LOW ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD, AFFECTIVE ATTITUDE FORMATION 97evaluation takes place when watching the ad. Since ad-evoked feelings and the brand are
associated in a consumer’s memory, emotional advertising might influence brand evaluation
no matter when the brand evaluation takes place. In this way, thinking of the brand in
another situation might activate the feelings associated with it.
Empirical studies investigating the influence of ad-evoked feelings usually find that
feelings exert a significant influence on the different stages in the communications process.
A study investigating 23 000 responses to 240 ads shows that ad-evoked feelings (pleasure,
arousal, dominance) explain 3% to 30% of the variance in brand interest and purchase
intention while brand knowledge and beliefs explained 2% to 13%.^82 The magnitude of
the influence of ad-evoked feelings depends on the product category advertised, the specific
feelings that are evoked and the type of ad that is tested. Also, whether ad-evoked emotions
are measured by means of self-report or autonomic measures makes a difference.^83 Neverthe-
less, we can conclude that affective responses might be predictive of brand choice and, as a
consequence, are a valuable tool for message testing and brand tracking.^84Emotional conditioning
Emotional conditioning can be considered an extreme case of feelings transfer, and is based
on Pavlov’s classic conditioning theory.^85 When dogs see food they begin to salivate. This is
called an unconditioned response since it happens automatically. By frequently pairing a
conditioned stimulus (a bell) with an unconditioned stimulus (meat powder), Pavlov was
able to get dogs salivating just by hearing the bell (conditioned response). In a marketing
context, communications practitioners sometimes try to pair a brand with an emotional
response. Figure 3.7 explains the strategy DaimlerChrysler followed. Being aware of the fact
that Celine Dion was a very popular singer, DaimlerChrysler paid Celine Dion between
$10 million and $20 million to use songs such as ‘I Drove All Night’ in a three-year ‘Drive
and Love’ campaign. Chrysler hoped that by frequently pairing Celine Dion’s songs with the
brand, the love feeling that her songs evoked would be transferred to Chrysler and would
make the brand classy again.^86 On the premise of a high exposure frequency and strong emo-
tional content, attitudes towards saturated brands are said to be predominantly formed on the
basis of emotional conditioning.^87 The findings of a recent study indicate that emotional
conditioning can indeed alter brand choice, but only when initially no strong preferences for
competitive brands were formed and when brand choice is made under cognitive load (i.e.
when consumers lack the cognitive resources to carefully think over their choice).^88 Examples
of brands that try to benefit from emotional conditioning are Martini, Bacardi Breezer and
Häagen-Dazs, which try to associate sexual arousal with their brands.Figure 3.7 Emotional conditioning at workM03_PELS3221_05_SE_C03.indd 97 6/5/13 3:03 PM