Developing Emotional Appeals in Internet Advertising

(A

study of contributing factors involved in provoking emotional appeals)

Dr. Manish Srivastava

Reader

School of Management Sciences

Varanasi (India)

Ms. Manu Sharma

Lecturer

Department of Management Studies,

Institute of Foreign Trade & Management

Moradabad (India)

Abstract

Online media and its increasing usage rate have changed the marketer′s world for

targeting their consumers. Internet advertising has recaptured the imagination of

marketers, who see an enormous potential to raise the profile of their brands

through Internet vehicles. Companies are moving online across the spectrum of

marketing activities, from building awareness to after-sales service, and they see

online tools as an important and effective component of their marketing strategies.

In the light of widespread use of Internet, the marketers & advertisers target their

consumers by developing emotional bonding/ connection with them. Today, most

of the Internet advertisements are created on the basis of emotional integration

appeals. Currently, there exists are limited studies related to emotional connection

and its formation. Therefore, the objective of this research paper is to provide an

insight at the factors responsible for developing emotional appeal, and a means by

which internet advertising can contribute to the formation of emotionally-charged

consumer connection. The paper first describes the importance of Internet

advertising in this digital economy and emotional message appeals used by the

advertisers in the internet advertisements The second part explores contribution of

each of the factors in the process of developing emotional connection with the

audience and also Integration of these factors in developing emotional bonding

with the viewers.

Introduction

The evolution of on-line media and its increasing usage rate has changed the

marketer′s world for targeting their consumers. In the light of widespread use of

Internet, the marketers & advertisers target their consumers by developing

emotional bonding/ connection with them. Today, most of the Internet

advertisements are created on the basis of emotional integration appeals. The

creation of an emotional connection is an important yet under-researched area

within the field of advertising. Currently, there exists are limited studies related to

emotional connection and its formation. Therefore, the objective of this research

paper is to provide an insight at the factors responsible for developing emotional

appeal, and a means by which internet advertising can contribute to the formation

of emotionally-charged consumer connection. The paper first describes the

importance of Internet advertising in this digital economy and emotional message

appeals used by the advertisers in the internet advertisements The second part

explores contribution of each of the factors in the process of developing emotional

connection with the audience and also Integration of these factors in developing

emotional bonding with the viewers.

Internet Advertising

The spread of wired internet networks has opened up new vistas for advertisers to

earn more revenue by exploring its vast and growing reach. The adoption of

internet advertising among end users to show and increase trend and thus it

becomes a key component of marketing strategy

.

Internet Advertising is a media to

interact and communicate with the customers. The communication of factual

information about a products primary function is usually accepted as being of value

to the customer. The usage of internet advertising is gaining pace for last decade.

The recent results of Internet advertising revenues are impressive, it has reached a

new record of & 4.9 billion for the first quarter of 2007.This 2007 first quarter

represents a 26 % increase over Q1 2006 at $ 3.8 billion and a 2 % increase over

Q4 2006 at $ 4.8 billion. The steady growth of online advertising is a clear

indication that marketers continue to believe in the opportunities and effectiveness

that is medium delivers in reaching and engaging their customers. Internet

advertisements constitute 1.8 % of total advertising expenditure that stands around

$75 (approx RS. 30 crores) which is projected to rise by 3.1 %in 2008-09.

Source: PwC/IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report (http://www.iab.net/

)

Growth of Internet Advertising

Intense and fierce competition has made communicators and marketers look for

strategies that would place their organization ahead of and apart of its competitors.

Internet advertising delivers time, place, possession and form utility. Marketers

need two way communication to interact with the consumer and thus demand of

internet advertising have risen due to following factors.

High Usage Rate of Internet

Homely environment served by Internet

Changing Dynamics of Consumer needs

Easy access/availability

Visual Elements as an addition (pictures, animations etc)

Economical

Sales promotion schemes

Ads based on personal lives

Awareness about the various schemes available for the end-users

Emerging Trends in Internet Advertising

Today′s Generation is technology savvy and the interactive media tools like blogs, pod-

casting, electronic ­ word ­ of mouth etc help the marketers to attract the people

successfully towards the company′s products or services . In the current business scenario,

blogs

have become strong vehicles for expression and a major common interactive tool for

the corporate sector. Companies like Nike, Mazda, and SBC used blogs and found it useful

as it helps them to catch up with the latest fads and then use it successfully in advertising.

Thousands of Microsoft employees also have their personal blogs, where the interaction

can be done by developers to the other counterparts. Another popular method of

communication with the customers is

Podcasting

. In this method, multimedia files like

audio clips or videos are distributed over the internet for playing on mobile phones as well

as PC′s. Another popular method is

Electronic-word-of-mouth or word-of-mouse

i.e.

netizens discussing among themselves about products, services e.g. orkut, pure on-line

stores, Amazon etc. These common interactive media tools blogs, Podcasting are much

cheaper than TV or print media campaign. Due to its wide distributed network, high

circulation rate and economical nature the internet is the most commonly used advertising

tool used by the advertisers to target the huge number of viewers.

Categories of Internet Advertisements

The Internet offers different types of advertisements to attract the customers′

attention. The search engines & web sites are designed with creative and suitable

advertisements to gain customer′s attention and to increase the on-click ratio.

Banners:

The most common form of advertising on the web is banner ads. Banner

ads may be used for creating awareness or recognition or for direct-marketing

objectives. Banner ads may take on a variety of forms, as well as a number of

names such as side panels, skyscrapers, or verticals. Initially banner ads constituted

the vast majority of advertising on the Net, but studies indicating their questionable

effectiveness have led to a decline in usage.

Sponsorships:

Another common example of advertising is sponsorship. There are

two types of sponsorships.

Regular sponsorships

occur when a company pays to

sponsor a section of a site, for example Clairol′s sponsorship of a page on

GirlsOn.com.

Content sponsorships

is that in which the sponsor not only provides

dollars in return for name association but participates in providing the content

itself, for example iVillage.com.