How to Advertise and Build Brand Knowledge Globally: Comparing Television Advertising Appeals across Developed and Emerging Economies

What can a country's gross domestic product (GDP) tell us about consumers' awareness of and attitudes toward brands? Using a dataset of 257 television commercials from 23 countries, Lia Zarantonello of University of Bath School of Management, with Columbia Business School's Bernd H. Schmitt and Kamel Jedidi, analyze television advertising appeals and their relationship with the core components of brand knowledge (awareness, attitude, and uniqueness). Among their findings: Experiential (emotional) appeal has a stronger relationship than functional appeal with the components of brand knowledge in countries with medium and high GDP, while global appeal has a stronger relationship than local appeal with the components of brand knowledge in countries with low GDP.