Traditional advertising has always been one of the largest expenditures for organizations; take Procter & Gamble for example, which reportedly spent just under $2.95 billion on advertising in 2011 alone. In recent years a significant amount of this expenditure has shifted to internet advertising which has witnessed massive growth. Of the different forms of internet […]
Subject: Advertising
First Choice Most Chosen
Research dating as far back as the early 20th century has shown that the first argument presented to humans on even complex topics has greater persuasive appeal and is more likely to change minds. Building on this, Dana Carney and Mahzarin Banaji from Haas School of Business and Harvard University, respectively, set out to test […]
Health Warnings Can Boost Sales: Regulators Beware
Marketing messages promising powerful benefits such as enhanced social status in return for smoking a particular brand of cigarettes or sexual potency after taking a ‘cure’ for erectile dysfunction are often accompanied by grave warnings of possible side effects, including increased risks of stroke, heart disease and cancer. Such warnings buffer companies from liability — […]
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The Power of Colour in Marketing
Colour has been found to affect cognition, moods and feelings, all of which in turn can influence consumer decision-making. According to the US-based Color Marketing Group, it can increase brand recognition by up to 80 per cent. Not surprisingly then, numerous studies have focused on the effects of colour in marketing and advertising, clearly demonstrating […]
Pricing and the Power of Red
The colour red has long been associated with pleasure, and its effects have long been the subject of research. Studies have suggested that it serves as a ‘heuristic cue’ or shortcut when people make judgments and decisions. (In 2008, for example, researchers found that sports referees assign more points to competitors wearing red than those […]
Celebrities in Advertising: Neuroscience Insights
Over the past 25 years, use of celebrity endorsement by big-budget advertisers has grown significantly. Despite this, it’s unclear why famous faces should be more effective in advertising than (equally attractive) non-famous ones. Studies in 2005 and 2008 suggested that the pairing of a positively valenced stimulus (a celebrity) with an initially neutral stimulus (a […]
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Grapes of Wrath: How Self Control Leads to Anger
Prior research has shown us that self-control can lead to increased aggression. Building on that, we can now show that people often get irritated by their own self-control. Furthermore, it is not just anger and aggression that increases, but also a general difficulty in keeping any undesirable behaviour in check. In the research behind this […]
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