Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [145]
Irrelevant information harmed believability in ads for a variety of products. Subjects in ten lab experiments saw information for several products on computer screens. For example, in one experiment, participants received information about benefits for eight products (e.g. safe apartments, fast package-delivery service). When the ads contained obviously irrelevant information, customers had less confidence that the product would deliver the benefits promised. In one experiment, the ratings for “Belief in benefits” were higher for “strong arguments” in TV commercials than for “strong arguments and irrelevant information”—5.8 versus 5.2 on a nine-point scale (Meyvis and Janiszewski 2002).
7.9.3. When using fast-exposure media, keep the message short
Simplicity is important when people have only brief exposure to an ad. In London, in the 1850s, the “King of the Billposters” advised: “You can hardly put too little in a poster; what you want are two or three good catch lines for the eye to rest on—then leave it alone.”
Experts on billboard advertising recommend using eight words or less. A sample of 252 billboards showed that national advertisers had an average of fewer than seven words and 1.2 pieces of information per billboard. Local advertisers, perhaps being less aware of the experts’ advice, averaged about 13 words and 1.6 pieces of information (Blasko 1985).
Evidence on effects of fast-exposure media
In a non-experimental study, ten new billboard ads, all of approximately equal size, were placed on a 30-mile stretch between the suburb of an American city and a downtown motorway exit. They advertised local products and services, such as restaurants, banks, radio stations, and retail outlets. Four of the ten ads had seven or fewer words, while six ads had more than seven. About 50 days after the ads were placed, the researchers conducted telephone interviews with 142 adult residents who passed all ten outdoor ads on their commute to work. The respondents recalled 1.5 times as many of the ads with few words, compared with those with many words (Donthu, Cherian and Bhargava 1993).
7.10. Informative illustrations
The … ideas to be expressed [in an advertising photo] must present themselves at first glance.
Harvey S. Lewis, eminent advertising photographer, 1905
Complex issues can sometimes be explained more clearly by using an illustration. For example, to support its claim that its copiers were less prone to malfunction, Ricoh used an illustration to show that the flow of paper through its copy machines was much simpler than that used by other copy machines. Explaining this paper-flow process by words alone would have been difficult.
The following principles are likely to be especially useful for utilitarian products: that is, for products that solve problems for consumers. In addition, they are useful for products that are new to the target market.
7.10.1. Illustrations should support the basic message
By making an illustration conform to the verbal content, you can more easily attract relevant customers and reduce miscomprehension.
In 1957, El Al Airlines put a “jet prop” airplane into service over the Atlantic. It avoided the need to refuel at Goose Bay, Labrador, or at Gander, Newfoundland, thus reducing travel time by 20 percent. Bill Bernbach showed the benefit in “Torn ocean.” This full-page ad showed a photo of the ocean with about 20 percent torn off to reveal white space, with the headline, “Starting Dec. 23, the Atlantic Ocean will be 20 percent smaller.” This ad ran only once. That was enough to be successful (Levenson 1987).
To show that Jeep automobiles are durable go-anywhere vehicles, the Bozell Worldwide agency created the TV commercial “Snow covered” for the 1994 Super Bowl. The ad showed something burrowing under the snow (actually a two-thirds-scale model jeep being towed by a cable attached to a tractor). As it pulls up to a half-buried stop sign, viewers realize that it is actually a car buried under the snow. They see the glow of yellow turn signals, whereupon the car turns left and