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Chapter - III

METHODOLOGY

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METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter explains the step-by-step procedures and methods

used in conducting the study. How the variables relating to the study

are measured is also described. Initially the researcher faced the

dilemma as to how to administer the questionnaire and test ads to get

responses on such variables as musical ity and rhyme as used in the

test advertisements meant for the study. In such cases, full video and

audio contents are to be shown to the respondents for getting correct

responses. Various alternatives were considered and depending on the

requirements of the study, a practical approach was final ized.

The researcher has attempted to study the topic both from the

qualitative and quantitative point of view. However, more emphasis is

given on the quantitative aspects of the study. This research is

exploratory in nature. Sample survey method was used to collect data

for this research.

3.2 Variables of the study

This study was designed to explore the impact of l iterature on

advertising effectiveness in the visual media. The term literature

encompasses a vast area and very many aspects and components of

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l iterature have impact on advertising. However, the scope of this

research as discussed in chapter I, is l imited to explore the nature and

type of impact produced by literary devices, elements and components

on advertising effectiveness. For creating effect, Literary texts use

many techniques and devices some of which are rheto rical figures,

skil lful use of genre (literary form) elements and deployment of

archetypal symbols. In order to explore and analyze the impact of

l iterature on advertising effectiveness in the visual media, the

researcher has narrowed down the focus of study to select rhetorical

devices, elements of l i terary genres(forms) and archetypal symbols.

The operational definit ion of the term ‘Literature’ for the purpose of

this research has already been explained in Chapter -I and the variables

relating to literature has also been described in the same chapter and

these variables and their hypothesized inter -relationships to advertising

effectiveness in the visual media has been graphically represented in

the Conceptual Framework (Figure 2.1) in Chapter -II.

In short, this study analyses the type of impact of some select

devices and components of l i terature on advertising effectiveness in

the visual media by examining and testing the nature of impact of

l iterary devices and components. Advertis ing effectiveness is

measured in terms of communication effectiveness of l i terary devices

and elements used in Ads. Sales objectives are not taken into account,

as these are diff icult to isolate (Batra, et.al, 2003). The research

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problem in this study has been identified as communication

effectiveness of l i terary devices and elements in visual media and

hence the researcher has concentrated only on the communication

aspects of advertis ing effectiveness.

The independent variables of this study are components of

l iterature in advertising i.e. Rhetorical devices like metaphor,

personification, hyperbole and pun, Elements of l i terary forms of poetry

and drama like imagery, rhyme, musicality, plot and characterization,

humour and archetypal symbol l ike the good mother. The independent

variables are therefore literary devices and components. The

dependent variable is advertising effectiveness. As mentioned in the

last paragraph, Advertising effectiveness is measured in terms of

communication effectiveness. The parameters used for measurement

of communication effectiveness are Brand Awareness, Brand Recall,

Brand Reinforcement, Persuasive Power of Ads and Will ingness to

purchase the brand.

3.3 Sampling Design and Research Location

Sample for this research study was selected from Cochin

Corporation, a mega City in the State of Kerala. At present, there is no

substantial difference between cities and towns in Kerala. All facil i ties

l ike satell i te Television, high bandwidth and other facil i ties l ike

organised retail outlets and shopping malls are available even in small

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towns. Differences in l ife styles and consumption patterns are also

very few. Consumption and li fe style patterns are almost identical

throughout Kerala. Cochin has been identified as a place to col lect the

sample, because it is centrally located in the State of Kerala and has a

much larger density of multi -cultural population and it is also the

industrial nerve centre of the state where a lot of developmental

activit ies l ike smart city are now being planned. Cochin is poised to

become an important business centre in the country shortly.

The research participants were adults consisting of men and

women in the age group of 18 years and 58 years and the categories of

products and services have been selected on the basis of the familiarity

of this group with these products and services. Test ads containing

literary devices and components were selected for the study through

Focus Group Discussions.

The population covered for the study was households in Cochin

Corporation. The sample units consisted of individuals in the age group

of 18-58, who are cable television subscribers and who acknowledged

that they watch at least two different satell i te television channels and

read at least one daily newspaper, browse English and Malayalam

magazines l ike Vanitha, Week, India Today and similar magazines.

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Before data collection, it was ensured that the prospective

respondents are familiar with at least some of the products or services

under study. Those who are quite unfamiliar with these products and

services and those who said that they do not read newspapers or

magazines or watch television were excluded from the sampling pool.

A few introductory questions were put to the respondents to confirm

their familiarity with products and services selected for the study and

to ensure that they really are the consumers of the visual media; i .e;

they read a few newspapers and magazines and watch a few satell i te

television channels.

3.4 Sample Size and Sampling Method

On review of identical studies by the researcher, it was found

that such studies have taken 200 as the sample size. Khan and Khan

(2002) in their various research projects on Indian advertising and

consumer behaviour have taken a sample size ranging from 100 to 250.

Following this and also taking in to account the complexity of the

subject of study and the number of variables included in the study, the

researcher decided to have a sample size of 300 for this study. The

sampling procedure adopted was Multi -stage stratified random

sampling.

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The demographic profi le of the sample is furnished below.

Table No: 3.1: Demographic profile of the sample

Occupation Student House Wife Employed Business or Professional Self-Employed

18.7% 23.0% 22.3% 16.3% 19.6% (100 %)

Age 18-28 28-38 38-48 48-58

36.0% 21.3% 29.0% 13.7% (100 %)

Family Status Single Married with no chi ldren Married with small children Married with grown up Children

32.7% 7.0% 13.3% 47.0% (100 %)

Educational Qualif ications

Up to SSLC Plus Two or its equivalent Graduate or Diploma Post-Graduate Degree Professional Degree

38.0% 23.0% 28.0% 7.3% 3.7% (100 %)

Annual Family Income

Up to Rs.1,00,000/- Between Rs. 1,00,001 to Rs.1,50,000/- Between Rs. 1,50,001 to Rs.2,50,000 Between Rs.2,50,001 to Rs.10,00,000 Above Rs.10,00,000

26.3% 18.7% 32.3 % 19.7% 3.0% (100 %)

(N= 300) (Source : Primary data)

In order to know how the total area of Cochin Corporation is

divided in to different zones, the researcher obtained the details from

the Corporation. According to the data provided by them, Cochin

Corporation consists of seven zones and sixty -six divisions spread over

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these seven zones. The names of these seven zones and the number of

divisions under respective zones is given in table No. 3.2:

Table 3.2: Names of zones under Cochin Corporation and number of divisions in each zone

Sl.No Name of the Zone Number of Divisions in the Zone

1 Central Zone 12

2 Fort Cochin 10

3 Pal luruthy 10

4 Vytil la 11

5 Edapally 12

6 Pachalam 6

7 Mattancherry 5

Total number of divisions in the Corporation( as per 2001 Census)

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The 2001 census document and voter’s l ist of the corporation

(for local bodies election of 2005) were taken as the sampling frame.

Documents relating to 2001 census were obtained from the Registrar of

Census, Trivandrum and the Electoral Rol ls of 2005 Local body’s

election was obtained from Cochin Corporation.

In the first stage, one divis ion each from 7 zones was selected at

random. Lottery method was used for this selection. The following

division numbers representing each zone was selected at random.

Division numbers selected are furnished in the table given below:

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Table No. 3.3: Names of Divisions under Cochin Corporation

selected for the study

Division No.

Division Name Zone Name

57 Ernakulam Town- South

Central zone

28 Vaduthala East Pachalam

33 Edapally Edapally

42 Thammanam Vytil la

13 Eda-Cochin- North Pal luruthy

3 Karipalam Fort Cochin

9 Thoppumpady Mattancherry

In the next stage, total number of households to be selected under each

division was fixed on a proportionate basis. The number of households under each

zone and the total number of households for all the zones put together and their

percentage wise distribution among different zones under Cochin Corporation for the

year 2001 is furnished in table No:3.4

Table. No: 3.4: Distribution of house holds and their percentage wise

distribution among zones.

Name of the zone Number of households in

each zone

Percentage wise distribution of

households in each zone

Central zone 24,231 18.42 %

Pachalam 10,973 8.34 %

Edapally 22,943 17.44 %

Vytil la 21,759 16.54 %

Palluruthy 18,924 14.39 %

Fort Cochin 22,335 16.98 %

Mattancherry 10,327 7.85 %

Total number of house holds in Cochin Corporation (as per 2001 Census)

1,31,492 100 %

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The number of house holds to be selected from each division selected under

various zones for data collection was decided on the basis of the ratio of zonal

distribution of households to that of the total number of households in the

Corporation. Accordingly the sample of 300 was apportioned to the seven selected

divisions on the same proportion as given above – i.e; 18.42% of sample households

were selected from Ernakulam Town South division under Central zone, 8.34 % from

Vaduthala East division under Pachalam zone, 17.44 % from Edapally division under

Edapally zone, 16.54 % from Thammanam division under Vytilla zone, 13.39 %

from Eda Cochin North division under Palluruthy zone, 16.98 % from Karipalam

division under Fort Cochin and 7.85 % from Thoppumpady division under

Mattancherry zone.

The final distributions of sample respondents across the selected divisions are

furnished in table No: 3.5.

Table No: 3.5 : Distribution of sample households selected from different divisions under various zones of Cochin Corporation

Division Number

Division Name

Zone Name Number of households

selected from each division

Percenatge of Sample

size

57 Ernakulam Town - South

Central zone 55 18.42

28 Vaduthala East Pachalam 25 8.34

33 Edapally Edapally 52 17.44

42 Thammanam Vytilla 50 16.54

13 Eda Cochin North

Palluruthy 43 14.39

3 Karipalam Fort Cochin 51 16.98

9 Thoppumpady Mattancherry 24 7.85

Total 300 100 %

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The final stage of sampling was done on a random basis. It was noticed that

a number of registered residential associations are formed under each division and

they keep a database of the households coming under their jurisdiction. The

researcher also contacted the office bearers of these residential associations under

the selected divisions to get the directory of residents and their demography and the

final data collection was made by referring the Corporation documents, census

documents, voter’s list of the corporation and the directories of various residential

associations under selected divisions, so as to have a representative sample of the

population. In each division respondents from different residential associations were

contacted and such selection of respondents was done purely on a random basis.

3.5 Focus Group Discussions

Litosseliti (2005) while discussing the benefits of using Focus Groups in

research has observed that focus groups help in discovering new information, obtain

a number of different perspectives on the same topic, gain information on

participants views, attitudes, beliefs, responses, motivations and perceptions on a

topic, brainstorm and generate ideas, gain insights in to the ways of individuals by

group dynamics and explore controversial issues and complex or sensitive topics.

Keeping this in view, the researcher used Focus Groups (methodology) for this

research.

Morgan (1998) mentions that “ unlike surveys, focus groups rely on the

strengths of qualitative methods, including exploration and discovery, understanding

things in depth and in context and interpreting why things are the way they are and

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how they got that way” and “ to serve these purposes, focus groups and other

qualitative methods require a great deal of openness and flexibility”.

As quantitative data provide only the extent to which respondents react to

advertising stimuli containing literary elements, it was felt that a qualitative study of

advertisements and the reaction of respondents to Advertising stimuli containing

literary devices and elements will give more insights on why and how they react to

advertising stimuli containing such literary artefacts. It was also felt that Focus

Group Discussions with literature students may provide a parsimonious list of literary

devices, elements and components that are generally noticed in contemporary Ads

and how such literary elements are appreciated by the media audience and that

such insights may be helpful in designing the questionnaire for the study. As

advertising targets the mind of the audience, probing deeper in to the psyche of

respondents is essential for better understanding the underlying factors that lead to

better liking of Ads. For the researcher, it was a rewarding experience as

respondents reveal at a much deeper level in groups with which they can identify.

Accordingly, two focus groups with literature and other students were

conducted for this purpose. The qualitative analysis of this data and the feedback

obtained from respondents in Focus Group Discussions are given in section D in

chapter 4. Altogether three Focus Groups were conducted – one for selection of test

advertisements and the other two for short listing the variables of the study and to

get better insights on research questions.

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3.6 Literary Groupings of Advertisements

Advertisements collected from leading Newspapers, Magazines and that

recorded directly from different satellite television channels were used for the study.

Although a number of literary elements are noticed in Ads, the researcher identified

frequently used literary elements and devices with the help of Focus Groups and

these elements are classified in to four literary groupings i.e. rhetorical devices,

poetic elements, dramatic elements and archetypal symbol for convenience of the

study. The advertisements selected pertain to the period from 2003-2006. The pool

of Ads compiled by the researcher was put to a focus group consisting of literature

students at master’s level, marketing academics and advertising copy writers. The

test ads finally selected by this Focus Group contain 10 advertisements, both print

and Television Commercials spread across these four literary groupings representing

one literary element each in each Ad. For better manageability, it was decided to

limit the number of ads to ten for testing.

3.7 Research Instruments

This research has used Questionnaire and Test Advertisements as instruments

for data collection.

3.8 Questionnaire

The questionnaire containing parameters of literature – i.e; literary devices

and components of literature was administered to the respondents who were

selected for participation in the consumer survey. This questionnaire contained 35

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main questions with subdivisions and 6 demographic questions and their responses

were recorded in separate response sheets. Both open ended and close ended

questions were used. For smooth administration of the questionnaire, the whole

questionnaire was divided in to three sections. In the main questionnaire nine

questions were related to media habits and leisure time activities of the respondents,

two questions were related to brand usage, one related to purchase decision,

fourteen questions related measures of dependent variables, one question related

to preference for literary forms, five related to literary components, one related to

brand liking and two questions were related to Ad liking and Brand liking .

3.9 Test Advertisements

Another instrument used in the study was the test ads; A total of ten test

ads were used for the consumer survey. The test ads were attached alongwith the

questionnaire in a magazine format. Only colour ads were selected for the study. In

case of television commercials, the storyboard approach used by and as adapted by

Dr.Jojo Paul (2001) from Aaker and Norris (1982) was used in this study. Six

snapshots of the test commercial are presented along with the questionnaire. Under

each snapshot the relevant script of the commercial under test was given. The

researcher thought of administering television commercials through recorded

compact disks by showing the same through television to give the full effect of both

video and audio elements of TV ads and the researcher spent considerable time to

find out how this can be administered. On practical considerations like moving the

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equipments from one place to another place, this was abandoned at a later stage

and the story-board technique was preferred.

As the story board approach has limitations in testing advertising components

like rhyme, musicality, and the narrative sequence of a TV commercial and all other

audio elements which are some of the variables of the study, the researcher

supplemented the story board method by showing all the test advertisements,

especially Television advertisements on a laptop computer, so that the respondents

can get the full text and audio-visual effect of the advertisements without missing

the likely impact of any of the components related to the variables of the study. A

Compact Disc containing all the advertisements used for the study is given as

Appendix. B. No: 5 at the end of the thesis.

3.10 Scaling and Scoring

Different scales as codified by Bearden and Netemeyer (1999) to measure

reactions to advertising stimuli were adapted for the study, which is relevant for

studying the impact of literary devices and components on advertising and

advertising effectiveness. It is generally believed that a literary text creates feelings,

pathos pleasure, instruction, delight, empathy and entertainment and identical

measures as are relevant for advertising using literary components are extracted

from these standard scales for this study. The details of the scales adopted are given

below:

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3.10.1 Feelings toward Ads : Warm and Upbeat Feelings

For measuring these positive feelings the scale developed by Edell and Burke

(1987) as codified in Hand Book of Marketing Scales by Bearden and Netemeyer

(1999) is used in this study. Upbeat feelings that are likely to be created by the test

advertisements were measured by eliciting information from respondents whether

the advertisements are ‘Amusing’, ‘Attractive’, ‘Interesting’, ‘Giving happiness’ and

‘Pleasing’. Warm feelings that are likely to be created by the advertisement was

measured by asking the respondents whether the advertisement is ‘Evoking

emotions’ or ‘Emotional’. These items are measured on a five point Likert type scale,

anchored by strongly agree to strongly disagree.

3.10.2 Judgment of Ads : ( Pathos)

Another scale used in this study is ‘Viewer-judgment of Advertisements’ the

‘Persuasive Disclosure Inventory’ (PDI) adapted from the Handbook of Marketing

Scales ( 1999 ). Literary texts create feelings and emotions. The researcher adapted

this scale developed by Feltham (1994) to measure the emotional intensity of the

Ads specified as pathos in the scale.

PDI is “based upon the Aristotelian theory of Rhetoric” and ‘pathos’ deals with

affection and emotional appeals relating to advertising. The items included in the

questionnaire to measure pathos are whether the advertisement ‘affects feelings’,

‘touches emotionally’, ‘stimulates’ and ‘reaches out to the audience’. These items

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were also measured on a five-point Likert type scales anchored by strongly agree to

strongly disagree.

3.10.3 Viewer Response Profile - Entertainment, Brand Reinforcement and Empathy

Viewer Response Profile (VRP) developed by Schlinger (1979) (codified by

Bearden and Netemeyer (1999) in the Handbook on Marketing Scales) ‘gauges

affective reactions to advertisements” and it focuses on the emotional component of

communication effects and indicates how people feel after seeing a commercial

rather than what they know. An advertisement using literary elements is to be

judged on the affective plane. Although VRP assesses several “facets relating to how

people feel about an advertisement” the researcher has extracted three facets from

the above scale which are found to be relevant to the present study. These are

‘Entertainment’, ‘Brand Reinforcement’ and ’Empathy’.

‘Entertainment is the degree to which a commercial is pleasurable, enjoyable

and fun to watch’ just like popular literary texts that are consumed basically for

entertainment. ‘Brand reinforcement is the degree to which the advertisement

reinforces existing positive attitudes toward the brand’. ‘Empathy is the degree to

which viewers participate vicariously in events, feelings and behaviours that are

shown in the advertisement’ (Bearden and Netemeyer, 1999 ). A five-point Likert

type scales anchored by strongly agree to strongly disagree was used for measuring

items related to Entertainment, Brand Reinforcement and Empathy.

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The items as given in the above scales were included in the questionnaire and

pre-tested and items, which were identical in meanings, and items, which were not

eliciting any response from the participants, were deleted. Also adjectives with more

or less same meanings were also avoided. As there were a number of items in the

original scale with identical meanings, a parsimonious reduction in their number was

effected through pre-testing, especially in view of the short attention span of the

respondents and also in view of limiting the duration of the time for completing the

administration of the questionnaire to that of less than an hour.

While adapting the factors and items in the scales, the researcher mainly tried

to bring the scale items that are common and which are generally considered in

assessing the effectiveness of advertisements as also literary texts. Items that are

relevant and common for evaluating literary texts are feelings, pathos, pleasure,

entertainment, delight and empathy. Such items are extracted from critical texts on

literary theory. Many literary critics have specified the outcome of a literary text as

one that gives pleasure, entertainment, arousing feelings, delight and empathy. The

eastern approach of literary criticism also equally underlines the pleasure of the text.

Kapoor (1998 ) has studied the Indian literary tradition in great depth and he has

listed rasa, dwani, auchitya, and alamkara as the locus of literariness. Thampi

( 2003) also describes rasa, dwani, auchitya, and alamkara as the essence of

a literary text. It can be concluded that both western and eastern literary theories

coincide on some vital aspects of locus relating to literariness of a text.

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As such by extracting such common factors, the researcher feels that the

variables can be defined clearly and the linkage between literary devices and

components and advertising can be probed with greater statistical accuracy.

In Section B of the questionnaire responses to the questions against the

general liking for advertisements using literary elements, a five point Likert-type of

scale, anchored by very much liked to very much disliked was used, where very

much liked, connotes high level of liking and very much disliked lowest level of

liking. Like wise in case of questions in Part C from 25 to 29, another five point

Likert type scale was used for measurement. The scale contains strongly agree to

strongly disagree cues arranged in a hierarchical order where strongly agree have

the highest score and strongly disagree have the lowest score. Therefore, responses

with the highest score will indicate greater agreement level.

3.11 Reliability and Validity

As discussed earlier, standard scales were adopted from the Handbook of

Marketing Scales (1999), which were used in previous studies. For Feelings toward

Ads scale, Alpha estimates were .98 for upbeat feelings factors and .93 for warm

feelings factors. The reliability estimate reported for pathos is .89 in case of

Judgment of Ads and in case of VRP scale items it ranges form .62 to .96.

Questionnaire and Test Advertisements are the two main tools that are used

in this research for data collection. Extreme care was given in drafting the

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questionnaire and the wording of the questionnaire to avoid misunderstanding by

the respondents. An explanatory note giving details of literary terms with sample

advertisements as examples was also supplied to the respondents to explain difficult

terms both in English and Malayalam and to familiarize them with the literary

concepts that are used in this research. Sufficient caution was also taken in

administration of the questionnaire in a phased manner.

3.12 Advertising Effectiveness

In this research Advertising Effectiveness was measured in terms of Ad recall,

Ad recognition, Ad likeability, Ad message clarity of communication and Attitude

towards Ads. Certain other dimensions of Test Ads were also measured. Such

dimensions are ‘Elaboration’, ‘Aad’, and ‘Difficulty of Comprehension’. Eloboration

refers how information embedded in working memory is connected with existing

knowledge base.

For rating the various dimensions of the test Ads on ‘ Elaboration’, ‘Aad ‘and

‘Difficulty of Comprehension’, a seven point semantic differntial scale was used

consisting of bi-polar adjectives adopted from (Mc-Quairre and Mick, 1999). In case

of question numbers 32 and 33 , Liking for Ads using different literary elements

and devices was also measured by a five point Likert-type scale, anchored by very

much liked to very much disliked with a score range of 5 to 1 respectively.

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3.13 Measures of Items of Information

As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, the independent variables in

this study are the elements of literature classified under four literary groupings and

the dependent variable is advertising effectiveness in the visual media. Parameters

of Literature used in this study are given in the table given below:

Table 3.6 : Parameters of literature used for the study

3.14 Communication Effectiveness and Advertising Effectiveness

In Chapter I, Communication Effectiveness has operationally been defined as

the strength of the Advertising copy to communicate succinctly about the advertised

brand and Advertising Effectiveness has operationally been defined as

communication effectiveness, as this research has mainly taken in to account the

communication aspects of advertising and not the sales impact of advertising.

The different items of information extracted under communication

effectiveness and advertising effectiveness are given below in table 3.7.

Literary Groupings

Literary elements

Rhetorical devices

i. Metaphor ii. Personification iii. Hyperbole iv. Pun

Elements of Poetry

i. Imagery ii. Rhyme iii. Musicality

Elements of drama

i. Plot and Characterization ii. Humour

Archetypal symbol

i. Good Mother

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Table 3.7 : Items of information related to Communication Effectiveness and Advertising Effectiveness

Communication Effectiveness

Advertising Effectiveness

Brand Awareness Brand Recall Brand Reinforcement Persuasive Power of Ads Willingness to purchase the Brand

Ad Recall Ad Recognition Ad likeability Ad message- clarity of communication. Attitude towards Ads

There are diverging opinions on the real measure of a copy’s effectiveness.

Ramaswamy and Namakumari (2002) state that most of the copy testing center on

attention, recognition and recall factors and that the tests are mostly concerned with

communication effectiveness of the copy.

Recall in advertising evaluation test is measured by knowing whether

consumers are aware of the Advertisement. Recall gives an indication about the

extent to which consumers have retained the Advertising messages. It is generally

assumed that recall of Advertising messages may lead to purchase behaviour.

Top of mind (TOM), unaided and aided are the three types of recall that are

used in advertising evaluation. Unaided recall checks whether respondents

remember having seen or heard any advertisement recently for any brand in a

product/service category. Respondents are not given any clues to identify the

sponsor, the brand or the message. Whichever brand is mentioned first or the first

brand mentioned in a product or service category qualifies for top of the mind recall.

Clues or suggestions that aid in recalling the Ads are given to the

respondents in aided recall. In Unaided recall respondents are asked to recall or

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remember the advertisement spontaneously. Therefore, it may be treated as

stronger, assuming that the Advertisement has left an impression in the mind of the

consumer and the consumer is able to recall it instantaneously.

Ad recognition was evaluated through an Ad Recognition question through

verifying the ability of the respondent to relate the Ad with it’s relative brand.

Table No: 3.8 : Measures of Awareness, Recall, Recognition and Clarity of communication of Ad messages

Items of information Questions/Statements

Category awareness Have you heard or are you aware of the product and service categories as given in the table provided in the Questionnaire.

Brand awareness I am aware of the brand shown in this advertisement.

Unaided Recall Do you remember having seen or heard any advertisement in print or television in the last six months for any product or service in the table given in the questionnaire

Brand recall – category aided brand

recall

Can you mention any brand names, which you have seen or heard advertised in the print or on the television during the last six months in the product and service categories as given in the questionnaire. Please mention two brand names.

Brand recall – Ad aided brand recall I can relate this advertisement with the respective brand

Ad Recognition I can recognize and remember seeing this advertisement in print or television

Brand aided advertisement recall I can recall an advertisement which I have seen for this brand

Brand aided message recall Are you able to recall the message in the above advertisement for the respective brands you have identified?

Ad message – clarity of communication

The advertisements shown to me communicate the required message about the brand quite clearly

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3.15 Attitude towards Advertisement

A central theme in Advertising Management is Attitude ( Ramaswamy, 2002).

Suja (2002) has defined Attitudes “ as a generalized predisposition to react in some

way towards objects or concepts”. A generally accepted attitude model consists of

three interrelated components – cognitive, affective and co-native. Cognitive

component of attitude is made up of knowledge, beliefs, the affective component

involves feelings of likes and dislikes and the co-native component deals with

behaviour or action. The fundamental problem before an advertiser is how to

manage and change the attitude of the audience towards the Ads.

Abilash (2000) while listing various definitions of attitude toward Ad admits

that it’s scope and measurement has widely varied in literature and various

measures of the construct, from a measure of an overall favourability or

unfavourability to a set of belief items related to positive and negative outcomes of

advertising in the ecnomic and social areas are used in research. According to him

some of the other aspects related to perceptions related to advertising include

informational value and entertainment.

3.16 Measures of Attitude towards Test Advertisements

As the focus of study is not purchase behaviour, but communication

effectiveness of Ads containing literary devices and elements more weight has been

given for measuring items of information related to cognitive and affective

measures, assuming that Ads may be compared to literary texts. Therefore

measures that are relevant for assessing effectiveness of a literary text are taken for

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assessing attitude toward test advertisements containing literary devices and

elements.

Research shows that rhetorical devices are expected to result in increased

elaboration and greater degree of pleasure ( Mc Quarrie and Mick , 1999) and they

observe that artful deviation is the cause of pleasure produced by rhetorical figures

and the notion of pleasure of the text could be linked to attitude toward the ad. On

the basis of this research, a seven point semantic differential scale with three items

anchored by liked/disliked, pleasant/unpleasant and enjoyed by me/did not enjoy

also measured attitude toward Ad.

Attitude measures toward test advertisements according to the tri-component

model of attitude used in this research are furnished in table No: 3.9. Various items

of information under different components of attitude are also given in the table.

Table No: 3.9 : Measures of Attitude towards test Advertisements

Measures Questions / statements

Cognitive I think the advertisement is: It’s arguments are strong and convincing Balanced It uses gentle persuasion Believable Relevant

Affective I think the advertisement is : Likeable Evoking pleasurable feelings It creates an emotional bonding

Co-native I am willing to purchase the brand in the advertisement shown, if needed

All the measures mentioned above viz the cognitive, affective and co-native

components were measured on a five-point likert-type scale anchored by strongly

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agree to strongly disagree. The above measures are extracted on the basis of

Literature Review and also from Baron’s (2003 ) Psychology textbook, as attitude is

essentially a psychological concept.

3.17 Measures of Communication Effectiveness

Measures of communication effectiveness and the questions/statements that

were included in the questionnaire for these are given in the table furnished below.

Table No: 3.10 : Measures of Communication Effectiveness

Communication Effectiveness - Measures

Questions/ Statements

Brand Awareness

I am aware of the brand shown in this advertisement

Brand Reinforcement ( Schlinger, 1979 )

(i) It is a good brand and I would not hesitate recommending it to others.

(ii) I know that the advertised brand is a dependable and reliable one.

Persuasive Power of Ads (Schultz and Barnes, 2001 )

Based on the advertisement shown to you, how do you rate the brand in the advertisement on an overall basis on a scale ranging from Excellent to Poor.

Willingness to purchase the brand

I am willing to purchase this brand, if needed.

Brand Recall – Ad-aided Brand Recall

I can relate this advertisement with the respective brand.

3.18 Measures of Advertising Effectiveness

Rossiter and Eagleson (1994) while reporting on the Advertising Research

Foundation’s (ARF), Copy Research Validity Project stated that “ad-likability” is the

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best predictor of an Ad’s effectiveness and the best predictor of sales effectiveness is

attitude towards the Ad.

Advertising Effectiveness measures and the questions/statements that were

included in the questionnaire for these are given below.

Table 3.11 : Measures of advertising effectiveness

Measures of Advertising Effectiveness

Questions/Statements

Ad. Recall I can recall this advertisement which I have seen earlier for this brand

Ad.Recognition I can recognize and remember seeing this advertisement in print or on TV.

Ad.Likeability Which group of literary devices/elements you like most in test advertisements? Out of the four literary groupings – Rhetorical devices, Poetic elements, Dramatic elements and Archetypal symbol rate your extent of liking for various literary devices and elements in each group as used in the test advertisements?

Ad. Message – clarity of communication

The advertisement shown to me communicates the required message about the brand quite clearly

Elaboration The Advertisements shown to me : i) Provokes imagery/does not provoke imagery. ii) Vivid/dull iii) Interesting/Boring iv) I had many thoughts in response/ I had few thoughts in response. v) The Advertisement has multiple meanings/ The advertisement has one meaning. vi) The advertisement has rich complex meanings/ The advertisement has simple meanings.

Aad The Advertisements shown to me are : i) Liked by me/Disliked by me ii) Pleasant/Unpleasant iii) Enjoyed by me/ I did not enjoy

Difficulty of Comprehension

The Advertisements shown to me are : i) Easy to understand/ Difficult to understand ii) Straight forward/Confusing

The meaning is certain/ The meaning is ambiguous.

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Items of information under Elaboration, Aad and Difficulty of Comprehension

were measured on a seven point semantic differential scale, anchored by bipolar

adjectives as given in the above table.

Information on demographic details was also collected through the

questionnaire for compiling a demographic profile of the respondents. Details on

age, family status, occupation, level of education and monthly family income were

obtained. The basis for deciding monthly family income was the different slabs of

income as reckoned for the purpose of computing income tax for the financial year

2006-2007 ( Assessment year 2007-2008 ).

3.19 Data Collection

The source of information was primary data. Primary data collection was

undertaken through a sample survey method. The data collection was done during

the year 2006, a period of economic boom for the Indian economy, when the Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate witnessed a phenomenal increase of more than

9%.

3.20 EXECUTION OF THE STUDY

Although the story board approach to questionnaire administration was quite

convenient for handling data collection, this method was found in appropriate in

testing certain literary elements like musical quality, rhyme, plot and characterization

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in TV commercials. As such the researcher recorded these TV commercials in the

computer through TV tuner and these recorded TV commercials were written down

on a Compact Disc. It was also copied on the Laptop computer of the researcher.

All the ads including TV commercials were shown to the respondents through the

Laptop computer. The print ads and the warm-up ads were also copied on to the

laptop computer. Ads were shown through laptop computer and also by hardcopies.

3.21 Data Analysis

Several techniques were used in data analysis. Out of the 315 respondents

who volunteered to cooperate with the study, 15 were found to be unsuitable

because they gave incomplete and irrelevant responses. The total data available for

analysis is from 300 respondents. The reduced data are reported in the form of

percentages and mean values. Different statistical tests were used for data analysis.

3.22 Methodological Assumptions

1. All respondents will have the same exposure to the intervening variables.

2. It is assumed that the samples selected have the quality of

representativeness of the population.

3. Other components in test ads, which are non-literary in nature, will have no

effect on all the respondents and that such components will not interfere with

their judgment in assessing literary devices, components elements used in

these test ads.

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4. It is assumed that the data collected on interval scale fulfill the requirements

for carrying out the statistical tests.

5. Appreciation of literary content and components in Advertisements requires

neither formal training nor any formal educational qualifications.

6. Aesthetic orientation and appreciation for beauty, art and literature is

normally distributed in the population.

In short the study covers both advertising copy testing and advertising

effectiveness measurement. Results are presented in the next chapter.