Henry Assael

A Demographic and Psychographic Profile of Heavy Internet Users and Users by Type of Internet Usage

ABSTRACT With the penetration rate of the web approaching 70 percent, profiles of general web usage are less important. Web marketers must begin to focus on the profile of heavy web users and users by type of web usage. This article develops a demographic and lifestyle profile of heavy web users (those using the web for 20 hours a week or more) based on a survey of over 5,000 respondents. It also identifies six key web usage categories—Web Generalists, Downloaders, Self-Improvers, Entertainment Seekers, Stock Traders, and Socializers—and develops a profile of each. This may be the first study providing a detailed demographic and lifestyle description of both heavy users and web usage types. The profiles should be useful to web marketers for selecting media and setting the tone of their marketing effort in targeting these groups.

From Silos to Synergy

ABSTRACT Before the advent of the Internet, media planning focused on individual media and used exposure—opportunity to see—as the criterion of effectiveness. Since then, the focus has shifted to the interaction between media (particularly on- and offline media) with a shift in emphasis to opportunity to act and to sales and ROI measures of effectiveness. This article traces the move from silos to synergy over a 50-year period, much of it reported in the Journal of Advertising Research. After 1994, the concept of synergy came to be increasingly identified with interactive media effects. Most notably, a few researchers saw the importance of tying cross-media effects to sales and ROI because, as one study found, media allocation criteria differ under conditions of synergy compared to the traditional silo framework for budgetary decisions. Although much has been accomplished as described herein, the promise of cross-media research has yet to be achieved. Interactive media studies have tended to focus on limited paired media comparisons. Key areas of synergistic effects such as the distinction between sequential and simultaneous media exposure have yet to be explored. And only two studies could be cited that sought to utilize cross-media effects to establish media allocation criteria based on the association of media interactions to ROI. Of most importance is the lack of reliable measures of cross-media effects. Ideally, single-source systems would measure multi-media exposure and purchase behavior for the same respondent. The data burden placed on respondents, however, makes such systems difficult to implement. The technology resulting in the proliferation of media has outstripped the means to measure cross-media effectiveness. Until adequate measures of interactive media effects are developed, cross-media research will not reach its full potential.

Cognitive Response Involvement Model of the Process of Product Evaluation Through Advertising Exposure and Trial

Abstract A model is proposed of the effect of advertising exposure and trial upon product evaluation from a cognitive response perspective. LISREL VI was utilized to test the hypothetical model under conditions that vary in terms of the degree of advertising content processing involvement. The results reveal that across involvement conditions, different cognitions intervene between disconfirmation and posttrial evaluation. That is, under higher involvement conditions, counterargumentation shows a negative linkage to posttrial evaluation, whereas under relatively lower involvement, support argumentation is directly linked to posttrial evaluation. Moreover, ad exposure proved to be more influential in the formation of product evaluation in the higher involvement condition.

Product classification and the theory of consumer behavior

Product classifications have been used as a normative framework to generalize product characteristics and market responses. To be more useful in guiding marketing strategy, classification schemes should incorporate the characteristics of the consumers decision process. This article attempts to establish the link between product classification and consumer decision theory by demonstrating a direct association between Copelands well-known convenience-shopping goods typology and the Howard-Sheth model of consumer decision-making.

Consumer Surveys vs. Electronic Measures for Single-Source Data

ABSTRACT MRI viewing data were compared to Nielsen ratings across 84 programs to determine whether one system could serve as a single-source surrogate for the other. Exposure to TV Program was determined among owners/users for 17 categories identified by both MRI and NTI, constituting single-source data. Since these categories were common to both MRI and NTI, this allowed a test of the comparability of each system on a single-source basis. The findings showed that MRI and NTI are reasonable surrogates on the absolute level of program viewing on a product-specific basis. But they are poor surrogates when it comes to the relative performance of a program compared to the total population by product category. Since relative performance of a program for a user/owner group is an important criterion of media selection, this raises questions about whether one system can be regarded as a single-source surrogate for the other. Possible reasons for these disparities are explored.

Using Viewer Attitudes to Evaluate TV Program Effectiveness

ABSTRACT Measures of TV program effectiveness rely on exposure broken out by demographic categories as the standard for purchasing commercial time. Attitudes toward a program might provide supporting evidence regarding program effectiveness. Yet such data are not typically used in the negotiations between advertisers and networks in TV buys. This article examines the key hypothesis that program attitudes are related to future program exposure. It demonstrates that program attitudes in a prior period are at least as strongly related to subsequent exposure as is exposure to the program in prior periods. The analyses also found that program familiarity has a positive effect on subsequent exposure only in conjunction with positive attitudes. Independent of positive attitudes, familiarity has little effect on subsequent exposure.

Message and Non-Message Elements in Advertising: Does Involvement Matter?

Recent research in attitude formation and change suggests a dichotomy of processing strategies upon exposure to a communication, predicated on consumer involvement level (Petty and Cacioppo 1979; Chaiken 1980). Research in Social Psychology has also shown attitude formation to be a function of the interaction of message characteristics with involvement level (Johnson and Scileppi 1969; Rhine and Severance 1970). The current study examines the linkage between involvement levels and the processing of message and non-message elements in a communication, building on research streams in Marketing and Social Psychology.

The Impact of TV Program Involvement on Program Attitudes and Subsequent Exposure

The primary criterion in evaluating TV programs is Nielsen ratings, that is, viewer exposure to TV programs. An important issue in media analysis is whether qualitative criteria should be used in addition to exposure. The assumption in using Nielsen ratings is that past exposure is the best predictor of future exposure. This is a reasonable assumption, but a recent analysis has concluded that program attitudes are at least as closely related to future Nielsen ratings as past ratings (Assael and Poltrack, forthcoming.) The conclusion of this study was that qualitative criteria should be used in the up-front negotiations in evaluating programs in addition to Nielsen ratings.