In this chapter, the authors first study the differences between traditional advertising and Internet advertising by focusing on their implicit meaning. Next, the consumer’s elaboration model and consumer’s involvement model that are applicable both in traditional and modern media are discussed. 28 advantages of Internet publicity are presented, and finally, the authors deal with the changes occurring in the consumer’s information environment.
TopImplicit Meaning
Advertising efforts for a brand often involve implicit concepts such as dignity and cheerfulness (Ringold, et al., 1989). These elements can be visual or auditory, or the implicit meanings of words or sentences (Toncar & Munch, 2001). Audiences use such information to comprehend the message. Advertisement-evoked association and implicit meaning are mentioned by different names in research fields. For instance, when measuring the degree of influence of a particular advertisement, the ad influence over a special type of product is controlled by a descriptive checklist of implicit meanings that also checks the cognitive response (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. One sample of the implicit meaning in advertising
Brand image includes some associations (Keller, 1993) that cannot be conveyed explicitly through words. Moreover, the ads should be believable if they are supposed to establish a relationship with consumers. This can be fulfilled by applying implicit meanings (Dahlen, 2004).
Advertisements are full of implicit meanings (McQuarrie & Mick, 1999). According to a study conducted by Toncar and Munch (2001), implicit meanings are significantly influential when establishing relationships and creating advertisements. As far as implicit meanings are concerned, print and Internet ads have common points. One of these points is the consumer’s control over whether he pays attention to the ad or not. In printed advertisements, a consumer’s control over ads is the intonation by which the message is read (Lee, 2000). In Internet advertisements, a user clicks on pages or information linked to the ad, and moves up and down on the website voluntarily. Both traditional and Internet advertisements require active participation (Dahlen, 2002), because it is the customer who decides about the length of exposure. However, the major difference between these two advertising methods is that the Internet is a live medium presenting more opportunities for interaction and more consumer motivators (Coyle & Thorson, 2001). In this way, Internet advertising is can better associate implicit meanings than traditional methods of advertising (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Samples of implicit meaning in advertising