A comparative analysis of three communication formats: Advertising, infomercial and direct experience

We develop a theoretical framework around the simple proposition that infom ercials are similar to ads in some respects and also reflect characteristic s inherent in direct experiences (i.e., trial use of branded goods). Using a real infomercial for a rock music album, we conducted true experiments to investigate the relative effectiveness of three different communication fo rmats of research interest: ad, infomercial, and direct experience. Results were consistent across the two studies and indicated that both direct expe rience and infomercial formats produced greater impact on recall, attitudin al, and purchase intent variables when compared to the ad format. However f ew significant differences emerged between direct experience and infomercia l formats, suggesting that infomercials are closer to direct experiences th an they are toads. Of the three audio-visual conditions examined 15-minute long ad, 15-minute long infomercial, and 30-minute long infomercial), evidence indicated that the 15-minute long infomercial was most effective for attitudinal and direc t-response measures. Thus, from the perspective of both persuasion and beha vioral response, the popular 30-minute Long infomercial format may not be o ptimal; the 15-minute long infomercial format appears to deserve more resea rch scrutiny.