Conditions and Causes of Split Ad Effectiveness

Abstract

Split advertising technique involves two distinct and separate components that must be jointly experienced to receive the entirety of a message. An example is a Nike ad that began on TV and then was completed at a web site. This mode of presentation is termed the “split advertising technique” or simply, the “split ad technique” as well as Hybrid style of advertising. The objective of this investigation is to explore the effectiveness of the split ad technique. Experiment 1 provides evidence that split ads can increase attitudes of light users. This increase seems due to the importance attached to the information contained in the second part of the split ad. In experimentation two, in addition to replicating results from Experiment 1, a more complex pattern of responses is discovered when timing of measurement is considered. For measurements taken immediately after exposure to the advertising materials, enhanced attitudes and attribute importance were again manifest for light users exposed to a split ad, and undermined attitudes were observed for heavy users. However, for measures taken after a week’s delay, the positive influence on light users did not persist. The negative impact on heavy users, however, was enduring. Results of two experiments indicate that a split ad can focus attention on information contained in its latter half, and in so doing, can produce more positive attitudes than traditional, uninterrupted ads. However, findings also suggest that the effects of split ads may be confined to particular conditions favoring limited processing and may be somewhat fleeting.