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Audience Response to Brand Journalism: The Effect of Frame, Source, and Involvement
Abstract
This study examined reactions to brand journalism in light of frame, source, and product involvement. Participants in an experimental study viewed a custom magazine with either a commercial (branded) or editorial (nonbranded) frame and read a story quoting either a peer or a corporate source. Readers rated the nonbranded magazine higher in credibility, but source cues had no direct effects on credibility ratings. Source did matter when combined with consumer product involvement. Highly involved consumers had stronger brand attitudes and purchase intent after reading advice from a peer source; low-involved consumers responded more favorably to a corporate source.
... Put simply, it is quite plausible that if organizations tell their own positive message about how "good" they are, they might be viewed as less sincere and be perceived as having self-serving motives (Cole & Greer, 2013). In such case, attitudes might actually be harmed (Yoon et al., 2006), or at least be less likely to improve, because audiences perceive them as untrustworthy or hypocritical (Shim & Yang, 2016). ...
... In fact, we rejected all hypotheses that messages published by the company would be less impactful than those published by a respected journalistic outlet. In contradiction to what is known about pure commercial messages (e.g., Cole & Greer, 2013), we conclude that the effect of narrative richness in corporate CSR messages does not depend on whether it appears in journalistic news media or in publications by the company itself. This could be due to the nature of CSR initiatives, which focus on a company's positive contributions to society and thereby might reduce skepticism among a lay audience. ...
The current study examines the persuasiveness of narrative richness in messages about acts of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Specifically, we apply theory about narrative persuasion to the domain of corporate communication. Focusing on Coca-Cola’s clean water project, a cross-national experiment (n = 659) was conducted in which the narrative richness and the source cue of a CSR message were manipulated, and the effects on (a) message processing (specifically via character identification, transportation, and credibility), (b) attitude towards the company, and subsequent (c) behavioral intention were measured. Considering the global nature of Coca-Cola, the experiment was simultaneously fielded in the United States and the Netherlands to verify the generalizability of our findings. Robust results in both countries suggest that narratively rich CSR messages can indirectly improve the attitude towards the company and thereby encourage behavioral intentions via character identification and transportation, irrespective of the source cue (company vs. news media). Importantly, message credibility was not compromised by the narrative richness, while being the strongest predictor of company attitude.
... This question is particularly important considering recipients' expectations of these media (Cole and Greer, 2013;Van Reijmersdal et al., 2010). From journalistic publications, the audience expects unbiased, balanced, independent and accurate information (Heider et al., 2005;Heise et al., 2014;Loosen et al., 2020;Riedl and Eberl, 2020;Willnat et al., 2019). ...
... Our findings are particularly important in terms of audience expectations of brand journalism (Cole and Greer, 2013). Although recipients' expectations of journalism have received growing research attention over the last 20 years, hardly anything is known about audience expectations toward brand journalism. ...
An increasing number of companies and other organizations publish their own news media that resemble journalistic media in terms of content, language and design. The production and distribution of these publications are often referred to as brand journalism. However, although these publications look a lot like journalistic media, they are used as strategic communication tools: They represent and legitimize an organization’s interests and aim to improve brand image, build relations with customers or increase sales. Thus, brand journalism blurs the boundaries between journalism and strategic communication. The present study focuses on brand journalists and analyses their work routines, professional role perceptions and possible role conflicts. To this end, we conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with editors of corporate magazines. The interviewees described quite strong parallels to journalistic work routines and asserted their orientation toward journalistic norms (e.g. autonomy, unbiased reporting); however, these norms were regularly undermined when the topics covered centred on their own or their clients’ organizations. Most interviewees described large parts of their professional identity as journalistic, but were also aware that they were in a hybrid role between journalism and strategic communication. This hybrid role is associated with a range of expectations that can lead to role conflicts.
... "The rise of adblocking has proved concerning for web publishers, many of whom rely largely or exclusively on display advertising for revenue," unlike most Slow Journalism publishers who tend not to rely largely or exclusively on display advertising for revenue (Hern 2015). The decline of banner and pop-up advertising online has elevated the importance of content (Cole and Greer 2013;Manjoo 2014;Pulizzi 2012). This shift played directly into the hands of Slow Journalism's investment in developing original premium editorial content. ...
... Given the immersive habits of tablet users, time on page, rather than clicks, thus represents "a clear departure from the dominant business model in online journalism, which has been driven by advertising revenue based on page views" (Ray 2013, 439). The new premium on content has now given rise to brand journalism, "custom content," and "custom publishing," marking an industry shift in which "companies hope to build trust using the relative power and credibility of editorial content, often seen as more 'pure' than advertising" (Cole and Greer 2013;673-674). Narratively, for example, has entered into partnerships involving brand sponsorship through native advertising (Rosenberg 2015). ...
... "The rise of adblocking has proved concerning for web publishers, many of whom rely largely or exclusively on display advertising for revenue," unlike most Slow Journalism publishers who tend not to rely largely or exclusively on display advertising for revenue (Hern 2015). The decline of banner and pop-up advertising online has elevated the importance of content (Cole and Greer 2013;Manjoo 2014;Pulizzi 2012). This shift played directly into the hands of Slow Journalism's investment in developing original premium editorial content. ...
... Given the immersive habits of tablet users, time on page, rather than clicks, thus represents "a clear departure from the dominant business model in online journalism, which has been driven by advertising revenue based on page views" (Ray 2013, 439). The new premium on content has now given rise to brand journalism, "custom content," and "custom publishing," marking an industry shift in which "companies hope to build trust using the relative power and credibility of editorial content, often seen as more 'pure' than advertising" (Cole and Greer 2013;673-674). Narratively, for example, has entered into partnerships involving brand sponsorship through native advertising (Rosenberg 2015). ...
... Previous studies on native advertising have largely focused on analyzing advertising content (e.g., Carlson, 2015;Sweetser et al. 2016;Wojdynski 2016) or comparing it with other types of online advertising (e.g., Gillespie and Joireman 2016;Cole and Greer 2013). To take a closer look at the effects of native advertising, the current research examined two popular types of native advertisements, endemic and linked in-feed advertisements, and their impact on perceived advertising credibility, attitude toward the advertisement, brand interest, and purchase intention. ...
... However, participants reported less favorable attitude toward endemic in-feed advertisements than linked in-feed advertisements. A possible explanation is that audiences expect to read news content rather than commercial content on a news site (Van Reijmersdal et al. 2005;Tutaj and Van Reijmersdal 2012;Cole and Greer 2013), so the particular format of native advertising might be seen as deceiving or misleading, especially the more integrated endemic in-feed advertisements. However, advertising format alone does not tell the whole story. ...
Focusing on two popular types of native advertising, endemic in-feed advertisements and linked in-feed advertisements, the current study examined the effects of advertising format, website reputation, and product involvement on perceived advertising credibility (trustworthiness and expertise), attitude toward the advertisement, brand interest, and purchase intention. In general, endemic in-feed advertisements were rated more favorably on source expertise and brand interest, while linked in-feed advertisements scored higher on attitude toward the advertisement. Three-way interaction effects were found for source trustworthiness, attitude toward the advertisement, brand interest, and purchase intention. Endemic in-feed advertisements showed stronger impact for the high-involvement product on a high-reputable website, while linked in-feed advertisements appeared to work better for the low-involvement product on a low-reputable website.
... As we will argue, native advertising is a new and rapidly changing phenomenon. Because of this, research on its consequences is remarkably insufficientespecially regarding its potential effects on citizens' trust in news (for notable exceptions investigating neighboring aspects, see Austin and Newman, 2015;Cramer, 2015;Cole and Greer, 2013;Rodgers, 2007;Tutaj and van Reijmersdal, 2012;Wojdynski and Evans, 2015). Empirically, this paper seeks to remedy this by investigating the effects of political native advertising on readers' trust in political news. ...
... Despite previous research on similar formats such as advertorials, there is a profound lack of research on the actual effects of native advertising (and similar formats of content marketing) on citizens' trust in political news. Some notable exceptions are Cole and Greer (2013), as they investigated how so-called brand journalism, a type of content marketing that 'allows businesses to target customers with useful, tailored editorial content while promoting their brand, values, and products' (Cole and quality and content-relevance on readers' perception of content quality. ...
Declining revenues from offline and online ads has led publishers to pursue new avenues, such as native advertising: camouflaging ads as news. Critics of native advertising claim that this form of advertising blurs the boundaries between editorial and commercial content, and can reduce the audiences’ trust in editorial content. However, little research has assessed the possible effects of native ads on audiences’ trust in news. With an experimental design embedded in an online survey (N = 733) representative of the Norwegian population, this study explores the consequences of political native advertising for citizens’ trust in political news. This article discusses how political native advertising poses a challenge to the boundary between journalism and advertising as well as the boundary between journalism and powerful elites. Our study examines (1) how prominently native advertisements should be labelled in order for readers to recognize them as advertising content and (2) whether exposure to such ads reduces readers’ trust in political news. Our most important finding shows that when explicitly labelled, native advertising by political parties can reduce people’s trust in political news.
... The dual nature of brand publications brings forth certain risks. Besides the aforementioned challenge of distinguishing brand journalistic content from other journalistic material (Cole and Greer, 2013;Van Reijmersdal et al., 2010), journalism and organizational communication inherently pursue distinct, and at times conflicting, objectives. Journalism, on one hand, is oriented towards the common good, emphasizing its normative significance for democratic processes and its role in informing and empowering citizens to make well-informed and autonomous decisions (Fröhlich, 2019;Fröhlich et al., 2013). ...
Brand journalism is a strategic communication approach where organizations create and distribute content that resembles journalistic media. Positioned between journalism and PR, it faces the challenge of reconciling three conflicting expectations: organizations strive for favorable coverage aligned with their strategic interests, the audience expects journalistic standards of unbiased, balanced, and independent reporting, and brand journalists adhere to their own professional values and principles. This collision of conflicting expectations creates a breeding ground for role conflicts, wherein the perceived autonomy of brand journalists emerges as a pivotal factor influencing their occurrence. This study explores the role of perceived autonomy in triggering role conflicts. Through a quantitative survey of brand journalists, we unveil the presence of both person-role conflicts and inter-sender-role conflicts, all rooted in a diminishing sense of autonomy. These conflicts, in turn, result in heightened stress and diminished job satisfaction, underscoring the intricate nature of the dual role that brand journalists navigate. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of brand journalism publications for the public, the role of transparency, and whether the term brand journalist adequately describes the professional role, even though they are not traditional journalists.
... Early communication studies on source credibility established the idea as a component of persuasion. The intention, expertise, and trustworthiness of the source influence the audience's perception of the credibility of the message (Cole & Greer, 2013). Source credibility is the extent to which the source of information is considered trustworthy, competent, and reliable by the recipient (Bhattacherjee & Sanford, 2006). ...
The increasing The increasing number of victims caused by COVID-19 has prompted the Indonesian government to implement various strategies to handle and prevent the spread of the virus, one of which is enforcing health protocols. The public has responded to these health protocol recommendations with varying attitudes; some comply while others resist. Young people, in particular, are believed to have lower compliance levels and tend to disregard health behaviors, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is a theoretical framework that focuses on how individuals process the persuasive messages they receive. Using the ELM approach, this study aims to identify how young people process the government's recommendations to adhere to health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. By surveying 174 young people in two regions that successfully reduced the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia, this study found that young people tend to process health protocol messages through both central and peripheral routes simultaneously. This means that the messages are processed in a simpler and less critically. The results are expected to provide valuable input for the government in formulating policies or public health interventions aimed at increasing adherence to health protocols among young people.
... Some researchers were interested in knowing whether time orientation (Kees, 2010;Tangari, Folse, Burton, & Kees, 2010;Zhao, Villagran, Kreps, & McHorney, 2012), construal level (White, Mac-Donnell, & Dahl, 2011), or emotions (Kim & Cameron, 2011) are effective in shaping audience perception of issues that are represented in the media. Cole and Greer (2013) found that involvement is a very important audience-related variable affecting how respondents react to brand actions. A person's information-processing strategy was also found to mediate the relationship between the media and perceptions in health-related contexts (Fleming, Thorson, & Zhang, 2006). ...
This chapter investigates the delicately woven relationship between media portrayals of prison life and public perception of the same, particularly focusing on the influence of the American television series ‘Prison Break’ on Nigerian audiences. The study investigates how exposure to the series shapes the Nigerian youth’s understanding of incarceration and the prison system. Through a comprehensive survey conducted across six states in Nigeria, involving youths aged 15–30, the research explores the cross-cultural reception of American popular culture and its impact on the perception of prisons.
The findings reveal that ‘Prison Break’ significantly influences the audience’s view of justice, injustice, and the prison experience, often reinforcing existing beliefs rather than changing them. The thematic analysis of the series uncovers prominent themes such as justice, injustice, torture, horror, correction, and excitement, which resonate with the audience’s perception of the prison narrative. The study also highlights the dominance of foreign media content over local productions in shaping public opinion and suggests that the media’s representation of prisons serves as a surrogate for the public’s understanding of the penal system.
This chapter contributes to the discourse on media effects by demonstrating the reinforcing power of television on audience perceptions of social institutions, suggesting a need for real-life institutions to respond to the changes portrayed in the media. It underscores the role of media in the globalisation of culture and the formation of public opinion, particularly in the Nigerian context.
... 31 However, once the consumer realises that the content contains an advertisement, it can have a negative impact on both the advertiser and the message. [32][33][34] Austin and Newman 35 surveyed UK and US readers to explore their attitudes towards native advertising. Respondents reported that they felt deceived once they were informed that the article was sponsored. ...
Although many studies have investigated the effectiveness of social media
influencers in brand campaigns, very few of these studies have been conducted in the Middle East region. To address this gap in the literature, this study examines Instagram influencers in Kuwait. The authors develop an integrated conceptual framework based on the persuasion knowledge model to explore factors related to persuasion knowledge, topic knowledge and agent knowledge. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design is utilised to explore the effects of persuasion knowledge, influencer–product congruence and parasocial relationship on perceived post credibility, influencer credibility, sharing intention, brand interest and purchase intention. The effects of influencer–product congruence on sharing intention, brand interest and purchase intention are found to be significant, as are the effects of parasocial relationship on advertisement credibility, influencer credibility, brand interest and purchase intention. In addition, persuasion knowledge is found to moderate the effects of influencer–product congruence and parasocial relationship.
... Research in psychology and communication has shown that framing can significantly impact people's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors [37][38][39][40][41]. For example, studies have found that gain-framed health messages were more likely to encourage prevention behaviors than loss-framed health messages [42], and that framing an issue in terms of a threat can be more persuasive than framing it in terms of an opportunity [38]. ...
Background
The public understanding of environmental issues, such as chemical pollution due to flooding, is reflected and shaped by media representations and how these issues are framed. This study aims to identify how local, regional, and national German newspapers pick up and frame the issue of chemical pollution and related environmental and health risks regarding the 2021 summer flood using content analysis.
Results
The analysis shows that chemical pollution is rarely addressed compared to other flood-related topics. We identified 189 newspaper articles published in the months following the flood, which specifically mention chemical emissions. Of these articles, 50 report only marginally on chemical pollution, while 36 focus on the factual description of chemical emissions without addressing the consequences of pollution. The remaining 103 articles address impacts of certain pollutants such as oil, pesticides, heavy metals, or dioxins. Using content analysis, we identified four narratives that were common in their broad storylines and used to create a problem frame: (i) Highlighting severe contamination of the environment with chemical pollutants causing serious environmental damage (31 articles), (ii) describing possible contamination but with uncertainty about the extent and consequences (39 articles), (iii) tending to give the all-clear and emphasizing that there is no severe long-term contamination (25 articles), and (iv) indicating continuous contamination that does not allow the all-clear to be given (8 articles).
Conclusions
The results suggest that flood-related chemical pollution does not receive much media attention. Where it does, coverage focuses primarily on the description of the “tangible parts” of pollution, and thus contamination by oil, depicted by both smell and oil streaks, is frequently addressed Articles indicating severe contamination suggest threats to human and environmental health as likely consequences. However, most articles only report the results of chemical monitoring in the contaminated regions, which are evaluated by experts. This contrasts with other topics of controversy related to the flood, such as climate change as a potential cause. In light of our study, we propose that media and science communication need to pay more attention to chemical pollution—in general and as a result of flood events.
... Some scholars have alluded to it as an adaptation of the second level of Agenda Setting theory. The framing theory submits that the mass media consumers' or audience's perception of a specific issue or matter depends on how they are being 'framed' or presented by the media (Cole & Greer, 2013). Even though there is an absence of agreement among scholars of communication concerning the definition and conceptualisation of media framing, it is by and large concurred that there is a connection between how messages are framed and how such messages are received and perceived by the audience. ...
This study addresses a sensitive subject in the context of the socio-cultural, political, legal and religious opposition to homosexual groups in Nigeria. It addresses the social depictions, honest portrayal, and conflicts between heterosexual and homosexual characters based on sexuality in Nollywood films. The study adopted a quantitative content analysis of twenty (20) Nollywood films. The study revealed that homosexual characters are depicted as physiologically, psychologically, socially and spiritually misfits. However, the film producers made an educational effort in exposing practices seen as offensive to societal norms and values. Further findings reveal that homosexual characters are portrayed as morally negative. This demonstrates the truism of the normative hypothesis that media take colouration of society in which they are situated. Finally, the study revealed a high level of perceptual conflict of non-acceptance, stigmatisation, rejection and prohibited reaction by heteronormative characters towards homosexuals based on their sexuality. In this sense, the Nollywood films examined by this study illustrate unwelcome, stereotypic, anti-social and homophobic narratives of homosexual characters that align with Nigerian society's social, civil, cultural, and religious belief systems. It is recommended that well-researched based content on sexual minorities beyond the depiction of the social position on their sexuality to more issues relating to the causal factors and ways of addressing such sexuality should be more focused on since in it has been marked as a crime in Nigeria.
... Some researchers were interested in knowing whether time orientation (Kees, 2010;Tangari, Folse, Burton, & Kees, 2010;Zhao, Villagran, Kreps, & McHorney, 2012), construal level (White, Mac-Donnell, & Dahl, 2011), or emotions (Kim & Cameron, 2011) are effective in shaping audience perception of issues that are represented in the media. Cole and Greer (2013) found that involvement is a very important audience-related variable affecting how respondents react to brand actions. A person's information-processing strategy was also found to mediate the relationship between the media and perceptions in health-related contexts (Fleming, Thorson, & Zhang, 2006). ...
This book is the outcome of the UNESCO/Janusz Korczak Chair International Summer School and constitutes an Educational Resource for future UNESCO/Janusz Korczak Chair International Summer Schools. It reflects the social inclusion mission of the Chair and the scientific scholarship within.
... Some researchers were interested in knowing whether time orientation (Kees, 2010;Tangari, Folse, Burton, & Kees, 2010;Zhao, Villagran, Kreps, & McHorney, 2012), construal level (White, Mac-Donnell, & Dahl, 2011), or emotions (Kim & Cameron, 2011) are effective in shaping audience perception of issues that are represented in the media. Cole and Greer (2013) found that involvement is a very important audience-related variable affecting how respondents react to brand actions. A person's information-processing strategy was also found to mediate the relationship between the media and perceptions in health-related contexts (Fleming, Thorson, & Zhang, 2006). ...
... Despite these roles that marketing communications play, researchers (Demjanovičová 2020; Kusumasondjaja 2018; Bentley-Steyn 2019) have argued that marketing communications' effectiveness has plunged in recent times. Others, such as Cole and Greer (2013), and Keller (2009) also assert that traditional advertising, particularly, is losing popularity with customers. Wilcox et al. (2015) corroborate the above assertions by presenting statistics which reveal that almost 80 per cent of consumers prefer getting to know a company through means other than advertising. ...
The financial services sector is characterised by a high level of consumer perceived risk and irrational behaviour in decision-making, which is predominantly influenced by the effect of communication and the application of heuristics as a function of communication in consumer decision-making. This situation promotes marketing communication as one of the most essential activities that financial institutions rely on to mitigate the perceived risks and to satisfy consumers’ quest in understanding financial products. Hence the importance of this research is to establish the effects of marketing communication on consumer purchasing behaviour in emerging economies that are experiencing expanded financial markets but limited corresponding research insight. To achieve the aim of this study, the research uses data from 360 customers of selected financial institutions in Ghana. The hypotheses are tested using the structural equations modelling technique. The results of the study reveal marketing communication strategies evaluated have positive and significant impacts on consumer purchase behaviour. However, amongst the marketing communication strategies tested advertising and celebrity endorsement were found to have an insignificant relationship with consumer purchase behaviour. The study offers practical and theoretical insights into understanding the dynamics and nuances of the integrated marketing communication mix and how they influence the purchase behaviours of consumers.
... The main intention of mixing the two seemingly conflicting communicative purposes in a single advertorial text could be the writer's own intention to receive the highest appreciation from the targeted readers (Cameron, 1994;Cameron & Curtin, 1995;Van Reijmersdal et al., 2005). It could also result in generating a more positive attitude towards the company (Boerman, Van Reijmersdal, & Neijens, 2014;Cole & Greer, 2013;Van Reijmersdal, Neijens, & Smit, 2010). Simply to better achieve private intention, the writer appropriates the generic resources of the editorial and advertisement particularly through targeting the market move and the background information move in advertorials. ...
Nowadays, it is very difficult to find pure genres in the real world of discourse. Professional writers often appropriate and exploit generic resources to invade other genres in discourse construction in order to achieve social and private intentions. One of the most dominant genres that have invaded other genres is the promotional genre. However, little research has investigated this genre from an intertextual and interdiscursive perspective. This study critically analyzed 80 advertorials from different magazines by examining the use of in-tertextuality and interdiscursivity references. The results indicate that direct reporting strategies of intertextuality are heavily employed in advertorials. The study also shows that the utilization of intertextual references exhibits some specific interconnection between a particular text and a genre. Meanwhile, through interdiscursive analysis, it demonstrates the ways in which generic resources of one particular genre are skillfully appropriated to create another promotional genre by the specific discourse community. Findings as such have both pedagogical implications and practical insights for ESP practitioners, learners as well as professional writers in various contexts.
... Increasingly, however, eWOM messages, such as online product reviews, are prompted by forms of compensation from marketers (Petrescu et al. 2018), and spending on such content is projected to reach $15 billion in 2022, up from about $8 billion in 2019 (Business Insider 2019). If such sponsorship is not clearly disclosed, consumers may not be aware of the commercial nature of the content and base their attitudes and purchase decisions on information they incorrectly presume unbiased and objective (Amazeen and Wojdynski 2018;Cole and Greer 2013;Hoofnagle and Meleshinsky 2015;Wojdynski and Evans 2019). ...
Addressing the problem of increasing sponsored eWOM and diverse and confusing disclosure practices, this study examined the effects of different types of sponsorship disclosure messages on (1) consumers’ trust in the sponsored product reviewer and (2) attitudes toward the reviewer and the sponsoring brand. An online experiment revealed several key effects of sponsorship disclosure and disclosure message types. Overall, sponsorship disclosure messages generated lower consumer trust in the reviewer and attitudinal responses. In terms of the effects of different types of disclosed commercial gain, reviews disclosing the receipt of a free product were perceived to be equally acceptable as reviews without sponsorship disclosure. Disclosure revealing that the reviewer received payment or a sales commission led to lower trust in a reviewer, and disclosure of a sales commission generated more negative attitude toward the sponsoring brand. The disclosure message type effects on attitude were mediated by trust.
... Informed readers today discern that under-hand dealings are more prevalent than ever (Jacob, n.d.), which in turn affects their decisions and opinions (Jacob, n.d.). Transparent communication implies revelation of the content provider and the intent behind the content, lest the public be wrongly persuaded (Balasubramanian, 1994;Cole & Greer, 2013;Hallahan, 1999;Jo, 2004;van Reijmersdal et al., 2010). To paraphrase Taiminen et al. (2015), the onus of proper representation rests with the newspaper, especially to clear its name. ...
The declaration of an advertorial (by printing the word 'advertisement' on the article) although counter-intuitive, produces positive impressions on the reader about the publisher. This study began by investigating the effect that inserting the word 'advertorial' has on the readers' impressions of the publishing house, by exhibiting a collection of advertorials. The first part of the study explored what factors readers felt contributed in building the credibility of newspapers, and the ethical practices surrounding advertorials. The subsequent experiment measured the change in perceived credibility within two similar groups of readers who were shown the same advertorial; one was simply given the advertorial piece while the other was informed so. The research followed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative analysis, comprising of a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Depth Interviews was conducted to list out the possible factors that affect creditworthiness of any newspaper. Further that output used in the quantitative analysis to understand which factor was rated most important. This academic research is empirical in that it draws out the factors that affect creditworthiness. It is deductive insofar as it quantifies the degree to which perceived credibility is affected by the term 'advertorial'. This study uses two-way ANOVA approach to analyse the data. The study established that readers perceived different levels of credibility for different newspapers. Upon revealing that the article exhibited was an advertorial, the perceived credibility rating improved. This result can be explained by the current shifting views of modern society that seek honesty (or disclosure) in even unconventional scenarios.
... editorial decision making on editorial platforms; peer posting on social platform; algorithmic optimization on search engine platforms), they feel more negatively toward the message itself, its contents, and those responsible for their seeing it (Wojdynski and Evans 2016). When they do not detect that it's a paid advertisement, there's evidence they largely receive it like organic content (Amazeen and Wojdynski 2018;Cole and Greer 2013;Hoofnagle and Meleshinsky 2015). An unrecognized native ad on a social media platform is simply seen as a social media post; an unrecognized sponsored article is simply seen as a news story or feature. ...
Covert advertisements, or those that utilize the guise and delivery mechanisms of familiar non-advertising formats, differ from other more direct forms of advertising in several ways that are important for understanding users’ psychological responses. Research across various covert advertising formats including various forms of sponsored editorial content, other native advertising formats, and product placement has shown that variation consumers’ persuasive responses to such messages is largely driven by whether they recognize that such messages are advertising at all. After reviewing the findings of empirical research into covert advertising effects, we present a model of covert advertising recognition effects (CARE) that outlines potential antecedents and processes underlying the recognition of covert advertising, and maps several pathways to persuasive outcomes that are contingent on advertising recognition and perceptions related to the information in and perceived presentation of the advertisement itself.
... Branded publications are perceived as less credible than nonbranded ones. 49 In essence, previous research has suggested that sponsored editorials may be perceived as more credible than traditional advertising when audiences cannot recognize them as advertising; however, the positive effect may reverse and damage the credibility of the sponsor, message, and publications when audiences recognize the persuasive intent of the sponsored content. ...
This study explores how textual characteristics of native advertising affected audiences’ advertising recognition and perceived message credibility and media channel credibility. Findings show that repeated mentioning of brand names increased audiences’ advertising recognition but did not affect perceived message credibility or media credibility. Using sponsor-affiliated sources increased audiences’ advertising recognition but decreased perceived message credibility and media credibility. The study recommends frequent and early sponsorship disclosure and cautions against using sponsor-affiliated sources in native advertising.
... On the other hand, consumers find publications that appear to be commercial to have less credibility than non-commercial publications (Cole & Greer, 2013;van Reijmersdal, Neijens, & Smit, 2010), and many consumers fail to recognize sponsored content as advertising (Moore 2014;Wojdynski & Evans, 2015). ...
... It reflects the successes (or failures) of different groups in influencing the debate on CSR (Brüggemann and Engesser, 2017). On the other hand, corporations' and news media's quoting practices (as reflected in their choice of sources and their attribution of content to these sources) can affect audience's perceptions about the credibility of the sources and their responses to the topic (Cole and Greer, 2013). To investigate the representation and share of voices in CSR news, this study made a comparison of quoting practices in corporate press releases and news coverage on CSR-related news by specifically exploring: what voices were represented, the tones of these voices and how the representation and share of these voices varied by different CSR themes. ...
The use of sources in news coverage affects news audience’s perceptions of news events. To extend existing research on intermedia agenda-setting and agenda-building effects of CSR-related news, this study was conducted to explore the representation and share of voices in CSR-related news by investigating and comparing the use of sources in press releases and news coverage.
This study content-analyzed the 202 CSR-related press releases published by the two electricity providers in Hong Kong and 1045 news articles related to the press releases over a five-year period. A total of 402 quotes from the press releases and 1880 quotes from the news coverage were analyzed, including the types of sources cited, the tone of the sources, and variations in the use of sources across seven different CSR themes.
Although company representatives were quoted the most in both the press releases and news coverage, NGOs, government representatives, and industry analysts were the most frequently cited for negative comments in the news coverage. Differences were found between the press releases and news coverage in terms of how frequently different sources were cited, the tone attributed to those sources, and the choice of sources across different CSR themes.
The findings reflect that corporations are not necessarily the most influential voice in CSR and that other groups also have their views represented in the news media. The representation of these voices differed by CSR themes. Corporations are advised to explore further what and how different voices are represented in the news coverage in relation to their CSR activities and to consider these voices when making decisions about CSR.
... 21 Readers notice the difference and rate independent media as more credible. 22 Although writers claim independence, because team websites bear the name and other cues that designate the content as sponsored by a team, news audiences should be more likely to rate stories published by teams as less credible than stories by independent media. ...
Team-and league-operated media play a growing role in the sports media system. Few have looked at how audiences perceive the credibility of in-house content, which regularly mimics traditional sports journalism. An experimental analysis finds that even among fans, independent media content is rated more credible than that produced in-house. Fans view stories accusing their team of wrongdoing as biased even as they find them credible.
... However, these practices seem to differ in terms of how transparent -or indeed how opaque -they are when disclosing the origin of content. Even when labeled with the umbrella term sponsored content ( Cole and Greer, 2013 ), this content is aimed to suit the publisher's editorial line while offering content that aims to capture the readers' attention without openly attempting to promote products or services. The signifying factor is not only the appearance but also the intent to create cohesive, attractive content that conveys a message without directly attempting to sell a product; such content informs the reader while also delivering branded content that can be shared and spread to other networks. ...
The use of native advertising has sparked a heated debate. While similar formats have a long history within journalism, this new iteration furthers the blurring of boundaries between news and ads by producing ads that look and feel like news, but that are clearly labeled as advertising. This book chapter critically addresses the phenomenon of native advertising from three different angles. First, a historical and conceptual discussion on native advertising brings to the fore earlier models of native advertising that were referred to with different terms, as well the current understanding of what native ads are. Second, the current normative debate about native advertising is teased out to shed light on the rhetorical shift that seems to be permeating the news industry. To publishers this kind of advertising creates important streams of revenue; to advertisers, it appropriates journalistic clout. Finally, the potential challenges and benefits of native ads vis-à-vis digital journalism are presented, aiming to demystify a commercial initiative that could lead to economic viability but also could question journalistic allegiance to the citizen, and threaten the legitimacy and autonomy of contemporary news media.
... Ninguna empresa lo incluye en su index y sólo una, BBVA, lo hace en formato stories desde la óptica de sus productos. Hay que considerar que BBVA es la empresa española pionera en el periodismo de marca (Cole;Greer, 2013;Bull, 2013;Barciela, 2013), creando portales informativos que van más allá de una mera sala de prensa virtual y que compiten con los propios medios de comunicación online en cuanto a oferta informativa e incluso audiencias. Por ello debe entenderse como una evolución natural dentro de su estrategia de contenidos como medio para relacionarse con sus públicos, que además genera reputación. ...
Las webs corporativas de las marcas se enfrentan al reto de incorporar una narrativa de storytelling que fomente los vínculos emocionales con sus públicos. Este trabajo establece cuatro categorías de implantación en las empresas del IBEX 35 y pone de manifiesto su demora frente a las empresas que cotizan en el Dow Jones. Los casos de estudio extraídos permiten establecer recomendaciones que mejoren esta situación.
... Thus, if a native advertisement is valuable to readers, this may decrease their attitudinal PK (Sweetser et al. 2016;Wei, Fischer, and Main 2008). In addition, several studies also showed, in line with source credibility theory, that it is not ad recognition, but rather the perceived trustworthiness of the content that influences readers' evaluations of advertisements the most (Cole and Greer 2013;Sacco and Zhao 2014). When the advertiser often refers to itself in the content of an advertisement, the manipulative intent of the ad becomes more obvious, which can increase critical processing (Eisend 2006;Kirmani and Campbell 2004). ...
While several studies have focused on native advertisements' disclosures, little research has been conducted on native advertisements' content. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of both disclosure recognition and brand presence on readers' persuasion knowledge (PK) and subsequent evaluations. Results of an online study (N = 290) showed that disclosure recognition resulted in higher conceptual PK, yet this had no effect on readers' attitudinal PK and evaluations. Conversely, high brand presence did not increase readers' conceptual PK, but it did increase attitudinal PK, which subsequently decreased evaluations of the ad, brand and news medium. Implications are discussed.
... Hoewel uit de manipulatiechecks bleek dat ontvangers wel het verschil zien tussen een boodschap met en zonder merkprominentie, speelde de aan-of afwezigheid van de merknaam en het logo geen rol bij het behalen van de marketing-, pr-en algemene doelstellingen van contentmarketing. Dit is een opvallende bevinding die de resultaten van merkcontent in printmagazines tegenspreekt (Cole & Greer, 2013;Van Reijmersdal et al., 2010). Hoewel uit die studies geconcludeerd kon worden dat merken beter niet prominent in de content naar voren zouden moeten komen, blijkt uit ons experiment dat mensen coulanter tegenover merkprominentie in digitale content staan. ...
Nativno oglašavanje sve je zastupljeniji alat tržišne komunikacije organizacija i brendova. Riječ je o sadržaju oblikovanom na način da nalikuje uredničkom, dakle ostalim novinarskim formama (primarno vijestima), s ciljem privlačenja čitatelja prilagođenim uređivačkim sadržajem, uz istovremeno promoviranje brenda oglašivača, njegovih proizvoda te vrijednosti. To je posebice prisutno u suvremenom digitalnom okruženju, gdje su ti tzv. hibridni oblici medijskog sadržaja najvidljiviji, pri čemu se izdvajaju sponzorirani sadržaj, sadržajni marketing, brend novinarstvo te nativno oglašavanje koje je u srži ovog rada. Cilj istraživanja je utvrditi osnovna obilježja nativnog oglašavanja na odabranim najčitanijim internetskim portalima u Republici Hrvatskoj, na kojima je pored ljudske obrade teksta primijenjena strojna analiza sadržaja nad 543 identificirana članka. Rezultati analize pokazali su kako je ICT industrija najzastupljenija industrija među oglašivačima i da nativni sadržaj u hrvatskom medijskom prostoru primarno nastaje unutar medijske kuće te da ga potpisuju specijalizirani marketinški timovi. Većina oglasa u uzorku hrvatskih internetskih portala pridržavala se uzusa dobre, ali i obvezujuće prakse jasnog označavanja oglašivača, dok u slučaju portala 24sata.hr to nije bio slučaj. Najveći broj nativnih oglasa dosegnuo je između 10 i 20 tisuća te između 5 i 10 tisuća čitatelja pa se unatoč tomu što je riječ o najučinkovitijim oblikom online oglašavanja u digitalnim medijima, otvara pitanje može li se isto ustvrditi i u hrvatskom kontekstu. Zaključno, nativni oglasi na hrvatskim internetskim portalima pretežno imaju subjektivno pozitivan sentiment, no postoje varijacije svojstvene pojedinim industrijama. Tako je sentiment oglasa u ICT i financijskoj industriji pretežito pozitivan, dok u zdravstvenoj industriji prevladava subjektivno negativan sentiment.
In the quest for sustainable urban mobility, the importance of nudging as a powerful behavioral intervention has garnered increasing attention. Nudging refers to subtle changes in the choice architecture that can influence decisions without imposing restrictions or economic incentives. However, its application in promoting public transportation remains inadequately explored. This study investigates the effectiveness of various nudging treatments in encouraging a shift towards public transit by employing principles from behavioral economics and goal-framing theory. The study randomly assigned participants to four groups: Emotional Nudging, Normative Nudging, Gain Nudging, and a control group. Findings from stated choice experiments indicated that all nudging treatments positively impact the likelihood of choosing public transit. Notably, Gain Nudging emphasizing health benefits exhibited the most significant effects. The results found that it was personal norms that played an important part in decision-making, and social norms have little effect on the likelihood of choosing public transit.
The lines between journalism and public relations (PR) have become increasingly blurred with the rise of organizational media. Within thislandscape, certain publications mimic journalistic formats while concurrently serving as PR instruments to promote organizational interests. These hybrid endeavors are commonly known as“brandjournalism.”This paper presents thefindings of a quantitative survey conducted among brand journalists in Germany, focusing on the perceptions of their roles and ethical orientations. We compare their responses to those of German journalists surveyed as part of the Worlds of Journalism research project. The data suggests that brand journalists largely align with journalists interms of their professional roles and ethical orientations, with only a few noteworthy distinctions. One such distinction is that brand journalists tend to perceive their role less as critical observers who scrutinize political leaders and businesses. In essence, our study underscores the remarkable resemblance in role concepts between brand journalists and journalists, offering insights into the convergence of organizational media with modern journalism.
Introduction: Content marketing continues to gain importance in organizations' marketing mix. However, its effectiveness has received little academic attention. This is particularly true of customer magazines, which, despite increasing digitization, remain a key pillar of content marketing and account for considerable investments. Therefore, this paper examines how reading experiences affect the effectiveness of customer magazines, mediated by media engagement.
Methods: Based on the uses-and-gratifications-theory and literature on sensory perception, journalistic quality, and media engagement, several hypotheses are proposed. To investigate the hypotheses, the study uses a cross-sectional survey. The dataset for the analyses consists of 1,396 consumers and is analyzed by structural equation modeling.
Results: The results indicate that hedonically gratifying, as well as identity-enforcing content experiences and visually and haptically gratifying process experiences are associated with higher effectiveness. Media engagement mediates these effects. Experienced journalistic quality directly and positively influences customer magazine effectiveness.
Discussion: This study's findings are important to marketing communications research. In particular, the study contributes to the still limited literature on content marketing effectiveness and helps practitioners optimize customer magazines.
Com o aumento das ofertas on-line, a organização e o planejamento de viagens mudaram para a internet, seja para comprar ou para pesquisar sobre o destino a visitar. Desse modo, observa-se que os blogs de viagens e os jornalistas de viagens estão ganhando cada vez mais espaço como referência. Nesse contexto, este artigo investiga a história dos blogs de jornalismo de viagens em Portugal e como eles se desenvolveram até obterem resultados. É ainda objetivo da pesquisa caracterizar do ponto de vista cultural, do turismo e das viagens as experiências vividas pelos autores e traçar os respectivos perfis. O estudo observa de que forma os blogueiros de viagens se apropriam do meio digital e constroem narrativas e estratégias de atuação nas redes sociais, como fonte de informação de locais de viagem. A metodologia baseou-se numa entrevista com um guia pré-estabelecido, com perguntas abertas, aos autores dos cinco blogs de maior sucesso no país. A pesquisa revela que os blogs de viagens não são propaganda turística. Há critérios jornalísticos nas publicações. O estudo demonstra, igualmente, que todos os autores iniciaram seus respectivos blogs com a intenção de compartilhar suas experiências de viagens e exteriorizar a sua liberdade expressiva.
Pazarlama amaçlı halkla ilişkiler (MPR), medya ilişkileri, kurumsal sosyal sorumluluk, etkinlik yönetimi, sponsorluk, duyurum, lobicilik, kriz yönetimi, kurumsal iletişim (kurumsal halkla ilişkiler; CPR), çalışan/üye ilişkileri, finansal ilişkiler ve toplumla ilişkiler gibi temel uygulama alanları olan "halkla ilişkiler (public relations; PR)", gazetecilik alanıyla yakın ilişki içerisindedir. Betül Mardin'in (2013) ifadesiyle halkla ilişkilerin lokomotifi olan gazetecilik (makro deyişle medya), kurumların hedef kitlelerine ulaşmaları adına köprü vazifesi görmektedir. İki aşamalı kuram veya eşik bekçiliği gibi işleyen bu "aracılı" iletişim, kurumlar ile kamular arasındaki iletişimi ilişkiye dönüştürmektedir. Gazeteciler (ve günümüzde etkileyenler; influencerlar) aracılığıyla gündem olmaya çalışan markalar, söz konusu halkla ilişkiler faaliyetleri çerçevesinde "medya görünürlüğü" elde etmektedir. Dolayısıyla görünürlüğü artan markalar ilişki kurma kabiliyetini artırabilmektedir. Bu bağlamda kurumla ilgili "haber değeri" olan içeriklerin bedelsiz şekilde medyada yer almasını sağlayan "duyurum" mekanizması, halkla ilişkiler ile gazetecilik pratiklerini birbirine daha da yaklaştırmaktadır. Söz konusu yakınlaşma etik kaygıları tetiklemekte; halkla ilişkiler ile gazetecilik arasındaki simbiyotik (ortakyaşam) bağı tekrar düşündürmektedir (Bayçu vd., 2017, s. 21). Gazetecilik ile halkla ilişkiler arasındaki ilişkinin sentez bir çıktısı olan marka gazeteciliği, iki alan arasındaki ilişkiyi okumak adına değer taşımaktadır (Bernstein, 2017). "Sahip olunan medya (owned media)" başlığı altında konumlanan ve marka hikayelerini anlatmanın "haber" formu olan marka gazeteciliği, kurumların markalaşmalarına yardımcı olan alternatif uygulamalardan biri olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Marka gazeteciliğinin temel stratejileri ve pratikleri incelendiğinde kavramın halkla ilişkiler uygulama alanlarının hepsiyle ilişkili olduğu ve marka gazeteciliği örneklerinin söz konusu faaliyetlerin iletişim boyutunu; dilini zenginleştirdiği görülmektedir. Bu doğrultuda marka gazeteciliği kurumların kendi medyalarını yaratmaları adına önem taşımakta; günümüzün dijital ve aracısız iletişim anlayışına destek olmaktadır. Kendi gündemini çerçevelemek ve halkla ilişkiler faaliyetlerini ilk elden yapmak isteyen uluslararası, yenilikçi ve güçlü kurumlar marka gazeteciliğini yıllardır kullanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışmada marka gazeteciliği kavramına ve pratiklerine betimsel bir bakış atılmakta, güncel örnekler eşliğinde kavramın halkla ilişkiler disiplini ile olan ilişkisi ve etik boyutu değerlendirilmeye çalışılmaktadır.
z Günümüzde iletişim, yeni olanı veya yenileneni renkli sözlerle veya görsellerle bezeyerek yansıtmanın ötesindedir. Tüketiciler, değişen medya tüketim alışkanlıkları doğrultusunda sosyal medyada, portallarda, bloglarda, web sitelerindeki içerikler aracılığıyla interaktif bilgi üretimi ve paylaşımına her gün daha fazla yönelmektedir. Yakın geçmişin tarafsız ve ticari amaç gütmeyen bilgi kaynakları olarak değerlendirilen uzmanlar, dijital iletişim platformları aracılığıyla yakın çevremizi oluşturan bireylere dönüşmektedir. Hedef kitleleri ile aralarındaki iletişim köprülerini sağlamlaştırmayı amaçlayan günümüz örgütleri de bu bağlamda alternatif marka iletişimi formlarına yönelmektedir. Ve örgütlerin böylesi dijital pazarlama ve marka iletişimi uygulama örnekleri incelendiğinde de "Marka Gazeteciliği" alternatif bir iletişim köprüsü olarak belirginleşmektedir. Marka gazeteciliğine ilişkin sınırlı mevcut literatür incelendiğinde tartışmaların etik boyutta yoğunlaştığı, marka gazeteciliğine ilişkin çalışmaların halkla ilişkiler, doğal reklamcılık ve içerik pazarlaması çerçevesinde mercek altına alındığı saptanmıştır. Marka gazeteciliği kavramına ilişkin gerçekleştirilen tarama neticesinde; Andy Bull'un "Marka Gazeteciliği" kitabı temel başvuru eseri olarak tespit edilmiştir. 2014-2018 aralığındaki sınırlı sayıdaki makale itibarıyla marka gazeteciliğinin; etik, tüketici etkisi, gazetecilerin kimlik değişimi, marka gazeteciliğinin yükselişi vb. (Holton ve Molyneux, 2015, s.195-210; Light,2014b, s.121-128; Arrese ve Perez Latre,2017, s.121-129; Lehto ve Moisala, 2018, s.8-10) boyutlarında mercek altına alındığı belirlenmiştir. Türkçe literatür incelemesi sonucunda ise marka gazeteciliğini örgüt-medya ilişkisi (Zorel, 2016, s.1879-1886) çerçevesinde ele alan tek çalışmanın dışında farklı bir kaynağa ulaşılamamıştır. Bu çalışma, bir markanın kişilik özelliklerine bağlı hikayeleri aktarmak suretiyle iletişim sürecine ivme kazandıran uygulamalardan biri olarak marka gazeteciliğinin temel bileşenlerinin tanımlanması, marka gazeteciliği ile içerik pazarlaması, doğal reklam ve halkla ilişkilerle arasındaki farklılıkların ortaya konulması, konuya ilişkin argüman ve tartışmaların sunulması doğrultusunda marka iletişiminin dijital platformlardaki alternatif konumunun tanımlanması amacıyla hazırlanmıştır.
This paper reports on a study of car drivers’ assessment of a sustainability policy involving increased car parking fees in Swedish city centers. The aim of the study was to investigate how framing of information in text and pictures influences acceptance of increasing car parking fees and how values, general beliefs and norms as well as measure-specific beliefs influence the acceptability of the measure. Drawing on Goal Framing Theory, the acceptance of a parking fee policy was tested using three different goal frames (hedonic, gain and normative); the frames were compared with each other and a control message. The study was based on a survey directed to residents (18 to 75 years of age) in 51 larger municipalities in Sweden. The survey had an experimental design. Respondents were presented with a scenario of an increase in parking fees to promote environmental sustainability. The scenario was presented in three ways (manipulations), highlighting hedonic (e.g., emotional), gain, and normative aspects, respectively, in text and pictures. The results showed that the three message frames had different effects and were overall more effective than the control message in engendering the desired reduction in private car use and, thus, the intended environmental impact. Further, the degree of acceptability of the increased parking fee influenced the expected behavioral change in the groups receiving a goal framed message in relation to the parking fee measure. Implications from a sustainability perspective concern the importance of how environmental policies are framed when communicated to the public in order to increase acceptance and support.
With the advent of Web 2.0 and the fact that brands can now communicate directly with consumers, it has been suggested that content marketing is replacing publicity. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous study has supported this relationship. The purpose of this chapter is to explore this theory, drawing a comparative study on how consumers respond to both approaches. The effects of content marketing and publicity on message credibility, attitude toward the brand and purchase intention are analyzed, as well as the impact of consumers' antecedents on these indicators. The findings indicate that publicity is still relevant and is not being replaced by content marketing. This chapter illustrates the power of content in influencing customer decision making and provides relevant insights into how content must be used to serve consumers' needs more effectively, allowing a 360º view.
Past literature has identified low purchase rates of aviation voluntary carbon offsetting (VCO) schemes. A lack of credibility of such schemes has been identified as a key obstacle, yet little attention has been given on how to enhance perceived credibility. Using communication theory, this study examines effects of message framing on consumers’ perceived credibility of aviation VCO messages. Data were drawn from a representative sample of 1680 Australians. The results revealed that spatial distance framing influences air passengers’ perceived credibility of aviation VCO messages. Messages focusing on the influence of VCO programs on the environment of a local community obtain higher perceived credibility than those located in other countries. The study also found the interaction of spatial and temporal distance framing effects were different based on consumers’ past purchase experience. The findings suggest how airlines should design messages and refine them based on consumers’ past experience of aviation VCOs.
In democracies, the retention of journalistic autonomy from market forces may be perceived as a constant struggle for journalists. On one side are the ideals of the profession: independence, transparency, the purveying of information to citizens so that they have access to a plurality of views and so that the powerful may be held accountable, and injustices righted. On the other side are commercial considerations of media outlets, primarily among them the need, among private companies at least, to generate enough revenues to sustain themselves, and, indeed, turn a profit. Traditionally, some have argued, there has in many instances been a line between the marketing departments of media outlets and the independent journalists and editors. That line is increasingly being eroded through intensified editorial influence seeking by media outlets' commercial decision makers, and the increased appearance of branded content that is in many cases indistinguishable from genuine autonomous news content. Into the mix come the consequences of the financial crisis for journalism in general and its role as a guarantor of democratic rights through the watchdog function that it is in theory intended to uphold. The consequence is a further fraying of journalistic autonomy at the expense of its democratic function.
This study compares the role performance of native advertising on the websites of legacy news media and digital-only news media in the United States. Instead of analyzing discourses and rhetorics about native advertising, this study concentrates on the content characteristics of native advertising to infer its roles oriented to audiences. The study finds that native ads on the selected media sites have more emphasis on the service role than the civic and infortainment roles. The digital-only media sites have native ads with more emphasis on the service and infortainment roles than those in the legacy media sites, whereas the legacy media sites have native ads with more emphasis on the civic role than its counterparts in the digital-only media sites. However, native advertising lacks independent and transparent sources of information. Nearly half of the native ads on the legacy media sites reply on sponsor-affiliated sources, and more than half of the native ads on the digital-only media sites lack attributions for sources of information.
Advertising and public relations are complex practices, and it is challenging for educators to find instructors who can fulfill expertise across disciplines, particularly in creative applications involving technology. Team teaching is one approach to provide multiple proficiencies. This paper describes how two co-taught courses, Design for Advertising and Public Relations and Commercial Production for Advertising and Public Relations, were developed, delivered and assessed. A literature review of team teaching and creative instruction provides a framework for course designs and student surveys. Course evaluations and instructor reflections are the evidence used for evaluation. The study is important, as specialties from multiple practices, including those that require technology, are increasingly necessary for preparing students for these industries. The study adds to the literature about team teaching and provides a foundation for effectively collaborating on creative courses.
This study explores how editors and business executives discursively renegotiated the boundary of authority in the wave of integrating native advertising at nine US publishers across five years. The findings demonstrate an overwhelmingly pro-business voice that legitimized native advertising as an innovation to increase revenue, advertisers’ interest, audience engagement, and even editorial quality. By contrast, the pro-editorial voice that resisted the integration inside the organizations was scattered and muted and gradually turned into a collaboration with the business side, while the industrial debate remained critical and unsettled on editorial involvement in content marketing. The dilution of the editorial–business boundary in those organizations suggests that journalistic autonomy was lessened from within—the autonomous force of journalism submitted authority to the heteronomous force of journalism.
The online media and advertising landscape has quickly changed in the past few years, and both media and advertisers are facing several major challenges. Consumers are more trained than ever to ignore traditional banner advertisements (Hill, 2013), and the amount of internet users with an ad blocker have been going up fast (Adobe, 2015). At the same time, from the media’s side, online news outlets increasingly rely on advertising to generate revenue, as most readers refuse to pay subscription fees to read online news (Newman, Fletcher, Levy, & Nielsen, 2016).
Extending research from Wojdynski and Evans, this experimental study replicates the challenges of effectively disclosing native advertising to readers and demonstrates a promising inoculation method that increases likelihood of recognition. Moreover, this quantitative research indicates that both legacy and online news publishers were evaluated less favorably for displaying native advertising. Attitudes toward the publisher and perceptions of its credibility declined for both, although online publishers suffered greater attitudinal damage than did legacy publishers who may benefit from their established reputation.
There are few commercial communication concepts that have had a rise as spectacular and fast as brand journalism. Brands′ journalistic activities were usually considered under the category of content marketing and are also sometimes described using terms such as custom content, content publishing or corporate journalism. Although corporate journalism is an old practice, its development in digital environments has elevated it to a new dimension. Today, as a matter of fact, there are few large corporations or brands that resist the urge to start initiatives in the field: brand journalism seems like a modern marketing imperative.
There are few commercial communication concepts that had a rise as spectacular and fast as brand journalism. Brands’ journalistic activities were usually considered under the concept of content marketing and are also sometimes described with terms like custom content, content publishing or corporate journalism. Although corporate journalism is an old practice, its development in digital environments has elevated it to a new dimension. Today, as a matter of fact, there are few large corporations or brands that resist the urge to start initiatives in the field: brand journalism seems like a modern marketing imperative.
Considering the relevance that has achieved, this chapter tries to make clearer brand journalism’s conceptual nature. First, it explains the different factors that contributed to its rise. Then, it analyzes its different forms along with some keys for its use by corporations. Finally, brands’ journalism effects in terms of audience engagement, and from the point of view of its contribution to the tension between information and misinformation in markets, are evaluated and future developments are assessed.
Branded platforms are a growing “gray-zone” of marketing and media messages, in which corporations and news journalists partner to create content that supports strategic corporate goals while aligning with a publication’s scope of editorial coverage. As corporations are key influencers of and contributors to environmental communication, this trend has the potential to change environmental dialogue. In this article, we closely examine messages about food and sustainability, created in partnership by Chipotle Mexican Grill and the Huffington Post news site. We illustrate how use of a branded platform expanded the scope of environmental topics, issues, and frames that Chipotle addresses, how frames identified here connect to frames in coverage of science-related issues, as identified by other scholars, and discuss how branded platforms allow corporations to draw attention to polarizing environmental issues while protecting stakeholder relationships and brand reputation.
Durch die zunehmende Digitalisierung der Kommunikation erlebt eine scheinbar neue Form der Kundenansprache einen Aufschwung: Content Marketing. Content Marketing bezeichnet die Erstellung und Verbreitung von redaktionellen Inhalten zu kommerziellen Zwecken durch Nicht-Medienunternehmen. Obwohl die ersten erfolgreichen Beispiele für Content Marketing mehr als 100 Jahre zurückliegen, hat das Internet ihm neue Bedeutung verliehen. Der direkte Kontakt zum Kunden eröffnet Unternehmen neue Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten, stellt aber hohe Anforderungen an die bereitgestellten Inhalte. Zugleich ist die Erfolgsmessung entsprechender Maßnahmen problematisch. Content Marketing wirkt sich zudem entscheidend auf die Wertschöpfungsstrukturen entlang des Kaufentscheidungsprozesses der Kunden sowie das Verhältnis zwischen Werbetreibenden und Medienunternehmen aus.
The dimensions that individuals apply in evaluating the trustworthiness or credibility of news media bear great theoretical and practical relevance. In previous research, however, there is no standardized scale for the measurement of trust in news media. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present the development and validation of a multidimensional scale of trust in news media. A theoretically derived model is tested on a representative sample via confirmatory factor analysis. After some modifications, the model is then validated on another independent sample. These results confirm the hypothesis that trust in news media can be considered a hierarchical factor (of second order) that consists of four lower order factors, including trust in the selectivity of topics, trust in the selectivity of facts, trust in the accuracy of depictions, and trust in journalistic assessment. This model is the first validated scale of trust in news media in communication research.
This paper presents two laws about the effects of brand placement on audience reactions. This article presents two laws about the effects of brand placement on audience reactions. Brand placement is the compensated inclusion of brands or brand identifiers within media programming. The first law states that brand placement prominence has a positive effect on brand memory. This effect has been found for placements in audiovisual media. However, placement prominence has a negative effect on brand attitude under specific circumstances. The second law states that brand placement can affect attitudes and behavior without memory of the placement. This means that brand placement can have implicit effects. Implications of these brand placement laws are discussed.
This article proposes a critical perspectives on brands based on recent developments within Marxist thought. It argues that brands build on the immaterial labour of consumers: their ability to create an ethical surplus (a social bond, a shared experience, a common identity) through productive communication. This labour is generally free in the sense that it is both un-paid and more or less autonomous. Contemporary brand management consists in a series of techniques by means of which such free labor is managed so that it comes to produce desirable and valuable outcomes. By thus making productive communication unfold on the plateau of brands, the enhanced ability of the contemporary multitude to produce a common social world is exploited as a source of surplus value.
On-line consumer reviews, functioning both as informants and as recommenders, are important in making purchase decisions and for product sales. Their persuasive impact depends on both their quality and their quantity. This paper uses the elaboration likelihood model to explain how level of involvement with a product moderates these relationships. The study produces three major findings: (1) the quality of on-line reviews has a positive effect on consumers' purchasing intention, (2) purchasing intention increases as the number of reviews increases, and (3) low-involvement consumers are affected by the quantity rather than the quality of reviews, but high-involvement consumers are affected by review quantity mainly when the review quality is high. These findings have implications for on-line sellers in terms of how to manage on-line consumer reviews.
Attitude toward the brand (Ab) and purchase intentions (PI) are two pivotal and popular constructs that have been routinely used by advertising scholars and practitioners. Despite their popularity, standard scales, with known psychometric properties, for measuring Ab and PI are not available. Furthermore, these two constructs might not be empirically distinguishable. On the basis of scales reported in prior studies, the authors develop measures of Ab and PI and assess their psychometric validity within a well-established, attitude toward the ad (Aad) theoretical framework. Implications of their findings are discussed.
The claim made in public relations that editorial content has greater value than an advertisement of the same size was tested. Results of an infomation-processing experiment indicate there may be some basis for claiming that a third- party endorsement by editorial staff adds credence to editorial copy. I found that moderate better recognition memory for editorial content than for one type of advertisement was not significantly eroded by a 2-week delay. However, when making claims that publicity outperforms advertising, public relations practitioners should bear in mind that advertisements used in this study were in advertorial format. Further study is needed to determine how the credibility of publicity performs against the broad array of persuasive appeals available in display advertisements (visual effects, humor, sex appeal, emotional impact, etc.).
The effect of a message source on the persuasion of a target audience has been a topic of interest to scholars in psychology,
consumer behavior, and communications for many years. Narrative reviews of this literature are available; the contribution
of this study is that we present a quantitative review of studies of source effects on persuasion. One of our research goals
is to determine how strong and consistent source manipulations tend to be. We find that, on average, source manipulations
account for nine percent of explained variance among studies reporting significant findings. In particular, expertise tends
to have the greatest effect on persuasion with an average of 16 percent of the explained variance being due to the expert
versus non-expert manipulation. As well as gaining insight into the pattern of results across a body of literature, our findings
may be used as benchmarks by researchers, as advocated by Sawyer and Ball (1981), to evaluate results of future persuasion
studies employing a source manipulation.
Online consumer reviews involving experiences, evaluations and opinions on products from previous consumers play two roles – an informant and a recommender. These two roles affect a consumer’s intention. However, there is a conflict between two roles when a large number of reviews are offered. From the perspective of the recommender role, consumers have more favorable attitude toward a product as a greater number of positive reviews are offered while consumers may be confronted with too much information, which results in information overload. This study investigates what consequences the tradeoff between two roles has on purchasing intention depending on consumer involvement.
Consumers often have to create consideration sets when purchasing goals are not well defined. In these situations, the contents of a consideration set depend on a combination of two motives. First, consumers prefer to create a consideration set of easy-to-compare alternatives. It is easier to compare alternatives that have alignable attributes or alternatives that have overlapping features. Second, consumers prefer to create consideration sets that have a high likelihood of containing their optimal alternative. For example, when the set of available alternatives requires the consumer to make trade-offs between benefits (i.e., to be compensatory), the consumer often delays making a decision about which benefits are preferable, and the consideration set tends to contain a more diverse set of alternatives. We document several factors that influence the relative importance of one or the other motive in consideration set formation and discuss implications for brand managers. Copyright 2003 by the University of Chicago.
Undergraduates expressed their attitudes about a product after being exposed to a magazme ad under conditions of either high or low product involvement. The ad contained either strong or weak arguments for the product and featured either prominent sports celebrities or average citizens as endorsers. The manipulation of argument quality had a greater impact on attitudes under high than low involve- ment, but the manipulation of product endorser had a greater impact under low than high involvement. These results are consistent with the view that there are two relatively distinct routes to persuasion.
Despite extensive interdisciplinary research, trust has been the subject of little systematic study in advertising, though investigations have incorporated and measured the construct. This study was conducted to develop a reliable and valid measure of the trust-in-advertising construct, using a three-stage, nine-step research design. The design produced the ADTRUST Scale, a 20-item Likert-formatted measure, and revealed that trust in advertising is a multidimensional construct (i.e., it has cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions) with four distinct factors: reliability, usefulness, affect, and willingness to rely on. The ADTRUST Scale sufficiently represents the four trust factors; exhibits high reliability and concurrent, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity; and reflects a combination of (1) consumer perception of reliability and usefulness of advertising, (2) consumer affect toward advertising, and (3) consumer willingness to rely on advertising for decision making. The operational and practical significance of the results are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.
When a company wants to spread its ideas, it faces key choices of format and source. It may choose to buy advertising space or to work with media reporters to generate news coverage. The source may be a corporate official, such as the CEO, or it may be an outside, noncommercial authority. The experiment reported in this study suggests that news stories may be more effective than ads. A CEO appears more persuasive than an outside authority because the CEO can generate more interest among the audience. Persuasion, in turn, may lead to behavioral changes.
This research examined the enduring nature of involvement with three recreational activities (golf, downhill skiing, windsurfing) and associated products using a panel survey approach. Over 280 participants completed in-season questionnaires that assessed involvement using Laurent and Kapferer's (1985) Consumer Involvement Profile scale. Respondents were contacted with follow-up instruments in the off-season and preseason. The data suggested that activity involvement scores on the attraction (importance, pleasure) and risk probability dimensions were stable between seasons but sign (symbolic value) and risk consequence scores fluctuated. Product involvement scores for all four dimensions were stable both across seasons and based on length of participation. Positive relations were found between activity involvement and length of participation. Six distinct activity involvement-based clusters were found. Discriminant analyses suggested that cluster memberships were generally stable across seasons.
The relationship of self-monitoring to buying behavior and to the consumer's value system is controversial and not well understood. The study examined the relationship between self-monitoring, materialism, and involvement with clothing and brands among a sample of 387 young adults. Constructs were measured with Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale, the Material Values Scale, the Consumer Involvement Profile, and a scale measuring market alienation. Self-monitoring was positively related to materialism, to clothing involvement, and to interest in marketplace events and brands. Discusses implications for the meaning of self-monitoring and the use of personality in explaining consumption behavior. Suggests implications for marketing strategy.
This article argues that as media production and consumption is increasingly embedded within a pervasive promotional culture, there is inevitably a blurring of boundaries between marketing, promotion and editorial. It examines contract publishing as a form of media production that explicitly uses the power of editorial to achieve the brand management objectives of clients, analysing the way customer magazines mimic the format and content of “glossies” with the object of positioning a particular brand in relation to a specifically targeted readership.
About 31 million residential mortgages are now issued annually in the United States. While many mortgage companies have invested in online functions that allow customers to apply over the internet, relatively few customers have applied in this manner. This article describes a promotional program that helped a mortgage company increase the percentage of customers completing online applications. By partnering with major retailers and consumer marketing companies, the mortgage company was able to provide incentives geared to people who were buying or remodeling a home which provided customers with a reward for completing the online application. Described is an incentive program implemented by a national mortgage company. The program helped to double the percentage of customers who completed an online application because of transaction-specific incentives.
The study examines the process by which consumers in-tegrate and compare others' opinions from different third-party endorse-ments into their product evaluations and purchase decisions. Consumers assimilate multiple opinions into their product evaluation process and purchase decisions based on the perceived risk and trustworthiness of the information sources. A content-dependent model proposes that con-sumer response to an information source depends on whether a third-party endorsement for a product is a news-like presentation or not. The findings suggest that consumers evaluated the third-party endorsements by focusing on the perceived risk and trust toward the news clip and customer testimonial to draw a conclusion for their purchase inten-tions. Consumers exhibited a tendency to prefer the news clip for high trust or decreased perceived risk. In other words, the news clip was clearly a better determinant of building trust and decreasing perceived risk. Implications for advertisers and the direction of future research are also presented. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH.
This paper reviews the empirical evidence of the effect of credibility of the message source on persuasion over a span of 5 decades, primarily to come up with recommendations for practitioners as to when to use a high- or a low-credibility source and secondarily to identify areas for future research. The main effect studies of source credibility on persuasion seem to indicate the superiority of a high-credibility source over a low-credibility one. Interaction effect studies, however, show source credibility to be a liability under certain conditions. The variables found to interact with source credibility are categorized into 5 categories: source, message, channel, receiver, and destination variables. The most heavily researched variables have been the message and receiver variables. Implications for marketers/advertisers and suggestions for future research are discussed.
What do lay people believe about the psychology of advertising and persuasion? How similar are the beliefs of lay people to those of consumer researchers? In this study we explore the content of people's conceptions of how television advertising influences its audience. The findings suggest that lay people and researchers share many basic beliefs about the psychology of persuasion but also indicate some dissimilarities in these groups' persuasion knowledge. We discuss what the findings imply about the existence of cultural folk knowledge and its effect on persuasion. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.
Recent advertising research appears to neglect the role of evidence in persuasion. From work on confirmatory bias in the field of behavioral decision theory, this paper argues for an interaction between advertising and evidence on evaluations, and finds experimental support for the interaction. Implications are drawn for advertising testing and for hierarchy models of advertising effects.
This study examines the process by which audiences integrate expert and consumer endorsements into their product evaluations and how endorsement consensus affects this process. The results suggest that positive expert and consumer endorsements both enhance audiences attitudes toward the endorsed product. However, positive consumer endorsements and higher perceived credibility of consumer endorsements, rather than expert endorsements, enhance audiences behavioral intents when audiences are already interested in the endorsed product.