MARKETING COMMUNICATION AND THE CONSUMER
2023 - ARTICLES
Lecture 1 – Introduction & How marcoms work I: Explicit attitudes.
De Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M., & Van Den Bergh, J. (2013, Chapter 3). How marketing
communications work. In P. De Pelsmacker, M. Geuens, & J. Van Den Bergh (Eds.), Marketing
communications: A European perspective (5th ed., pp. 72-119). Harlow: Pearson.
Introduction
Factors affecting a consumer's response to a communication message:
- Consumer objectives.
- Characteristics of the type of product
- Situation the consumer is in
- Commitment to the product category
- Social, psychological or cultural factors
Hierarchy-of-effects models
- Assumes that things must happen in a certain order.
- Earlier effects are necessary conditions for later effects to occur.
- Three different stages consumers go through when responding to marcom:
1. Cognitive (thinking):
o Consumers engage in mental processes > lead to awareness and knowledge of the
communicated brand.
o Consumers become aware and gather information continuously and effortlessly.
2. Affective (feeling):
o Emotional or feeling reactions occur = associated with the advertised brand and
attitudes toward the brand are formed
o Is formed only when the need for evaluation arises.
3. Concerative (doing):
o Taking actions related to the advertised brand.
Low-involvement hierarchy-of-effects model:
- Consumers may buy the product and then decide what they think of it.
- Cognitive (thinking) concertative (doing) affective (feeling)
Experiential hierarchy-of-effects model:
- Consumers' affective reactions to a product lead them to buy it. Hindsight evaluation.
- Affective (feeling) conative (doing) cognitive (thinking)
,Rossiter-Percy rooster(grid):
- Alternative to FCB grid.
- Classifies products and purchase decisions into four categories:
o High-low engagement
o Transformational buying motivations:
Positive motivations = sensory satisfaction, social approval, intellectual
stimulation.
Block 2 and 4 from the above model (feel-think-do & do-feel-think)
o Informational buying motivations:
Reducing or reversing negative motivations = solving/avoiding a problem,
normal exhaustion
Block 1 and 3 from above model
Advantage of hierarchy-of-effects models (brand awareness):
- Integration of main contribution = recognition of importance of brand awareness
- They consider brand awareness as a necessary condition for brand attitude formation.
- They rightly assume that affective responses cannot be formed, or a purchase cannot occur
without brand awareness.
Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA):
- Indicates which brand is most salient within a product category
- Reflects the first brand that comes to mind when you think of a particular product category
(Dixi or Apple)
- Top of mind brands = more likely to be bought
- Most companies are trying to achieve TOMA
Shortcomings of hierarchy-of-effects models:
- Empirical support for consumers going through each stage is still lacking.
o No significant relationships between recall and attitudes have been studied.
- Hierarchy models do not represent interactions between different stages = very unlikely
,Attitude formation and change
Attitude:
- A person's overall evaluation about an object, product, person, organization, advertisement,
etc.
- Attitude toward a particular brand (ab):
o Measurement of the extent to which a person likes or dislikes the brand.
o Or the extent to which the person has a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the
brand,
- Attitudes in hierarchy models = affective responses in a hierarchical setting
- Components of attitude:
o Cognitive = knowledge, beliefs, and evaluations of the object
o Affective = feelings associated with the object
o Behavioral = readiness for action (behavioral intentions) related to the object
Three different communication models concerning attitude formation and change can be
distinguished:
1. Central-route processing = the way attitudes are formed primarily cognitive, affective, or
behavioral
2. Peripheral processing = the level of elaboration of a message
Motivation:
- Willingness to engage in behavior, make decisions, pay attention, process information.
- Largely influenced by consumer needs and goals
- Consumer needs:
o Functional = solving consumer problems (informational motivation dimension of
Rossiter-Percy grid)
o Symbolic = how we see ourselves and how we would like to be seen
o Hedonic = reflect consumers' desires for sensory pleasure
o Ability = the means necessary to achieve a particular goal
o Opportunity = the degree to which the situation enables someone to achieve the
stated goal
, Elaboration Likelihood model (ELM):
- Central-route processing:
o Motivation, ability and opportunity are high = elaboration likelihood is high
o Consumers are willing to elaborate information, evaluate arguments and find out
what the information really has to offer.
o Consumers respond by producing counter, supportive or neutral arguments = induce
a negative, positive or no attitude change
o Cognitive attitude formation = people think carefully about the content of the
message
- Peripheral pathway processing:
o One or more of the MAO factors are low.
o No real information processing = evaluation based on simple, peripheral cues:
Background music, humor, attractive source or endorser, number of
arguments used, etc.
o Affective attitude formation = people rely on how the ad makes them feel rather
than what the ad actually tells them
ELM
- Elaborationlikelihood based on; motivation, ability & opportunity to process: central
processing.
- If any of these cannot/fail: peripheral processing or no processing.
2023 - ARTICLES
Lecture 1 – Introduction & How marcoms work I: Explicit attitudes.
De Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M., & Van Den Bergh, J. (2013, Chapter 3). How marketing
communications work. In P. De Pelsmacker, M. Geuens, & J. Van Den Bergh (Eds.), Marketing
communications: A European perspective (5th ed., pp. 72-119). Harlow: Pearson.
Introduction
Factors affecting a consumer's response to a communication message:
- Consumer objectives.
- Characteristics of the type of product
- Situation the consumer is in
- Commitment to the product category
- Social, psychological or cultural factors
Hierarchy-of-effects models
- Assumes that things must happen in a certain order.
- Earlier effects are necessary conditions for later effects to occur.
- Three different stages consumers go through when responding to marcom:
1. Cognitive (thinking):
o Consumers engage in mental processes > lead to awareness and knowledge of the
communicated brand.
o Consumers become aware and gather information continuously and effortlessly.
2. Affective (feeling):
o Emotional or feeling reactions occur = associated with the advertised brand and
attitudes toward the brand are formed
o Is formed only when the need for evaluation arises.
3. Concerative (doing):
o Taking actions related to the advertised brand.
Low-involvement hierarchy-of-effects model:
- Consumers may buy the product and then decide what they think of it.
- Cognitive (thinking) concertative (doing) affective (feeling)
Experiential hierarchy-of-effects model:
- Consumers' affective reactions to a product lead them to buy it. Hindsight evaluation.
- Affective (feeling) conative (doing) cognitive (thinking)
,Rossiter-Percy rooster(grid):
- Alternative to FCB grid.
- Classifies products and purchase decisions into four categories:
o High-low engagement
o Transformational buying motivations:
Positive motivations = sensory satisfaction, social approval, intellectual
stimulation.
Block 2 and 4 from the above model (feel-think-do & do-feel-think)
o Informational buying motivations:
Reducing or reversing negative motivations = solving/avoiding a problem,
normal exhaustion
Block 1 and 3 from above model
Advantage of hierarchy-of-effects models (brand awareness):
- Integration of main contribution = recognition of importance of brand awareness
- They consider brand awareness as a necessary condition for brand attitude formation.
- They rightly assume that affective responses cannot be formed, or a purchase cannot occur
without brand awareness.
Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA):
- Indicates which brand is most salient within a product category
- Reflects the first brand that comes to mind when you think of a particular product category
(Dixi or Apple)
- Top of mind brands = more likely to be bought
- Most companies are trying to achieve TOMA
Shortcomings of hierarchy-of-effects models:
- Empirical support for consumers going through each stage is still lacking.
o No significant relationships between recall and attitudes have been studied.
- Hierarchy models do not represent interactions between different stages = very unlikely
,Attitude formation and change
Attitude:
- A person's overall evaluation about an object, product, person, organization, advertisement,
etc.
- Attitude toward a particular brand (ab):
o Measurement of the extent to which a person likes or dislikes the brand.
o Or the extent to which the person has a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the
brand,
- Attitudes in hierarchy models = affective responses in a hierarchical setting
- Components of attitude:
o Cognitive = knowledge, beliefs, and evaluations of the object
o Affective = feelings associated with the object
o Behavioral = readiness for action (behavioral intentions) related to the object
Three different communication models concerning attitude formation and change can be
distinguished:
1. Central-route processing = the way attitudes are formed primarily cognitive, affective, or
behavioral
2. Peripheral processing = the level of elaboration of a message
Motivation:
- Willingness to engage in behavior, make decisions, pay attention, process information.
- Largely influenced by consumer needs and goals
- Consumer needs:
o Functional = solving consumer problems (informational motivation dimension of
Rossiter-Percy grid)
o Symbolic = how we see ourselves and how we would like to be seen
o Hedonic = reflect consumers' desires for sensory pleasure
o Ability = the means necessary to achieve a particular goal
o Opportunity = the degree to which the situation enables someone to achieve the
stated goal
, Elaboration Likelihood model (ELM):
- Central-route processing:
o Motivation, ability and opportunity are high = elaboration likelihood is high
o Consumers are willing to elaborate information, evaluate arguments and find out
what the information really has to offer.
o Consumers respond by producing counter, supportive or neutral arguments = induce
a negative, positive or no attitude change
o Cognitive attitude formation = people think carefully about the content of the
message
- Peripheral pathway processing:
o One or more of the MAO factors are low.
o No real information processing = evaluation based on simple, peripheral cues:
Background music, humor, attractive source or endorser, number of
arguments used, etc.
o Affective attitude formation = people rely on how the ad makes them feel rather
than what the ad actually tells them
ELM
- Elaborationlikelihood based on; motivation, ability & opportunity to process: central
processing.
- If any of these cannot/fail: peripheral processing or no processing.
