Abstract
One of the central preoccupations of marketing management concerned with media selection, or in media/advertising research is the development of effective persuasive communications which will successfully accomplish some marketing objective. Unfortunately two of the major problems of marketing management have been to determine which persuasive communications will be most effective, in advance of use, and to measure to what extent the persuasive communication has been successful in achieving its marketing objective. This chapter is addressed to an analysis of the body of theory originating predominantly in social psychology and communications research, which has been applied to the two problems identified here. First, however, a definition.
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Notes and References
Indeed the use of the phraseology ‘target market’ reflects early ‘propagandist’ interpretations of the effect of persuasive com-munication. Under this interpretation the audience is viewed as so many passive targets waiting to be ‘hit’ by the advertisement or contacted by the salesman etc.
S. H. Britt, ‘Are So-Called Successful Advertising Campaigns Really Successful?’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 9, no. 2 (1969).
See, for example, L. Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (New York: Harper, 1957) for the theoretical background to this position and R. J. Holloway, ‘An Experiment on Consumer Dissonance’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 31 (Jan 1969) for an example of its application.
R. J. Lavidge and G. A. Steiner, ‘A Model for Predictive Measurement of Advertising Effectiveness’, Journal of Marketing (25 Oct 1961).
For a review see E. M. Rogers and T. F. Shoemaker, Communication of Innovations (Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1971).
S. Pollit, ‘Has Anything Gone Wrong with Advertising Research?’, Admap (May 1971).
S. Moscovici, ‘Attitudes and Opinions’, Annual Review of Psychology, 14 (1963) pp. 249–50.
E. Katz and P. F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications (New York: Free Press, 1955).
Ibid.
B. Ryan and N. Gross, ‘The Diffusion of Hybrid Seed Corn in Two Iowa Communities’, Rural Sociology, VIII (Mar 1943) pp. 15–24.
Reviewed by Rogers and Shoemaker, Communication of Innovations.
W. Schramm, ‘How Communication Works’, in The Process and Effects of Mass Communication, 6th edn, ed. W. Schramm (University of Illinois Press, 1965).
R. A. Bauer, ‘The Role of the Audience in the Communication Process: Summary’, in Proceedings of the American Marketing Association, ed. Stephen A. Greyser, American Marketing Association, Chicago (1963).
J. T. Klapper, The Effects of Mass Communication (New York: Free Press, 1960).
C. I. Hovland, I. L. Janis and H. H. Kelley, Communication and Persuasion (Yale University Press, 1953).
Klapper, Effects of Mass Communication.
D. A. Fuchs, ‘Two Source Effects in Magazine Advertising’, Journal of Marketing Research (Aug 1964) pp. 59–62.
Katz and Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence.
Hovland, Janis and Kelley, Communication and Persuasion.
Klapper, Effects of Mass Communication.
C. W. King and J. O. Summers, Interaction Patterns in Interpersonal Communication, paper no. 168, West Lafayette, Indiana, Herman C. Krannert Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Purdue University Institute for Research in the Behavioral, Economic and Management Sciences (1967).
E. M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations (New York: Free Press, 1962).
Klapper, Effects of Mass Communication.
See C. W. King and J. O. Summers, ‘Overlap of Opinion Leadership across Consumers’ Product Categories’, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 7 (Feb 1970).
Katz and Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence.
Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations.
J. R. Mancuso, ‘Why Not Create Opinion Leaders for New Product Introductions?’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 33 (July 1969) pp. 20–5.
See, for example, F. E. Webster, ‘Informal Communication in Industrial Markets, Journal of Marketing Research (May 1970) pp. 186–9, and J. Martilla, ‘Word of Mouth Communication in the Industrial Adoption Process’, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. VIII (May 1971) pp. 173–8.
R. Bauer, ‘Consumer Behavior as Risk Taking’, in Proceedings of the 43rd National Conference of the American Marketing Association, ed. R. S. Hancock, A.M.A., Chicago (1963).
See, for example, D. F. Cox, ‘Information and Uncertainty: Their Effects on the Consumers’ Product Evaluations’, Boston H. B. School D.B.A. Thesis (1963); and J. Arndt, ‘Perceived Risk, Sociometric Integration and Word of Mouth Advertising in the Adoption of a New Product’, in Science Technology and Marketing, ed. R. M. Haas, Proceedings of the American Marketing Association, Chicago (1966) pp. 698–721.
G. S. Day, ‘Attitude Change, Media and Word of Mouth’, Journal of Advertising Research, II (6) (1971).
I. L. Janis and S. Feshbach, ‘Effects of Fear-Arousing Communications’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 48 (Jan 1953) pp. 78–92.
For a review see K. L. Higbee, ‘Fifteen Years of Fear Arousal: Research on Threat Appeals, 1953–1968’, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 72.
M. L. Ray and W. L. Wilkie, ‘Fear: The Potential of an Appeal Neglected by Marketing’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 34 (Jan 1970) pp. 54–62.
For a review see I. L. Janis, ‘Effects of Fear Arousal on Attitude Change: Recent Developments in Theory and Experimental Research’, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 3 (1967) pp. 167–225.
H. Ebinghauss, Das Gedachtnis (Berlin: Duncker & Humbolt, 1885).
An up-to-date review is given by M. L. Ray, A. G. Sawyer and E. C. Strong, ‘Frequency Effects Revisited’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. n no. 1 (Feb 1971). The classic paper remains that of H. A. Zielske, ‘The Remembering and Forgetting of Advertising’, Journal of Marketing (Jan 1959).
H. Claychamp and A. Amstutz, ‘Simulation Techniques in the Analysis of Market Strategy’, in Applications of the Sciences in Marketing Management, ed. Frank M. Bass (New York: Wiley, 1968) pp. 113–51.
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© 1976 Michael J. Baker and Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Baker, M.J. (1976). Communication Theory and Marketing. In: Baker, M.J. (eds) Marketing. Macmillan Studies in Marketing Management. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15703-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15703-7_5
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