chapter 8 attitude change and interactive communications consumer behavior, 8e michael solomon

Chapter 8

Attitude Change and Interactive Communications

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 8eMichael Solomon

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Chapter Objectives

When you finish this chapter you should understand why:

• The communications model identifies several important components for marketers when they try to change consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.

• The consumer who processes such a message is not necessarily the passive receiver of information marketers once believed him to be.

• Several factors influence a message source’s effectiveness.

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Chapter Objectives (cont.)

• The way a marketer structures his message determines how persuasive it will be.

• Audience characteristics help to determine whether the nature of the source or the message itself will be relatively more effective.

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Changing Attitudes Through Communication

Persuasion: effectiveness of marketing communications to change attitudes

What influences people to change their minds or comply:

Reciprocity Scarcity

Authority Consistency

Liking Consensus

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Tactical Communications Options

• Who will be source of message?

• How should message be constructed?

• What media will transmit message?

• What target market characteristics will influence ad’s acceptance?

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Traditional Communication Model

Figure 8.1

• Communications model: a number of elements are necessary for communication to be achieved

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Interactive Communications

• Consumers have many more choices available and greater control to process messages

• Permission marketing: marketer will be much more successful in persuading consumers who have agreed to let him try

Click to view Quicktime video on Sony Metreon’s interactive entertainment store

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Updated Communications Model

• Consumers are now proactive in communications process: VCRs, DVRs, video-on-demand, pay-per-view TV, Caller ID, Internet

Figure 8.2

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New Message Formats

• M-commerce (mobile commerce): marketers promote goods and services via wireless devices

• Blogging: people post messages to the Web in diary form

• New forms of blogging:• Moblogging• Video blogging (vlogging)• Podcasting• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)• Flogs (fake blogs)• Twittering

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The Source

• Source effects: the same words by different people can have very different meanings

• A “source”often a spokesperson in an ad—may be chosen because s/he is expert, famous, attractive, or a “typical” consumer

• What makes a good source?• Source credibility: a source’s perceived expertise,

objectivity, or trustworthiness• Source attractiveness: movie star, super model

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Sleeper Effect

• Sometimes sources become irritating or disliked

• Sleeper effect: over time, disliked sources can still get a message across effectively

• We “forget” about negative source while changing our attitudes

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Source Biases

• Consumer beliefs about product can be weakened by a source perceived to be biased

• Knowledge bias: source’s knowledge about a topic is not accurate

• Reporting bias: source has required knowledge but source’s willingness to convey it is compromised

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Hype versus Buzz

• Buzz: authentic message generated by customers

• Hype: inauthentic message generated by corporate propaganda

Hype Buzz

Advertising Word-of-mouth

Overt Covert

Corporate Grass-roots

Fake Authentic

Skepticism Credibility

Table 8.1

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Hype versus Buzz (cont.)

• “Stealth” buzz building: marketers create buzz by implying that they had nothing to do with the buzz

• Example: Blair Witch Project

Click for Blairwitch.com

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Source Attractiveness

• Source attractiveness: perceived social value of source

• Physical appearance

• Personality

• Social status

• Similarity

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“What Is Beautiful Is Good”

• Halo effect: people who rank high on one dimension are assumed to excel at other dimensions

• Example: good-looking people are thought to be smarter, cooler, happier

• Physically attractive source leads to attitude change

• Directs attention to marketing stimuli

• Beauty = source of information

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Star Power

• Celebrities as communications sources

• Tiger Woods—$62 million/year in endorsements!

• Famous faces capture attention and are processed more efficiently by the brain

• Enhance company image and brand attitudes

• Celebrities embody cultural and product meanings

• Q-Score for celebrity endorsers

• Match-up hypothesis: celebrity’s image and that of product are similar

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Discussion

• Many marketers use celebrity endorsers to persuade. These spokespeople often are “cool” musicians, athletes, or stars.

• Who would overall be the most effective celebrity endorser today, and why?

• Who would be the least effective, and why?

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Nonhuman Endorsers

• Often, celebrities’ motives are suspect as endorsers of mismatched products

• Thus, marketers seek alternative endorsers:

• Cartoon characters

• Mascots/animals

• Avatar: cyberspace character that can be moved around in a virtual world

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The Message

• Positive and negative effects of elements in TV commercials

• Most important feature: stressing unique product attribute/benefit

Positive Effects Negative Effects

Showing convenience of use Extensive information on components, ingredients, nutrition

Showing new product/improved features

Outdoor setting (message gets lost)

Casting background (i.e., people are incidental to message)

Large number of onscreen characters

Indirect comparison to other products

Graphic displays

Table 8.2

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The Message (cont.)

• Message: is it conveyed in words or pictures?

• Message issues facing a marketer

• How often should message be repeated?

• Should it draw an explicit conclusion?

• Should it show both sides of argument?

• Should it explicitly compare product to competitors?

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Sending the Message

• Visual versus verbal communication of message

• Visual images: big emotional impact

• Verbal message: high-involvement situations

• Factual information

• More effective when reinforced by a framed picture

• Require more frequent exposures (due to decay)

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Dual Component of Brand Attitudes

Figure 8.3

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Vividness

• Powerful description/graphics command attention and are strongly embedded in memory

• Concrete discussion of product attribute

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Repetition and the Two-Factor Theory

• Two-factor theory: fine line between familiarity and boredom

Figure 8.4

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One- versus Two-Sided Arguments

• One-sided: supportive arguments

• Two-sided: both positive and negative information

• Refutational argument: negative issue is raised, then dismissed

• Positive attributes should refute presented negative attributes

• Effective with well-educated and not-yet-loyal audiences

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Comparative Advertising

• Comparative advertising: message compares two+ recognizable brands on specific attributes• “Unlike McDonalds, all of Arby's chicken

sandwiches are made with 100% all-natural chicken”

• But, confrontational approach can result in source derogation

• An ad for a new product should not:• Merely, say it is better than leading brand• Compare itself to an obviously superior

competitor

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Emotional versus Rational Appeals• Appeal to the head or to the heart?

• Many companies use an emotional strategy when consumers do not find differences among brands• Especially brands in well-established, mature

categories (e.g., cars and greeting cards)

• Recall of ad contents tends to be better for “thinking” ads• Although conventional ad effectiveness measures

may not be entirely valid to assess emotional ads

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Sex Appeals

• Sexual appeals vary by country

• Nude models generate negative feelings/tension among same-sex consumers

• Erotic ads draw attention, but strong sexual imagery may make consumers less likely to:• Buy a product (unless product is related to sex)• Process and recall ad’s content

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Discussion

• Name ads that rely on sex appeal to sell products

• What benefits are communicated in the ad?

• Is the message implicit or explicit? How?

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Humorous Appeals

• Different cultures have different senses of humor

• Humorous ads get attention

• They’re a source of distraction

• They inhibit counterarguing, thus increasing message acceptance

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Humorous Appeals (cont.)

Humor is more effective when it:

• Doesn’t “swamp” message of clearly defined brand

• Doesn’t make fun of potential consumer

• Is appropriate to product’s image

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Fear Appeals

• Emphasize negative consequences that can occur unless consumer changes behavior/attitude

• Fear is common in social marketing

• Most effective when:

• Threat is moderate

• Solution to problem is presented

• Source is highly credible

• The strongest threats are not always the most persuasive

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Message As Art Form

Advertisers use literary elements to communicate benefits and meaning

• Allegory: story about an abstract concept personified in a fictional character

• Metaphor: two dissimilar objects in a close relationship (“A is B”)

• Simile: compares two objects (“A is like B”)

• Resonance: play on words with pictures

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Examples of Advertising Resonance

Table 8.3

Product Headline Visual

Embassy Suites “This Year, We’re Unwrapping Suites by the Dozen”

Chocolate kisses with hotel names underneath each

Toyota auto parts “Out Lifetime Guarantee May Come as a Shock”

Man holding a shock absorber

Bucks filter cigarettes

“Herd of These?” Cigarette pack with a picture of a stag

Bounce fabric softener

“Is There Something Creeping Up Behind You?”

Woman’s dress bunched up on her back due to static

Pepsi “This Year, Hit the Beach Topless”

Pepsi bottle cap lying on the sand

ASICS athletic shoes

“We Believe Women Should Be Running the Country”

Woman jogging in a rural setting

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Forms of Story Presentation

• Lecture: speech in which the source speaks directly to the audience

• Attempts to persuade

• Cognitive responses may occur

• Drama: story that draws viewers into the action

• Characters indirectly address the audience

• Interact with each other in an imaginary setting

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Discussion

Sell the steak or the sizzle?

• What’s more important in an advertisement:

• What is said? or

• Who says it?

• Give examples of ads that use one strategy versus the other. What types of ads are more effective for each strategy?

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Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion

• ELM: assumes that once consumers receive message, they begin to process it

Figure 8.5

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Support for the ELM

• Variables crucial to the ELM:

• Message-processing involvement

• Argument strength

• Source characteristics

• High-involvement consumers are swayed by powerful arguments

• Low-involvement consumers are swayed by source attractiveness