Branding

Deborah J. Maclnnis, Christine Moorman, & Bernard J. Jaworski

Enhancing and Measuring Consumers' Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process Brand Information From Ads
Considerable research suggests that advertising executional cues can influence communication effectiveness. Related research indicates that communication effectiveness is in part driven by consumers' motivation, opportunity, and ability (MOA) to process brand information from an ad. However, little research has explicitly linked executional cues to communication effectiveness via their impact on MOA and levels of processing. The authors present a framework that explicitly provides such a linkage. The framework highlights the mediational role of MOA in the relationships among executional cues and communication outcomes, it also provides a theoretical account that links apparently disparate cues to their common effects on motivation, opportunity, or ability. The framework is complemented by a critical review of current measures of MOA and proposed measures based on the review. Research issues raised by the framework and the proposed measures are discussed.

NDERSTANDING the myriad research findings on advertising executional cues presents a challenge to both academicians and practitioners. A recent conference at the Marketing Science Institute (1988a) revealed that practitioners often must make decisions about creating or modifying ad executional cues while having little knowledge of the cues' likely impact on viewer processing. Recognizing this problem, MSI designated research on the relationship between advertising executional cues and viewer information processing as a research priority (MSI 1988b).

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Deborah J. Maclnnis is Associate Professor of Marketing and Bernard J. Jaworski is Associate Professor of Marketing, Karl Eller Graduate School of Managenfient, University of Arizona. Christine Moorman is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Graduate School of Business, University of...