Ilyoung Ju

The influence of life satisfaction on nostalgic advertising and attitude toward a brand

Nostalgic advertising has become a popular means for advertisers to reach their consumers. A viewers life satisfaction is an important factor that may influence the effect of nostalgic advertising. Positive life satisfaction is an important determinant of nostalgic advertising receptivity. Thus, the present study builds a model for the relationships among life satisfaction, nostalgic advertising, emotional response toward a brand, ad attitude and purchase intention. Life satisfaction was identified as an antecedent variable for evoked nostalgia. In addition, emotional response to the advertised brand was shown to be an important predictor of purchase intent. The findings provide insightful implications for marketers and advertisers by identifying meaningful relationships between life satisfaction and nostalgic advertising.

Nostalgic marketing, perceived self-continuity, and consumer decisions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of nostalgic marketing on consumer decisions, including the relation of nostalgia to perceived self-continuity, brand attitude (BA), and purchase intent (PI). Design/methodology/approach The study uses an experimental design that compares individuals’ responses to past-focussed (nostalgic) vs present-focussed (non-nostalgic) advertising across a range of three product types. Analyses include structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate direct and mediated relationships. Findings Nostalgic past-focussed advertisements (as compared to present-focussed advertisements) elicited higher perceived self-continuity which led to more favorable ratings of BA and greater intent to purchase the product. These effects held up regardless of product type. SEM showed that the relation of advertising-evoked nostalgia to BA is partially mediated by consumer’s perceived self-continuity. BA also directly predicted PI. Practical implications These findings provide two implications for marketing managers. First, the perceived self-continuity plays an important role in the success of nostalgia marketing. As such, advertising designed to directly influence perceived self-continuity should be used for framing a nostalgic marketing purposes that aims to connect consumers to particular brands. Second, evoking nostalgia in marketing communications is not just effective for one product type but appears to be useful across a variety of product type (i.e. utilitarian, hedonic, and neutral). Originality/value The study is based within an experiential marketing framework but is innovative in examining the specific experience of nostalgia and linking it to consumer’s identity (i.e. self-continuity). This area has received little attention and appears to be a promising area for future research on consumer decisions.

Future Time Perspective Moderates Consumer Responses to Nostalgic Advertising

Humans remember their past and consider their future. Nostalgic advertising, focused on the personal past, increases positive consumer response to products. This research examines how future time perspective (FTP) moderates that effect. Based on socioemotional selectivity theory, the products studied represent goals individuals have when time feels limited (i.e., camera: familiar, socially focused, emotionally meaningful) or open-ended (i.e., VR-One: novel, information-focused, entertaining). As expected, ad-evoked nostalgia heightens positive consumer response to the camera, increasingly so when FTP feels limited (Study 1; N = 288). For the VR-One, ad-evoked nostalgia again increases positive response but less so when time feels limited (Study 2; N = 283). Thinking about how the past and the future interact to influence consumer preferences in adulthood is discussed.

Are Social Marketing and Advertising Communications (SMACs) Meaningful?: A Survey of Facebook User Emotional Responses, Source Credibility, Personal Relevance, and Perceived Intrusiveness

ABSTRACT As users of social networking sites increase, placing ads on social network site (SNS) platforms is necessary for the medium and the advertiser. This placement does not come without significant concerns the impact of diverse social marketing and advertising communications. To provide a deeper understanding of the feelings of SNS users to marketing and advertising communications, this study measured the emotional responses in the three-dimensional form of appeal, engagement, and empowerment. The study also examined the cognitive or rational variables personal relevance, perceived intrusiveness, and source credibility, to determine their effect and relationship to emotional response on social marketing and advertising communications (SMACs) on Facebook. An online survey among college students revealed that more positive emotional and rational responses were generated toward SMACs that Facebook users re-promoted than toward those SMACs that are directly promoted by marketers. The re-promoted marketing communications appeared as less intrusive and more credible than those that are marketer promoted.

Understanding the Impact of Matchup between Country-of-Origin Facets and Country Stereotypes on Advertising Effectiveness

ABSTRACT Country-of-Origin (COO) information has been used as an advertising appeal. Although it has been confirmed to influence advertising effectiveness, previous research in advertising has not fully taken different COO facets into consideration. This study proposes that two COO facets (Country-of-Assembly (COA) and Country-of-Design (COD)) in advertisements are processed distinctively by consumers. Specifically, COA is processed cognitively, while COD is processed affectively. This study tested the interplay between COO facets and country stereotypes (functional and emotional) on advertising effectiveness. The results present a matchup effect between COO facets and country stereotypes. The results presented a matchup effect, such that participants express more favorable attitude towards the advertisement when they saw COA with a functional country or COD with an emotional country. Product types (utilitarian vs. hedonic) do not influence such a matchup effect. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings as well as future research directions are also discussed.

Facebook fan page: the effect of perceived socialness in consumer–brand communication

ABSTRACT Facebook has become an important platform for a brand–consumer relationship channel. The current study investigates the influence of perceived socialness and its effect on consumers’ attitude toward brands. Participants (N = 404) were recruited in a large southeast university. A 2 (socialness: high vs. low) × 2 (feedback control: high vs. low) × 2 (brand image: high vs. low) between-subject design was conducted. The results of this study identified three important findings. First, high (vs. low) socialness elicited higher perceived relationship commitment, brand trust, and more favorable brand attitude. Second, the effect of socialness on brand attitude was moderated by brand image (positive vs. negative). Third, the mediation analysis showed that the effect of socialness (high vs. low) on brand attitude was fully mediated by perceived relationship commitment and brand trust.

Cultural Differences among Young Adult Consumers in Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea

ABSTRACT This study examines Northeast Asian consumer cultural dimensions and their differences by using Hong Kong, Japanese, and Korean college students as initial data points. While the cultural dimensions of Northeast Asia cannot be represented fully by this limited analysis, these data points provide preliminary insights toward more thoroughly mapping Northeast Asian culture. Common cultural dimensions of normativeness, communitarianism, conservatism, personality expression, and connectedness were identified in this study. Statistically significant differences were found in communitarianism (p < .01), conservatism (p < .001), and connectedness (p < .001). Specifically, Korea is higher than Japan in communitarianism, and Korea and Hong Kong are higher than Japan in conservatism. For connectedness, Japan and Hong Kong are higher than Korea. Also, differences in consumer culture are found. Japan is lower than Korea and Hong Kong in perceptions of promotion and additional values. Korea is higher than Hong Kong and Japan in emotional advertising.