Abstract:
Video commercials have long been a central medium for marketing and selling products. Strategies for increased effectiveness of video commercials have logically been a focal point for marketers. One of these strategies is known as the use of vividness in the message in a commercial. This study’s literature goes further into how vividness of the message may be used to increase a commercial’s effectiveness in consumer response. It also includes the experience of vividness between different levels of language proficiency.
This study focuses on the effects of Vividness of the message (VOTM) and English language proficiency (ELP) on Consumer response in Anglophone video commercials. VOTM was coded into two levels, namely high VOTM (oral anchoring and delivery of the message) and low VOTM (written anchoring and delivery of the message). Consumer response was measured by Attitude towards the ad, Attitude towards the brand, and Brand purchase intention. The dependent control variable Perceived vividness of the message (P-VOTM) was added to measure the experience of VOTM. Native speakers of English and Dutch non-native speakers of English were shown both one orally anchored and one written anchored Anglophone commercial. After each commercial, a questionnaire was used to measure Consumer response and P-VOTM.
The results for the study showed little to no significant main effect of VOTM on Consumer response. ELP did show a significant effect for P-VOTM, as native speakers of English scored significantly higher on average. This gives credence to the literature that states an individual tends to experience his or her native language more vividly than one’s second language. A significant effect of the control variable Product on P-VOTM implies that the current scope of VOTM in current literature may be expanded upon in the future.
