Fuyuan Shen

Banner Advertisement Pricing, Measurement, and Pretesting Practices: Perspectives from Interactive Agencies

Abstract This study reports findings from a survey of media directors of interactive advertising agencies regarding how they price, evaluate, and pretest banner ads. Results suggest that more than 90% of the responding agencies used cost per thousand frequently to price banner ads, whereas about 33% used click-throughs. In addition, a majority of the agencies used click-throughs and outcomes (e.g., inquires, purchases) rather than exposures to gauge banner advertising effectiveness. Although few agencies pretested their banner ads on a regular basis, most perceived the lack of measurement standards and independent auditing of Web sites as major problems facing Internet banner advertising. Findings from this study should provide benchmarks for future research on the topic and help facilitate the process of developing viable pricing and measurement standards on the Internet.

The Effects of Interactivity on Cross-Channel Communication Effectiveness

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of web site interactivity on consumers’ trust in brands and product evaluations, and their subsequent purchase intentions in a multi-channel context. Results from the experiment indicated that through greater interactivity, individuals developed greater trust in the vendor and better understanding of its products. Further, it was demonstrated that trust and product evaluation carried interactivity’s influence onto not only online purchase intention, but also offline purchase intention at a brand-specific business level. These findings indicate that online interactivity can have broad implications for multi-channel marketing.

Contextual Priming and Applicability: Implications for Ad Attitude and Brand Evaluations

Prior research has found that advertising contextual information can affect how consumers evaluate the target ad as well as the brand. This study extends the existing research by investigating how the immediate and longterm effects of contextual priming on ad attitudes and brand evaluations may differ due to the low or high applicability of the contexts to the advertised brand. Results in the first experiment revealed significant interactions between context and applicability, while results from the second experiment indicated that, after a delay, context had significant main effects on ad attitude and brand evaluations regardless of the applicability levels. These findings have both theoretical and managerial implications.

Impact of Narratives on Persuasion in Health Communication: A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis assessed the persuasive effects of narratives in health communication. A search of the literature identified 25 studies (N = 9,330) that examined the effects of narratives on persuasion as measured by changes in attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Analyses of the effect sizes indicated that, overall, narratives had a small impact on persuasion (r = .063, p < .01). Narratives delivered via audio and video produced significant effects; print-based narratives, however, did not exhibit a significant impact. Further, not all health issues were equally affected by narrative messages aiming at intervention. Those narratives that advocated detection and prevention behaviors led to significant effects, whereas those advocating cessation behaviors did not have significant effects. These findings offer both theoretical and practical implications.

Stories that Count: Influence of News Narratives on Issue Attitudes

This paper examines the impact of using narratives to frame a political issue on individuals’ attitudes. In an experiment, we asked participants to read either narrative or informational news articles that emphasized the potential economic benefits or environmental consequences associated with shale gas drilling. Results indicated both news formats (narrative vs. informational) and frames (environmental vs. economic) had significant immediate effects on issue attitudes and other responses; narrative environmental news had a significantly greater impact than informational environmental news. Cognitive responses and empathy were significant partial mediators of narrative impact. Environmental narratives also had a more significant impact on individuals’ delayed issue attitudes.

Audience Reaction to Commercial Advertising in China in the 1980s

This article reports findings from two surveys conducted in 1987: the first involved over 25,000 television viewers throughout China and the second interviewed more than 1,100 urban residents of Be...

Communicating the Risks of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Effects of Message Framing and Exemplification

Health messages can be either informative or descriptive, and can emphasize either potential losses or gains. This study, guided by message framing theory and exemplification theory, specifically investigated the combined effects of messages with loss–gain frames mixed with statistics or exemplar appeals. The findings revealed a series of main effects and interactions for loss–gain frames and statistics-exemplar appeals on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) prevention intention, intention to know more, perceived severity, perceived fear, perceived external efficacy, and perceived internal efficacy. The gain-statistics appeal showed an advantage in promoting perceived efficacy toward FASD, while the loss-exemplar appeal revealed an advantage in increasing prevention intention, perceived severity, and perceived fear toward FASD. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Effects of Soft-Money Issue Advertisements on Candidate Evaluation and Voting Preference: An Exploration

This empirical study assessed the effects of negative issue advertisements sponsored by both political candidates and soft-money political organizations. An experiment was conducted to see how negative issue advertisements sponsored by different political entities affect peoples assessment of the political candidates and voting decisions. Results provide strong support for the hypothesis that negative advertisements significantly lowered assessments of the target candidate and backfired against the sponsoring candidate. However, the backlash effects were minimal when negative advertisements were sponsored by soft-money political organizations. These results suggest that even in the absence of express advocacy to vote for or against political candidates, soft-money negative issue advertisements could produce the intended detrimental impact while avoiding boomerang effects.

Joint Advertising and Brand Congruity: Effects on Memory and Attitudes

This research examined how brand congruity in joint advertising affects individuals’ processing of advertising messages. An experiment was conducted whereby ads promoting two congruent or incongruent brands were presented to subjects under low versus high processing load. Results showed that advertising messages for congruent brands were better remembered under both high and low processing loads. However, ads with congruent brands led to positive attitudes only when subjects’ processing resources were constrained. These findings suggest congruent brands that appear in joint ads have a clear advantage over incongruent brands. The results have both practical and theoretical implications.

Regulatory focus and attribute framing: Evidence of compatibility effects in advertising

This study examined the effects of regulatory focus and the framing of product attributes in advertisements. An experiment with a 2×2×2 between-subjects design was conducted to see if the compatibility among regulatory focus, frames and product attributes could affect ad and brand attitudes, and purchase intention. Participants’ regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention) was primed whereas frames (gain vs. loss) and product attributes (hedonic vs. utilitarian) were manipulated in advertisements. Results revealed a series of two-way interactions as well as a three-way interaction among regulatory focus, frames and product attributes, suggesting the importance of compatibility among these variables in creating effective advertising messages.