Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [85]
Persuasion is enhanced when an ad includes both the brand and company name—as long as both are familiar and well liked, such as P&G’s Tide.
Given that “double branding” is commonly applied and inexpensive to implement, it is surprising that more advertisers do not use it. Only 32 percent of TV commercials from major firms used double branding (Stewart and Furse 1986). The situation was better in our WAPB analysis of 480 print ads by leading firms, as 82 percent used double branding.
Evidence on the effects of double branding
Our analysis of quasi-experimental data for double branding provided strong support:
Print ads with double branding had much better recall. Our WAPB analysis found 21 pairs of print ads in which one ad included both the brand and company name while the other did not. For example, a Tilt Wheel steering ad that stated “Tilt-Wheel steering from Saginaw” generated much better recall than did a Tilt-Wheel ad that did not mention Saginaw. Recall for the double-branded ads was 1.71 times better than for ads that did not include double branding.
Non-experimental data provides further support. TV commercials with double branding had better comprehension and persuasion than those that did not (Stewart and Furse 1986). A related analysis found double-branded TV commercials were more persuasive (Stanton and Burke 1998.)
While familiar brand and company names provide assurance to customers, they might lack a personal touch. The next principle addresses this issue.
UKTV G2 is a TV channel in the United Kingdom that is aimed at young males. It focuses on shows with witty banter. Viewership is low. An ad agency suggested that the producers should personalize the brand. How might you do that?
5.5.3. Personalize the brand
While brands cannot replace the connection that a customer might have with a local retailer, there are ways to give a brand a personal touch. This can be done with a mascot, animal, cartoon character, name, real person, or fictitious person
In 1877, Ferdinand Schumaker looked through an encyclopedia for a trustworthy image to personalize his oat cereal. He decided to use a picture of a Quaker and called the product Quaker Oat Berries because Quakers are known as trustworthy people.
General Mills personalized its brand through the fictitious Betty Crocker. She has changed over time to look like a typical consumer of the day.
In 1972, the Singapore Girl became the focus of a campaign for touting service on Singapore Airlines. This long-running campaign has been judged to be successful, and in 1994 she became the first commercial figure in Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London.
By now, you may have anticipated how to resolve the issue for that TV channel, mentioned in the lead-in. Remember the name of the channel? Probably not—it had an impersonal name. The ad agency suggested naming it “Dave.” No UK channel had ever used a first name prior to this. Dave was also informative about the target market and the personality of the channel. Dave’s slogan was “the home of witty banter.” People had no trouble remembering that name, and spontaneous awareness jumped from 2 percent to 32 percent in about six months. The ad campaign was shown to be highly successful in gaining viewers, and it won an IPA award (Dawson 2009). Now, have you ever thought about how much easier it is to remember Fox than ABC, NBC and CBS?
Evidence on the effects of personalizing the brand
Personalization rests primarily on received wisdom. It is supported by non- experimental data. TV commercials that used a character to personalize the brand had 25 percent better recall, and persuasion was 8 percent higher (Walker 2008).
5.6. Spokespersons
The character of the speaker is the most potent of all the means to persuasion.
Aristotle
A spokesperson or presenter can provide a face and personality for a product, allowing the customer to identify with more than just the product or service. A spokesperson seems to be most effective when credibility needs to be established.
The practice