Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference ECONOMIC SCIENCE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT No 43

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1 Jelgava, LLU ESAF, April 2016, pp EFFECTIVENESS OF VISUAL METAPHOR IN MILK ADVERTISING Lina Pileliene 1, PhD; Viktorija Grigaliunaite 2 1, 2 Vytautas Magnus University Abstract. In prevailing competition-based market economy, there is a need for marketing communication to be effective in order to retain customers and attract the new ones. One of the most popular modes of marketing communication advertising, now has to find ways to be attention grabbing and persuading among the enormous amounts of advertisements. Therefore, creativity becomes crucially important. Using metaphors, which cause consumers to understand one or some elements of the advertisement in terms of another, is the possible technique to make an advertisement creative. Moreover, as visual elements of the advertisement are considered as more attention grabbing than the verbal ones, the assumption can be made that the usage of visual metaphors in advertising is the method leading into the effectiveness of advertising. Nevertheless, subtleties such as product category may have the impact on the consumers associations with the brand developed through advertising with visual metaphors and perceived value of the product; and the question rises whether this impact is positive or negative. The aim of this research is to determine the impact of visual metaphors on the effectiveness of milk advertising. The analysis of the research results reveals the specific aspects of consumer response to milk advertising, which are influenced by the application of visual metaphors and whether that aspects of consumer response to milk advertising are influenced positively or negatively. As a research result, authors provide guidelines for creating effective milk advertising campaigns. Key words: advertising, effectiveness, metaphor, milk. JEL code: M31, M37. Introduction Contemporary market is unimaginable without advertising. Each company is not only trying to be visible to its target consumers and society as a whole, it tries to gain the part in consumers mind. Since its emergence, advertising has evolved to a masterpiece rather than to a method to sell something. Phillips B. J. and McQuarrie E. F. (2004) suggest that advertising is a form of human communication that is mainly based on pictures to persuade. Moreover, according to van Mulken M. et al. (2014), modern advertising relies heavily on visual metaphors. Despite the wide body of scientific research in the field, much research has more focused on viewers comprehension, interpretation, and attitude toward the ad as the outcome; however, the results of the persuasive effects of visual metaphors are still scarce (Jeong S.-H., 2008). Gkiouzepas L. and Hogg M. K. (2011) argue that the importance of the metaphor s depiction and referents in establishing representational deviation (and thus attracting and encouraging readers to uncover the implied visual message) have been neglected in the literature. Therefore, the scientific problem analysed in this article can be raised by a question: what is the impact of visual metaphor on advertising effectiveness? Achieving to contribute to the scientific discussion on the issue, this paper aims to determine the impact of visual metaphors on the effectiveness of milk advertising. Three objectives are set to achieve the aim: 1) to define visual metaphors and substantiate their usage in advertising; 2) to choose the metaphor suitable for the milk advertisement; 3) to compare the effectiveness of advertisements with and without metaphors. Research results and discussion The objectives of the article determine its structure. To reach the aim, the main part of the article is organized into three chapters: substantiation of the topic; methodological background; and research results. The empiric results for the research were obtained by the questionnaire-based survey. Consequently, the research provides guidelines for marketers how to apply the visual metaphors in advertising. 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: l.pileliene@evf.vdu.lt. 175

2 1. Substantiation of the topic Enterprises can shape consumer expectations by effective advertising (Eglite A., Kunkulberga D., 2015). However, considering the recent information overload in mass media, it is becoming very hard to attract targets attention or evoke their interest. Advertisers have to find ways to motivate consumer engagement with the advertisement per se (Putrevu S. et al., 2004). Creativity gains the lions part in the process of advertising creation. One of the ways for attracting consumers attention by evoking their interest is considered to be the usage of visual metaphors in advertising. Metaphor is unexpected parallel between two objects which transfers the symbolic meaning from one to the other. According to Proctor T. et al. (2005), metaphors make use of similarities and create Jelgava, LLU ESAF, April 2016, pp meaning by transferring the qualities from one object to a new object through an implied comparison based on analogy. Baxter L. A. (1992) emphasizes that metaphors dominate in our lives as a best parts of them. Therefore, using metaphors in advertising might be considered as a proper way for conquering competitors in the battle for consumers attention. Chamblee R. et al. (1993) suggest that readers approach advertisements for different product categories with different expectations. Therefore, the usage of visual metaphors in advertising in different industries might gain different results. For this research, Lithuanian milk industry was chosen as a research platform. As it can be observed in the Figure 1, the industry has been slightly growing each year since Source: author s construction based on Statistics Lithuania (2015). Fig. 1. Consumption of milk and milk products in Lithuania (kg per capita) Although there are 31 milk processing plants in Lithuania, the five main dairy processors JSC Rokiskio Suris, JSC Pieno Zvaigzdes, JSC Zemaitijos Pienas, JSC Vilkyskiu Pienine and Marijampoles Pieno Konservai together process 93% of all milk purchased in Lithuania (Rucinski P., 2015). Therefore, advertising is considered as one of the core methods for convincing consumers to buy a brand. 2. Methodological background In order to compare the effectiveness of advertisements with and without metaphors, the metaphor suitable for the milk advertisement was chosen, two milk advertisements (one with and one without the visual metaphor) were created and finally authors provided the questionnaire research. 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: l.pileliene@evf.vdu.lt. 176

3 The metaphor suitable for the milk advertisement was chosen after the content analysis of Lithuanian and foreign milk advertisements. The chosen metaphor contains the element of glasses of milk in the composition of teeth which cause consumers to understand that this element is white teeth. The bottle of milk is presented in the bottom of this advertisement. The same bottle of milk and only one glass of milk near the bottle are presented in the advertisement without visual metaphor. Latter two advertisements were used for the research. The research was held in Lithuania in Only citizens of Lithuania could participate in the research. Authors applied simple random sampling method. The total amount of 200 questionnaires was distributed and 168 questionnaires were returned; 54 men and 114 women participated in the research. The questionnaire was composed to reflect respondents attitude toward the advertisements with and without visual metaphors, attitude toward products presented in the advertisements with and without visual metaphors and purchase intentions of the products advertised with and without visual metaphors. Attitudes were measured on semantic differential scale, thus revealing the strength and direction of a persons Jelgava, LLU ESAF, April 2016, pp attitude toward the specific object. Seven point Likert scale was used to measure purchase intentions. Consequently, there were four main parts of the questionnaire: attitude toward the advertisement; attitude toward the product; purchase intentions; socio-demographic part (respondents were asked to identify their age and gender). Consequently, the hypotheses were made that attitude toward the advertisement, attitude toward the product and purchase intentions of the product differ regarding advertisements with visual metaphor and without it. IBM SPSS Statistics V.20 and XLSTAT 2014 software packages were applied for the statistical analysis. 3. Research results The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test is applied (two dependent samples; non-normally distributed data) to assess the differences in attitude toward the advertisement, the attitude toward the product, and the purchase intentions when the product is presented in the advertisement with visual metaphor and without it. Test s results are presented in Table 1. As it could be seen, attitude toward the milk advertisements with visual metaphor and without visual metaphor differs statistically significantly (p < 0.05). Table 1 Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test Variable Advertisements Z p-value Attitude toward advertisement Attitude toward product Purchase intentions of the advertised product *p < 0.05 Source: author s elaboration. The differences in attitude toward the product and purchase intentions of the product advertised Ad with visual metaphor * Ad with no visual metaphor Ad with visual metaphor Ad with no visual metaphor Ad with visual metaphor Ad with no visual metaphor in advertisement with visual metaphor and without it are statistically non-significant. 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: l.pileliene@evf.vdu.lt. 177

4 Analyzing the attitude toward the advertisements in more detail, evaluations of the adjectives that represent the attitude are presented in Figure 2. As it could be seen, all of the adjectives are evaluated better for the advertisement with visual metaphor in comparison to the evaluations for the Jelgava, LLU ESAF, April 2016, pp advertisement without visual metaphor. It could be stated that the advertisement with visual metaphor seems to be more pleasant, informative, beneficial and beautiful to the respondents than the advertisement without visual metaphor. Source: author s elaboration. Fig. 2. Evaluations of attitude toward the ad with visual metaphor and attitude toward the ad with no visual metaphor When analyzing the attitude toward the product presented in the two advertisements provided for the research, it could be seen that in almost all aspects (good quality, organic, valuable, healthy, recommended for use, natural, rich in nutrients) the product presented in the advertisement with visual metaphor is evaluated better (even though the differences are statistically non-significant) and only in one aspect (freshness) the product presented in the advertisement without visual metaphor is evaluated better (Figure 3). Moreover, intentions to purchase the product advertised in the advertisement with visual metaphor are higher (despite the fact that the difference is statistically non-significant). Based on the research results it could be stated that visual metaphor in milk advertisement allows consumers to form the more positive attitude toward the advertisement. 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: l.pileliene@evf.vdu.lt. 178

5 Jelgava, LLU ESAF, April 2016, pp Source: author s elaboration. Fig. 3. Evaluations of attitude toward the product advertised in advertisement with visual metaphor and advertised in advertisement with no visual metaphor In this research the difference in attitude toward the advertised products is statistically non-significant. Bearing in mind the fact that the product in this research contained no brand in order to eliminate the influence of respondents already formed attitude toward known brands, it could be stated that this decision became the limitation of the research. Previous research (Grigaliunaite V., Pileliene L., 2015) confirmed that attitude toward the advertisement has a positive statistically significant influence on the attitude toward the brand, which in turn has a positive statistically significant influence on the purchase intentions. The assumption could be made that the more positive attitude toward the advertisement elicited by the usage of visual metaphors can cause the more positive attitude toward the specific brand (not the product, as the research results revealed the attitude toward the products advertised in the advertisements with and without visual metaphor does not differ), and the more positive attitude toward the specific brand can cause higher purchase intentions of the specific brand, advertised with visual metaphor. Conclusions, proposals, recommendations 1) The usage of visual metaphors in milk advertising indeed has a positive impact on its effectiveness. The analysis of the research results leads to the conclusion that visual metaphors in milk advertising allows consumers to form the more positive attitude toward the advertisement. Therefore, achieving to make milk advertisements more convincing, companies should use metaphors. 2) Visual metaphors in milk advertising do not form the more positive attitude toward the product and do not elicit higher purchase intentions of that product. It can be stated that on purpose to elicit milk consumption in general, companies (or even government) have to use other marketing measures. The assumption could be made that visual metaphors in milk advertising can form the more positive attitude toward the specific brand and elicit higher purchase intentions of that brand. Latter assumption becomes the direction for future research. 3) Based on the research results, the main guideline for creating milk advertising 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: l.pileliene@evf.vdu.lt. 179

6 campaigns which have higher possibility to become effective is to use visual metaphors and to emphasise the brand in the advertisement. Using visual metaphors and emphasising the brand in the advertisement could lead to the transfer of the more positive attitude to the advertisement to the more Jelgava, LLU ESAF, April 2016, pp positive attitude to the brand, which finally could lead to the higher purchase intentions of that specific brand. Acknowledgment This research was funded by a grant (No. MIP- 098/2014) from the Research Council of Lithuania. Bibliography 1. Chamblee, R., Gilmore, R., Thomas, G., & Soldow, G. (1993). When Copy Complexity Can Help Ad Readership. Journal Of Advertising Research, Volume 33, Issue3), pp Eglite, A., Kunkulberga, D. (2015). Consumer Behaviour in the Bread Market in Latvia. Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference ECONOMIC SCIENCE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT, Volume 40, pp Gkiouzepas, L., Hogg, M. K. (2011). Articulating a New Framework for Visual Metaphors in Advertising. Journal of Advertising, Volume 40, Issue 1, pp Grigaliunaite, V., Pileliene L. (2015). Determination of the Impact of Spokesperson on Advertising Effectiveness. International Journal of Management, Accounting and Economics, Volume 2, Number 8, pp Jeong, S.-H. (2008) Visual Metaphor in Advertising: Is the Persuasive Effect Attributable to Visual Argumentation or Metaphorical Rhetoric? Journal of Marketing Communications, Volume 14, Issue1, pp van Mulken, M., van Hooft, A., Nederstigt, U. (2014). Finding the Tipping Point: Visual Metaphor and Conceptual Complexity in Advertising. Journal of Advertising, Volume 43, Issue 4, pp Phillips, B. J., & McQuarrie, E. F. (2004). Beyond Visual Metaphor: A New Typology of Visual Rhetoric in Advertising. Marketing Theory, Volume 4, Issues 1/2, pp Proctor, T., Proctor, S., & Papasolomou, I. (2005). Visualizing the Metaphor. Journal of Marketing Communications, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp Putrevu, S., Tan, J., & Lord, K. R. (2004). Consumer Responses to Complex Advertisements: The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition, Knowledge, and Gender. Journal of Current Issues & Research In Advertising (CTC Press), Volume 26, Issue 1, pp Rucinski, P. (2015). Lithuanian Dairy Industry Strongly Affected by the Russian Ban. Global Agricultural Information Network. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from %20by%20the%20Russian%20ban._Warsaw_Lithuania_ pdf. 11. Statistics Lithuania (2015). Foodstuff consumption per capita. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from visualization&hash=bd1a2fd2-a868-4c86- b4e1-b6a8d2b7fa86. 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: l.pileliene@evf.vdu.lt. 180