subscribe to this pageMenon,S . "Managing the power of curiosity for effective Web advertising strategies" Journal of advertising [0091-3367] (2002). 1-14.
The authors discuss effective web advertising strategies, with their research mainly focusing on the power of curiosity. Specifically, they believe that curiosity can be “harnessed to design an effective advertising strategy that results in greater information acquisition, enhanced learning, and better evaluation of the advertised product,” and the results confirmed these beliefs. The authors hypothesize that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between the time gap and elaboration and learning. While the results show a significant increase in advertising effectiveness by incorporating curiosity into advertisements, there was a disproportionate effect on the clickstream data, which, once again, questions the use of clickstreams as the primary measure of advertising effectiveness. As an alternative, measures of elaboration quality and direction through protocols accounted for better results. The four elements to a successful strategy are:(1)Develop curiosity by creating or highlighting a knowledge gap (2)Knowledge gap should be created for the feature that represents the unique positioning of the brand and be accompanied by a cue that guides curiosity resolution (3)Consumers should receive information that will help them resolve curiosity (not immediately)(4) Use measures of consumer elaboration and learning to test for advertising effectiveness.
This study is helpful because not only does it show that banner advertising can be effective but it suggests practical ways to accomplish this. The effectiveness of banner advertising has many elements, from developing a successful advertisement to accurately measuring the effects, which fits right in with my thesis. The setup of this study was able to highlight the weaknesses of click through and suggest alternatives. A limitation within this study is that only a technology product was used, making it hard to convince, say, clothing companies, that a curiosity based advertisement would be effective. However, being able to evoke an emotion out of the consumer makes the method more relevant to and adaptable across other products.
This study is helpful because not only does it show that banner advertising can be effective but it suggests practical ways to accomplish this. The effectiveness of banner advertising has many elements, from developing a successful advertisement to accurately measuring the effects, which fits right in with my thesis. The setup of this study was able to highlight the weaknesses of click through and suggest alternatives. A limitation within this study is that only a technology product was used, making it hard to convince, say, clothing companies, that a curiosity based advertisement would be effective. However, being able to evoke an emotion out of the consumer makes the method more relevant to and adaptable across other products.