Effects of promotional‐based advertising on brand associations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how value‐based messaging affects brand associations within a durable goods category. Design/methodology/approach Brand associations are conceptualized in this paper as brand image, brand attitudes, and consumer quality perceptions. A 2×2 factorial design was employed with cognitive involvement (high/low) and advertising message (brand/value) as the experimental factors. Findings Results suggest that promotional‐based messaging is detrimental to all three brand associations, with quality ratings witnessing the most significant declines. In addition, the current study observed no significant effects of involvement, as measured by attention to the message, on brand association measures for value‐based messaging when compared with brand messaging. Originality/value The current study suggests that promotional‐messaging can be detrimental to brand association measures, compared with non‐value‐based brand messaging within a durable goods category. More research is needed to understand the long‐term effects of different levels of usage of promotional‐based messaging as part of the marketing mix.