The main objective of advertising -
This arrow highlights the steps that a advert needs to prompt a consumer to make, they need to capture their attention before they can arouse or hold their interest, and do the first two steps before they can make a lasting impression, so the main aim of an advert, primarily is to capture the attention of the desired audience
The effects of a successful advert are split into three sections:
Thinking, Feeling and Taking action
cognitive - (thinking)
awareness/recognition
memory
affective - (feeling)
interest
positive emotional response
emotional bond
conative - (taking action)
purchase
consideration of purchase
These are the effects an advert should have on the consumer, and they must appeal to each of the parts of the brain. The congitive fucntion is the ability to remember and process information, this is the first area an advert must target, as they need the consumer to remember them firstly, they then need the consumer to like and prefer the brans, this is down to the affective, the art of the brain which feels emotion and is responsible for emotionally driven behaviour. The conative is the aspect of our brain that is responsible for action or change, including impulse to buy a product. All three work together, somewhat subconcsiously to drive a consumer to buy a product or service and become affected by a brand.
A clever advert could do all three, but most adverts will aim to appeal to one aspect, depending on the aim of the advert. An advert that aims to build a brand identity may only need to get people to think and feel something about the brand, and therefore appeal to the cognitive and affective, those however that wish to boost sales will need to appeal to all and the advert will need to make the viewer think and remember the product, feel good about it and wish to buy it, all at once.
Consumer Involvement Theory
This is a theory to understand the behaviour of your target audience, depending on the product type and price, it is important for understanding your audiences buying behaviour. Involvement refers to how much time, thought, energy and other resources people devote to the purchase process, which differs between products, meaning the type of advertising differs too. The theory considers the balance between emotional preference and purchase, and rational preference and purchase. The theory categorizes audience reaction into four sections -
High involvement / rational
These are usually expensive big decision purchases such as a new car, financial services or major appliances. They are high involvement, meaning they take a lot of time, energy and thought into the devision to purchase, and ten to be very rational, based on need rather than want. advertising for these products need to have clear explanations of competitive advantages and benefits need to be well highlighted, so the consumer has all the information needed to consider the product, therefore these types of products are often advertised using predominantly "Unique Personality Property" styles, where the product can be fully explained, these are very technical and feature the product in use.
High involvement/emotional
these products also tend to be expensive items, but are not chosen on benefits or product features. items include holiday destinations, jewellery, cosmetics and fashion. These products can differ between people depending on their income and status, someone who is fairly wealthy may buy a car that reflects their personality, rather than for function, this is therefore a high involvement/emotional product. advertising here should focus on imagery and emotion and looking appealing, they are "want" not "need" products so need branding and clever advertising, they therefore often use Associated User Imagery
Low involvement/ rational
consumers put little thought into purchasing these products and they are chosen for their benefits and product attributes, so the consumer will pick a brand that satisfies the need. Example products could be a ready made sandwich, Deoderant, shampoo, milk. They are cheap everyday products and once a consumer ahs settled with a brand that fulfils the need they are reluctant to change and try other brands. Advertising therefore needs to focus on differentiating the product, making it stand out from the rest, whether this is actual differentiation or perceived differentiation ( differentiation in the eyes of the consumer achieved through clever advertising and branding )
Low involvement/emotional
These are impulse products that provide quick benefits, like pleasure or gratification, but they wont last long, so consumers spend little time choosing between brands. Examples include Chocolate, magazines, birthday cards and movie rentals. There is usually strong competition and products must differentiate well and have strong branding to compete. Advertising must clearly outline the benefits.
Affective conditioning
- this is a theory by Melanie Dempsy and Andrew mitchell about the consumer choice, after they did several studies. It involves the use of association of a product with other positive factors that we feel good about, so putting a product like detergent with fresh flower and sushine will transfer our feelings from these positive elements to the product. this transfer is called Affective Conditioning.
Their stuides involved telling a sample of people about a group of pens, and telling them one brand had better properties than the other, expecting that the audience would therefore pick that product. before making the choice a section of the sample did a test n which pictures flashed on a screen, some involving the brand name of the worse pen, so they were pairing the pen with lots of positive items. this was creating affective conditioning. when asked to choose a pen, the group that did not go through the affective conditioning process all chose the pen with the better properties, however the group that went through the process, 80% of them chose the pen that had been paired with the positive items, even though they had information that the other pen was better. the results of this suggested that the most powerful effect of advertising is to create a great feeling about a product by surrounding it by other things that the target audience likes.
We tend to pick products we feel comfortable with and good about, over products that we are told are the best or are superior, because we want to feel good about something, our emotions are important in choosing a product. of course this relates back to consumer involvement theory, because emotions are not part of the decision process for rational purchases, so despite the emotions involved, we are likely to choose the best product for rational products. This theory s suited to emotional products, where the decision is based much more on the feeling rather than the thinking behind it.
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