ABSTRACT

This study is based on the belief that advertising strategies differ according to product characteristics. The FCB Grid model is used to classify products and examine the differences in the advertisements of each product classes' expression types. A cross-examination against foreign strategy model was performed in order to identify and understand the unique features of Korean advertisements.

Thus, products were classified into four categories according to the FCB Grid model - high-involvement/thinking products, high-involvement/feeling products, low-involvement/thinking products, and low-involvement/feeling products. Eight products, which had been pre-classified by other studies in accordance with the FCB Grid model classification criteria, were selected as the study sample. All television and newspaper advertisements for the eight products, from January 1st, 1997 to December 31st, 2001, were researched and studied. Overlapping advertisements were excluded from the study. A total of 271 television advertisements and 610 newspaper advertisements were analyzed according to product characteristics, media type, information content, appeal types, and execution types.

The conclusions of the study can be summarized as follows.

First, the amount of information content varied according to the characteristics of the product being advertised. The advertisements of high-involvement/thinking products contained the most information content, whereas the advertisements of high-involvement/feeling products had the least amount of information content. Thus, it can be concluded that the think/feel aspect of the product has the greatest influence on the amount of information content within an advertisement. However, because only a limited number of products were included in the study, it cannot be said that the information content that was analyzed represents the general characteristics of each product class.

Second, according to an examination of relationship between product characteristics and expression types it can be concluded that product characteristics have an effect on the appeal types. Low-involvement/thinking products used reasoning as the main appeal types, whereas high-involvement/feeling products tended to use emotional methods of appeal. Just as in the case of information content, expression types was influenced more by the think/feel aspect rather that the involvement level of the product. In addition, each product class tended to utilize unique execution types. High-involvement/thinking products tended to use slice of life, high-involvement/feeling products tended to portray products as the hero of the advertisement, low-involvement/thinking products tended to use a spokesperson, and low-involvement/feeling products tended to use vignette within the advertisements. Advertisements that used reasoning as the appeal types tended to use techniques such as news announcement, problem solution, demonstration, special effects, announcers, dialogue/interview/conversations, and spokesperson for implementation. On the other hand, advertisements that appealed to emotion tended to use implementation types such as product as hero, song-and-dance spectaculars, slice of life, and vignette.

Finally, a study was done to examine the differences between actual information content/expression types and the guidelines proposed by the FCB Grid model. In the case of high-involvement/thinking products, the utilization of factors such as printed media, large amounts of information content, and reasoning techniques were in concurrence with the FCB Grid model, despite minor differences in actual implementation. For high-involvement/feeling products, all factors, including the use of newspaper media and appealing to the emotions of consumers, were both in concurrence with the model. For low-involvement/thinking products, the FCB Grid was unapplicable in both information content and expression types. Lastly, for low-involvement/feeling products, the FCB Grid's suggestion regarding effective media and execution types were inapplicable, yet the utilization of emotional appeal was quite accurate.

According to the results of this study, the characteristics of the product have an influence on the amount of information content and expression types employed within the advertisement. Therefore, utilization of the proper advertisement methods in relation to product characteristics is of great importance. But this conclusion does not necessarily correspond to the FCB Grid model, which is fundamentally a strategy based on foreign advertisements. Even for the same identical product, there are differences in expression types and advertisement strategy depending on nationality of the advertisement. Also, this shows that Korean advertisements have developed a unique color of their own. Thus, in order to plan effective advertisements and create appropriate advertising strategies in accordance with product characteristics, it is essential to establish an advertisement model and strategy that suits the Korean advertisement environment.