The Effect of Conceptual and Perceptual Fluency on Brand Evaluation

Abstract

According to the processing fluency model, advertising exposures enhance the ease with which a brand can be recognized and processed. This increased perceptual fluency in turn leads to more favorable attitudes toward the brand. The present research extends the processing fluency model to examine the effect of conceptual fluency on attitudes. In three experiments, the authors show that when a target comes to mind more readily and becomes conceptually fluent, as when it is presented in a predictive context (e.g., a bottle of beer featured in an ad showing a man entering a bar), or when it is primed by a related construct (e.g., ketchup following an advertisement of mayonnaise), participants develop more favorable attitudes toward the target. Positive valence of fluent processing is thought to underlie these processing fluency effects. When conceptual fluency is associated with negative valence (e.g., hair conditioner primed by a kill-lice shampoo), less favorable attitudes are observed (exp. 4).

Keywords: advertising, persuasion, ease of processing, fluency, brand management, emotion, affective judgment

JEL Classification: M1, M3, M31, M37