Emac2015.typeface.smits etal

1. Introduction

The right font for the Job

Effect of Typeface-product congruency on attitude towards the adTim SmitsKU Leuven

@timsmitstimTim.smits@soc.kuleuven.be PRESENTED @ EMAC2015Collaboration:Robin Van der SarGoele Aerts (KU Leuven)

1

BackgroundThe great art in writing advertisements, is the finding out a proper method to catch the reader's eye, without which a good thing may pass over unobserved, or be lost among commissions of bankrupt. [] I must not here omit the blind Italian character, which being scarce legible, always fixes and detains the eye, and gives the curious reader something like the satisfaction of prying into a secret.

Typeface @ emac20152

BackgroundThe great art in writing advertisements, is the finding out a proper method to catch the reader's eye, without which a good thing may pass over unobserved, or be lost among commissions of bankrupt. [] I must not here omit the blind Italian character, which being scarce legible, always fixes and detains the eye, and gives the curious reader something like the satisfaction of prying into a secret.

Addison, 1710

Typeface @ emac20153

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Sans The Boston Phoenixreported on disgruntlement over the widespread use of the font, especially its incongruous use for writing on serious subjects, with the complaints urged on by a campaign started by two Indianapolis graphic designers, Dave and Holly Combs, via their website "Ban Comic Sans".The movement was conceived in 1999 by the two designers, after an employer insisted that one of them use Comic Sans in a children's museum exhibit In theNetherlandspopular radio DJsCoen SwijnenbergandSander Lantingadecided to celebrate the font by having a Comic Sans day on the first Friday of July. Comic Sans Day has been held since 2009. Some Dutch companies have their website in Comic Sans on this day.Typeface @ emac20154

Congruency in AdsMatch between a creative choice and strategic (brand) positioning : colors, endorsers, humor, pictorial features, typeface

Two types of evidence on congruency:Schema-theory (Mandler, 1982): Moderate incongruity is most persuasiveHeckler & Childres, 1992; Trn, 2012; Halkias & Kokkinaki, 2013; Yoon, 2013;

Numerous findings where a match between creative details and the ad results in more persuasionTypeface @ emac20155

Image properties: Peracchio & Meyers-Levy, 2005Online banners & banner blindness: Hervet et al, 2010Endorser relevance: Sengupta et al, 1997Logo color: Bottomley & Doyle, 2006

Janssens, De Pelsmacker & Geuens, 2012 both effects: internet page + ad-Congruence benefit for limited processing-Incongruence benefit for extended processing

Typeface @ emac20156

Wim Janssens, Patrick De Pelsmacker and Maggie Geuens, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 31, No. 3, 2012, pp. 579-604

Three studies investigate the moderating role of divided attention in the relationship between thematic (in)congruency between a web page and a web ad, and evaluations of and click intention towards the embedded web ad. The first study establishes the traditional priming effect in sequential web page web ad exposure. Study two manipulates viewers opportunity to divide their attention when simultaneously exposed to a web page and a web ad, and Study three measures divided attention by means of gaze jumps in a simultaneous exposure situation. In the case of simultaneous exposure to a web page and a web ad, a congruency effect occurs when there is little opportunity to divide the attention between the web page and the ad, and when there are few gaze jumps between the web page and the web ad. In these cases, web ads that are thematically congruent with the web page result in more positive responses. This effect reverses when there is more opportunity to divide the attention between the web page and the web ad, and when the number of gaze jumps is high: web ads incongruent with the web page lead to more positive responses. Undivided attention benefits web ads that are congruent with the web page in which they are embedded, but divided attention benefits those that are incongruent with the web page.6

Hypotheses on Typeface congruenceCongruence > Incongruence

Typeface is a subtle ad element, thus a Type 2 effect

Negative effect of incongruence especially when overselling

Advertising a casual product with a luxurious typefaceTypeface @ emac20157

Typeface effects prior evidenceVan Rompay & Pruyn (2011); zie ook Bottomley & Doyle8

Typeface @ emac20159

Pretests; n = 20Fonts: Din = casualCounselor Script = luxurious

Products/AdvertisementsWater low involvement productDasaniTM = casualIsklarTM = luxuriousCar tires high involvement productKuhmoTM = luxuriousPirelliTM = casual [Changed Pirelli in Kuhmo to avoid prior associations]

10

11

Methode2 (product positioning: luxurious vs. casual) x 2 (typeface: congruent vs. incongruent) x 2 (matching: congruence for low vs. high involvement product) mixed design, Latin square N = 98, i.e. 49 per BS condition

Measures:Aad & Brand credibility (semantic differentials); Price expectation13

ResultatenAadper product type, product positioning and typeface congruence14

-Participants had more positive attitudes towards the pair of congruently advertised stimuli they saw (M = 5.40, SD = .54) than towards the incongruently advertised pair of stimuli (M = 3.88, SD = .66; t(97) = 19.52, F(1, 96) = 392.07, p < .001). H1-The main effect was qualified in multiple ways. First, congruency interacted with brand positioning (F(1,96) = 77.25, p < .001). As is demonstrated in Figure 1, congruency had a stronger effect for casual brands (Mcongruent = 5.14, SD = .69; Mincongruent = 3.07, SD = .93; t(97) = 18.99, p < .001) than for luxurious brands (Mcongruent = 5.66, SD = .82; Mincongruent = 4.69, SD = .93; t(97) = 7.96, p < .001). H2

14

Brand Credibility15

Price expectation (water: euro-cent voor water; tires: euro)16

Discussion/ConclusionAd typeface seems to fit within the subtle type of congruence effects where congruence is more persuasive than (moderate) incongruence

Effect for low & high involvement product

Replicability of negative effect for casual incongruity? Is this an attention effect?

17

Verder onderzoek:-meer producten-ander design met meer deelnemers17

The right font for the Job

Effect of Typeface-product congruency on attitude towards the adTim SmitsKU Leuven

@timsmitstimTim.smits@soc.kuleuven.be PRESENTED @ emac2015Collaboration:Robin Van der SarGoele Aerts (KU Leuven)

18