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Line Extensions are among the most common form of product launch in packaged goods markets. As part of this process, brand managers must decide the visual design of the new variant's packaging. To inform this decision making, this research aims to empirically quantify the efficacy of using colors versus images as signals of product variety on pack. We compare the use of color on 576 packs with perceptions of 1,853 category buyers across three categories in the USA. We find that for 84% of variant types, marketers use common colors to signal variety on pack, while consumers perceive that only 56% of variant types are represented by a particular color. Of greater concern, the colors used in practice and those expected by consumers align in only 16% of cases. By comparison, images are linked to variant types to a significantly greater extent (39% of cases). This suggests images are a stronger and more explicit signal of product variety than color. There are multiple implications arising from this study. It expands scholarly research on the use of colors in product extensions and, at the same time, provides a series of valuable benchmarks for industry practice in the portfolio management domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Modern Data Analysis paradigm (Williams, 2021) advocates using multiple methods to address the same research question, which is rarely done in studies of advertising creative effects. In this paper, we apply the MDA paradigm to data from Hartnett, Kennedy, et al. (2016), which coded 158 creative variables for 312 television advertisements with commercially validated short-term sales effectiveness outcomes. We found that many models give higher classification accuracy than the ordinal regression model previously applied, some significantly higher. Importantly, by applying many alternative but equally plausible analytical methods, we can identify creative variables associated with commercial success and have evidence-based confidence that these creative variables are artefacts of the data, and not artefacts of any particular analytical method and its associated assumptions. The findings reveal several alternative creative variables that are consistently associated with sales success across methods, which relate to the timing aspects of visual branding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra‐light buyers, those who, on average, buy a brand once a year or less, are important by number and their contribution to brand purchase occasions. The initial research, however, was limited in scope and did not measure the contribution of these buyers to sales volume or value. By examining over 850 brands in almost 60 categories, we identify that ultra‐lights make up 62% of a brand's buyer base over 5 years and contribute 32% of purchase occasions and 31% of sales volume and value. In line with previous findings that brands with higher loyalty exhibit more repeat purchases and thus fewer ultra‐light buyers and private label brands often exhibit higher than expected loyalty for their market share—we find the prevalence of ultra‐light buyers is higher for national brands than private labels, likely reflecting the higher loyalty often observed for private labels. We also find no difference in ultra‐light buyers' contribution between high and low‐price brands, indicating that price is not a significant factor affecting the contribution of ultra‐light buyers. Finally, we find that both growing and declining brands have fewer ultra‐lights than stable brands. As growth occurs via increasing penetration and loyalty, for growing brands, new buyers may be more 'light' than 'ultra‐light' in terms of their loyalty; while for declines, these findings imply that there are not enough ultra‐light buyers to maintain brand sales. A failure to recruit ultra‐light buyers may be very dangerous for brand health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although marketers are increasingly asked to manage brands for the long term, it is difficult to do so when no clear picture exists of long-term brand buying. This study reports cumulative behavioural loyalty outcomes for 200 UK consumer-goods brands when observed in a five-year household panel of continuous reporters. We examine these brands in intervals from one to five years against NBD (Negative Binomial Distribution) model projections. Stationary brands attract over twice as many buyers in five years as they do in one. Of these buyers, 80% purchase the brand at a rate of once a year or less, yet contribute 40% to total sales, a Pareto ratio of just 60:20. For managers, this light buying is broadly predictable from NBD fittings to annual data, and implies a renewed emphasis on nudging the brand buying propensities of the whole market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crucial task for digital advertising is to influence choice despite consumers' lack of attention. Yet, there is little evidence about digital advertising effectiveness or about the source factors that affect consumers under conditions of low attention. Using a mixed factorial experiment, we find clear evidence that digital advertising is effective despite low attention. The results for brand familiarity and product characteristics are more nuanced; the effects are greater for unfamiliar brands, and also for familiar brands that are utilitarian. These findings are encouraging for digital advertisers who may feel released from the imperative to design attention-grabbing advertisements. However, the results also emphasise the need for advertising theory to take better account of low attention and the opportunity to further investigate the circumstances under which low-attention advertising will be most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]