Contents
LO1 — Session 1: Breaking Through the Advertising Clutter
• 1.1 Attention & Four Levels of Processing (Greenwald & Leavitt)
• 1.2 Involuntary Attention — SHPP (incl. Pieters & Wedel)
• 1.3 Voluntary Attention — PSPC (incl. Inattentional Blindness, SEA/SEO)
• 1.4 Sustaining Attention — DCE (Dual Coding, Encoding Variability)
• 1.5 The Attention Paradox
LO1 — Session 2: Persuasion & Pre-Suasion
• 2.1 Two-Factor Theory / Wear-in / Wear-out (Berlyne)
• 2.2 Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad & Wright; Kirmani; Campbell & Kirmani)
• 2.3 ELM / MOA (Petty & Cacioppo; Petty, Cacioppo & Schumann)
• 2.4 Fishbein Multi-Attribute Model & CACI Strategies
• 2.5 Pre-Suasion & Contextual Priming (Cialdini; Yi; Mandel & Johnson)
LO1 — Session 3: Affective Persuasion
• 3.1 Incidental vs. Integral Affect — THE CRITICAL DISTINCTION
• 3.2 Evaluative Conditioning (Stuart, Shimp & Engle)
• 3.3 Affect as Information (Schwarz & Clore; Pham; Brandes & Dover)
• 3.4 Processing Fluency & Disfluency (Pocheptsova, Labroo & Dhar)
• 3.5 Affect Regulation / Cognitive Tuning (Schwarz)
LO1 — Session 4: Consumer Inferences & Nudging
• 4.1 Libertarian Paternalism & Nudging (Thaler & Sunstein) — Heineken/AH Exam Q
• 4.2 Six Heuristics (RASACS): Availability, Confirmation Bias, Anchoring, Status Quo
LO1 — Session 5: Social Influence
• 5.1 Social Proof & Authority (Milgram; Van Herpen et al.)
• 5.2 Compliance Techniques: FITD, DITF, That's-Not-All, Low-Balling — Nina Exam Q
• 5.3 Celebrities vs. Influencers (Schouten et al.); AI vs. Human (Riva et al.)
LO1 — Session 6: Issues in Media Planning
• 6.1 Ad Avoidance — GCP (Cho & Cheon)
• 6.2 Zipping & Zapping (Brasel & Gips)
• 6.3 Multiscreen Challenge — 5 Propositions (Garaus)
• 6.4 Editorial Context Effects — CVI; IWatch in Vogue Exam Q
LO2 — Textbook Ch.3: How Marketing Communications Work
• FCB Grid; Hierarchy-of-Effects; DAGMAR; Attitude Formation; Mere Exposure
LO2 — Textbook Ch.4: IMC Planning & Budgeting
• 7 Budgeting Methods (MIAPCOA); SMART Objectives; TrueFit Exam Q
LO2 — Textbook Ch.5: Advertising
• Creativity; Emotional Appeals (Humour, Eroticism, Fear/EPPM, Warmth, Shock)
• Brand Placement; Cross-Cultural (Hofstede); Irritation & Brand Confusion
LO2 — Textbook Ch.6: Media Planning
• Frequency; b@Coefficient; Reach/GRP/OTS; CPM/CPM-TM; Scheduling; Media Types
LO2 — Textbook Ch.12: Campaign Effectiveness
• Pre-testing; Post-testing; Recall vs. Recognition; ATR Framework; RFM; PR/Sponsorship
Last-Minute Revision Sheet — LO2 Essentials
,SESSION 1 — Breaking Through the Advertising Clutter
Exam weight: This session appears in almost every past paper. Expect 1–2 questions on attention
mechanisms, SHPP/PSPC, inattentional blindness, or SEA vs. SEO.
1.1 Attention
📖 EXAM DEFINITION
Attention is the selective and limited allocation of cognitive resources to a stimulus. It is a precondition
for all further information processing — without attention, no comprehension or attitude change is
possible.
Attention is: (1) LIMITED — we cannot attend to everything simultaneously. (2) SELECTIVE — we filter
based on goals and relevance. (3) VOLUNTARY or INVOLUNTARY — driven by top-down goals or bottom-
up saliency.
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
The consumer's cognitive system constantly scans the environment but can only deeply process a tiny
fraction of stimuli. Two parallel processes operate: (1) Bottom-up: physical properties of a stimulus
(novelty, colour, movement) trigger automatic orienting. (2) Top-down: existing goals and knowledge
structures guide which stimuli receive elaborated processing. Most advertising stimuli compete for the
same scarce cognitive resources — those that can activate either or both systems gain processing
priority.
Four Levels of Processing (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984)
📖 EXAM DEFINITION
A hierarchical model of audience involvement describing four stages of cognitive engagement with
advertising: (1) Pre-attention — automatic, no capacity required; (2) Focal attention — low capacity,
object recognition; (3) Comprehension — moderate capacity, semantic understanding; (4) Elaboration —
high capacity, linking message to prior knowledge and generating attitude change.
Level Capacity What Happens MarCom Goal
Pre-attention Zero (automatic) Sensory buffering; screening Be seen at all — exist in
for familiarity and threat peripheral field
Focal attention Low Channel selection; word and Stand out enough to be
object recognition 'noted'
Comprehension Moderate Syntactic and semantic Message understood
analysis; understanding
message
Elaboration High Linking to prior knowledge; Attitude change / persuasion
counter-arguing or accepting
, ❓ TYPICAL EXAM QUESTION
Exam Question: A new chocolate brand launches a TV campaign. The marketing manager argues that 'as
long as people see the ad, it will work'. Using the four levels of processing model, critically evaluate this
claim.
✅ MODEL ANSWER
The claim is incorrect. Seeing an ad (pre-attention/focal attention) is a necessary but NOT sufficient
condition for persuasion.
The four levels of processing (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984) show that processing occurs hierarchically from
pre-attention (automatic scanning) through focal attention (recognition) and comprehension
(understanding) to elaboration (attitude change). Persuasion only occurs at the elaboration stage, which
requires substantial cognitive capacity.
A TV ad may be 'seen' if it has saliency (e.g. novel imagery), but if the viewer is second-screening on their
phone (Session 6 / Garaus, 2019) or the ad lacks personal relevance, processing will stall at the pre-
attention or focal attention level. The viewer may notice the ad without comprehending or elaborating
on the message — especially for a new, unfamiliar brand with no prior associations.
Therefore, an effective campaign must not only gain initial attention but actively sustain processing
through to elaboration, using self-relevance, emotional content, or concrete information (Session 1: DCE
strategies).
⚡ EXAM TRIGGER WORDS
'saw the ad' / 'exposed to the ad' → this does NOT mean persuasion occurred
'comprehension' / 'understanding the message' → Comprehension level
'attitude change' / 'persuasion' → Elaboration level
'noticed' / 'stood out' → Focal attention
'not aware of' / 'didn't notice' → Pre-attention only
1.2 Involuntary Attention — 'Attractors' (SHPP)
📖 EXAM DEFINITION
Involuntary attention is an automatic, bottom-up orienting response triggered by specific physical
properties of a stimulus, without conscious intent from the viewer. It is associated with System 1
processing and Cialdini's (2016) concept of 'attractors'.
SHPP: Saliency, Horizontal Centrality, Primacy, Picture Superiority.
Saliency
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
, Novel, unexpected, or physically distinct stimuli trigger an automatic orienting reflex — a hard-wired
survival mechanism. The brain's attentional system prioritises stimuli that deviate from background
patterns (contrast, novelty, movement). This is bottom-up and involuntary: it does not require the
consumer to have any interest in the product. The Yerkes-Dodson law governs the relationship:
moderate arousal from a salient stimulus maximises cognitive capacity; extreme arousal (horror, shock)
actually REDUCES processing capacity by overloading the system.
🎯 EXAM APPLICATION
Pringles tube: novel cylinder shape among flat bags triggers saliency on shelf — automatic visual capture.
Life-and-death stimuli (sexual and threatening imagery): evolutionarily prioritised — they capture
attention involuntarily.
OHH billboard that uses colour contrast against a grey urban background.
A TV ad with an unexpected narrative twist (violation of expectations) triggers an orienting response mid-
viewing.
Horizontal Centrality
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
Natural eye-movement patterns in visual scanning move from left to right and tend to return to the
horizontal centre. Stimuli placed at eye level and centred on a surface receive more first-fixations and
longer gaze duration. This is also captured in Brasel & Gips (2008) — even while fast-forwarding,
attention clusters at the screen centre.
🎯 EXAM APPLICATION
Placing a brand logo centrally and at eye level on a shelf guarantees more automatic fixations.
In a TV ad, the brand name placed in the centre-screen survives DVR fast-forward.
Pringles in the centre of a supermarket aisle endcap — more fixations than peripheral placement.
Primacy
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
Stimuli presented first receive more attention because early positions in a sequence have not yet
experienced attention fatigue or clutter effects. In media context, the first ad in a commercial break
benefits from the carry-over of programme engagement (Moorman, 2003 — interrupting blocks).
🎯 EXAM APPLICATION
First position in a commercial break has consistently higher brand recall.
First product on a shelf or in an online listing captures more views.
Opening seconds of any ad are most critical — the brand should appear early.
LO1 — Session 1: Breaking Through the Advertising Clutter
• 1.1 Attention & Four Levels of Processing (Greenwald & Leavitt)
• 1.2 Involuntary Attention — SHPP (incl. Pieters & Wedel)
• 1.3 Voluntary Attention — PSPC (incl. Inattentional Blindness, SEA/SEO)
• 1.4 Sustaining Attention — DCE (Dual Coding, Encoding Variability)
• 1.5 The Attention Paradox
LO1 — Session 2: Persuasion & Pre-Suasion
• 2.1 Two-Factor Theory / Wear-in / Wear-out (Berlyne)
• 2.2 Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad & Wright; Kirmani; Campbell & Kirmani)
• 2.3 ELM / MOA (Petty & Cacioppo; Petty, Cacioppo & Schumann)
• 2.4 Fishbein Multi-Attribute Model & CACI Strategies
• 2.5 Pre-Suasion & Contextual Priming (Cialdini; Yi; Mandel & Johnson)
LO1 — Session 3: Affective Persuasion
• 3.1 Incidental vs. Integral Affect — THE CRITICAL DISTINCTION
• 3.2 Evaluative Conditioning (Stuart, Shimp & Engle)
• 3.3 Affect as Information (Schwarz & Clore; Pham; Brandes & Dover)
• 3.4 Processing Fluency & Disfluency (Pocheptsova, Labroo & Dhar)
• 3.5 Affect Regulation / Cognitive Tuning (Schwarz)
LO1 — Session 4: Consumer Inferences & Nudging
• 4.1 Libertarian Paternalism & Nudging (Thaler & Sunstein) — Heineken/AH Exam Q
• 4.2 Six Heuristics (RASACS): Availability, Confirmation Bias, Anchoring, Status Quo
LO1 — Session 5: Social Influence
• 5.1 Social Proof & Authority (Milgram; Van Herpen et al.)
• 5.2 Compliance Techniques: FITD, DITF, That's-Not-All, Low-Balling — Nina Exam Q
• 5.3 Celebrities vs. Influencers (Schouten et al.); AI vs. Human (Riva et al.)
LO1 — Session 6: Issues in Media Planning
• 6.1 Ad Avoidance — GCP (Cho & Cheon)
• 6.2 Zipping & Zapping (Brasel & Gips)
• 6.3 Multiscreen Challenge — 5 Propositions (Garaus)
• 6.4 Editorial Context Effects — CVI; IWatch in Vogue Exam Q
LO2 — Textbook Ch.3: How Marketing Communications Work
• FCB Grid; Hierarchy-of-Effects; DAGMAR; Attitude Formation; Mere Exposure
LO2 — Textbook Ch.4: IMC Planning & Budgeting
• 7 Budgeting Methods (MIAPCOA); SMART Objectives; TrueFit Exam Q
LO2 — Textbook Ch.5: Advertising
• Creativity; Emotional Appeals (Humour, Eroticism, Fear/EPPM, Warmth, Shock)
• Brand Placement; Cross-Cultural (Hofstede); Irritation & Brand Confusion
LO2 — Textbook Ch.6: Media Planning
• Frequency; b@Coefficient; Reach/GRP/OTS; CPM/CPM-TM; Scheduling; Media Types
LO2 — Textbook Ch.12: Campaign Effectiveness
• Pre-testing; Post-testing; Recall vs. Recognition; ATR Framework; RFM; PR/Sponsorship
Last-Minute Revision Sheet — LO2 Essentials
,SESSION 1 — Breaking Through the Advertising Clutter
Exam weight: This session appears in almost every past paper. Expect 1–2 questions on attention
mechanisms, SHPP/PSPC, inattentional blindness, or SEA vs. SEO.
1.1 Attention
📖 EXAM DEFINITION
Attention is the selective and limited allocation of cognitive resources to a stimulus. It is a precondition
for all further information processing — without attention, no comprehension or attitude change is
possible.
Attention is: (1) LIMITED — we cannot attend to everything simultaneously. (2) SELECTIVE — we filter
based on goals and relevance. (3) VOLUNTARY or INVOLUNTARY — driven by top-down goals or bottom-
up saliency.
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
The consumer's cognitive system constantly scans the environment but can only deeply process a tiny
fraction of stimuli. Two parallel processes operate: (1) Bottom-up: physical properties of a stimulus
(novelty, colour, movement) trigger automatic orienting. (2) Top-down: existing goals and knowledge
structures guide which stimuli receive elaborated processing. Most advertising stimuli compete for the
same scarce cognitive resources — those that can activate either or both systems gain processing
priority.
Four Levels of Processing (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984)
📖 EXAM DEFINITION
A hierarchical model of audience involvement describing four stages of cognitive engagement with
advertising: (1) Pre-attention — automatic, no capacity required; (2) Focal attention — low capacity,
object recognition; (3) Comprehension — moderate capacity, semantic understanding; (4) Elaboration —
high capacity, linking message to prior knowledge and generating attitude change.
Level Capacity What Happens MarCom Goal
Pre-attention Zero (automatic) Sensory buffering; screening Be seen at all — exist in
for familiarity and threat peripheral field
Focal attention Low Channel selection; word and Stand out enough to be
object recognition 'noted'
Comprehension Moderate Syntactic and semantic Message understood
analysis; understanding
message
Elaboration High Linking to prior knowledge; Attitude change / persuasion
counter-arguing or accepting
, ❓ TYPICAL EXAM QUESTION
Exam Question: A new chocolate brand launches a TV campaign. The marketing manager argues that 'as
long as people see the ad, it will work'. Using the four levels of processing model, critically evaluate this
claim.
✅ MODEL ANSWER
The claim is incorrect. Seeing an ad (pre-attention/focal attention) is a necessary but NOT sufficient
condition for persuasion.
The four levels of processing (Greenwald & Leavitt, 1984) show that processing occurs hierarchically from
pre-attention (automatic scanning) through focal attention (recognition) and comprehension
(understanding) to elaboration (attitude change). Persuasion only occurs at the elaboration stage, which
requires substantial cognitive capacity.
A TV ad may be 'seen' if it has saliency (e.g. novel imagery), but if the viewer is second-screening on their
phone (Session 6 / Garaus, 2019) or the ad lacks personal relevance, processing will stall at the pre-
attention or focal attention level. The viewer may notice the ad without comprehending or elaborating
on the message — especially for a new, unfamiliar brand with no prior associations.
Therefore, an effective campaign must not only gain initial attention but actively sustain processing
through to elaboration, using self-relevance, emotional content, or concrete information (Session 1: DCE
strategies).
⚡ EXAM TRIGGER WORDS
'saw the ad' / 'exposed to the ad' → this does NOT mean persuasion occurred
'comprehension' / 'understanding the message' → Comprehension level
'attitude change' / 'persuasion' → Elaboration level
'noticed' / 'stood out' → Focal attention
'not aware of' / 'didn't notice' → Pre-attention only
1.2 Involuntary Attention — 'Attractors' (SHPP)
📖 EXAM DEFINITION
Involuntary attention is an automatic, bottom-up orienting response triggered by specific physical
properties of a stimulus, without conscious intent from the viewer. It is associated with System 1
processing and Cialdini's (2016) concept of 'attractors'.
SHPP: Saliency, Horizontal Centrality, Primacy, Picture Superiority.
Saliency
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
, Novel, unexpected, or physically distinct stimuli trigger an automatic orienting reflex — a hard-wired
survival mechanism. The brain's attentional system prioritises stimuli that deviate from background
patterns (contrast, novelty, movement). This is bottom-up and involuntary: it does not require the
consumer to have any interest in the product. The Yerkes-Dodson law governs the relationship:
moderate arousal from a salient stimulus maximises cognitive capacity; extreme arousal (horror, shock)
actually REDUCES processing capacity by overloading the system.
🎯 EXAM APPLICATION
Pringles tube: novel cylinder shape among flat bags triggers saliency on shelf — automatic visual capture.
Life-and-death stimuli (sexual and threatening imagery): evolutionarily prioritised — they capture
attention involuntarily.
OHH billboard that uses colour contrast against a grey urban background.
A TV ad with an unexpected narrative twist (violation of expectations) triggers an orienting response mid-
viewing.
Horizontal Centrality
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
Natural eye-movement patterns in visual scanning move from left to right and tend to return to the
horizontal centre. Stimuli placed at eye level and centred on a surface receive more first-fixations and
longer gaze duration. This is also captured in Brasel & Gips (2008) — even while fast-forwarding,
attention clusters at the screen centre.
🎯 EXAM APPLICATION
Placing a brand logo centrally and at eye level on a shelf guarantees more automatic fixations.
In a TV ad, the brand name placed in the centre-screen survives DVR fast-forward.
Pringles in the centre of a supermarket aisle endcap — more fixations than peripheral placement.
Primacy
⚙️
WHY IT WORKS — THE MECHANISM
Stimuli presented first receive more attention because early positions in a sequence have not yet
experienced attention fatigue or clutter effects. In media context, the first ad in a commercial break
benefits from the carry-over of programme engagement (Moorman, 2003 — interrupting blocks).
🎯 EXAM APPLICATION
First position in a commercial break has consistently higher brand recall.
First product on a shelf or in an online listing captures more views.
Opening seconds of any ad are most critical — the brand should appear early.
