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A Model of Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Advertising Strategies Larry Percy Lintas: USA John R. Rossiter Australian Graduate School of Management ABSTRACT A model is described that helps guide advertising strategy, based upon careful attention to brand awareness and brand attitude. In this model, an important distinction is drawn between recognition brand awareness and recall brand awareness. Brand attitude strategy is seen as reflecting an interaction between a potential consumer's involvement with the purchase decision and the underlying motivation to purchase. Applications of the model are discussed. Contrary to what may seem to be obvious, purchase intention is rarely the direct object of advertising communication strategy. Although it is certainly true that purchase intention and behavior is the ultimate goal of advertising, more often one must be preconditioned by first raising the salience of a brand, and then forming at least some tentative at- titudes toward it before purchase is considered. As a result, it is im- portant, from both a practical and theoretical perspective, to understand the dynamics involved in generating brand awareness and attitude. Toward that end this article dicusses the strategic implications of the model proposed by Rossiter and Percy (1980, 1987) for executing ad- Psychology & Marketing Vol. 9(4): 263-274 (July/August 1992) © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0742-6046/92/040263-12$04.00 263

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Page 1: A Model of Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Advertising Strategies

A Model of BrandAwareness andBrand AttitudeAdvertising StrategiesLarry PercyLintas: USAJohn R. RossiterAustralian Graduate School of Management

ABSTRACT

A model is described that helps guide advertising strategy, basedupon careful attention to brand awareness and brand attitude. In thismodel, an important distinction is drawn between recognition brandawareness and recall brand awareness. Brand attitude strategy isseen as reflecting an interaction between a potential consumer'sinvolvement with the purchase decision and the underlyingmotivation to purchase. Applications of the model are discussed.

Contrary to what may seem to be obvious, purchase intention is rarelythe direct object of advertising communication strategy. Although it iscertainly true that purchase intention and behavior is the ultimate goalof advertising, more often one must be preconditioned by first raisingthe salience of a brand, and then forming at least some tentative at-titudes toward it before purchase is considered. As a result, it is im-portant, from both a practical and theoretical perspective, to understandthe dynamics involved in generating brand awareness and attitude.Toward that end this article dicusses the strategic implications of themodel proposed by Rossiter and Percy (1980, 1987) for executing ad-

Psychology & Marketing Vol. 9(4): 263-274 (July/August 1992)© 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0742-6046/92/040263-12$04.00

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vertising that will meet particular brand awareness and brand attitudecommunication objectives.

In this model, brand awareness is treated as a dichotomy that ad-dresses both recognition and recall objectives, and brand attitude isdiscussed in terms of the interaction between the underlying motiva-tions driving behavior in a category and the involvement associatedwith the purchase decision. As discussed in detail in the following,motivation is conceptualized as either positive or negative, involvementas either low or high. It therefore follows that eight primary strategiesare available for advertising execution, based upon combinations of thetwo brand awareness strategies and the four brand attitude strategies(see Figure 1).

BRAND AWARENESS

Frequently overlooked in discussions of advertising strategy, brandawareness is a crucial consideration. It may be thought of as a buyer'sability to identify a brand within a category in sufficient detail to makea purchase. It is important to remember that sufficient detail does notalways require identification of the brand name. Often it is no morethen a visual image of the package that stimulates a response to thebrand. Moreover, recall of the name is not necessarily required becausebrand awareness may proceed through brand recognition. When abrand is recognized at point of purchase, brand awareness does notrequire brand recall. This is a key point in the consideration of brandawareness as a communication objective.

In fact, this difference is often misunderstood by marketing and ad-vertising managers. The difficulty relates to the essential differencebetween recognition and recall, a difference that is extremely importantto advertising strategy. Brand recognition and brand recall are twoseparate types of brand awareness. The difference depends upon the

BRAND AWARENESS

Brand Recognition(at-point-of-purchase)

Brand Recall(prior to purchase)

BRAND ATTITUDE

Low InvolvementInformational

High InvolvementInformational

Low InvolvementTransformational

High InvolvementTransformational

Figure 1. Two-factor communication models.

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communication effect that occurs first in the buyer's mind: categoryneed or brand awareness.

Recognition: Brand Awareness First

In many purchase situations, the brand is quite literally presented tothe consumer first, and this is what stimulates the consumer to considerthe relevancy of category need: Do I really need or want this? Thesequence in the buyer's mind is: Recognition of the brand reminds meof category need. It is important to understand here that a brand mayactually fail a recall test, yet be recognized in the store at the time ofthe purchase decision and bought.

A good illustration of what we are talking about here is the processmost people go through when food shopping. Very few shoppers actuallycarry lists; and those who do will only have category reminders (e.g.,trash bags, salad dressing, etc.), not brand names, on their list. Shoppersrely upon visual reminders of their needs as they scan the packages onthe shelf and brands are recognized. Clearly, then, when purchase se-lections rely upon recognition, advertising should feature the packageas it will be seen in the store.

Recall: Category Need First

In other decision-making situations, the brand is not present. A cate-gory need is experienced first, and then the consumer relies upon mem-ory to generate possible solutions. In this case the consumer must recalla brand, or several brands, from memory in order to make a decision.For example, if a family decides to go out for lunch at a fast-food res-traurant, they are unlikely to drive around until they recognize onethey would like to patronize. Instead they will recall from memoryavailable alternatives, select one, and then proceed there for lunch. Asa rule, the first recalled brand (given a favorable attitude) will get thebusiness. In this case, it is important to see and hear the brand namerepeatedly linked to the category need in advertising.

As we can see, brand awareness is not a simple issue. It has at leasttwo major components; and, in fact, one can even look at recognitionbrand awareness as being either visual recognition or verbal recogni-tion. The important thing to understand is that brand awareness is afunction of whether or not recognition ofthe brand drives category need(recognition awareness) or whether category need drives brand aware-ness (recall awareness). This distinction is critical to effective adver-tising strategy.

This question is relevant to all advertising and promotion situations.An advertiser is always trying to create or maintain brand awarenessso that the brand is salient for the buyer in a purchase situation. With-

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out the appropriate brand awareness response, advertising is unlikelyto be effective.

BRAND ATTITUDE

Like brand awareness, brand attitude is also a necessary communica-tion effect if brand purchase is to occur. However, we are treating at-titude in a somewhat different manner from that which is familiar tomost researchers dealing with consumer behavior. Generally speaking,the literature in consumer psychology looks at attitude in an expect-ancy-value manner, following the formulation of Fishbein (cf. Fishbein& Ajzen, 1975). But such a formulation is really too limiting.

The Rossiter and Percy model looks at attitude as referring to abuyer's overall evaluation of a brand with respect to its perceived abiityto meet a currently relevant motivation. This may appear to the readerto be very much like the Fishbein formulation, but there is an importantdifference. Our model acknowledges and accepts the general notion ofcognitive beliefs interacting with evaluations to form overall evalua-tions of a brand, but posits that the brand evaluation must be relatedto a currently relevant motivation in the sense that Fennell (1975,1978)argues all consumer's behavior is motivated. As a result, there are fourimportant characteristics to be understood about brand attitude:-

1. Brand attitude depends upon the currently relevant motivation.As a result, if a buyer's motivation changes, so might the buyer'sevaluation of a brand.

2. Brand attitude consists of both a cognitive and affective compo-nent. The cognitive, or logical belief, component guides behaviorand the affective, or emotional feeling, component energizes thebehavior.

3. The congitive component may be comprised of a series of specificbenefit beliefs. In and of themselves these are not the attitude,but rather the reasons for the brand attitude.

4. Brand attitude is a relative construct. In almost any product cat-egory what one is looking for is the brand that, relatively speaking,meets the underlying motivation better than alternative brands.As long as a motivation to behave exists, buyers will choose somebrand that best meets that motivation from the alternatives ofwhich the buyer is aware.

Brand attitude is not a simple construct, but it is critical to ourunderstanding of effective advertising strategy. In the remainder ofthis article we will deal in more depth with this notion, beginning withwhat we mean by involvement and motivation as it relates to brand

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attitude, and then how all of this may be implemented in generatingmore effective advertising strategies.

Involvement

Here we are dealing with one's ivolvement with a purchase decision,reflecting the cognitive aspect of brand attitude. Involvement is cate-gorized along the lines developed by Nelson (1970), an economic per-spective classifying a brand purchase decision as either low involve-ment, where trial experience is sufficient, or high involvement, whereinformation search and conviction is required prior to purchase. Theformulation of low involvement is compatible with Ehrenberg's aware-ness-trial-reinforcement model (1974). The high involvement formu-lation assumes a perceived risk that may be either economic or psy-chosocial (Bauer, 1967; Peter & Tarpy, 1975).

Motivation

Overall affect for a brand, as Wyer (1974) has argued, is only one classof beliefs about that brand. Clearly there are other motivations thatmay stimulate a brand purchase intention. Fennell (1975, 1978) hassuggested that one may look at consumer responses to particular brandsin relation to a brand's ability to fulfill one of a set of either positiveor negative motivations. These motivations are seen by Rossiter andPercy (1987) as part of an energizing mechanism that helps relate per-ceived benefits of an advertised brand with the underlying needs of theconsumer.

Basically, the Rossiter and Percy model (1987) defines brand attitudeas a summary belief that links the advertised brand to a specific mo-tivation. These five negative and three positive motivations provide thedimensions of motivation that drive the energizing mechanism linkinga brand attitude to a motivation. These motivations are detailed inTable 1.

THE STRATEGIC MODEL

A model of eight strategic directions results from an interaction firstof brand awareness with brand attitude; and then, within brand atti-tude, of involvement and motivation. We have seen this underlyingstructure illustrated in Figure 1. As shown, one may be looking at anadvertising strategy for one of four brand attitude strategies with eithera recognition or recall brand awareness objective. We have alreadydiscussed the strategic implications of the two brand awareness ob-jectives. Now it is necessary to look more closely at the strategicimplications of the four brand attitude components of the model (seeFigure 2).

In the model, one looks at the affective component of brand attitudeas dividing those consumers driven toward purchase primarily by an

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Table 1. Eight Basic Motives

Motivation Motivating Process

Negative1. Problem removal2. Problem avoidance3. Incomplete satisfaction4. Mixed approach avoidance

5. Normal depletion

Positive

6. Sensory gratification

7. Intellectual stimulation

8. Social approval

Seeking solution to a current problemSeeking to avoid an anticipated problemSeeking a better productSeeking resolution to a conflict caused by

both positive and negative attributes in thesame product

Seeking to maintain regular supply of product

Seeking extra physiological enjoyment fromthe product

Seeking extra psychological stimulation fromthe product

Seeking an opportunity for social reward fromthe product

information need to satisfy a negative behavioral motivation or a trans-formational desire to enhance a positive behavioral motivation. Thisdistinction is directly linked to the consumer's underlying behavioralmotivations associated with category need. One utilizes an informa-tional strategy only when the advertised brand is linked to one of thefive negatively originated motivations: problem remov&l (e.g., most painrelievers), problem avoidance (e.g., most detergent products), incom-plete satisfaction (e.g., most new and improved products), mixed ap-proach avoidance (e.g., most low-tar tobacco products), or normal de-pletion (e.g., any loyal brand that one runs out of, which retailers

INFORMATIONALNegative

drivereduction

TRANSFORMATIONALPositive

driveenhancement

Type ot Decision

LOW INVOLVEMENT(trial experience sufficient)

HIGH INVOLVEMENT(search and convictionrequired prior to purchase)

Figure 2. Pour main strategies for brand attitude based upon type of motivation andtype of decision.

• aspirin• light beer• detergents• routine

Industrialproducts

• housing• professional

calculators• cars (print)• new industrialproducts

•soda• regular beer• snacks and

dessert• cosmetics

• vacations• fashionclothing

•cars(television)

• corporate image

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Table 2. Specific Advertising Tactics for the Low Involvement/InformationalBrand Attitude Strategies

Strategy TacticCorrect emotional portrayal of the

motivation

Adequate logical support perceivedbrand delivery

Use a simple problem-solution format

It is not necessary for people to likethe adInclude only one or two benefits or asingle group of benefitsBenefit claims should be statedextremelyThe benefits should easily be learnedin one or two exposures

advertise). Transformational strategies, on the other hand, are usedonly when the advertised brand is linked to one of the positively orig-inated motivations: sensory gratification (e.g., most prepared dessertproducts), intellectual stimulation (e.g., most personal computers), orsocial approval (e.g., most cosmetic or status goods).

To illustrate how important this distinction between underlying mo-tivations can be, consider the recent advertising for Snickers candybars. As one might imagine, the' reason most people eat candy bars isfor the taste—sensory gratification, a positive motivation. But Snickershas uncovered a second motivation from some behavior (or potentialbehavior) in the category. Their advertising suggests you eat a Snickersbar in the afternoon to help get you by until dinner. This benefit claimreflects the negative motivation of problem removal—the problem islate-afternoon hunger, the solution, a Snickers bar. As Tables 2 and 3

Table 3. Specific Advertising Tactics for the Low Involvement/Transformational Brand Attitude Strategies

Strategy Tactic

Correct emotional portrayal of themotivation

Adequate logical support for perceivedbrand delivery

Emotional authenticity is thekey element and is the singlebenefitThe execution of the emotionmust be unique to the brandThe target audience must likethe adBrand delivery is byassociation and is oftenimplicitRepetition serves as a build-up function and areinforcement function

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suggest, quite different tactics are required with a low involvementinformational strategy reflecting the use of a candy bar to stay hungerpains versus a low involvement transformational strategy where youextol the great taste of a candy bar.

The cognitive component of brand attitude in the model, as we haveseen, is a function of the buyer's involvement with the purchase deci-sion. But with involvement anchored to purchase decision, it followsthat it must be related to a particular target audience. For example,even the most expensive product (such as a Rolls Royce) may be lowinvolvement to a rock star. Involvement, and thus the cognitive clas-sification for brand attitude, must be developed for both an advertisedbrand and specific target audiences.

In a rather interesting application of this logic, Bayer aspirin wasable to take a low involving decision for a mass audience and target ahigh involving niche. Ordinarily, the choice of an aspirin brand is lowinvolvement. But Bayer was able to capitalize upon recent medicalfindings that suggest aspirin is good for people with heart problems. Ina very moving piece of advertising, where a man who recently had aheart attack is shown with his wife in a delivery room where she ishaving a baby, Bayer has been able to target a segment of the marketwhere the usage decision is high involvement. Thus, with differentstrategies, they are able to market both a mass market and a smallersegment based upon the degree of involvement with the decision.

As these examples suggest, the typology of four brand attitude strat-egies resulting from this interrelation of motivation and involvementnecessarily suggests certain particular targeted recommendations foreach. These are only summarized briefly in Tables 2-5, but the inter-ested reader will find a detailed discussion of each in Rossiter and Percy(1987). For the purposes of this article we will review only the majordistinctions.

Authentic Emotional Portrayal of the Motivation

With the transformational strategies, emotional authenticity in theexecution of the advertising is critical. In fact, if one considers the lowinvolvement/transformational strategy, a positive emotion is actuallythe only benefit that is associated with the advertised brand. Withinformational stategies, correct emotional portrayal is still important,but less so than the information provided. Here the correct emotionalportrayal usually follows a negative to positive emotional problem solv-ing sequence, much as we saw in the Snickers example.

Attitude Toward the Advertising Itself

Another distinction related to motivation is that when a transforma-tional strategy is used, it is obviously essential that the target audience

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Table 4. Specific Advertising Tactics for the High Involvement/InformationalBrand Attitude Strategies

Strategy Tactic

Correct emotional portrayal of themotivation

Adequate logical support for perceivedbrand delivery

Correct emotional portrayal isvery important early in theproduct life cycle but less sotoward maturityThe target audience mustaccept the ad's main points,but need not like the ad itselfThe target audience's initialattitude toward the brand isthe overriding consideration totake into accountBenefit claims must be pitchedat an acceptable upper level ofbrand attitude (do notoverclaim)

Benefit claims must beconvincing (do notinadvertently underclaim)For target audiences who haveobjections to the brand,consider a refutationIf there is a well-entrenchedcompetitor and your brand hasadvantages on importantbenefits, consider acomparitive approach

Table 5. Specific Advertising Tactics for the High Involvement/Transformational Brand Attitude Strategies

Strategy Tactic

Correct emotional portrayal of themotivation

Adequate logical support for perceivedbrand delivery

Emotional authenticity is paramountand should be tailored to lifestylegroups within the target audiencePeople must identify personally withthe product as portrayed in the adand not merely like the adMany high involvementtransformational advertisements alsohave to provide infonnationOverclaiming is recommended, butdo not underclaimRepetition serves a build-up functionand a reinforcement function

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like the execution itself, regardless of their opinion of the brand. Withinformational strategies, on the other hand, this is not necessary. Wemight remember here, for example, that such irritating commercialsas Wisk's "ring around the collar" and Charmin's original "Mr. Whip-pie" each helped their brands to significant increases in market share.It is interesting that in general all the studies in which attitude towardthe advertising has been shown to have contributed significantly toattitude toward the brand, the products were generally advertised fol-lowing a low involvement/transformational strategy: beer (Rossiter &Percy, 1980) facial tissue (Mitchell & Olsen, 1981) and soft drinks(Shimp & Yokum, 1982). Advertising for low involvement/informa-tional products simply does not need to be liked.

Adequate Logical Support for Perceived BrandDelivery on Motivation

A third distinction concerns the cognitive component of brand attitudestrategies. Here one is precisely interested in consumer processing ofthe ad. A low involvement strategy really only needs to be processedpartially, in other words, only tentatively believed, such that an ex-perimental trial occurs. What this implies is that copy claims in lowinvolvement executions should be stated (via informational strategies)or implied (via transformational strategies) in the extreme. Becausethese claims need only be learned and not necessarily accepted, a moreextreme claim is more likely to be attended to and learned. This followsMcGuire's (1969) idea of "ask more, get more."

On the other hand, with high involvement strategies, the Sherif andHovland (1961) notion of assimilation contrast or social judgement the-ory seems to apply. Here careful execution of copy to reflect a targetaudience's prior or initial attitude makes the most sense (i.e., withintheir "latitude of acceptance"). Again, in terms of processing, now werequire full processing: In other words, the copy claim must not onlybe learned, but believed and accepted as well before an intention tobuy occurs. As a result, the cognitive tactics involved in the creating ofhigh involvement advertising, especially in the high involvement/informational case, are much more detailed than with low involve-ment strategies.

Application of the Quadrant Dimensions as Dichotomy

It would appear that Rossiter and Percy are proposing that the fourbrand attitude strategies represent functionally distinct models. Al-though it may be suggested that the dimensions involved actually couldbe considered as continua rather than as dichotomies, Rossiter andPercy argue that studies of consumer behavior would generally identifya target audience as exercising either a try-it-and-see type of decision

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(a low involvement decision) or one where they would require convinc-ing before trial (a high involvement decision).

If one were to find a case where there were in fact dual decisionmodels within the same target audience, and only one communicationscampaign is practical, one should opt for the more conservative highinvolvement strategies. Although this is definitely the safer choice, theadvertiser should nevertheless be aware that because high involvementstrategies are generally more complex, they may be somewhat lesseffective strategies than low involvement ones for those members of thetarget audience utilizing low involvement decisions.

In the same way, by identifying the main motivation for a purchase,it becomes rather straightforward to decide whether the predominantexecutional focus should be informational or transformational. A trulymixed case should rarely occur outside of the high involvement/trans-formational strategy. Because of the high risk attached to purchasehere, even though the purchase motivation is principally positive, ex-ecutions must still provide some level of information in order to providethe consumer with some rationale for purchase. To be sure, one candeal with these mixed cases of strategy by utilizing both sets of appro-priate tactics, but the resulting execution is likely to be much moredifficult to effectively develop.

SUMMARY

Rossiter and Percy (1987) have presented a 2 x 4 communication modelbased upon an interaction of brand awareness seen as recognition versusrecall based and brand attitude seen in light of the traditional cognitiveand affective components of attitude. The cognitive dimension utilizesthe concept of involvement or perceived risk attached to the purchaseof a brand. Following Nelson (1970), the model takes advantage of aneconomic theory that classifies brand purchase decision as either lowinvolving, where trial experience is sufficient, or high involving, wheresearch and conviction are required prior to purchase. Involvement con-ceived of in this way was shown to be highly dependent upon targetaudience.

The affective dimension utilizes the dominant motivation underlyingbrand purchase. Strategies based upon this motivation are classified aseither being informational or transformational. Utilizing Fennell's(1978) motivations, Rossiter and Percy suggest informational strategiesassociated with negative drive reduction states—problem removal,problem avoidance, incomplete satisfaction, mixed approach avoidance,or normal depletion; and transformational strategies associated withpositive drive enhancement—sensory gratification, intellectual stim-ulation, or social approval.

Following this model in the development of brand awareness and

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attitude strategies enables one to create better tailored, more effectiveadvertising based upon careful consideration of what works best inadvertising communication.

REFERENCES

Bauer, R. A. (1967). Source effect and persuasiblity: A new look. In D. F. Cox(Ed.) Risk taking and information handling in consumer behavior (pp. 559-578). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ehrenberg, A. S. C. (1974). Repetitive advertising and the consumer. Journalof Advertising Research, 14, 25-34.

FennelU, G. (1975). Motivation research revisited. Journal of Advertising Re-search, 15, 23-27.

Fennell, G. (1978). Consumers' perceptions of the product-use situation. Jour-nal of Marketing, 42, 38-47.

Fishbein, M. & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: Anintroduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

McGuire, W. J. (1969). The nature of attitudes and attitude change. In G.Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (Vol. 3, pp.136-314). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Mitchell, A. A. & Olson J. C. (1981). Are product attribute beliefs the onlymediator of advertising effects on brand attitude? Journal of MarketingResearch, 18, 318-332.

Nelson, P. E. (1970). Information and consumer behavior. Journal of PoliticalEconomy, 78, 311-329.

Peter, J. P. & Tarpy, L. X. (1975). A comparative analysis of three consumerdecision strategies. Journal of Consumer Research, 2, 29-37.

Rossiter, J. R. & Percy L. (1980). Attitude change through visual imagery inadvertising. Journal of Advertising, 9, 10-16.

Rossiter, J. R. & Percy, L. (1987). Advertising and promotion management.New York: McGraw-Hill.

Sberif, M., & Hovland, C. I. (1961). Social judgement. New Haven: Yale Uni-versity Press.

Shimp, T. A. & Yokum, J. T. (1982). Advertising inputs and psycbophysicaljudgments in vending-machine retailing. Journal of Retailing, 58, 95-113.

Wyer, R. S. (1974). Cognitive organization and change: An information pro-cessing approach. Potomac, MD: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Larry Percy, the corresponding author, is with Lintas: USA, 30400Van Dyke, Warren, MI 48093.

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