When the Medium Is the Message: A Meta-Analysis of Creative Media Advertising Effects

Abstract

Creative media advertising is a specific type of unconventional advertising in which a regular physical object serves as a medium to carry an advertising message. To better understand the workings of this type of advertising, we conducted a meta-analysis. In this study, we explore the direct effects of creative media advertising, several moderators, and the possible underlying mechanisms. The results show that exposure to creative (versus traditional) media advertising has an overall positive effect on brand association strength and persuasion (i.e., ad attitude, brand attitude, purchase intentions, and electronic word of mouth [eWOM]). Both these effects are moderated by metaphor use, meaning that the effects are stronger when the physical object is a good metaphor for the message it carries. Furthermore, indirect (e.g., social media, printed picture) exposure to the message positively moderates the effect of creative media advertising on brand association strength but not on persuasion. Brand familiarity does not play a moderating role. Finally, a meta-analytic structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure was used to show that the main underlying mechanism of creative media advertising persuasiveness is surprise—and not perceived persuasive intent. For practitioners, this study shows that creative media ads are more effective when leveraging surprise and metaphors.

Acknowledgments

We thank Stefano Giani for his assistance with the initial systematic search and Eline Jansen for her assistance with the coding of papers. We also thank the editor in chief, the associate editor, and the four anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback and suggestions during the review process.

Notes

1 We would like to thank our reviewer for offering this explanation and these metaphors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by SWOCC, the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Commercial Communication. A Dutch language summary of a portion of the current research has been made available exclusively for members of SWOCC (Meijers, Eelen, and Voorveld 2016).

Notes on contributors

Zeph M. C. van Berlo

Zeph M. C. van Berlo (PhD, University of Amsterdam) is an assistant professor of persuasive communication, Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam.

Marijn H. C. Meijers

Marijn H. C. Meijers (PhD, University of Amsterdam) is an assistant professor of persuasive communication, Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam.

Jiska Eelen

Jiska Eelen (PhD, University of Leuven) is an associate professor of marketing, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Hilde A. M Voorveld

Hilde A. M. Voorveld (PhD, University of Amsterdam) is an associate professor of marketing communication, Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam.

Martin Eisend

Martin Eisend (PhD, Free University Berlin) is a professor of marketing, European University Viadrina, and an adjunct professor of marketing, Copenhagen Business School.