Professor Brian Till Shares Research with Graduate Students

On Friday, November 11, advertising graduate students had the opportunity and privilege of listening to a well-respected marketing professor, Dr. Brian D. Till. Coupled with being an associate professor and department chair at Saint Louis University, the Brian is proudly one of UT's own. He received his B.S. in Advertising and an M.B.A both from UT and then obtained his PhD from the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Till's teaching interests include marketing strategy and advertising management, but to begin his lecture he overtly emphasized that his "grounding love is advertising" and that the creative side of advertising has always been something that he has truly cares about. His research pursuits include associative learning, brand equity, celebrity endorsements, and creativity in advertising, which was the subject of his most recent academic article entitled "Recall and Persuasion: Does Creative Advertising Matter?"

The insightful lecture given by Dr. Till was based on this research article, which was published in this fall's Journal of Advertising. Dr. Till's speech, dubbed "Award Winning Creative: Agency Accolade or Benefit to the Brand," focused on an intriguing query, asking if creative ads are effective on enhancing recall, purchase intent, and/or attitude towards the brand. He questioned whether award-winning, creative ads really provide any value to the brand, or if creative ads, and what he dubs "ordinary" or control ads, have the overall same effect on certain measurable outcomes.

Results from his study suggested that creative advertisements, compared to commonplace ads, generate significantly greater brand execution recall on an unaided basis, but do not have an effect on purchase intent or attitude toward the brand. Overall, he noted that advertising awards are more than beauty contests, and that they are possibly adding incremental value to the brand through the ad's unique and witty content.

11/16/2005