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Consumer response to different advertising appeals for new products: The moderating influence of branding strategy and product category involvement

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate interaction effects between branding strategy (new brand versus established brand), advertising execution strategies (informational, positive emotional and negative emotional) and product category involvement (low and high) on consumers’ attitudes towards the product, purchase intention and the (parent) brand. Two analyses are performed in which involvement is manipulated at product category and at individual level. The results show that in general, line extensions of established brands are preferred over new brands. Furthermore, advertising strategy has little impact on consumer responses to line extensions of familiar brands. The type of advertising strategy used does have a significant impact on product and brand attitude and purchase intention for new brands, where negative emotional appeals lead to significantly more negative responses. The results are further moderated by product category involvement. Informational appeals score especially well in high-involvement situations, whereas positive emotional appeals perform better in low-involvement situations. Interestingly, the differences between advertising appeals in both low- and high-involvement conditions are greater for new brands than for extensions.

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Notes

  1. Differences in degree of freedom are because of the covariate included for Ab.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Research Foundation – Flanders (F.W.O. Vlaanderen). The authors also thank Insites and Think.BBDO for their assistance in the data collection, and Wim Janssens for his help with the statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marketing Department, Faculty of Applied Economics, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, office Z.306, Antwerp, 2000, Belgium

    Nathalie Dens & Patrick De Pelsmacker

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  1. Nathalie Dens
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  2. Patrick De Pelsmacker
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Correspondence to Nathalie Dens.

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1recently obtained her PhD in applied economics in the marketing department from the University of Antwerp. She has published a number of articles on communication effects for different types of advertising appeals. Her research interests, in particular, focus on the effectiveness of advertising for different branding strategies.

Appendix

Appendix

STIMULUS EXAMPLES

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figure f

(a) Candy bar, new brand, informational appeal

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figure e

(b) Candy bar, established brand, positive emotional appeal

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figure d

(c) Candy bar, established brand, negative emotional appeal

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figure c

(d) Laptop PC, established brand, informational appeal

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figure b

(e) Laptop PC, new brand, positive emotional appeal

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figure a

(f) Laptop PC, new brand, negative emotional appeal

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Dens, N., De Pelsmacker, P. Consumer response to different advertising appeals for new products: The moderating influence of branding strategy and product category involvement. J Brand Manag 18, 50–65 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2010.22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2010.22

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