Communicating in Print: A Comparison of Consumer Responses to Different Promotional Formats

Consumer response to marketing messages in varying promotion-mix formats (advertising, coupons, and publicity, appearing singly and in various combinations) conveyed in a print medium is the focus of two studies. Compared to consumers exposed to information in a single promotional format, those receiving messages in more than one format processed them more thoroughly and were more likely to recall and use the information. Similarly, consumers receiving information in a form containing both visual and verbal elements had superior recall to those exposed only to copy or a photo. Of the various promotional formats, publicity led to more intense readership and higher recall than advertisements. Involvement is shown to moderate these effects.