Operationalizing ad creativity and its effects in B2B advertising

Abstract

While creative advertising is considered to be the key to breaking through media clutter, academics have been slow to research ad creativity, particularly in B2B settings. Ad creativity's conceptualization has been nebulous and its measurement inconsistent. Nevertheless, business managers realize its potential to influence consumers and organizational buyers, and ultimately affect brand outcomes. The current research focuses on ad creativity by presenting a concise conceptualization of the ad creativity construct. Further, it details the development of an ad creativity measure set in a business market setting. The ad creativity measure is employed in an empirical study where it was found that the combination of novelty and relevance in ad creativity executions influence attitude towards the brand, information-seeking intentions and likelihood to recommend behaviors. An eye tracking experiment found that B2B buyers fixated on the novel elements of an ad and subsequently had greater recall. The ad creativity measure appears to be a comprehensive tool for operationalizing ad creativity. Importantly, it is also a simple and useful tool for advertising practitioners and managers who seek to design and test the appropriate level of ad creativity in their advertising campaigns.