Finding the “Missing Link”: Advertising’s Impact on Word of Mouth, Web Searches and Site Visits

Jeffrey Graham and William Havlena

For decades, marketers have trumpeted the importance of word of mouth in influencing purchase choice, but have still spent billions on brand advertising—without any proof of the link between the two.

Finding the "Missing Link": Advertising's Impact on Word of Mouth, Web Searches and Site Visits

Jeffrey GrahamThe New York TimesWilliam HavlenaDynamic Logic

INTRODUCTION

In a landmark study of voting decisions during the 1940 U.S. presidential election, Paul Lazarsfeld and his colleagues introduced the "two-step flow" theory of communication. Instead of media exposure having direct influence on voters, they showed that "ideas often flow from radio and print to the opinion leaders and from them to less active sections of the population" (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet, 1944, p. 151). This...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands