Download KS- Routledge and the Journal of Advertising welcome Associate

KS- Routledge and the Journal of Advertising welcome Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of
Economics, Dr. Sara Rosengren today to discuss her recent article: “EXPLORING ADVERTISING EQUITY:
HOW A BRAND’S PAST ADVERTISING MAY AFFECT CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO APPROACH ITS FUTURE
ADS”. Thank you for joining me today.
SR- Thank you for having me.
KS- As mentioned on page 2 of the article, “equity has been a central concept in marketing research
since the 1980’s,” yes this article introduces the idea of ADVERTISING EQUITY as a distinct facet of brand
equity. Dr. Rosengren, what is ADVERTISING EQUITY and how is it different from BRAND EQUITY?
SR- Advertising equity focuses on the consumer value created by a brand’s advertising in and of itself. In
the paper we show that this value is not fully captured by conventional measures of brand equity, such
as brand attitudes or brand loyalty. We also show that advertising equality has an impact on consumer’s
willingness to approach advertising -- that is to pay attention to advertising or to look at advertising -and this influence goes above and beyond that of conventional brand equity measures.
KS- Your research consisted of five empirical studies; would you please give us a brief idea of how you
went about collecting and evaluating the data and maybe list a few key discoveries?
SR- In all, we study the perceptions of 1,700 consumers with regard to 100 brands in more than 12
different product categories and there are five different studies.
The first three studies of the paper uses survey methodology to better understand the relationship
between advertising equity and other measures of brand equity. Basically, we conducted to see if
advertising equity would be empirically distinct from measures of brand equity used in advertising and
branding research. In the final two studies, after having found that advertising equity is something that
is empirically distinct, we actually tested this experimentally in terms of the effects of consumers’
willingness to approach advertising from a brand. In those two studies, we looked at the actual viewing
behaviors as independent variables.
When it comes to contributions, there are three main things that I would like to emphasize:
First, advertising equity captures a value created by advertising that has not been systematically
assessed in previous advertising research.
Second, the paper shows empirically there is a long-term value in creating advertising that consumer’s
value. It pays off in the long run not just the short run.
Third, that there is a need for additional research on consumer advertising approach, that is, consumers
willingly exposing themselves to advertising, and that advertising equity could be helpful in
understanding such behaviors.
KS- How do you see your research area developing in the future?
SR- Understanding consumers’ willingness to approach advertising is increasingly important. If you look
at how media is being consumed today, consumers are more and more in charge of where they put their
attention and what they see and do not see. We argue that advertising equity can help both advertising
research and practice develop their thinking when it comes to understanding advertising that consumers
willingly expose themselves to. For example, content marketing and digital advertising.
Advertising research has been somewhat pre-occupied with advertising avoidance, that is, the
understanding that we do not want to pay attention to advertising, but as consumers are increasingly in
charge of their advertising exposures and we need to pay attention to what we refer to as advertising
approach behavior as well.
KS- Thank you very much Dr. Rosengren for speaking with me today on your article “”EXPLORING
ADVERTISING EQUITY: HOW A BRAND’S PAST ADVERTISING MAY AFFECT CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO
APPROACH ITS FUTURE ADS”, which again is published in the Journal of Advertising. Routledge is please
to offer FREE article access until the end of March.