Associative Positioning Strategies through Comparative Advertising: Attribute versus Overall Similarity Approaches

The authors compare the relative effectiveness of comparative/noncomparative and product-based/non-product-based advertising in the implementation of an associative strategy for cognitive brand positioning. Two metaconstructs, cognitive accuracy and cognitive clarity, are defined, each within an attitude model and a probabilistic multidimensional scaling model. The results from these very different methodological and conceptual approaches indicate that direct comparative advertisements are superior in engendering overall brand positioning, whereas only product-based direct comparative ads are superior in engendering brand positioning at the attribute level, and only in terms of positioning clarity.