Creativity in Print Advertising: A Test of the Remote Associate Matching Model

•

am]

ABSTRACT The aim ofthis paper is to test a structural model of creativity in print advertising called the ,Remote Associate Matching (RAM) model. This model states that the essence of creativity lies in being able to associate seemingly remote, or unusual ideas together, such that they are linked to the attribute or benefit of the advertised product. Three essential components of the RAM model are the conveyor (ie. the unusual picture in the ad), the productrepresentation (ie. the advertised product or service), and the attribute-benefit prompt (ie. the headline or copy).

Creativity in Print Advertising: A Test of the Remote Associate Matching Model Lawrence Ang Macquarie Graduate School of Management Macquarie University Australia

The main hypothesis is that the more remote the ad, the more likely it is perceived to be creative, provided the target audience can make the attribute or benefit link between the conveyor (ie. the unusual picture in the ad) and the product-representation (ie. the advertised product or service).

In an experiment using 6 print ads for two product categories, three levels of remoteness and two levels ofresolution were manipulated. The predicted effect was consistently found across two product categories, thus supporting the new theory.

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL. VOLUME 8, No.1

r.xm

INTRODUcnON

Whilll lbiI

Crnbvily III ~ iII id le410 be .. ~ upm 01' od\um.... BuI R.nd.. ~ .... Del..(1991) pcltIlI01 SlIrp.ui!l& lhal ... ",-e move mlO the "".. mil1cnftiwn, ~l'('llivil)' in od"cnisma wlllJ'OUSCl rruch dtholC ond rhcIOric (Lukas 1998).

....'iptocl

Mu:" (RAM) mockl (o\so _ Rossi1cr IIld Percy 1997). Cono:qla>olise
One poaible re...,., ..iIy link provea Iw bcea made ill bc1Ico" IIfIdenuDdio& u
cratMly, ~ y "'". of Medaic:k (I962). Mcdmck'i (1962) 1boDry ofawivil)o llMicaIIy 10 ohc C Il'nd _ _ lho1 crall"" "'"'*"'a ;0 die

or

a - """

o:INCfWlOl modI-l

or ..t.w· ... _1IY . . bcea puI

........ Widloul a

"

....

""

~1lo<

'" modcI, M is diffic"k 10

ek_0I' ... o d ~

10 ;be p",cepOA 0( CRaI>ily .... lleola: make unpioic:al

-.. ,...ibk

Suell a modI-l will belp make

p""...

by clon/Yull:

0DaICI

of racarch help IIIleO«r 1loc _jot

or. it doei_ IeU .. !Iow 1bis ... ";epbooo

u.o.t. F..-

auvily c_1bour?

How !be perception of

2.

How vorioos C"lri"o < oltcnlion and
3.

1I0w creali";l)' infIl>tnccJ ad ottilUdc ond brand

ill

IlJ\

III infhoeto::e

IttiNde?

nlE RAM MODEL _ MOVING FRG:\I PERCEJ>1l0N TO STRUCTliRE Who1. cnwiV\l)'1 H_ do poopk ... ,,,,,i.e if? 0... arQ UID. belp ... _ _ ...-e iftfo>rmtd

0( me:.dI .....

. . . dInI quno;... "'" ;be r.coo. ..,.]yloCIIl wdics of aho_,... p::iCCpbooo (La..... 1970: Sc.llol:Doc<:r 1979; zWbao ud Bon- 1989; Ad:a- .... 511)1l'1li 199O)Sue....... fOund liIal poopk lIUId 10 ... ra:i ... ads ... IIaYIIII 0 IUIIbn

or wodnlyina ~ nnca. rn-

4 10 9, """"'c 1Ioc5c, . - comiuml dllromsiOlo ...hio
e, how do !be UNcIlnl cadi ........ 10 IIlIIb . .

tive, aripoaI _

Id crali\-e _ ..... iI ckwr,

or Ihit

~? 1K aim pe=pbOa .... I'ftIC'II

~ II . . ~

.... _

a

!his

IIlI'I.w:Ual IDlIdd

or

crntmIY ill priJU ~~ aolkd .... & ~

I!lcofyor....ativily.

THEORETICAL ORlGIl" OF TIlE RAM MOI)EL OF' CREATIVITY The dOCOio"'ol dcvelopmcDi or the RAM mockl iI InIIucnccd ""'Y owcb by 1l'IditioIlII 1booricI of

Ii,

abdily '"

men

t

_.ibiw: c

"'- "'-"'I 1II'OldI.. 'roct' ..... of _

or ....... b:I901edcc fJom

FOf if . - -... t:ivm l'IOO 'wore', JUdI d\aI die bmcr ",ren 10 a -hUe ;be Ioua rera. 10 0 oolIecQoa of

orne""..- .....-cbaDcliIe, Ihnl.- .....yof IiaI:iDa ... l'IOO "'OrdI 1iII
I,

"1M

elmnu ill 1loc od inomc1

beco_" """"

Ibrouib

lhc --.1, '!wd'. l'lUI is

be linlrll
'hud'

CIIfl

Aanl 'OCt .... Iu",Iv......,. Thus, by lUina: !be 'JlIO'd. 'hud' a new comllinllion is found wilh these Iwu words. Fi&\l
A......... inf1I>cMioImockl 0( auri>ily illhol of INa(1971). ..iIo pwtublOd a ..,.,....,tIIt IinaIor idea willllIiI coaccpt or 1I\efa1 lb";". no ............. 10 be ~otive: III poWlcm tnak _ or ;be - '

oom..c. .- .....

modi- • doinI:;"" lila. io. 10 1hiat auISick !be - ' boo.ooldMics. BuI Iloauw . . II "n)' ditricuh 10 .... he "<: I ....... 0 ..hok J(I of .......... led . Ion (e,Co, p1o.ocaliuu .... .-Iono IIlpIC; _INS- 1992, P. 16J.IIJ) 10 acIlievc _ T1liI .......Jd JubHquMly ..ad 10 ..... pallenM of ..., ....pIl
(ie., "po"):_ '"Ci&aUllC (PO) !rlffIC li"'l"

FIGURE! A figure illustrating the idea of associating NO remote words, 'rock'and 'ware' using a third, 'hard'

bisociated to two different planes of meaning, notunllke the notion of remote domains in the· case of Mednick (1962)i.

Ware

Rock

Hard

/

may set off a new train of thought about ways of discouraging cigarette smoking. This provocation may lead to the suggestion of printing a red band (triggered by the word, 'traffic light') around a cigarette a certain distance from the butt. Smoking beyond this band would indicate a "danger zone". Therefore by having a random word in the problem statement, a new suggestion for encouraging non-smoking has been found. In other words, the· aim is to encourage ourselves to say "something outside reality in order to bump us out of our usual thinking patterns" (DeBono 1994,p.13, italics added). In the· context of Mednick's (1962) theory, the use of a random word is similar to the idea of a choosing a word from a remote domain. Another early scholar of creativity was Koestler (1964). In trying to understand creativity in humour, he postulated that very often the essence of a joke relies on using words that have more than one meaning. This occurs because more than one context is often evoked. Because such words are associated with two different meanings (a property called bisociation), the reader will need to oscillate between these two different planes of meanings in order to understand the joke. According to Koestler (1964), puns are classic examples of this idea. More recently, McQuarrie and Mick (1992) conceptualised this idea using the tenn, "resonance". For instance, take the following headline for a golf tournament:

Finally, the metaphor theory should be briefly mentioned because it shares the idea of temotenesswith Mednick's theory even though it is not strictly a theory of creativity. According to Richards (1936), a metaphor is explicitly made up of the tenor (which is the subject or primary focus of the argument), and a vehicle (which is the phrase use to imply something about the subject or tenor). For instance, consider the headline, ''Prior sports watch - it's a kaleidoscope on your wrist". In this example the phrase, "sports watch" is the tenor, while "kaleidoscope" is the vehicle. As a pair of nouns, they originate from different domains (ie., a sports watch and a kaleidoscope do not belong to the same category), yet they are juxtaposed together, a common technique in metaphors (Tourangeau and Sternberg 1982). The remoteness of a tenor and a vehicle in metaphor is therefore similar to the idea of remote domains of Mednick (1962). Taking the lead from these earlier scholars on creativity, the RAM model basically states that the essence of creativity lies in being able to associate seemingly remote, or unusual ideas together, such that they are linked to an attribute or benefit of the advertised product. According to the RAM model, a print ad is perceived to be creative (ie., clever, imaginative and amusing) when a seemingly unusual, unrelated or remote picture, termed conveyor, can be linked to an attnbute or benefit of the advertised product. (This attribute or benefitllnkage is often found in the headline or copy). In other words, one can think of the conveyor (ie., the remote picture) and the advertised product as coming from two different domains. And according to Mednick (1962), the essence of creativity is in being able to link these two different domain-elements together. Thus, from the literature review above, one can begin to see the similarity between Mednick's (1962) original idea of creativity with the other theories, including the RAM model.

"Come see the shooting stars".

TYPES OF VISUAL UNUSUALNESS On one hand, the words, "shooting stars" can literally mean the celestial bodies as in astronomy. But on the other hand, they imply that celebrity golf players are taking part in the tournament In the context of Koestler's theory, the words "shooting stars" are

Having discussed the theoretical origin of the RAM model, let's turn to visual unusualness. What does it mean for a picture to be visually unusual? It is only by understanding this can one begin to. understand the idea of visual "remoteness".

AUSTRALASIAN MARIOITING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No.1

[ill

II is COIICcplLlI.lited by d>e oulhor IN.l 10 be ua_1 _ 10 be itMistic.ally ~ T1Iis ......Iy _

be temIOd IS 'visual-p-oduc\ ,e"IGkIiUil·. Ia otbu--.1i ~ 10 ads ill the ...... product CI!CJOfY, AIdI I

0IlI of Ille on1ilIaIy. 01 ......., lpC'Ci(lClllly, owide

",_tilled MIDdanII 01 ....... Bill III

....u

1IIQ

judp:oelll, .... ~ __ be :obk III - . - ' \he ¥isoa&l III _ _ _ be 01 . . p"'.... 'C' 01 bat

KlInlal T1liI .......,Iic:al po;>:optcub' smiIot III KNmemoa and Miller'1 (19S6) GDfIIl dIaIry of dtcilioo _I' Co aod. IG EIer!)1Ic', (1960) ida. 0/ colIao'" . ' .... ",oputiu. 10 sbon, wtlII • _ _ III be ......" ~ dot""odi ¥ef)' GIlIdI GO ...toll _ _

'* •

adI ~ brioIp III lle jo Based GIl d>iI idiN, it illIotclfiIcd 1lAI 3 t 1M' au ad III I ~ III pel";" au loCI III J.>e IG IImlSlIII ......., .j

Cwti...

'1, \he ob;cct dot....44 ill .... Y\i\lIl msy

be ldoIlievIbIc 0IlWU1islic, uri'" b) Cocdi.ioo 1Iloo ....""" may be ...uq"., 01 rln'ly

RF.soUTIlON: CO~lPREIU;NSIONVIA ATTRlBUTE-BEl"Ef1T L .....' KACE No _ _ .... fonrJ of >iaoaI '."'''''''', ..... ~" j.1 __

'I"

a , . . - is..." a41 II .llo«Joiw 1!baI tlIiI _ wIteo Ibo ..uias: poioI of . . loCI I dear. 10 Glbrr - . . ....... lbe ~ 'W t . . . . . . . . . . tIe.......t YisuaI. used IG 1011 .... pRHIun. To pill it ill IGGlba _y, comp-e.....ioo ocaIQ lbe nn'" 0/ \he ltGtaoua1 picaft _ ..... lle .IIN 0 I 6, of" ad
n,

-.. '" ~illI. cj

OI/and Condition 113, lhc object may be I(N"lI
1"heIe conditions are b«t illustrated willi I few .xa....I... Finlly, In object in \he pictun: CIII be Ilt.red (IlIma l'aphicll oicb) ill '\lOh I ....y wt it i' no long.. rellislie (ie., coodilion '1). A aood 'JWqlIc: nfthis it. print loCI for • bnnd of mo«>t oil (Essuj .we " JlIowI a ~ of I car l\lsed "'lb WI of lliger. One CIllImn

'0 ..

this as ot;eet-domaiD ~ words. ~ 10 I oormaI Ii", (01 car), I , d . viIuIJ it

-,.

S
I

piocIun:

QU

abo be ltGtaoua1 becauw it ..

leI'. like lbc ~Ic: of the Ford prioI ad. It . . . , a picNre of I juuJer lUGCialed 'l'ilb tie Fun! brud name. Initially, !his would indue. I puzzle: in tie reid... This would ill lUm mnlivalO tie ~adet 10 Harch for tie Hlli"i poiDI oflhc ad. "The: HltCb"';lI 1.1d lhc reader In \he beldline: sine:e this it usually tie rlfll tIGp.1ter lbc picnu-. of lbc Id is ocanned (Fruen 1994). II ~adl, "Forde..., p<"enti I ro--oo-dinated approacb to car buyiQ,r. II it ooly by readio& lhc beadlinc: lhal tie liJlk bu_aL jugkr and .... """"iii of F ~ is made: I '.-diI;a44 approat:h .• IL otba WOldt, !be nn~iaa or ......iaIioo of the jugIc:I _ I ~ • bat ...... ..-·Ii...... olciIlI - bat bem .-d 10 hi,blip tie l:nn4. 10 odter words. the GIIln1 0/ tbo: ........J viIuaI _ 10 mapify \he lIrJftod beoefiI of

nrdy uwd io IdvuIKinrI C .... -.diliool n). For !be """" 1991l1, B • ...... ... oridl I ICriotI of _.alia! priIlI .... iodod" • pO:ue 0/ I ~ dyq 01 AIDS - . • _ bani belly widI ill

1Iloo pRHIun. wa I maICb U
I "'0 I' cord Iri11 anacW (Millu. 1991). Nobody ~...... '" W' 10 _ IUdI • pimft -.I ;. IG)' act>mis.... ODe au Imo ItM I I ~ ••_

nCUREI.

iN"...., ; .

.....,.

10 . . -0. .Oi..... od IG ............ _b ........

ol"

_.-

/_-' •

ia

Fiully, • priol od uo abo be .........1 becauIe lbe

-urioo betwfta Ibo ............ the produo:t •• tecorY it low (ie., condition U). for .~Ie, I prioIld for Ford tho.... I piclun: ofo jUUler balancilli a IIUII1bcr of hoopt (as ollen...,. in .irelll), At rlfSt ,lance, uno may wor>der why I juaaJ.. i. uoed in I car Id? T1lo: W1......1neu lhcref~ I,ems !Tom lhc low lUGCillion belWttG lie picture Ind lbc producl CllCiOlY. Thil eln

../

.-·1- .-

"-

/

/_-..... ,

"

./

To summarise, the tactic is to use the unusual picture (ie., conveyor) to att:ntctthe attention of the reader. And since the picture·is obscure or remote, its relationship to the. .product is initially a puzzle. This will in turn motivate the reader to search for the· attribute-benefit of the product When this is found (ie., usually in the headline or copy), the reader then tries to match the association of the unusual picture with the attributebenefit When this happens, it leads to comprehension because the reason for using the unusual picture is now clear. Figure 2 illustrates the process.

RESOLUTION NEEDS PROCESSING TIME As one can .imagine, a creative ad of this nature is not straightforward. It is not simply showing the product and the headline. This is because there is an extra component (ie., the conveyor) that on fU'St glance does not seem to be related to the product. The reader then has to put in some effort to make the associative link. This requires time. In other words, resolution is more likely to occur if there is enough time for people to process the ad. There is theoretical support for this reasoning. For instance it is well known within the cognitive as well as in the advertising literature that the more unusual the picture, the longer people tend to fixate on it in order to understand it (Berlyne 1960; Houston, Childers and Heckler 1987; Ratneshwar and Chaiken 1991; Goodstein 1993). It is thus theorised that an ad will be perceived to be more creative (ie., clever, imaginative and amusing) if the visual is extremely unusual and yet can be linked to the product attribute or benefit. When this occurs, the selling point of the ad becomes clear, and there is comprehension. However, for this linkage or resolution to occur, the reader must be given enough time to process the ad.

HYPOTHESES With this basic theoretical framework in place, five hypotheses will now be formally stated. It is hypothesised that the greater the remoteness of the conveyor, the more creative the ad will be, but only if subjects were given enough time to process the ad. If exposure time is limited, then there is a lower probability that this matching will occur, leading to an attenuation of the creativity ratings. This leads to the following hypotheses:

Ht: Ads with remote conveyors will be perceived to be more creative if subjects are given enough time to process the ad. H2: The creativity effect in HI will become attenuated when the exposure time is limited. Making the ad creative is only the first step. How does the perception of creativity affect brand attitude? It is . theorised that this occurs via ad attitude, that is, the initial effect of creativity will be on ad attitude. There are two sources of evidence for this. First, in prelitniDary studies, it was often observed that when respondents come across a "clever" ad, they are also more likely to say, "I like it". Secondly, this utterance of likeability is also reported in a phenomenological interview conducted by McQuarrie and Mick (1992, p. 192). It is therefore theorised that the more remote the ad, the more favourable will be the ad attitude provided that the subjects think that the ad is creative - that is provided they have sufficient time to make the attribute-benefit link to the unusual visual (following HI and H2 above), H3: Ads with remote conveyors will produce greater ad attitude if subjects are given sufficient time to process the unusual visual (ie., remote ads). Once a favourable ad attitude is formed (because of its creativity), it will in turn lead to a more favourable brand attitude. The relationship between ad attitude and brand attitude has been known for some time (e.g.,. Mitchell and Olson 1981; Lutz, Mackenzie and Belch 1983; Mackenzie, Lutz, and Belch 1986). In a meta-analysis of 43 studies involving ad attitude, the relationship between ad attitude and brand attitude was also confirmed to be an important one (r=.67) (Brown and Stayman, 1992). Furthermore, ad attitude was also found to be an important factor in discriminating winning ads from losing ads as defined by sales (Haley and Baldinger 1991; c.f., Rossiter and Eagleson 1994).

In the current context, it can be hypothesised that ad attitude mediates between creativity and brand attitude. In other words, creativity leads to favourable ad attitude which in turn influences brand attitude. It therefore follows that the brand attitude effects are likely to be larger provided that the subjects think that the ad is creative - that is provided they have sufficient time to make the attribute-benefit link (following HI and H2 above).

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No.1

H4: Ad attitude will mediate between creativity and brand attitude.

H5: Brand attitude effects will be larger if subjects are given sufficient time. In summarising, the predicted increase in brand attitude, ad attitude and creativity is more likely to occur if subjects were given enough time to process the remote conveyors. However, if exposure time is limited, then comprehension will be affected, leading to an attenuation of all the effects. Under such circumstances, the remote conveyor will not be as effective.

To test these hypotheses, experimental print ads are developed using the structural model as a guide. A total of six print ads were created using the product categories of chilli sauce and soft drinks. There were three ads for each product category, such that each was increasingly more remote. They are as follows:

2.

3.

PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTAL MANIPULATION CHECK Prior to the main experiment, a separate experiment was carried out to check whether the independent v~ables (ie., resolution and remoteness) were well manipulated. The experimental design and instructions were exactly the same as the main experiment except that the dependent variables were not measureq to prevent contamination of the independent variables (perdue and Summers 1986).

EXPERIMENTAL STIMULI

1.

To make sense of these pictures, headlines are added to the pictures. The attribute-benefit link of each product category is inserted into the headline so that the selling point of each ad is clear. In the case of the soft drink, the attnbute-benefit link is 'extra energy' with the headline, "ONE - the drink that gives you that extra energy". The attribute-benefit for chilli sauce is 'hot' with the headline, "Sanja chilli sauce - it is hot". (Note that the brand names, ONE and Sanjay, used in these ads are fictitious in nature).

The first ad simply shows the product (e.g., soft drink can or bottle of chilli sauce), The second ad shows the product accompanied by a non-remote conveyor (e.g., soft drink + a young woman lifting weight; a bottle of chilli sauce + some chilli) The last ad shows the product with a remote conveyor. (e.g., a soft drink can + old woman lifting a sofa with one fmger; a bottle of chilli sauce + burning chopstick)

Manipulation Check on Remoteness Visual unusualness was pretested by asking a total of 84 subjects to rate each ad on two II-point scales (from 0 to 10) anchored on the following adjectives: ~

Believable-unbelievable and (condition # 1)

S

Connnon-unique advertising, and often-rarely seen in other advertising (condition #2) Finally, the extent to which the conveyor and the product were likely to be associated or occur together in the same ad (condition #3)

~

Table 1 outlines the various ad concepts for the two product categories, soft drink and chilli sauce. Thus, as one goes from the left to the right of the table, one can see that the ad concepts become more and more visually unusual (ie., remote). For instance, a picture of an old lady lifting a sofa with one finger is more unusual than a lady lifting weights in the gymnasium. Similarly, a pair of burning chopsticks is more visually unusual (ie.,· remote) than a picture of some chillis.

TABLE 1. Product 1:

Product 2:

realistic-unrealistic

The three measures were averaged to form a single index, called 'remoteness' shown in Table 2. The greater the remoteness index, the more unusual the ad is said to be. As one can see from Table 2, the score increases from the left to the right as the picture becomes more and more visually unusual.

Increasing level of remoteness from left to right Can of drink Bottle of sauce

Drink + Young woman lifting weights

Drink + Old woman UfUng a sofa with one fmger

Chilli sauce + Chillies

Chilli sauce + Burning chopstick

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL; VOLUME 8, No.1

~

TAnLE ,2•.··

Remoteness score increasing from left to right Can of drink

Drink + Young woman lifting weights

Drink + Old woman lifting a sofa with

."

Total remoteness Score (average) .

Total remoteness score (average)

TABLE 3.

one finger 3.1

4.4

7.6

Bottle of sauce

Chilli sauce + Chillies

Chilli sauce + Burning chopstick

2.7

3.5

7.1

Resolution score of ads

"Time to understand" 4-second exposure IS-second exposure

"Time to understand" 4-second exposure IS-second exposure

Can of drink

Drink + Young woman lifting weiehts

Drink + Old woman lifting a sofa with onefine:er

7.8

6.4

4.9

8.2 Bottle of sauce

8.6

8.9

ChilU sauce + Chillies

Chilli sauce + Burning chopstick

7.1

6.7

4.8

8.9

8.4

8.9

Analysis of variance revealed that remoteness was well manipulated for both product categories. In the case of the chilli sauce, the remoteness scores for the three advertisements were 2.7, 3.5, and 7.1. Simple main effects test· revealed a significant overall difference (F(2,8l) = 88). In the case of the soft drink, the increasing remoteness scores of 3.1, 4.4. and 7.6 also revealed a significant overall difference (F(2,SI) = 129). Contrast testing revealed significant differences (p<.05) between each type of ad for both product categories.

condition got more and more remote, subjects' ratings of whether they had enough time to fully understand the ad dropped significantly (means = 7.8, 6.4, and 4.9 for chilli sauce; means = 7.1, 6.7, and 4.8 for soft drink) (F(2,39) = 10 for chilli sauce; F(2,39 ) = 4.3 for soft drinks). However, when the subjects were exposed to the ads for 15 seconds, the ratings did not show any overall difference (means = 8.9, 8.4, and 8.9 for chilli sauce; means = 8.2, 8.6, and 8.9 for soft drink) in both product categories (F(2,39 )<1).

Manipulation Check on Comprehension or Resolution

In summary, the above pretest results show that the manipulation of remoteness and resolution was successful. First, as the ads get more and more visually unusual, so do the ratings on the remoteness index. Secondly, subjects comprehend the ad significantlymore in the IS-second than in the 4-second condition.

Comprehension was assessed by asking subjects to rate on an ll-point scale (0 to 10) whether they had enough time to fully understand the ad. As theorised earlier, this was the main assessment of whether resolution had occurred. Table 3 shows the results of this pretest. As one can see from the table, comprehension tends to drop sharply in the 4-second condition as ads become more unusual. However, if there is ample time to process the ad (ie., in the 15 second) condition, comprehension remains stable. Statistically one would expect to fmd an interaction effect.

Once the advertising stimuli were pretested to be satisfactory, the main study was conducted to test the hypotheses stated earlier.

MAIN STUDY Experimental Procedure

Indeed analysis of variance confirmed a significant interaction for both the chilli sauce (F(2,78 )= 5.4) and the soft' drink (F(2,7S)= 4.5). As ads in the 4-second

The experimental design was 2x3 factorial where there were three levels of remoteness and two levels of resolution (ie., a total of six cells). The three levels of

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No.1

the main dependent variable is the brand attitude.

remoteness were manipulated by different ad concepts as discussed previously. The two levels of resolution were 4 second and 15 second exposure. In total, 132 subjects participated in the study (or 22 per cell).

Brand attitude was measured by averaging three II-point bipolar scales (-5 to +5) anchored by the adjectives good-bad, high-low quality, and like-dislike of the brand. This was followed by a measure of ad attitude which was scored by averaging three II-point bipolar scales (-5 to +5) anchored by the adjectives of like-dislike, pleasantunpleasant, and good-bad. Creativity was measured by asking subjects to rate on three II-point scales (from 0 to 10) how clever, imaginative, and amusing was the idea of the ad.

Each subject was randomly allocated to one of the six cells in the design. On arrival they were given a questionnaire booklet. On it were the instructions that they were about to see six slides of ads. The ads were projected onto a large screen using a projector. After the exposure was completed for all the ads, they were told to turn to the first page of the questionnaire. In the questionnaire, subjects were ftrst asked to think about the ftrst target product category they saw (e.g., chilli sauce) and answer the questions about it. The questions were ratings of brand atti1J.!.de, ad attitude and creativity of the ad. When these were completed, subjects were then told to think about the second target product category they saw (e.g., soft drink), and then in the same manner, complete these measures for this product category. The ads for the two product categories were counterbalanced across exposures.

RESULTS

Creativity Effects The results (see Figures 3 & 4) show that hypotheses HI and H2 are supported consistently across both product categories of chilli sauce and soft drinks. That is, as. these ads became more and more remote, subjects perceived them as more creative (ie., clever, imaginative and amusing). But this effect only occurs in the 15second condition (mean = 2.3, 3.1, 7.3 for chilli sauce; 1.0, 2.7, and 7.8 for soft drink). Simple effects test revealed this to be signiftcant (F(2,63) = 48.5 for chilli sauce; F(2,63) = 93 for soft drink) overall. Contrast testing revealed that the increase was signiftcant between remoteness levels 2 and 3 of the chilli sauce ads (t=7.9, p<.05) and between all remoteness levels for the soft drink ads (t=3.6 and t=8.7, p<.05).

Measurements Dependent measures The most important measures were brand attitude, ad attitude and creativity, since these were the three major variables that were hypothesised to be affected by the remoteness of the conveyors. Of these three variables,

FIGURE 3. Creativity ratings for different types of chilli sauce advertisements exposed for 4 and 15 seconds seconds

FIGURE 4. Creativity ratings for different types of soft drink advertisements exposed for 4 and 15 seconds 10

10

9 8

+4 seconds

9

.... 15 seconds

8

,7

..

I:l ';I

6

:§

6

to

5

..

I:IlI

I:IlI

...•

.~

';I

4

U

3

•...v

•...

7

to

5

';I

4

U

3

.~

•...v

2

2

1

1

0

0 Bottle of sauce

Chillies

+4 seconds .... 15 seconds

Can of drink

Burning chopstick

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8. No.1

~

Young woman

Old woman

In the 4-second condition however, where there was less. time to process the ad, the creativity effect of the remote conveyors became attenuated for both product categories (mean = 2.5,2.7,3.1 for chilli sauce; 2.1, 2.2, 2.8 for soft drink) with no overall significant difference (p>.OS) in the simple effects test (F(2,63) < 1 for chilli sauce and soft drink).

advertisements (t=2.7, p<.05), and between all remoteness levels for the soft drink advertisements (t=3.3 and t=3.9, p<.OS) when the ads were exposed for 15 seconds. However, no significant difference (p>.05) was found when the same ads were exposed for four seconds.

Brand Attitude Effects Ad Attitude Effects As in the case of creativity ratings, similar results are obtained for ad attitude (see Figures 5 and 6) hence supporting hypothesis H3. The results show that under the 15-second condition the more remote the conveyor, the higher the ad attitude (mean = 0.7, 1.1, and 2.8 for chilli sauce; 1.7,0.5,3.2 for soft drink). But under the 4second condition, the opposite trend occurred (mean = 0.6,0.2, -0.1 for chilli sauce; -0.1, -0.8, and -1.6 for soft drink). The interaction effect was significant (p<.05; F(2,126) = 3.9 for chilli sauce; F(2,I26) = 10.5, soft drink). Simple effects test revealed that the increase in ad . attitude ratings for the IS-second condition was significant overall for both product categories (F(2.63) = 5.4 for chilli sauce; F(2,63) = 36.3 for soft drink). However, in the 4-second condition, the decrease in ad attitude ratings was significant only for chilli sauce (F(2,63) = 2.5 for chilli sauce), and not for soft drink (F(2,63) = 1.2 for soft drink). Contrast testing revealed a significant difference between remoteness levels 2 and 3 for the chilli sauce

FIGURES. Ad attitude ratings for different types of chilli sauce advertisements exposed for 4 and 15 seconds

The same phenomenon is also seen in brand attitude. That is the more remote the conveyors of the ad were, the higher were the brand attitude ratings, but only when the ads were exposed for 15 seconds (mean = 0.3, 1.0, and 2.6 for chilli sauce; mean = -2.2, 0.6 and 2.1 for soft drink). Simple effects test revealed this to be significant overall (p<.05) for both product categories (F(2,63) = 9.5 for chilli sauce; F(2,63) = 18). Contrast testing, revealed that the increase was significant between remoteness levels 2 and 3 of the chilli sauce ads (t=3.7, p<.05) and between all remoteness levels of the soft drink ads (1=4 and t=2.0, p<.05). However when the ads were exposed for four seconds, brand attitude actually decreased when subjects have less time to process the ad (mean = 0.4,0.1, and -1.9 for the chilli sauce; 0.2, -0.5, and -2.9 for soft drink). Simple effects test revealed this to be significant overall (F(2,63) = 5.1 for chilli sauce; F(2,63) = 6.5 for soft drink) (see Figures 7 and 8). Contrast testing showed that the decreased was significant between remoteness levels 2 and 3 for both the chilli sauce ads (t=2.9, p<.05)

FIGURE 6. Ad attitude ratings for different types of soft drink advertisements exposed for 4 and 15 seconds

5,-------------------, 4

3

:

5,-------------------,

+4 seconds

4

""15 seconds

3

2

:

1

~

1

-8

0

-8

0

f

a i!

j -1 " ·2 ~

'"

""15 seconds

2

~

f

+4 seconds

·1

~ -2

·3

-3

-4

-4

·5 +-------,--------,,-------1

·5

Bottle of sauce

Chillies

Burning chopstick

+------,-------.,------1 Can of drink

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL. VOLUME 8, No. I

Young woman

Old woman

FIGURE 7. Brand attitude ratings for different types.of chilli sauce advertisements exposed for 4 and 15 seconds

FIGURE 8. Brand attitude for different types of soft drink advertisements exposed for 4 and 15 seconds

5....---------------,

5.----------------""1 4 iii

..~

~

."

£;:

3 2

" 4 seeonds "15 seeonds

4 iii

..~

~

1

."

£;:

0

.. -1

2 1

0

.. -1

."

..

3

" 4 seeonds "15seeonds

."

..

:

-2

:

·2

IlQ

-3

IlQ

·3

·4 -5

-4

-1-----.-----,-------1 Bottle ofsauee

Chillies

Burning ehopstlek

and the soft drink ads (t=3.4, p<.05). These results supportH5.

Mediating Effects of Ad Attitude It was theorised that once an ad is perceived to be creative, subjects were also more likely to have a positive attitude towards the ad, and hence brand attitude - that is, ad attitude would act as a mediator between the perception of creativity and brand attitude. The methodology proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) was used involving three regression equations for testing this mediating hypothesis. First, ad attitude was regressed onto creativity. This yielded a significant and positive beta of .60 (t = 8.6, p<.05) for chilli sauce, and .74 (t = 12.7, p<.05) for soft drink, implying that creativity did influence ad attitude for both product categories.

Then brand attitude was regressed onto creativity. This yielded a significant and positive beta value of .52 for chilli sauce (t = 6.8, p<.05), implying the creativity did influence brand attitude. But when ad attitude was included in the regression, this beta value was reduced to an insignificant value of .10 (t = 1.4, P >.05; see Table 4). Similarly in the case of the soft drink, the beta· value was reduced from a significant value of .54 (t = 7.5, p<.05) to an insignificant value of -.07 (t = -.8, p>.05), when ad attitude was added in the equation (see Table 5). In both cases, the beta value of ad attitude still remained significant and in the right direction (.69 for

·5 . . L - - - - - - . - - - - - - r - - - - - - - - \

Can of drink

Young woman

Old woman

chilli sauce, t = 9.5 p<.05; .82 for the soft drink, t = 10.0, p<.05 - see Tables 4 and 5). From this result one can conclude that ad attitude is a potent mediator between creativity and brand attitude for both product categories, reducing the direct effects of creativity on brand attitude from a significant value to an insignificant one. Hence hypothesis H4 was supported.

CONCLUSION In summary, this paper presents a new waycof conceptualising and achieving creativity in print advertising. The hypotheses were supported, that is the more remote or unusual the visual, the more likely it is perceived to be creative, provided a product attributebenefit link can be made. In this study, the link between the product and the conveyor was provided by a target attribute written in the headline. This linkage between the conveyor and the product was then dismpted by limiting the time of exposure of the ad to only four seconds. On the other hand, when the subjects were given 15 seconds to process tlle same sequence of ads, less difficulty is encountered hence making attribute linkage more likely to occur. This was observed in the pretest that as the ads became more remote, the subjects' rating of whether they had enough time to understand the ad decreased significantly in the 4-second condition, but not in the 15second condition. This result is also consistent with what was previously known about unusual visuals, that time is

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No.1

TABLE 4.

Regression coefficients obtained from regression of brand attitude of chilli sauce on creativity first, and then with ad attitude

Variable

Beta

Creativity

.52

Variables

Beta

Creativity Ad attitude

.10 .69

TABLES.

t 6.8

Significance

t 1.4 9.5

Significance

.00

.16 .00

Regression coefficients obtained from regression of brand attitude of soft drink on creativity first, and then with ad attitude

Variable

Beta

Creativity

.54

t 7.5

Variables

Beta

t

Creativity Ad attitude

-.07 .82

-.82 10.0

needed for its full processing (Loftus and Mackworth 1978; Berlyne 1958, 1960). The mediating results found in this study shows that ad attitude is a significant mediator between creativity and brand attitude. Although such a result seems to parallel those obtained by previous researchers into "feelings" and "moods" in advertising (Batra and Ray 1986; Holbrook and Batra 1987; Edell and Burke 1987; Stayman and Aaker 1988), this is the first study to demonstrate that the creativity effect is ~ediated through ad attitude iii. What this results says is that creative ad will make a person like the ad, and this in turn will make the person like the brand. While this may make not be true across all product categories, this effect is found for the two low involvement product categories here, chilli sauce and soft drinks. The practical implications of this study can now be summarised. First of all, when ·clever advertising is attempted using unusual visuals, more time must be given to the target audience for its processing. Copywriters must therefore assess how easy it is for an advertising concept to be processed in a given situation. If processing is not likely to occur, because people are generally not motivated as implied by Politz (1960), then attempting to use a remote conveyor in order to make the ad more creative may be a waste of the client's money. For this reason, perhaps television might be the most appropriate medium to attempt remote advertising,

Significance .00

Si2nificance .41 .00

simply because there is a greater probability of capturing the attention of the target audience, and hence increasing the probability of resolution. On the other hand, outdoor or transit advertising medium (e.g., on the back of buses or taxis) are less likely to be effective in using unusual visuals because people are less likely to have time to process it. In print advertising, it has been shown that the picture is the first structural element a person looks at (Franzen 1994) when he or she encounters a print ad. This is followed by the headline. Thus, behaviourally, the RAM model also suits print advertising. In other words, the unusualness of the visual will motivate the person to check out the ad and the subsequent headline should resolve the curiosity. To further improve the motivation and resolution of the reader, the following are four more suggestions: a.

Ensure that the product is also prominently shown, that is do not hide the product or brand.

b.

Ensure that the selling point (ie., product attribute or benefit) is clearly communicated in the headline, that is, do not hide the selling point in the body of the ad.

c.

Ensure that the conveyor is as 'remote' as possible so as to maximise curiosity.

d.

Ensure that the print ad is pretested to make sure there are no unforseen associations.

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No.1

Tbe fll'Sl snuntio:n is

I<)

<'T>SWe thaI

the

JlNIIll~

who

ENDNOTES

might be in the market for the prodact (or the prodnct cateaory) will stop aDd rud the .d. Wl\ttl the prodn<:t is prornintntly di,pla)'Cd. perhaps ,id by,side willl the

This pope. fo"'" part of the Ph.D thesis of lbe a~1hor, ...-bo would obo likod to tbanIr John Rossiter for his oonlribution in those early but

con'..yor, it will have the addel (i~ .• selling point) in
henc~

lhe areal.. the

'Ioppi"i power of the prin' ad, Mouowr, if the fi"t two ",unli"", a~ adhcrN 1<), tbm the third ,uggntion

",ky.

is I... 10 other ",,=,rdt, thel'll i. a p ...tr:r pro\>ability the ,eadeT can make ,he anribule or benefi, link (ie., selliog point) even though the oonveyor

w,

is very lIOusuaL The final snggestio:n is to

ensur~

that 00 o1he: nnforseen .,sociati"", R"t in the way of the resolntion. For inltano;e, !he autbo< has carried 0\11 • larse nnmbe-r of pretests prior I<) 1hil .lI>dy and found thaI lIDUSllal ""uab can Ilso have nnforseen ncglli,.. usoc:iations. This 1000s I<) I1eCr !he ~Ider into thinking something else and hence mis.s !he selliOi point of the ad Ideally, !be fCrn:)!e 000'"0)'01" should alSO P"'S"" a ,tr0"i associarive '1Jength to the dc,ired anribule or benefit But in practice, this ....y be di/lkuh I<) achieve, he~

pretest i' an Idded ins'IlJancc.

In SW1IInI1)', the RAM model is
JIISl

including

the

conceprual~

so:bema·~lated

concepts

in lhe lik~

iJ>c,ongn>CI>IOy·~levance (~.I-,

H..,kler aDd Childer-J. 1992). The whole al'lla of sc!lema-<:O!I8n>eney whicb

owes its mots to socill psychology Iw been criticised for being vague (II« Ilso EyS<'DCk and K~In, 1990 and

$orloski. Paivio and GoelZ,' 1991). As _II. odopting such I fr?rnewort. will only,""", to cor"\~ ...·co more what is 10 Ibeldy neblll...., area in .dverti.ing: cl'lliliviry. l1Ie RAM model on !he otbef ha"" is I S1NCNn1 model which vcry precisely points 001 !he of the c'~l1ivity, how it occun s"""fI1rIlly and bow its dfe<:u Clll flow through 10 bnlld aniNde. This seJVes to demystify how and wby c",ativity works in SOUfUS

print advenising. It is hoped !hat !his paper will stiJrollate more in1e1e$t in c~ltivity r...,lrch iolO advel1isiog io the

""IV millennium.

nnforgcttable yean at !be Australian Graduale ScbonlofManagement.

•

Strictly .pelking. McQuarrie'. (1989) theory of '.-.oIW"ICe is "Ot jusl wrbal pollI$ fow>d iIl!be beadlir>e. The ""1111 in !he ad is also involved, literally depicting or "e<:boing~ "'tlat!be he.dliM

-0·

•

Note lhallllhollgh Aak~, and Staymon (1990 p. 14) bave .bolVll lhat !be c,eativity factor (~ .. clever and imagi... tiv~, original, C1Ilel1ainina, had signifICant ~are..io:n coetlIcienll (Of bodI bnlld lniNde and ad aniNde, !bey never lO'ted the me
""""in&J

REFERENCES Goodstein, R. C. (1993) "Category-based applications and extensions in advertising: Motivating more extensive .ad processing," Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 87-99.

Aaker, D.A and Stayman, D.M. (1990) "Measuring audience perceptions of commercials and relating them to ad impact, " Journal. of Advertising Research 30, 717. Arens, F. William (1999) Contemporary Advertising. Boston: IrwinIMcGraw Hill.

Haley, R.I. and Baldinger, AL. (1991) "The ARF copy research project," Journal of-Advertising Research, 31 (April-May), 11-32.

Baron, R. M., & KennY,D. A (1986) "The moderatormediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(?), 1173-1182.

Heckler, S. E., & Childers, T. L. (1992) "The role of expectancy and relevancy in memory for verbal and visual information: What is incongruency?" Journal of Consumer Research, 18,475-492.

Batra, R., & Ray, M. L. (1986) "Affective responses mediating acceptance of advertising," Journal of Consumer Research, 13(September), 234-249.

Holbrook, M. B., & Batra, R. (1987) "Assessing the role of emotions as mediators of consumer responses to advertising," Journal of Consumer Research, 14, 404420.

Berlyne, D. E. (1958) "The influence of complexity and novelty in visual figures on orienting responses," Journal ofExperimental Psychology, 55(3), 289-296.

Houston, M. J., Childers, T. L., & Heckler, S. E. (1987) "Picture word consistency and the elaborative processing of advertisements," Journal of Marketing Research, 24(November), 359-369.

Berlyne, D. E. (1960) Conflict, Arousal, and Curiosity. New York: McGraw Hill.

Kahneman, D., & Miller, D. T. (1986) Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review, 93(2), 136-153.

Brown, S. P., & Stayman, D. M. (1992, "Antecedents and consequences of attitude towards the ad: A metaanalysis, " Journal of Consumer Research, 19(June), 34-

Koestler, A (1964) The Act of Creation. New York: Macmillan.

51. DeBono, E. (1971) Lateral Thinking for Management. London: Penguin Books.

Leavitt, C. (1970) "A multidimensional set of rating scales for television commercials," Journal of Applied Psychology, 54(5),427-429.

DeBono, E. (1992) Serious Creativity. Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.

Loftus, G., & Mackworth, N. H. (1978) "Cognitive determinants of fixation location during picture viewing," Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 4(4), 565-572.

DeBono, E. (1994) "The man who would be king," The Australian (Monday June 27),13. Eysenck, M. W., & Kean, M. T. (1990, Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook. East Sussex: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Edell, 1. A, & Burke, M. C. (1987) "The power of feelings in understanding advertising effects," Advances in Consumer Research, 14(December), 412-433. Franzen, G. (1994) Advertising Oxfordshire: Admap Publications.

Effectiveness.

Lukas, P. (1998) "Admen's creative glut," Fortune (June 8),24-25. Lutz, R., MacKenzie, S., and Belch, G. (1983) "Attitude towards the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness: Determinants and consequences," in Advances in Consumer Research, 10, Bagozzi, R. and Tybout, A (eds) Ann Arbor, M.I.: Association for Consumer Research, 532-539.

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No. 1

@]

MacKenzie, S., Lutz, R.,andBelch, G. (1986) "The role of attitude towards the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness: A test of competing explanations," Journal ofMarketing Research, 23 (May), 130-143. McQuarrie, E. F. (1989) "Advertising resonance: A semiological perspective, " in E. Hirschman (Ed.), Interpretive Consumer Research, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 97-114. McQuarrie, E. F., & Mick, D. G. (1992) "On resonance: A critical pluralistic inquiry into advertising rhetoric," Journal of Consumer Research, 19(5eptember), 180197. Mednick, S. (1962)"The associative basis of the creative process," Psychological Review, 69,220-232. Miller, C. (1991) ''New clothes ads stripped bare of any mention of the clothes," Marketing News, 25 (September), 19, 2. Mitchell, A. A., & Olson, J. C. (1981) "Are product attribute beliefs the oDly mediator of advertising effects on brand attitude?" Journal of Marketing Research, 18(August),318-332. Perdue, B., & O. Summers, J. (1986) "Checking the success of manipulations in marketing experiments," Journal of Marketing Research, 23(November), 317326. Politz, A. (1960) "The dilennna of creative advertising," Journal ofMarketing (October), 1-6. Ratneshwar, S., & Chaiken, S. (1991) "Comprehension's role in persuasion: The case of its moderating effect on the persuasive impact of source cues," Journal of Consumer Research, 18, 52-62.

and Percy, L.

(1997) Advertising Communications and Promotion Management. New York: McGraw Hill Companies. •

Rossiter,

J.R.

Rossiter, J. R. and Eagleson, G. (1994) "Conclusions from the ARF's copy research validity project," Journal ofAdvertising Research, 34 (3), 19-32. Sadoski, M., Paivio, A., & Goetz, E. T. (1991) "A critique of schema theory in reading and a dual coding alternative," Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 463-484. Schlinger, M. J. (1979) "Attitudinal reactions to advertisements," in J. Eighmey (Ed.) Attitude Research Under the Sun Chicago: American Marketing Association, 171-197. Stayman, D. M., and Aaker, D. A. (1988) "Are all the effects of ad-induced feelings mediated by Aad?" Journal ofConsumer Research, 15(December), 368-373. & Sternberg, R.J. (1982) Tourangeau, R,. "Understanding and appreciating metaphors," Cognition, 11, 203-244.

Vanden Bergh, G & Katz, H. (1999) Advertising Principles. Chicago: NTC Publishing. Wells, W., Burnett, J. and Moriarty (2000) Advertising: Principles and Practice. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. White, G. (1972) "Creativity: The X factor in advertising theory," Journal ofAdvertising, 1,28-32. Zinkhan, G.M. and Burton, S. (1989) "An examination . of three nmltidimensional profIles for assessing consumer reactions," Journal ofAdvertising, 18,4,6-14.

Reid, L" King, K. and DeLorme, D. (1998) "Top-level agency creatives look at advertising creativity then and now," Journal ofAdvertising, 27, 1-16. Richards,!. A. (1936) The Philosophy of Rhetoric, London: University Press.

AUSTRALASIAN MARKETING JOURNAL, VOLUME 8, No.1