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A Life in Advertising
William (Bill) Bernbach1911-1982
William Bernbach was born on August 13, 1911 in the Bronx
borough of New York City. His modest
upbringing during the Depression and public school education
instilled a strong sense of gratefulness for the achievements which
lie before him during his remarkable career in advertising.
Bernbach came of age as prohibition was being repealed and after
receiving his B.A. in English at NYU, jumped at the chance to work
for Schenley Industries as a mail clerk making $16 per week. He
spent his free time creating concepts for Schenley advertising (a
task which was not a part of his job) and sent one to the
distillery's ad agency, Lord & Thomas. After receiving no
reply, Bernbach opened the newspaper to find his concept fully
executed in a Schenley ad. After finessing a Lord & Thomas
female file clerk with his knowledge of romantic Indian poetry,
Bernbach retrieved the evidence of his idea and was moved from the
Schenley mail room to the marketing and advertising department. It
was in this capacity that Bernbach was noticed by Grover Whalen,
the Chairman of the Board.
For the next two years, Bernbach served as Whalen's right hand
man, developing his long time interest in writing as Whalen's head
speech writer. Whalen's long history in New York politics proved
beneficial for Bernbach. He was invited to write political speeches
for a number of notable New York politicians and eventually went
with Whalen to work for the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
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Early CareerFirst Foray Into Advertising
After the 1939 World's Fair organization disbanded, Bernbach
approached Bill Weintraub about a copywriting position in his
agency, was given the job and partnered with Paul Rand. Rand was an
artist with whom
Bernbach collaborated on a number of books. In working with each
other, they discovered the value of working on ideas together as
opposed to the two-step process commonly used by most agency
creative teams. Bernbach said that the end product of their
collaborative efforts were far more powerful and integrated than
they would have been working apart. Their collaboration focused
most notably on campaigns for Airwick and Dubonnet. This spirit of
partnership spilled over into Bernbach's personal life as it was
during this period that he proposed to and married his wife,
Evelyn. After a brief, unsuccessful period in the military, he went
to work for Grey Advertising in 19456, rising quickly from
copywriter to copy chief to creative director in only four
years.
Grey Advertising Leads To Blue Skies
Grey Advertising was one of a few Jewish-owned advertising
agencies in New York and owners Arthur Fatt and Larry Valenstein
were especially secretive about their ethnic origins. This was the
first time that Bernbach's ethnicity (he was also Jewish) was
mentioned in most literature, but certainly not the last. At Grey,
Bernbach's work centered around retail campaigns for shirts,
liquor, watches and most notably Orbach's department store.
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While his name was being circulated through the New York
advertising circles, Bernbach began to feel stifled by Grey's
increasingly research-dictated campaigns. He established his
position with Grey management in a 1947 letter which stated, "I'm
worried...that we're going to worship techniques instead of
substance...I don't want people who do the right things. I want
people who do inspiring things. Let
us prove to the world that good taste, good art, good writing
can be good selling," (Millman, 1988). Seeking to develop an
environment based upon the primacy of creativity, Bernbach, along
with Ned Doyle and Mac Dane formed Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) in
1949. Fortunately for DDB, one of Grey's largest clients, Orbach's
sought Bernbach's creativity regardless of where he called home,
making the department store DDB's first client and springboard for
future success.
Doyle Dane Bernbach
With thirteen employees and a top floor office off Madison
Avenue, DDB generated $775,000 in billings during their first year
in business (Millman, 1988). Success with the Orbach's account
brought Whitey Ruben, owner of Levy's Jewish Rye bread to DDB's
doorstep. While Levy's annual advertising budget was less thank
$50,000, the agency viewed the account as its opportunity to gain
attention in the Manhattan advertising community by introducing
ethnicity into a marketing campaign. DDB's Levy's campaign ("You
don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's") elevated the bread maker
to the largest seller of rye bread in New York and helped Bernbach
and his partners acquire the first of many national and
international clients.
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In 1954, Bernbach was contacted by Dr. Edwin Land, the developer
of Polaroid's instant photography breakthrough. Dr. Land was
concerned by
the fact that Polaroid's early advertising conveyed poor product
quality while the camera itself was expensive when compared to
other types of cameras. DDB decided that the uniqueness of the
product could best be demonstrated on live television, so they
hired a number of the era's most popular celebrities (Steve Allen,
Jack Parr, Johnny Carson and later Mariette Hartley and James
Garner) to demonstrate the unique, immediate benefits of the
Polaroid instant camera (Millman, 1988). The relationship between
Polaroid and DDB lasted almost 30 years and the campaign became on
of DDB's most widely recognized.
Soon to follow was El Al Israel Airlines' introduction of its
Trans-Atlantic service from Europe to the US. While most airlines
would have never shown an image of the ocean in its advertising,
for fear of reminding readers of the possibility of a crash,
Bernbach chose to face this fear head on. El Al was the only
airline at the time that could offer non-stop service between the
two continents. All others had to stop for refueling in either
Labrador or Newfoundland. This advantage proved to be El Al's USP
and in order to convey it in a dramatic way, DDB created the "torn
ocean" ad with the headline, "Starting Dec. 23 the Atlantic Ocean
will be 20% smaller" (Levenson, 1987). The ad was so powerful that
it ran only once, but the impression made was unforgettable. Within
one year, El Al's sales tripled (Fox, 1997).
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The 1950's was a decade of vast prosperity and the automobile
came to symbolize the fantasies of Americans. Auto ads during this
period
tended to feature the beauty and engineering strength of the
vehicle. Unfortunately, Volkswagen was known neither for its looks
or its technology. It was this challenge that DDB faced when the
auto maker brought their advertising to them in 1959. Rather than
joining them (the rest of the auto industry), Bernbach decided to
beat them by creating ads based upon the same principles that drew
drives to Volkswagens in the first place, simplicity, honesty,
uniqueness and humor (Rothenberg, 1994). The campaign proved to be
DDB's most successful yet and drew the attention of another
underdog company in a related industry which involved
automobiles.
Like Volkswagen, Avis car rental was looking for a way to make
it big in an industry where they did not play a leading role. Avis
was falling further behind Hertz, the nation's leading car rental
agency and needed to draw attention to themselves in order to
survive. Reflecting upon their success with Volkswagen, Bernbach
and his staff decided to address the company's situation directly
with headlines like, "Avis is only No. 2 in rent a cars. So why go
with us? We try harder," and "Avis can't afford television
commercials. Aren't you glad? But business is getting better. Maybe
soon, you won't be so lucky," (Fox, 1997). Avis not only took this
message to the people, they took it to heart in their daily
operations, resulting in a 28% increase in market share in two
years.
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Avis and Volkswagen propelled DDB from the small-account
category into the constellation of advertising stars. Clients
flocked to the agency to capture a piece of the creative magic spun
by Bernbach and his team. American Airlines, Seagram, Heinz, Sony,
Lever, Bristol-Meyers and Mobil along with many others joined the
DDB client roster throughout the 1960's. By 1965, the agency
reached the top ten in billings ($130 million) and regularly won
industry awards for their creative work.
Growing Pains
By the latter part of the 1960's, DDB decided to join the
growing number of advertising agencies who decided to go public
(Millman, 1988). While the three partners owned the majority of the
shares, the agency did become beholden to others outside the
organization as well, making the profit motive even greater. It was
also during this period that DDB expanded its operations
internationally, opening locations in Europe and throughout North
America. The loss of DDB's nuclear family feel and increased
financial pressure drove many of its original stars to other
agencies as the agency approached the 1970's.
DDB entered the 1970's with a shocking blow, the first departure
of a major client, Alka-Seltzer (Fox, 1997). The agency's $20
million loss placed greater pressures on Bernbach, who was
beginning to delegate his creative control to younger staff, who
found himself surrounded by a "we must not lose this business"
mentality (Millman, 1988). The economy fell into a recession in
1971 which left most large agencies scrambling for dollars. By the
end of 1972, Whirlpool, Lever, Sara Lee, Quaker Oats and Cracker
Jack had also left DDB for new agencies. DDB tried to offset these
losses by going and after and acquiring seven Proctor & Gamble
brands. P&G's authoritarian management style
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made it difficult for Bernbach to produce advertising in his
trademark way, compromising the agency's creative independence
(Stabiner, 1993). Amidst the turmoil of clients' comings and
goings, Bernbach moved away from the president's position and made
way for new management. These new managers attempted to reposition
the agency as one that was as disciplined as it was creative by
promoting account managers to more powerful positions. This effort
failed miserably as five presidents came and left in as many years.
Meanwhile, DDB gobbled up a number of small agencies in its efforts
to further its growth and profit centers.
Bill Bernbach and the identity he created for DDB got lost in
the shuffle. What was left of his staff knew it and so did his
clients. By the early 1980's, many of Bernbach's earliest clients
including Levy's bread, Avis, and American Airlines left DDB for
competing agencies.
The Creative Revolution
As early as 1947, (in a famous letter to the leaders of Grey
Advertising), Bill Bernbach began to realize that his love affair
with advertising would center around the development and execution
of creative ideas. His entry into the advertising world came at a
time when the industry was turning away from big agencies,
full-service operations and scientific research in favor of
smallness, creative focus and artful intuition (Fox, 1997). While
previous advertising practitioners wrote largely to the mind,
Bernbach and his contemporaries introduced personal expression into
their advertising. Visionaries including Bernbach, Leo Burnett and
David Ogilvy are largely responsible for ushering in a new era
during the 1950's and 1960's. It was to be known as the Creative
Revolution (Fox, 1997).
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Bernbach's focus on the collaborative union between art and
copy, candor and looser personnel management made DDB one of the
most sought after places to work in the 1950's. It was once said,
"Doyle Dane Bernbach was a great place to work if your parents
could afford to send you there," (Millman, 1988), referring to the
low wages offered in contrast to the exceptional work environment.
Those who were brought to work by DDB were tired of the political
maneuvering and trickery found at other large agencies. At DDB,
they found an environment of cooperation where the leaders provided
the best resources with which to work and encouraged teams of
writers and art directors to collaborate for synergistic effects.
He believed that by working as a team, the copywriter and artist
could come together to form a third, bigger thing than they could
produce by working in the traditional two-step process (copy then
art).
The Creative Revolution was based largely upon the importance of
treating employees as colleagues rather than workers. Bernbach made
it a common practice to leave his office and visit the "creative"
floor of the DDB offices. Each piece of work the agency presented
to clients was reviewed by him before being shown to the client.
However, this is not to say that he did so in a authoritarian or
secretive kind of way. Bernbach's typical critique process
consisted of a team of creatives seated at a round table (the shape
was selected so that no person was considered to be at the head of
the table) reviewing ads created by the department's peers
(Millman, 1988). Not only did this enable Bernbach's staff to
develop a greater respect for each other's abilities, it resulted
in better creative for DDB's clients.
While this movement was characterized by an anti-research
sentiment, Bernbach did not simply discard the importance of
understanding the consumer. He believed that
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the act of making ads drew more on gifts of intuition and
inspiration than on quantitative research. Using survey research or
other techniques favored the status quo and therefore, discouraged
innovation while encouraging uniformity and dullness. Bernbach once
said, "I consider research the major culprit in the advertising
picture. It has done more to perpetuate creative mediocrity than
any other factor," (Fox, 1997). However, DDB did house a small
research department. It has been suggested that his disdain for
research was fed by the fact that he did not understand it, so he
chose to shun it from his philosophy. In an endorsement for
creatives to search for insight within themselves, he said, "trust
your own instincts and listen to the ideas percolating up from your
unconscious when the mind is relaxed, when you're walking down the
street or just before falling asleep," (Fox, 1997). He believed
that ads should convey an impression of honesty, using everyday
language to communicate simple messages.
The Other Club
We are all born with certain traits which work to either our
advantage or disadvantage throughout or lives. For Bill Bernbach,
ethnicity proved to be a trait which proved (at varying points) to
be both a hindrance and a help in his advertising career.
Madison Avenue in the 1940's was termed "The Club" by those
practitioners who did not fit into the stereotypical mold of the
successful adman: white, Ivy League educated, Protestant with a
home in Connecticut (Rothenberg, 1994). Members of "The Club"
worked for McCann-Erickson, J. Walter Thompson and Young &
Rubicam among others. These privileged Anglos comprised the
mainstream of
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advertising and were in no way eager to bring minority partners
into the fold.
In 1953, only ninety-two of the five thousand men listed in the
Who's Who in Advertising had visibly Jewish names (Rothenberg,
1994). Not only did Jews find it difficult to enter the mainstream
advertising community, many advertisers refused to allow Jews to
work on their account. Therefore, Jews (including Bill Bernbach)
seeking to make a name in the advertising industry were forced to
either work for lesser known agencies or for the handful of
Jewish-run agencies which serviced primarily Jewish or other ethnic
clients. Bill Bernbach chose the latter route, working for Grey
Advertising until he joined forces with Mac Dane (also Jewish) and
Ned Doyle (Irish) to form DDB. In contrast to larger agencies'
exclusionary practices, Bernbach was less concerned with hiring
employees who possessed the right credentials than finding people
with enthusiasm for the advertising process. Many of his staffers
were ethnic minorities and he also employed some women in positions
of importance, which at that time meant almost anything above
secretarial duty. While the agency did hire a certain number of
M.B.A.'s, Bernbach voiced his concern about their conventional
thinking when he said, "...they learn the arithmetic of
advertising. Now, that very fact that they learn the knowledge of
advertising, and the arithmetic of advertising, will work against
them as a judge of an ad. You're right, all your facts are right,
but you're still dull, because you're saying everything that
everybody else is saying," (Cummings, 1984).
For the first several years, DDB gained it's notoriety from its
work on behalf of Jewish clients. Orbach's department store, Levy's
Jewish Rye and El Al airlines provided DDB the opportunity to
develop noticeable work,
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which would eventually gain the attention of an unlikely client,
Volkswagen. The addition of Volkswagen to the DDB client list
proved to be a two-fold boost to the agency. First, it was the
agency's first automobile account. Automobiles are coveted above
most other clients for their high dollar expenditures and
opportunity for high creative visibility. Second, DDB's affiliation
with Volkswagen was a coup in that the 2/3 Jewish owned agency was
able to direct the advertising efforts of an automobile developed
by the German Nazis. For both reasons, Bernbach and his partners
single-handedly lifted Jewish advertising agencies from the corners
of their relegation to a level of mainstream identifyability, in
the process developing "The Other Club" (Rothenberg, 1994). In the
years to follow, a number of small agencies popped up, many led by
Jewish and Italian creatives who wanted to be the next Bill
Bernbach. In 1969 alone, over one hundred new agencies opened,
insuring the legacy of Bill Bernbach for decades to come.
Bernbach On...
Advertising
"Advertising isn't a science, it's persuasion. And persuasion is
an art."-- Goldman, 1997
"Execution can become content. It can be just as important as
what you say."-- Rothenberg, 1994
"Finding out what to say is the beginning of the communication
process. How you say it makes people look and listen and behave.
And if you are not successful at that you have wasted all the work
and intelligence and skill that
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went into discovering what you should say."-- Levenson, 1987
"To succeed, an ad (or a persona or product, for that matter)
must establish it's own unique personality, or it will never be
noticed."-- Levenson, 1987
"As soon as you become a slave to the rules, you're doing what
everybody else does: when you do what everybody else does, you
don't stand out. And if you don't stand out, you don't do
advertising that gets attention."-- Cummings, 1984
Creativity
"Properly practiced, creativity can make one ad do the work of
ten."-- Goldman, 1997
"To keep your ads fresh, you've got to keep yourself fresh. Live
in the current idiom and you will create in it. If you follow and
enjoy and are excited by the new trails in art, in writing, in
industry, in personal relationships...whatever you do will
naturally be of today."-- Levenson, 1987
"An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that
rubs against it."-- Levenson, 1987
"If you can sell with good taste as well as bad taste, why not
make it good taste? More fun!"-- Cummings, 1984
Clients
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"If your ads are talked about, you will grow in the proper way.
We increase sales for clients. If you make money for someone else,
they forget all the firmness you exercise, all the toughness you've
shown, and they remember that you made money for them."-- Millman,
1988
"Our job is to sell our clients' merchandise...not ourselves.
Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of
the product. Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to
pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message."--
Levenson, 1987
The Media
"The world turns on public opinion, and that's formed by
communications. They're looking for a provocative story above
everything else."-- Cummings, 1984
"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers
of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or
we can help lift it onto a higher level."-- Levenson, 1987
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More Classic Campaigns
Below are some examples of Bernbach's later classic work.
Colombian CoffeeSource: Levenson, 1987
Life CerealSource: Levenson, 1987
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American AirlinesSource: Levenson, 1987
Sylvania TelevisionSource: Levenson, 1987
Significance of EmotionBrand Development
Early ads followed the classical advertising model which stated
that products should be promoted on the basis of their competitive
advantages in a way that consumers would understand the believe
(Rago, 1989). The difficulty in accepting this philosophy has
become more apparent over time as many products have spawned "me
too" imitators which have all but eliminated
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tangible elements of product differentiation. Therefore, it has
become increasingly important for individual brands to build
relationships with consumers through their advertising. Mantineau
(1957) explains that while competing products may be standardized,
brands are emotion-laden entities formed by both the manufacturer
and consumer through a variety of means such as pricing, packaging,
distribution and advertising.
Observers (Rago, 1989; Martineau, 1957) have noted that
consumers buy products to fulfill both functional and emotional
needs. Therefore, ads should incorporate both rational and
emotional approaches to insure success. It today's high-tech
communications environment, consumers can "zap" ads so quickly that
advertisers must now entice and engage viewers. In 1963, Marshall
McLuhan summarized advertisers' need to draw the consumer in by
stating,
"...the need is to make the ad include the audience (in the)
experience." (Rago, 1989)
Ads As Emotion
In addition to theories that all brands are built upon emotional
relationships with the consumer, Edell and Burke (1987) go one step
further, proclaiming that all ads convey emotion, regardless of
their intent to do so or not. By applying emotional appeals in
their advertising, brands communicate their messages, influence
consumer attitudes and (in some cases) allow the emotion to serve
as the product benefit (Zeitlin and Westwood, 1986).
The study of consumer response towards emotional advertising
allows advertisers to understand consumer decision-making
processes, which can be difficult to explain. In many cases,
consumers are consciously unaware of the real motivations behind
their purchase decisions. Simply asking them to explain their
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behavior may not yield complete answers, as many revert to the
"safety" of logical explanations for what are largely
decisions/reactions often based upon emotions. Stout and Rust
(1993) emphasized the importance of studying emotions in
advertising by concluding that the feelings consumers experience as
the result of viewing ads correlate to such evaluative and
action-oriented behaviors as ad liking, brand affect and purchase
intention.
Relationship BetweenCognition And Emotion
The debate between the roles of cognition and emotion in
advertising evaluation is similar to that of the old adage, "Which
came first, the cart or the horse?". Biological and Behavioral
theorists contend that emotions are the result of physiological
responses to external changes in environment or repeated stimuli.
Little attention is paid to the intellectual side of stimulus
reception. A basic flow of these theories might resemble this:
Stimulus-> Physiological Response-> Emotion
In contrast, Cognitive theorists add the element of cognitive
evaluation in harmony with physiological response to stimuli. While
other schools of thought neglect the concept of an individual's
active participation in the creation of emotional response,
Cognitive theorists maintain that emotions are the product of a
synthesis between physiological and cognitive experiences. A
revised cognitive model might resemble the following:
Stimulus-> Physiological Response + Cognitive Evaluation->
Emotion
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Most scholars (Stout and Leckenby, 1986; Chaudhuri, 1998;
Martineau, 1957; Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy, 1984; Plummer and
Holman, 1981; Edell and Burke, 1987; Lazarus, 1991; and Plutchik,
1980) agree that both cognitive and emotional evaluations of
advertisements play a role in message interpretation and
acceptance. The differences among these observers lie in the order
and intensity with which each is applied to advertising
evaluation.
Emotion Before Cognition
Plummer and Holman (1981) place primary emphasis on emotional
responses to advertising. Their Communication Perspective submits
that cognitive responses are memory structures which cannot be
recalled and/or built until emotional stimuli are presented to
evoke or construct them from our past. Under this premise,
emotion-laden advertising is the most effective way toinvolve
memory processes which will, in turn, allow the viewer to interpret
the advertising message. Plutchik's (1980) theory agrees with those
who emphasize emotion over cognition in message processing. he
claims that emotion is the center of life, guiding all behavior in
functional ways. Plutchik goes to far as to pinpoint eight
emotional states which serve as the derivative of all other
emotions. These eight emotional starting points include
anticipation, acceptance, surprise, joy, fear, anger, sadness and
disguist.
Cognition Before Emotion
Other researchers including Chaudhuri (1998) and Edell and Burke
(1987) support the idea that consumers must process the message
logically before emotional values are transferred to the
ad/product. Chaudhuri (1998) explains that the nature of the
product advertised plays a key role in determining the amount of
cognition required to process an advertising message.
Specifically,
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the amount of perceived risk associated with purchase
pre-determines the level of interest given to a product's
message.
Collaborative Process
It is by far the majority of advertising and communication
analysts (Stout and Leckenby, 1986; Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy,
1984; Lazarus, 1991) who agree that consumers' cognitive and
emotional interpretations of advertising messages work
hand-in-hand, each influencing the other. Stout and Leckenby (1986)
reveal that an individual's level of emotional response lies in
their ability to find empathy in a situation. This empathy can be
found on either a rational or affective level, leading to
descriptive, empathic or experiential responses. Furthering an
earlier observation which supported both cognitive and emotional
influences on message processing, Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy (1984)
point out that many psychologists agree that emotional response
involves an interaction between cognition and physiology.
Source: Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy, 1984
They go on to say, "Emotion involves cognition in at least two
senses- first, in appraisal and, second, in attribution." (p.53).
Lazarus (1991) typifies an interrelation between cognition and
emotion by explaining that a personal stake must be involved in
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communication, or else it will not generate an emotion. Once the
emotion is perceived, cognitive measures will be applied in order
to appraise the meaning of the emotion.
Inner Workings Of Emotional Advertising
FAQs Of Emotion In Advertising
What techniques are commonly used in emotional advertising and
how successful are they?
Advertisers strive to engage consumers through their choice of
message tone. Some of the most common emotional appeals focus on
fear, humor and self-idealization. The use of fear as a motivation
in advertising places emphasis on the severity of the threat.
Zeitlin and Westwood (1986) found that fear appeals range in
intensity from mild to severe. Their research suggests that in
order to be most effective (not just attention getting), fear-based
messages should present a mild to moderate threat and provide a
do-able solution. If the fear instilled is either too severe or not
followed up with a reasonable solution, the viewer will not be able
to surmount his/her sense of dread and process the advertising
message. In a similar vein, negative ads (ads in which the viewer
is exposed to annoying or unpleasant creative content) can also be
effective if the negative technique is used to promote a product
benefit. This situation is often referred to as the "love that
product, hate that ad" syndrome (Zeitlin and Westwood, 1986) and
has been used to describe Charmin's Mr. Whipple and Wisk's Ring
Around the Collar campaigns.
Humor is another frequently used emotional technique which must
be employed with caution (Kover, Goldberg and James, 1995). Some
advertisers view humor as a can't lose method for enticing viewers
into paying attention to the message. However, it is important that
the humorous creative technique does not result in a loss of
product message. Research by Kover,
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Goldberg and James (1995) indicates that in most cases, humor
has little on viewers' interpretations of advertising
effectiveness.
In accordance with the theory that consumers choose brands to
fulfill both rational and emotional needs, it is not surprising to
discover that ads which evoke notions of personal enhancement have
been found to be highly effective (Kover, Goldberg and James,
1995). Messages that play to consumers' desires for achievement of
the ideal self arouse high levels of message empathy and, in turn,
ad liking and purchase desire. Nike's "Just Do It" campaign is a
prime example of successful advertising based on consumers' desire
to achieve the ideal self.
How are levels of emotional response tested?
Researchers use a variety of verbal, visual and physiological
response tools to measure consumers' emotional responses to
advertising. Verbal measurement scales involve extensive adjective
check lists which are often viewed as time consuming and lengthy
for users to complete. Visual measurement tools include dial
turning instruments and the Self Assessment Manikin (SAM). Morris
(1995) supports the use of the SAM as an easier method for PAD
(pleasure-arousal-dominance) measurement that commonly uses verbal
listings. Finally, physiological response tools include the
galvanic skin response meter and pupil dilation monitors which base
emotional response levels on changes in the physical state of the
viewer. These measurement tools provide the benefit of immediate
response measurement, which in many cases, cuts through the clutter
of respondent self-monitoring, a situation which may occur when
using either verbal or visual measurement tools (Kover, Goldberg
and James, 1995).
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When should (or should not) an advertiser employ emotional
appeals?
Decisions regarding advertising message tone can be divided into
a number of consideration sets including informational/
transformational message, high/ low involvement and perceived risk,
emotional/ rational benefits and congruency between product and
message. In many instances, creative executions are developed by
approaching the question, "Should our brand message cater to
informational or transformational needs?". In the case of
informational motives, the brand seeks to provide a solution to a
problem, satisfaction where there is disappointment or reminder in
case of shortage. Transformational motives are addressed when
advertising elevates itself to a less information-driven, tangible
level where brand messages fulfill sensory and social needs (Kover
and Abruzzo, 1993). As the figure below shows, both motivational
perspectives elicit emotions which may be felt by consumers.
Source: Kover and Abruzzo, 1993
Chaudhuri's (1998) studies on luxury and necessity items have
yielded information on the relationship between high-involvement
and low-involvement products, perceived risk and emotional
experience. High-involvement purchase decisions often involve high
levels of perceived risk, sending consumers into a
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state of increased information search. This suggests that
informational motives should be addressed in advertising for many
high-involvement products. Conversely, low-involvement decisions
usually incorporate low levels of perceived risk. When developing
message appeals for either high or low-involvement categories, it
is important to know that perceived risk shares a direct, inverse
relationship with emotional experience. That is to say that high
perceived risk is decreased through positive emotional experiences,
while low levels of perceived risk are increased when a person is
in involved in a negative emotional experience. Advertisers' may
attempt to influence opinions of perceived risk to their benefit by
using a negative emotional approach to increase the perceived risk
associated with brand switching in a low involvement category.
Meanwhile, a high-involvement brand may employ a positive emotional
message to lower the perceived risk of a consumer who is carefully
studying brand alternatives.
Foote, Cone and Belding has developed a model called the
Contingency Approach (Holbrook and O'Shaughnessy, 1984) as a guide
for choosing whether to apply emotional or rational messages in
their clients' advertising. The Contingency Approach states that
emotional appeals should be made when promoting attitude changes
towards feeling products like jewelry, cosmeticand fashions.
Thinking products such as cars and furniture should employ rational
messages, according to this model. It is important at this point to
introduce the concept of congruency (Zeitlin and Westwood, 1986).
Advertising congruency is achieved when the brand message is
consonant with the tone of the advertising. When congruency is not
achieved (for example, through misapplication of sex appeal or
inappropriate choice of celebrity spokesperson) ads are often not
liked and considered to be uncreative and not persuasive.
Therefore, it is important to recognize the potential for
exceptions to the Contingency Approach. Thinking aspects of
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fashion do exist, as do feeling aspects of cars. Advertisers who
fail to understand this duality do so at their own risk.
Who responds to emotional advertising?
Of course, the short answer is everyone. However, Stout and Rust
(1993) found that females and older people are most easily
persuaded by emotional advertising. These groups are more likely to
feel empathy toward the situations presented in emotional ads and
as a result, view the brand more favorably than those competitors
advertising based upon rational appeals.
Contextual Impact On Advertising
In some cases, advertising (whether rational or emotional in
content) effectiveness is influenced not by the technique applied
in the ad itself, but by the emotional context in which the ad
appears. Contextual factors can work either to the benefit or
detriment of the brand being promoted in the advertisement. Some
theories suggest that interruption of an exciting program or story
results in a heightened level of attention to an advertiser's
message. Others disagree, stating that the interruption of highly
stimulating programs or stories causes viewer frustration, which
interferes with the processing of the advertising message (Mundorf,
Zillman and Drew, 1991). No conclusive results have been presented
on either side of this argument, so the debate continues.
Some evidence does exist to support the idea that affective
elements of program or editorial content influence
viewers'/readers' affective interpretations of the advertising
messages placed within the program or story. For example, Mundorf,
Zillman and Drew (1991) found that viewers' abilities to attend to,
process and store ads shown shortly after disturbing news sequences
were adversely affected by the viewers' preoccupations with the bad
news. The residual effects of negative news appeared to last for as
much as
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2.5 minutes after the end of the segment, with attention levels
returning to normal thereafter.
Gardner (1985) explains a study which further supports
contextual effects on advertising. She discusses research which
shows that the mood induced by an emotional film may transferover
to interpretations of ads placed within the film itself. For
example, feelings elicited by a family drama may lead to warm
feelings towards a product advertised during the program.
Advertisers recognized the power of contextual media placement
long ago and regularly use it as a tool for selecting ad placement.
The extraordinary fragmentation of both broadcast and print media
over the past several decades has made contextual placement
considerations a standard part of an effective media placement
strategy. Many magazines produce special "advertorial" sections on
a regular basis, capitalizing on the power of contextual placement.
Other advertisers have brought their products to the silver screen
via in-film product placement, hoping to align their brand with a
particular star, activity sequence or film genre.
Hall Of Fame
A photographic history of some of advertising's most successful,
emotionally charged ads.
Coca-Cola: I'd Like To Buy The World A CokeSource:
www.adage.com/features/commercials
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American Express: Don't Leave Home Without ItSource:
www.adage.com/features/commercials
AT&T: Reach Out. Reach Out And Touch SomeoneSource:
www.adage.com/features/commercials
Wendy's: Where's The Beef?Source:
www.adage.com/features/commercials
Charmin: Don't Squeeze The CharminSource:
www.napsnet.com/consumer/39806.html
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Alka-Seltzer: I Can't Believe I Ate The Whole ThingSource:
www.alka-seltzer.com/mem/wholething.html
http://www.ciadvertising.org/studies/student/98_fall/theory/weirtz/Emotion.htm