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Very low click-through rates (CTR) raise serious questions about the effectiveness of banner advertisements. However, we believe that the effect of a banner ad is not limited by clicks. Banner ad information itself can be processed by the audience.

We propose that the exposure effect of a banner ad exists even when the banner is not clicked. The results of our experiments strongly support this effect. Analyses also revealed that a non-clicked banner ad can create as strong of an exposure effect as clicked banner ads. Also, audiences that are able to recall the existence of the banner ad on a web page develop stronger implicit memory than those who cannot. Researchers are invited to re-test these interesting findings in various cultures with differing levels of Internet penetration and experience.

This chapter provides an overview of the state of knowledge about creative media advertising; choosing a novel medium that implicitly communicates the message. It explains what creative media advertising is and how it differs from other unconventional marketing communication formats. It addresses the theoretical mechanisms that explain how creative media affects consumers. Its final purpose is to review all the empirical findings about creative media advertising effects.

This chapter presents a systematic literature review of all the empirical research about creative media advertising that explicitly compares its effectiveness with traditional media advertising. The 11 reviewed articles with 16 experiments appeared between 2005 and 2015.

Overall creative media advertising generated positive evaluative outcomes (e.g., brand attitude) and behavior (e.g., word of mouth and sales). These effects were often mediated by a feeling of surprise and an increase in positive thoughts. It remains unclear whether creative media are perceived as persuasion attempts. Mixed findings exist for cognitive outcomes. Creative media advertising seems beneficial for creating strong brand associations, but brand memory might suffer from the technique if solving the link between the medium and the message takes away mental resources for the brand elements in the advertisement.

By reviewing all the literature about creative media advertising, the authors make recommendations for future research and for using creative media in practice. They emphasize potential boundary conditions and ideal circumstances of using creative media advertising.

The purpose of this research is to study the moderating role of the personality trait Discomfort With Ambiguity (DWA) on the processing of mixed emotions in advertising. Two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, the emotions between the medium context and the embedded advertisement were mixed. In the second experiment, the emotions in an advertisement were mixed by manipulating emotions in the text and picture. Results indicate that DWA, being a proxy for how well people are able to deal with mixed emotions, has a moderating effect on advertising processing. Individuals having a high DWA appear to respond less positively to mixed emotions.

Purpose – To better understand the general marketing sensitivities of Generation Y and the manner in which Congruency Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) may apply.

Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative two-factor (peripheral cue congruency and relative product involvement) between-subjects design was used to determine the attitudinal impact associated with the use of congruous peripheral cues in high- and low-involvement product situations.

Findings – Generation Y's attitudinal responses to peripheral cues both align with and vary from the general predictions of the ELM. Relative product involvement is more important than peripheral cue congruency in the formation of attitudes toward an advertisement.

Originality/value – Generation Y is a powerful social and economic consumer group whose attitudinal responses to marketing appeals have not been extensively studied. The current study furthers understanding within this important arena.

Research implications/limitations – The use of congruent peripheral cues is not sufficient to generate positive attitudes in both high- and low-involvement product scenarios. Effective marketing must move beyond cue congruency to include an involved “lifestyle fit” that will effectively generate positive attitudes. Limitations include the sole review of print advertisements and a sole reliance on college-attending members of Generation Y. Future research should examine the impact of congruency on advertisements whose strategic intent focuses on awareness or action rather than on mere attitude change.

This investigation set out to uncover whether CSR appeals – socially and/or environmentally oriented efforts promoted as part of a corporation’s advertising campaign – present a fruitful strategy for pharmaceutical manufacturers. This study investigates whether consumers in the two countries are similar with regards to (1) attitudes toward CSR engagement (2) perception of the social engagement of a company (3) perceived product/cause fit and (4) evaluation of CSR versus non-CSR appeals in OTC pharma ads. A field study was conducted (483 subjects; non-student sample) to explore how a standardized promotional message with or without a CSR appeal is perceived in a cross-cultural setting. Results indicate that consumers’ response (with regard to attitudes toward CSR, perceived social engagement by a company, perceived product-cause fit, as well as ad evaluation) all varied by country. Consumer responses were only tested with regard to a fictitious product as well as for one product category. Overall results suggest that CSR messages resonated more with some consumers than with others and, thus, may need to be tailored by market. Apart from a very small number of investigations, neither consumer evaluations of over-the-counter (OTC) drug ads in general, nor responses to CSR ad appeals in particular, have been explored. Thus, this investigation’s primary goal is to explore responses toward CSR messages in non-prescription drug ads in the United States and Brazil.

Purpose – This chapter presents a framework useful in conducting multicountry marketing and advertising research. For the purpose of illustrating the series of steps involved in conducting such investigations, a six-country study examining global consumer culture positioning (GCCP) is presented. The suggested steps are relevant for the exploration of a wide variety of marketing- and advertising-related topics.

Methodology/approach – Steps essential to a well-planned research design are addressed in detail, including: theory identification, stimuli selection, hypotheses formulation, measurement development, country selection, fictitious ad development, survey design, cross-national data equivalence, and hypotheses testing. Particular attention is given to construct specification (in this case for soft-sell and hard-sell advertising appeals) and fictitious ad development. General consumers in six countries responded to the ads. Specific procedures for validating formative constructs and testing their cross-country equivalency are suggested.

Findings – The chapter provides practical recommendations for conducting cross-cultural research. These recommendations are likely to prove useful to both researchers conducting multicountry investigations, and to instructors teaching graduate-level courses in international marketing and advertising research.

Originality/value of paper – Multicountry research requires a series of challenging decisions. Although a well-planned research design is particularly essential in a cross-cultural setting, little attention has been given in providing researchers and instructors with methodological recommendations. This chapter is intended to be a useful reference for these audiences.

Two primary approaches have been used to study employment brands and branding. First, there is a long history of the study of organizational attraction. Second, in the past 10–15 years, there has been growth in a hybrid stream of research combining branding concepts from the consumer psychology literature with I/O psychology frameworks of organizational attraction and applicant job search behavior. In this chapter, we take an entirely different approach and suggest that the theoretical models built around product/service brand knowledge can readily accommodate employment brands and branding without hybridizing the framework with I/O psychology. This merging of employment brand with product and service brands is accomplished simply by recognizing employment as an economic exchange between workers and employers and recognizing workers as cognitive and emotional beings that vary in their talents and have their own vectors of preferences for the employment offering. After developing a testable model of the components, antecedents, and consequences of employment brand knowledge, we review the existing employment brand and organizational attraction literature and identify multiple opportunities for additional research.

The chapter examined the consumer meanings of product placements embedded in social games in different cultural contexts.

The theoretical perspective guiding the study is phenomenology, and the essay assignment and in-depth interviews were used to collect data.

The chapter was based on two qualitative research projects. Findings revealed that consumers in both countries appreciated certain characteristics of product placement in the context of social game, such as subtleness (naturalness) and unobtrusiveness (users’ freedom of choice and proactive choice); consumers’ real-world consumption in both countries seems to be more or less influenced by the product placement in social games; and while the young American consumers didn’t construct specific meanings for Facebook, the Chinese white-collar consumers actively created meanings for the Chinese social-network site.

The chapter offered some thick descriptions and in-depth analyses of product placements in social games in different cultural contexts from consumers’ experiential perspectives to enrich our theoretical understanding of product placement in the new media environment as well as to add valuable insights to the research literature on new advertising formats in general.

No study to date has been conducted to explore the product placement in social games in different cultural contexts. The study fills the research gap by exploring US college-aged consumers’ and Chinese white-collar consumers’ interpretations of product placements in the context of social games.

This study aims to explain how program liking, program connectedness, and product category involvement influence brand attitudes as a result of advertiser funded programming.

We conduct a field study on a panel of real television viewers that were surveyed one week after the final episode of an advertiser funded fashion program was broadcasted. A moderated mediation model is constructed and tested that captures the interplay of three determinants of brand attitudes: program liking, product category involvement, and program connectedness.

Liking of the program is transferred to brand attitudes. This effect is complementarily mediated by connectedness with the program, and this mediation is moderated by product category involvement. Program liking only spills over to brand attitude through connectedness for viewers with moderate to high levels of involvement with the sponsor product category.

The findings add to the understanding of the role of program liking and program connectedness in the formation of brand attitudes. Although prior research has established that liking and connectedness are indeed an important determinant of brand attitudes, this research unveils product category involvement as an important boundary condition for this effect.

Consumers can develop liking for even an advanced form of brand placement, an Advertiser Funded Program (AFP). When consumers’ evaluations of the program are positive, they connect to the program on a personal basis, also leading to positive brand effects. Advertising practitioners should focus on the meaningful integration of their brand in a context that is involving for their target audience.