It’s Not Just If You See It, It’s How You Process It: Conceptual and Perceptual Fluency Effects for Brand Names

Abstract

There has been a consistent body of research that has shown that increases in accessibility of an item within memory, often referred to has processing fluency, causes there to be more positive affect toward that item. This relationship has particular importance for advertising and consumer behavior research as one of the outcomes of an advertising campaign is an increase in brand salience. Although there has been interest in investigating the relationship between fluency and attitudes in relation to brands, little research has attempted to distinguish between the two different types of fluency that exist: perceptual and conceptual. Over three studies, this research investigated the extent to which perceptual versus conceptual fluency impacted attitudes toward known brands, with results suggesting that it is conceptual fluency that makes a significant contribution.

Keywords

• advertising
• affective judgment
• implicit memory
• processing fluency