Doi: 10.2501/JAr-2021-013 september 2021 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH 245

Editor’s Desk

New Insights on Advertising Execution

And Consumer Engagement

JOHN B. FORD

Editor-in-chief,

Journal of Advertising

Research

Eminent scholar and

Professor of marketing

and international

Business,

strome college of

Business, old Dominion

university

[email protected]

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Enter publication month here september 2021

Enter DOI here Doi: 10.2501/JAr-2021-013

Enter special feature theme here WHAT WE KNOW ABOuT

Since 1960, the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR) has delivered cutting-edge, impactful research to advertising scholars and practitioners. That work has reflected not only the continuing theoretical evolutionary advancement of knowledge but also has provided answers to a number of the thorny problems faced by advertising professionals.

And, indeed, the future of advertising requires meaningful partnerships between scholars and pro- fessionals in the field, so that knowledge advance- ment focuses on the greatest need areas faced by practitioners.

This issue of the JAR contains another rich array of studies reflecting a continuing development of these vital partnerships. Eight articles span a wide variety of topics that includes the impact of reductions in media spend on brand performance in the short and long term; effective strategies for six-second video advertisements; the use of androgynous imagery in advertisements; and companies’ explicit-donation amount and online cause-sponsorship advertising formats on nonprofit websites, and their effects on purchase intention. New findings in context congru- ence and advertising persuasiveness in e-magazines add to the mix, as well as the effectiveness of non- celebrity endorsers; consumer engagement and purchase behavior in brand heritage advertising; and the effect of guerilla marketing on company share prices.

The practice of brand advertisers to reduce advertising spend in the hopes of cutting costs and increasing profit levels is the focus of “When Brands Go Dark: Examining Sales Trends when Brands Stop Broad-Reach Advertising for Long Periods” (see page 247) by Nicole Hartnett, Vir- ginia Beal, Rachel Kennedy, and Byron Sharp (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia), and Adam Gelzinis (Endeavour Group).

Underpinning such reductions in advert- ising spend is the assumption that these types of

adjustments do not immediately harm sales or market share. The authors used 20 years of data (1996–2015) involving advertising spend and brand sales volume for a global alcoholic-beverage com- pany across a variety of different products in the Australian market. The study identified 57 one-year cost-cutting incidents for 41 brands; in 34 of these cases, the reduction lasted at least two years.

In fact, the authors found that sales declines often marched hand in hand with slashes in advert- ising expenditures, leading to the conclusion that “forcing brands to take turns going dark for long periods could have a net negative effect on the total portfolio in the long run.”

Balancing that finding was the discovery that “larger previously growing brands are relatively unaffected by advertising cessation and so can withstand an advertising hiatus for one or two years.” The authors do add, however, that those survivor brands may not have suffered any serious loss due to the decline in advertising but poten- tially compromised greater growth that may have been driven by continued marketplace exposure.

On a more granular basis, the research support- ing “When Brands Go Dark” found that small, growing alcohol brands need continued support to meet their growth potential and, in such cases, con- tinuity is important. More specifically, the authors propose, on-and-off strategies can negatively affect consumers looking to make a category purchase, as off periods can open the door for competitor mes- sages to get through.

Even as marketers investigate with various levels of advertising investment, so do they exam- ine different message-delivery modes. “Strategies for More Effective Six-Second Video Advertise- ments: Making the Most of 144 Frames” (please see page 260) demonstrates a growing interest in short format as younger consumers actually prefer short-duration communications on their mobile devices.

246 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH september 2021

NEW iNsiGHts oN ADVErtisiNG ExEcutioN AND coNsumEr ENGAGEmENt

Authors Colin Campbell (University of San Diego) and Erin Pearson (University of East Anglia) accessed a wide array of English-language video advertisements from Unruly Media, Facebook, and YouTube. There were some logistical constraints to their study: Only about 3 percent of all video advertisements in the research appeared in six-second format. To give greater depth to their work, the authors examined and coded all advertisements 10 seconds or less in the selected media.

After examining the top 50 performing advertisements (as well the worst 50), the study revealed that ultra-short-form commer- cials require the use of novel and unique approaches, with chan- ging focal points at each stage of advertisement creation. In more detail, Drs. Campbell and Pearson found best practices leverage consumer experiences and knowledge to create greater impact. To that end, compelling narratives need to be planned in such a way that they can be built into a longer format and then condensed to keep the clarity of the message involved.

The authors suggest that filmmaking and editing can be used to speed viewer comprehension and improve meaning. They offer that “the results highlight the value of precise targeting and the potential for software solutions that make serialized targeting easier to operationalize.” One interesting caveat: “Increased use of open and experimental narratives may present risk for advert- isers by creating the potential for multiple—and, in some cases, unanticipated—meanings.”

Because storytelling is an integral part of advertising, the cred- ibility of the storytellers themselves is a powerful performance driver. And, even as there is substantial literature affirming the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in messaging, there are many smaller companies that cannot afford to hire well-known spokespeople to promote their brands. “Evaluating the Advertis- ing Effectiveness of Noncelebrity Endorsers: Advantages of Cus- tomer vs. Employee Endorsers and Mediating Factors of Their Impact” (please see page 318) examines the use of noncelebrity endorsers in creating connections to consumers.

Authors Jan-Frederik Gräve and Carolin Haiduk (University of Hamburg) and Oliver Schnittka (University of Southern Den- mark) examined two types of noncelebrity endorsers—customers of the company delivering the advertising as well as employees of the product or service being promoted. The strength of such endorsements was compared to the performance of advertise- ments that carried no endorsements, with key metrics includ- ing the effects of advertisement empathy as well as inference of manipulative intent (IMI). “In a sense,” the authors write, “IMIs indicate the perceived fairness of an advertisement, as consumers react suspiciously to and resist very manipulative persuasion attempts.”

The authors found that noncelebrity endorsers may have a pos- itive effect on advertising effectiveness, but caution, “Managers primarily should work to diminish perceived IMIs when select- ing noncelebrity endorsers for their brands while also benefitting from increased advertising empathy.” Moreover, the study pro- poses, “To mitigate perceptions of ulterior motives, the advert- ising designs should highlight endorsers in everyday situations, sharing their experiences in their own words instead of using scripted testimonials.”

The study also found that advertisements for “high social-risk” products (e.g., eyeglasses, clothing, and cosmetics) should make use of customer endorsers rather than using employees. But, advertisements that promote “high physical risk” goods or ser- vices (e.g., car repair) should use employee endorsers rather than customers to maximize advertising effectiveness.

Brand heritage advertising has been an important mech- anism to build brand connection and loyalty, examined fur- ther in “The Importance of Consumer Engagement in Brand Heritage Advertising: How Feeling Close to the Brand Can Increase Willingness to Pay More” (see page 334). In this study by Daniele Scarpi (University of Bologna), 300 adult Americans were recruited through an online panel provider to assess their psychological evaluation of the brand involved, the perceived uniqueness of the brand, and their willingness to pay for the brand’s product.

Scarpi found that brand heritage advertising does affect the viewers’ construal level—in other words, their sense of psycholo- gical closeness with the brand involved. And that, in turn, affects their evaluation of the brand. In this case, heritage messaging trig- gers higher construal, reducing the closeness to the brand.

The brand heritage work also found, however, that high con- strual levels (reduced perceived closeness) may negatively affect the perceived uniqueness of the object and the willingness to pay. The author cautions: “Although there may be benefits to brand heritage advertising, brands should not necessarily jump on this bandwagon. A careless approach may weaken a brand’s perceived uniqueness and thereby curb the overall development of brand equity.” The issue is that lower construal levels (greater perceived closeness) promote uniqueness and willingness to pay a premium for the product involved, and this can be enhanced as the brand engages with consumers. “To be leveraged effectively,” the author concluded, “brand heritage advertising should be combined with feelings of engagement, which adds to the complexity of success- fully using brand heritage advertising to drive sales.”

* * * As the Journal of Advertising Research continues to grow and evolve, as always, I welcome your feedback.

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