What Makes Advertising Effective?

Advertising can be a powerful form of persuasion. After all, if it is not persuasive then its product will not sell and its purpose is defeated. The new VISA advertisement is an example of an effective ad. The target audience is anyone old enough to use a VISA card, which means people of all ages ranging from a teenager to a grandparent. The ad shows short clips of children, young men, young women and older men and women living and enjoying life thanks to their VISA cards. Through use of the source characteristic of intrinsic credibility and message characteristic of organization, VISA effectively achieves its goal of persuading people that they need VISA to live life to the fullest by creating an advertisement that is persuasive according to the Heider's Balance Theory-a way of showing how people perceive their environment by dealing with three entities (people, events or ideas) and the person's relationship to those entities (whether they feel positively or negatively about them).

Credibility

Credibility is an important source characteristic that contributes to the idea that VISA is needed to live life to the fullest. In this case, the ad establishes intrinsic credibility through the actors and the speaker. Intrinsic credibility is the "image that a speaker creates as a direct result of his or her speech" (Tubbs & Moss, 2006, p. 426). The VISA ad increases its intrinsic credibility with its speaker because the speaker never stutters or uses hedges or tag questions so he seems confident when he gives advice to the audience by listing the things that "life takes."

According to Tubbs and Moss, "a person with high ethos was thought to possess a high level of competence, good character, and goodwill toward his or her listeners" (422). If the speaker did not have good character or goodwill towards his listeners, he would not be giving advice that would make people's lives better and happier. Intrinsic credibility is increased by "establishing a common ground" (Tubbs & Moss, 2006, p. 426) between itself and its target audience. The VISA ad begins with the speaker saying "What are you waiting for? A written invitation to participate? Well you have one. It's called a birth certificate." This establishes the common ground that everyone has a life and should be out in the world participating in activities they enjoy.

In all the scenes in the ad, the people are smiling and happy, which implies they are enjoying their lives. All of these clips are examples of positive emotional appeals; they all show some touching aspect of life, such as a father and son cooking and spending time together or an innocent child easily amused by dancing in the rain. According to Professor Mullin, positive emotional appeals are vivid messages designed to arouse good feelings (Mullin, 2006, February 21). These good feelings cause the target audience to trust the actors in the ad and find them to be a more credible source. Because the ad is tied to VISA, it is implied that VISA helps cause these good feelings. In other words, in order for the target audience to have these good feelings, they must use VISA. All of these activities are examples of living life to the fullest. By participating in these activities, the target audience should be just as happy as the actors in the ad. Because VISA helps the actors in the ad do these activities, the target audience should also use VISA to join in the activities.

Organization

Organization is the message characteristic used to make this ad more effective in convincing the target audience that without VISA, one cannot fully experience life. According to Tubbs and Moss (2006), an effective message includes an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. VISA's ad begins with the introduction of people entitled to enjoying life, has a body of advice on what it takes to enjoy life, and concludes with the idea that in order to fully live life like the people in the ad, one must use a VISA card. Everything in this ad supports the argument that using the VISA card will open up opportunities and allow people to fully enjoy life.

In terms of a message characteristic, this conclusion is powerful, and according to Tubbs and Moss (2006), the conclusion usually receives the most attention because the public knows the message is about to end. In the VISA ad, the message that is remembered is the fact that VISA makes life possible to enjoy. Everything is tied together at the end when the newly wed couple uses the VISA card to pay for their wedding and afterward there are clips of people trying new things and smiling; it is implied they are able to try these things because they used their VISA card. All of these clips support the statements the speaker makes. To emphasize certain statements, the words "Life takes..." appear on screen. This occurs when the speaker mentions ambition, luck, exploration, talent, and joy. These are the statements VISA thinks will appeal the most to its target audience. The audience may relate and agree with the statements the speaker makes, which makes it easier for them to relate to VISA and the need to have a VISA card.

Empirical Studies

The empirical study about using thin-slice judgments to evaluate sales effectiveness by Nalini Ambady, Mary Anne Krabbenhoft, and Daniel Hogan supports the idea that the ad is effective in persuading people they need VISA to blissfully live life. Ambady, Krabbenhoft, and Hogan researched and found that accurate judgments of people can be made under certain circumstances within five minutes of observation and nonverbal cues greatly contribute to how a person is perceived (Ambady, 2006, p. 4-7). Similar studies that have proven this include an experiment where people are shown 30 second nonverbal clips of interviewees and then rate them in terms of likeliness to be employed (Ambady, 2006, p. 5). These ratings were similar to the ratings of the actual interviewers (Ambady, 2006, p. 5). The topic investigated in the empirical study was whether judgments based on at most five minutes of observation were accurate in evaluating sales effectiveness.

Two studies were conducted to test this topic. Ambady, Krabbenhoft, and Hogan said in the first study, twelve regional sales managers participated in interviews with a male and a female interviewer (Ambady, 2006, p. 8). Each person was asked the same questions; three random twenty second clips were taken from each interview and "high frequencies on which word recognition depends" (Ambady, 2006, p. 8) was removed so judges could hear sounds but would not understand what they meant. Twelve undergraduate students rated the clips based on nineteen traits (Ambady, 2006, p. 8). The researchers separately grouped the traits into three composite variables: interpersonal, task-oriented, and anxious (Ambady, 2006, p. 8). In the end, the judges' ratings were consistent with the way the traits were grouped Ambady, 2006, p. (9).

In the second study, the same clips and method of judging was used but there were only eight judges and they watched the twenty-second clips with full sound, meaning they understood the words (Ambady, 2006, p. (9-10). The results of the second study were very similar to the results of the first (Ambady, 2006, p. 10). In both studies, "the within-composite intercorrelations were substantially higher than the between-composite intercorrelations for both interpersonal and task-orientation composites" (Ambady, 2006, p. 10). This means interpersonal traits were easier to judge about people. Ambady, Krabbenhoft, and Hogan said the thin-slice methodology may have significant implications in the advertising field because since there is a short amount of time to sell the product, first-impressions are very important and "through facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, and other nonverbal cues, actors may convey more than the verbal script intends" (Ambady, 2006, p. 11).

People make judgments based on nonverbal cues, such as whether or not a person is trustworthy. If there is no trust, there is no credibility because without trust a person will not think someone is credible. The findings of this study suggest that nonverbal cues increase intrinsic credibility. First of all, when the speaker talks about what life takes, the people in the ad smile and jump up and down excitedly to look eager and excited about the activities they are taking part in. This happiness makes consumers trust VISA more because VISA is implying that they make people happy. The ad is less than one minute long but during that time it conveys a sense of being content with life and gives this wonderful first impression that VISA helps make life easy and enjoyable for people.

Heider's Balance Theory

The Heider's Balance Theory can easily be applied to the VISA ad. According to Professor Mullin, there are two people or groups, A and B, and an object or idea involved (Mullin, 2006, February 28). Each person or group has an attitude about each other and an attitude about the object, and those attitudes must be balanced (Mullin, 2006, February 28). Professor Mullin said this theory is persuasive because "persuaders point out their way toward balance" (2006, February 28).

In the VISA ad, group A is the target audience, group B are the actors and the speaker in the ad, and the object is the VISA card. VISA assumes group A is comprised of people who are bored with life and do not do anything worthwhile but want to change their lifestyle; therefore, they create characters who thoroughly enjoy their lives and take advantage of every opportunity they have to live life. Of course, in order for group B to achieve this level of happiness, they must use a VISA card. To prove that the characters need VISA, the end of the ad shows a newly wed couple use the VISA card to pay for their wedding and VISA claims that it gives "you the freedom to experience life the way you want." There are also clips of people trying new things such as skydiving and achieving goals such as finishing a large sandwich. At the end of it all, the speaker says "life takes VISA." To further emphasize the point that VISA is important when it comes to living life, the words "life takes VISA" appear on the screen. Of course, this shows the connection between group A, B, and the object. In order for both group A and group B to fully experience life and enjoy it, they must be willing to use a VISA card.

Conclusion

The VISA ad is very effective in persuading its target audience that VISA is an essential part of being able to enjoy life. Even though it is a broad audience, it does well in reaching out to all kinds of people whether male, female, old, or young through its credibility and organizational skills. These characteristics fit well with Ambady, Krabbenhoft, and Hogan's empirical study that discovered the importance of short first impressions being effective in making a sale and with Heider's Balance Theory that states persuaders will tell people their way of balancing attitudes and life. Overall, it is a feel-good ad that probably attracts many consumers.

References

Ambady, N. (2006). The 30-Sec Sale: Using Thin-Slice Judgments to Evaluate Sales Effectiveness. Journal of consumer psychology, 16(1), 4-13.

Mullin, D. (2006, February 21-28). Persuasion, Theories of Persuasion. Class lecture for Communication 1, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Tubbs, S. l., & Moss, S. (2006). Human communication: Principles and contexts (10^th Edition). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

VISA advertisement. (2006).