INCORPORATING ADVERTISING CREATIVE STRATEGY INTO COMPUTER-BASED BUSINESS SIMULATIONS Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20,1993 120 INCORPORATING ADVERTISING CREATIVE STRATEGY INTO COMPUTER-BASED BUSINESS SIMULATIONS Hugh M. Cannon, Wayne State University The effects of advertising creative strategy decisions are very difficult to capture in a quantifiable, and hence, programmable model. This paper draws on the recent research in advertising grid planning models to classify advertising situations and the application functional attitude theory to develop creative strategies. The model establishes a set of theoretically ideal strategies for each type of advertising situation. The creative strategy is then evaluated in terms of the Euclidean distance between the actual and the ideal. Following the logic of the Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) Grid, figure 1 defines advertising situations in terms of the type of consumer decision making and the level of involvement likely to be evoked by a particular kind of product. Each product is given an involvement score based on consumer responses to a three-item scale: o Very important/unimportant decision o Lot/little to lose if you choose the wrong brand o Decision requires a lot of/little thought The think/feel score is obtained from a five-item scale: o Decision is/Is not rational o Decision is/is not based mainly on functional facts o Decision is/is not based on a lot of feeling o Decision does/does not express ones personality o Decision is/is not based on looks, taste, touch, smell, or sound (sensory effects). Given these scales, the game designer has only to establish a set of coordinates. A scale of -5 to รท5 is convenient. On this scale, a headache/cold remedy, a moderately uninvolving, logical decision, might be represented by the coordinates (-3-1). Figure 1 also identifies the creatives strategy that are most appropriate for each cell of the grid. Utilitarian/consistency, ego- defensive, value expressive, and stereotyping appeals address cells 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the grid, respectively. If the grid dimensions run from -5 to + 5, then a pure ego-defensive strategy would have a value of (5,5). Consistent with the grid, Table 1 provides a set of scales along which each function may be rated from 1 to 5, reflecting the degree to which they describe the creative strategy contained in the ad. For instance, a rating of 2 on one of the utilitarian scales would receive a rating of (-2, +2). The actual values may be estimated either by requiring students to indicate the degree to which their creative strategy will emphasize each of the various functional appeals or by having the game administrator review actual ads and assign strategy values to table one using her or his own judgment. The coordinates for a given strategy may be derived by assuming that one attitude function will predominate in each cell, thus giving it a unique cell score. The value of cell 1 would be the highest utilitarian or knowledge-oriented (consistency) scores, cell 2 the highest ego-defensive score, cell 3 the knowledge-oriented (stereotyping) score find cell 4 the highest value-expressive score. The X-coordinate would be the sum of the X-coordinates for each of the cells. The V-coordinate would be the sum of the Y- coordinates. For a complete copy of the paper, contact: Dr. Hugh M. Cannon Adcraft Simons-Michaelson Professor Department of Marketing Wayne State University 5201 Cass Avenue, Suite 300 Detroit, Ml 48202-3930 (313) 577-4551 (office) (313) 577-5486 (fax) (313) 477-5179 (home) Table of Contents Volume 20, 1993 Dominant Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Shelf Wars: A Grocery Channel Simulation Shared Cultural Perspectives: An Experiential Exercise Utilizing International Students to Globalize the Classroom An Instrument for Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods in the Business Policy and Strategy Formulation Course Providing Better Trained Graduates for Accounting Employers The Ambition Gradient Approach to Evaluation of Computer Simulation Game Team Performance Alphatec: A Negotiation Exercise with Logrolling and Bridging Potential Using the Ideafisher Idea Generation System as a Decision Support System in Marketing Strategy Courses A Dynamic Market Share Allocation Model For Computerized Business Simulations Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course Development of Experiential Applications in HRM: Practicing What Preach and Preaching for Practice Linking Students and Business Leaders Through Portfolios Debriefing International Experiential Learning Exercises: Road Signs for Effectiveness Sales Manager: A Simulation Modeling Interactive Effects in Mathematical Functions for Business Simulations: A Critique of Goosen's Interpolation Reducing the Complexity of Interactive Variable Modeling in Business Simulations Through Interpolation Antecedent Biases of Experiential Learners: Trainee Occupation and Subgroup Diversity Pax in Terra Sancta: Simulating the Middle East Peace Negotiations A Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changes in Ethnocentric/Geocentric Orientation by Business Students after Exposure to a One Summer Course in International Marketing's A Systematic Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Experiential Exercises Entrepreneurs Evaluate Experiential Education A Linear Programming Approach to Open System Total Enterprise Simulations Reflecting Leader Behavior from the Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation Linking Cognitive Styles, Teaching Methods, Educational Objectives and Assessment: A Decision Tree Approach Restructuring Management Education in Post-Communist Countries: How Western Experts Can Help Managerial and Cultural Pre-Conditions for Superior Performance in a Global Setting: An Experimental Study with the Aid of Business Games Multiple Industries in Computerized Business Gaming Simulations Content or Process? - Content and Process! Some Observations and Reflections About Management Education in Central Europe Out-of-Class Experiences to Promote Volunteerism Enacting the Linguistic Consciousness of the Modern Managerial Mind: Post-Modernism and Experiential Learning Intergrating Experiential Exercises into the College Curriculum: The Case of Internationalizing the Business Curriculum Simulation Marketing Oversights Incorporating Advertising Creative Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations The Dynamics of a Partnership Between Business and Education Collaborative Education Done Globally Experiential Systems Analysis CADPLAN: A Simulation for Comparative Advertising A Doctoral Symposium: Preparing Students for Conference Behavior Comparing the Simulation with the Case Approach: Again! Total Quality Management: A Model for Continuous Quality Improvement The Quality Audit: An Experiential Exercise for Business Students Extending the Reach of Simulations: DECIDE Heads for the Inner City Lessons Learned from a Customized Management Development Simulation The Foreign Exchange Spot Trading Simulation Using Lotus 1-2-3 to complete a Triple Play in a Simulated Competition International Business Education: Is Enough Being Done? Matching of Student-Teacher Cognitive Style as a Factor in Student Success in an Introduction to Information Systems Course Breathing (More) Life into the Case Approach Lord of the Flies: A Live Case Approach to Leadership Cooperative Case Studies: Experiential Tools for Teaching Business Problem Solving Tools Strategy Simulations in Context: An Evaluation of Key Dimensions The Distribution Channel Game Evaluation of a Simulation Game as an Education Tool for Utility Professionals The Relationship Between Total Enterprise Simulation Performance and Learning Total Quality Management does not Happen by Magic, but it can be Taught Using a Pedagogical Methodology that Utilizes Magic Effectively Preparing Students for Careers in a Global Environment by Integrating Total Quality Management Thoughout the Business Curriculum An Empirical Investigation of Cognitive and Performance Consistency in a Marketing Simulation Game Environment Using MARSGAP with LAPTOP: (A Marketing Simulation Game Analysis Program) with LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation Adapting TQM Implementation to Organizational Level An MBA Business Simulation: Executive Interaction Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Experiencing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (and the Hotel Meeting Room) Closing the Gap between Corporate and National Culture The Dynamic Manufacturing Company The Use of Experiential Techniques in Corporate Training The State of Simulation Gaming in Easter European Countries- Principally Russia An Experiential Exercise in Cross-Cultural Training Valuing Differences: A Conceptual Framework Demonstration of an Experiential Exercise Effectively Using Experiential Learning to Impart TQM Concepts in a High Technology Environment The Older Worker Questionnaire: An Exercise Concerning Older Worker Stereotypes and Behaviors The Crime Fighting Task Force: An Exercise in Organizational Politics Welcome to the Party! An Expression of Vocational Preference Experiential Exercise for Imparting Cross-Cultural Appreciation Six Swift Simulations on Globalization Overview of BASF Delegate Program