One way for smaller brands to save money on advertising is to use their customers and employees as endorsers, rather than spend big bucks (and risk fame fallout) on a superstar. So, which type of noncelebrity endorser is most effective, and under what circumstances? Findings from European researchers offer practical solutions to these questions.
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Companies increasingly target nonprofit web and social media followers by using cause-related marketing display ads on the websites of charity or nonprofit organizations. Two key formats are used: either transactional (representing an explicit donation amount that a consumer can make to the nonprofit) or nontransactional (representing online cause sponsorship). Which one is more successful? A new study has some answers.
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Live, “shoppable” advertising has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with big investments from influencers, brands and retailers. In response, researchers in London, Stockholm and the U.S. have collaborated on a typology for evaluating the value of this emerging platform. The work is essentially a launching pad for future investigation and measurement of liveness and shoppability in advertising.
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A product’s shape, packaging or logo contributes to consumer understanding and reactions to that product, previous research has found. But what impression does the perceived weight of a product convey and how can this be used for advertising and marketing purposes? Researchers Priya Raghubir, Lu Yang and Dengfeng Yan looked into this and discovered that consumers use a stability heuristic for weight judgements. Shorter, broader objects are judged to be heavier and thus are considered more stable. And when it comes to food items, weight also plays on such things as calorie assessment.
How do consumer’s latent sentiments about patriotism, nationalism, xenophobia and “economic patriotism” affect their willingness to pay for imports? This research shows that in cases of perceived economic, political or cultural conflict with the homeland, domestic products can shore up sales by emphasizing their connection a consumer’s country of origin. A “buy local” message helps defend against imports, even from allied nations.
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Consumer packaged goods have experienced increasing fragmentation in recent decades. This is most often attributed to millennials’ preference toward smaller and seemingly more “authentic” brands. But is this true? New research suggests that generational differences in “consumption capital” may be an even more significant factor. This is based on the range of products available over time.
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Marketers under pressure to demonstrate how expenditures drive shareholder value will appreciate these new findings. Canadian researchers investigated guerilla marketing’s potential impact on a company’s stock price. In the first study of its kind, such campaigns were found to either boost or depress company shares, depending on the form of the appeal (emotion versus rational) and its mix with product types.
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This is the third in a series of “Happy Hour” events produced by the Creative Council on bringing researchers, creatives, and strategists closer together. Rory Sutherland, a strong proponent of behavioral science, shared his perspective on the ways that behavioral science thinking can potentially unlock solutions to creative and marketing problems that might not be apparent to “rational” business thinkers.
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