Product experiences and hierarchy of advertising effects

Abstract

This study investigates the moderating role that product experience plays in the hierarchy of advertising effects. Few studies have investigated the role of product consumption experience in this hierarchy; rather, studies have often focused on fictitious new products in experimental ads. Yet, a great deal of actual advertising is developed for existing products with which consumers already have numerous experiences and/or prior ad exposures. In this case, consumers may have already formed brand attribute beliefs and/or brand attitudes. Consequently, it is likely that consumers process information differently for ads depending on prior product experiences. There are three fundamental research hypotheses. The first concerns the well-established hierarchy of emotional responses to the ad --> ad attitude --> brand attitude" chain, and the second concerns the hierarchy of "preexposure brand attitude --> brand attitude --> purchase intention" chain. The third hypothesis concerns the relative importance of ad attitude and preexposure brand attitude in determining postexposure brand attitude.