Abstract
Message strategies used in services advertising: A content analysis of magazine ads
Young Sook, Moon, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Advertising & PR, Hanshin University)
The purpose of this study is to analyze content of services advertising in order to examine whether services advertisers practice the guidelines suggested in the pervious studies in the U.S.. In particular, this paper focuses on the following aspects of the content of existing services advertising: service categories in terms of object and nature of service act; the use of rational vs. emotional appeals in services advertising; whether the guidelines suggested by George and Berry (1981) are followed; whether the tangibilization strategies proposed by Berry and Clark (1986) are used. It was found that advertisements of intangible-dominant actions to physical things appeared the most frequently; rational appeals were used about three out of four times regardless of service categories, further supporting similar findings of prior content analysis studies in the U.S.; three guidelines (providing tangible dues, understanding services, promising what is possible) were used as major advertising strategies and two guidelines (advertising to employee and word-of-mouth) were under-utilized; documentation was the most frequently used as a tangibilization strategy. It was indicated that services advertisers are less sensitive to the unique nature of services as opposed to products, and the techniques to make services advertising effective, thus, need to use more various strategies conducive to generate more advertising effectiveness.