Lecture 1 – Introduction & How marcoms work I: Explicit attitudes
De Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M., & Van Den Bergh, J. (2013, Chapter 3). How marketing
communications work
Hierarchy-of-effects models
Hierarchy-of-effects models = models that assume that things have to happen in a certain
order.
According to these models, consumers go through three different stages in responding to
marketing communications → cognitive, affective and conative stage (think-feel-do
sequence).
There is a lot of disagreement on the sequence of the different stages. Researchers have
developed alternative models:
● Low-involvement hierarchy-of-effects model: cognitive-conative-affective hierarchy
● Experiential hierarchy-of-effects model: affective-conative-cognitive hierarchy
Foot-Cone-Belding (FCB) grid: four different situations based on two dimensions.
- Involvement: the importance people attach to a product or a buying decision.
- Think-feel: the extent to which a decision is made on a cognitive or an affective basis.
→ Alternative to this
grid: Rossiter-Percy
grid (with high-low
involvement and
transformational vs.
informational buying
motives)
Hierarchy-of-effects models correctly assume that affective responses cannot be formed or
that a purchase cannot take place without having an awareness of the brand. Most
companies strive to reach Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) in consumers (= indicates
which brand is most salient within a product category). Brands that are top of mind are more
likely to be purchased.
There are several shortcomings when it comes to hierarchy-of-effects models.
- Empirically, no hierarchy of cognitive, affective and conative effects can be observed.
- Such models do not allow interactions between the different stages, which is very
unlikely.
Attitude formation and change
Attitude = a person’s overall evaluation of an object, a product, a person, etc.
→ Attitude towards a brand (Ab) = a measure of how much a person likes or dislikes the
brand; the extent to which a person holds a favorable/unfavorable view of the brand.
,The more favorable brand attitudes are, the more likely a purchase of the band becomes.
An attitude can be assumed to consist of three components:
Cognitive: reflects knowledge, beliefs and
evaluations of the object
Affective: represents the feelings associated with
the object
Behavioral: refers to action readiness (behavioral
intentions) with respect to the object
Different communication models regarding attitude formation and attitude change can be
classified along two dimensions:
1) The way attitudes are formed - primarily cognitive, affective or behavioral
2) The level of elaboration of a message (central-route vs. peripheral-route processing)
→ these dimensions are comparable with the ones used in the FCB-grid. The involvement
dimension is extended to motivation, ability and opportunity (MAO).
Motivation = a willingness to engage in behavior, make decisions, pay attention, etc.
Motivation is influenced by consumer needs and goals. Consumer needs can be
categorised:
- Functional: refer to solving consumer problems
- Symbolic: relate to how we see ourselves and how we would like to be perceived by
others
- Hedonic: reflect consumers’ desires for sensory pleasure
→ Needs/goals can also be classified as approach/promotion goals and
avoidance/prevention goals.
In order to be persuasive, marketing communications should tap into consumers’
motivational concepts and marketers need to understand what goals consumers are trying to
accomplish by buying the product.
Ability = refers to the sources needed to achieve a particular goal.
Opportunity = deals with the extent to which the situation enables a person to obtain the
goal set.
The effects of the MAO factors on attitude formation and marketing communications
processing are presented in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM).
- If MAO is high, the elaboration likelihood is said to be high and consumers are
expected to engage in central-route processing. Consumers react to information by
producing counter-, support or neutral arguments, which induce a negative, positive
or no attitude change.
, ● Attitudes formed via the central route prove to be good predictors of later
behavior and are fairly resistant to other persuasive messages.
- If one or more MAO factors is/are low, consumers are more likely to engage in
peripheral-route processing. An evaluation is based on simple, peripheral cures.
● Attitudes formed via the peripheral route do not necessarily last long.
→ Elaboration Likelihood
Model (ELM)
Six types of marketing communications models based on two dimensions can be
distinguished:
● Dimension 1: pertains to elaboration likelihood (high vs. low)
● Dimension 2: related to the attitude component on which attitude formation is mainly
built (cognitions vs. affect vs. behavior)
High elaboration likelihood, cognitive attitude formation
= if consumer’s MAO are high and when cognitive elements are important for attitude
formation (example → someone who is going to buy a home video installation).
, Multiple attribute models
Most famous multiple attribute model → Fishbein model (Expectancy-Value model). In this
model, brand attitudes are made up of three elements:
- Relevant product attributes
- The extent to which one believes the brand possesses these attributes
- The evaluation of these attributes or how good/bad one thinks it is for a brand to
possess these attributes
Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA): extension of Fishbein model. Provides a link between
attitude and behavioral intention. The latter is not only determined by attitudes, but also by
the subjective norm (= the belief one holds regarding what different reference groups
consider as socially desirable behavior, weighted by the consumer’s need or willingness to
behave according to the norms of the particular reference group).
Theory of Planned behavior (TPB): extension of TORA. The TPB adds perceived
behavioral control (= the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior and it is
assumed to reflect past experience as well as anticipated impediments and obstacles).
Based on the TPB model, marketing communicators can try to change consumers’ attitudes
and influence their behavior in several different ways.
Self-generated persuasion
The consumer is not persuaded by strong brand arguments, but by his or her own thoughts,
arguments or imagined consequences. The consumer combines the information in the
message with previous experience and knowledge, and tries to imagine him- or herself
De Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M., & Van Den Bergh, J. (2013, Chapter 3). How marketing
communications work
Hierarchy-of-effects models
Hierarchy-of-effects models = models that assume that things have to happen in a certain
order.
According to these models, consumers go through three different stages in responding to
marketing communications → cognitive, affective and conative stage (think-feel-do
sequence).
There is a lot of disagreement on the sequence of the different stages. Researchers have
developed alternative models:
● Low-involvement hierarchy-of-effects model: cognitive-conative-affective hierarchy
● Experiential hierarchy-of-effects model: affective-conative-cognitive hierarchy
Foot-Cone-Belding (FCB) grid: four different situations based on two dimensions.
- Involvement: the importance people attach to a product or a buying decision.
- Think-feel: the extent to which a decision is made on a cognitive or an affective basis.
→ Alternative to this
grid: Rossiter-Percy
grid (with high-low
involvement and
transformational vs.
informational buying
motives)
Hierarchy-of-effects models correctly assume that affective responses cannot be formed or
that a purchase cannot take place without having an awareness of the brand. Most
companies strive to reach Top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) in consumers (= indicates
which brand is most salient within a product category). Brands that are top of mind are more
likely to be purchased.
There are several shortcomings when it comes to hierarchy-of-effects models.
- Empirically, no hierarchy of cognitive, affective and conative effects can be observed.
- Such models do not allow interactions between the different stages, which is very
unlikely.
Attitude formation and change
Attitude = a person’s overall evaluation of an object, a product, a person, etc.
→ Attitude towards a brand (Ab) = a measure of how much a person likes or dislikes the
brand; the extent to which a person holds a favorable/unfavorable view of the brand.
,The more favorable brand attitudes are, the more likely a purchase of the band becomes.
An attitude can be assumed to consist of three components:
Cognitive: reflects knowledge, beliefs and
evaluations of the object
Affective: represents the feelings associated with
the object
Behavioral: refers to action readiness (behavioral
intentions) with respect to the object
Different communication models regarding attitude formation and attitude change can be
classified along two dimensions:
1) The way attitudes are formed - primarily cognitive, affective or behavioral
2) The level of elaboration of a message (central-route vs. peripheral-route processing)
→ these dimensions are comparable with the ones used in the FCB-grid. The involvement
dimension is extended to motivation, ability and opportunity (MAO).
Motivation = a willingness to engage in behavior, make decisions, pay attention, etc.
Motivation is influenced by consumer needs and goals. Consumer needs can be
categorised:
- Functional: refer to solving consumer problems
- Symbolic: relate to how we see ourselves and how we would like to be perceived by
others
- Hedonic: reflect consumers’ desires for sensory pleasure
→ Needs/goals can also be classified as approach/promotion goals and
avoidance/prevention goals.
In order to be persuasive, marketing communications should tap into consumers’
motivational concepts and marketers need to understand what goals consumers are trying to
accomplish by buying the product.
Ability = refers to the sources needed to achieve a particular goal.
Opportunity = deals with the extent to which the situation enables a person to obtain the
goal set.
The effects of the MAO factors on attitude formation and marketing communications
processing are presented in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM).
- If MAO is high, the elaboration likelihood is said to be high and consumers are
expected to engage in central-route processing. Consumers react to information by
producing counter-, support or neutral arguments, which induce a negative, positive
or no attitude change.
, ● Attitudes formed via the central route prove to be good predictors of later
behavior and are fairly resistant to other persuasive messages.
- If one or more MAO factors is/are low, consumers are more likely to engage in
peripheral-route processing. An evaluation is based on simple, peripheral cures.
● Attitudes formed via the peripheral route do not necessarily last long.
→ Elaboration Likelihood
Model (ELM)
Six types of marketing communications models based on two dimensions can be
distinguished:
● Dimension 1: pertains to elaboration likelihood (high vs. low)
● Dimension 2: related to the attitude component on which attitude formation is mainly
built (cognitions vs. affect vs. behavior)
High elaboration likelihood, cognitive attitude formation
= if consumer’s MAO are high and when cognitive elements are important for attitude
formation (example → someone who is going to buy a home video installation).
, Multiple attribute models
Most famous multiple attribute model → Fishbein model (Expectancy-Value model). In this
model, brand attitudes are made up of three elements:
- Relevant product attributes
- The extent to which one believes the brand possesses these attributes
- The evaluation of these attributes or how good/bad one thinks it is for a brand to
possess these attributes
Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA): extension of Fishbein model. Provides a link between
attitude and behavioral intention. The latter is not only determined by attitudes, but also by
the subjective norm (= the belief one holds regarding what different reference groups
consider as socially desirable behavior, weighted by the consumer’s need or willingness to
behave according to the norms of the particular reference group).
Theory of Planned behavior (TPB): extension of TORA. The TPB adds perceived
behavioral control (= the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior and it is
assumed to reflect past experience as well as anticipated impediments and obstacles).
Based on the TPB model, marketing communicators can try to change consumers’ attitudes
and influence their behavior in several different ways.
Self-generated persuasion
The consumer is not persuaded by strong brand arguments, but by his or her own thoughts,
arguments or imagined consequences. The consumer combines the information in the
message with previous experience and knowledge, and tries to imagine him- or herself
