Associative Positioning Strategies through Comparative Advertising: Attribute versus Overall Similarity Approaches

The authors compare the relative effectiveness of comparative/noncomparative and product-based/non-product-based advertising in the implementation of an associative strategy for cognitive brand positioning and indicate that direct comparative advertisements are superior in engendering overall brand positioning.

Abstract

The authors compare the relative effectiveness of comparative/noncomparative and product-based/non-product-based advertising in the implementation of an associative strategy for cognitive brand positioning. Two metaconstructs, cognitive accuracy and cognitive clarity, are defined, each within an attitude model and a probabilistic multidimensional scaling model. The results from these very different methodological and conceptual approaches indicate that direct comparative advertisements are superior in engendering overall brand positioning, whereas only product-based direct comparative ads are superior in engendering brand positioning at the attribute level, and only in terms of positioning clarity.