Anthony F. McGann

Does Advertising Communicate Product Quality to Consumers? Some Evidence from Consumer Reports

Abstract This article reports the relationship detected between retail price, product quality (as determined by a major consumer testing agency), and advertising. Retail price was not significantly correlated with product quality for a majority of the products investigated here. However, analysis of a nominally-valued measure of advertising indicates that heavily-advertised products earn an unusually high proportion of top quality ratings. These findings are assessed in light of their consequences for consumer decision-making.

Corporate Strategy and the Role of Navigational Marketing

Marketing, the discipline, has failed to deliver on its promise as a central corporate philosophy because it has failed to adapt its concepts to corporate concerns. Marketing has ignored non‐customer stakeholders and is less influential on corporate strategy than a decade ago. A framework is provided and examples of how better to integrate marketing into corporate‐wide concerns are presented. It is argued that to accomplish this, corporate management must take on a navigational dimension and marketing must make its mix tools relevant above the business unit level.

Children's Age, Intelligence and Sex as Variables Mediating Reactions to TV Commercials: Repetition and Content Complexity Implications for Advertisers.

Abstract To learn if differences in age, intelligence, and sex account for differences in childrens recall of TV commercials and in the degree of insistence with which they request that the advertised product be purchased, 54 gifted, 71 normal and 53 educable mentally retarded children of both sexes (7–13 years) were questioned after viewing commercials for breakfast cereals. Analyses of variance reveal that both age and intelligence were significantly related to recall while only intelligence was significantly related to degree of insistence. Sex differences were not significant for either recall or degree of insistence nor were any of the possible 2 way and 3 way interaction terms. The nature of the joint covariance between the outcomes (recall and degree of insistence) and the childrens characteristics (age, sex, and intelligence) was explored via canonical analysis, and implications for advertisers in terms of repetition and message complexity are discussed.

Comment on "Speculations on the Future of Advertising Research"

Abstract David Stewarts “Speculations…” are based on the existence of a crisis in advertising. This comment takes a contrary position, premised on the derived and cyclical nature of advertising demand.

Nostalgia and Consumer Sentiment.

Those who teach the creative aspects of advertising are constantly pressed to spot trends in fashion. Given a copy platform, which outlines the basic premise or selling proposition, there are hundreds of ways to express that premise creatively. Sometimes a particular style or approach may set the tone for a period such as the ultracontemporary “art deco” style used during the ’30s or the fantasy styles of the push pin studio and the “psychedelic” artists like Peter Max who created a graphic personality for the ‘60s.l Generally these “signature” styles comprise only a small percentage of the ads of that given period. They are noteworthy, however, because they establish a trend that lends a distinctive personality to that particular era. Recently observers have noted that advertising in the ’70s seemed to be using a number of themes that could best be described as “nostalgic.”2 Why might creative directors be using nostalgia as a strategy in advertising in the 1960’s and 1970’s?

Performance appraisal format: Role clarity and evaluation criteria

The effectiveness of alternative performance appraisal formats is evaluated in terms of their contribution to selected dimensions of role clarity, and their focusing the evaluation on primary criteria as opposed to secondary criteria. The formats studied are: simple graphic rating scales, more complete graphic rating scales, and behaviorally anchored rating scales. From the viewpoint of the person being rated, the dimensions of role clarity investigated are: understanding of the performance dimension being rated, understanding of where the faculty member stands on each performance dimension, and understanding of the behavioral changes that would improve ratings on each performance dimension. Behaviorally anchored rating scales are observed to be superior to the other rating scale formats on each dimension of evaluation.

Color Quality in Print Advertising

This experimental study shows that use of color is important to the reader, but that quality of color is not critical. The authors suggest this finding may suggest to newspaper editors that use of color advertising could heighten their competition with magazines.

Hostile takeovers in broadcasting

This article explores the vulnerability of publicly held broadcasting companies to hostile takeovers. It finds that such companies are more attractive to investors than typical corporations, but that broadcasters are better defended against unfriendly takeovers and not especially vulnerable to takeovers.

The Advertising Industry in Western Europe

Abstract This article begins the neglected task of providing a structural description of the advertising industry in Europe today. Comparisons are drawn between industry structure in Europe and the U.S., and among sixteen European countries. In addition to this statistical description and comparison, an analysis of differences in performance among European agencies presented. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact of both decisional and environmental variables on contemporary European advertising.

Variable Pricing in Advertising Space for Regional and Metro Magazines.

,The ability of magazines to deliver specific, narrow audiences is well documented in the advertising literature. It dates back at least to the early 1960s when the magazine publishing industry began to recover from the blows television had dealt it as an advertising medium. As television perfected an ability to deliver large general audiences at low or moderate cost-perthousand, those magazines which were to survive and prosper developed the ability to reach relatively narrow audience segments. Magazine cost-per-thousand values, though higher than those for television, were justified on the basis of greater audience homogeneity. Magazine publishers and advertising managers argued persuasively that for products and services sold to discrete market segments, CPM figures were irrelevant. Rather, they argued, cost-per-prospect was the rational criterion for media selection. Magazines survived and advertising revenues grew largely because magazines could demonstrate acceptably low cost-per-prospect figures. More recently, the delivery of relatively