TOWARDS A STRUCTURAL THEORY OF CREATIVITY IN PRINT ADVERTISING: THE REMOTE ASSOCIATE MATCHING MODEL

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1 TOWARDS A STRUCTURAL THEORY OF CREATIVITY IN PRINT ADVERTISING: THE REMOTE ASSOCIATE MATCHING MODEL Lawrence Ang, PhD Macquarie Graduate School of Management Macquarie University Abstract The aim of this paper however is to present a structural model of creativity in print advertising called the Remote Associate Matching (RAM) model. This model states that the essence of creativity lies in being able to associate seemingly remote, or unusual ideas together, such that they are linked to an attribute or benefit of the advertised product. Three essential components of the RAM model are the conveyor (ie the unusual picture in the ad), the productrepresentation (ie the advertised product or service), and the attribute prompt (ie the headline or copy). Introduction Creativity in advertising is considered to be an important aspect of advertising. And yet as rightly pointed out by Reid, King and DeLorne (998), it is probably the least understood area of advertising management. White (97) calls creativity the X factor, alluding to its seemingly unknown quality. As we move towards the new millennium, creativity in advertising still arouses debate and rhetoric (Lukas, 998). Part of the reason why little progress has been made in this area is because no structural model of advertising creativity has been put forward. Without a structural model, it is difficult to understand how the various elements of an ad contribute to the perception of creativity and hence make empirical testing possible. The RAM model Aaker and Stayman (99) found in a factor-analytical study that people tend to use words like, clever, imaginative, original, humorous to describe an underlying dimension that the author calls the creative dimension. The aim of this paper is go beyond this perception and present a structural model of creativity in print advertising called the Remote Associate Matching (RAM) model. Developed by the author (Ang, 99), it has its roots in Mednick's (96) theory of creativity.

2 . attention Cognitive puzzle. Unusual picture (ie conveyor) Product picture/ logo (ie product representation). Match. activation. search Headline or copy (ie attribute-benefit prompt) Figure According to RAM, a print ad is perceived to be creative (ie. clever, imaginative and amusing) when a seemingly unusual, unrelated or remote picture, termed conveyor, can be linked to an attribute or benefit of the advertised product using the headline or copy. By an unusual visual, it means the picture may be unique or rarely seen in advertising, or/and the object depicted in the visual may be unbelievable or unrealistic, or/and the object may be something that is not normally associated with the product category. For example, an ad for Ford has a picture of a juggler balancing a number of hoops (as often seen in circus). At first glance, one may wonder why a juggler is used in a car ad? The ad is unusual because one would not normally associate a juggler with a car, a remote visual. The headline reads, Fordcare presents a coordinated approach to car buying. It is only by reading the headline that the link between juggling and the benefit of a co-ordinated approach to buying a car becomes apparent. Suddenly, the selling point of the ad (ie the benefit) becomes clear. Thus, the creative idea is to use the unusual nature of the conveyor to attract the attention of the reader. And since the relationship to the product is a puzzle, it will motivate the reader to search for the attributebenefit of the product. When this is found, (ie. usually in the headline or copy), the match between the unusual visual and the product is said to occur. This is called resolution. Figure above illustrates the process. Hypotheses It is hypothesised that an ad will be perceived to be more creative (i.e. clever, imaginative and amusing) if the visual is extremely unusual (without arousing negative feelings) and yet can be linked to the product attribute or benefit. Linkage or resolution will make the ad more comprehensible - that is making the selling point of the product clear. This will influence brand attitude positively. However, if the link cannot be established, then understanding the selling point of the ad will suffer and hence the brand attitude effects will be attenuated. To test this model, experimental print ads are developed using the structural model as a guide. Manipulation of remoteness Experimental Manipulation

3 A total of six print ads were created using the product categories of chilli sauce and soft drinks. There were three ads for each product category, such that each was increasingly more remote than the other. All the ads show a main picture and a headline and were pretested with a total of 8 subjects. They were equally clear and of high quality (using an -point scale). The first ad simply shows the product, the second ad shows the product accompanied by a non-remote conveyor, while the last ad shows the product with a remote conveyor. The tables below illustrate the various ad concepts together with the accompanying headline. Total remoteness score (average) Total remoteness score (average) Headline = Drink that gives you that extra energy Can of drink Drink + Young woman lifting weights Drink + Old woman lifting a sofa with one finger Headline = It is hot Bottle of sauce Chilli sauce + Chillies Chilli sauce + Burning chopstick Unusualness was pretested by asking a total of 8 subjects to rate each ad on two -point scales (from to ) anchored on the following adjectives: common-unique advertising, and often-rarely seen in other advertising believable-unbelievable and realistic-unrealistic finally the extent to which the conveyor and the product were likely to be associated or occur together in the same ad The three measures were averaged to form a single index, called remoteness shown in the tables above. The greater the remoteness index, the more unusual the ad is said to be. Analysis of variance revealed that remoteness was well manipulated for both product categories. In the case of the chilli sauce, the remoteness scores for the three advertisements were.7,., and 7.. Simple main effects test revealed a significant overall difference [F(,8) = 88]. Similarly, in the case of the soft drink, the increasing remoteness scores of.,.. and 7.6 also revealed a significant overall difference [F(,8) = 9]. Contrast testing also revealed significant differences (p<.) between each type of ad for both product categories. Manipulation of resolution It is well known within the cognitive as well as in the advertising literature that the more unusual the picture, the longer people tend to fixate to try to understand it (Berlyne, 96; Houston, Childers, 987; Ratneshwar and Chaiken, 99; Goodstein, 99). Thus to manipulate resolution, the time of ad exposure was varied, such that in the resolution condition, subjects were given adequate time to process the ad ( seconds), while in the nonresolution condition, the exposure time was considerably limited (). In other words, the shorter the time, the more difficult it is for comprehension to occur. To further increase the difficulty of resolution, all the target ads were inserted in a stream of distractor ads. Creativity effects Results

4 The results showed that the predicted effect was consistently supported across the two product categories. That is, as ads became more and more remote, subjects perceived them as more creative (ie. clever, imaginative and amusing, measured on a -point scale, to ). But this only occurs in the -second condition (mean =.,., 7. for chilli sauce;.,.7, and 7.8 for soft drink). Creativity ratings seconds (t=7.9, r=.8) Bottle of sauce Chillies Burning chopstick Figure. Creativity ratings for different types of chilli sauce advertisements exposed for and seconds (asterisk means a sig. contrast) Creativity ratings seconds (t=.6, r=.6) (t=8.7, r=.7) Can of drink Young woman Old woman Figure. Creativity ratings for different types of soft drink advertisements exposed for and seconds(asterisk means a sig. contrast) Simple effects test revealed this to be significant [F(,6) = 8. for chilli sauce; F(,6) = 9 for soft drink] overall. In the -second condition, where there was less time to process the ad, the creativity effect of the remote conveyors became attenuated for both product categories (mean =.,.7,. for chilli sauce;.,.,.8 for soft drink) with no overall significant difference (p>.) in the simple effects test [F(,6) < for chilli sauce and soft drink] (see figure & ). Brand attitude effects The same phenomenon is also seen in brand attitude. That is the more remote the conveyors of the ad were, the higher were the brand attitude ratings, but only when the ads were exposed for seconds (mean =.,., and.6 for chilli sauce; mean = -.,.6 and. for soft drink). Simple effects test revealed this to be significant overall (p<.) for both product categories [F(,6) = 9. for chilli sauce; F(,6) = 8]. However when the ads were exposed for four seconds, brand attitude actually decreased (mean =.,., and -.9 for the chilli sauce;., -., and -.9 for soft drink), when subjects have less time to process the ad. Simple effects test revealed this to be significant overall [F(,6) =. for chilli sauce; F(,6) = 6. for soft drink] (see figures and ).

5 Brand attitude ratings seconds (t=.7, r=.6) (t=.9, r=.) Bottle of sauce Chillies Burning chopstick Figure. Brand attitude ratings for different types of chilli sauce advertisements exposed for and seconds (asterisk means a sig. contrast) Brand attitude ratings seconds (t=, r=.6) (t=, r=.) (t=., r=.) Can of drink Young woman Old woman Figure. Brand attitude for different types of soft drink advertisements exposed for and seconds (asterisk means a sig. contrast) Conclusion In summary, this paper presents a new way of conceptualising and achieving creativity in print advertising. The hypotheses were supported, that is the more remote or unusual the visual, the more likely it is perceived to be creative, provided a product attribute-benefit link can be made. The RAM model is more precise and measurable than what has been conceptualised in the past including the schema-related concepts like incongruency-relevance (eg. Heckler and Childers, 99), which have been criticised for being vague (Ang, 99; see also Eysenck and Kean, 99 and Sadoski, Paivio and Goetz, 99). This serves to demystify how and why creativity works in print advertising. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate more interest in creativity research into advertising in the new millennium. References Aaker, D.A. and Stayman, D.M. (99). Measuring audience perceptions of commercials and relating them to ad impact. Journal of Advertising Research,, 7-7 Ang (99). Towards a theory of creativity in print advertising: The case of the Remote Associate Matching model. PhD thesis submitted to UNSW. Berlyne, D. E. (96). Conflict, Arousal, and Curiosity. New York: McGraw Hill. Eysenck, M. W., & Kean, M. T. (99). Cognitive Psychology: A student's handbook. East Sussex: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Goodstein, R. C. (99). Category-based Applications and Extensions in Advertising: Motivating More Extensive Ad Processing. Journal of Consumer Research, (June), Heckler, S. E., & Childers, T. L. (99). The role of expectancy and relevancy in memory for verbal and visual information: What is incongruency? Journal of Consumer Research, 8(March), 7-9. Lukas, P. (998). Admen s Creative Glut. Fortune, June 8, -. Mednick, S. (96). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review, 69(), -.

6 6 Ratneshwar, S., & Chaiken, S. (99). Comprehension's role in persuasion: The case of its moderating effect on the persuasive impact of source cues. Journal of Consumer Research, 8, -6. Reid, L., King, K. and DeLorme, D. (998). Top-Level Agency Creatives Look at Advertising Creativity Then and Now. Journal of Advertising, 7 (), -6 Sadoski, M., Paivio, A., & Goetz, E. T. (99). A Critique of Schema Theory in Reading and a Dual Coding Alternative. Reading Research Quarterly, 6(), 6-8. White, G. (97). Creativity: The X factor in advertising theory. Journal of Advertising, (), 8-.