Marketingcommunication sv boek
H3
Hierarchy of effects models
Hierarchy of effects models are some of the oldest marketing communications models. Assumes that
things have to happen in a certain order, implying that the earlier effects form necessary conditions
in order for the later effects to occur. Consumers go through 3 stages: cognitive, affective, conative
(think, feel, do). A lot models assume that consumers go through theses stages in this order.
Cognitive: consumers engage in mental thinking processes which lead to awareness and
knowledge of the brand communicated.
Affective: emotional responses occur which are associated with the brand and attitudes
are formed. A difference with the previous stage is that consumers may become aware and
gather information continuously and effortlessly, while affective reactions may only be
formed when the need for an evaluation arises.
Conative: taking actions with respect to the advertised brand, such as buying.
Alternative models are low-involvement hierarchy-of-
effects model (cognitive, conative, affective) and
experiential hierarchy-of-effects model (affective, conative,
cognitive).
Foote-Cone-Belding (FCB) grid: 4 different situations on 2
dimensions (high vs low involvement and think vs feel).
An alternative for this is the Rossiter-Percy grid:
Transformational buying motives: consist of
positive motivations such as sensory gratification, social approval or intellectual stimulation
(ice cream, cosmetics, parfum products that give pleasure)
Informational buying motives: refer to reducing or reversing negative motivations such as
solving or avoiding a problem, or normal depletion. (examples of informational products are
detergents, babies’ nappies, insurance products)
Most companies strive to research top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) in customers. It reflects to the
first brand that comes to mind when thinking of a particular product category. Brands who are top of
mind are more purchased.
Attitude formation and change
Attitude = a person’s overall evaluation of an object, product, person, organisation, ad, etc. Attitude
can be assumed to consist of cognitive, affective and behavioural components.
Different communications models regarding attitude formation and attitude change can be classified
along 2 dimensions:
1. The way attitudes are formed – cognitive, affective or behavioural
2. The level of elaboration of a message, or central-route vs. peripheral-route processing
,Motivation = a willingness to engage in behaviour, make
decisions, pay attention, process information, etc. 3 types of
needs: functional, symbolic, hedonic. Needs/goals can be:
promotion/approach or prevention/avoidance.
Ability = the resources needed to achieve a particular goal.
Opportunity = the extent to which the situation enables a
person to obtain the goal set.
The effect of these MOA factors on attitude formation and
marketing communications processing are presented in the
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). If MOA is high ->
central-route processing with arguments and elaborate info.
Peripheral-route processing is more likely to give rise to
affective attitude formation and heuristics.
High elaboration likelihood, cognitive attitude formation
o Multiple attribute models
Fishbein model/expectancy-value model: brand attitudes are made up of 3
elements: relevant product attributes, the extent to which one believes the
brand processes these attributes and the evaluation of these attributes or
how good/bad one thinks it is for a brand to possess these attributes.
Weighted sum of the products of brand beliefs and attribute evaluations.
Product beliefs are weighted by the importance that the consumer attached
to them.
Theory of reasoned action (TORA): extension of Fishbein model provide a
link between attitude and behavioural intention. The latter is not only
determined by attitudes but also by social norms/subjective norms, which
comprises the belief one holds regarding what different reference groups
consider as socially desirable behaviour, weighted by the consumers need or
willingness to behave according to the norms of the particular reference
group (social sensitivity).
Theory of planned behaviour (TPB): extension of TORA. Behaviour over
which people have control.
o Self-generated persuasion: the consumer is not persuaded by strong brand
arguments, but by own thoughts, arguments or imagined consequences. The
consumer combines the information in the message with previous experience and
, knowledge, and tries to imagine himself consuming the product and the
consequences.
Low elaboration likelihood, cognitive attitude formation: one of the MOA factors is low.
Heuristic evaluation = If one of the MAO factors is low, consumers will make inferences
based on the peripheral cues in the ad. It is also called satisficing choice process, because
consumers settle for a satisfactory or acceptable brand choice.
High elaboration likelihood, affective attitude formation: affect-as-information model posits
that consumer may use feelings as a source of information to form an overall evaluation of a
product or brand, mot by means of a simple association, but through a controlled inferential
process or in an informed deliberate manner.
Low elaboration likelihood, affective attitude formation
o Aad transfer: When consumers feel indifferent towards the available brands as a
consequence of low brand differentiation or insignificant consequences of a non-
optimal choice, their choice goal is likely to be to buy the first brand that they like. Ad
likability might be an important factor because of its ability to attract attention (with
humour, music etc.) and facilitate information processing. The Aad transfer model
receiving most empirical support is the dual mediation model. According to
this model, the evaluation of the ad has not only an immediate impact on the
evaluation of the brand, but also an indirect effect on brand attitude via brand
cognitions. The reason behind this is that consumers who hold a positive attitude
toward the communication are more likely to be receptive to arguments in favour of
the brand advertised.
o Feelings transfer: Some research suggest that the feelings an ad evokes may be
transferred to the attitude towards the ad, the brand attitude and the purchase
intention without much deliberation.
o Emotional conditioning: Emotional can be considered an extreme case of feelings
transfer and is based on Pavlov’s classic conditioning theory. Communication
practitioners sometimes try to pair a brand with an emotional response.
o Mere exposure: The mere exposure of consumers to a particular ad, without the
consumers actively elaborating on the ad, can influence consumer preferences and
behaviour. Studies show that respondents who were exposed to an ad more than
once, as compared with respondents who saw the ad for the first time, appeared to
evaluate the ad as more favourable and less dull. However, some studies indicate
that this effect on brand attitude does not occur through a subjective feeling of
familiarity. The mere exposure effect is limited. When consumers are confronted too
often with a message, there is no learning opportunity and will get bored, the latter
effect is called wear-out (results in negative effects).
High elaboration likelihood, behavioural attitude formation
o Post-experience model: assumes relations between the current purchase on the one
hand and previous purchase/ad/promotion, current advertising, current promotion
on the other.
o Perception-experience-memory model: tries to formulate an answer to what role
marketing communications can play for first buys on the one hand and for other than
first-time purchases on the other.
Low elaboration likelihood, behavioural attitude formation
o Reinforcement model: awareness leads to trial and teal leads to reinforcement.
Product experience is very important.