IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v33y2014i6p809-827.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why, When, and How Much to Entertain Consumers in Advertisements? A Web-Based Facial Tracking Field Study

Author

Listed:
  • Thales Teixeira

    (Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163)

  • Rosalind Picard

    (Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139)

  • Rana el Kaliouby

    (Affectiva Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts 02452)

Abstract

The presence of positive entertainment (e.g., visual imagery, upbeat music, humor) in TV advertisements can make them more attractive and persuasive. However, little is known about the downside of too much entertainment. This research focuses on why, when, and how much to entertain consumers in TV advertisements. We collected data in a large scale field study using 82 ads with various levels of entertainment shown to 178 consumers in their homes and workplaces. Using a novel web-based face tracking system, we continuously measure consumers' smile responses, viewing interest, and purchase intent. A simultaneous Bayesian hierarchical model is estimated to assess how different levels of entertainment affect purchases by endogenizing viewing interest. We find that entertainment has an inverted U-shape relationship to purchase intent. Importantly, we separate entertainment into that which comes before the brand versus that which comes after, and find that the latter is positively associated with purchase intent while the former is not.

Suggested Citation

  • Thales Teixeira & Rosalind Picard & Rana el Kaliouby, 2014. "Why, When, and How Much to Entertain Consumers in Advertisements? A Web-Based Facial Tracking Field Study," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(6), pages 809-827, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:33:y:2014:i:6:p:809-827
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2014.0854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2014.0854
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.2014.0854?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaojing Yang & Robert E. Smith, 2009. "Beyond Attention Effects: Modeling the Persuasive and Emotional Effects of Advertising Creativity," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 935-949, 09-10.
    2. Deighton, John & Romer, Daniel & McQueen, Josh, 1989. "Using Drama to Persuade," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(3), pages 335-343, December.
    3. Fitzsimons, Gavan J & Morwitz, Vicki G, 1996. "The Effect of Measuring Intent on Brand-Level Purchase Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 23(1), pages 1-11, June.
    4. Hutchinson, J Wesley & Kamakura, Wagner A & Lynch, John G, Jr, 2000. "Unobserved Heterogeneity as an Alternative Explanation for "Reversal" Effects in Behavioral Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 324-344, December.
    5. Janiszewski, Chris & Warlop, Luk, 1993. "The Influence of Classical Conditioning Procedures on Subsequent Attention to the Conditioned Brand," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 171-189, September.
    6. Thales S. Teixeira & Michel Wedel & Rik Pieters, 2010. "Moment-to-Moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 783-804, 09-10.
    7. Robert E. Smith & Scott B. MacKenzie & Xiaojing Yang & Laura M. Buchholz & William K. Darley, 2007. "Modeling the Determinants and Effects of Creativity in Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 819-833, 11-12.
    8. Rik Pieters & Michel Wedel, 2012. "Ad Gist: Ad Communication in a Single Eye Fixation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 59-73, January.
    9. Keller, Kevin Lane, 1987. "Memory Factors in Advertising: The Effect of Advertising Retrieval Cues on Brand Evaluations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(3), pages 316-333, December.
    10. Martin Eisend, 2011. "How humor in advertising works: A meta-analytic test of alternative models," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 115-132, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ludovica Cesareo & Claudia Townsend & Eugene Pavlov, 2023. "Hideous but worth it: Distinctive ugliness as a signal of luxury," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 636-657, May.
    2. Urszula Garczarek-Bąk & Andrzej Szymkowiak & Piotr Gaczek & Aneta Disterheft, 2021. "A comparative analysis of neuromarketing methods for brand purchasing predictions among young adults," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 171-185, March.
    3. Tegegne Tesfaye Haile & Mincheol Kang, 2020. "Mobile Augmented Reality in Electronic Commerce: Investigating User Perception and Purchase Intent Amongst Educated Young Adults," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-26, November.
    4. Henriques, David, 2021. "Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    5. Beth L. Fossen & David A. Schweidel, 2019. "Social TV, Advertising, and Sales: Are Social Shows Good for Advertisers?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(2), pages 274-295, March.
    6. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jun B. Kim & Carl F. Mela, 2016. "Zooming In on Choice: How Do Consumers Search for Cameras Online?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(5), pages 693-712, September.
    7. Jura Liaukonyte & Thales Teixeira & Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2015. "Television Advertising and Online Shopping," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 311-330, May.
    8. Henriques, David, 2020. "Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106963, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Bitty Balducci & Detelina Marinova, 2018. "Unstructured data in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 557-590, July.
    10. Rodriguez, Virginie & Sangle-Ferriere, Marion, 2023. "Do supermarkets’ emails have any value for their customers? The effect of emails’ content and interestingness on customers’ attitude and engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Shasha Lu & Li Xiao & Min Ding, 2016. "A Video-Based Automated Recommender (VAR) System for Garments," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(3), pages 484-510, May.
    12. Stroe, Silvia & Sirén, Charlotta & Shepherd, Dean & Wincent, Joakim, 2020. "The dualistic regulatory effect of passion on the relationship between fear of failure and negative affect: Insights from facial expression analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    13. Becker, Maren & Gijsenberg, Maarten J., 2023. "Consistency and commonality in advertising content: Helping or Hurting?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 128-145.
    14. Beth L. Fossen & Alexander Bleier, 2021. "Online program engagement and audience size during television ads," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 743-761, July.
    15. Xin (Shane) Wang & Neil Bendle & Yinjie Pan, 2024. "Beyond text: Marketing strategy in a world turned upside down," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 939-954, July.
    16. Bruno, Pascal & Melnyk, Valentyna & Völckner, Franziska, 2017. "Temperature and emotions: Effects of physical temperature on responses to emotional advertising," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 302-320.
    17. Zhuang, Mengzhou & Cui, Geng & Peng, Ling, 2018. "Manufactured opinions: The effect of manipulating online product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 24-35.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tjaša Alegro & Maja Turnšek, 2020. "Striving to Be Different but Becoming the Same: Creativity and Destination Brands’ Promotional Videos," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Rik Pieters & Michel Wedel, 2012. "Ad Gist: Ad Communication in a Single Eye Fixation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 59-73, January.
    3. Ali, Mazhar, 2016. "Evaluating Advertising Effectiveness of Creative Television Advertisements for High Involvement Products," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 17(4), pages 916-932.
    4. Xiaojing Dong & Ramkumar Janakiraman & Ying Xie, 2014. "The Effect of Survey Participation on Consumer Behavior: The Moderating Role of Marketing Communication," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 567-585, July.
    5. Gaetano Miceli & Maria Antonietta Raimondo, 2020. "Creativity in the marketing and consumer behavior literature: a structured review and a research agenda," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2020(1), pages 85-124, March.
    6. Jiemiao Chen & Xiaojing Yang & Robert E. Smith, 2016. "The effects of creativity on advertising wear-in and wear-out," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 334-349, May.
    7. Jiemiao Chen & Robert E. Smith, 2018. "The boundaries for ad creativity: effects of type of divergence and brand processing and responses," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(6), pages 561-576, November.
    8. William K. Darley & Jeen-Su Lim, 2023. "Advertising creativity and its effects: a meta-analysis of the moderating role of modality," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 99-111, March.
    9. Mazerant, Komala & Willemsen, Lotte M. & Neijens, Peter C. & van Noort, Guda, 2021. "Spot-On Creativity: Creativity Biases and Their Differential Effects on Consumer Responses in (Non-)Real-Time Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 15-31.
    10. Bublitz, Melissa G. & Peracchio, Laura A., 2015. "Applying industry practices to promote healthy foods: An exploration of positive marketing outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2484-2493.
    11. Feld, Sebastian & Frenzen, Heiko & Krafft, Manfred & Peters, Kay & Verhoef, Peter C., 2013. "The effects of mailing design characteristics on direct mail campaign performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 143-159.
    12. Dobin Yim & Timothy Malefyt & Jiban Khuntia, 2021. "Is a picture worth a thousand views? Measuring the effects of travel photos on user engagement using deep learning algorithms," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(3), pages 619-637, September.
    13. Wajid, Anees & Raziq, Muhammad Mustafa & Ahmed, Qazi Mohammed & Ahmad, Mansoor, 2021. "Observing viewers’ self-reported and neurophysiological responses to message appeal in social media advertisements," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    14. Carl Obermiller & Alan Sawyer, 2011. "The effects of advertisement picture likeability on information search and brand choice," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 101-113, June.
    15. Bilby, Julie & Reid, Mike & Brennan, Linda & Chen, Jiemiao, 2020. "Tiers and fears: An investigation of the impact of city tiers and uncertainty avoidance on Chinese consumer response to creative advertising," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 332-348.
    16. Rumpf, Christopher & Boronczyk, Felix & Breuer, Christoph, 2020. "Predicting consumer gaze hits: A simulation model of visual attention to dynamic marketing stimuli," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 208-217.
    17. Becker, Maren & Gijsenberg, Maarten J., 2023. "Consistency and commonality in advertising content: Helping or Hurting?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 128-145.
    18. Benoit, Ilgım Dara & Miller, Elizabeth G., 2022. "Enhancing creativity perception through fear," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1084-1098.
    19. Dharun Kasilingam & Soundararaj Ajitha, 2022. "Storytelling in advertisements: understanding the effect of humor and drama on the attitude toward brands," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(4), pages 341-362, July.
    20. Shukla, Paurav & Singh, Jaywant & Wang, Weisha, 2022. "The influence of creative packaging design on customer motivation to process and purchase decisions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 338-347.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:33:y:2014:i:6:p:809-827. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.