Introduction
A customer’s memory plays a great role in their consumer decision-making process. In advertising, whether or not a customer will buy a product depends on his or her memory. Creativity is a necessity if the ad is going to stick onto a buyer’s memory to influence his/ her decision. Two studies were undertaken to find out the effect of creativity on a customer’s memory of an advert. The first one studied the relationship between creativity, out-of-home ads, and consumers’ memory. With cinema adverts and airport adverts being used as experimental ads, it was established that when compared to creativity, the location of an ad is not significant to a customer’s memory. Study 2 aimed at finding out the effect of creativity on a customer’s attention and recognition of a brand. It was established that creative ads draw the attention of customers and in the process tend to stick on a buyer’s mind. The customer can easily recognize a creatively advertised product.
From the two studies, it can be concluded that creativity has a positive effect on recognition. The results however do not provide a convincing analysis since different types of advertising media were not utilized. Media plays a key role towards recognition and hence must be factored in. The environment must also be varied from low distraction levels to high distraction levels to have a more objective analysis of creativity and memory. Adverts used in the first study were already existing hence were not suitable for recall tests. Respondents may recall the advert from a prior airing and not from the experiment. The second study was based in a classroom environment instead of a real-world setting. The findings of these two studies cannot, therefore, be relied on for determining the effect of creativity on memory.
Creativity via Cartoon Spokespeople in Print Ads
Unlike the traditional print ads which made use of personalized characters, the use of cartoon spokespeople in ads is gaining popularity. For an ad to be effective, it must appeal to its audience. Creativity and entertainment are key to effective ads. The use of animated characters in advertisements instead of human manipulated characters has been a subject of debate. A study was conducted in the US amongst undergraduate students to analyze the effect that animations have on print ads. Different ads with human and cartoon characters were used as experiments. The respondents were required to assess each ad and rate them for likeability and credibility. A questionnaire was provided for the respondents to fill in and give either a favorable or an unfavorable verdict concerning the two ads. Statistics from the study revealed that the use of animated characters is a more creative, distinctive, and interactive method of advertising.
The research however does not give a comprehensive and conclusive account as to the effectiveness of cartoon characters over human characters. The sample was not sufficiently representative as only undergraduate students were used. Despite fair representation in gender, the number of respondents was only 141 who were all between the ages of 18 and 33. Cartoons are popular with young people, hence, the choice of the population in the sample was biased. Apart from print media, non-print media also plays a big role in advertising. Non-print media was not utilized hence the results of the research do not give a true representation. From this research, it would be wrong to state that cartoon ads are more effective than ads with human characters. This research however shows that the use of cartoon characters is a distinctive way of appealing to customers. Distinctiveness alone does not make a great ad, more detailed and representative research would be required to give a true and fair view.
Modeling the persuasive and Emotional Effects of advertising creativity
Ad creativity is a highly researched and documented topic in marketing. It is quite clear that creativity is key to the success of any marketing ad, however not much is known on how the effects of creativity are modeled. Creativity in advertising goes a long way towards influencing a customer to buy a certain product. Consumer response towards a certain product is divided into three stages, Cognitive, affective, and conative. These three stages summarize a customer’s reaction towards an ad from the time he/she sees an ad up to the time he/she makes a final decision to buy the good. When an advertisement is created, it has to be modeled with these three stages of customer reaction in mind. Three studies were carried out in an attempt to find out the effects creativity in advertising has on a customer’s response towards a product. In addition, customer involvement was also tested to determine its effects on cognitive, affective, and conative stages.
The three studies clearly explained the effect of consumer participation in creativity but were at fault due to ambiguity in the term participation. The type of participation required and the level of participation were not clearly stated. The population of the study, for example only 151 respondents in study 1, was not large enough for such research. Demographic varieties in factors such as age, culture, and class in the society ought to be represented in the population of study for a more precise analysis. It is also not explained how advertisers can distinguish between high involvement and low involvement consumers to segment their ads appropriately. From a theoretical mindset, the findings from the results seem accurate but the actual implementation of the findings could prove to be a daunting task.
The effect of Agency Creativity on Campaign Outcomes
Advertising and creativity go hand in hand. For any ad to be effective creativity is one of the key requirements. Advertising creativity has been highly researched but little is known of the effect of agency creativity on the result of the advertising campaign at different levels of the market. A study was conducted in China to establish the kind of effects agency creativity has on the total outcome of the advertising campaign. The population of the study was Chinese advertising agencies. The test established that agency creativity is important for the success of an advertising campaign but creativity must be checked to avoid counter-productivity. Market conditions must also be factored in when it comes to creativity. If there is high competitive intensity and low market dynamism, high creativity is required. For a market characterized with a high market dynamism and low competitive intensity, the agency should stick to traditional forms of advertising.
Although this study provides a glimpse into the role of agency creativity in campaign outcomes, it is not representative of other markets in the world as it was based solely on the Chinese market. There is also ambiguity in the distinction between over creativity and appropriate creativity. The target audience, the agency, and the firm may have subjective opinions as to what should pass as creative. In addition, the consequences of excessive creativity are also not spelled out clearly. Apart from competitive intensity and dynamism, more market variables such as target group demographics should have been incorporated into the study for a more accurate analysis. Albeit it can be unanimously agreed that agency creativity has a positive effect on the outcome of advertising campaigns, the research carried out does not provide a precise analysis.