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EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPARATIVE ADVERTISMENT IN TELECOM INDUSTRY OF PAKISTAN SYED ZEESHAN HASSAN 060515

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Page 1: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPARATIVE

ADVERTISMENT IN TELECOM

INDUSTRY OF PAKISTAN

SYED ZEESHAN HASSAN

060515

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:

Sir, Qaiser Janjua

Page 2: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

Final Project Approval Sheet

Topic of Research: Affects of Nutritional Facts on Consumer Purchase Decision in Processed Food

Names of Student: Khawaja Osman Ahmad

Registration No: 060493

Program: BBA-F-06-A-57

Approved by:

Project Supervisor: ___________________________________

Internal Examiner::__________________________________

Internal Examiner: ___________________________________

Dean: _______________________________________________

Page 3: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

CERTIFICATION OF COMPLETION OF RESEARCH

Mr. Khawaja Osman Ahmad, registration no 060493, semester BBA-F-06 has completed his research on

June 24, 2010 under my supervision.

His topic is “Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement in Telecom Industry of Pakistan”

This thesis has been examined by me and it has been found complete in all aspects and fit for

presentation. The student is therefore allowed in the presentation/viva voce for defending it before the

panel of examiners.

____________________

Qaiser Janjua

(Supervisor)

Page 4: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

ABSTARCT

This research is based upon how the Nutritional Facts affect the purchase decision of the

consumers in the Pakistani market. When the consumers are making a purchase of processed

food the factors which come under consideration are Healthiness, Education of the consumers

and the Brand Name of the product. All these factors play a vital role in the purchase decision of

the consumers when they opt for the processed food. There are many other aspects which fall in

this category but in this research, the above mentioned three factors had been under study. It can

be said that Pakistani consumers’ purchase decision is affected by the Nutritional Facts if they

are health conscious, educated or brand conscious.

Page 5: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

My modest appreciation to The Almighty who has been so kind in bestowing His blessings upon me and provide me the power, nerves and wisdom to discharge over responsibility and to successfully accomplish my task and enable me to complete this project.

I also extend my heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation to Mr. Tariq Sohail for his guidance, coaching, teaching and support. He has been cordial in sharing both his time and vast wisdom willingly, explicitly and without hesitation. I pray that at least some portion of what I have learned from him is reflected on these pages.

I am also grateful to Mr. Farooq Rasheed, the research coordinator who helped me compile this project.

Last but certainly not the least, I pay my gratitude to my family members for their unconditional love and support, without which this task would not have been accomplished.

Page 6: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

DEDICATION

To my Father, Mother, Brother and a brother like friend who all the way supported me in the completion

of this project.

I thank you all from the core of my heart for all the love and support

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT IIIACKNOWLEDGMENT IVDEDICATION VLIST OF TABLES VIII

CHAPTER 1 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND 11.2 RATIONALE 21.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT 2 1.4 PURPOSE OF STUDY 21.5 PLAN 3

CHAPTER 2 4

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 12

CHAPTER 3 14

DATA & METHODOLOGY 14

3.1 POPULATION 143.2 SAMPLE 143.3 DATA COLLECTION 143.4 SOURCES OF DATA 14

3.5 INSTRUMENT 15

3.6 MODEL 15

3.7 METHODOLOGY 15

3.8 HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 16

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CHAPTER 4 17

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 17

CHAPTER 5 57

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 57

5.1 CONCLUSION 575.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 59

REFERENCES 60WEB SITES VISITED 61

AppendiCES 62

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NUMBER PAGE NO.

Table 4 - 1..........................................................................................................................17

Table 4 - 2..........................................................................................................................17

Table 4 - 3..........................................................................................................................18

Table 4 - 4..........................................................................................................................19

Table 4 - 5………………………………………………………………………………..20

Table 4 - 6………………………………………………………………………………..21

Table 4 -7……...…………………………………………………………………………21

Table 4 - 8………………………………………………………………………………..22

Table 4 - 9………………………………………………………………………………..23

Table 4 - 10………………………………………………………………………………24

Table 4 - 11………………………………………………………………………………24

Table 4 - 12………………………………………………………………………………25

Table 4 - 13………………………………………………………………………………26

Table 4 - 14………………………………………………………………………………27

Table 4 - 15………………………………………………………………………………28

Table 4 - 16………………………………………………………………………………28

Table 4 - 17………………………………………………………………………………29

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Table 4 - 18………………………………………………………………………………30

Table 4 - 19………………………………………………………………………………31

Table 4 - 20………………………………………………………………………………31

Table 4 - 21………………………………………………………………………………32

Table 4 - 22………………………………………………………………………………33

Table 4 - 23………………………………………………………………………………34

Table 4 - 24………………………………………………………………………………35

Table 4 - 25………………………………………………………………………………36

Table 4 - 26………………………………………………………………………………37

Table 4 - 27………………………………………………………………………………37

Table 4 - 28………………………………………………………………………………38

Table 4 - 29………………………………………………………………………………39

Table 4 - 30………………………………………………………………………………40

Table 4 - 31………………………………………………………………………………40

Table 4 - 32………………………………………………………………………………41

Table 4 - 33………………………………………………………………………………42

Table 4 - 34………………………………………………………………………………43

Table 4 - 35………………………………………………………………………………43

Table 4 - 36………………………………………………………………………………44

Table 4 - 37………………………………………………………………………………45

Table 4 - 38………………………………………………………………………………46

Table 4 - 39………………………………………………………………………………47

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Table 4 - 40………………………………………………………………………………47

Table 4 - 41………………………………………………………………………………48

Table 4 - 42………………………………………………………………………………49

Table 4 - 43………………………………………………………………………………50

Table 4 - 44………………………………………………………………………………50

Table 4 - 45………………………………………………………………………………52

Table 4 - 46………………………………………………………………………………53

Table 4 - 47………………………………………………………………………………53

Table 4 - 48………………………………………………………………………………54

Table 4 - 49………………………………………………………………………………55

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

The recent surge in the telecom industry of Pakistan gave way to the introduction of many

new telecom companies. Including the likes of Mobilink as market leader, Telenor and Ufone as

the challengers, and Warid and Zong as the followers the market seems saturated. With these

companies fighting for the top spot in market share and profitability, one critical success factor

for achieving that is to spend handsomely on advertising.

1.2 RATIONALE

Telecom industry has contributed a great deal to Pakistan’s economy

and has called for great investments that lead to a new era of progress.

Telecom sector is seeing extraordinary growth in Pakistan. With increasing

levels of mobile penetration Pakistan is fast evolving as one of the telecom

sector's key investment prospects. Continued market liberalization is

reshaping the regulatory environment, creating a more investment friendly

climate in telecom sector of Pakistan. The sector is said to be growing at a

very fast pace on yearly basis. This growth rate of telecom sector is mainly

because of the mobile phone service providers’ entry in the industry for the

last few years. As of July 2009, the mobile phone subscribers are 95.54

million in Pakistan and, in fact, still Pakistan has the highest mobile phone

penetration rate in the South Asian region. Hence, due to the huge potential

Page 13: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

in Pakistan’s mobile phone sector, the industry and customers are

experiencing an intense competition, a battle for supremacy in the mobile

phone industry, between all mobile phone service providers of Pakistan

A trend of comparing one product with another and exploiting it on its weaknesses was

already there but this now has crept into almost every ad made by the telecom companies. This

comparison gave rise to a new type of advertising known as “Comparative Advertisement”.

Comparative advertising, as a special form of advertising, is a sales promotion device that

compares the products or services of one undertaking with those of another, or with those of

other competitors. All comparative advertising is designed to highlight the advantages of the

goods or services offered by the advertiser as compared to those of a competitor. In order to

achieve this objective, the message of the advertisement must necessarily underline the

differences between the goods or services compared by describing their main characteristics. The

comparison made by the advertiser will necessarily flow from such a description.

Comparative advertising should enable advertisers to objectively demonstrate the merits of

their products. Comparative advertising improves the quality of information available to

consumers enabling them to make well-founded and more informed decisions relating to the

choice between competing products/services by demonstrating the merits of various comparable

products. Based on this information, consumers may make informed and therefore efficient

choices. (These statements are true only if the comparative advertising is objective.)

Comparative advertising which aims to objectively and truthfully inform the consumer

promotes the transparency of the market. Market transparency is also deemed to benefit the

public interest as the functioning of competition is improved resulting in keeping down prices

and improving products. Comparative advertising can stimulate competition between suppliers

of goods and services to the consumer's advantage.

Comparisons between goods and services of different undertakings carry with them some

significant risks. There is a danger that once undertakings address the merits and inadequacies of

competing goods or services, they may be tempted to denigrate them or derive unfair advantages

from such inaccurate comparisons. Just like traditional forms of advertising, comparative

advertising seeks to both assist the development of the undertaking concerned and to inform

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consumers. Although both forms of advertising seek to attract customers, in case of comparative

advertising, commercial relationships may be exposed to the constant threat of unfair practices.

Comparative advertising allows a company to directly compare their product with the

competition and also provides the company with an opportunity to highlight the areas in which it

believes its product is superior.

Figure 1

Page 15: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

PURPOSE OF RESEARCH

As comparative advertising is a growing phenomenon in the world and is now regularly

used in many ad campaigns. The purpose of my research is to find out the effectiveness of

comparative advertisement in telecom industry of Pakistan.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

This research is done to figure out whether comparative advertising is effective in

maintaining the bonds with its target audience in the telecom sector of Pakistan. Almost all the

companies are involved in this type of advertising but due to limited research on this topic its

effectiveness is still not known. Advertising research commonly finds that a large

percentage of the audience will believe that the competitor's product is the

one being advertised in a comparative advertisement. It can be disastrous if

a majority, or a large minority, believes this. An advertiser could potentially

be spending money to promote a competitor's product. The easiest way to

avoid this problem is to avoid comparative advertising entirely or if not avoid

it then use it intelligently.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Effective advertising is, almost always, persuasive advertising, and while not all advertising

seeks to persuade, in a competitive situation those who best persuade are those most likely to

win. For my research I picked up comparative advertising as a variable which might or might not

be effective but certainly is here to stay. Almost all businesses are linked to this type of

advertising in one way or the other. Comparative advertising allows a company to directly

compare their product with the competition and also provides the company with an opportunity

to highlight the areas in which it believes its product is superior. One difficulty with comparative

advertising is that the intended buyers may perceive it as threatening their self-image because

they view the comparison as an attack on their presently preferred brand. Comparative

advertising is not illegal and there are no special rules to follow when creating comparative

advertisements.

According to the research done earlier there were many variables which had an effect on

comparative advertising and in my research I have used brand awareness, attitude,

communication, quality, informative.

Page 17: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING

EFFECTIVENESS

POSITIVE ATTITUDE

COMMUNICATION

QUALITY

PERSUASION

AWARENESS

INFORMATIVE

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HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis 1

Hο: Comparative advertising does not lead to higher brand awareness and attention as compared

to non comparative advertising

Hı: Comparative advertising leads to higher brand awareness and attention as compared to non

comparative advertising

Hypothesis 2

Hο: Comparative advertising does not lead to positive attitudes towards a brand as compared to

non comparative advertising.

Hı: Comparative advertising leads to positive attitudes towards a brand as compared to non

comparative advertising.

Hypothesis 3

Hο: Comparative advertising is not effective in communicating the benefits of a new

product/service.

Hı: Comparative advertising is effective in communicating the benefits of a new product/service.

Hypothesis 4

Hο: Comparative advertising is less persuasive than non comparative advertising.

Hı: Comparative advertising is more persuasive than non comparative advertising.

Hypothesis 5

Page 19: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

Hο: Comparative advertising does not indicate higher quality of product/service in

advertisements as compared to non-comparative advertising.

Hı: Comparative advertising indicates higher quality of product/service in advertisements as

compared to non-comparative advertising.

Hypothesis 6

Hο: Comparative advertising is more informative when there is not a direct comparison.

Hı: Comparative advertising is more informative when there is a direct comparison.

Page 20: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Comparative Advertising

Comparative advertising is an advertisement in which a particular product, or service,

specifically mentions a competitor by name for the express purpose of showing why the

competitor is inferior to the product naming it.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is a marketing concept that measures consumers' knowledge of a brand's

existence. At the aggregate (brand) level, it refers to the proportion of consumers who know of

the brand.

Brand Perception

Brand is essentially the sum of all experiences related to the product, service, and

companies that make and deliver the product. Brand perceptions are shaped by functional

experiences (i.e. speed, quality, reliability, ease of use) as well as emotional experiences (i.e.

make me feel better, improve my performance, make my life/job more gratifying or easier) the

customer associates with the product and company.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Of the many possible approaches available when implementing advertising

communications, the relatively new but increasingly popular strategy referred to as comparative

advertising offers marketers an opportunity to communicate specific advantages of their brands

and at the same time demonstrate that competing products are less able to fulfill specified needs

and benefits. The major attraction of comparative advertising is its intuitive appeal; here, one can

provide consumers with explicit, direct information about the promoted brand and its

competitors allowing the consumer to compare brand and identify explicitly the relative

positioning of the promoted brand. Comparative advertising has also the presumed appeal of

projecting an image of a hard hitting, competitive message; once and for all destroying the image

of collusion, oligopolies and other non-competitive practices of which many heavily advertising

firms such as automobile, drugs or processed foods have been often accused. Yet advertisers

should proceed with caution when planning, designing and executing a comparative

communicational campaign (Etgar & Goodwin, 1979).

It is also argued that the effects of comparative advertising are situation specific (Murphy

& Amundsen, 1981). Comparative advertising have failed to find a positive effect on brand

attitudes, including those that have demonstrated other positive effects (Gorn & Weinberg, 1984;

Sujan & Dekleva, 1987).

A study by Putrevu & Lord (1994) found that comparative ads induce more positive brand

attitudes for products which elicit cognitive and affective motivations simultaneously.

Comparative ads were also shown to positively influence brand switchers and have a negative

impact on consumers loyal to competing brands.

A meta-analysis was done by Grewal, Kavanoor, Fern, Costley & Barnes (1997) showed

that comparative ads are more effective than non-comparative ads in generating attention,

Page 22: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

message and brand awareness, levels of message processing, favorable sponsored brand

attitudes, and increased purchase intentions and purchase behaviors. However, comparative ads

evoke lower source believability and a less favorable attitude toward the advertisement.

Additional analyses of moderator variables find that market position (sponsor, comparison, and

relative), enhanced credibility, message content, and type of dependent measure (relative versus

non-relative) affect some of the relationships between advertising format and cognition, brand

attitudes, and purchase intentions. New brands comparing them-selves to established brands

appear to benefit most from comparative advertising.

The issue of cross-country differences in comparative advertising effectiveness is very

important. Donthu (1998) found that although recall of comparative ads was high, consumer

attitudes toward comparative ads was not very positive, especially in countries where

comparative ads are not widely used or rarely used.

In recent years this new phenomenon has become pronounced in TV and print advertising.

It compares one brand against one or more competitive brands through explicitly naming them in

the same ad, on a variety of specific product or service attributes. There were infrequent attempts

at comparison advertising in the past, but these comparisons were not as explicit as we find them

currently. Today, one notices comparison ads being aired on all forms of goods and services.

Since comparative advertising is a potentially growing phenomenon, it has a lot of impact on

stimulating brand recall (Subhash & Hackleman, 1978).

Comparative advertising is advocated as an effective method of communicating benefits of

new brands (Droge & Darmon, 1987; Murphy & Amundsen, 1981). Although practitioners have

shown increased interest in using comparative advertising (Phillips, 1983; Shimp & Dyer, 1978),

empirical evidence concerning its impact is inconsistent and remains controversial (Ash & Wee,

1983; Belch, 1981; Demirdjain, 1983; Gorn & Weinberg, 1984). This inconsistency suggests the

need to identify conditions where comparative advertising is likely to be more persuasive than

non-comparative advertising (Shimp & Dyer, 1978) for new and/or unfamiliar brands.

Researchers have also suggested that an evaluation of a comparative advertisement may require a

higher hevel of involvement than may be present within many consumers (Wilson &

Muderrisoglu, 1980).

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The effectiveness of comparative advertising has been the focus of several empirical

studies (Golden, 1976; Levine, 1976; McDougall, 1976, Prasad, 1976; Pride, Lamb, & Pletcher,

1977; Wilson, 1976). Although these studies have explored several important aspects of

comparative advertising, a substantial number of problems of importance to advertising

managers have not been researched (Etgar & Goodwin, 1977).

Numerous academic and industry studies have investigated comparative advertising

effectiveness with mixed results (Rogers & Williams, 1989; Barry, 1993). Some researchers

have found comparative advertisements to be effective (Demirdjian, 1983; Earl & Pride, 1980),

but others have found them to be no more effective than traditional noncomparative

advertisements (Droge & Darmon, 1987; Goodwin & Etgar, 1980). Some researches have found

non-comparative advertising demonstrably more effective than comparative advertising (Shimp

& Dyer, 1978).

A research was done to find whether or not comparative print advertisements are more

informative than non comparative ones and whether variations in intensity and directionality

affect the informativeness of comparative advertisements. It was later found that both

comparative and non comparative ads were thought to be informative by the consumers (Pride,

Lamb & Pletcher, 1979).

The effectiveness of comparative advertising, according to the large body of extant

empirical research, is equivocal. Some investigators conclude that comparative advertising

provides advantages that are not associated with non-comparative advertising (Droge & Darmon,

1987; Miniard, 1993; Pechmann & Ratneshwar, 1991; Pechmann & Stewart 1990; Rose, 1993).

Others report that comparative advertising produces undesirable outcomes (Belch, 1981; Golden,

1979; Goodwin & Etgar, 1980; Levine, 1976; Swinyard, 1981). These conflicting opinions do

not seem to deter major consumer goods and service corporations from using comparative

advertising in their promotional mix.

Comparative ads generally elicit more attention to the ad, greater message and brand

awareness, increased information processing, more favorable brand attitudes, and increased

purchase intentions and increased purchase behaviors. Conversely, comparative ads evoke lower

Page 24: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

source believability and less positive attitudes toward the ads (Garewal, Kavanoor, Edward,

Carolyn & James, 1997). An early assumption was that comparative advertising would add

information content to advertising and give the consumer a basis for evaluating the relative

merits of rival brands (Schnabel, 1974-75).

Wilkie & Farris (1975) proposed that comparative advertising should be more effective

than non-comparative advertising in generating increased attention and recall, increased

comprehension of claims, and greater yielding to claims. Of the studies investigating

comparative advertising, however, only a few have found some benefits for it (Jain &

Hackleman, 1978; Prasad, 1976). Most studies are not supportive. Pride, Lamb, & Pletcher,

(1977) and Golden (1979) found claim acceptance no more effective for comparative advertising

than for non-comparative advertising. Shimp & Dyer (1978) and Levine (1976) found

comparative advertising to be inferior to non-comparative advertising.

In past laboratory experiments, researchers have attempted to measure the effectiveness of

comparative advertising under the explicit or implicit assumption that attitudes and purchase

intentions are the appropriate dependent measures (Etgar & Goodwin, 1978-80; Golden, 1975;

Ogilvy & Mather, 1975; Wilson, 1976). Based on this model the conclusion has been drawn that

comparative advertising is as effective as non-comparative advertising (i.e., the conventional

format). Relatively few studies have compared the effectiveness of direct and indirect

comparative ads. As in the case of studies comparing direct and non-comparative ads, results

have been mixed. Pride (1979) found that direct comparisons were perceived to be more

informative than indirect comparisons, but Goodwin & Etgar (1980) found the opposite to be

true. Similarly, Goodwin & Etgar (1980) found indirect comparisons to be marginally more

effective in promoting positive affect toward the brand, whereas Prasad (1976) and Murphy &

Amundsen (1981) found no effects on perceived competitive position.

It was noted by Pechman & Stewart (1990) that market share of advertised brands may be

an important variable: Indirect comparisons were more effective than direct comparisons in

enhancing purchase intentions for moderate-share brands, and the opposite was true when low-

share brands were compared to high-share brands. In general, researchers have found no

difference between direct and indirect comparative advertising in terms of being perceived as

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reliable, helpful, or believable (Collins & Waters, 1986; McDougall, 1977; Murphy &

Amundsen, 1981). In addition, researchers of implied superiority claims, a widely used form of

indirect comparative advertising, have suggested that these indirect comparisons may neither be

understood correctly nor have a significant effect on brand attitudes (Snyder, 1989; Wyckham,

1987).

Direct-comparison ads can enhance a brand’s position either by differentiating it from

competitive offerings or by causing it to be associated with an established, well liked comparison

brand (Droge & Darmon, 1987; Gorn & Weinberg, 1984; Pechmann and Ratneshwar, 1991;

Sujan & Dekleva, 1987; Walker, Swasy & Rethans, 1985). A number of studies have addressed

the dimensionality of involvement construct (Kim, 1991; Kim & Lord, 1991; Laurent &

Kapferer, 1985; McQuarrie and Munson, 1987; Mittel and Lee, 1989; Park & Young, 1986;

Vaughn, 1980, Zaichkowsky, 1987). Though the various studies yield some differences with

respect to the number and nature of dimensions identified, they have in common the

demonstration of a cognitive (rational, thinking) and an affective (emotional, hedonic) aspect.

Comparative advertising resembles comparison shopping since it is a message format that

compares two or more brands of the same product or service class and makes such a comparison

in terms of one or more product or service attributes (Wilkie and Farris, 1975). An advertising

format that resembles comparison shopping benefits both advertisers and consumers (Scammon,

1978). From the advertiser’s perspective, comparative messages provide an explicit reason for

buying the sponsor’s product rather than a competitor’s. Other reasons for endorsing

comparative advertising are that it encourages competition, leads to selective attention due to the

mention of competing brands, and helps users to generate support arguments (Scammon, 1978;

Wilkie & Farris, 1975).

Through a strategy of association with a dominant, well-known brand, a new (or lesser

known) brand may be able to achieve fast and accurate positioning. The goal of an associative

strategy is to engender perceived similarity (Lamb, Pride, & Pletcher 1978). The strategy may

involve, for example, use of a brand name, package design, and advertising claims, and/or point

of purchased displays that mimic those of the dominant brand and thus elicit the desired

association in consumers' minds. In particular, advertising often has a crucial role because it

Page 26: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

communicates the information on which the association is based. (Wilkie & Farris, 1975) were

the first to hypothesize that comparative ads lead to increased brand comprehension because use

of product attribute-based comparisons makes it easier to position a brand in relation to

competitors. By pointing out how and to what extent brands are similar (or differ), comparative

ads give consumers information in a format that provides increased potential for learning and

clearer, focused perceptions. This fundamental research hypothesis, centering on cognitive

brand-related responses, was one in a series that encompassed recall, ad-related responses, and

the entire hierarchy of cognitive, affective, and cognitive effects relating to the brand itself.

A number of different types of associations related to either performance or imagery

may become linked to the brand. We can characterize the brand associations making up the

brand image and meaning according to three important dimension-strength, favorability, and

uniqueness that provide key to building brand equity and hence activation brand loyalty. (Keller,

Strategic Brand Management, 3rd Edition).

In context of the above research, effectiveness of comparative advertising is related to

factors such as brand awareness, direct or indirect comparison or simply the timing of exposure

to the advertisement etc. There are many other factors that influence the affectivity of

comparative advertisement which requires more in depth analysis. Purpose of my research is

exactly to find the same aspects which might or might not be affective while running the

comparative advertising campaign. The area of my research is the telecom sector of Pakistan.

Almost all the companies in this industry are using comparative advertising as a tool for their

advertising campaigns. This is mainly done to better inform their customers about their

product/services and to stand apart from the competition by punching them hard, but has it

helped them so far is a big question mark.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

Page 27: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

Effective advertising is, almost always, persuasive advertising, and while not all

advertising seeks to persuade, in a competitive situation those who best persuade are those most

likely to win. For my research I picked up comparative advertising as a variable which might or

might not be effective but certainly is here to stay. Almost all businesses are linked to this type

of advertising in one way or the other. Comparative advertising allows a company to directly

compare their product with the competition and also provides the company with an opportunity

to highlight the areas in which it believes its product is superior. One difficulty with comparative

advertising is that the intended buyers may perceive it as threatening their self-image because

they view the comparison as an attack on their presently preferred brand. Comparative

advertising is not illegal and there are no special rules to follow when creating comparative

advertisements.

According to the research done earlier there were many variables which had an effect on

comparative advertising and in my research I have used brand awareness, attitude,

communication, quality, informative.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research methodology is descriptive in nature. Earlier work on this topic does not help

the cause of Telecom industry of Pakistan. But the research done abroad is helpful to find the

main reasons of the popularity of this type of advertising.

Data Collection

Data collection is mainly primary in nature. Because there is not much research done on

this topic in Pakistan, therefore some of the secondary data is taken from books, electronic

Page 28: Effectiveness of Comparative Advertisement

journals, and other websites. It is ensured to carry out the research in an understandable manner

and unbiased approach.

Instrument

The tool used for data collection is a self designed questionnaire. Questionnaires are a

research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of

gathering information from respondents. Each question has been designed in order to gain

information related to the main elements of the research paper.

Population

Population taken for the research is from Islamabad due its convenience and proximity.

Due to time constraints the area of my research is restricted to only selected sectors and shopping

areas inside Islamabad. The reason of selecting Islamabad as an area of my research was that it

represents people of almost every origin and to keep the findings specific.

Sample

The total sample size is 200 respondents who use mobile phones regularly and have seen

the ads by these mobile phone companies. The sample was taken from different sectors

including: F-8, F-11, E-7, F-7, F-6, G-10, and G-11.