Hedonic and utilitarian Ad attributes in relation to advertising effectiveness - The role of consumer involvement and the context of tablet devices

Abstract

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

Previous marketing research on the relationship between consumer involvement and hedonic and utilitarian dimension has mostly concentrated on products and brands, rather than advertising attributes. Furthermore, advertising effectiveness has often been assessed from a single perspective, such as attitude toward the ad. Therefore this thesis is focused on the relationship between consumer involvement and hedonic and utilitarian ad attributes, and on how these are linked to overall advertising effectiveness. Furthermore, the context of advertising on tablet devices is considered.

METHODOLOGY:

A quantitative research approach was employed. In total 101 tablet device users filled a survey based on an advertisement they were shown. The survey consisted of 18 Likert-type scale questions regarding consumer involvement, hedonic and utilitarian dimensions and overall advertising effectiveness. The data was analyzed through variance-based Partial Least Squares approach to structural equation modeling.

FINDINGS:

Different results were received for the two ads used in the study, one interactive and the other one static. Especially in context of the static ad, a blurring line between hedonic and utilitarian ad attributes was detected, thus implying that it may not be clear to which category a certain attribute might belong. Furthermore, hedonic ad attributes were not found to lead to advertising effectiveness, indicating that regardless of consumer's degree of involvement and the advertisement type, a certain amount of utilitarian aspects should be present in tablet advertising. These results entail that the domain of tablet advertising effectiveness in light of consumer involvement and utilitarian and hedonic ad attributes remains a highly interesting research topic as the number of these devices, as well as opportunities for advertisers, increase.