Exploring the role of advertising on brand salience among millennials

Abstract

The current brand environment is highly competitive with cluttered advertising, making it increasingly difficult to attract and hold consumers’ attention and to establish awareness of brands in the mind of the consumer (Pieters, Warlop & Wedel, 2002). This study explored the role of advertising, specifically television, social media and events advertising, on brand salience, specifically brand recognition and brand recall in the context of Coca-Cola. The research took the form of an exploratory research design and followed an interpretivist paradigm. It was conducted using semi-structured in-depth interviews to gain a deeper understanding on participants opinions and experiences with regards to Coca-Cola’s advertising and brand salience. A total of six respondents between the ages of 18-32 were interviewed to collect qualitative data which was then analysed using thematic analysis and open coding techniques. This allowed themes and patterns to be explored. The findings from the research suggested that a correlation between recognition and recall exists as well as indicated that television advertising was the most effective in creating strong recognition and recall for Coca-Cola among millennials. The latter finding diverges from the findings of other researchers whereby social media proves to be more effective among millennials. This research therefore contributes managerially to Coca-Cola and can be used to assist in the development of future brand strategies aimed at strengthening recognition and recall among millennials.