Bachelor thesis Marketing

Transcription

1 Bachelor thesis Marketing Cause-related marketing The influence of message presentation and cause familiarity on consumer skepticism in cause-related marketing Author: S.A.M. Kusters ANR: Student International Business Administration Tilburg University Supervisor: E.A.A. Dreezens

2 Table of contents Abstract... 4 Chapter 1 Introduction The problem background The problem statement Research Questions Conceptual model Relevance... 7 Chapter 2 Cause related marketing Definition Corporate social responsibility Benefits Development Chapter 3 Consumer skepticism Definition Situational skepticism Important antecedents of consumer skepticism Consequences Chapter 4 Message presentation Definition Objective or subjective information Informational or emotional appeals Positive or negative message framing

3 Chapter 5 Familiarity with cause Definition Development of familiarity Brand-cause fit Involvement Chapter 6 Conclusions and recommendations Conclusions Limitations and recommendations References

4 Abstract This paper explains the influence of presentation of a cause-related marketing message and familiarity with the sponsored cause on consumer skepticism in cause-related marketing. First, the phenomena cause-related marketing (CRM) and consumer skepticism will be clarified. Afterwards, several factors of message presentation are proposed and explained by literature review. Moreover, the influence of cause familiarity on consumer skepticism will be discussed by explaining several concepts related to familiarity, again by literature review. 4

5 Chapter 1 Introduction This first chapter will introduce the subject of this thesis. The problem background will be given, which leads to the problem statement. Also, the research questions will be provided, which will guide the structure of the paper. The proposed conceptual model clarifies the problem statement. At last, the relevance of the paper will be discussed. 1.1 The problem background Cause-related marketing is a strategy which has been developed to a popular marketing strategy for companies (Hoek & Gendall, 2008). This marketing tool links a brand with a social cause; it actually is a form of donation (Kim & Lee, 2009). However, there will only be a gift when sales are made for the company. It happens very often that companies have special products in their assortment where a certain percentage of the price will be donated to some cause of charity organization. An example is IKEA: in Christmas time, cuddly toys are presented in the stores from which 1 euro will be donated to Unicef. From the year 2003, these toys have brought almost 7 million euros to the charity organization for children ( This indicates that in the end, the donation implies a great benefit for the firm (Varadarajan & Menon, 1988). This benefit holds that cause related marketing (CRM) will enhance the corporate image of the firm, which will lead to higher sales and stakeholder loyalty (Liston-Heyes & Liu, 2010). The power of CRM is that consumers like the fact that they contribute to society while they satisfy their own needs and wants (Polonsky & Wood, 2001). These positive consequences motivate many corporations to invest in CRM. However, from research it seemed that this strategy is not as effective as marketers may always want. Consumers become more educated about marketing tactics and therefore they become skeptical about promotion practices in general (Friestad &Wright, 1994). Therefore, consumers suspect companies to cooperate with charities for profit motives only. It is said that consumers tend to be less skeptical about innovative, new marketing practices; as soon as the practice becomes known and its goal becomes obvious, skepticism arises (Kim & Lee, 2009). Since CRM is not a new marketing tool anymore, marketers have to deal with consumer skepticism. 5

6 Consumer scepticism can be defined as a sense of disbelief of advertising claims (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998). This skepticism cannot be overcome completely, since part of the disbelief can be treated as a personality trait (Obermilller and Spangenberg, 1998). This type of skepticism is called predispositional skepticism, which refers to enduring and ongoing disbelief or a general tendency to be suspicious of marketer s motives (Forehand & Grier, 2003). Situational scepticism can be defined as a momentary state of distrust; marketers can influence this type depending on, among other things, the marketer himself and the message presentation (Kim & Lee, 2009; Forehand & Grier, 2003). Message presentation will elaborately be discussed in this research; it refers to all parts included in the CRM advertisement; which may be objective or subjective information, positive or negative messages etcetera. Another factor that may influence scepticism is the level of familiarity with the cause; it may be that increased cause familiarity effects consumers evaluations about the cause-brand alliance and the brand itself (Hardesty et al., 2002). Moreover, Lafferty et al. (2004) found different brand evaluations with either low or high familiarity. Because of the controllable aspect, it may be more interesting to investigate situational scepticism. In this paper, two factors that may have an influence on situational skepticism will be further investigated; namely message presentation and cause familiarity. 1.2 The problem statement As discussed before, consumer scepticism reduces the effectiveness of CRM which has become a very popular marketing tool. A part of this skepticism is suggested to be controllable by marketers, therefore the following problem statement is proposed: To what extent do presentation of the message and consumers familiarity with the cause have an influence on the skepticism of consumers about cause-related marketing advertisements? 1.3 Research Questions 1. What is cause-related marketing? 2. What is consumer skepticism? 3. Can consumer skepticism be reduced by the presentation of a CRM message? 4. What is the influence of consumer s familiarity with the supported cause on their skepticism? 6

7 1.4 Conceptual model 1.5 Relevance Academic relevance Research to the effects of CRM has been done since 1983 (Andreasen, 1996). It is said that it could be and effective marketing tactic with great benefit for the company (Liston-Heyes & Liu, 2010). However, for every advertising claim counts that consumer skepticism is likely to lower its acceptance (Kim & Lee, 2009). Reasons for the development of consumer skepticism have been discussed earlier, by Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998). Forehand and Grier (2003) have written about the distinction between general skepticism about marketing and the situational type. This distinction is used in later research about cause related marketing by Kim and Lee (2009). However, the concept of situational skepticism in cause related marketing has not been investigated yet. This research is however relevant, because factors that influence situational skepticism are of importance to explain consumers responses towards marketing. Therefore, a clarification about the antecedents of situational skepticism will be provided to give a new insight in the problem of consumer skepticism in CRM Managerial relevance The results of this research may be useful in marketing practices, since the research will provide insight in factors leading to more or less skepticism in advertisements. These factors are partly controllable by marketers; therefore marketing sectors are able to adapt certain details in the context and execution of CRM advertisements. This may reduce consumers tendency to disbelieve the advertising claims. In the end, a good presentation will lead to greater sales and thus greater benefits for the firm. The investigation of the concept cause familiarity may also provide some useful information for managers. The influence of familiarity with the cause that is 7

8 being sponsored will be clarified; this can be a help for managers in the choice of a certain cause or charity. 8

9 Chapter 2 Cause related marketing In this chapter the context of this research, cause-related marketing, will be explained and thus an answer to the first research question: What is cause-related marketing? will be provided. The goal of this chapter is to give an insight in the meaning, benefits and development of this popular type of marketing. 2.1 Definition Cause related marketing is defined before as a marketing tool that links a brand with a social cause (Kim & Lee, 2009). Varadarajan and Menon (1988) were one of the first authors that wrote about CRM, they defined it as the process of formulating and implementing marketing activities that are characterized by an offer from the firm to contribute a specific amount to a designated cause when customers engage in revenue-providing exchanges that satisfy organizational and individual objectives (p. 60). In other words; when a consumer buys a product from a certain brand or company, a predetermined amount of the price will be donated to a charity. It may also occur that companies do not link their product to a charity, but just donate to a charity once a period (Barone et al., 2000). However, this situation is less common. 2.2 Corporate social responsibility Cause related marketing is said to be strongly related to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Companies have responsibilities that go beyond legal obligations; CSR is about social involvement (Bronn & Vrioni, 2001). CSR is not a new concept, over the years it has developed from philanthropic charity giving to a means of reputation building to stakeholders and customers. Cause related marketing is said to be the communication of corporate social responsibility in marketing activities of a company (Bronn & Vrioni, 2001). Varadarajan and Menon (1988) also point several times on corporate social responsibility in their description of the concept of cause-related marketing; they view CRM as one of marketing s main contributions to society. 9

10 2.3 Benefits The definition of Varadarajan and Menon points at the multiple benefits in CRM: benefit for the company, the consumer and the charity; a win-win-win situation (Kim & Lee, 2009). Porter and Kramer (2002) constructed a graph where both the social and economic benefits become clear: a convergence of interest (figure 1). Only where corporate expenditures produce simultaneous social and economic gains, interests of pure business and philantrophy converge; which makes the philantrophy strategic and thus competitive (Porter & Kramer, 2002). Cause related marketing campaigns are, like every marketing strategy, profit motivated. Donations are made on basis of consumer purchase of the sponsoring company s product, so that there will never be a loss for the company (Webb & Mohr, 1998). Moreover, as stated in the previous chapter, it is investigated that CRM may lead to higher sales and stakeholder loyalty due to improved image and legitimacy (Liston-Heyes & Liu, 2010). Barone et al. (2000) proved that a company s support of social causes intended to generate sales for the company. Also for the consumer there are several benefits of CRM. It may make it easier for them to differentiate between two or more companies providing an identical product; a company that supports a certain cause may be given additional perceived value by the consumer (Webb & Mohr, 1998). Second, CRM might provide additional consumer value; individual needs are being 10

11 satisfied, while the consumer also contributes to society (Polonsky & Wood, 2001). Polonsky and Wood (2001) also state that because of the easy accessibility of the cause-related products consumers contribute a small portion to society with making very little effort, while this perceived effort is higher at regular donations. Since nonprofit, charity organizations heavily depend on donations, CRM increases their ability to continue their mission (Grau & Folse, 2007). Hankinson (2000) states that besides this survival aspect, cause-related marketing may also be a means to attract new and young people into the charity organization. 2.4 Development The first case of cause related marketing was an initiative of American Express in the 1980 s, who donated to the restoration of the Statue of Liberty when consumers used their credit cards (Hoek & Gendall, 2008). This project was the start for many more cause-related marketing activities, which may help to improve a company s performance while helping present-day causes (Webb & Mohr, 1998). The focus shifted in the late 1980 s from the arts to health-related issues, like cancer and HIV. Later, broader social issues came up because of the crowd in the CRM market. Nowadays, also other causes like blind guide dogs (Coca-Cola) and missing children (IBM, Sony) are supported (Polonsky & Wood, 2001). In short, it can be said that cause-related marketing is a marketing tool that links a firm or product with a charity (cause). CRM may be seen as the communication of a company s corporate social responsibility. It provides, besides for the firm itself, several benefits for consumers and charity organizations. 11

12 Chapter 3 Consumer skepticism In this chapter, the concept of consumer skepticism will be clarified. Therefore, the second research question: What is consumer skepticism? will be answered. Two types of skepticism will be explained, as well as some important antecedents and consequences. 3.1 Definition In this paper, consumer skepticism will only involve the skepticism towards advertising and marketing, cause-related marketing in particular. Skepticism is defined as the consumer distrust or disbelief of marketer actions (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998). Mohr et al. (1998) distinguished the concept of skepticism from cynicism, which is defined as an enduring disbelief of others; skepticism refers to a cognitive response which varies depending on the context and content of communication. It is suggested that consumer skepticism is a necessary, beneficial and healthy skill that protects consumers against false or excessive advertising (Koslow, 2000). Mohr et al. (1998) also state that skepticism helps to protect consumers from inaccurate claims. Marketers do not want consumers to perceive their advertisement as inaccurate or untrue, which implies that skepticism encourages honesty from marketers. (Obermiller et al., 2005). 3.2 Situational skepticism In literature, skepticism is looked upon in several ways. Forehand and Grier (2003) distinguished two forms of skepticism: predispositional- and situational skepticism. Predispositional skepticism is described as the ongoing tendency to be suspicious of marketer s motives, which heavily relates to the earlier discussed concept of cynicism. This skepticism is generally beyond marketers reach (Kim & Lee, 2009). Situational skepticism differs from this concept; this type may positively or negatively be influenced by marketers and message formulation (Kim & Lee, 2009). Situational variables influence consumer skepticism by inducing a state of skepticism (Forehand & Grier, 2003). Forehand and Grier (2003) found several effects that confirmed the partly situational nature of 12

13 skepticism, for example the development of skepticism when advertising claims are not clearly verifiable. Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) agree with the fact that even extreme skepticism can be influenced by situational factors; therefore the situational aspect of skepticism needs more attention of marketers (Kim & Lee, 2009). Situational skepticism will be the main issue in this research. 3.3 Important antecedents of consumer skepticism Persuasion knowledge It is said that the aim of every advertisement is to persuade people to buy the advertised product (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998). Friestad and Wright (1994) showed that people s knowledge about persuasion influences their responses on persuasion attempts. This knowledge develops over time as a result of learning by social interactions, conversations, observing marketers and agents and from commentary on marketing in the media (Friestad & Wright, 1994). Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) stated that ad skepticism changes as persuasion knowledge develops. Logically, low persuasion knowledge implies low skepticism. This statement is confirmed by Boush et al. (1994), who found out that having higher levels of knowledge about advertiser tactics is positively related to consumer skepticism. In addition, Nan and Faber (2004) stated that skepticism towards advertising is an outcome of increased knowledge about marketers motives and tactics. Persuasion knowledge is a greater issue in predispositional skepticism than in the situational type, since it may be seen as a personality trait (Kim & Lee, 2009) Firm s motives An important factor in the degree of consumer skepticism is the marketer s or firm s motive behind the advertisement (eg. Kim & Lee, 2003; Webb & Mohr, 1998). Forehand & Grier (2003) distinguished two types of motives; first is public serving, which includes the well-being of individuals outside the firm. The second type is the firm-serving motive, which obviously refers to the needs of the firm only. It can be stated that consumer skepticism is higher when consumers suspect the company s motives to be self-serving (Webb & Mohr, 1998). Especially in cause- 13

14 related marketing, this is an important issue. Simply supporting a cause is not enough; consumer s perception of a company s motivation must be considered (Bronn & Vrioni, 2001). 3.4 Consequences Consumer skepticism about marketing and advertising has certain consequences for a firm. Obermiller et al. (2005) investigated the highly skeptical consumer. These skeptics were shown to like and believe advertisements less, and believe it to be less influential. From earlier research, Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) proved that skeptics rely more on objective consumer evaluations than on advertisements. Logically, skeptical consumers zip more during commercial breaks on television which decreases exposure to advertisements. Skepticism is also suggested to lead to counter arguing and greater elaboration on the marketers claims, which results in less positive attitudes towards the product (Mohr et al. 1998). In conclusion, consumer skepticism is important for marketers to consider. Consumers use skepticism to protect themselves against inaccurate advertising. This study will focus on situational skepticism, which is controllable by marketers. Persuasion knowledge has a smaller role in this type of skepticism, whereas the firm s motives are an important issue. 14

15 Chapter 4 Message presentation In this chapter, the third research question: Can consumer skepticism be reduced by the presentation of CRM advertisements? will be answered. Several factors that might influence skepticism will be discussed. 4.1 Definition Message presentation refers to the manner in which the information of an advertising message is being given. Ford et al. (1990) investigated this variable, where they manipulated advertising claims by using either objective- or subjective information. Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) used the concept ad execution variables to explain the situational factors that have effect on skepticism. 4.2 Objective or subjective information Ford et al. (1990) distinguished objective and subjective advertising claims, where objective means that a certain claim can be measured or checked, for example: this product weighs 24 pounds. This statement can easily be checked, since one can weigh the product by oneself. Subjective claims refer to descriptions of features that cannot be measured in a standard way, for example: this store has a beautiful collection. Different people come to different conclusions about whether the collection is beautiful or not, because different people measure beauty in a different way. Claim objectivity has been referred to by Darely and Smith (1993) as the verifiability of an advertising claim and the tangibility of a product attribute described in the ad. Darely and Smith (1993) called this type of assertion a factual or tangible claim; all others that are not tangible and/or verifiable are subjective claims. In cause-related marketing ads, different claims may be used than in other advertisements. Important is for example the specification of the portion of sales that will be donated (Kim & Lee, 2009). Kim & Lee (2009) proved that skepticism about advertising claims is higher when the provided information in an advertisement is stated subjectively. Ford et al. (1990) investigated consumer skepticism about advertisements for search, experience or credence products. These three types refer to the qualities they possess, which can be determined prior to purchase (search attributes, for example the appearance and smell of food); only after using the 15

16 product (experience attributes, for example the taste of food) or can be very hardly determined (credence attributes, for example nutritional composition of food) (Grolleau & BenAbid, 2001). Consumer skepticism is proved to be higher in case of subjective claims, even if tested on these different product types. A concept that also relates to objective or subjective information is the presentation of a firmserving motive in addition to a public-serving motive in the advertisement. As described in chapter 3.3, a firm-serving motive refers to the needs of the firm only (Forehand & Grier, 2003). It is proven that consumers evaluate a company that honestly acknowledges the existence of firm-serving motives more positively than when the ad only expresses the public-serving motives; in this case the firm is being deceptive about its true motives and this appears to lead to more skepticism (Forehand & Grier, 2003). This statement is in line with Mohr et al. (2006) who showed that people s evaluation of a firm were most positive when a company uses mixed motives; thus partly public-serving and partly firm-serving rather than only public-serving motives. 4.3 Informational or emotional appeals Obermiller et al. (2005) distinguised between two types of appeals that can be used in advertisements: rational and emotional appeals. Rational or informational appeals focus on the reasons for purchase by emphasizing features, attributes and benefits of the brand; an example is how a cleansing product removes baked-on food. Emotional appeals relate to consumers social or psychological needs. These emotional messages seek to make the consumer feel good about the product, by creating a likeable brand (Albers-Miller & Stafford, 1999). Marketers play into people s desire for love, belonging, security, etcetera and connect these feelings with the brand (Appel, 2009). An example of an emotional appeal is a commercial for wine, in which a family atmosphere is created in the presented winery. Obermiller et al. (2005) investigated the highly skeptical consumer. They stated that these consumers are less skeptical when exposed to emotional appeals, compared to informational appeals. Also for low skeptical consumers, informational appeals lead to lower credibility than 16

17 emotional appeals. It is proved that emotional appeals work equally well for high and low skeptics. Cause-related marketing relates, as stated in chapter 2.2, heavily to corporate social responsibility. This CSR is defined as corporate social actions whose purpose is to satisfy social needs. As described above, emotional appeals relate to social or psychological needs. It is found that one strong aspect of cause-related marketing is the emotional side of the sponsorship, consumers like the idea of doing something good for society (Webb & Mohr, 1998). Companies using CSR in their marketing activities should refer to this emotional side and social needs in their advertisements and therefore use emotional messages. To emphasize the sponsoring aspect, it may be advantageous to make use of a nonprofit message source, instead of a company message source. This fact is investigated by Simmons and Becker (2006), who found that it can indeed be beneficial to let a nonprofit source present the message. The nonprofit source is perceived as more credible; therefore consumers attitudes towards the brand-cause alliance will be more positive. Artz and Tybout (1999) found that source expertise, meaning an expert presenting the message, is more persuasive than the same presentation by a non-expert. In causerelated marketing, the nonprofit company can be seen as the expert. Lord & Kim (1995) relate the two styles, emotional or informational persuasion, to the frame of reference of the consumer, which can be either affective or cognitive. Consumers with an affective reference frame focus unconsciously more on symbolic quality and image of a product and thus attend most closely to affect-laden components of the message. Consumers with a cognitive frame attend most to a message s attribute- or performance oriented content. The executional style of an advertisement, which can be focused either on attributes or on emotions, must be congruent with the consumer s frame of reference in order to evoke little skepticism. When an advertisement appeals to attributes of a product, for example technical expertise or scientific evidence, a consumer with cognitive reference frame will be less skeptical. This also counts for emotional appeals like fantasy and musical aspects and an affective reference frame. 17

18 4.4 Positive or negative message framing An advertising message can be framed rather positively, where attributes or benefits gained by using a product are specified, or negatively. In the latter frame is being focused on the loss of these attributes or benefits when not using the product (Maheswaran & Meyers-Levy, 1990). Grau and Folse (2007) investigated consumers attitudes towards cause-related marketing campaigns where information was presented positively or negatively. A positive statement may be: 75 percent of bone cancer patients survive, where a negative message would call the number of patients that does not survive. Buda and Zhang (2000) investigated positive and negative message framing and found that positively framed messages were rated higher by consumers; positively framed messages intended to influence consumers attitudes more. The result of Grau and Folse s research (2007) was that only the attitudes of consumers that were less involved with the presented cause changed. Involvement is defined as a person s perceived relevance of an object (Zaichkowsky, 1985) and will be further discussed in chapter 5.3. It appeared that for less involved consumers, more favorable attitudes resulted from positive messages rather than from negative messages (Grau & Folse, 2007). This finding supported the earlier finding of Maheswaran and Meyers- Levy (1990), which also indicated a more favorable attitude of low-involved consumers in case of a positive message. However, for high-involved consumers the opposite counts: more favorable attitudes will be generated by negatively framed messages. A graphical representation of these responses is given in figure 2. 18

19 In conclusion, it can be stated that several aspects of message presentation have an influence on consumers skepticism in cause-related marketing. It appeared that skepticism is lower in case of objective claims and in case of mixed motives presented by the marketer, so partly firm-serving and partly public-serving. It is stated that in CRM, it is better to use emotional appeals in advertisements rather than informative appeals. An emotional appeal combined with an affective reference frame of the consumer will lead to the least skepticism. Moreover, the framing of the message can be important for consumers attitudes. However, this may depend on the level of involvement of the consumer. 19

20 Chapter 5 Familiarity with cause This chapter deals with the last research question: What is the influence of consumer s familiarity with the supported cause on their scepticism?. First, familiarity will be looked upon independently. Afterwards, concepts related to familiarity will be discussed. 5.1 Definition In marketing, familiarity can be defined as knowledge about a product that has been accumulated by the consumer either through direct or indirect experience with that product (Holden & Vanhuele, 1999). In this research, the term product will be replaced by cause, since familiarity with the cause is the focus here. 5.3 Development of familiarity Van den Brink et al. (2006) state that the duration of a CRM campaign influences customers brand loyalty. Firms should not use short-term, but long-term campaigns if they want to keep customers. Long-term support is described as a three- to five year time commitment with a certain level of financial support in that period (Cui et al., 2003). The statement of van den Brink et al. (2006) is supported by the findings of Till and Nowak (2000), which state that causerelated marketing is more effective when it is used consistently over time so that familiarity with both the brand and the cause is increased. An example is McDonalds, who maintained a positive image over years due to the long history of the Ronald McDonald House. In addition, Cui et al. (2003) found that long-term or frequent support leads to less skeptical evaluations, because the consumer believes that the company really cares about the cause. Lafferty and Goldsmith (2005) investigated the effect of familiarity on consumers attitudes towards cause-brand alliances; attitudes towards low and high familiar causes were measured before and after exposure to an alliance. In the pre-exposure, attitudes towards the low familiar cause (in this case the Famine Relief Fund) were lower than attitudes towards the American Red Cross (the high familiar cause). After exposure to the brand-cause alliance, it appeared that attitudes towards the low familiar cause increased, but attitudes towards the high familiar cause did not change much. For attitudes towards the brand, however, there was found little difference between a high or low familiar 20

21 cause in relation to a brand; brand attitudes appear to be more positive in case of both the low and high familiar cause. These findings are supported by Simmons and Becker (2006), who also state that choosing a familiar cause is not enough to ensure a good outcome of a CRM campaign. Simmons and Becker (2006) emphasize the importance of a brand-cause fit in addition to familiarity; this concept will be explained in chapter Brand-cause fit It is said that a strong fit between a sponsoring brand and a cause is a key feature to success (Hoek and Gendall, 2008). This statement is concluded from several research; Pracejus and Olsen (2004) investigated the effects of brand-cause fit on the popularity of an amusement park. The amusement park was linked to both the Children s Miracle foundation and a performing arts institution, presented as respectively the high brand-cause fit and low brand-cause fit. It was found that high brand-cause fit could increase the market share of the sponsoring brand, producing an impact five times that of a low fit cause. Rifon et al. (2004) found that incongruent brand-cause matches evoke skepticism because of decreasing sponsor credibility; it appeared that a consumer s perceived credibility of a sponsoring company increased after exposure to a congruent brand-cause advertisement. Familiarity with a presented cause is shown to significantly influence credibility of the sponsoring company (Rifon & Trimble, 2006). Lafferty et al. (2004) found that the effect of brand-cause fit on attitudes towards the brand will be larger in case of higher levels of cause familiarity; this positive effect also counts for the alliance itself. It is stated that when the brand-cause fit is low, consumers perceptions of the ad are still dependent on their familiarity with the cause (Rifon & Trimble, 2006). Mohr et al. (2006) also investigated the effects of the degree of fit between a cause s mission and a company s business. It is said that a high fit, next to increasing more positive attributions to the firm, lowers skepticism, because of decreasing egoistic-driven attributions. These egoistic-driven attributions refer to the in chapter 3.3 discussed firm-serving motives. Firm motives have also been investigated by Rifon et al. (2004), who found that brand-cause congruence will generate stronger consumer attributions of altruistic sponsor motives; this again points at credibility. Simmons and Becker (2006) investigated the influence brand-cause fit has on firm equity, which is defined in terms of the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the brand; for example 21

22 certain outcomes result from the marketing of a product because of its firm or brand name that would not occur if the product was not from that firm (Keller, 1993). Mediators in the relation between fit and equity are clarity of positioning, defined as the extent to which people know what to expect from the firm, and attitude towards the sponsorship. It is found that a low brandcause fit leads to less clarity, less favorable attitudes and lower firm equity. Simmons and Becker (2006) state that choosing a familiar cause may lead to either favorable or unfavorable effects on firm equity depending on the fit with the sponsoring firm. 5.3 Involvement The concept of involvement, defined as personal relevance of an issue (Zaichkowsky, 1985), is closely related to familiarity, since it is said that involvement with the cause implies more familiarity and both the concepts have similar effects in CRM (Trimble & Rifon, 2006). This statement can be explained by an example of breast cancer; women are more involved with this disease and also more familiar than men (Trimble & Rifon, 2006). Obermiller and Spangenberg (1998) developed a scale to measure skepticism towards advertising, in which they included involvement as an individual factor influencing skepticism. Grau and Folse (2007) investigated involvement with the presented cause and found that intentions for participation in the campaign are greater when consumers are more involved with the cause. Moreover, it is said that the relationship between CRM and brand loyalty is strengthened if involvement with the cause is high (van der Brink et al., 2006). The relationship between involvement, donation targeting and attitudes has been tested by Grau and Folse (2007); they tested whether donations targeted locally get more attention and positive attitudes than those targeted nationally. Cui et al. (2003) have found no significant difference in consumers evaluations for local and national donations. However, from the research of Grau and Folse (2007) it appeared that less involved customers responded more positively when donations were made locally, rather than nationally. This research supports the significant effect of involvement on consumers attitudes. High involved customers showed no difference between types of donation proximity, since they are more likely to participate in a CRM campaign in general. 22

23 Hawkins and Hoch (1992) investigated the truth effect: when consumers recognize advertisements, thus are familiar with the information, they judge the information given as more true. It appeared that in case of low involvement, the truth effect is greater; this can be explained by the fact that low-involvement consumers are more likely to rely on familiarity when assessing truth. Consumers that are high-involved have more relevant knowledge about the product and therefore rely less on familiarity. This research suggests that low involvement consumers accept repeated information earlier as true than highly involved customers, so therefore these low involved consumers are less skeptical (Hawkins & Hoch, 1992). This statement supports the stated advantage of long-term campaigns, described in chapter 5.2. In conclusion, it can be said that familiarity influences consumer skepticism in cause-related marketing in different ways. First, long-term campaigns which logically increase familiarity appear to be more effective than short-term campaigns in CRM and lead to less skepticism. However, it appeared that only cause familiarity is not enough to improve consumers brand attitudes, since attitudes become more positive due to the cause-related marketing campaign regardless the low or high familiarity of the cause. Brand-cause fit seems to be an important aspect of credibility of firms engaging in CRM. The positive effect of a high brand-cause can be strengthened by consumers familiarity with the cause. Last, involvement seems to be closely related to familiarity. High involvement generally has positive effects, but low involvement sooner leads to acceptation of information when information is repeated. 23

24 Chapter 6 Conclusions and recommendations In order to come to a conclusion of this research, an answer to the problem statement: To what extent do presentation of the message and consumers familiarity with the cause have an influence on the skepticism of consumers about cause-related marketing advertisements? will be provided. This will be done by summarizing the main findings and looking at the relations between these findings and the problem statement. Also, some recommendations for future research will be given. 6.1 Conclusions After discussing the concepts of both cause-related marketing and consumer skepticism, the context of this research has been clarified. Situational skepticism has been investigated, because this type of skepticism is controllable by marketers and therefore more relevant for business. It appeared that both proposed variables, message presentation and cause familiarity, have some influence on consumer skepticism in cause-related marketing. Several aspects of message presentation appeared to influence consumer skepticism. Literature was unanimous about the presentation of objective or subjective information; presenting subjective information in an advertisement leads to higher consumer skepticism. Marketers should use easily measurable en checkable information to persuade consumers. The perceived motives of a firm appear to indeed have an influence on consumer skepticism; consumers are the least skeptical when mixed motives, public-serving but also firm-serving, are presented. When looking at informational or emotional appeals in advertising messages, it is found that emotional appeals work best for cause-related marketing, because of the social responsibility aspect of this marketing technique. The success of emotional appeals can be strengthened if consumers have an affective reference frame; these consumers focus even more on symbolic quality and image of a product than consumers with a cognitive reference frame and turn out to be less skeptical about emotional appeals. Consumer skepticism towards either positive or negative framing of a message cannot clearly be stated; according to Grau and Folse (2007) and Maheswaran and Meyers-Levy (1990), skepticism depends on the level of cause involvement of the consumer. 24

25 The second variable familiarity with the cause turns out to be not that effective on its own. However, increased familiarity due to repetition of advertising messages seems to be an effective way to increase consumers evaluations about a cause; the idea that a company really cares about a cause decreases consumers skepticism. From several studies appeared that a congruent match between the firm and the supporting cause is important for a firm to be credible; a low brandcause fit will lead to more consumer skepticism. One factor that can explain this is the perceived egoistic-driven or firm-serving motive, which has proven to raise consumer skepticism. Lafferty et al. (2004) found that familiarity with the cause increases the positive effect of a high brandcause fit. Involvement with the cause is a concept closely related to familiarity, but with more significant effects. High involvement generally leads to more positive attitudes towards a causebrand alliance, however low involved consumers may have advantages too. It turned out that low involved consumers rely more on familiarity of an advertisement and therefore sooner accept a presented statement as true. To summarize, the answer on the problem statement To what extent do presentation of the message and consumers familiarity with the cause have an influence on the skepticism of consumers about cause-related marketing advertisements? can be provided in a few lines. Several aspects of message presentation do have a certain effect on the skepticism of consumers. Marketers are able to affect the discussed concepts and thus can decrease the level of situational consumer skepticism in cause-related marketing. Familiarity with the cause has a less clear effect on consumer skepticism. The influence of this variable depends on other factors like brand-cause fit and involvement with the cause. Familiarity is useful in decreasing skepticism, but to a lesser extent than message presentation is. 6.2 Limitations and recommendations After conducting this literature study, it became clear that to get new information, empirical research is needed. Future research should therefore use experiments to further investigate the impact of message presentation and cause familiarity on consumer skepticism in cause-related 25

26 marketing. A limitation of this research was the time given, which was too short to conduct a good empirical research. Another suggestion for future research is the investigation of the consequences of consumer skepticism. Literature is not very extensive about this, but it may increase the importance of this research since solutions for the problem of consumer skepticism are given. For marketers, it may be more interesting to invest in these solutions if they know how big the impact will be. The investigation of enduring or predispositional skepticism can also be suggested, however this will be a more psychological research rather than a marketing research. 26

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