This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mattila, A. S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Use of Narrative Appeals in Promoting Restaurant Experiences

The Pennsylvania State University, asm6{at}psu.edu

Because consumers encounter numerous advertising messages from many sources and through various media, hospitality advertisers are increasingly concerned about the effectiveness of their messages. In this article, the author proposes that story-based communication or narratives might offer an attractive new avenue for advertising experiential services such as restaurants. The goal of this experimental investigation was to examine whether consumer expertise interferes with the relative effectiveness of story-based appeals in print advertisements portraying restaurants. Overall, this study’s results suggest that consumers with relatively low familiarity with a restaurant category might prefer appeals based on stories to appeals based on lists of service attributes. Moreover, narrative ads might elicit more emotional reactions toward the ad than ads employing a list format. Consumers with relatively high familiarity with the focal restaurant category, however, might be unaffected by the format of the information presentation.

Key Words: restaurant advertising • consumer expertise • presentation format

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. E. Mills and L. Thomas Assessing Customer Expectations of Information Provided On Restaurant Menus: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Approach Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, February 1, 2008; 32(1): 62 - 88. [Abstract] [PDF]