ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2245-6300
Current Organisation
University of South Australia
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Publisher: Emerald
Date: 13-02-2017
Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the relative influence of advertising and word of mouth (WOM) for new season TV programmes, both new and returning. The study’s longitudinal research design tracks in iduals before and after possible exposure to advertising and/or positive WOM (PWOM) to model the effects of both paid versus earned media on behaviour. This study provides contrary evidence to previous research that suggests that WOM has more influence on consumers than advertising. By controlling for viewers’ benchmark probabilities of viewing the TV programme, the effect of receiving PWOM becomes insignificant, whereas the effect of TV advertising remains unchanged. Because WOM is commonly exchanged between people with shared interests, it reaches an audience that is already highly disposed to view the TV programme. The findings implicate that we need to reinvestigate the power of WOM to avoid misattribution of effects. This study is only study in one category, which means replication and extension to more categories are needed. The limitations of the study include the inability to control for creative differences in the execution of programme promotions or examine possible cross-media synergies for multimedia c aigns. Findings have implications for how much to invest in WOM-generating activities. Findings also have wider implications for cross-media research and media-mix models, as different media may reach audiences with differing predispositions to act. This is one of the rare in idual-level, longitudinal studies that investigate the influence of WOM in comparison to advertising.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 08-02-2016
Abstract: – This paper aims to reflect on the generalisability of the predictive validity test of the Persuasion Principles Index (PPI) conducted by Armstrong et al. (2016). – Different aspects of the test are considered, such as the s le of ads, the dependent variable and the comparability of the methods used to predict effectiveness, in terms of how relevant these are to real-world advertising testing. – The s le of ads and the testing procedure may have contributed to the success of the PPI predictions over the other copy-testing methods. The s le of print ads does not bear a close resemblance to current advertising. The competing copy tests do not represent modern advertising copy testing. – More research is needed to test the validity of the principles and the predictive accuracy of the PPI across a range of conditions (e.g. different ads, media, products and cultures). Testing against advertising sales effectiveness would be the ideal next step. – It certainly seems the index method has the potential to help advertisers make better decisions regarding what executions to support, for high-involvement products at least. Given the accessibility of the software, it should be easy and cost effective for advertisers to trial the PPI. – This commentary directs researchers to the real-world conditions under which advertising pre-tests need to be evaluated.
Publisher: WARC Limited
Date: 24-01-2019
DOI: 10.2501/JAR-2019-002
Publisher: WARC Limited
Date: 12-05-2023
DOI: 10.2501/JAR-2023-009
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 06-07-2020
Abstract: This study aims to independently test the predictive validity of the Persuasion Principles Index (PPI) for video advertisements for low-involvement products with a measure of in-market sales effectiveness. This study follows the inaugural test conducted by Armstrong et al. (2016) for print advertisements for high-involvement utilitarian products with a measure of advertising recall. The method was in line with that developed by Armstrong et al. (2016) for rating advertisements and assessing the reliability of ratings. Consensus PPI scores were calculated for a data set of 242 matched pairs of television advertisements. For each pair, the authors determined whether the advertisement that better adhered to the persuasion principles performed better in-market. Consensus PPI scores predicted the more sales effective television advertisement for 55% (confidence interval (CI) = 49%, 61%) of the 242 pairs. This result is no better than chance and much weaker than the result from the initial validation study, which found that the consensus PPI scores predicted the more recalled print advertisement for 74.5% (CI = 66%, 83%) of 96 pairs. This study replicated the application of the PPI as per Armstrong’s guidelines and extended validity testing to a different set of advertising conditions. Findings indicate that better adherence to the persuasion principles produces only a weak, positive effect for predicting the performance of television advertisements for low-involvement products. A research agenda that flows from the results is discussed. The authors suggest that the PPI in its present form is best used to predict advertising performance under conditions as per the inaugural validation test (Armstrong et al. , 2016). Advertisers will require compelling evidence of the PPI’s predictive accuracy to adopt the tool for pre-testing advertising. This study is the first independent test of the predictive validity of the PPI and its generalisability across advertising conditions. Another contribution of this study is the assessment of Armstrong’s advice to remove unreliable ratings. The authors show that this procedure, surprisingly, does not improve the predictive accuracy of the PPI.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.AUSMJ.2017.10.008
Abstract: Double Jeopardy describes how smaller brands lose twice they have fewer buyers who are slightly less loyal. A common loyalty measure is how often people buy the brand in a given time period. An alternative loyalty measure is how much people spend, which reflects purchase frequency and price paid. The brand equity literature suggests that high equity brands should reap high purchase rates and high prices. It is therefore possible that Double Jeopardy might become obscured when using a revenue-based measure such as spend per buyer. The reason is that price variation could create more, and more pronounced deviations from the Double Jeopardy pattern. We demonstrate that Double Jeopardy holds for spend in thirteen consumer goods categories: smaller brands have fewer buyers who spend somewhat less on the brand. We further find no relationship between brand share and average price and no relationship between excess/deficit loyalty and average price.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-09-2016
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-05-2023
DOI: 10.1177/14707853231175085
Abstract: Over the past decade, political advertising via social media has grown rapidly, spurred by microtargeting, which looks to deliver specific messages to tightly defined audiences. Microtargeting strategies have been claimed to be effective, but questions remain around their cost, when looking to optimise impressions for a given budget. We analyse 11,837 ads aired on Snapchat over a two-year period leading up to the 2020 presidential election in the United States, which differ in the number of targeting criteria applied. We compare the number of impressions and the spend per ad placement (measured in CPM), whilst also considering the length of advertising schedule. We find that using fewer targeting criteria and longer schedules increases impressions with comparable or lower spend than microtargeting. These findings are in line with those from traditional broadcast media, such as TV, highlighting the relevance of existing media scheduling knowledge from traditional platforms for political advertising on newer, digital media.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 11-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.AUSMJ.2018.10.003
Abstract: Shaw and Nowicki (2018) mistakenly suggests that the growing adoption of empirical science by marketing academics and practitioners is a return to an earlier time of treating all customers the same. Fundamental patterns discovered in buying and brand performance data accurately describe differences between buyers (e.g. in category buying rates and in personal brand loyalties), as well as predictable differences in loyalty metrics between rival brands. Theory has been proposed that fits these empirical generalisations that rival brands largely differ and compete in terms of their mental and physical availability to category buyers ( Sharp 2010 ). An implication is that marketers need to understand the differences between buyers in their category so that they can extend their brand's reach. This contrasts the practice of offering a single marketing mix to the whole market, and it is opposite to the practice of targeting a brand to a single homogeneous segment of the market and again offering a single marketing mix to that segment.
Publisher: WARC Limited
Date: 23-06-2021
DOI: 10.2501/JAR-2021-009
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.AUSMJ.2015.12.002
Abstract: Advertising research has largely neglected to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the different forms of branding devices available to advertisers. Branding can be direct, through explicit use of brand names, or indirect, through use of (non-brand name) brand elements, such as logos, spokes-characters and slogans that are connected to the brand in consumers’ memory. Advertisers often downplay brand names in favour of brand elements because the latter are seen as less intrusive and more creative. This experiment in three categories demonstrates that direct branding often produces higher brand recall than indirect branding without compromising advertising likeability. There is, however, a clear picture-superiority effect, whereby picture elements (logos, spokes-characters) consistently elicit higher brand recall than text elements (slogans). The findings highlight that advertisers need not be reluctant to call out the brand name for fear of losing attention due to an unappealing ad, because consumers do not appear to penalise advertising with direct branding, nor do they reward advertising with subtler indirect branding.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 14-10-2023
DOI: 10.1177/14707853221134258
Abstract: The Modern Data Analysis paradigm (Williams, 2021) advocates using multiple methods to address the same research question, which is rarely done in studies of advertising creative effects. In this paper, we apply the MDA paradigm to data from Hartnett, Kennedy, et al. (2016), which coded 158 creative variables for 312 television advertisements with commercially validated short-term sales effectiveness outcomes. We found that many models give higher classification accuracy than the ordinal regression model previously applied, some significantly higher. Importantly, by applying many alternative but equally plausible analytical methods, we can identify creative variables associated with commercial success and have evidence-based confidence that these creative variables are artefacts of the data, and not artefacts of any particular analytical method and its associated assumptions. The findings reveal several alternative creative variables that are consistently associated with sales success across methods, which relate to the timing aspects of visual branding.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 18-07-2022
Abstract: Dynamic advertising, including television and online video ads, demands new theory and tools developed to understand attention to moving stimuli. The purpose of this study is to empirically test the predictions of a new dynamic attention theory, Dynamic Human-Centred Communication Systems Theory, versus the predictions of salience theory. An eye-tracking study used a s le of consumers to measure visual attention to potential areas of interest (AOIs) in a random selection of unfamiliar video ads. An eye-tracking software feature called intelligent bounding boxes (IBBs) was used to track attention to moving AOIs. AOIs were coded for the presence of static salience variables (size, brightness, colour and clutter) and dynamic attention theory dimensions (imminence, motivational relevance, task relevance and stability). Static salience variables contributed 90% of explained variance in fixation and 57% in fixation duration. However, the data further supported the three-way interaction uniquely predicted by dynamic attention theory: between imminence (central vs peripheral), relevance (motivational or task relevant vs not) and stability (fleeting vs stable). The findings of this study indicate that viewers treat dynamic stimuli like real life, paying less attention to central, relevant and stable AOIs, which are available across time and space in the environment and so do not need to be memorised. Despite the limitations of small s les of consumers and video ads, the results of this study demonstrate the potential of two relatively recent innovations, which have received limited emphasis in the marketing literature: dynamic attention theory and IBBs. This study documents what does and does not attract attention to video advertising. What gets attention according to salience theory (e.g. central location) may not always get attention in dynamic advertising because of the effects of relevance and stability. To better understand how to execute video advertising to direct and retain attention to important AOIs, advertisers and advertising researchers are encouraged to use IBBs. This study makes two original contributions: to marketing theory, by showing how dynamic attention theory can predict attention to video advertising better than salience theory, and to marketing research, showing the utility of tracking visual attention to moving objects in video advertising with IBBs, which appear underutilised in advertising research.
No related grants have been discovered for Nicole Hartnett.