CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 40Marketing and Advertising StrategiesAdvertising and Communication StudiesDigital Marketing and Social Media

Evidence-based advertising: An application to persuasion

Open access
Scott Armstrong, J.·2011·International Journal of Advertising
DOI 10.2501/ija-30-5-743-767
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Complex phenomena such as advertising are difficult to understand. As a result, extensive and repeated testing of diverse alternative reasonable hypotheses is necessary in order to increase knowledge about advertising. This calls for experimental studies: laboratory, field, and quasi-experimental studies. Fortunately, much useful empirical research of this kind has already been conducted on how to create persuasive advertisements. A literature review, conducted over 16 years, summarised knowledge from 687 sources that drew upon more than 3,000 studies (Armstrong 2010). The review led to the development of 195 principles (condition-action statements) for advertising. We were unable to find any of these principles in a convenience sample of nine advertising textbooks and three practitioner handbooks. The advice in these books ignored conditions for the most part. The books also tended to ignore empirical evidence, which is how we learn about conditions; of the more than 7,200 sources referenced in these books, only 30 overlapped with the 687 used to develop the principles. By using the evidence-based principles, practitioners may be able to increase the persuasiveness of advertisements. Relevant evidence-based papers have been published at the rate of 20 per year from 2000 to 2010. The rate of knowledge development could be increased if journal editors invited papers with evidence-based research findings and if open peer review were provided on a continuing basis.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.2501/ija-30-5-743-767

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • None of the evidence-based principles were found in the advertising textbooks and handbooks that the author analyzed.

    “None of these evidence-based principles were found in the advertising textbooks and handbooks that I analyzed.”

    From Illusions in Regression Analysis (2011) · cites this paper as Armstrong 2011

    In “Principles v. current practices” (page unavailable), the author says no evidence-based principles were found in the nine advertising texts examined. Our copy describes these as textbooks; it does not establish that advertising handbooks were also analyzed. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Many of the 195 principles are counter-intuitive and are often violated by advertisers.

    “Many are counter-intuitive and are often violated by advertisers (Armstrong 2011).”

    From Illusions in Regression Analysis (2011) · cites this paper as Armstrong 2011

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet

References 67 · Cited by 40

Research works printed but not linked: 48

  1. Ahearne, Michael, Thomas Gruen & M. Kim Saxton (2000), -When the product is complex, does the advertisement's conclusion matter?‖ Journal of Business Research, 48, 55-62.
  2. Allen, Mike & Preiss, R. W. (1998). -Evaluating the advice offered by the tool users. In M. Allen & R. W. Preiss (Eds.), Persuasion: Advances through meta-analysis (pp. 243-255).
  3. Armstrong, J. Scott (2010), Persuasive Advertising. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  4. Armstrong, J. Scott (2007), "Significance tests harm progress in forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, 23 (2007), 321-327, followed by commentaries.
  5. Armstrong, J. Scott (1997), "Peer review for journals: evidence on quality control, fairness, and innovation," Science and Engineering Ethics, 3 (1997), 63-84.
  6. Armstrong, J. Scott, R. Brodie & A. Parsons (2001), -Hypotheses in marketing science: Literature review and publication audit,‖ Marketing Letters, 12, 171-187.
  7. Armstrong, J. Scott & R. Pagell (2003), -Reaping benefits from management research: lessons from the forecasting principles project,‖ Interfaces, 33 (6), 89-111.
  8. Armstrong, J. Scott R. & Schultz (1993), Principles involving marketing policies: an empirical assessment, Marketing Letters, 4, 253-265.
  9. Belch, George and Michael Belch (2009), Advertising and Promotion: an Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.
  10. Benda, Wim G. G. & Tim C. E. Engels (2011), -The predictive validity of peer review: A selective review of the judgmental forecasting qualities of peers, and implications for innovation in science,‖ International Journal of Forecasting, 27, 166-182.
  11. Burton, Philip Ward & Scott C. Purvis (Editions 5 in 1987 through Edition 9 in 2002), Which Ad Pulled Best? Chicago, Illinois: Crain Books.
  12. Caples, John & Fred E. Hahn (1998), Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (The original edition, by Caples, was published in 1932).
  13. Chebat, Jean-Charles, M. Charlebois & C. Gélinas-Chebat (2001), -What makes open vs. closed conclusion advertisement more persuasive? The moderating role of prior knowledge and involvement,‖ Journal of Business Research, 53, 93-102.
  14. Cicchetti D V (1991) The reliability of peer review for manuscript and grant submissions: A cross-disciplinary investigation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14 (March), 119-186.
  15. Clee, Mona A. & Robert A. Wicklund (1980), -Consumer behavior and psychological reactance,‖ Journal of Consumer Research, 6, 389-405.
  16. Clow, Kenneth E. & Donald Baack (2010), Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 4th edition.
  17. Diller, Hermann & Andreas Brielmaier (1995), -The impact of rounding-up odd prices: Results of a field experiment in German drugstores,‖ Pricing Strategy & Practice, 3 (4), 4-13.
  18. Duncan, Tom (2004), Principles of Advertising & IMC. New York: McGraw-Hill / Irwin.
  19. Elpers, Josephine Woltman, Michael Wedel & Rik G. M. Pieters (2003), -Why do consumers stop viewing television commercials? Two experiments on the influence of moment-to-moment entertainment and information value,‖ Journal of Marketing Research, 40, 437-453.
  20. Fox, Stephen R. (1997), The Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and Its Creators. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
  21. Harris, Richard J., M. L. Trusty, J. I. Bechtold & L. Wasinger (1989), -Memory for implied versus directly stated advertising claims,‖ Psychology & Marketing, 6 (2), 87-96.
  22. Hubbard , Raymond,& J. S. Armstrong (1992), -Are null results becoming an endangered species in marketing?‖, Marketing Letters, 3, 127-136.
  23. Kardes, Frank R. (1988), -Spontaneous inference processes in advertising: The effects of conclusion omission and involvement on persuasion,‖ Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (September), 225-233.
  24. Lambert, Zarrel V. (1975), -Perceived prices as related to odd and even price endings,‖ Journal of Retailing, 51 (Fall), pp. 13-22 and 78.
  25. Lane, W. Ronald, K. W. King & T. Reichert (2011), 18 th Ed., Advertising Procedure.New York: Prentice Hall.
  26. Lane, Vicki R. & Susan M. Keaveney (2005), -The negative effects of expecting to evaluate: Reexamination and extension in the context of service failure,‖ Psychology and Marketing, 22 (11), 857-885.
  27. Mahoney Michael (1977), -Publication prejudices: An experimental study of confirmatory bias in the peer review system.‖ Cognitive Therapy and Research 1, 161-175
  28. Mehta, Abhilasha & Scott C. Purvis (2006), -Reconsidering recall and emotion in advertising,‖ Journal of Advertising Research, 46 (1), 49-56.
  29. Naipaul, Sandra & H. G. Parsa (2001), -Menu price endings that communicate value and quality,‖ Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 42, 26-37.
  30. Ofir, Chezy & Itamar Simonson (2001), -In search of negative customer feedback: The effect of expecting to evaluate on satisfaction evaluations,‖ Journal of Marketing Research, 38, 170-182.
  31. O'Keefe, Daniel J. (2000), -Guilt and social influence,‖ in Michael E. Roloff (ed.), Communication Yearbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, vol. 23, pp. 67-101.
  32. Pasadeos, Yorgo, J. Phelps & Bong-Hyun Kim (1998), -Disciplinary impact of advertising scholars: Temporal comparisons of influential authors, works and research networks,‖ Journal of Advertising, 27, No. 4, 53-70.
  33. Robinson, Karen A. & S. N. Goodman (2011), -A systematic examination of the citation of prior research in reports of randomized, controlled trials,‖ Annals of Internal Medicine, 154, 50-55.
  34. Rossiter, John R. & Larry Percy (1997), Advertising Communications and Promotion Management. New York: McGraw Hill.
  35. Rossiter, John R. & Steven Bellman (2005), Marketing Communications: Theory and Applications. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education.
  36. Schindler, Robert M. & Thomas M. Kibarian (1996), -Increased consumer sales response through use of 99-ending prices,‖ Journal of Retailing, 72, 187-199.
  37. Schindler, Robert M. & Patrick N. Kirby (1997), -Patterns of rightmost digits used in advertised prices: Implications for nine-ending effects,‖ Journal of Consumer Research, 24, 192-201.
  38. Schindler, Robert M. & Alan R. Wiman (1989), -Effects of odd pricing on price recall,‖ Journal of Business Research, 19, 165-177.
  39. Stiving, Mark (2000), -Price endings when prices signal quality,‖ Management Science, 46 (12), 1617-1629.
  40. Suzuki, Satoshi & Seiji Yamada (2004), -Persuasion through overheard communication by life-like agents,‖ IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, in full-text on http://research.nii.ac.jp/~seiji/publication/Conference/2004/IAT-2004-ssv.pdf.
  41. Tellis, Gerard J. (2004), Effective Advertising: Understand When, How and Why Advertising Works. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  42. Tetlock, P. E. (2005). Expert Political Judgment. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
  43. Tipper, Harry, H. L. Hollingworth, G, B. Hotchkiss & F. A. Parsons (1921), Advertising: Its Principles and Practice. New York: Ronald Press.
  44. Wells, William, S. Moriarty & John Burnett (2006) , Advertising Principles & Practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education
  45. Wilson, Elizabeth J. & Daniel L. Sherrell (1993), -Source effects in communication and persuasion: A meta-analysis of effect size,‖ Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21 (2), 101-112.
  46. Woodside, Arch G., R. J. Trappey III & R. MacDonald (1997), -Measuring linkage-advertising effects on customer behavior and net revenue: Using quasi-experiments of advertising treatments with novice and experienced product users,‖ Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 14, 214-228.
  47. Wright, Malcolm & J. Scott Armstrong (2008), -Verification of citations: Fawlty towers of knowledge,‖ Interfaces, 38 (2), 125-139.
  48. Ziliak, Stephen & Deidre N. McCloskey (2007), -The cult of statistical significance,‖ Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. File EBA44-clean

Authors
Scott Armstrong, J.
Venue
International Journal of Advertising
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2011-01
Volume
30
Issue
5
Pages
743-767
ISSN
  • 0265-0487 (ISSN-L)
  • 1759-3948
DOI
10.2501/ija-30-5-743-767
OpenAlex
W2161318258
Cited by
40
References
67
Citations by year
2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
FWCI
12.06
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • International Journal of Advertising (publishedVersion)
  • Scholarly Commons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
  • ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Marketing and Advertising Strategies
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Advertising and Communication Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
Keywords
persuasive advertising, advertising principles, advertising professionals, advertising effectiveness, open peer review

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review