In Ads, It Pays to Aim for the Heart

Commercials with a high level of emotional content carry more resonance with the public, a B-school researcher finds. Plus, reasons for retailers to avoid the Web, and the repercussions of a grouchy boss

by Francesca Di Meglio

Apparently, the old saying, "It ain't what you say, it's how you say it," is true—at least according to research on the effectiveness of advertising, published this month by a B-school professor. "People don't want it to be true, but it is," says Robert Heath, a lecturer at the University of Bath School of Management, who published his finding in the December issue of the Journal of Advertising Research.

Heath tested 23 television ads in the U.S. and 20 in Britain for levels of emotional and rational content before having a sample of 200 people watch the ads and respond to questions about their feelings toward the company. Ads with high levels of emotional content—such as the one for Renault Clio luxury cars that focused on French philanderers and had the car playing the role of accomplice—resonated more with the public than those that delivered a clear message about a particular product (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/15/05, "First Sight: Renault Clio"). The study also showed that ads that were high in practical information had no effect on how people felt about a brand.

Heath, working with research company OTX, measured the level and effectiveness of ads with high emotional content and little or no news and information, and published his findings.

"The surprise is that people will generally say that it's the message in the ad that drives their willingness to drive the brand, but that's not the case," says Heath, author of the book The Hidden Power of Advertising (NTC Publications, 2001). "It's really creativity."

But he adds that companies probably won't catch on right away because many are stuck on developing messages about the usefulness and need for a good or service. Conversely, those advertisers who want to disseminate information will face some ethical problems if they focus solely on creative catch-phrases or storylines for ads.

As part of his next research project, Heath is looking into the effect emotion has on attention levels, and he's already discovering that people tend to pay more attention to things that threaten them as opposed to ads that they like, which points to links between the two studies. The bottom line is that our heart may have more effect than our brain on our purchasing decisions and brand loyalty.

Resisting Web Pressure

Brick-and-mortar retailers don't have to give in to the pressure to open an online store, according to new research conducted by Yunchuan "Frank" Liu of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sunil Gupta of Harvard Business School, and Z. John Zhang of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and published in the November issue of Management Science.

Traditional stores might be better off sticking with their original business model and avoiding the online sphere because entry causes intense competition and attracts other e-tailers into the mix.

Liu, who made the results part of his dissertation at Columbia University where he received his Ph.D in 2003, says that even if operating an online store is costless, retailers should think twice before entering the market. He found that it's easy for consumers to click between competitors when shopping online, but they are less likely to walk out of one store and travel to another when offline.