Brand advertising as creative publicity
Ehrenberg, Barnard, Kennedy and Bloom argue that brand advertising chiefly raises a brand's profile and that ads rarely persuade. In competitive markets the ad must keep a brand broadly top of mind, which depends on awareness, memory associations, familiarity and trust. They argue this should shape agency briefs, with getting noticed ahead of a persuasive pitch, and how results are judged. The full text was not read.
Ehrenberg, Barnard, Kennedy and Bloom argue that brand advertising chiefly raises a brand's profile and that ads rarely persuade. In competitive markets the ad must keep a brand broadly top of mind, which depends on awareness, memory associations, familiarity and trust. They argue this should shape agency briefs, with getting noticed ahead of a persuasive pitch, and how results are judged. The full text was not read.
Written from the abstract and bibliographic record, 2026-11-03.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Ehrenberg, A., Barnard, N., Kennedy, R., & Bloom, H. (2002). Brand advertising as creative publicity. Journal of Advertising Research, 42(4). doi:10.2501/JAR-42-4-7-18 https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-42-4-7-18