E Advertising

The study measures attitude of consumers towards Web sites and Internet advertising to comprehend aspects of brand building advertising. The research work is based on a study previously carried out in United States by Ronald E. Goldsmith and Barbara A. Lafferty.

The study was conducted among students of Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration/Master of Public Administration (CEMBA/CEMPA) at Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad and its regional centers in Rawalpindi and Lahore (Pakistan); sample size 170.

Responses of students tell that advertisements influence more when broadcast on TV than Internet. Among different mediums, they spend most of their time on Internet and TV; use Internet for research purposes. Most of them do not prefer Online shopping to visiting the market and have communicated with other users of a product/service on cyber space. Design of a company’s web site has a relationship with Online purchase - student’s view of the brand improved after visiting websites of the brands and most care to read banners advertising a brand. Advertisements of brands influence people to a level that cannot be ignored. Response of consumers towards Web sites influences their subsequent brand attitudes and their attitude towards Internet advertising itself.

ABSTRACT Brand Advertising web sites remain the only integrated Internet advertising format that enables under circumstances complete fulfilment of the marketing communication model. Companies communicate advertising content while consumers communicate feedback. It is vital that this conversation falls under specific relationship marketing strategy. At present, most corporate and product-based advertising web sites incorporate multiple features and functions to enable company-to-consumer interaction and enhance relationship building by providing entertainment or advanced customer support services. In this setting, important questions concerning the establishment and performance of brand advertising web sites are raised: How do online consumers perceive specific factors and dimensions related to relationship marketing? Do relationship marketing components contribute to intermediate advertising effects such as “attitude toward the site”? A conceptual framework based on a relationship marketing approach is introduced and empirically applied to specific sites stimuli. The proposed framework focuses on three core relationship marketing factors: communication, feedback and customer support. An analysis of data based on primary research investigates consumers’ behaviour and requirements towards the qualitative factors in question. Multivariate Correspondence Analysis is used to identify factors’ impact on specific advertising effects. Results provide insights on consumers’ use and intended use with regards to specific functions that most sites integrate. Also, it is evident that brand corporate or product-based advertising web sites when fulfilling consumers’ needs, could operate as integrated relationship marketing mediums.