What to say when: Advertising appeals in evolving markets

The authors study how ad cues affect consumer behavior in new versus well-e stablished markets. The authors use theoretical insights from consumer info rmation processing to argue that the same ad cues can have different effect s on consumer behavior, depending on whether the market is new or old. The authors then test these hypotheses in the context of a toll-free referral s ervice, using a highly disaggregate econometric model of advertising respon se. The results indicate that argument-based appeals, expert sources, and n egatively framed messages are particularly effective in new markets. Emotio n-based appeals and positively framed messages are more effective in older markets than in new markets.