Abstract:

Television advertising frequently follows a common creative structure. Typically this involves a narrative or story telling component that portrays a situation or problem followed by the presentation of the brand at or near the end of the advertisement. While this is a very common ad structure, is it effective? Specifically, does having the branding information immediately following the end of the preceding narrative have an effect on the way that information about the brand is stored in long-term memory? This is an important question as failure to store branding information in long-term memory means that the ad cannot be effective in influencing future consumer behaviour or attitude. In this presentation we discuss some recent findings that have important implications for how ads are structured. In this presentation we illustrate the impact of Conceptual Closure on the effectiveness of television advertising and show how small exceptional changes can modify Conceptual Closure and thus enhance advertising effectiveness.