Matching the Message to the Mind: Advertising Imagery and Consumer Processing Styles

Priscilla A LaBarbera, Peter Weigland and Eric A Yorkston

The authors assert that personality theory can provide useful insights into which visual imagery works best with particular consumers.

Matching the Message to the Mind: Advertising Imagery and Consumer Processing Styles

Priscilla LaBarberaEric A. YorkstonNew York University andPeter WeingardDDB Needham Worldwide

As advertisers increasingly seek greater communications effectiveness, more careful consideration needs to be given to the selection of visual imagery. In the process of choosing illustrations, photographs, fonts, and other elements of imagery, discipline often takes a back seat to creative instinct, hunches, and sometimes, guesswork. The need to examine these creative decisions systematically grows even stronger when we consider the changing face of media today. Not only do more advertisements compete for...

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