Lasker’s and Kennedy’s
success grew, most copywriters adopted the reason-why approach.

Efforts were also made to build a personal relationship with

consumers. This approach was helped by the fact that radio had
coverage of over 80% of United States homes by 1938. Advertis-
ers sponsored programs on which they advertised their products.
Credibility for the advertising claims was enhanced by having the
program talent serve as spokespeople for the advertised brand.
Comedian Bob Hope was the spokesperson for Pepsodent, and
crooner Bing Crosby endorsed Kraft products. The current practice

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of using celebrity spokespeople is derived, in part, from the use of

endorsers in radio advertising.

Producers of soap operas used devices other than advertising

to promote their brands. Starting in the early 1930s, soap operas
commanded a faithful daily national audience of women who were
estimated to control over 90% of household expenditures. Adver-
tisers who produced the shows would use the program’s characters
and story lines to sell product. For example, in one of the popular
early soaps, Today’s Children, Pillsbury portrayed Mother Moran,
the lead character, as a homemaker, expert cook, and endearing
mother who frequently baked with Pillsbury products. Today’s
product placement has its root in these early strategies.

The Great Depression also increased the demands clients made

on agencies to provide empirical support for the strategies they
recommended and for the impact of the campaigns they developed.
Research institutions emerged to address these needs. Syndicated
services such as Nielsen conducted surveys of product and media
consumption. This information was used to plan targeting efforts
and to select media vehicles. Gallup and other organizations devel-
oped measures of sales for food and drug items and measures of
advertising readership.

By the 1940s, advertising had emerged as an element in the

marketing mix that management used to enhance profits. The value
of branding and advertising began to appear in firms’ financial
statements. Royal Baking Powder valued its mark at $8 million,
Coca-Cola at $5 million and Baker’s at $1 million. Much of the
value of these marks was attributed to the sustained presentation
of their benefits in advertising.

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1948-1969: The Era of Television

After World War II, phenomenal growth in the ownership of

televisions occurred. Between 1946 and 1952, television ownership
grew from ten thousand to 16 million sets in the United States.
This substantially increased the audience for television and the cost
of sponsorship grew accordingly. In 1941, an hour of sponsorship
on evening television cost about $120, whereas the cost for this
placement was over $50,000 in 1952. Today the cost of a 30-second
spot can be over $500,000 for placement in popular programs and
the average production cost for a 30-second television spot is over
$350,000. For special events (e.g., Super Bowl) the media cost can
exceed $5 million for a 30-second spot.

Early television advertising used many of the techniques that

had proven to be effective on radio. Jingles and slogans that were
popularized in radio were transferred to television. Frequently,
the main use of the visual aspect of the medium was to provide a
beauty shot of the product. Advertisers also sponsored programs
in which program talent served as brand spokespeople in adver-
tising messages.

As advertisers were learning how to utilize the visual aspect

of the television medium, they also changed their approach to
designing persuasive messages in response to the market conditions
that prevailed after WW II. Twelve million Americans returned
from the war with a more precise knowledge of what products
they wished to buy as well as an increased ability to purchase
those products. Manufacturers armed with improved technology
and manufacturing capacity responded to consumer demand by
offering brands differentiated from competitive offerings. In this
context, Lasker’s reason-why approach was modified to focus
on reasons that differentiated the brand from its competitors on
dimensions important to consumers, that is, points of difference.

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Rosser Reeves of the Ted Bates agency was a leader in shaping

the trend towards the use of points of difference. He developed
what he termed a unique selling proposition. Reeves’ notion was
to focus on a reason to buy a brand that set it apart from the
competition. Along these lines, Bates developed the campaign
“Rolaids spells relief.” This simple, straightforward advertising
worked well when firms had a tangible point of difference.

The advent of television also prompted a change in the ad agency

personnel responsible for the creative work. The copywriter, who
had responsibility for the copy presented in an ad, increasingly
collaborated with an art director, who was responsible for the
development of the visual context in which the copy was presented.
Many of the initial art directors had careers as designers in Europe
before the outbreak of WW II, when they fled to the United States.
Modern creative departments include creative directors and art
directors. The emergence of television changed the role of radio in
the 1950s. Advertising on radio was given the task to ensure brand
name recognition. Radio advertising typically featured jingles that
reinforced the brand name.

In the 1960s, the novelty of advertising diminished as the

amount of television advertising grew. As a result, creative execu-
tions that enhanced the audience’s attentiveness to an advertiser’s
message were needed. Doyle Dane Bernbach emerged as a promi-
nent agency in the 1960s through the use of humor to tell a story
about the product in use. For example, in an ad for Alka Seltzer,
a man was shown gulping down Alka Seltzer in anticipation of
having to eat meals his wife was selecting from a cookbook. Ogilvy
& Mather attempted to attract attention by presenting substan-
tial amounts of information in their ads with the idea that “the
more you tell, the more you sell.” Often the information presented
included unusual visual devices to attract attention. For example,
advertising for Hathaway featured a man wearing an eye patch, and

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advertising for Rolls Royce focused on the quietly ticking clock.

Leo Burnett attempted to provide news by finding a consumer
benefit that was substantial enough so that it could be represented
by many attributes. Burnett promoted the Green Giant brand by
using different packaging characteristics (fresh frozen, vacuum
packed) to imply quality.

1970-1990: Era of Planning

As consumers became more educated and affluent, a growing

emphasis was placed on the development of products that catered
to their individual tastes. The result was a huge proliferation of
products. For example, in the 1970s supermarkets typically had
12,000 stock keeping units (SKU; the space taken at retail by a
single product package), whereas today supermarkets often have
as many as 30,000. In the early 1970s, one Tide existed, but by the
1990s, 10 different Tides existed. This product proliferation had
an important implication for advertising. It required advertisers
to support four of five campaigns rather than one or two. This
practice, coupled with sharply increasing media rates, meant that
many firms lost the ability to sustain advertising support.

To compensate for their relatively smaller budgets, advertis-

ers sought ways to enhance the efficiency of their advertising
expenditures. For this purpose, greater attention was devoted
to the advertising function. Planning involved identifying the
various groups that were potential prospects for a firm’s products,
selection of targets that were particularly attractive prospects,
and identification of a category where a brand could leverage its
point of difference with the desired target. Thus, the planning
era was characterized by a focus on segmentation, targeting and
positioning (STP).

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The creative strategy employed to make the plan operational

reflects the various approaches developed over the history of adver-
tising practice. The choice of a specific approach is sensitive to the
particular needs of the context at hand. Thus, when the situation is
one where persuasion depends on brand name familiarity, a brand
name repetition strategy that was popularized at the beginning of
the 20th century is appropriate. Along these lines, in the context
of aldermanic elections, candidate choice is based, in part, on
name recognition and therefore repetition of the name is valuable.
When a brand has leadership in a category where the brands are
at parity, featuring a benefit that is common to rival brands can
be made persuasive by outspending competition. Finally, when a
brand has a unique benefit that is important to consumers, point
of difference advertising is appropriate.

L Planning involved identifying the various groups

that were potential prospects for a firm’s products,
selection of targets that were particularly attractive
prospects, and identification of a category where a
brand could leverage its point of difference with the
desired target.

1990-2000: The Era of Value

In the last decade of the 21st century, profound economic, politi-

cal, and technological change affected consumers’ dispositions and
firms’ market responses. During the 1980s, Americans on aver-
age increased their work from 40 hours to 48 hours and reduced
leisure time from 21 to 16 hours. These trends left consumers
time famished. In addition, a severe economic downturn in the
late 1980s made people more price sensitive than they had been

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since the early 1980s. The result was a change in how consumers
viewed value. In the 1980s, brands were considered to have value
if they offered extraordinary quality at a high price. By contrast,
in the early 1990s, a parity product at a low price became criteria
to ascertain value in many product categories. Moreover, cost
was assessed not just in terms of price, but also in terms of time.
Products that fostered time efficiency were preferred, and ones that
allowed the consumer to multi-task became popular. Time famine
gave rise to greater emphasis on the product’s psychological and
hedonic benefits. This led to the conceptualization of the value
equation discussed in Chapter 7.

Consumers’ focus on value reduced the attractiveness of branded

products. Prices of branded products had increased substantially
during the 1980s and were high in relation to private-label items.
Moreover, in many categories, private-label brands had substan-
tially improved their quality. The result was that private-label
products became substantial and sometimes leading brands in
numerous categories. Even in a category such as analgesics where
branded products have been preferred because people refused to
take risks when pain were involved, private label brands had the
greatest volume share.

The trend toward product proliferation also worked in favor of

the private-label brands. Faced with extreme time famine, consum-
ers were unwilling to examine the 61 different cover sheets on the
back of Always sanitary pad, or the 32 different forms of Crest, or
the 30 variations of Head and Shoulders shampoo. Instead, they
often based their purchase decision on price. In many categories,
market share of major brands fell substantially.

The typical response to these events was to cut cost and compete
with private-label items more closely on a price basis. This response
entailed finding ways to reduce the cost of goods, their distribution,

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and the size of the product management team. Advertising expen-

ditures continued to erode in favor of price promotions. The split
in spending between advertising and consumer promotions, which
had been 70:30 in favor of advertising in 1980, was 30:70 in favor
of promotion by 1990. Clubs that featured low price and rotated
the selection of the national brands they carried grew in popularity.

These strategies were successful in teaching consumers that

products were at parity and that the choice decision should be
based on price. Consumers received the message loud and clear.
Indeed, the focus on building the business rather than on build-
ing brands resulted in the share erosion of many brands. Maxwell
House coffee lost about half its share when it focused its marketing
support on consumer and trade price incentives. In addition, brand
switching grew dramatically, and consumers’ recall of advertis-
ing dropped. In short, the marketing strategies of the 1990s and
consumers’ reactions to them repeated the pattern observed in
the 1930s.

The focus on low price put a squeeze on profits, which prompted

vigorous efforts to reduce the cost of marketing efforts. Cost con-
tainment involved downsizing the organization and restructuring
managers’ activities. In many consumer package firms, for example,
upper level management participated in cross-functional teams
with the goal of containing costs. Middle level management was
focused on category management, which entailed managing the
micro marketing efforts at retail. These organizational changes
combined with the downsizing of organizations that characterized
the early 1990s resulted in advertising planning often being left
to the agency, consultants, or to the retail buyer!

By the mid-1990s, when major cost containment programs were

in place, marketers turned to rebuild their brands. This approach
entailed efforts by brands to reduce consumer confusion about the

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essence of the brand by drastically cutting the number of brand

offerings. Procter & Gamble reduced the varieties of Head and
Shoulders from 30 to 15 and the cover sheets for Always from 61
to 13. Overall, P&G cut the total number of items they offered
for sale by 30% over a five-year period; unit sales increased by 6%
over this time period.

Efforts to build consumer brands have involved not only con-

solidating the number of brand flankers, but also the adoption of
price stability programs so that the focus would be on a brand’s
features rather than on its price. Consumer incentives were reduced
and advertising spending was increased. Indeed, the 3% annual
increase in ad budgets that were common in the late 1980s and
early 1990s were supplanted by annual budget increases that were
on average between 6% and 11% in the late 1990s.

As the turn of the century approached, increasing economic

prosperity and consumer affluence prompted renewed focus on
product quality. The result was significant growth in the sales
of high-end products. Gillette introduced the Mach 3, a blade
priced at a 35% premium over their Sensor brand and a product
that produced massive success. Hefty experienced a 45% sales
increase with the introduction of their OneZip premium priced
baggies. Kimberly-Clark had success with its premium diapers,
in a category that grew to be 20% of the diaper business. This
prompted others manufacturers to follow suit with a spate of
high-end products. Oral B introduced the first $5 toothbrush in
a category where products were typically priced at less than $3.
Williams-Sonoma offered the Dualit, a $300+ hand assembled
toaster. And, P&G introduced Physique Haircare for men at a
price point of $7, which was about twice the average price charged
in the category at the time.

Consumers’ preference for high-end brands in today’s market is

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reminiscent of consumer response during the last wave of consumer

affluence in the mid-1980s. The difference is that in the high-end
consumption of the 1980’s was conspicuous and in high priced
categories such as watches and cars. The more recent high-end
purchases were for functional items.

L Consumers’ preference for high-end brands in

today’s market is reminiscent of consumer response
during the last wave of consumer affluence in the
mid-1980s.

The 2000’s: The Addition of Value through Customer

Insight

Advertising expenditures grew dramatically in 1999 and 2000

fueled by initial efforts at marketing Internet companies. With
the downturn in economic conditions, a significant decline in ad
spending began in 2002. In reaction, advertising institutions sought
to increase the value they added in communications. Print media,
which have been hard hit by the cuts in ad spending, attempted
to add value by providing agencies and their clients with more
detailed information not only about the users of various media,
but more generally about the activities, interests, and opinions of
segments that are of interest to advertisers. Agencies attempted
to add value to their clients through the development of com-
prehensive communication programs rather than ones based on
mass media vehicles. Thus, agencies offered integrated campaigns
that utilized both traditional media forms, such as television, and
evolving media forms, such as the Internet. Manufacturers, and
particularly consumer package good firms, attempted to add value
through their use of knowledge of customers to help redesign retail

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space to communicate brand positions more effectively in-store.

Thus, the communication channel that was once a loose coalition
of entities was now characterized as partnerships developed with
the goal of adding value through the sharing of knowledge about
the customer.

With the emergence of the Internet realignment in the use

of media for advertising occurred. Newspapers, whose revenue
model was based on want ads, were hit hard by online services
such as Craigslist that accomplished the same goal at a lower
price. Magazines suffered substantial declines in audience size,
which prompted advertisers to develop their own custom maga-
zines. Lexus, for example, introduced a magazine that included
news about its brands that was sent to current owners as well as
individuals in upscale zip codes. Firms made greater use of the
Internet, both in terms of search engines such as Google, to direct
customers to their web sites, and in the development of web pages
that informed and entertained consumers. Greater focus now
centered on trying to reach consumers when they were decisional
about the category using mobile advertising, outdoor advertising,
and event sponsorship.

As the economic downturn became more severe, advertising

focused more on product value. This resulted in the use of more
comparative advertising by brands to highlight the value offered.
For example, Progresso and Campbell soups compared the nutri-
tional value of their brands against each other. Other brands tied
their equity to the challenging economic times. Along these lines,
Allstate advertising emphasized that the safety it provides was
even more important under current economic conditions. And
luxury brands such as De-Beers diamonds advertised the impor-
tance of purchasing less, but purchasing objects that had enduring
value—such as diamonds.

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The Present: Social Media as a Platform for Advertis-

ing, Insight, Engagement

The present era is marked by the continued evolution of media

platforms. And, with the rapid increase of online and mobile media
platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Snap-
chat, and LinkedIn, advertisers are now tasked with understanding
their relevance and touch points to consumers in more media
forms than ever before. However, if one looks forward, the present
era is more than just advertising on each of these platforms. The
present era marks the opportunity of using technology to obtain
insight and engage with the consumer in a manner more facile
than ever before.

On the matter of insight, online platforms allow brands

to scrape the web to obtain data as to what consumers are talking
about with one another, how their shopping behavior is affected
by seasonality and brand promotions, and consumers’ response
to online advertising campaigns. Each of these elements marks
a means for brand managers to obtain insight on a daily, if not
hourly, basis. As such, technology gives the strategist more imme-
diate information than ever before. In addition, as brands create a
social presence they are able to interact with their consumer to ask
questions and obtain insight from the consumer without the use
of third parties. This rapid rise of technology suggests competi-
tive advantage will be found amongst the brands best able to use
technology to obtain insight.

L This rapid rise of technology suggests competitive

advantage will be found amongst the brands best
able to use technology to obtain insight.

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306           .   

With respect to engagement, consumers, and in particular

Millennials, continue to expect more out of their brands. Chil-
dren are growing up with the mentality that when they have
questions they can place them into a search engine and receive
an immediate answer. As such, when consumers search about a
category or brand, they want and expect content to be present.
This insight, and the ability of technology to facilitate exchanges
between brand and consumer, means that brands must become
more willing to instigate, maintain, and respond to conversations
with the consumer online. Moving forward, advertising must not
lose the fundamentals of strategy; rather, added to each of these
fundamentals will be a need to engage in building a relation-
ship with the consumer through the proper online platforms.

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    307

Index
Number
4A purchase funnel 25
4M Framework 191

A
Acquisition, Acceleration, and Adoption Model 108, 112
Action 29
Action Repeated 30
ADPLAN 227, 232, 242
AD Tests 253, 268
Agency 66
Agency Compensation 275, 286
Agency Structure 275, 280
Amplification 239
Analogies 211
Attention 233
Attitude 27
Attitude Certainty 258
Audience Factors 201, 219
Awareness 25

B
Brand Awareness 254

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308  

Brand Development Index (BDI) 49

Brand Personality 136
Brand Structure 275, 276

C
Category Build 47
Category Development Index (CDI) 50
C-curve 183, 184
Central Processing 87
Client-Agency Relations 227, 243
Cognitive Path to Persuasion 83, 85
Communion 66, 67
Comparative Advertising 210
Concentration 173, 188
Consumer Insight 61, 62
Continuity 173, 188, 189
Creative Brief 7, 8, 10, 17, 37, 227, 229, 230
Creative Strategy 201

D
Demographics 41
Distinction 228, 234, 235
DONE Framework 128, 139, 155

E
Elaboration 201, 202, 204, 212
Exposures 247, 265, 267

F
Fear Appeals 219
Frame of Reference 15, 115, 119, 125
Frequency 173, 178, 180, 181

G
Gender 71
Gladwell’s Multiple Agent Model 102
Gratification 66, 67

H
Hard Sell 205

315
    309

History of Advertising 289

Human Motivations 66

I
Information Diffusion 97

L
Laddering Down 141, 146
Laddering Up 141, 147, 148
Linkage 208, 228, 237

M
Measurement 247, 251, 253, 282
Media Budgeting 173, 193, 198
Media Dominance 173
Media Scheduling 173
Media Selection 157, 161, 162
Message Elaboration 202
Message Factors 201
Metacognitive Path to Persuasion 88, 89

N
Net Equity 228, 240

O
Objectives 23, 24, 36, 170
Objective-Task Method 195

P
Paid, Owned, and Earned Media 160
Paths to Persuasion 82
Perceptual Path to Persuasion 92
Peripheral Processing 86, 93
Point of Difference 15, 115, 126, 127, 135
Point-of-Entry 45, 46
Point of Parity 123, 135
Positioning 236
Positioning Statement 15, 62, 116, 117, 118, 134, 136, 146
Present Era of Advertising 289
Prevention Focus 90, 91, 92

316
310  

Promotion Focus 89, 91, 92

Psychographics 41
Purchase Funnel 23, 24, 25

R
Reach 162, 173, 178, 179, 181, 188
Reason to Believe 15, 115, 130
Repositioning 141, 151, 152, 153
Rogers’ Two-Step Diffusion Model 98

S
Segmentation 39, 40, 41, 43, 49, 291
Setting Advertising Objectives 23
Social Class 70, 73, 74
Social Media Diffusion Model 105, 106
Soft Sell 205
Source Factors 201, 212
Spokespeople 213, 214
Sustaining a Position 141, 143, 151

T
Targeting 39, 47, 49, 54, 55, 57
Targeting Indices 39, 49
Targeting Multiple Targets 39
The Big Idea 206, 207

U
Uncertainty 219
Usage-based segmentation 39, 49

V
Value Equation 129, 130

W
Wear-out 184

317
318
 Bibliography
"Royalty citation ebook − Derek Rucker." In Advertising Strategy 5e ebook, Derek Rucker.

"Royalty Citation ebook − Sabin Gurung." In Advertising Strategy 5e ebook, Sabin

Gurung.

"Advertising Strategy 5e." Derek Rucker and Sabin Gurung.

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