Measuring the Role of Uniqueness and Consistency to Develop Effective Advertising

Abstract

Prior research on creativity and the effectiveness of executional factors in advertising has focused on the impact of uniqueness and consistency in comparison to prior and competitive advertising. Relatively little is known about the specific impact of these variables and their relationship to each other, and few existing measures of consistency and uniqueness extend beyond subjective rating scales. In this research, we develop new measures of advertising uniqueness and consistency. We use data from 10 years of Super Bowl advertisements along with panel data on word-of-mouth communication for the advertised brands (buzz) to demonstrate the validity of this methodology. Our findings suggest it is not the presence of any particular element but whether the element and what it is combined with are unique and consistent. Advertisements are likely to be more effective if they are unique from earlier ads for all brands but also consistent with ads for the same brand from prior periods.