Investors’ Reactions to Company Advertisements: The Persuasive Effect of Product-Featuring Ads

European Journal of Marketing, Forthcoming

44 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2015

See all articles by Jaakko Aspara

Jaakko Aspara

Hanken School of Economics; Aalto University School of Business (formerly known as Helsinki School of Economics)

Amitav Chakravarti

New York University (NYU) - Department of Marketing

Date Written: November 26, 2014

Abstract

Purpose: This article focuses on product-featuring advertising targeted to stock investors — that is, ads that provide investors with impressions about the company’s products, over and above financial information. The purpose is to explicate and test the psychological mechanisms by which such ads may exert influence on investors. Design/methodology/approach: An experiment is conducted with a representative sample of real investors, to test the effect and explore the underlying mechanisms. Two additional lab experiments reveal moderating factors of this effect. Findings: The results show that highlighting the company’s product features in an investor ad increases investors’ interest in investing in the company’s stock, by enhancing investors’ subjective evaluations of the company’s products. This effect emerges independent of factors related to preexisting brand perceptions (e.g., brand recognizability and likeability) and is mediated by dual causal channels: by increasing expectations about the company’s financial returns and by increasing affective attachment with the company’s products. Research limitations/implications: The findings identify and confirm different mechanisms of the effect of investor ads, but the relative magnitude of the effects is not generalizable. Practical implications: The results provide corporate marketing, corporate communications, and investor relations professionals insights into how investors may be attracted by product-featuring advertisements. Originality/value: The study is the first to explicate the different channels of influence through which product-featuring ads may affect investors’ willingness to invest in companies.

Keywords: Investor advertising, investor marketing, investment behavior, financial decision making, stock investing, consumer behavior in financial markets, stock market, investor advertisements, stock advertisements, brand image, brand recognition, brand perceptions

Suggested Citation

Aspara, Jaakko and Chakravarti, Amitav, Investors’ Reactions to Company Advertisements: The Persuasive Effect of Product-Featuring Ads (November 26, 2014). European Journal of Marketing, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2549190

Jaakko Aspara (Contact Author)

Hanken School of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 479
Helsinki, Helsinki 00101
Finland

Aalto University School of Business (formerly known as Helsinki School of Economics) ( email )

P.O. Box 21230
Helsinki, 00076
Finland

Amitav Chakravarti

New York University (NYU) - Department of Marketing ( email )

Henry Kaufman Ctr
44 W 4 St.
New York, NY
United States

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