An experimental approach to understanding banner adverts' effectiveness

Abstract

The primary objectives of this study were, using empirical data from Internet users in Korea, to discover the major motives for consumers' use of Internet (banner) adverts, and to determine the sources of effectiveness of banner adverts in terms of advert type (text vs picture) and advert content (information vs prize) by incorporating the theoretical premises developed on the role of the consumer's level of involvement on advert effectiveness. The result showed that respondents wanted to use banner adverts for 'maintaining social relationships', 'rest and pass time,' 'curiosity,' 'practical reasons,' 'two-way communication,' and for 'interest in product'. Another result showed that image was significantly more effective than text for an Internet banner advert. It was also found that the level of advert involvement had a significant impact on the effectiveness of banner adverts, showing higher advert preference for advert type and advert content when consumers were highly involved. Consumers who were highly involved and those who had low involvement were both more positively responsive to image-based adverts than text-based adverts. Highly-involved consumers, however, were more positively responsive to prize adverts than to information adverts whereas low-involvement consumers were slightly more positively responsive to information adverts.