How Brand Communication Works

CIBC CASE ‘ASSIGNMENT COACHING’

CIBC Mini-Case Analysis: Apply the Facets Model of Effects to analyze how the
campaign worked and explain your conclusions about what did or didn’t make this an
effective campaign. Briefly explains your thinking.

Key decisions included the goals, objectives, the big idea, and message strategy, each of
which is identified in the case study at the beginning of this chapter. The campaign
focused primarily upon three of facets identified in Moriarty’s Domain model: the
Emotion (feel) Facet, the Cognition (think/understand) Facet, and the Persuasion
(believe) Facet.

Analyze the campaign in terms of the Facets Model of Effects. Based on the model

KEY OBJECTIVES
1. Understand how communication works as a form of both mass communication and
interactive communication.
2. Describe the Facets Model of Effects, how it explains how brand communication
works, and the key facets of brand communication effectiveness.

LECTURE OVERVIEW
effects behind advertising effectiveness are explored. Two traditional models, along with
their limitations, are discussed. Specifically, *Basic Communication Model and Facets
Model of Effects.

IT ALL BEGINS WITH COMMUNICATING THE RIGHT

MESSAGE, TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE AND THE RIGHT, TIME
AND PLACE THROUGH THE MOST APPROPRIATE
MULTICHANNELS.
 At its most basic, brand communication is a message to a consumer about a brand.
It gets attention and provides information, and sometimes even entertainment. It is
purposeful in that it seeks to create customer response or action.

The Mass Communication MODEL

 Mass communication is a process, as depicted in the SMCR model. The process

begins with (1) a source, a sender who (2) encodes or puts it in words and pictures as
a (3) message. The message is presented through (4) channels of communication,
such as a newspaper, radio, or TV. The message is then (5) decoded or interpreted by
(6) the receiver, who is the reader, viewer, or listener. The last step is (7) feedback,

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 which is obtained by monitoring the response of the receiver to the message. The
entire process is complicated by what we refer to as (8) noise, things that interrupt the
sending as well as the receiving of the message.

 It is the job of advertising professionals to turn the marketer’s information and

objectives into an interesting and attention-getting message. The message can be
an advertisement, press release, store banner, brochure, video, or web page.

 Together, the marketer and its agency determine the goals and objectives for the
campaign and choose the media channels.

 The endpoint of the communication process is the receiver, the consumer who makes
up the targeted audience. If the communication process fails to work and the consumer
does not receive the message as intended by the advertiser, then the communication
effort is ineffective.

 External noise, which hinders the consumer’s reception of the message, includes
technical and socio-economic trends that affect the reception of the message.
Examples include the economic downturn or changing health trends. External noise
can also be related to the advertising media, and can be as simple as bad broadcast or
cell phone reception. A more likely cause of noise is clutter, which is the multitude
of messages all competing to get the consumer’s attention.

 Internal noise includes personal factors that affect the reception of an advertisement,
such as the receiver’s needs, language skills, purchase history, information-processing
abilities, and other personal factors.

 Feedback is the reaction the audience has to a message. It can be obtained through
research or through customer-initiated contact with the company. Both of these are
important tests of the effectiveness of marketing communication messages. It is
important to remember that this process is not foolproof or even dependable.

Adding Interaction to Marketing Communication

 Mass communication is traditionally seen as a one-way process with the message

depicted as moving from the source to the receiver. However, interactive
communication is two-way communication, and marketing communication has
moved in that direction with social media and word-of mouth communication
strategies.

 The difference between one-way and two-way communication is that in the two-way
communication process, the source and receiver change positions as the message
bounces back and forth between them. If marketers want to overcome the impersonal
nature of mass communication, they need to learn to receive it (i.e., listen to) as well
as send messages to customers. Figure 5.3 illustrates a model of how two-way
communication works.
 Another way to describe interactive communication is to describe business-to-
consumer communication as B2C and business-to-business marketing as B2B. With

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 consumer-initiated communication, that formula would turn around to become C2B,
which means the consumer is the sender and the company is the receiver.

 Communication is more complicated now because of the increasing use of social

media and word of mouth, which can be represented as B2C2. C2 refers to a network
of messages with the communication shared among a network of friends. In this case,
people talk about a brand and then send messages to the company, such as in group
texts.

 Marketers’ use of word of mouth, buzz marketing, and social media are indicators of
the need for message integration. The important difference is that consumers are
talking to one another in a circle of comments about products and brands. That raises
the bar on the need for consistency in company-produced brand communication,
whatever the format and medium.

 Interactive communication is also making the classic two-step or multistep flow of

communication model more relevant. In this model, people identified as opinion
leaders talk to other people and influence the formation of attitudes and behaviors.
This model helps to explain how word of mouth intersects with public relations and
new media in brand communication, according to one professor.

 A final point is that interactive communication is the building block of the customer-
brand experience, which can determine the likelihood of repeat business and brand
loyalty. The importance of interactions is underscored in the Inside Story feature in
this chapter about Office Depot.

 Principle: In interactive communication, there are multiple conversations occurring

in a network with people contacting companies as well as talking to one another and
companies listening and responding as well as sending messages.

Other Aspects of Communication

 It’s important to recognize that nonverbal communication can be just as powerful as

word-based forms. Many commercials are essentially nonverbal, relying on the
impact of compelling visuals. Most billboards, packaging, posters, and ads rely on the
power of visual imagery.

 Brand signals include slogans, but they are dominated by logos, imagery, and color.
Signaling is particularly important in the clutter and chaos of the internet, where
attention is shortened and recognition happens in an instant.

 Cues and signals are used in commercial communication to help structure a

consumer’s meaning-making process. We create personal brand meanings from
formal communication, as well as from brand experiences.
 Brand messages of all types contain layers of meaning. In most cases, particularly
with advertising, there are obvious, superficial or surface-layer meanings, but there

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 may also be deeper layers of meaning that call for more interpretation (decoding) by
the consumer. Semiotics is a research tool used to uncover these layers of meaning.

What Are the Effects Behind Effectiveness?

 The most important characteristic of brand communication is that it is purposeful.

Ads are created to have some effect, some impact on the people who read or see their
message. We refer to this as effects.

 The theme of this book is that good advertising – and brand communication – is
effective when it achieves the advertiser’s desired response. Thus, understanding
what kinds of effects can be achieved with a marketing communication message is
essential to anyone engaged in planning marketing communication.

 Principle: The intended consumer response is the message’s objective, and the
message is effective to the degree that it achieves this desired response.

 When we ask “how it works,” we are talking about the impact an advertisement has
on receivers of the message, that is, how they respond to the message. What are these
effects that determine whether an advertisement works? Here are two traditional
approaches that outline the impact of advertising.

 AIDA. The most commonly used explanation of how advertising works is one
referred to as AIDA, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
Because AIDA assumes a predictable set of steps, it is also referred to as a
hierarchy of effects model.

 Think/Feel/Do. This model was developed in the 1970s and is also referred to as
the FCB model. The idea is that advertising motivates people to think about the
message, feel something about the brand, and then do something, such as try it or
buy it. This view is supported by recent research.

 One problem with these approaches is that they are based on the concepts of a
predictable process that consumers go through in making decisions, beginning
with exposure to a brand message. In reality, however, we know that consumers
sometimes buy out of habit, and in other situations, they buy on impulse.

 It is based on the idea that messages have an impact on consumer responses, not in
steps, but simultaneously. The three key effects, identified in this approach are: 1)
perception, 2) learning, and 3) persuasion. The idea is that a message can engage
consumers’ perceptions (attention, interest), educate them (think, learn), and persuade
them (change attitude and behavior) all at the same time. The Port of Vancouver ads
provide an example of how these effects interact.
 Yet another approach to analyzing what works in brand communication is presented
in Armstrong’s Persuasive Advertising book, which identifies 194 principles based on
research findings over the years.

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 Principle: Not all purchases begin with a search for information. Some purchases
are made out of habit or on impulse.

THE FACETS OF IMPACT

 The Facets Model of Effects, explains how advertising creates impact. Effective
marketing communication speaks to us about things that we want
to know in ways that we like.

 The solution to our search for a new model is to build on the effects identified in the
think/feel/do model and add the missing categories, such as perception, association,
and persuasion. Thus, we propose a six-factor model that should be useful both in
setting objectives and in evaluating the effectiveness of the advertising.

 Our answer to the question of how advertising works is to propose that effective
advertising creates six types of consumer responses: 1) see/hear, 2) feel, 3)
think/understand, 4) connect, 5) believe, and 6) act/do—all of which work together
to create a response to a brand message. These six consumer responses and the
categories of effects to which they belong are represented in Figure 5.4.

 Think of these six effects as facets, polished surfaces like those of a diamond
or crystal, that come together to make up a unique consumer response to a
brand message. The effects are holistic in that they lead to an impression, or an
integrated perception. The effects can vary in importance, with some campaigns
more focused on one or several of the facets. A table in the textbook helps you
analyze impact and how it will manifest in the way consumers respond to a message.

The Perception Facet: See/Hear

 Every day we are bombarded with stimuli, such as faces, conversations, scents, sounds,
advertisements, and news announcements. Yet, we actually notice only a small fraction.
Why? The answer is perception. Perception is the process by which we receive
information through our five senses and assign meaning to it. If an advertisement is to
be effective it, first of all, has to get noticed. It has to be seen or heard, even if the
perception is minimal and largely below the level of awareness. The challenge is to
create breakthrough messages that get attention and stick in the mind.

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Principle: Breakthrough messages grab (get attention) and stick (lock in memory.)

 Perception is a meaning-making process that involves two approaches. One is the

Gestalt viewpoint, which means that messages are understood as a unified whole.
Another approach involves a moment-by-moment analysis of the interconnected
string of words and images in a commercial or in a series of strategic messages.

 Either or both approaches lead to a brand impression in memory. Our minds are full
of impressions that we have collected without much active thought or concentration.

 Principle: Breakthrough advertising breaks through perceptual filters, engages

attention, and makes a lasting impression.

 Awareness results when a brand message makes an impression – when something

registers.

Factors That Drive Perception

 Consumers select the messages to which they pay attention, a process called selective
perception. Here’s how perception works: Some ads for some product categories
battle for attention because people do not choose to watch them. However, if the
message breaks through the disinterest and is selected and attended to, then the
consumer may react to it with interest if it is relevant. The result is awareness of the
ad or brand, which is filed in memory, at least to the point that the consumer
recognizes the brand or ad.

 The key factors driving perception are exposure, selection and attention, interest,
relevance, curiosity, and recognition. Below is a brief review of these terms and how
they relate to advertising impact.

 Exposure. The first test of perception is when a marketing communication

message is seen or heard. In advertising, this is called exposure, which is an
important goal of media planners who try to find the best way to connect
consumers to a message.

 Selection and Attention. This is the process by which a receiver of a message

chooses to attend to a message. Amidst all the clutter in the media environment,
selection is a huge problem. The ability to draw attention that brings visibility to
a brand is one of advertising’s greatest strengths. Advertisements, particularly
television commercials, are often designed to be intrusive, which means they
intrude on people’s perception and grab attention.

 Interest. A factor in crossing the selection barrier is interest, which means the
receiver of the message has become mentally engaged in some way with the
ad and the product. Ad messages are designed not only to get attention, but
also to hold the audience’s interest long enough for the audience to register
the point of the ad—that level of interest and attention is sometimes referred
to as stickiness, particularly for websites.

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  Relevance. One reason people are interested in something is relevance, which
means the message connects on some personal level.

 Curiosity. Another reason people pay attention is curiosity, which results

from questioning, wanting to know more, or being intrigued by something.
However, research indicates that curiosity may also create a problem for
certain types of advertising campaigns.

 Recognition. Advertisers are interested in two types of memory: recognition,

which means people remember seeing the ad and recall, which means they
remember what the ad said. Recognition is a measure of perception and is
used to determine awareness. Recall is a measure of understanding and we
will talk about that in a later section on cognitive effects. Recognition relies
on simple visuals that lock into memory, such as logos (Nike’s Swoosh),
as well as colors (IBM’s blue), jingles and sounds (Gershwin’s Rhapsody in
Blue for United Airlines), characters (the Energizer bunny), key visuals
(Polo’s ponies or the disbelieving look of the Aflac duck), and slogans
(Altoids - The Curiously Strong Mints). Memory depends heavily upon
repetition to anchor the impression in the mind.

The Synergy Requirement

The result of effective marketing communication is an integrated perception, according
to the late Professor Ivan Preston. In campaigns that use an IMC approach, marketers
coordinate all marketing communication messages to create synergy, which means
individual messages have more impact working jointly to promote a product than they
would if working on their own. This happens whether or not the marketer plans for
integrated communication.

 IMC Principle: People automatically integrate brand messages and experiences.

Synergy occurs when all of the messages work together to create a coherent brand
perception.

The Emotional or Affective Facet: Feel

 Affective responses mirror our feelings about something – anger, love, fear, hate.
The term affective describes something that stimulates wants, touches the emotions,
creates liking, and elicits feelings.

 Brands have a human quality, hence the importance of connecting with a consumer’s
innermost feeling. Feelings and emotions can be positive or negative. Generally,
brand communication seeks to wrap a positive halo around a brand and a purchase
decision. The CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi describes the passion that loyal customers
feel for their favorite brands as “lovemarks.”

 The importance of positive responses has been institutionalized by Facebook with its
famous ‘like’ button. Sometimes, however, a brand message arouses different

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 emotions, such as fear or dislike. Some ads are designed to make you feel negative
about something, such as smoking, bugs in your home, or a political candidate. In the
case of irritating advertising, you may respond by disliking the ad or the product.

Factors That Drive the Emotion

 Emotional responses are powerful, not only because they drive perception, but also
because they break through disinterest. Furthermore, positive emotional responses
drive memory as well. The affective response drivers are wants and desires, feelings,
liking, and resonance. Emotion causes us to “feel” something.

 Wants and Desires. “I want something” implies desire. Wants are driven by
emotions and based on wishes, longings, and cravings. Impulse buying is a good
example of the motivational power of wants. When you are standing in line at a
store and see a display of candy bars, you may want one, but that doesn’t mean
you need it. It’s strictly desire and that is driven by emotion.

 Excitement. A step above interest in terms of intensity of response is excitement.

If we are excited about something, we are agitated or energized and more willing
to participate or make a commitment.

 Feelings. Our passions and feelings are addressed in a number of ways in

advertising, such as humor, love, or fear. Ads that rely on arousing feelings are
referred to as emotional appeals. Research supports the idea that emotional
appeals have more impact than rational approaches on both attitudes and
behavior.

 Liking. Two important affective responses to a message are liking the brand and
liking the ad. Liking reflects the personality of the brand or the entertainment
power of the ad’s execution. The assumption is that if you like the ad, then that
positive feeling will transfer to the brand and if you feel positive about the brand,
you will be more likely to buy it.

 On the opposite side of liking is brand aversion, which means people avoid
buying a brand because they don’t like the ads or what they associate with the
brand. For example, we don’t like to see condom ads, so they aren’t often found
in the mass media.

 Resonance. Effective advertisements sometimes create resonance where the

message “rings true.” Like relevance, messages that resonate help the consumer
identify with the brand on a personal level. These sympathetic vibes amplify the
emotional impact by engaging a personal connection with a brand.

 Principle: A positive response to an ad is important because marketers hope that

liking the ad will increase liking the brand.

The Cognitive Facet: Think/Understand

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 Cognition refers to how consumers search for and make sense of information, as well
as learn and understand something. It’s a rational response to a message. Some call
this a left-brain approach, based on the left-right brain ways of thinking that evolved
from brain hemisphere research. Right-brain thinking is presumed to be more
emotional and creative.

 Traditionally, researchers have studied information processing as a way to understand

how consumers think and learn about a product.

 The opposite of understanding is confusion and misunderstanding, which is equally of

concern to brand communicators. Sometimes the information is too complex, and
sometimes there is brand confusion because too many messages from too many
marcom functions are not consistent with one another.

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Factors that Drive the Cognition
 Information processing – thinking things through – leads to a cognitive response.
A consumer may need to know something in order to make a decision, and the
information gathered in response to that need leads to understanding. The information
has to be perceived and then filed in memory but can be recalled when needed.
Advertising and other marketing communication often provide information about
products, usually facts about product performance and features, such as size, price,
construction, and design.

 Principle: Information processing leads to a cognitive response such as

understanding – the information is filed in memory and can be recalled when needed.

 The informative nature of advertising is particularly important for products that are
complex (appliances, cars, insurance, computers, and computer software) or that
involve a high price or high risk (motorboats, vacations, medical procedures).

The key drivers of a consumer’s responses are need, cognitive learning, comprehension,
differentiation, and recall.

 Need. Generally, needs are basic biological motivations but they are also something
you think about, while wants tend to be based more on feelings and desires. When we
refer to needs, we are usually talking about a message that describes something
lacking in consumers’ lives and that often stimulates a cognitive response.
Advertisers address consumer needs through informational ads that explain how a
product works and what it can do for the user, that is, the benefits it offers to the user.

 Cognitive Learning. Consumers learn about products and brands through two
primary routes: cognitive learning and conditioned learning. Cognitive learning
occurs when a presentation of facts, information, and explanations leads to
understanding. Consumers who are trying to find information about a product before
they buy it are taking the cognitive learning route.

 Comprehension is the process by which people understand, make sense of things, and
acquire knowledge. Confusion, on the other hand, is the absence of understanding
and is usually the result of logic problems.

 Differentiation. Differentiation is the consumer’s ability to separate one brand from

another in a product category. Distinguishing between competing brands is what
happens when consumers understand the explanation of a competitive advantage.

 Recall. This is a measure of learning or understanding. When you recall the ad

message, you not only remember seeing the ad and hopefully the brand; you also
remember the copy points, which is the information provided about the brand.
To recall information presented in an ad, you must have concentrated on it and
thought about it as the information was being presented or afterward.

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Thinking and Feeling
Even though this section is on cognitive processing, note that feeling and thinking always
work together. A frequent question asked by researchers is this: Which is more important
in brand communication - thinking or feeling? In terms of this relationship, Professor
Ann Marie Barry explains: “In fact, most of all what we call the thought process in
making decisions is actually trying to rationalize what we have already concluded
through our emotional system. Marketers know that if they can convince us emotionally,
we can rationalize away any objections by ourselves.”

 Principle: In communication perception, emotion comes first and thought comes

second.

 Principle: Communication that makes consumers both think and feel provides better
support for a brand image; thought without emotion or emotion without thought
makes it difficult to anchor the brand in memory.

The Association Facet: Connect

 Association is the technique of communicating through symbolism – we might

say that symbolic meanings are transferred through the process of association.
The transfer of meaning connects personal meanings to goods and other symbols,
such as celebrities. In the Matter of Practice feature in this chapter, researcher
Charles Young explores the impact of a brand message in terms of its associations.

 Association is an important tool used in brand communication and guides the process
of making symbolic connections between a brand and desirable characteristics, as
well as people, situations, and lifestyles that cue the brand’s image and personality.

 The idea is to associate the brand with things that resonate positively with the
customer. It’s a three-way process: 1) the brand relates to 2) a quality that 3)
customers value. Brands take on symbolic meaning through this association process.
Professor Ivan Preston, in his Association Model of Advertising believes that you can
explain how advertising works by understanding how association works.

 Sometimes association can be powerful because they are unexpected, and sometimes
association can backfire.

Factors That Drive the Association

 The goal of association is to use symbolic connections to define the brand and make it
distinctive. Brand linkage reflects the degree to which the associations presented in
the message, as well as the consumer's interest, are connected to the brand.

The association drivers are symbolism, conditioned learning, and transformation.

 Symbolism. Through association a brand takes on a symbolic meaning, which means

the brand stands for certain qualities. It represents something, usually something
abstract. For instance, Bisquick pancakes shaped like hearts convey the heart healthy
message symbolically.

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 Conditioned Learning. Although advertisements sometimes use a cognitive strategy,
they are frequently designed to elicit non-cognitive associations through conditioned
learning, the process by which a group of thoughts and feelings become linked to the
brand through repetition of the message. For example, beer advertising directed at a
young male audience often uses images of sporting events, beach parties, and good-
looking young women. People also learn by watching others, which is called social
learning.

 Transformation. The result of the brand association process is transformation. This is

what happens when a product takes on meaning and is transformed from a mere
product into something special. It is differentiated from other products in the category
by virtue of its brand image symbolism and personality cues. For example, Bisquick
HeartSmart is more than just flour; it rises above the average product in the category
and stands out as something unique and healthy. That transformation in a consumer’s
mind is a perceptual shift, one that is created by the associations cued through
advertising messages.

Association Networks
 The association process is built on a network of associations, called a knowledge
structure. Solomon in his book on consumer behavior describes these networks as
spider webs, where one thought cues other thoughts. Researchers seeking to
determine the meaning of a brand will ask people to talk about their associations with
a brand and to recreate these association networks in order to understand how a
brand’s meaning comes together as an impression in people’s minds.

The Persuasion Facet: Believe

 Persuasion is the conscious intent on the part of the source to influence or motivate
the receiver of a message to believe or do something. Persuasive communication—
creating/changing attitudes and creating conviction—are important goals of most
marketing communication. An attitude is a state of mind, tendency, propensity,
inclination, or mental readiness to react to a situation in a given way. Since
advertising rarely delivers immediate action, surrogate effects, such as changing an
attitude that leads to a behavior, are often the goal of advertising. Many scholars see
attitudes as the most central factor in persuasion.

 Attitudes can be positive, negative, or neutral. Both positive and negative attitudes,
particularly those that are embedded in strong emotions, can motivate people to
action or away from action.

 Attitudes are both rational and emotional. Rational information processing is

important for certain types of ads. When people are convinced of something, their
attitudes are expressed as beliefs. Some attitude change strategies attempt to
extinguish beliefs. Attitude change strategies often use the tools of logic and
reasoning, as well as arguments and counterarguments, to intensify the feeling on
which beliefs are built.

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 Persuasion, in other words, is an area in which cognitive and affective factors are
interrelated. Persuasion works both through rational arguments and by touching
emotions in such a way that they create a compulsion to act. Persuasive strategies can
be used to touch both the head and the heart. Negative advertising, or attack ads, are
good examples of how people form opinions at the same time they process
information that is presented within an emotional frame.

Factors That Drive Persuasion

There are many dimensions to persuasion, but advertisers identify the following factors to
explain how persuasion affects consumers:

 Motivation. A factor in creating a persuasive message is motivation. Underlying

motivation is the idea that something, such as hunger or a desire to be beautiful or
rich, prompts a person to act in a certain way. This feeling sets up a state of tension,
and the product becomes a tool in achieving that goal and thus reducing the tension.

 Influence. If you think you need to lose weight or stop smoking, how much of that
decision is based on your own motivations and how much of your motivation results
from messages from others? Some people, known as opinion leaders, may be able to
influence other people’s attitudes and convince them of the “right” decision. The idea
is that other people, such as friends, family, teachers, and experts such as doctors,
may affect your decision making. Testimonies—from real people, celebrities, in
addition to experts, are often used to change attitudes.

 Involvement. Advertisers distinguish between products, messages, and media on the

basis of the level of involvement they require from the buyer. Involvement refers to
the degree to which you are engaged in attending to an ad and the process you go
through in responding to a message and making a product decision. Some products
call for a more involved process than others, such as cosmetics as compared to
toothpaste. High involvement products are considered purchases that generate a
more intense level of engagement, such as buying a computer or deciding which
university to attend. Low involvement products are such things as aspirin, paper
napkins, envelopes, paper clips, milk, and lettuce.

 Engagement. The idea of engagement is that a consumer is more than just interested
in something. Rather, they are “turned on.” Engagement cultivates passion.

 Conviction. Effective persuasion results in conviction, which means consumers agree

with a persuasive message and achieve a state of certainty—a belief—about a brand.
A factor in conviction is the power of the argument, which uses logic, reason, and
proof to make a point and build conviction. Understanding an argument is a complex
cognitive process that demands the audience “follow through” with the reasoning to
understand the point and reach a conclusion.
 Preference and Intention. When consumers marry belief with a preference for or an
intention to try or buy a product, they are motivated by conviction. Intention can be
heightened with reward strategies, such as good deals, sale pricing, and gifts. Good
intentions are the motivations behind cause marketing and social responsibility.

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 Loyalty. When we talk about a “favorite” brand, we are discussing preference, but
also brand loyalty. Loyalty is an attitude (liking, respect, preference), an emotion
(liking), and an action (repeat purchases). It is a response to brand communication
that crosses over between thinking, feeling, and doing. It is a response that is built
on customer satisfaction.
.

 An important issue in persuasion is believability, which refers to the credibility of the

arguments in a message. Related to believability is credibility, which is an indication
of the trustworthiness of the source. Source credibility means the person delivering
the message, such as an expert, is respected, trusted, and believable.

Credibility is one of the big advantages of public relations because publicity stories
delivered through a supposedly unbiased news medium have higher credibility than
advertising, which is seen as self-serving. Advertising can use a credibility strategy to
intensify the believability of its message. Using data to support or prove a claim, for
example, gives consumers a reason to believe the advertising.

The Behavior Facet: Act/Do

 Behavior can involve different types of action in addition to trying or buying the
product – for example, to visit a store, return an inquiry card, call a toll-free number,
join an organization, donate to a good cause, or click on a website.

 Principle: Advertising has delayed effects in that a consumer may see or hear an
advertisement but not act on that message until later when in a store.

 There is also purposeless action, which became a fad during the 2000s when viral
email messages were used to generate a sudden and conspicuous gathering of people.
Called flash mobs, these public spectacles included concerts, marriage proposals, and
even a worldwide day of pillow fights. Flash mobs demonstrate the power of the
internet and buzz to engage people, involve them in something memorable, and drive
them to action, even if the action is largely meaningless.

Factors that Drive Behavioral Response

The behavioral response involving action of some kind is often the most important goal
of marketing communication, particularly for tools such as sales promotion and direct
marketing. Factors that drive a behavioral response include:

 Mental Rehearsal. The mental rehearsal of behaviors is made possible by showing

visuals of people doing things. Visualization is an imagined action, but one that is the
predecessor to the behavior with which the advertiser hopes the consumer will feel
comfortable and familiar.

Lecture notes Week #4 Key Components Models and Framework KJFaubert

 Trial. The first step in making a purchase is often to try the product. Trial is
important for new products and expensive products because it lets a customer use the
product without committing initially to a purchase. In other words, the risk is
lessened. Sales promotion is particularly good at driving trial through special price
deals, sampling, and incentive programs that motivate.

 Buying. The objective of most marketing programs is sales. In advertising, sales are
sometimes stimulated by the call-to-action at the end of the ad, along with
information on where to purchase the product. From a customer perspective, a sale
means making a purchase. In customer-focused marketing programs, the goal is to
motivate people to try or buy a certain brand. But in some marketing programs, such
as those for nonprofits, the marketing program may be designed to encourage the
audience to sign up, volunteer, or donate.

Sales, however, for many managers, is the gold standard for effective advertising. They
feel that, even if they are funny, memorable, or entertaining, ads are failures if they don’t
help sell the brand. The problem is that it may be difficult to prove that a marketing
communication message is the singular factor in the marketing mix that delivered the
sales. They could have been induced by price, distribution, or product design and
performance.

Lecture notes Week #4 Key Components Models and Framework KJFaubert

 Contacting. Responding by making contact with the advertiser can be an important
sign of effectiveness. Initiating contact is also valuable, particularly in IMC programs
that are designed to maintain brand relationships by creating opportunities for
customer-initiated dialogue, such as encouraging customers with a complaint,
compliment, suggestion, or referral to contact the company.

 Advocating and Referrals. One of the behavioral dimensions of brand loyalty is

advocacy, i.e., speaking out on a brand’s behalf and referring to it when someone
asks for a recommendation. Contacting other people is a valuable response,
particularly when a satisfied customer brings in more business for the brand by
providing testimonials to friends, family, and colleagues on behalf of the brand.
Referrals, which occur when a satisfied customer recommends a favorite brand, is a
form of word-of-mouth that can be incredibly more persuasive than advertising,
which is viewed as self-serving. A recommendation to buy a specific brand is the
ultimate test of the bond between consumers and their favorite brands. And the
opposite, brand aversion, can be disastrous if the dissatisfied customer shares his or
her dislike with other people.

 Prevention. In some social action situations, advertising messages are designed to

deter behaviors, such as clean-air campaigns that hope to reduce car use. This is a
complicated process that involves counter-arguing by presenting negative messages
about an unwanted behavior and creating the proper incentives to stimulate the
desired behavior. Because the effects are so complicated, the impact of such
campaigns is not always clear.

THE POWER OF BRAND COMMUNICATION

 The six-factor Facets Model of Effects is our answer to the question of how
advertising works. These six factors, when working together, can create a coherent
brand perception. There are two important things to remember about how this model
works: (1) the effects are interdependent and (2) they are not all equal for all
marketing communication situations.

 In terms of effects interaction, we have previously suggested that cognitive and

emotional responses work together. Consider that memory is a function of both
attention (the perception facet) and emotion (the affective facet). The stronger the
emotional hook, the more likely we’ll attend to and remember the message.

Strong and Weak Effects

 Some professionals believe that sales are the only true indication of message
effectiveness. The power of advertising, in other words, is determined by its ability to
motivate consumers to buy a brand. Some believe that advertising is so powerful, it
can motivate people to buy things they don’t need.

Lecture notes Week #4 Key Components Models and Framework KJFaubert

 Others, including the authors of this textbook, believe communication effects include
a wide range of consumer responses to a message. Those responses may be just as
important as sales because they lead to the creation of such things as brand liking and
a long-term brand relationship. The debate over the power of brand communication is
analyzed in terms of “strong” and “weak” effects.

 Those differences explain why some experts believe that communication effects,
such as emotion, knowledge, and persuasion, are merely ‘surrogate’ effects –
communication effects that can be measured more easily than sales but are less
important to marketing managers. Others believe these communication effects are
important in and of themselves because of what they contribute to brand strength.

 Complicating the issue is the recognition that the impact of traditional advertising is
seldom immediate. In other words, advertising is a victim of delayed effects.
Messages are seen at one point in time and may or may not come to mind at a later
date when you are in a purchase situation. Advertisers must keep the delayed effects
problem in mind when relying on the ‘surrogate effects,’ such as attention, interest,
motivation, and memory to bring the message to mind days or weeks later.

 The important conclusion to the big question about how brand messages work is that

we know that advertising and other marketing communication does work when it is

carefully planned and executed, and it can work in a variety of ways. It may not work

in every situation, and every ad may not be equally effective, but if it is done right,

then brand communication can have an impact on consumer responses.

Lecture notes Week #4 Key Components Models and Framework KJFaubert