1. Introduction
In such a highly creative discipline as advertising, ideas and actions are often guided by intuition and experience. The increasing need for marketing accountability along with the volatility of the international economic environment (an example of which has been the recent economic downturn) cause skepticism as regards the creation of successful advertisements.
Within this framework, this paper attempts to organize selected fundamental concepts of advertising messages and the macro-environment under a broader theoretical model so as to facilitate understanding of the direction of advertising message adaptation to changing economic conditions.
2. Literature review
2.1.Effects of economic fluctuations on social values and customer perceived value Apart from cut backs in advertising expenditures or budgets, worsening economic conditions may also influence aspects relating to advertising content and execution. As per the centrality paradigm of communications content (Riffe, Lacey and Fico, 2005), advertising messages can be viewed as a result of certain antecedent environmental conditions bearing a possible range of effects to the market. Values are considered to be ‘individual representations of societal goals’ (Gurel-Atay, Xie, Chen and Kahle, 2010: 58) and have been defined as
‘enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence’
(Rokeach, 1973: 5). As a core element of the national macro-environment, social values are of dynamic nature and subject to regular change (Gurel-Atay, Xie, Chen and Kahle, 2010).
Values may change due to various reasons. Given that factors of the macro- environment interact, it is very likely that economic fluctuations affect the predominant values in a given marketplace. Consequently, different economic conditions in single or multiple national contexts may signal increasing consumer divergence. Safety and stability, value for money, friends and family, prudence and conscientious consumption (Boston Consulting Group, 2011; Grossberg, 2009), represent shifts in social values and attitudes caused by the recent economic downturn (Quelch and Jocz, 2009), the duration and severity of which has been dissimilar among different regions of the world. High unemployment rates, consumer anxiety and uncertainty are some of the forces driving the surfacing of new market segments (Quelch and Jocz, 2009) that adopt new value systems. Consequently, new value systems and attitudes alter buyer behavior. Therefore, during severe economic downturns, customers seem to become more price sensitive (Estelami, Lehmann and Holden, 2001), focus on acquiring price information (Wakefield and Inman, 1993), show an increasing preference for private labels (Lamey et al. 2007; 2012) and demand less (Daleersnyder, Dekimpe, Sarvary and Parker, 2004).
Additionally, it is important to note that the emerging environmental conditions may also have an impact on customer evaluation of the costs and benefits they associate with given products. Holbrook (1996) argued that customer perceived value is situational in that the evaluations taking place by customers are context dependent. Apart from influencing the importance of social values, changing economic conditions may also influence customers’
perceived value of market offerings and their alternatives (Kotler and Keller, 2006; Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). In certain situations, while perceived costs may increase, perceived
benefits may decrease.
Hence, taking into consideration the aforementioned reasoning, depicted in figure 1, the following hypotheses can be formulated:
H1: Changes in the economic conditions influence the predominant social values in the marketplace. Economic contractions in particular, drive consumers to focus on values such as safety, economy and belonging.
H2
: Changes in the economic conditions influence the customer perceived value of offerings and their alternatives, leading to changes in customer evaluations and choices.
2.2.The relationship between advertising and social values
Advertising has been assigned with various roles in societies, including the provision of market information, market power and social control (Rotzoll, 1973). Although linkages between advertising and social values have been documented in the literature, there is disagreement on the nature of the relationship between the two. To this extent, Pollay (1983, 1986) acknowledged that advertising is a value carrying institution with enough power to ultimately change societal preferences and standards (Pollay and Gallagher, 1990). On the other hand, various academics and practitioners (e.g. Holbrook, 1987; Ogilvy, 1985) have argued that advertising merely reflects existing values and lacks the power to manipulate them. As Petit and Zakon (1962) indicate, advertising serves the existing value system and would not endure if it opposed it. In line with the previous, Holbrook (1987) stresses the notion that marketing is about acknowledging market differences and adapting to them with the use of different communication strategies. Thus, this view presupposes advertising’s lack of control over existing values to which it has to adjust.
One could identify a range of possible viewpoints within the value reflection versus manipulation dispute. Indeed, advertising reflects certain values that are deemed to be
profitable (Mueller, 1987), but lacks the power to manipulate them, as it exists and operates in parallel with other powerful value-shaping institutions such as family, philosophy and
literature (e.g. Aaker and Myers, 1975). However, although advertising may not have the power to shape existing values directly, it has control over which values to emphasize, so as to better serve its commercial purposes. Although the direction of the relationship between advertising and values remains unclear, economic recessions provide an ideal setting to reach valuable conclusions. Given the aforementioned, it could be argued that:
H3
: Changes in predominant social values that occur during varying economic conditions precede and are reflected in advertising messages.
Economic Contraction
Customer Perceived Value Predominant Social Values
Contextual Conditions
Figure 1: Effects of economic conditions on social values and perceived value
2.3.Strategic and tactical elements of advertising messages
Hughes and Fill (2007) argue that a contemporary view of the marketing
communications mix requires an appraisal of “what is said” in the communication content.
Although the message mix has been recognized to be an important element of marketing communications planning (e.g. Hughes and Fill, 2007; Kotler, Keller, Brady, Goodman and Hansen, 2009; Shimp, 2007), researchers distinguish strategic from tactical decisions (Laskey, Crask and Day, 1989; Ramaprasad and Hasegawa, 1992; Taylor, 1999). The terms ‘creative strategy’ (e.g. Frazer, 1983; Okazaki and Alonso, 2003; Simon, 1971) or ‘message strategy’
(e.g. Laskey, Fox and Crask, 1995; Taylor, 1999) have been used to describe the strategic decision concerning the choice of the main message that is transmitted through the
advertisement. However, given that several authors consider creative strategy to entail selection of both main message and method of presentation, the term message strategy has prevailed (Laskey, Crask and Day, 1989; Taylor, 1999). At a tactical level, the term creative execution relates to the presentation of the message and the selection of specific executional devices (e.g. Laskey, Fox and Crask, 1995; Ramaprasad and Hasegawa, 1992; Taylor, 1999).
According to Kotler and Armstrong (2012) message strategy ought to be aligned with the broader positioning strategy and Taylor (1999: 7) defined it as a ‘guiding approach to a company’s or institution’s promotional communication efforts for its products its services or itself”. Generally, the determination of message strategy precedes creative execution (Kim and Cheong, 2011) which encompasses various factors that pertain to the method of message presentation (Stanton and Burke, 1998) and are a part of the encoding phase in the
communication process. Similar to the notion of message strategy, advertising appeals are a strategic aspect of advertisements (Frazer, Sheehan and Patti, 2002) that reflect the core value(s), or theme(s), being advertised (Stern and Gallagher, 1990). Therefore, given the interrelationship between advertising and social values, changes in the importance of said values are expected to be reflected in advertisers’ selection of message appeals.
Message strategy and advertising appeal are distinguished from concepts such as executional style (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012; Laskey, Fox and Crask, 1994), message structure (Shimp, 1976), commercial format (Stewart and Furse, 1986), advertising tone (Manrai, Broach and Manrai, 1992), advertising rhetoric (McQuarrie and Mick, 1996),
incongruity (e.g. Heckler and Childers, 1992) or absurdity (e.g. Arias-Bolzmann, Chakraborty and Mowen, 2000), that relate to the visual, auditory and/or verbal dimensions of
advertisements (Arens, 2006) and represent creative devices utilized in marketing
communications. In light of the aforementioned, a complete examination of the extent of advertising message adaptation to changing economic conditions includes the evaluation of both advertising appeal, as an element of message content, and creative execution, as an element of message presentation.
Advertising appeals are a strategic element of message content (Frazer, Sheehan and Patti, 2002) and represent the main ways to express values in advertising (Albers-Miller and Gelb, 1996). As such, they are expected to adapt to and reflect occurring changes in the predominant social values. Moreover, they can be viewed as the central themes of advertisements (Stern and Gallagher, 1990) and thus appeal selection guides the overall character of the commercial as it is determined from the balance between ration and emotion (Albers-Miller and Stafford, 1999). In light of the previous, recent research (Lee, Chung and Taylor, 2011; Lee, Taylor and Chung, 2011) showed an increase in use of informational messages over their transformational counterparts. As Steenkamp and Fang (2011) argue, in terms of message content, a shift from differentiation to price focused advertising may be more effective during financial contractions. This evidence, although premature, of advertising’s adjustment to the adverse economic climate supports arguments for the
importance of economic conditions in advertising message creation. In line with the previous, the following hypothesis is formed:
H4
: Changes in economic conditions influence the selection of advertising thematic content (i.e. advertising appeals). During economic contractions in particular, the balance between emotional and rational appeals in advertising messages changes, affecting the overall character of advertising.
On the other hand, creative execution entails the method of presentation in a
commercial (Stanton and Burke, 1998) and it is conceptualized as the means to presenting the advertising appeal. Given the multidimensionality of creative execution, appeals can be communicated in every way possible with the use of audiovisual art and verbal rhetoric (Pollay, 1983) in an effort to capture audience attention and effectively convey the theme(s) of the commercial. Although the use of specific creative devices such as incongruity (e.g.
Heckler and Childers, 1992) or rhetorical figures (e.g. McQuarrie and Mick, 1996) does not seem to be directly affected from changes in the national macro-environment, they are expected to be influenced, indirectly, by the values portrayed in the commercials through advertising appeals:
H5
: Variations in the use of rational and emotional advertising appeals during changing economic conditions affects the use of structural, visual, auditory, and verbal creative devices in advertising messages.
3. A Theoretical framework
In line with the preceding theoretical analysis, the proposed framework (figure 2) illustrates the relationships between contextual factors (i.e. economic conditions, predominant social values and customer perceived value) and advertising message elements (i.e. appeal, character and creative execution). Specifically, the model suggests that the changes in the economic conditions within the macro-environment guide the selection of advertising strategic and executional elements in accordance with changes in predominant social values and customer perceived value.
Overall, the theoretical framework asserts that advertising messages adapt so as to cater to different and evolving consumer needs (Holbrook, 1987). Although advertising is a value-carrying institution (Pollay, 1983) it lacks the power to directly change social values and therefore, it is forced to adjust in order to be relevant and persuasive. Advertising message adaptation pertains to both strategic and tactical message elements and represents a process rather than a single task, since social values are subject to constant change (Gurel- Atay, Xie, Chen and Kahle, 2010) that can be triggered by fluctuations in the economic environment. These fluctuations, depending on their severity, can bring radical and lasting changes to values, preferences, lifestyles and perceptions.
4. Conclusion
Through an attempt to organize fragmented knowledge on the broader marketing context, social values, customer perceived value and creative strategy, the proposed theoretical framework attempts to clarify the rationale, direction and scope of advertising message adaptation during changing economic conditions and proposes several broad hypotheses that could direct further research on the topic. Future studies in this area, in the form of content analyses, are required to clarify advertising’s role in the marketplace during periods of economic contraction and growth.
Based on Riffe, Lacey and Fico (2005); Quelch and Jocz (2009); Pollay (1983); Holbrook (1987, 1996); Kotler and Keller (2006); Albers-Miller and Gelb (1996);
Albers-Miller and Stafford (1999); Stern and Gallagher (1990)
Figure 2: A Theoretical framework for the adaptation of advertising messages to changing economic conditions
Economic Conditions
Advertising Character (Rational, emotional or mixed)
Creative Execution
(Structural, auditory, visual and verbal devices employed for presenting advertising
thematic content)
Contextual Conditions Advertising Message Elements
Predominant Social Values
Advertising Appeal (What is being communicated / theme
of the commercial)
Customer Perceived Value