Print advertising: Executional factors and the RPB Grid

This study examines the effects of print ad execution variables on attention and processing as measured by Starch Noted, Associated, and Read most scores—on a univariate basis, then multivariate, and finally within the quadrants of the Rossiter–Percy–Bellman (RPB) Grid. Findings show that executional factors should create high noting scores because initial attention largely determines whether the brand is noticed and its message in the copy read. Univariate and multivariate effects of pictorial and verbal executional factors, ad placement factors, and message style mainly confirm the magazine ad attention tactics in the textbooks by Rossiter and Bellman (2005) and Rossiter and Percy (1997) but with several interesting exceptions. Six of the 16 executional factors investigated differed as a function of the product involvement dichotomy and product purchase motive dichotomy in the RPB Grid. Most (10 of 16), however, apply to all magazine ads, independent of RPB Grid dimensions.