A meta-analysis of when and how advertising creativity works

Rosengren (2020) · Journal of Marketing · Read the paper

Rosengren, Eisend, Koslow and Dahlen meta-analyse 93 data sets from 67 papers, 878 effect sizes. They report robust positive effects of advertising creativity, with originality and appropriateness both mattering, stronger effects for high-involvement products, and marginally stronger ad reactions, not brand reactions, for unfamiliar brands. Affect transfer, processing and signaling explain the effects; originality mainly through affect transfer and appropriateness through signaling. They call for research linking creativity to sales. The full text was not read.

Rosengren, Eisend, Koslow and Dahlen meta-analyse 93 data sets from 67 papers, 878 effect sizes. They report robust positive effects of advertising creativity, with originality and appropriateness both mattering, stronger effects for high-involvement products, and marginally stronger ad reactions, not brand reactions, for unfamiliar brands. Affect transfer, processing and signaling explain the effects; originality mainly through affect transfer and appropriateness through signaling. They call for research linking creativity to sales. The full text was not read.

Written from the abstract and bibliographic record, 2026-11-03.

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Rosengren, S., Eisend, M., Koslow, S., & Dahlén, M. (2020). A meta-analysis of when and how advertising creativity works. Journal of Marketing, 84(6). doi:10.1177/0022242920929288 https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242920929288