An all-embracing theory of how

advertising works?
By Terry Prue

The search for an effective means of advertising research has

been hindered by the sheer diversity of advertising
approaches - what works for one campaign may not work for
another. HPI's Terry Prue describes the 'Alphabetical Model',
a new all-inclusive theory, upon which a fresh approach to
pre-testing can be based.
Interpreting advertising research is impossible if
you do not have a theory of how advertising can
work. It may not be explicit, but it will be there.
It is part of the baggage and, arguably, it is just
as important as technical competence or
statistical expertise.
The ideal theory should have at its heart a single
easy-to-remember logical framework which is
accepted by advertiser, agency and researcher.
It is important that all are using the same
language and can agree on common objectives
for the campaign in question. Without this
agreement the interpretation of results from a
pre-test or tracking study will be at best
haphazard and at worst misleading.
First principles
Before we get to the meat of the article there are
two parameters to establish.
First, I accept as an intellectual possibility that
some advertising may work at an entirely
passive level. Alan Hedges in Testing in
Destruction (1) has a lucid description of a
process by which a campaign can be effective
even though it is not consciously noticed or
recalled. This may be so but, it is hard not to
believe that active advertising is more effective
than passive advertising. There is ample
evidence in the IPA Advertising Effectiveness
Awards that most successful campaigns tend to
be well recalled - this is not to imply that recall
alone is sufficient but it does make a case that
absence of recall is likely to reduce the
probability of a campaign being successful.
the workings of advertising to a 'black box' and
ignore the process in the consumer mind.
Most Admap readers will probably know of the
monograph (2) by John Philip Jones supporting
the RSC persuasion-shift approach. Jones has
suggested that since he believed the technique
had been shown to work, we should not be too
concerned about the logic of the questionnaire
process.
Personally, I cannot join him in dismissing the
need for an intellectual underpinning of the
system, and my own reading of the RSC support
data is that the technique is relevant only for
certain kinds of product with particular kinds of
advertising messages.
A new model of advertising effectiveness
Models of the way advertising could work smack
of old-school theorising. I am grateful to Colin
McDonald (3) for providing an easy reference to
four old chestnuts that span over 70 years of
advertising theory:
§ STARCH: See, read, remember, act upon.
§ DAGMAR: Awareness, comprehension,
conviction, action.
§ AIDA: Attention, interest, desire, action.
§ AIETA: Awareness, interest, evaluation, trial,
adoption.
All of these models assume a passive consumer
whose brand knowledge, attitudes and
consideration to buy are influenced by
advertising.

Second, we should look at advertising from the Most advertisers, advertising agencies and
point of view of the consumer rather than of the advertising research specialists now accept that
advertiser. It does not seem helpful to confine advertising can work in several different ways

Admap February 1998 1

and that this will only be achieved with a degree
of co-operation from the consumer.
New ‘active’ consumer-based models exist and
the most commonly discussed are probably
those developed by Gordon Brown (4) (see
Exhibit 1).
EXHIBIT 1
Millward Brown models of effective advertising
'Immediate i.e. telling something new, which is of value and
Challenge' which consumers believe. It should elicit an
immediate desire to buy or try (or try again)
'Interest-Status' i.e. the effect of 'involving advertising memories'
on the otherwise experimental switching between
brands or 'lively advertising memories' on
perceived brand status
'Enhancement' i.e. the process by which 'advertising claims and
images' are converted, during experience of the
product, into beliefs about the brand
Above: Examples of consumer-based 'active'
advertising models
While not disputing the relevance of all of these
models for many campaigns I suggest that they
fail to deliver a universal advertising response
framework because:
1. the concepts are entirely built around fmcg
advertising;
2. they rely upon conscious advertisement
recall at time of purchase or trial to the
exclusion of all other possibilities;
3. the headings are difficult to remember (or at
least I find them so) and therefore are less
likely to form a common vocabulary between
all parties involved in advertising evaluation.
I also have practical difficulties with Rossiter-
Percy Grid or, what seems to me its close
cousin, the FCB grid (details also to be found in
Colin McDonald’s book). All of these
approaches provide valid insights in terms of
describing different advertising strategies but
they do not provide the useful simplicity of old
sequential models which work so easily as
check-lists for advertising pre-tests and tracking
studies.
I think we can return to this simplicity while
retaining an active consumer-based
understanding of how advertising influences
people. The new HPI ‘Alphabetical Model’ aims
to prove that advertising requires just four
elements to work effectively, and these are:
§ Appreciation;
§ Branding;
Admap February 1998
§ Communication;
§ Desired effect on the brand
Note that unlike the DAGMAR/AIDA style of
model these are not stages that a consumer
must pass through but observation of the
necessary response that the advertising itself
must achieve. Within each heading there is a
framework of different responses and it is in this
way that such a simple construct can expand to
cover the evaluation of the majority of advertising
strategies.
APPRECIATION
For any advertising to be effective it must first be
appreciated by its target audience. It must be
considered to have sufficient value for it not to be
screened out and ignored at any deeper
conscious level.
The concept of screening out is a useful one. It
explains how we cope with the overload of
commercial messages. It also reconciles the
media research data that predict almost
universal exposure to a TV campaign with,
typically, only 50 per cent recognising an
advertisement as one they have seen before.
More telling still are press advertisement
recognition levels which will vary among
publication readers from five per cent or less for
many corporate campaigns to well over 50 per
cent for, say, teenagers reading about spot
remedies.
The reason why ‘opportunity to see” is no more
than an ‘opportunity’ is because we screen out
things that don’t interest us. The converse is
that we take notice of advertising that we
appreciate, and this can take either of two forms:
it can tell us something that we regard as new
and/or interesting and/or possibly relevant; or it
can be presented in a way that is creatively
intriguing (for instance striking or amusing).
Either approach, or a combination, can lead to a
higher level of contact with advertising. It is the
essential first stage - not to imply success in any
total sense but merely to have overcome the first
hurdle of avoiding being screened out.
Making appreciation a first requirement of a
successful advertising process fits neatly with
the importance placed on ’liking’ by various
American research studies since 1990 (for
example, ‘ARF Copy Validity Project (5)). Care
has to be taken with language since in all of
these US studies ‘liking’ does not just mean
creatively appealing but also covers whether an
2
advertisement is interesting or meaningful to the
viewer.
Appreciation is also a useful first stage
effectiveness concept because the assumption
of an active consumer role in advertising
absorption connects to several other current
themes of advertising research. For example:
§ the way attitudes to advertising in general
affect campaign effectiveness, as explored in
the work of Bond and Griggs, Samuels and
Silman and, most recently, Bond and Brace
(6);
§ studies by Phil Gullen on the influence of
interest in the product or product field,
advertising creativity and media environment
on the frequency of exposure needed to
assimilate advertisements (7);
§ the influence of market attitudes on
recognition of poster advertisements (an
element of current work in progress by HPI
for the Council of Outdoor Specialists).
The importance of appreciation to advertising
research starts way before what we normally
class as ‘pre-testing’. A critical element of early
strategic development is the evaluation of
whether the brand has something inherently
interesting to say about itself. If it has a relevant
USP, this should become the focus of creative
development. The pre-test itself should
concentrate on finding out whether the right
people pick up the USP in a clear and believable
way.
In the more usual situation of having no strong
rational way to avoid an advertisement being
‘screened out’ it is frequently down to the
creative imagination to generate appreciation.
If there was any doubt about the power of
advertising to be appreciated for its own sake the
Nescafé Gold Blend case history (8) is an
exceptional example. Far from being ‘screened
out’ the campaign was consistently voted as one
of the most popular on TV - and it even spawned
a CD that went straight into the Top 10 album
charts, a ‘Lover Over Gold’ book that likewise
became a Top 10 best-seller and sales of 1,500
video copies of the ad series itself.
For a campaign to gain appreciation from its
creativity, research will need to show that the
core idea is generally well liked. In early
Admap February 1998
qualitative development stages it should ‘go
down well’ in the groups.
When researching rough ideas (whether
qualitatively or in quantitative pre-tests) we
always have to try to interpret likely response
from the finished film. Let no one pretend this is
a foolproof science!
EXHIBIT 2
Animatic v. finished ad: comparison of responses
Makes its point in a
clever way
Appeals to my sense
of humour
Animatic
Would stick in my
mind Film
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
% agreeing
Above: Certain values, such as humour, cannot
be communicated in animatic form
A real example (Exhibit 2) shows HPI results for
prompted description of the same script as both
animatic and finished film. Communication
values are virtually identical (as one would
expect) but the humour only comes through with
real acting in the finished film. To judge
appreciation from the animatic we have to
assume this transition will occur, but no research
pre-test can guarantee that the creative team
and director can always pull it off.
BRANDING
Once the advertising has been sufficiently
appreciated to avoid being screened out the next
requirement is that is should be appropriately
branded. For all practical purposes it is self-
evident that the advertiser should want his brand
correctly associated with its advertising.
We have found that advertising which is
appreciated through the relevance of its
message generally has an easier task to be well
branded. The reason is simple - if a message is
interesting and relevant the consumer has an
incentive to register the brand. If however,
appreciation is through the creative device, it can
be enjoyed entirely at this level without the
necessity for further mental activity. To take an
old example, you can appreciate the humour of
Leonard Rossiter pouring his drink over Joan
Collins but this enjoyment is not affected by a
need to remember the brand.
3
At time of writing the two posters below can be
found on the London Underground. The
Nicorette Inhaler is a new product and if the ideal
appeals to those who wish to cut down or give
up smoking we can realistically expect them to
register the name (or at least to recall enough
about the product to get the right brand in the
chemist’s).
Left: Two recent
campaigns: one
introverted (Nicorette)
and one extroverted
(Urquell Pilsner)
The Pilsner advertisement is much more
creatively arresting but will have to work much
harder if the right brand name is to persist until a
purchase opportunity arises.
The achievement of good branding is a subject
in its own right. Millward Brown have explored a
particular avenue whereby they have
demonstrated the value of the most memorable
creative moment of a television advertisement to
be inextricably ‘linked’ to the brand. Our own
experience is less restrictive and we have seen
that more structural branding (Tiger = Esso or,
until recently, Rowan Atkinson = Barclaycard)
can create advertising which is totally branded
from beginning to end.
The combination of advertising which is both
appreciated and branded means a campaign will
achieve high advertising awareness.
Admap February 1998
This will not ensure success but, as mentioned
earlier, IPA Advertising Effectiveness Award
experience has shown that the most effective
campaigns are likely to be well remembered.
The important point is that whenever advertising
awareness is regarded by advertiser and agency
as a desirable outcome it is relevant for pre-
testing to concentrate on measures of
appreciation and branding. By breaking the
process down into these constituent parts we
have a construct that gets beneath the skin of
awareness rather than regarding it as an
independent and rather mysterious force in its
own right.
COMMUNICATION
The third requirement of successful advertising is
that it should in some way communicate
something strategically relevant about the brand.
The word communication does not imply a need
to convey rational information but, since the
purpose of advertising is to have a brand effect,
we need to be concerned with the mechanisms
by which this can be achieved.
At HPI, our contention is that there are only three
ways (either singularly or in combination ) in
which advertising can communicate values about
a brand. The three models are:
§ persuasion;
§ involvement;
§ salience.
Advertising which communicates through the
persuasion model will present a rational view of
a brand with the intention of directly influencing
beliefs about its quality, usefulness, suitability for
different tasks, user profile or whatever. It is old-
style advertising which fits with the traditional
DAGMAR or AIDA models and also mirrors what
Millward Brown call ‘Immediately Challenge’.
It does not have to work sequentially by
changing attitudes and then leading to a
purchase. It may simply present a rationale for a
trial purchase which then may or may not lead to
a change in attitudes. Whatever the order of
effect the communication model is the same; the
persuasion model works by telling consumers
something that is new and relevant which affects
the way they think about the brand.
4
One example of this is the Co-operative Bank
campaign which re-presented a minor lender to
business and overseas governments as one that
took pride in being ‘The Ethical Bank’. It could
now attract a completely new stream of more
profitable customers with a reason to consider
the bank as superior.
The pre-test implications of a persuasion
strategy are self-evident. We need to measure
whether the claims are registered, understood,
felt to be new and relevant, and sufficiently
believed to at least want to find out more.
Advertising communicating on the involvement
model represents an altogether more subtle
challenge. A successful involvement campaign
will receive a lot of attention from its target
group. If it is in print, they will look at it closely; if
television or radio, they should get ‘caught up’ in
the action.
The aim is that those exposed to the advertising
will have an emotional response and these
emotions will transfer to the brand.
Communication is just as important as with a
persuasion campaign but it is more subtle
because the values that transfer are non-verbal
and the links themselves are less explicit.
The best examples of communication via
involvement can be found among some of the
most long-running advertising campaigns. Often
these are for brands which dominate their market
despite not always having ‘rational’ product
superiority. The following are personal views
(i.e. not HPI research findings) on some key
involvement campaigns:
Orange - modern, inspirational, brand leader;
Andrex toilet tissue - softness, confidence,
strong family appeal;
Nescafé Gold Blend - classy, superior but
accessible because the market can truly relate to
‘soaps’;
Barclaycard - combines the utmost confidence
and worldwide brand-leader status with
accessibility and a lighter human touch.
Pre-testing an involvement strategy has to be
split into two stages. For the first, does the
advertising achieve an intensity of response and
does it evoke the relevant emotions? The
Admap February 1998
second is to discover if the emotions
successfully transfer to the brand.
Advertising communication on the salience
model has to be strikingly different and make a
big impact on its target group. The advertising
itself should generate such a large response
(whether actually liked or not) that it gets talked
about. Typical would be Benetton, Peperami
and Tango.
Left: Peperami -
strikingly different
The fame or notoriety associated with salient
advertising has the effect of making the brand
seem bigger and more significant. It is therefore
particularly useful for smaller brands, like Tango,
when competing with international giants like
Coca-Cola.
For pre-tests the relevant communication
questions relate to the impact of the advertising
idea - it should be seen as very different from
anything else in the market and kind of
advertising people will wish to talk about.
DESIRED EFFECT ON THE BRAND
The last heading on our model strikes at the
heart of the purpose of any campaign. None of
the earlier steps are worth anything in isolation if
there is no effect on how target group thinks
about the brand.
The nature of the desired effect will be
determined by the communication model used.
If it is a persuasion campaign we should see a
change in rational brand attributes; and if an
involvement campaign some change in brand
personality or user image. The total effect
(particularly with a salient campaign) is likely to
make the brand more front-of-mind and a little
more ‘famous’.
The HPI ‘Alphabetical Model’ places no
restriction on precisely what may be regarded as
5

EXHIBIT 3
The 'Alphabetical Model'
Overview
Appreciation Content relevance
Branding Magic moment
branding
Communication Persuasion Involvement
Desired effect
Change
on the brand
a ‘desired’ effect on the brand. The parameters
will depend upon a combination of the
advertiser’s strategy and the nature of the buying
system for the product or service in question.
The classification of response might usefully be
codified in some form of grid (as with Rossiter-
Percy or the FCB Grid), but more likely in a
specific expression based upon individual brand
and market characteristics. This should have
been made explicit during the advertising
strategy development research stage.
There can be a temptation to overstate the
plausible size of brand change that can be
generated in the short term by advertising. It is
relatively rare for a campaign to radically change
attitudes and bring about the consumer
response: I’d never thought of it like that’.
If this is the intended reaction, the pre-test
measures are straightforward and will cover both
knowledge and belief in newly-promoted brand
benefits. The belief need not be total - but it
must appear worth finding out more.
More frequency advertising is about
reinforcement, where the consumer response is
more likely to be: ‘That’s why I use it’.
The measurement of brand effects will be quite
subtle and pre-tests will look for pre-post
exposure shifts on measures which include:
Admap February 1998
Left: A
schematic view
of the whole
model -
relationships
Detail between
elements on the
Creative appeal right-hand side
can be very
flexible
Structural branding
Salience
Reinforcement
§ position in brand repertoire;
§ a more concrete intention to take action to
find out more;
§ degree to which the brand is thought to be
seen around a lot;
§ a perceived user-image of brand purchasers
reassuringly close to the self-image of brand
purchasers reassuringly close to the self-
image of the target group.
Overview of the advertising effectiveness
model
We can assemble the total ‘Alphabetical Model’
with the complexity of the options at every level
(Exhibit 3). Even with this detail the diagram is
an over-simplification because campaigns can
tap into more than one means to achieve
appreciation, branding or communication.
The benefit of this attempt at an all-embracing
theory is that it has reduced the elements
required for effective advertising to just four
issues without confining the creative routes by
which each of the elements can be achieved. It
is a check-list rather than a straight-jacket (see
Exhibit 3).
Although we have given equal prominence to all
of the routes through this model, it may be noted
that some groupings are more likely than others.
For example, a campaign that seeks
appreciation through content relevance is more
6
likely to be communicating on the persuasion
model and this may be designed to change
brand attitudes.
Investigation of a number of advertisements will
reveal exceptions to this simple division of two
broad groupings of strategy characteristics, but
they do represent a tendency for some
campaigns to be more introvert and some more
extrovert.
Some campaigns are introverted and focus
mainly on the brand rather than drawing
attention to the advertising vehicle (for example,
the Nicorette poster ). Others are more extrovert
and demand attention to themselves before one
is encouraged to take notice of the brand (for
example, the Pilsner poster).
1. Alan Hedges: Testing to Destruction, 1974,
to be re-published in early 1988 with updated notes
2. John Philips Jones: Getting It Right The First Time,
Admap Monograph No.3, 1997, and Admap/AA
seminar on Pre-testing Advertising, January 1997
3. Colin McDonald: How Advertising Works, NTC
Publications Ltd. 1992
4. Gordon Brown: How Advertising Affects The Sale Of
Packaged Good Brands, Millward Brown, 1991
5. Advertising Research Foundation: Copy Research:
The New Evidence, 1991
6. Bond and Brace: 'Segmenting by attitudes to TV
advertising - eye opener or blind alleys' MRS
Conference, 1997
7. Phil Gullen: 'How ads work on TV', MRS Conference,
1996
8. Advertising Works 9, NTC Publications Ltd. 1997

The diversity of advertising approaches across

all media has at times proved an insoluble
barrier to finding an effective means of pre-
testing. One view is that any form of quantitative
pre-testing must fail because it cannot cope with
this diversity. This is based on the assumption
that quantitative pre-testing must built on a
simple over-rational model of how advertising
works.

This article has tried to present an alternative.

We believe that there must be a structure to pre-
testing and all parties (advertiser, agency and
researcher) must be overt about how a
campaign can meet the four needs of any
effective advertising - ‘Appreciation’, ‘Branding’,
‘Communication’ and ‘Desired effect on the
brand’.

The approach is a discipline and it does involve

an element of hurdles and normative guidelines
within market category. Whether it is regarded
as fair depends upon the acceptance of the
advertising theory upon which it is based.

Admap February 1998 7