Persuasive Talk: Is It What You Say or How You Say It?

This article introduces a new framework for copy testing. It reveals how the quality of advertising-specific elements (as perceived by the viewer) function to trigger persuasion.

Persuasive Talk: Is It What You Say or How You Say It?

Henry C. Boyd IiiRobert H. Smith School of Business
A longstanding debate in advertising circles centers around the following issue: Is what you say (message content) more important than how you say it (creative execution), or vice versa? Over the past decades, prominent advertisers have taken diametrically opposed positions regarding this issue. For example, David Ogilvy advocates that advertisers should focus the lion's share of their efforts on message content rather than creative execution. In his seminal work, Confessions of...

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