Publications
Publications
- Marketing Science
Moment-to-moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing
By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters
Abstract
We develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact that branding activity (the audio-visual representation of brands) and consumers' dispersion of attention have on their moment-to-moment avoidance decisions during television advertising. It formalizes this in a Dynamic Probit Model and estimates it with MCMC methods. Data on commercial avoidance through zapping along with eye tracking on 31 commercials for nearly 2000 participants are used to calibrate the model. New, simple metrics of attention dispersion are shown to strongly predict avoidance. Independent of this, central on-screen brand positions but not brand size further promote commercial avoidance. Based on the model estimation, we optimize the branding activity under marketing control for ads in the sample to reduce commercial avoidance. This reveals that pulsing the brand presence—while keeping total brand exposure constant—decreases commercial avoidance significantly. Both numerical simulations and a controlled experiment using regular and edited commercials provide evidence of the benefits of brand pulsing to ward off commercial avoidance. Implications for advertising management and theory are addressed.
Keywords
Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Mathematical Methods
Citation
Teixeira, Thales S., Michel Wedel, and Rik Pieters. "Moment-to-moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing." Marketing Science 29, no. 5 (September–October 2010): 783–804. (Lead Article.)