Advertising creativity: Its influence on media response states towards the Hierarchy of effects

The study investigates the influence of Advertising Creativity (AC) on Ad effectiveness in the context of Interactive Digital Media (IDM). The inquiry seeks to bridge a somewhat limited regard for AC in the context of IDM and provide insight into AC's place in audience communication processes as opposed to generally outcome-based perspectives. The study extends the process of AC effects towards the stages of the Hierarchy of Effects (HOE) by the inclusion of conditional media effects and media response states, which are major components of the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM), to elucidate dynamic audience processes especially in the context of interactive media. This study was limited to Filipino Millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) residing in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines. Data was collected from 326 respondents through a questionnaire survey, with PLS-SEM utilized for the analysis. The results show that AC effects occur through engaging immediate responses as manifested by the media response states at the time of exposure to ad stimuli rather than moderating relationships between conditional and response media effects, positively influencing all HOE stages. However, the strengths of these effects vary, with stages related to experiential responses such as Awareness, Learning/Memory, and Brand Liking reflecting more practical implications compared to more rationally involved HOE stages of accepting or rejecting ad claims and brand intentions. By its very nature, advertising is designed to disrupt original motivations and activities. Furthermore, media response is immediate upon introducing AC stimuli despite conditional dispositions. These results provide potential practical use in campaign development and conceptualization related to consumer demographics, as customized ad outputs addressing different audience traits or motivations can equate to higher production costs. Awareness, memory, and brand liking are posited to benefit the most from AC, allowing for better allocation of resources when developing outputs throughout campaigns. The study provides a practical view of AC's benefits to specific HOE stages enabling advertisers to develop strategies given the value and limitations of AC within integrated marketing campaigns keeping us abreast with the dynamic consumer processing of ad communications constantly developing in line with emerging media technology.