Sajeev Varki

The Differential Effect of Ad Novelty and Message Usefulness on Brand Judgments

We examine the differential effects of ad novelty and message usefulness—frequently conceptualized as the two major dimensions of ad creativity—on the following variables: attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, brand trust, ad recall, and brand recall. Novelty and usefulness influence attitude toward the brand, but only usefulness influences brand trust. Both relationships are mediated by attitude toward the ad. We also investigate how novelty and usefulness influence recall by both type (brand and ad) and duration (short term and long term). We find that novelty leads to better short-term ad recall, whereas usefulness leads to better short-term and long-term brand recall.

Loyalty and Its Antecedents: Are the Relationships Static?

The marketing literature has proposed that customer loyalty to brands grows through phases (R. L. Oliver, 1999) or conditions (A. S. Dick & K. Basu, 1994) and has linked many antecedent constructs to the development of loyalty. What has not been determined is whether the relationships between loyalty and its antecedents remain constant as customers pass through loyalty phases or conditions. This research examines the relationships between loyalty and four antecedent constructs in three different loyalty phases/conditions and demonstrates that the relationships are not static but rather are dependent upon the loyalty phase/condition.

Active White Space (AWS) in Logo Designs: Effects on Logo Evaluations and Brand Communication

In this article, we explore Active White Space (AWS)—the space between individual logo design elements—as a stylistic modification that revamps a logo design yet preserves its extant associations. Across three studies, we find AWS to be an effective stylistic logo tool. In Study 1, we find that adding AWS to pictorial logos improves their visual evaluation. In Study 2, we find this positive evaluation to spillover to verbal brand aspects such that logo designs with AWS are perceived to communicate brand descriptions more clearly. In Study 3, we find that logo designs with AWS benefit sophisticated brand personalities the most, followed by sincere, exciting, and competent brand personalities, with no effect on rugged brand personalities.

Effects of Perspective on Consumers’ Judgment of Marketplace Transgression: An Abstract

Consumer transgression is an emerging field of study within service marketing (Fullerton and Punj 2004; Harris and Reynolds 2004; Jones et al. 2011; Lovelock 1994; Tonglet 2002). Some of the topics that service scholars have examined include contagious effects of consumer transgressions in access-based services such as car sharing (Schaefers et al. forthcoming), territorial behaviors (Griffiths and Gilly 2012), customer rage (Surachartkumtonkun et al. 2014), spectator rage (Grove et al. 2013), employees dealing with dysfunctional customer behavior (Gong et al. 2014; Harris and Reynolds 2003), snubs and betrayals in relationship transgression (Jones et al. 2011), theft (Cox et al. 1993; Tonglet 2002), and consumer retaliation as a response to dissatisfaction (Huefner and Hunt 2000). However, there is scarce research on how consumers view their own misbehavior and how managers could influence consumers’ own view of their misbehavior. In addition, whereas past service literature focuses on identifying the antecedents, consequences, and typologies of consumer transgressions in specific service sectors (Harris and Daunt 2011), studies investigating the cognitive processes underlying customer transgressions remain lacking (Fisk et al. 2010; Schaefers et al. forthcoming). This study fills these gaps in the service literature.

The Impact of Adding “ Active ” White Space to a Logo Design on the Clarity of Brand Communication and Evaluation: A Structured Abstract

Advertising research suggests that the use of white space increases readability, engages attention, reduces clutter, adds depth, and enhances the focal message delivery (Ambler and Hollier 2004; Pracejus et al. 2006; Olsen et al. 2012). Research on logo design also places a great emphasis on design simplicity, as a minimal design elucidates a more clear or vivid brand meaning, and facilitates easier recognition and recall (Janiszewski and Meyvis 2001; Pimentel and Heckler 2003). The current research attempts to bring these two research streams together in exploring the effects of adding white space to nonverbal logo designs on brand perceptions.

The Influence of Online Product Review Variance on Consumer Evaluations: An Examination of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Cues

This research examines the potential for variance in online product reviews to have differential effects on consumers’ product evaluations depending upon the type of intrinsic and extrinsic cues employed by the consumer. Drawing on the accessibility-diagnosticity framework, we predict that higher levels of variance among product review ratings (e.g. 1-star vs. 5-star) will have a deleterious effect on consumers’ product evaluations; however this effect may be offset depending upon the type of intrinsic and extrinsic cues involved in consumer’s evaluation of the product. Our results suggest that in the absence of additional diagnostic information, greater variance among product review ratings creates uncertainty, thereby diminishing purchasing intentions. Evidence is also found for an interaction between the online reviews variance and product attribute type, such that when review variance is low, no difference is observed between search and experience attributes; however when variance is high, the diagnosticity of search attributes is diminished, resulting in lower purchase intentions. From an extrinsic cue perspective, our study finds that only the credibility of the reviewer source and not brand equity, serves to offset the negative influence of product review variance on consumers’ purchase intentions.

Creativity and Visual Complexity

In theory, a good ad gets noticed. However, the sheer volume of advertisements creates challenges for advertisers who want to want to create ads that break through the clutter to get a consumer’s attention. Advertisers may increase the visual complexity of advertisements to break through the clutter. Visual complexity can draw the viewer into the ad, increasing their involvement in message processing. On the other hand, visual complexity may confuse the ad’s receiver, distracting him/her from the advertisement’s message, or reducing the perceived relevance of the ad’s message. Therefore, it is important to understand more about how complexity affects perceptions of the ad’s creativity and the ad’s effectiveness.