In an era in which advertising spending has risen excessively despite the flood of information, only about 5% of messages struggle to get the attention of potential consumers (Kroeber-Riel, 2015). Especially in saturated markets, such as the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector, advertisers are subjected to a high level of competitive pressure (Naderer et al., 2011). Today’s demand for advertising spots is clear: they need to stand out and catch attention in order to be effective at all (Levenson, 2011).
In this challenging environment, emotional marketing relies on the influence of the decision-making process without presenting offering rational arguments. Our latest study aimed at highlighting the effectiveness of more emotional compared to informative advertising. The central question was to find most effective advertising strategies to have a sustainable impact on respective target groups.
Research objective:
The study was conducted by Svenja Greitmann and takes a look at the world of advertising in the midst of a real abundance of information. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of emotional compared to informative advertising in the field of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). It further investigated differences with regard to gender and product categories. The outcome may be helpful for companies looking for the most effective advertising strategies.
Method:
Based on a preliminary study, two product categories were selected, one that was utilitarian (glass cleaner) and one that was hedonic (soft drink).
For each category a product from a fictitious brand was created. And for each product, two social media spots were made that either were emotional (e.g., by showing positive pictures like smiling people using the product) or information (e.g., by giving positive information about product ingredients). The emotional spot was expected to be especially effective with the hedonic product, whereas the informational spot should be more effective with the utilitarian product.
The main study had an experimental 2x2x2 factor-between-subject design to examine cause-effect relationships. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four advertising spots to systematically measure the impact of advertising appeals and product categories. In addition, gender of participants was assessed.
Sample:
The sample consisted of 185 adults.
Key Findings:
Contrary to our expectations, the study showed overall an advantage of the informational over the emotional spots. However, there was also a three-way interaction found. For men, the expected interaction pattern showed, i.e. emotional spot was more effective with the hedonic product, whereas the informational spot was more effective with the utilitarian product.
This effect was not found for women, which may be due to a different relevance of nutrition and health information when buying a soft drink. This may explain, why informational advertising was more effective with soft drinks for female participants.
Thus, informational advertising seems to be relevant if the product category shows a higher level of involvement (e.g., due to health issues)
Conclusion:
This study investigated the effectiveness of emotional and informative advertising on two different Fast Moving Consumer Goods. The results showed that informative advertising is superior, contrary to the assumption that emotional stimuli should be more effective with low-involvement products. There is a need to clearly understand the relevance of a product for a selected target group in order to find the best advertising strategy. Overall, advertising research remains relevant in the face of changing consumer needs, but requires continuous adaptation and refinement of advertising strategies.
References
Kroeber-Riel, W. (2015). Strategie und Technik der Werbung: Verhaltenswissenschaftliche und neurowissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Levenson, R. W. (2011). Basic Emotion Questions. Emotion Review, 3(4), 379–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073911410743 
Naderer, G., Balzer, E. & Batinic, B. (Hrsg.). (2011). Qualitative Marktforschung in Theorie und Praxis: Grundlagen, Methoden und Anwendungen. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
