Eric Haley

Exploring the Construct of Organization as Source: Consumers' Understandings of Organizational Sponsorship of Advocacy Advertising

Abstract Advocacy advertising is now a mainstay of corporate advertising strategy. Though much research has been done on source credibility in general and single persona sponsor credibility, little attention has been given to what makes an organization a credible sponsor for issues/advocacy advertising. On the basis of 97 qualitative interviews with consumers, the article profiles how consumers make sense of organizational sponsorship of advocacy messages. In the analysis, the criteria consumers use to evaluate organizational sponsors are identified, and how consumers use those criteria to describe effective/ineffective advocacy messages is discussed. The article concludes with a comparison of the study results with those reported in the credibility and advocacy advertising literature, highlighting points of commonality and divergence. Suggestions for future research are offered.

Account Planners' Views on How Their Work Is and Should Be Evaluated

Account planning in the United States is now part of the mainstream agency landscape. The planning field has evolved from the original British conceptualization of the 1960s and 1970s. Now planners are central to client business strategy development and are also accountable for the outcomes of the agencys products. In light of increased demands by shareholders, holding companies, and market analysts on agencies for accountability, this study examines how the work of account planners in U.S. agencies is currently and should be evaluated. The study reports results of a national survey of U.S. planners regarding these questions. The study found that there are three general factors that planners say are currently being used to evaluate their work: (1) feedback from creatives, clients, and account teams; (2) traditional advertising campaign measures; and (3) awards and press. Of the three, the traditional advertising campaign measures factor accounts for most of the variance in responses. Planners rate the feedback factor as most important, however.Overall, awards and press were not a major consideration in evaluating the work of planners. These finding were consistent when planners were asked how they feel their work should be evaluated: For the most part, it appears that planners feel that the way their work is currently being evaluated is the way it should be evaluated. The study concludes with suggestions for future research.

The Lived Meanings of Chinese Social Network Sites (SNSs) among Urban White-Collar Professionals

ABSTRACT A phenomenological study reveals the lived meanings of Chinese social network sites (SNSs) among urban, white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. Their shared meanings of the Happy Network were interdependent with participants’ interpretations of time, fun, need to belong, and social interactions, shaped by and reflective of their social role as white-collar professionals and the cultural characteristics of contemporary Chinese society. Specifically, participants’ understandings of the Happy Network entailed five dialectic relations: in control/controlled by, dependent/independent, public/private, intimate/distant, and personal/social.

A Look inside the World of Advertising-Free Publishing: A Case Study of Ms. Magazine

Abstract Research has shown that advertising can shape the editorial content of magazines, especially womens and trade publications. This case study looks closely at one of the few mass circulation magazines to have published both with and without advertising—Ms. This study seeks to capture the unique experiences of the women who now publish with only reader support in the shadow of what they believe is an ad-dominated medium. From their perspective, advertising impacts the magazine industry in ways that even they failed to realize before Ms. moved to its current format. This research also suggests a basic distinction between advertising- and ideology-driven publications. This distinction may prove important to our understanding of how advertising impacts and relates to the media that carry it.

The mediating role of attitude towards values advocacy ads in evaluating issue support behaviour and purchase intention

Through an experimental design, this study examines the mediating role of attitude towards values advocacy advertising sponsored by Miller and McDonald’s. Adopting hierarchy-of effects perspectives, the study examined the role of attitude towards the values advocacy advertising in evaluating purchase intention and issue support behaviour. The study results revealed that A ValuesAdvocacyAd is a mediator for predicting issue support behaviour when consumers perceive a company’s value advocacy advertising as driven by public-serving motives. Purchase intention was directly affected by perceived public-serving motives of the advertisers. Further, a new construct, self-construal, was found as an antecedent to the cognitive construct, consumers’ perceptions towards the advertisers’ intention as public-serving.

The influence of advertising context on perceptions of offense

This study quantitatively investigates the role of context in advertising offensiveness. Specifically, the combined impact of product type, executional style, media channel and audience make‐up were measured. Results revealed variability within and across these elements suggesting that offensiveness is subject to contextual influences. Specifically, products influence perceptions primarily in traditional media, and in the use of nudity, religious references and violence. Interestingly, product identification was shown to temper perceptions of offense; respondents who were not informed of a specific product often found advertising scenarios more offensive than those who were exposed to either a condom, beer, or hand soap scenario. Findings also revealed that ‘other’ media generate the highest overall offense levels and that religious and political values influence perceptions of offense. Contrary to popular belief, nudity and sex were not perceived as offensive, per se. Rather, offensiveness depended largely upon the level of congruency between advertising scenario elements. Overall, the study demonstrates that offensiveness is dependent upon many contextual variables both internal and external to the consumer.

The Role of Gender and Message Strategy in the Perception of Advocacy Advertising

Abstract This study investigates how gender factors and message strategy play a role in the evaluation of advocacy advertising. The results of an experiment (n=245) revealed that womens behavioral intention is enhanced more through a transformational message strategy (emotionally oriented messages) than an informational message strategy. However, inverse effects emerged for men; an informational message strategy was more effective to enhance behavioral intention. This finding indicates females might process self-efficacy and behavioral intention emotionally rather than rationally. Conversely, males may process self-efficacy and behavioral intention rationally. Gender differences also emerged with respect to perceived consumer effectiveness, and message strategy significantly predicted self-efficacy. Interestingly, there were no effects of gender or message strategy in the evaluation of the advertiser.

How Advertising Creatives Define Excellent Planning

Interviews conducted with advertising agency creatives regarding their perception of the account planning process identified a set of personality factors of planners and a set of functional factors of planning that lead to excellent planning. In addition, creatives identified a constantly changing environment that allows less time to do the work as negatively affecting the creative process.

The Role of Account Planning in U.S. Agencies

ABSTRACT It is now accepted that account planning recognizes the complexity of humans and their emotional attachment to products and that this understanding can be translated into effective campaigns extending far beyond advertising. The planning function in U.S. agencies may have progressed beyond only advertising. Jon Steel notes that planners are most useful when they go beyond advertising solutions and into broader business solutions. This article reports the results of a national survey of account planners and is part of a larger study aimed at assessing the attitudes and opinions of planners in the United States. Specifically, the study reported here focuses on the following questions: (1) How is account planning integrated into U.S. advertising agencies? (2) In which areas of strategy planning would account planners like to be more involved? In sum, the results of this study suggest that account planning is integrated up to a certain point in modern full service U.S. advertising agencies, and that planning today is highly integrated into the advertising development process. Further, most planners express high degrees of satisfaction with their involvement in molding consumer perceptions, emotional insights, and lifestyle observations into message strategy or creative briefs for mass advertising. Nevertheless, this study also highlights areas where integration of the account planning function is lacking and in need of improvement. In particular, the areas of media strategy, sales promotion, and public relations development could benefit from insights generated by account planners.

Product Placement in Social Games: Consumer Experiences in China

A phenomenological study reveals the meanings of product placement in social games on social network sites (SNSs) among Chinese urban, white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. In total, 26 face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted. Through inductive analysis, a theoretical model was proposed to catch the rich meanings of product placement in the context of an SNS. Specifically, the study reveals four interpretive themes regarding the meanings of product placements in an SNS: (1) embracing product placement in the SNS, (2) bridging virtual and real-world branding, (3) referencing the framework of product placement, and (4) influencing real-world consumption.