Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [148]
Illustrations related to the brand name led to better recall in an experiment on Yellow Pages ads. An experiment used 48 ads from the Yellow Pages that contained illustrations along with the brand name. The 72 subjects were divided into experimental and control groups. Half of the subjects received ads in which the illustration contained the brand name; for example, “Rocket Messenger Service” showed an illustration of a messenger, package in hand, being propelled by a rocket strapped to his back. Ads that contained an illustration expressing the brand name were recalled much more frequently (8.8 recall rate vs. 6.4) than ads containing illustrations not associated with the brand (Lutz and Lutz 1977).
Our analysis of quasi-experimental data also supports this principle:
Print ads with products in the illustration had better recall. Our WAPB analysis found 17 pairs of print ads in which one ad showed the product in the illustration, while the other did not. For example, a General Motors ad for Tilt Wheel steering that showed the picture of a Tilt Wheel had much better recall than another Tilt Wheel ad where the illustration did not include the product. Recall was 1.52 times better for ads that illustrated products.
Turning to non-experimental data, commercials that showed the product were above average in their ability to change brand preferences (Ogilvy and Raphaelson 1982). TV commercials with a “setting related to product use” led to better recall and persuasion (Stewart and Koslow 1989).
7.10.3. Emphasize desirable features in illustrations
An advertising photograph has to translate a given idea into concrete
form—clearly conveyed to the beholder … to represent that which is
to be sold in a manner calculated to enhance its appeal.
Walter Nurnberg, famous commercial photographer, 1940
Find good things about the product and emphasize them in illustrations. This can be done with size, lighting, angles, shapes, backgrounds, or artistic treatments.
Consider camera angles. For example, high-priced, status-oriented clothing ads are shot upwards, while clothing ads for the masses are shot at eye level. To connote “equality,” say for a political candidate, shoot at eye level (Messaris 1997).
Kraft (1987) used prior studies to establish hypotheses on how camera angles influence a viewer’s perceptions. He gained further support in three experiments. The review suggested that angles can lead to the following impressions about a product:
Inferences vary depending on the situation; therefore, this table provides only rough guidelines. Kraft’s research also showed that when camera angles were consistent with copy (e.g., looking up at a powerful truck), subjects’ recall was better. Interestingly, when subjects were asked later about the ads, they were unaware of the angles.
Suppose that you wanted to advertise that a restaurant serves large drinks. How might you do that? It turns out that we are subject to the “elongation illusion.” For example, to emphasize large drinks at a restaurant, show them served in tall, narrow glasses rather than in short, wide glasses.
Call-outs (or “cut-aways”) can also be used to emphasize many features at once. These are short explanations that are linked by lines to relevant parts of the illustration. In 2002, a full-page BMW ad in the Wall Street Journal used 68 call-outs to identify key attributes of the car, such as the “brake-wear display.”
Evidence on the effects of emphasizing desirable features
In a lab experiment on the elongation illusion, 40 Hong Kong subjects estimated the