ABSTRACT
This chapter integrates the two approaches by exploring the effects of characteristics of real advertisements in real markets on buying behaviour. The theoretical framework in which the study is embedded is the role of the motivation and ability of consumers to process advertising messages. The study is based on a very detailed and rich database that enables the authors to carry out analyses at the hourly level, thereby having to control for monthly, daily and hourly patterns in advertising responses. Laboratory studies have covered a variety of advertising elements, including emotional cues, types of arguments and music. These studies emphasize experimental control and are almost exclusively lab-based. The chapter attempts to develop deeper insight into the relationship between the executional cues of ads and consumers’ behavioral response to those ads. It argues that different cues work differently in younger markets than in older ones because of intrinsic differences in consumers’ motivation and ability to process information in those markets.
