Chapter I Introduction

1.1 Introduction

In order to meet the challenges of the business world, several strategies are being made by the organizations to create their own identity in terms of brand so that their name remains trusted and strong in the minds of the customers. The most commonly used method to keep up the level of brand is promotion (O'Guinn et al., 2011). Many authors share the same view as Casal et al. (2010) says that companies invest immensely on the promotion and advertisement of their brands, by advertisement, organizations can communicate the quality of their products and services to the targeted customers. Advertisement is a medium which can easily persuade customers and attract them towards the brand to purchase their products or services based on their choice. While advertising, a person who is responsible to make advertisements, capture those individuals who are habitual of using their products and present them in a positive way so that more and more customers get attracted towards the product. Advertisements highly depend upon the industries; advertisers need to use different advertising tactics to appeal the targeted audience. Okazaki et al. (2010) interprets two broad heads pf advertising, which are, emotional and rational appeal. The first head of advertising, which is emotional appeals, is related to the social and psychological need of the customers which actually describe the trend of purchasing of a particular product. Need identification play an important role in promoting the products in the right direction; it is helpful especially when there is minimum difference among the products in the same industry. On the contrary, rational

appeals focus on practical and functional needs of the customers about the product. By keeping the rational point of view, advertisers put emphasize on the characteristics and features of the products and how their brand can provide benefits via their products to customers.

1.2

Background

Many authors have come up on the research of two broad heads of advertisements but Kotler (2003) says that researchers have found out the differences among emotional and rational appeal. Though, it is very important to understand the difference between these two appeals in order to extract out the more positives being offered by an of the two categories, and this would prove to be helpful for the organizations to make strategies keeping in mind the highly significant advertising appeal so that it create more value and trust about the brand in the perception of the customers.

1.2.1 Advertising Appeals

Johnson-Cartee and Copeland (1991) say that appeals play an important role for the organizations to make strategies and works as the basis for advertisement. It helps the organizations to target right audience at the right time. According to Okazaki et al. (2010) advertising appeals help the organizations to offer their products and services based on the needs and demands of the targeted customers, it helps the organizations to make a complete package in terms of their services and products to attract new customers and retaint he old clientelle. As mentioned earlier, advertising appeals can be classified into two broad head that is, rational and emotional and they can also be mentioned as mood and logical appeals. Johnson-Cartee and Copeland (1991) are the people who came up with difference among these two categories,

people always have certain reasons to purchase the products or services of any brand and this reason might be associated with rational or emotional reasons.

1.2.5 Brand Trust

According to Arjun and Morris (2001) customers rely on specific products or brands in order to fulfill their needs. Organizations or the advertiser is aware about the trust of customers in their brand and they target the cyustomers only when the intention of customers about the purchase decission is at its peak. Doney and Cannon (1997) defined that the trust of the customers in a brand should be maintained in order to meet the demands of the customers in the long run. Higher the level of trust in a brand, greater would be the surety that the brand would keep its image high in the minds of the customers (Arjun & Morris, 2001).

1.3

Aim and Objectives

The aim of this thesis is to describe the impact of advertising appeals on the brand trust of UK consumers in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories. The other objectives of the thesis are as follows: 1. To establish the relationship between the application of advertising appeals and the levels of brand trust in the U.K consumers. 2. To evaluate the common perceptions of emotional appeals effectiveness as compared to the rational appeals in construction of brand trust. 3. To analyze the situational factors that affect the effectiveness of advertising appeals on brand trust. 1.3.1 Research Questions Following research questions rose from the above listed objectives:

1. What is the relationship between the application of advertising appeals and the levels of brand trust in the U.K consumers? 2. What are the common perceptions of emotional appeals effectiveness as compared to the rational appeals in construction of brand trust? 3. What are the situational factors that affect the effectiveness of advertising appeals on brand trust? 1.3.2 Research Hypothesis Following hypothesis is proposed on the basis of above aim and objectives of the research: H1- There is a positive relationship between the advertising appeal and brand trust in FMCGs category.

1.5

Methodology

There are two main research approaches, one is called qualitative research and the other one is called quantitative research. Qualitative approach is helpful in the case studies where the researchers needs to capture various trends which can be measured through numerical scale and the other approach is quantitative approach which deals with numbers and figures, and the data is collectable and measureable (Silverman, 2010). In this research, the qualitative approach has been used and the researcher has developed questionnaires and interviews to gather data. This methodology is used because this approach does in depth analysis of the data (Collis & Hussey, 2009). Moreover, this approach is not limited to the particular variables like in quantitative approach. This approach keeps on collecting data which can prove to be helpful in achieving the objectives of the research (Silverman, 2010). With the help of this technique, a researcher can be able to sort out those

issues which cannot be handled through quantitative approach. The tools for collecting the data in this research are questionnaires and interviews. There are around 50 respondents, out of which, 20 are from advertising agency in UK and 3 people have been selected for interview, the remaining 30 respondents are from managerial positions and 3 respondents for interview. The questionnaire was made close end in order to restrict the respondent and make their answers relevant to the research (Walliman, 2004).

1.6

Significance of Research

The subject of this research is that of advertising appeals and its impact on the image and trust of the brand. According to the respondents, the brand needs to make continuous efforts in order to maintain the trust of the customers in their brand. Moreover, it should also be able to satisfy the stakeholders to maintain the dignity of their brand or else rivals gets the chance to easily grab that position.

1.7

Structure of the Research

The beginning portion of the research deals with the main aspects of the research and the importance of the topic has been mentioned. The other parts and its details are mentioned below. Chapter 2 is Literature review that describes the main parts of the study, that is, branding and its implications. The sources from which the literature review has been extracted are journals, online databases, books and other print sources. Chapter 3 is Research Methodology which part deals with the detailed analysis of the research methodology, which has been used in this research including the process and methods of data collection, analysis of the data and finally the representation of the results.

Chapter 4 is Data analysis and Discussion that includes the summary of the primary data which has been collected for this research. The results have been demonstrated in tabular form and its explanation is also given in order to understand the results. Chapter 5 is Conclusion and Recommendations shows the part of the conclusion and discussion where the researcher concludes the research while giving personal reflection and mentioning the limitations of the research.