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Ad Signal Processing
Christian Dianoux
University of Metz (France)
Zdenek Linhart
Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (Czech Republic)
Summary
The aim of this research is to exceed personally and nationally restricted perception of ads in
the global economy. Therefore, unexpected reactions on ads were studied in different
countries and disassembled along the perception process stages. The French Czech
comparison analysed content of 577 printed advertisements published in the 10 most
representative magazines in the Czech Republic and France. The five largest categories of
magazines in terms of their focus are represented as follows: women, men, businesses,
seniors and juniors. The results show some noticeable divergences in the basic structure and
content of advertising, such as the size, the presence of children or elderly people, the number
of product features and the indication of prices. Some convergences appear as well, such as
the human presence, the use of testimonies and/or celebrities and the mention of the brand
only.
Mechanism of understanding to ads was studied in stages attention, memorisation, attitudes,
beliefs, and intentions on the “ad size” factor, as the found difference with the main impact on
advertisers. The results do not show any clue consistence with the literature in the following
experimental conditions: a well known brand which communicates towards young target in
three different European countries (Czech Republic, France, and Spain). Almost no difference
between full page and half page ads were found within each country about memorization and
attitude toward brand, though many differences were found between the countries.
Advertisers will find it useful, because they can save money as larger ads don’t have a bigger
impact than smaller ones in that specific case.
Key words: advertisements, homogenous, heterogeneous, divergence, convergence, size,
magazine, attention, memorisation, attitudes, beliefs, intentions
Introduction
The ad signal processing can be biased on both sides the advertiser and the reader. Therefore,
advertiser is forced by selected methodology to exceed his framework by obligatory
incorporation of international comparisons and disassembly of searched topic into stages of ad
processing: attention, memorisation, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions.
Perception of ads by its reader is most probably determined culturally, and by economy
dynamics. It doesn’t matter if this is true or not because it was taken as input fact into the
further processing.
Recently, Al-Olayan and Karande (2000) noted that the largest number of studies exploring
the cross-cultural differences between publicities concentrated mostly on just a few
countries: USA (with a range of 40 out of 59 studies in the meta analysis of Abernathy and
Franke, 1996), the Western European countries (France, Sweden, Great Britain, etc), and the
leading countries in Asia (Japan and Korea).
On the other hand, countries such as those from the former Soviet bloc have had very few
studies despite their increased economical importance and their integration into the European
Union (1).
In fact, the entrance of seven of these countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) into the EU in May, 2004, now allows advertisers
to develop communication strategies with at least the plan of regulations (notably those
dealing with misleading publicity and comparative publicity), which will enable them to
benefit from homogenous constraints.
The first objective of this paper is based on the effort bring in so far external aspects to
improve an understanding of the politics of the advertisers' communication. It also aims at
responding to questions posed by the statement of Whitelock and Chung (1989): “Which
approach is adopted by practitioners is, however, still a matter for some speculation, since
the writers have confined themselves to giving only anecdotal examples in support of their
arguments”. The analysis presented here is concentrated on the analysis of the contents of
publicity magazines in the Czech Republic and in France (2), the second largest investor in
that country (after Germany). It expresses itself in the manner following: the point of
comparative research at the international level and that which we know about the two
countries which helped us formulate our working hypothesis (§.1), the methodology used
(§.2), and the obtained results (§.3). Finally, we will conclude by revealing the principal
tendencies observed, the managerial recommendations that emerge, and will indicate the
unchanging limits of this work from which several research perspectives arise.
1. Review of the Literature and the Hypothesis
1.1 International Communication
The debate on the standardization of the politics of multinational communication enterprises
was born several decades ago with the positions, notably, of Elinder (1965) and Fatt (1967),
who alleged that the evolution of societies brings about a bigger and bigger convergence
level between countries and has a tendency to eliminate cultural barriers in permitting the
emergence of standardized international communication. Roostals (1963), several years
previously, noted that even if standardization of publicity developed logically, keeping the
same differences, owing to the specific demands of the nationality of the consumers, that the
diversity of the languages in Western Europe, as well as the media and the rules, made things
even more difficult. Others, like Buzzels (1968), commented that, on the other hand, in most
cases the many differences between the local markets encouraged a vision of an adaptation
of communications.
In fact, even if the standardization was favourable to achieve the economic ladder (Levitt,
1983), a certain local adaptation was necessary and seemed, in most cases, economically the
most pertinent (Auelch and Hoff, 1986) point of view was stated by the famous expression,
“Think global, act local” (Wind and Douglas, 1986). Other authors have also shown that the
general debate on the standardization was futile because this question was notably contingent
1
- Note that before 1989, the socialist economies were more concentrated on the offer rather than on the demand, the
behaviour of the consumer wasn’t useful (Nasierowski, 1996), this could contribute to the tardiness noticed at present.
2
- Principle characteristics of the two countries:
- France: $ 1,600 billion gross (Gross Domestic Product); 58.5 million people
- Czech Republic: $ 161 billion (GDP); 10.2 million people
on the existence of homogeneous international segments and that in this case it justified
itself but not in the other (Baalbaki and Malhotra, 1993).
Adding to the debate, numerous studies and been led to analyse the practices of enterprises
and have shown that the practice of total standardisation was rare, with most cases having a
tendency to adapt the communication. This adaptation always had to be considered unified.
According to Harris (1994), after a study on the practice of multination Americans and
Europeans in the European Union, there exists, in reality, a very large spectrum of practices
from the adaptation of total standardisation. This spectrum can be considered as a sort of
continuum in which all the states were represented:
- a visual, text or simply a claim adaptation
- an adaptation with no value, limited, moderate or high value
-an adaptation that varied according to the markets
Finally, if the total adaptation is the exception, so is the pure standardisation, even if there
has been a strong tendency during the last 40 years to move towards standardisation, because
even though it is still not effective, it permits the economic ladder to envision significances
and to diffuse an identifying position around the world (Agrawal, 1995).
In such a context, the study of the differences between countries from the analysis of the
contents of the advertisements is most interesting. This is so because, besides the consumer
study and what the enterprises claim to practice, the analysis of the contents permits one to
give objective indications on the actual practices of the advertisers. Even though this
approach is not moving in the sense that was recommended by Taylor (2002) who affirmed
that the academic research on international publicity produced too many content analyses
and not enough experiments: “what we need is experimental research in which the impact of
specific executional variables is isolated”, it is not far from the end. For us, the analysis of
the contents is not an end in itself but a first step permitting an orientation towards future
investigation of the elements of execution of experimental testing. Before looking at the
comparison of the efficiency of this or that element of execution between two or more
countries, it seems more important to us that we should, firstly, define the limits of the
advertisers' practices and, secondly, provide orientation for future research.
1.2 Differences between the Czech Republic and France
If, as already stated, the majority of the comparative studies were based on the publicity
styles, they concerned essentially the comparisons between the Americans and Asians, or the
Americans and Europeans. The comparisons concerning European countries are fewer
(Walliser and Moreau, 2000), and those concerning the comparisons of Eastern and Western
Europe are fewer still. However, even the small number of studies on this subject allows us
to point out the following characteristics:
- In France, the diverse publicities are preferred to the informative publicities (Mandel,
1991) which tend to orientate the creation towards messages mostly centred on a
global image of a product rather than on the explanation of facts (Hall and Hall,
1990; Walliser and Moreau, 2000), with ads that are emotional (Zandpour, Chang
and Catalano, 1992) and rich messages with subtle hints and non verbal expressions
(Fleury, 1990), are dominant. In Poland, publicity uses humorous symbols or the
historic and literary past of the country with word plays and linguistic expressions
with double meanings that are only understood by the Poles (Dianoux, Domanski,
and Herrmann, 2000; Domanski, Dianoux and Herrmann, 2003).
- by contrast, Vida and Fairhurst (1999) did not find a strong ethnocentricity in Poland,
the Czech Republic, Hungary and Estonia, in comparison with the western European
countries;
-The study of Kaynac and Kara (2001), even though dealing mostly with Asia, shows
that the creative strategies emphasizing family values were more obvious in the
countries where there was a strong family image;
- According to Grapard (1997), even if the solid communal bases between the
European countries on the geographic and social-political plans leave us to assume
that there are many similarities, actually many differences subsist, notably between
the East and the West. This is because of the tendencies of the consumers situated in
clarified levels, affinities and diverse cultural influences, distinct expressions in their
languages, rapid and brusque reforms and economic performances which haven’t yet
converged.
Parallel to these studies, which were focused on the consumer behaviour, are numerous
differences mentioned in management manuals that can equally be pointed out. It is, for
example, preferable to avoid the seriousness and aloofness that characterize the French in
business relations; the Czechs tend to weave personal relationships into their business
relationships with their partners. Misunderstandings with the Czechs are possible. Those
who find themselves in the upper cultures of the Russians, where the posture, the tone, facial
expressions, silences and gestures are just as important bearers of the sense of things as the
words, will notice the great contrast provided by the lower cultures of the Germans who
express themselves essentially by the spoken word. In the same line of thinking, general
studies emphasize thoughts like those of Todd (1990, quoted by Demorgon, 1996): “The
Western European family community, which expresses more strongly than anywhere else its
values, must affirm to the East an absolute, divine authority and salvation for everyone.” A
study on professional values by Hoefstede (Table1) shows the significant differences
between the two principal countries concerning two dimensions (the distance between power
and the fear of uncertainty), suggesting the idea that the Czechs would be more inclined than
the French to accept a stranger and less inclined to accept the differences between the status
and the dependence on a leader.
Table 1. Hofstede's Country scores
Power
Individualis
distance
m
France
68
71
Czech Republic
35
60
Germany
35
67
Poland
50
60
Austria
11
55
Russia
95
47
Masculinity
43
45
66
70
79
40
Uncertainty
avoidance
86
60
65
50
70
75
Source : http://www.centreurope.org/france/france-in-figures/hofstede-analysis-france.htm
Bearing in mind the numerous marked differences between the Czech and French
consumers, and despite the tendency noted in standardized multinational communication
(Laroche, Kirpalani, and Darmon, 1999), it seemed probable that the advertisers, voluntarily
or not, had a natural tendency to adapt their communications to the two countries. We must,
therefore, find this tendency in the contents of the publicity and the hypotheses of the
following basis must be demonstrated: the Czech ads differed substantially in their content,
form and their medium of discourse from the French ads.
1.3 The effect of attention and memorization
Among the first to try and determine the impact that a print advertisement format could have,
together with the characteristics to which the reader is attentive (size, colour, number of
words, prominence to branding, etc), Diamond (1968) showed that an advertisement’s size
declined according to the following hierarchy: double-page, single-page, horizontal half-page,
and vertical half-page.With the same perspective, Finn (1988) showed that the principal
characteristics of a print ad influencing attention was linked to size and positioning (ad size,
cover position, front or back, right or left page) and to size - pictorial characteristics- (colour
and illustration size).
In the business to business sector (B2B), we can observe the same effects. For Hansens and
Weitz (1980), the size of the ad is strongly correlative to the fact of having seen the ad (0.78)
and to the fact of having read it almost entirely (0.71). Naccarato and Neuendorf (1988)
believe the same, affirming that among the variables that seem to have a universal positive
effect is the size of the ad itself.
Besides these different factors it is also possible that the facts automatically linked to the size
of the ad play a part. If we quote the study carried out by Pieters and Wedel (2004) which
shows that contrary to what a large number of papers confirm (e.g; Rossiter and Percy 1997 :
“the bigger the picture, the better”), the size of the text also plays a decisive role.
While the increase in the number of images does not attract attention regarding the ad, the
increase in the surface devoted to the text increases attention (an increase of 1% of the surface
increases attention by 0.85%). Whatever the surface devoted to the image or the text we can
postulate that these two characteristics are automatically linked to the size of the ad, the
bigger the ad size the bigger the size of the image or the text will be, everything else remains
constant.
After all is said and done, it would seem according to Han (1992), apart from a very old study
by Ferguson (1935) quoted by Han (1992), a genuine consensus exists on the subject.
However for the author this unquestionable general effect of the ad size on the attention can
vary strongly depending on the consumer’s involvement. Those who are not involved (low
involvement) in the ad will not remember the name of the advertised brand better if it is large
(full page) or small (1/4 page), while those who are involved in the ad (moderate
involvement) will remember the bigger ad better than the smaller ad. However this result
seems to go against intuition and it is strongly possible that it is an experimental artefact.
Indeed, the attention regarding the message tested on first and second year students, was
measured on the basis of their remembering information of concern only to the first year
(considered as involved in the information) and not the second year students (considered as
not involved). However we think that this is not a distinction between involved and noninvolved students but a more radical distinction between students concerned and not
concerned by the information, because whether the individual is involved or not does not
signify that the individual is not at all concerned by the product.
In the light of these different facts, we can advance our first hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1- a bigger ad will have a bigger impact on attention and memorization
than a smaller ad.
However this attention is sensitive to change according to the country. Indeed, as previously
mentioned, because of media costs, advertisers who are compelled by their budgets tend to
use small formats in countries where press media cost is higher and bigger formats in
countries where the cost is less. Consequently it is possible that the classic format of one page
attracts more reader attention in countries used to smaller formats. Therefore our hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1a- an advertisement on one page will have more impact on the reader used
to ads of an inferior size than readers used to this kind of ad size.
1.4. The effect of beliefs, attitudes, and intentions
In parallel to these studies it is also interesting to note that advertisement size can also have an
effect on attitudes and behaviour. Edell and Staelin (1983), based on an alternative model of
the hierarchy of the effects, suggest not only a direct effect of attention on the understanding
but also on the attitudes. Many papers illustrate this relationship. For Kirmani (1990) the size
of an ad can serve as an indicator to the amount of money a company devotes to its
advertising. Thus ad size is much more than a simple tool to attract attention, according to the
author relying on the attribution theory, it also allows consumers to make inferences by
linking together the company’s capacity to make the financial efforts (as long as the company
is not considered as manipulative) to its capacity of proposing a product of quality which is
somewhat successful. Similarly Homer (1995) showed that the size of an ad has a positive
effect on the perception of the product quality and the intention of purchasing.
These results would seem to be similar to those of Percy and Rossiter (1983) who showed that
between three image sizes used in an ad, it is the ad whose image is bigger that opens onto a
better attitude (from a multi-attribute compensatory model - WiBi). Indeed it can be
presupposed that all the elements included in the ad (image, texts, brand name, etc) vary in the
same way as the size of the ad, everything else remains constant. This allows us to assert the
following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2- A large ad will have more positive impact on intention, attitudes, and
beliefs (notably concerning quality) than a small ad.
However this attitude is subject to much change according to the country for two principal
reasons. Firstly, Herpen and al. (2000) and also Dianoux, Kettnerová, and Linhart (2007i)
show how different the informative ad content is between countries, and secondly probably
because of preferences. It is possible that a link automatically exists between the size of the
ad and its level of information, knowing that the bigger the ad size, the higher the possibility
of information content. Furthermore the link highlighting the firm’s capacity to offer quality
products will be made if the size of the ad largely exceeds that which is generally carried out
in the country, where:
Hypothesis 2a- A full-page ad will have more impact on readers used to ads of an
inferior size to the readers used to unchanged formats.
But more fundamentally if the effect hypothesis relative to the ad size concerning attention
and attitudes seems true, the ideal size remains to be determined. Abernethy and Laband
(2004), using the specific case of the yellow pages, showed that the bigger the ad (such as full
page advertisements), the higher the return rate, specifying that this kind of increase is not
always profitable. For this to happen they propose to use the following formula (cf. Abernethy
and Laband, 2002) while considering that outside elements can benefit from the repercussions
of the impact of the ad (in particular the other products within the company):
Profit (loss) from purchasing a larger yellow pages advertisement =
(Increase in the number of calls from new customers because of larger ad
x Percent of calls that result in a customer purchaser
x Profit contribution from a customer's purchases)
- Increase in cost from purchasing a larger display advertisement.
However this approach remains linked to the promotional techniques and is not adapted to the
advertisement sector where a direct call following a campaign rarely constitutes an objective.
Therefore we are referring here to the classic criteria used and widely recognised to test the
efficiency of an advertisement: memorisation and attitudes. Within this framework the
question of profitability is asked in a rather delicate fashion, since how can improved
memorisation or attitudes be brought closer to a financial indicator? This highly debated
question is not discussed further, since the subject here is to compare the cost increase with
increased memorisation or attitudes in the countries studied. The question is whether the
advertisers resorting to smaller formats like the Czechs do are right, and what is the
differential in terms of attention and attitudes that they would earn by using an ad of one page.
We will compare results from the Czech Republic with two countries from the E.U. where the
ads of one page are the norm, and where the use of magazine press is totally opposite: in
France where the expenses devoted to media magazine (15% of total media investment) are
higher and in Spain where they are generally lower with 8% (sources Ad Barometer 2005,
statistics on 5 different European countries: Germany, UK, France, Italy, and Spain).
2. Methodology
Two step Delphi method was used to search relevant impulses between ad and its reader.
Superficial comparison of ad perception in Czech and French journals was used to find
interesting differences in the first round of Delphi method. Deep search was prepared to
measure perception of ad signal intensity through stages of attention, memorisation,
attitudes, beliefs, and intentions.
2.1 Comparison of ad contents and values in Czech and French journals
Before entering the contents of the ads in the two respective countries, an observation pattern
emerged at first (see Appendix). This was constituted after the different precise elements
were completely exhausted and at the same time the criteria were limited to a reasonable
number so as not to complicate the task of the observers, nor to multiply the risk of error or
oversight. We divided them according to the three headings held by Okazaki (2004):
- the type and amount of information
- the creative strategy used
- the cultural values reflected by the message
For a survey of the type and the amount of information required outside the classic
information permitting a description of the general context (color or black and white; photo
or design; presence of a product, an animal or people in the ad; type of person), and the text
(brand name, slogan, length of the text), we had reserved several items intended for
approximate evaluation of the informative character of the publicity. To determine the
informational dimension of the advertisement (informational cues), numerous studies use the
criteria proposed by Resnik and Stern (1977). Instead of this approach, which is very
detailed and not useful for our purposes (for example, the authors use the following items:
quality, performance, availability, warranty, special offer, etc), we preferred to opt for a
quicker solution which permitted us to simply identify the presence or the absence of
information relative to the functional characteristics or the technicalities of the product, its
price (or similar information, such as the bank credit interest) or, finally, the environment or
ecological characteristics of the product (an aspect which is not taken into account in the
pattern proposed by Resnik and Stern).
Concerning the determination of the creative strategies in the different criteria reserved by
Okazaki (2004) notably after the work of Leogn et al. (1998), Gudykunst and Ting Toomey
(1998), we kept the four following ones: information is symbolic; the product is compared
with the others (quotation of a competitor); the advertisement proposes a promotional offer;
the presence of at least one celebrity (star, sports champion, etc). To these criteria, we have
added eroticism on the assumption that France is a country very open to this form of
expression. To measure it, we took into account the resort to nudity, sharing the principle
that among the different forms that can cover eroticism (or sex appeal), nudity is the most
used expression (Reichert, 2003). The other characteristics suggested by Okazaki (2004)
were not used because they seemed too ambiguous to evaluate in logical reasoning, or
curiosity arousal.
Finally, to record the different cultural values conveyed by the ads, we focused on the
significant relations put into place by Albers-Miller and Gelb (1996) between the advertising
appeals of Pollay and the four dimensions of Hoefstede. Only the susceptible points of
extreme divergence between the two countries have been used. In a parallel direction, we
added four other appeals (noted *) used in literature to complete the mesures (3):
-for the reaching effects of power: this ad shows the importance of social status (+), it
shows that the product is a good deal (-), the presence of a personality (*), this ad is
non-conforming (*);
-for intolerance of uncertainty: this ad incites adventure (-), it is very concentrated on
security (*);
-for masculinity: this ad is based on the efficiency of the product (+), it evokes the
values of tenderness (*);
-for individualism/collectivism: this ad evokes family values (+).
The sample of ads was constituted according to the following criteria:
- we used the 5 most important categories of magazines (business, women, children,
seniors, men)
- for each of the 5 categories of magazines, the 2 most distributed in part of the Czech
Republic and the other part in France were chosen except when there was the same
review in the two countries and it corresponded with one of the 10 most distributed
reviews in each of the two countries (see the list of utilised reviews in Appendix 2).
This last point permits a minimum basis of identical reviews in the two countries
(Elle and Maxim-al), this would have been impossible in the first case because there
is no corresponding review having a high circulation between the two countries;
- all the publicity ads have been looked at whatever their format (only the analysis of
ads relevant to minor ads such as sales of houses, personal objects, job offers, etc.
have been excluded);
- after a detailed briefing, the Czech and French student teams in the second and third
cycles in marketing, were given the task of examining all the ads that they found in
different reviews. To ensure certain homogeneity of judgements, each ad was given
to three different persons. The only criteria that were kept were those that had fewer
than two convergent opinions. For the criterion which had a dispersion of less than
three points between extremes on a 10 point scale, an average was calculated.
3
For the items taken from the Albers-Miller and Gelb article (1996), the sign “+” signifies that the authors have found the
relation between the measure and the dimension of Hoefstede vary positively, the sign “-“ signifies the inverse.
Finally, 577 different ads were used in the evaluation which represents an average of nearly
29 ads per magazine, 309 of which were Czech and 268 were French (the difference coming
from the larger number of losses on the French side).
Other information presented was collected from the following sources:
- for the diffusion: from the data 2004 of the Institute ABCCR for the Czech Republic
and from the OJD for France;
- the price of the publicity ads come, for that matter, from the data indicated on the
review of the Internet sites in 2005, the standard basis used was the normal page in
four colours;
- the prices in the Czech and French currencies were calculated on the basis of 30
crowns = 1 Euro.
2.2 Ad signal intensity of attention, memorisation, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions
To try and both validate our hypotheses and reach the goal, we have established a 12 page
folder in which an ad for the brand name Nokia has been inserted either as a full page format
or as a half page format. Nokia was selected because it is a well known brand in the three
countries (Nokia is the world and European leader with more than 30% of market share
according to GFK, 2006) and all students own a mobile phone.
All the characteristics of the 12 page folder remain the same, except of course for the page
carrying the ad for Nokia. In half of the folders there was a full page ad for Nokia and in the
half other there was a half page ad for Nokia and an article whose content was not very
interesting for the students (architectural information about the city of the students). The
folder was organised in the same way, regardless of the country:
-endpaper entitled “Campus” not necessitating a translation
-page 2: a ½ page ad for women’s clothes (advertiser: YSL) and another ½ page ad for
a car (advertiser: Smart)
-page 3: an article on a scientific subject
-page 4: a ½ page ad for a drink (advertiser: Coca-Cola) and a ½ page article on the
history of the brand name
-page 5a: a ½ page article offering architectural information concerning the sample
region (Prague, Valence or Metz) and an experimental advertisement for Nokia on the
other half of the page.
-page 5b: a full page experimental ad for Nokia
-page 6: information on the Erasmus grants
-page 7: information on the Erasmus grants
-page 8: information on the possible activities to do in the sample region (Prague,
Valence, or Metz)
-page 9: a full page ad on plane trips (advertiser: Air Europa)
-page 10: ads on diverse training courses
-page 11: an information page for students
-page 12: an ad for a film (Ice Age)
Thus a total of 10 different advertisements (4 one quarter page ads, 3 half page ads, and 2 one
full page ads, plus the experimental ad of either one full page or a ½ page depending on the
folder). We must note that this experiment aimed to test two stimuli: the size of the page and
the impact of nudity. Only one stimulus will be treated here.
If the endpaper and the advertisements were strictly the same in the three countries (except
for, of course, the texts which were translated), the articles would deal with similar subjects
but not completely identical since it is necessary to adapt the text content of each country.
One folder with the full page of the experimental ad was given at one sample of students in
each of the three countries, and the another folder with the half page of the experimental ad
was given to one another sample of students (cf. table 2).
Table 2. Number of respondents
Folder with Nokia ad 1 page
Folder with Nokia ad ½ page
Czech Republic
91
88
Spain
86
83
France
76
53
The choice of student sample was motivated to drive a real comparative survey between the
three countries, so they had approximately the same profile concerning sex, age, and training
course. To avoid to focus them on the aim of the experiment, the introductive sentence was:
“We want to introduce a new campus journal, and a new model is being tested which may
become the students’ magazine. However, before finalizing this model your opinion would be
appreciated concerning the form and the content.” A short period of time is allotted to consult
the model (10 minutes exactly) followed by some questions to be asked on the subject.
The experiment was continued in the following manner:
-10 minutes after the students were showed the folder, they were asked to close the
magazine with the endpaper facing upwards. They were then asked to answer a first
questionnaire concerning the measure of memorization mainly. The order was:
assisted memory for 7 well-known product types on the market in 10 advertisements,
spontaneous memory for brand names of each product category, confirmation of
minimum memory of the experimental advertisements (one of the ads spoke highly of
a telephone, do you remember?), assisted memory for the name of the mobile brand
highly credited in the ad (5 choices were proposed), then their intention of purchase
for 5 telephone brands, and some other questions on the attitude toward the advertising
in general (Mehta, 2000; Muehling, 1987).
-When everyone had finished answering the first part of the questionnaire they were
asked to re-open the folder and to carefully look at the experimental advertisement.
They then had to answer different questions on attention in order to determine those
who declared having paid attention to the ad (Lombardot, 2005), questions about their
attitudes toward the ad (Falcy, 1997), questions destined to measure the beliefs
concerning the brand (quality), attitude (like the phone Nokia), and intention (would
like to have and intention of purchase), and some other questions, notably questions to
evaluate the product involvement concerning mobile phones (Kapferer and Laurent,
1986).
3. Results
The first ad comparison based round of Delphi method have helped to select the ad size
importance. It was filled it into the second round of Delphi methodology, which was based
on perception process stages.
3.1 Comparison of ad perception in Czech and French journals
The outcome of advertisements for advertisers and advertised brands and products were
studied by compatison of its text and graphic design elements.
A. Structure of ads in journals
Of all of product categories used, the most significant differences occurred in the categories
of computers, automobiles and books (see Table 2). We observed that in the other categories
there was not a very clear difference between the Czech and French reviews. The publicities
involve similar categories of products.
Table 3. Total number of different publicities taken from 20 magazines (base 577)
Product Category
Czech
French
Total
Reviews
Reviews
Food and Cleaning Products
5,2%
6,0%
5,5%
Cosmetics, Health and Hygiene
19,7%
23,9%
21,7%
Clothing-Textiles
10,7%
12,3%
11,4%
Computers, Hifi-sound-image-Telephones
10%
1,5%
6,1%
Automobile, Motorcycles
3,9%
8,2%
5,9%
Books, Magazines, DVDs
10,4%
5,2%
8,0%
Other products
6,8%
12,0%
9,2%
Banks and Insurance
4,2%
6,7%
5,4%
Telecommunications
4,5%
6,3%
5,4%
Tourism and Transport
3,2%
4,9%
4,0%
Entertainment
9,1%
4,9%
7,1%
Other services
12,3%
8,3%
10,4%
100%
100%
100%
Note : These figures do not take into account the size of the publicities
As for the fact that we found brands, which were more or less known in the two countries, no
difference was observed (Khi²=0,42 ; p.c.=0,52), with 32% of the brands being the object of
an ad in a Czech magazine were known in France, against 30% for the opposite cases.
Concerning the position of the name brand (high, low or in the middle of the ad), there was
no difference, except the fact that in France the brand is repeated in different places in the
ad, which was not the case in the Czech Republic. If such a difference appears odd, it is
sufficient to study the dimensions of the ads for a better understanding, since the
fundamental difference rests, without doubt, on this point: the Czech ads have a tendency to
repeat the formats, which are clearly inferior to those observed in France. This explains the
fact that we can often repeat the brand name. Equally important, even if the percentage stays
low, the Czech ads were more often in black and white (5.7%) than the French ads (1.1%),
probably for economical reasons.
Table 4. Dimensions of ads
(N=577)
Less than one
page
Czech Republic
53,7%
France
15,3%
35,9%
One page or
more
46,3%
84,7%
64,1%
Total
100%
100%
100%
The dependence is very significant. Chi² = 92,11, ddl = 1, p.c. = 0,00
This economic research is easy to understand when we look at the tariffs used by the Czech
media. In fact, if the average tariffs used in France were largely greater (6.860 euros in the
Czech Republic per normal page in four colours vs. 26.721 euros in France), they were
significantly lower than those that led the Cost Per Thousand (CPM) with 135 vs. 58 because
of the low distribution of magazines. This is a problem inherent in countries with a low
population even if the numbers of the Czech readers are proportionally greater (the number
of French readers per review is 4 times greater, even though the French population is 6 times
greater).
Indeed whatever the total priceii, it could be interesting to increase the size of the ad if it is
largely offset by an increase in the campaign efficiency and we could assume that for the
advertiser who distances himself from the general trend of the country concerned with bigger
ads, it might be largely offset by the effects of the campaign. In this respect, « the goal
becomes to find the level of media spending which maximizes the return on investment »
(Danaher and Rust, 1994). Therefore the main contribution here is to determine in which
proportion the increase of spending is reasonable in comparison to the effect (in term of
memorization or attitude toward the ad or the brand) one would hope to get from the ad. Our
goal is to answer problem of return on investment into advertising. We have taken three
different countries (France, Czech Republic, and Spain) where the size of the ads is different
(opposite between France and Czech Republic, intermediary in Spain). The results show that
there are not real differences between half or full size ads within each country. Indeed, the
memorization and attitude toward the advertised brand are similar for people who are exposed
to the full size ad or the half size ad in the specific context of this experiment: a print ad for
the well known brand Nokia.
B. Content of ads in journals
In respect to the differences according to the contents of the Czech and French ads, we can
similarly observe significant differences illustrated in Table 4.
Table 5. Comparison of French and Czech Ad Contents
(N=577)
USA1
UK1
France1
France
Black and white
6%
11%
13%
2%
Comparison
10%
5%
1%
2%
Minority race
7%
5%
7%
7%
Elderly person
3%
2%
1%
11%
Children
16%
4%
6%
16%
Photograph
72-82%2 74-68%2 48-60%2
80%
2
2
2
Product shown
57-41%
60-49%
49-37%
77%
Price shown
16-6%2
24-8%2
16-15%2
21%
2
2
2
Description
68-43%
67-42%
72-39%
52%
Symbolic
10-6%2
16-23%2 37-20%2
36%
Czech
5%*
4%*
7%
3%*
9%*
85%
75%
31%*
55%
44%*
1. The data in the first three columns come from the study of Cutler, Javalgi and Erramilli (1992), and are given
an illustrated title.
2. The first number corresponds to the durable product category, the second to the non durable.
*- when the difference is at least 95% significant (Khi² test )
Apart from the racial minority characteristics, considering the photography, product
presentation and description of the products, the ads presented in the Czech reviews had, in a
significant way, tendency to differ from those presented in the French reviews. Taking into
account only international brands (known in both the Czech Republic and France) didn’t
change the results, except in the children category (no significant difference between the two
countries).
It seems that, in general, the advertisers adapt the contents of their communications to the
local context.
We have equally indicated the results obtained by Cutler, Javalgi, Erramilli (1992) within the
framework of a comparative study between the USA, Great Britain and France (note that the
study also concerns India and Korea, which aren’t discussed here). The important differences
appear to be that between the two studies, France illustrates one of the principal problems,
which was encountered when comparisons between the content studies were made: the
selection of magazines and ads. In their study, Cutler, Javalgi, Erramilli (1992) only used
three magazine categories (women, business, general interest) with the same types, as closely
as possible, in the other countries.
They excluded ads concerning fashion clothing and all ads not having a one page format ( 4).
On our part, we believe that the selection carried out by the authors leads to a poor
appreciation of the advertising tendencies in a given country because the exclusions lead to an
“imperialist” analysis, accentuating the tendencies of the native country of the researchers.
As an example, if we had used only one-page or more ads in this study, we would have
rejected the majority of the Czech ads and would have had partially false results.
As for other criteria used in our study, Table 5 shows very few differences between the two
countries, even if it is only due to the environment used in the images (the Czech ads having a
greater tendency than the French to use the interior environments), and the number of
characteristics presented (the Czech ads use a number of characteristics very significantly
elevated to show the merits of the product).
Table 6. Comparison of other items of French and Czech Ad Contents
(N=577 except for (1) N=361)
France
Indoor Environment
77%
Photo or drawing of at least one animal
6,4%
Photo or drawing of at least one person (1)
66%
Female Presence (1)
78%
Use of a celebrity (1)
16%
Use of Nudity (1)
3,4%
Text of at least four lines
55%
Only the brand name
12%
Testimony of one person
6,2%
Promotional offer
15%
Information with at least 6 characteristics
13%
Czech
88%*
6,2%
63%
75%
19%
2,9%
59%
11%
6,8%
18%
27%*
*significant difference of at least 95% (Khi² test)
C. Displayed values by ads in journals
Taking into account the values used by the ads showed results fundamentally different from
what we took into consideration as known brands in the two countries (qualified here by
international brands, see Table 6) and the known brands known only in one country (qualifies
here by the "locals", see Table 7).
4
- Please note that they also exclude adverts with the requests for employment or for real estate. We also excluded them
because they aren’t true ads proposing permanent products.
Table 7. Comparison of the ad values used by international brands
France
Czech
Test t
Evoking Family Values
4.26
3.24
n.s.
Non conformer
4.71
4.56
n.s.
Appeal to Adventure
5.05
4.52
n.s.
Based on the efficiency of
6.24
5.78
n.s.
product
Focus on security
5.42
4.70
n.s.
Social Status
5.48
4.34
F=4.42 *
Gentleness
4.38
2.71
F=6.44 *
Bargains
5.93
4.36
F=7.20 **
Erotic
3.00
3.35
n.s.
Full of Humor
4.82
2.83
n.s.
The results show a certain degree of homogeneity between the two countries in the different
values measured, the homogeneity is probably aligned with the research of a uniform
international position. In fact, as highlighted by Moriarty and Duncan (1990) the position is
often standardised when the relative execution decisions are made locally. Also, according
to the work of Laroche et al. (1999), this degree of standardisation can be reinforced by the
degree of control by the headquarters of the subsidiary which is, in turn, in control of the
strategic decisions whatever the objectives of the campaign are, the subsidiary having the
most influence on the decisions linked to the environmental choices whatever the copyright
or the media plan.
Finally, we note it is possible that one differentiation of the characteristics doesn’t carry real
interest. Hoeken et al. (2003), for example, have found no difference in the capacity to
persuade in ads that appeal to adventure and in ads that appeal to security between countries
such as the Netherlands and France.
On the other hand, if Table 6 shows that the values used by the ads of international brands
are considered close enough between the Czech and French readers, we can say the same for
those concerning the local brands. In fact, other than the “non conformist” item, the ads are
generally considered to be different between France and the Czech Republic in a manner
which is often very significant (Table 7).
Table 8. Comparison of Values Used in Ads for Local Brands
France
Czech
Test t
Based on the Product Efficiency
6.46
4.75
F=23,65 ***
Bargains
6.01
4.30
F=18,36 ***
Evoking Family Values
5.38
3.97
F=7,33 **
Focus on Security
5.35
3.79
F=9,49 **
Gentleness
5.16
2.55
F=49,62 ***
Appeal to Adventure
5.06
3.49
F=11,73 ***
Social Status
4.94
3.50
F=10,92 **
Full of Humor
4.60
2.84
F=7,50 **
Erotic
4.39
2.83
F=7,25 **
Anticonformist
3.74
3.08
n.s.
These very interesting results have been compiled with great care in our methodological
choice and we utilize them in our conclusion.
3.2 Ad signal intensity of attention, memorisation, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions
A. Memorization and Attention
Table 3 shows no difference in memorisation of Nokia brand from the ad, which respondents
could find in an experimental journal folder either with the size of full page or half page.
Table 9. Spontaneous memorization about the brand name advertised
No answer
Wrong answer Wrong and right
(any other
answer (Nokia
brand)
and other brand)
Half page
17%
5%
3%
Full page
16%
2%
4%
Chi²= 3,7 – ddl= 3 – p.=0.290
Right answer
(Nokia quoted)
75%
78%
These surprising results brought us to additional research to confirm that no other variable
influenced the respondents more strongly than ad size before these results were obtained.
Firstly, the sample was divided into three groups respecting different country origins to prove
no hidden country effect on the ad size.
No significant differences were found by comparison of results (Table 4) between three
countries. Because of restrictions shown by Chi² only “No answer” and “Right answer”
options were taken into account. “Wrong answer” and “Wrong and right answer” were
excluded from processing, because both of them had an insufficient number of answers and it
seemed inappropriate to mix these respondents with “No answer” or “Right answer”.
Table 10. Spontaneous memorization about the brand name advertised
No answer
Right answer (Nokia quoted)
CR
Spain
France
CR
Spain
France
Half-page
23%
23%
8%
77%
77%
92%
Full page
20%
17%
14%
80%
83%
86%
With respectively (two-sided Fisher Test) p.= 0.71 (CR) p.= 0.42 (Spain) p.= 0.30 (France)
Secondly, further data processing was made to prove the possible significance of other
variables (first of all the five facets of involvement toward the product defined by Laurent and
Kapferer) without reaching any significant relationships. The result and framework of the
experimentation is evidently confirming that there is no difference between half and full page
ads. Memorisation of promoted brand name was also not influenced by the tested ad size
whatever the involvement toward the mobile phone.
No significant difference in attention related to the studied ad country by country was found
on the three items measured (attention toward the ad, concentration on the ad, watching the
ad) by respondents who received half or full page ad. However, we have found some
differences between the three countries. Czechs tend to have lower attention to Nokia ad than
Spaniards or French (Table 5). The ad size has not influenced this difference. The attention of
Czechs towards the ad was generally lower without regard to its size.
Table 11. Attention toward the ad by countries
Country
You have paid no
attention to this ad
You haven’t
concentrated on this
ad
You haven’t watched
this ad
CR
Spain
France
CR
Spain
France
CR
Spain
France
Half-size
Mean Rank
108,16
141,88
121,16
121,08
127,14
122,31
91,72
143,12
139,08
p.
0.005
0.837
0.000
Full size
Mean Rank
108,78
148,04
144,72
115,01
135,65
150,33
91,73
142,46
167,56
p.
0.000
0.006
0.000
These different results of this experimentation deny both hypotheses 1 and 1a. Both of them
must be rejected.
B. Attitudes
No real significant difference (p.<0.05) was found in attitude toward the ad, beliefs, attitude
toward the brand, and intentions to buy the promoted brand (see table 6). Respondents who
were exposed to the half page or full page ad of Nokia in the experimental journal folder
presented a relative homogeneity in their answers. Except two exceptions for Spain about
attitude and probability to buy a Nokia (p.<0.05) where we have paradoxically an opposite
relation (half size > full size), we cannot observe any difference.
Table 12. The influence of ad size on attitudes, beliefs, and intentions country by country
Mann Whtiney test
Generally, I like this ad
This Nokia phone seems to
have high quality
I like this Nokia phone very
much
I would like to have a Nokia
phone like this one
How probable is that you will
select the Nokia brand when
buying a new mobile phone?
Country
Czech Republic
Spain
France
Czech Republic
Spain
France
Czech Republic
Spain
France
Czech Republic
Spain
France
Czech Republic
Spain
France
Half size
Mean rank
89
86
87
90
89
82
86
93
81
88
91
79
93
94
77
Full size
Mean rank
90
84
81
90
81
84
94
77
86
92
79
87
88
76
89
p.
0.831
0.810
0.437
0.952
0.233
0.791
0.314
0.037
0.497
0.573
0.117
0.268
0.504
0.017
0.088
So, it seems that our second hypothesis should be rejected also. Size of ad can’t influence
attitude. This is valid for both the ad and brand name attitudes. Intentions and beliefs of
individuals who are exposed to the full page ad or the half page ad are also the same.
Globally, the country of origin doesn’t change the results, except two times for Spain.
It is interesting to note, however, that significant differences were found in comparison of
answers between countries independently of the ad size (Table 7).
Table 13. The influence of country on attitudes, beliefs, and intentions for full and half
size
Kruskal Wallis test
Country
CR
Generally, I like this ad
This Nokia phone seems to
have high quality
I like this Nokia phone very
much
I would like to have a Nokia
phone like this one
How probable is that you will
select the Nokia brand when
buying a new mobile phone?
Half-size
Mean Rank
p.
142
0.002
Full size
Mean Rank
p.
158
0.001
Spain
103
114
France
CR
125
114
Spain
132
133
France
125
142
CR
118
Spain
137
126
France
115
133
CR
Spain
France
CR
Spain
France
126
138
104
144
138
86
0.244
0.090
0.009
0.000
129
126
142
145
132
126
156
132
114
0.367
0.368
0.228
0.001
It seems that differences between countries are connected with specific features of their
respective markets, and the ad itself has no influence as seen in Table 6. Indeed initial beliefs
can strongly influence final purchase independently of the ad impact. Table 8 shows relevant
data confirming this expectation through summarized answers “I would probably buy the
Samsung phone” which is a brand, which was not promoted in the experimental journal
folder.
Table 14. Brand purchase intentions – Samsung
Mean Rank
CR
Spain
France
Kruskal Wallis
n=88/91
n=83/86
n=74/90
test
Half page
100
113
160
Full page
100
134
167
Sig.
0.000
0.000
It can be concluded from tables 7 and 8 that significant differences are between countries only
in the case of purchase intentions of Nokia and Samsung brand: Czechs prefer Nokia phones,
French Samsung phones, and Spaniards are in between. Ad size doesn’t matter because group
exposed either to half page or full page Nokia ads are showing same tendencies.
Conclusion
Signal design and broadcasting by ads from advertiser to ad readers was studied in this
article. Perception of reader in different countries and along the process of recognition was
taken as defined by the Delphi methodology. The international broadness and process
deepness of input data gathering brought shocking surprises.
We strongly ascertain that there is a large number of differences between France and the
Czech Republic in the point of creative advertising, whatever the structural plan (formats are
smaller in the Czech Republic), or in terms of contents (the price is more often mentioned in
the Czech Republic, and children and older persons are used less). Our hypothesis is
therefore largely supported by the collected data and we can conclude that the advertisers
have the tendency to adapt the contents of their communication in function with the Czech or
French context.
Concerning the values, we have also found important differences between the two countries,
but only in local brands and a few international brands.
These results are so consistent that we have queried the methodological choices used
(distinct evaluators in the two countries). In fact, the overall examination of the results
(Tables 6 and 7) shows a strong tendency towards the French marks being higher. Faced
with such a result, one has the right to ask if the given marks aren’t also influenced by a
dissimilar assessment approach between the Czech and French readers? Remember that
when each ad was analysed by three evaluators, they stayed with the magazines of their own
country, the French analysed the French ads and the Czechs analysed the Czech ads. Since
the “objective” observations such as, for example the size of the advertisement or the
presence of individuals, should not vary because of the nationality of the evaluator.
Anything that is associated with interpretation is susceptible to be influenced by nationality
(eg an advertisement with family values). Research into this issue had to be undertaken
because if it had been confirmed, the best solution to remedy the problem would have been
to disperse the evaluators (50% of the Czechs to evaluate the French publicity and vice
versa) and thus obtain an opinion, which would be rather difficult to codify (eg when
something is judged non conformist in one country, can it also be judged as non-conformist
in another?). Such a judgement, we understand, risked a serious compromise of the entire
study, because of the difficulty in finding evaluators who would be fluent in five or six
different languages.
From the methodological point of view, this study also shows the importance of taking into
account a statistically sufficient (large) publicity sample from each country, in order to avoid
the methodological choices found by Cutler, Javalgi, Erramilli (1992). We hope to have a
representative perception of the communication forms used in a given country. In this sense,
it important to pay attention to the following issues:
- to use a large category of magazines covering different segments of the population
and then post information such as "X % of the persons in the ads are older persons"
(Cutler, Javalgi and Erramilli, 1992) logically would not make great sense when the
selected magazines are not targeting the senior segment;
- selecting identical magazines in different countries is interesting because it permits a
homogenous target but it also generates a greater problem of concentrating on groups
which could be marginal in the studied countries. If we wish to have a representative
sample, it seems preferable to keep magazines in separate categories in relation to
their respective level;
- similarly, to exclude certain publicities can generate important biases (except, of
course, those which can be qualified as short ads and not publicities, communicating
precise products: offer or request for employment, real estate sales, etc.). Also, being
limited to one page formats risks, according to the country, a creation of important
distortions such as has been the case between the Czech Republic and France. This
confirms the comments of Avery and Franke (1996) within the framework of their
meta-analysis.
This first tour of the horizon of the universe of the Czech and French advertising has
permitted us to have a global view of the practices of the advertisers in the two countries.
Each time, knowing that the idea of “what is practiced is what is effective”, doesn’t always
exactly reveal that what is practiced. This conforms with the suggestion ( 55) of Harris and
Attour (2003) that there are basic characteristics that permit publicity to be as efficient in
France as in the Czech Republic, notably those in which we have observed the most
differences between the two countries, such as the communication on the functional
attributes and the price.
We strongly ascertain that there is a large number of differences between France and the
Czech Republic in the point of creative advertising, whatever the structural plan (formats are
smaller in the Czech Republic), or in terms of contents (the price is more often mentioned in
the Czech Republic, and children and older persons are used less). Our hypothesis is
therefore largely supported by the collected data and we can conclude that the advertisers
have the tendency to adapt the contents of their communication in function with the Czech or
French context.
Concerning the values, we have also found important differences between the two countries,
but only in local brands and a few international brands.
These results are so consistent that we have queried the methodological choices used
(distinct evaluators in the two countries). In fact, the overall examination of the results
(Tables 6 and 7) shows a strong tendency towards the French marks being higher. Faced
with such a result, one has the right to ask if the given marks aren’t also influenced by a
dissimilar assessment approach between the Czech and French readers? Remember that
when each ad was analysed by three evaluators, they stayed with the magazines of their own
country, the French analysed the French ads and the Czechs analysed the Czech ads. Since
the “objective” observations such as, for example the size of the advertisement or the
presence of individuals, should not vary because of the nationality of the evaluator.
Anything that is associated with interpretation is susceptible to be influenced by nationality
(eg an advertisement with family values). Research into this issue had to be undertaken
because if it had been confirmed, the best solution to remedy the problem would have been
to disperse the evaluators (50% of the Czechs to evaluate the French publicity and vice
versa) and thus obtain an opinion, which would be rather difficult to codify (eg when
something is judged non conformist in one country, can it also be judged as non-conformist
in another?). Such a judgement, we understand, risked a serious compromise of the entire
study, because of the difficulty in finding evaluators who would be fluent in five or six
different languages.
From the methodological point of view, this study also shows the importance of taking into
account a statistically sufficient (large) publicity sample from each country, in order to avoid
the methodological choices found by Cutler, Javalgi, Erramilli (1992). We hope to have a
representative perception of the communication forms used in a given country. In this sense,
it important to pay attention to the following issues:
- to use a large category of magazines covering different segments of the population
and then post information such as "X % of the persons in the ads are older persons"
(Cutler, Javalgi and Erramilli, 1992) logically would not make great sense when the
selected magazines are not targeting the senior segment;
- selecting identical magazines in different countries is interesting because it permits a
homogenous target but it also generates a greater problem of concentrating on groups
5
- The authors propose that instead of looking for the winning tools of a complete adaptation or a total standardization (which is, without
doubt, a fantasy), it would be better to try to understand the benefits taken from the standardized forms applied.
which could be marginal in the studied countries. If we wish to have a representative
sample, it seems preferable to keep magazines in separate categories in relation to
their respective level;
- similarly, to exclude certain publicities can generate important biases (except, of
course, those which can be qualified as short ads and not publicities, communicating
precise products: offer or request for employment, real estate sales, etc.). Also, being
limited to one page formats risks, according to the country, a creation of important
distortions such as has been the case between the Czech Republic and France. This
confirms the comments of Avery and Franke (1996) within the framework of their
meta-analysis.
This first tour of the horizon of the universe of the Czech and French advertising has
permitted us to have a global view of the practices of the advertisers in the two countries.
Each time, knowing that the idea of “what is practiced is what is effective”, doesn’t always
exactly reveal that what is practiced. This conforms with the suggestion (56) of Harris and
Attour (2003) that there are basic characteristics that permit publicity to be as efficient in
France as in the Czech Republic, notably those in which we have observed the most
differences between the two countries, such as the communication on the functional
attributes and the price.
6
- The authors propose that instead of looking for the winning tools of a complete adaptation or a total standardization (which is, without
doubt, a fantasy), it would be better to try to understand the benefits taken from the standardized forms applied.
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International Advertising Standardization, International Journal of Advertising, 15, 4, 325345.
Abernethy, A. M. & D. N. Laband (2002), The Customer Pulling Power of Different Sized
Yellow Pages Advertisements, Journal of Advertising Research, 42:3, 66-72.
Abernethy, A. M. & D. N. Laband (2004), The Impact of Trademarks and Advertisement Size
on Yellow Page Call Rates, Journal of Advertising Research, 44:1,
Burtt, H. E. (1938), Psychology of Advertising, Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company,
The Riverside Press.
Danaher, P. J. & R. T. Rust (1994), Determining the Optimal Level of Media Spending,
Journal of Advertising Research, January/February, 28-34.
Diamond, D. S. (1968), A Quantitative Approach to Magazine Advertisement Format
Selection, Journal of Marketing Research, 5, November, 376-86
Dianoux, C, Kettnerová, J. & Z. Linhart (2007), Advertising in Czech and French Magazines,
Journal of Euromarketing, 16:1/2, 139-152.
Durvasula, S., Lysonski, S. & U. C. Mehta (1999), A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of
Cognitive Responses, Beliefs, and Attitudes Toward Advertising In General In Two
Asian Countries, The Journal of Marketing Management, Winter, 48-59
Edell, J. A. & R. Staelin (1983), The Information Processing of Pictures in Print
Advertisements, Journal of Consumer Research. 10, June, 45-61.
Falcy, S. (1997), Les processus d’influence publicitaire: un essai de modélisation intégrant
implication vis-à-vis de la publicité, caractéristiques psychologiques et publicitaires,
Thèse, Université Pierre Mendès-France de Grenoble, ESA.
Ferguson, L.W. (1935), The Importance of the Mechanical Features of an Advertisement,
Journal of Applied Psychology, 19:5, 521-526.
Finn, A. (1988), Print Ad Recognition Readership Scores: An Information Processing
Perspective, Journal of Marketing Research, 25,, May, 168-77
Han, J. K. (1992), Involvement and Advertisement Size Effects on Information Processing,
Advances in Consumer Research, 19, 762-769.
Hendon, D. W. (1973), How Mechanical Factors Affect Ad Perception, Journal of
Advertising Research, 13, August, 39-45.
Herpen van, E., Pieters, R., Fidrmucova, J & P. Roosenboom (2000), The Information
Content of Magazine Advertising in Market and Transition Economies, Journal of
Consumer Policy, 23:3, September, 257-283.
Homer, P. M. (1995), Ad Size as an Indicator of Perceived Advertising Costs and Effort : The
Effects on Memory and Perceptions, Journal of Advertising, 24:4, Winter, 1-12.
Kapferer, J. N. & G. Laurent (1986), Consumer involvement profiles: a new practical
approach to consumer involvement, Journal of Advertising Research, 25:6, 48-56.
Kirmani, A. (1990), The Effect of Perceived Advertising Costs on Brand Perceptions, Journal
of Consumer Research, 17, September, 160-171.
Koudelova, R. & J. Whitelock (2001), A Cross-ultural Analysis of Television Advertising in
the U.K and the Czech Republic, International Marketing Review, 18:3, 286-300.
Lombardot, E. (2005), Influence de la nudité en publicité sur l’attention portée à l’annonce et
à la marque, Actes des journées de Recherche en Marketing de Bourgogne
« Distribution, achat, consommation », Dijon, Université de Bourgogne, novembre.
Mehta, A. (2000), Advertising Attitudes and Advertising Effectiveness, Journal of
Advertising Research, May-June, 67-72.
Muehling, D. D. (1987), An Investigation of Factors Underlying Attitude-TowardAdvertising-in-General, Journal of Advertising, 16:1, 32-40.
Naccarato, J. L. & K. A. Neuendorf (1998), Content Analysis as a Predictive Methodology:
Recall, Readership, and Evaluations of Business-to-Business Print Advertising, Journal
of Advertising Research, May, 19-33.
Percy L. & J. R. Rossiter (1983), Effects of Picture Size and Color on Brand Attitude
Responses in Print Advertising, Advances in Consumer Research, 17-20.
Pieters, R. & M. Wedel (2004), Attention Capture and Transfer in Advertising: Brand,
Pictorial, and Text-Size Effects, Journal of Marketing, 68, April, 36–50.
Appendix 1A: Observation grid I.
A- General Information (you can tick two or more cases if necessary)
1- Category of product
1 Cosmetic, perfume, health, hygiene 4 Hi-Fi/sound/image
2 Wearing, shoes, bags, jewellery,…
5 Automotive, motorbikes
1 GOODS
3 Computer, phone, office automation 6 Household appliance
10 Other goods

2 SERVICE

2- Name of the brand if
any
3- Position of the brand
name if it is there
4- Size of the advertising
5- Colour
11 Bank and Insurance
12 Telecommunications
Write in capital letters:
1 Middle of the ad
1 Less than ¼ page
1 Colour
13 Tourism & transport
14 Distribution
2 Top of the ad
7 Food & liquid
8 Cleaning
9 Book, magazine, music
15 Institutional
16 Entertainment
17 Other service
3 Bottom of the ad
2 ¼ page
3 ½ page
2 Black and white
4 1 page
5 2 pages or more
B- Image (you can tick two or more cases if necessary)
1- Type of image
1 Photo
2 Drawing
2- The product advertised
1 Showed in the ad
2 Not showed in the ad
is
2b- If yes, the product is showed on:
1 At least a quarter of the advertisement
2 Less than a quarter
3- The environment is
1 Mountain
2 Urban
3 Sea
4 Countryside
5 Indoor
6 Other
7 Indeterminate environment
4- In the image is there
1 Yes
2 No
animal(s)?
5- Are there people in the
1 None
2 One
3 Two or Three
4 Four or Five
5 Six and more
image?
If there is one or more people, answer to the following questions, if not, go directly to grid C
5b- Sex of people:
1 Male(s)
2 Female(s)
3 Indeterminate
5c- Age of people
1 Child
2 Adult
3 Elderly person
4 Indeterminate
5d- Race
1 White
2 Black
3 Yellow
4 Other
5 Indeterminate
5e- Type of person
1 Celebrity person
2 Unknown person
3 Not sure (I don’t know if that’s a celebrity)
5f- Nudity
1 Naked person (breast or back visible)
2 No naked person
C- Information (you can tick two or more cases if necessary)
1- Appearance of text in
1 Name of the brand
the ad (tick as many
2 Slogan
options as you have
3 Explanatory comments up to 3 lines
found)
4 Explanatory comments four lines and more
2- The argumentation is
based on (tick as many
options as you have
found)
3- Type of information
(tick as many options
as you have found)
4- Number of
characteristics
5- If you have to judge
this advertisement, you
will say
Tick 0 if absolutely not
Tick 5 if neither yes nor no
Tick 10 if absolutely yes
1 There is not a written argumentation (only the name of the brand)
2 Symbolic information
3 Description or use of the product
4 Comparison (talk about a named competitor or implicit named competitor)
5 Testimonial
6 Promotional offer (special price, 2 in 1, game, …)
7 Other type of argumentation
1 Functional or technical features (focused on the utilisation of the product or its characteristics)
2 Price or value or similar information (e.g. interest rate for a bank)
3 Environmental features (focused on ecological information)
4 Nothing of these information
If there is information about functional or technical features, the number of distinctive characteristics are:
1 One or two
2 Three or four
3 Five or six
4 More than six
a- This ad evokes family values
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
b- This ad is nonconformist
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
c- This ad incites to the adventure
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
d- This ad is based on the efficiency of the product 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
e- This ad is focused on the importance of safety
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
f- This ad shows the importance of the social status 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
g- This ad evokes tenderness values
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
h- This ad is focused on the bargain you could do
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
i- This ad is erotic
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
j- This ad is humorous
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Appendix 2: List of reviews
List of French magazines
Type of
Title
magazine
Periodicity
Price
(Euro)
2.5
Pages
148
Nb pub
tot
31
Circulation
361 000
Ad rates
2005 1p
37 500
CPM
(euro)
104
Business
Capital
Monthly
Date
March 05
Business
Challenges
Semimonthly
March 05
2.5
148
23
234 000
16 400
70
Monthly
Monthly
Monthly
Monthly
Bimonthly
Monthly
Weekly
March 05
March 05
March 05
March 05
March 05
March 05
March 05
3
3
3.1
3
3.5
2.7
2.3
124
124
174
168
92
104
158
27
19
76
48
15
24
53
590 000
147 000
1 029 000
1 042 000
298 000
305 000
351 000
28 900
13 900
31 500
26 400
49
95
31
25
16 300
26 000
53
74
Weekly
March 05
1.2
104
34
1 346 000
37 650
28
Weeklies
Weeklies
Monthlies
Monthlies
Weeklies
Weeklies
Fortnightlies
Monthlies
Monthlies
Monthlies
Feb 05
Feb 05
Feb 05
Feb 05
March 05
March 05
Feb 05
Feb 05
Feb 05
Feb 05
1.17
1.17
1.63
3.3
0.4
0.27
0.65
1.3
2.83
0.4
66
124
99
119
47
47
47
83
179
74
29
24
21
16
34
25
9
23
99
38
23 171
24 414
36 342
9 097
342 685
584 301
90 362
60 573
43 776
296 201
5 933
5 633
5 833
5 167
9 467
11 667
8 667
3 833
7 000
5 833
256
231
161
568
28
20
96
63
160
20
Men’s
Men’s
Senior
Senior
Teenager
Teenager
Women’s
Entrevue
Maximal
Notre Temps
Pleine Vie
Fan 2
Star Club
Elle
Femme
Women’s
Actuelle
List of Czech magazines
Managers
Ekonom
Managers
Euro + E8
Men
Maxim
Men
Playboy
Senior
Nedělní Blesk
Senior
TV magazín
Teenager
Bravo
Teenager
Top dívky
Women
Elle
Women
Svět ženy
Apendix 3: Observation grid II.
2
Note however that for TV ads Koudelova and Whitelock (2001) have found contradictory results when using
more informative ads between the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom concerning soft drinks, and the
contrary for beauty products.
6. REFERENCES
Abernethy, A. M. & D. N. Laband (2002), The Customer Pulling Power of Different Sized
Yellow Pages Advertisements, Journal of Advertising Research, 42:3, 66-72.
Abernethy, A. M. & D. N. Laband (2004), The Impact of Trademarks and Advertisement Size
on Yellow Page Call Rates, Journal of Advertising Research, 44:1,
Burtt, H. E. (1938), Psychology of Advertising, Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company,
The Riverside Press.
Danaher, P. J. & R. T. Rust (1994), Determining the Optimal Level of Media Spending,
Journal of Advertising Research, January/February, 28-34.
Diamond, D. S. (1968), A Quantitative Approach to Magazine Advertisement Format
Selection, Journal of Marketing Research, 5, November, 376-86
Dianoux, C, Kettnerová, J. & Z. Linhart (2007), Advertising in Czech and French Magazines,
Journal of Euromarketing, 16:1/2, 139-152.
Durvasula, S., Lysonski, S. & U. C. Mehta (1999), A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of
Cognitive Responses, Beliefs, and Attitudes Toward Advertising In General In Two
Asian Countries, The Journal of Marketing Management, Winter, 48-59
Edell, J. A. & R. Staelin (1983), The Information Processing of Pictures in Print
Advertisements, Journal of Consumer Research. 10, June, 45-61.
Falcy, S. (1997), Les processus d’influence publicitaire: un essai de modélisation intégrant
implication vis-à-vis de la publicité, caractéristiques psychologiques et publicitaires,
Thèse, Université Pierre Mendès-France de Grenoble, ESA.
Ferguson, L.W. (1935), The Importance of the Mechanical Features of an Advertisement,
Journal of Applied Psychology, 19:5, 521-526.
Finn, A. (1988), Print Ad Recognition Readership Scores: An Information Processing
Perspective, Journal of Marketing Research, 25,, May, 168-77
Han, J. K. (1992), Involvement and Advertisement Size Effects on Information Processing,
Advances in Consumer Research, 19, 762-769.
Hendon, D. W. (1973), How Mechanical Factors Affect Ad Perception, Journal of
Advertising Research, 13, August, 39-45.
Herpen van, E., Pieters, R., Fidrmucova, J & P. Roosenboom (2000), The Information
Content of Magazine Advertising in Market and Transition Economies, Journal of
Consumer Policy, 23:3, September, 257-283.
Homer, P. M. (1995), Ad Size as an Indicator of Perceived Advertising Costs and Effort : The
Effects on Memory and Perceptions, Journal of Advertising, 24:4, Winter, 1-12.
Kapferer, J. N. & G. Laurent (1986), Consumer involvement profiles: a new practical
approach to consumer involvement, Journal of Advertising Research, 25:6, 48-56.
Kirmani, A. (1990), The Effect of Perceived Advertising Costs on Brand Perceptions, Journal
of Consumer Research, 17, September, 160-171.
Koudelova, R. & J. Whitelock (2001), A Cross-ultural Analysis of Television Advertising in
the U.K and the Czech Republic, International Marketing Review, 18:3, 286-300.
Lombardot, E. (2005), Influence de la nudité en publicité sur l’attention portée à l’annonce et
à la marque, Actes des journées de Recherche en Marketing de Bourgogne
« Distribution, achat, consommation », Dijon, Université de Bourgogne, novembre.
Mehta, A. (2000), Advertising Attitudes and Advertising Effectiveness, Journal of
Advertising Research, May-June, 67-72.
Muehling, D. D. (1987), An Investigation of Factors Underlying Attitude-TowardAdvertising-in-General, Journal of Advertising, 16:1, 32-40.
Naccarato, J. L. & K. A. Neuendorf (1998), Content Analysis as a Predictive Methodology:
Recall, Readership, and Evaluations of Business-to-Business Print Advertising, Journal
of Advertising Research, May, 19-33.
Percy L. & J. R. Rossiter (1983), Effects of Picture Size and Color on Brand Attitude
Responses in Print Advertising, Advances in Consumer Research, 17-20.
Pieters, R. & M. Wedel (2004), Attention Capture and Transfer in Advertising: Brand,
Pictorial, and Text-Size Effects, Journal of Marketing, 68, April, 36–50.
1
Remember that the cost of advertising space is strategic because it is the principal part of a communication
budget for an advertiser (In France for example, the part of the advertising space budget is more than 84%
according to France Pub 2004).