Perception of advertising strategies -a qualitative study comparing Generation X and Generation Y

Authors: Karlsson Sandra, 880409-4046

Kälvehed Amanda, 881120-1667

Sköld Malin, 870625-4664

Tutor: Soniya Billore Examiner: Setayesh Sattari Corse code: 2FE10E Level: Bachelor thesis Date: 28th May 2014

Abstract Advertising is a major part of the communication between companies and consumers. It is

supposed to create awareness and attention toward the aimed target group. For an

advertisement to get the right response it is important for companies to create and uphold a

relationship with their consumers. Recent research acknowledges that different advertising

strategies can create different responses. Continuously, different generational cohorts have

different values, perspectives and backgrounds, and therefore their perception can differ as

well. It can hence be important to explore how consumers perceive different advertising

strategies and if there is a difference in perception according to generational cohorts.

This study intends to examine how traditional and ambient advertising in Sweden is

perceived by Swedish consumers within Generation X and Generation Y. Furthermore if

there is a difference between these two generational cohorts’ perception. From this the

authors want to find out if it is appropriate to create the same advertisements for both

generations in Sweden, or if the different generational cohorts demand different advertising

strategies.

For this study, a conceptual model was based on the process of perception, through which the

generational cohorts and advertising concepts were examined. The authors additionally

researched advertising properties, and their effect on consumers’ perceptions toward

advertising. This research was conducted as a mix of multiple-case study and cross-sectional

design. It further used a qualitative approach, using semi-structured focus groups to retrieve a

deeper understanding of consumer perception and the underlying reasons behind such

behavior.

The conclusion that can be inferred from this thesis is that Generation Y perceives ambient

advertising as better than Generation X, since they are more open to interaction with

marketing events. Generation X instead perceives traditional and ambient advertising as

equally powerful. Yet, the differences between the two cohorts are small, and according to

some advertising properties, minimal.

Keywords: ambient advertising, traditional advertising, Generation X, Generation Y,

perception, visual perception, Sweden.

Acknowledgement This bachelor thesis was conducted during our sixth semester at Linnaeus University in

Växjö, Sweden. The first four semesters consisted of the program Interior design and Visual

Merchandising and the last two semesters have been an extension year of the program, in the

field International Marketing. This thesis aims to explore the difference between Generation

Y and Generation X’s perception toward traditional and ambient advertising in Sweden.

These concepts are fairly under researched in Sweden and therefore this thesis would not

have been feasible without the help of the following key persons:

First, we would like to send our greatest gratitude to the participants in our focus groups who

provided us with their valuable time, experience, opinions and the information needed to

solve the purpose of this thesis. We would further like to send our gratitude to the persons

that have helped us with academic knowledge and expertise during this research. The first

one we would like to thank is our tutor Dr. Soniya Billore. She has provided us with valuable

feedback, recommendations and guidance during this research. We would further like to

thank our examiner PhD Setayesh Sattari, as for her constant guidance and support

throughout the entire process. Last but not least we would like to thank our opponents, who

have provided us with their opinions and valuable discussions.

Linnaeus University

May 2014

Sandra Karlsson Amanda Kälvehed Malin Sköld

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1

1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Problem discussion ........................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Purpose ............................................................................................................................. 5

1.4 Research questions ........................................................................................................... 5

1.5 Delimitations .................................................................................................................... 5

1.6 Outline of thesis ............................................................................................................... 5

2. Literature review .................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Traditional advertising ..................................................................................................... 7

2.2 Ambient advertising ......................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Perception ......................................................................................................................... 9

2.3.1 Visual perception ....................................................................................................... 9

2.3.2 Perception vs. attitude .............................................................................................. 11

2.3.3 Perception of advertisement message ...................................................................... 11

2.4 Generation X .................................................................................................................. 12

2.5 Generation Y .................................................................................................................. 12

2.6 Conceptual framework ................................................................................................... 13

3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 15

3.1 Research approach.......................................................................................................... 15

3.1.1 Inductive vs. deductive research .............................................................................. 15

3.1.2 Quantitative vs. qualitative ...................................................................................... 15

3.2 Research design .............................................................................................................. 16

3.3 Research strategy............................................................................................................ 17

3.3.1 Case study ................................................................................................................ 19

3.4 Data sources ................................................................................................................... 20

3.5 Data collection method................................................................................................... 21

3.5.1 Documents ............................................................................................................... 22

3.5.2 Focus group ............................................................................................................. 23

3.6 Data collection instruments ............................................................................................ 25

3.6.1 Translation of focus group ....................................................................................... 25

3.6.2 Operationalization ................................................................................................... 25

3.6.3 Pretesting ................................................................................................................. 28

3.6.4 Conduction of focus group ...................................................................................... 29

3.7 Sampling......................................................................................................................... 31

3.7.1 Sampling frame........................................................................................................ 32

3.7.2 Sampling selection and data collection procedure .................................................. 33

3.8 Data analysis method ..................................................................................................... 35

3.9 Quality criteria................................................................................................................ 37

3.9.1 Face validity ............................................................................................................ 37

3.9.2 Construct validity .................................................................................................... 38

3.9.3 External validity ...................................................................................................... 38

3.9.4 Reliability ................................................................................................................ 38

3.9.5 Credibility ................................................................................................................ 39

3.9.6 Transferability ......................................................................................................... 39

3.9.7 Dependability........................................................................................................... 40

3.9.8 Confirmability ......................................................................................................... 40

4. Empirical data ...................................................................................................................... 41

4.1 Generation X .................................................................................................................. 41

4.2 Generation Y .................................................................................................................. 50

5. Analysis................................................................................................................................ 58

5.1 Traditional vs. ambient advertising ................................................................................ 58

5.2 Advertising properties .................................................................................................... 61

5.2.1 Color ........................................................................................................................ 61

5.2.2 Format ...................................................................................................................... 64

5.2.3 Nostalgia .................................................................................................................. 65

5.2.4 Placement................................................................................................................. 66

5.2.5 People ...................................................................................................................... 67

6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 71

6.1 Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 72

7. Research implications .......................................................................................................... 73

7.1 Managerial implication .................................................................................................. 73

7.2 Theoretical insights ........................................................................................................ 73

7.3 Direction for further research ......................................................................................... 74

8. Reference list ....................................................................................................................... 75

Appendix 1 – The ambient and traditional advertisements ..................................................... 82

Appendix 2 – Focus group guide ............................................................................................. 86

List of tables Table 1: Operationalization, self-generated…………………………………………….……26

Table 2: Participants in the focus group conducted in Lund………………………..……..…34

Table 3: Participants in the focus group conducted in Växjö……………………………..….34

Table 4: Participants in the focus group conducted in Halmstad……………………….……35

Table 5: Participants in the focus group conducted in Uppsala…………………………..….35

Table 6: Comparative analysis model, self-generated…………………………………….….69

List of figures Figure 1: Outline of the thesis, self-generated………………………………………………...6

Figure 2: A model of perceptual processing, adopted from Priya Raghubir .………………..14

Figure 3: Relevant situations for different research methods (Yin 2014)……………………18

Figure 4: Unaided recall test, generation X…………………………………………………..42

Figure 5: Unaided keywords, Generation X…………………………………………….……42

Figure 6: Aided recall test, Generation X…………………………………………………….43

Figure 7: Ambient keywords, Generation X…………………………………………………47

Figure 8: Traditional keywords, generation X……………………………………………….48

Figure 9: Unaided recall test, Generation Y…………………………………………..….…..50

Figure 10: Unaided keywords, Generation Y………………………………………….……..51

Figure 11: Aided recall test, Generation Y…………………………………………….……..52

Figure 12: Ambient keywords, Generation Y………………………………………….…….55

Figure 13: Traditional keywords, Generation Y…………………………………….……….56

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1. Introduction This chapter will briefly introduce the reader to the focus of this thesis and open up with a

general background of the subject. The background leads to the problem discussion, which

concerns a particular problem in the area. It further provides a foundation for the relevance

of the thesis. The chapter continues on with the purpose and the research questions of the

study. At the end the delimitations of the study and outline of the thesis is presented.

1.1 Background According to Richards and Curran (2002), advertising can be defined as a mediated

communication that is paid for and has an identifiable source. They continue stating that the

purpose of an advertising design is to make the receiver take action. Dahlén and Edenius

(2007), state that advertising can be divided into two different types; traditional advertising

and non-traditional advertising. The main difference between the two is according to them the

placement of the advertisement. Traditional advertising is the oldest form. Its first appearance

was during the time period Antiquity in the shape of posters and billboards, and it has since

then continued to develop (NE 2014a). The development of advertisements in the Swedish

market took its start mostly in the big cities (Stenberg 2012). According to NE (2014a) the

first Swedish advertisement was published in 1645, and the first moving light sign was put up

in Stockholm, 1906. They continue stating that advertising is constantly changing and can be

seen as a mirror of its time period. The penetration power of the Internet and the new ways of

displaying advertisements have resulted in a decreasing use of the daily and weekly press

(NE 2014a). For instance, in 2008, as much as three quarters of the Swedish population

avoided advertisement on TV, radio and on the Internet (NE 2008). When traditional

advertising met a declining in effectiveness businesses demanded a more effective

advertising (Shanwar & Brett 1999). Ambient advertising became one of the answers (Luxton

& Lachlan 2000); probably due to its often low costs and the possibility of targeting a broad

range of consumers (Turk et al. 2006).

Ambient as a concept was for the first time introduced in connection with advertising in 1996

(Luxton & Lachlan 2000). It has its origin from the out-of-home and outdoor marketing

concepts (Gambetti 2010). Ambient advertising can be explained as a non-traditional

advertising that creates a surprising effect for the consumer to capture the person’s interest

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(Reyburn 2010; Shanwar & Brett 1999). According to Gambetti (2010) it can be successfully

used by both small and large companies. He explains that small companies can with its help

build brand awareness and large companies can use it to accomplish a powerful

differentiation towards other competing brands on the market. Coca-Cola is one world-known

brand (NE 2014b) that is using ambient advertising (Luxton & Lachlan 2000). According to

Marketing-addicts (2014) Coca-Cola once placed a vending machine that took singing as

payment in a public area in Stockholm, Sweden. A karaoke machine was placed in the

vending machine, and when people were singing they as well became a part of the advertising

(Lum 2012). Gambetti (2010) states that by capturing and involving the consumers, they will

probably continue to spread the companies’ messages on to other consumers. He also

mentions that the movement from traditional advertising towards ambient advertising has

opened up the possibility of a two-way road of interaction between the consumers and the

companies. His argument for this is that today's consumers demand a greater experience than

earlier consumers have done. Therefore the interaction between companies and consumers,

according to him, must be innovative, consistent and the products must provide a symbolic

value.

Advertisement strategies are not the only things that changes over time, so do the consumers

as well. Researchers state that different age groups differ when it comes to cultural, political,

and economical experiences (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009). Kupperschmidt (2000:66) gives the

explanation that every generational cohort is an “identifiable group that shares birth years,

age location, and significant life events at critical developmental stages”. A person born in

the 1950’s comes out of different histories and different sets of coping skills and expectations

than someone born in the 1990’s (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009). Differences between generations

occur because of major influences that impact on the development of personality, values,

beliefs and expectations that, once formed, are stable into adulthood (Macky et al. 2008).

Today, four groups of generational cohorts are identified; Pre-boomers (Macky et al. 2008;

Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Kupperschmidt 2000), Baby boomers (Macky et al. 2008;

Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Kupperschmidt 2000), Generation X (Frandsen 2009; Reisenwitz &

Iyer 2009; Tulgan & Martin 2001; Krahn & Galambos 2014) and Generation Y (Parment

2013; Tulgan & Martin 2001; Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Frandsen 2009; Wallace 2007).

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The birth years for all the different generational cohorts are not set in stone and all

researchers give different examples for when they all are born. Yet, out of all the different

examples a pattern can be detected. The Pre-boomers is the oldest living generation. They are

the ones born prior to 1946, giving them the age of 67 and upwards (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009;

Finke et al. 2006). The Baby boomers are the generational cohort that is born between 1946

to around 1964, giving them the age from 50 to 66 (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Finke et al.

2006; Kupperschmidt 2000). Generation X are the ones born from around 1965 to around

1980, giving them the age span from 34 to 49 (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Frandsen 2009;

Tulgan & Martin 2001; Krahn & Galambos 2014) and Generation Y are the ones born from

around 1981 to 2000, giving them the age span from 14 to 33 (Parment 2013; Tulgan &

Martin 2001; Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Frandsen 2009; Wallace 2007).

1.2 Problem discussion As understood, the purpose of an advertising design is to make consumers take action

(Dahlén & Edenius 2007). Traditional outlets are said to lose effectiveness and ambient

advertising is said to be a better tool for getting consumers’ attention (Dahlén et al. 2009).

Especially in today's society where new choices, that give consumers more freedom and

alternatives, arise all the time (Parment 2009). Dahlén et al. (2009) state that consumers avoid

traditional advertising because it is not worth attending to, but Luxton and Lachlan (2000)

mention that ambient advertising can at the same time overtake the message and overshadow

it. It all depends on if the consumers recognize and understand the advertisement message

(Harben & Kim 2007). The most important factor for both advertisements according to

Parment (2009) is the need to connect with the consumers and create a relationship. He states

that the idea that consumers differ in the amount and type of effort they put into shopping has

long been established within the field of advertising. He further states that such differences

are crucial for advertisers since they influence consumers’ reactions to advertising strategies.

Gambetti (2010) mentions that advertisers need to tailor the message content to the values

and lifestyles of consumers and to encourage them to participate in the construction of brand

message and meaning. He also mentions that in ambient strategies it is even a building block

to create an experiential and relational environment around the consumer.

Beekman (2011) states, that different generations have different perspectives, attitudes,

backgrounds and motivations. So to be able to connect and create a relationship with the

consumers, it is according to him important to get an understanding of how these features

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manifest themselves. Duffy (2013) states that the context in which people grow up, and what

changes as they age and go through different life-stages, as well affect how the different

generational cohorts interpret the society. Evans et al. (2009) continue by mentioning that

how a person selects what to notice depends on their values, motives and attitudes. They

further mention that it has to do with their social situation, current interests, preoccupations

and how they perceive their surroundings. Thus, in order to tailor advertising to the values

and lifestyles of consumers, it is important to know who the consumers are and how their

perceptions about advertising play out (Evans et al. 2009). The wide differences in cultural

norms between members of a younger generation and their elders and how they distinguish

themselves can therefore be important to consider for marketers (Dunning 2006).

According to Macky et al. (2008) the generational cohorts Generation X and Generation Y

are almost identical when it comes to work motivators and attitudes toward leadership, as are

the Pre-boomers and the Baby boomers. Although both the two older and the two younger

cohorts share similarities, it will be the younger generations, Generation X and Generation Y

that will be of focus in this research. One reason for this is that other researchers give similar

statements as Macky et al. (2008) about the younger generations. For example, Reisenwitz

and Iyer (2009) as well state that Generation X and Generation Y are seen as similar, and that

many academics and practitioners in America treat Generation X and Generation Y

homogeneously as a single target market. They do this even though they belong to different

generational cohorts. Their reason for this is that the two generations have lived through

much of the same kind of changes: corporate downsizing, limited financial aid, and a weak

job market. They state that these changes have become part of the psyche of both groups and

affected them in a similar way. As well, the younger generations are of greater relevance

since they will be consumers for a greater amount of time than the two older generational

cohorts. If continuing considering Generation X and Generation Y, and the prior knowledge

found, the perceptions of advertising of these two generational cohorts should be similar. Yet,

Coulter et al. (2001) have found that the entertainment value of advertisements is better

perceived by the younger cohort (Generation Y), since they find advertising more

entertaining and amusing than the older audience. Besides, Schullery (2013), states that

Generation Y in North America has different values than the previous generations. Most of

the information about the generations, that have been found, has been conducted in the

United States. Yet, Zopiatis et al. (2012) state that the inconsistency of age spans is more

evident in Europe rather than North America due to the continent’s unique history. It would

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therefore be interesting to research how the Swedish generational cohorts perceive

advertising.

Continuously, many studies about the generational cohorts can be found, yet studies

presenting segmentation from a perspective based on a generational cohort and focus on

issues related to purchase behavior and retail strategies is according to Parment (2009) an

under-researched topic. As well, few studies have been found, to today’s date, about the

generational differences regarding advertising to consumers, encouraging a deeper

investigation of this for this research.

1.3 Purpose The purpose of this research is to examine how traditional and ambient advertising in Sweden

is perceived by Swedish consumers within Generation X and Generation Y and if there is a

difference between these two generational cohorts’ perception.

1.4 Research questions • RQ1: How does Generation X perceive traditional advertising compared to ambient

advertising?

• RQ2: How does Generation Y perceive traditional advertising compared to ambient

advertising?

• RQ3: How do Generation X’s and Generation Y’s perceptions compare to each other?

1.5 Delimitations This research will delimitate to the area of Sweden. The sample for the participants used in

this thesis will be from Sweden and the advertisements used in the study will all have taken

place in the Swedish market. Continuously, the population investigated in this study will be

of Generation X and Generation Y, not giving any interest to the other generational cohorts.

1.6 Outline of thesis The construction of this thesis is built up of seven chapters, which can be seen in the figure

presented below. The thesis opens up with the chapter “Introduction”, presenting a

background of the concepts and a problem discussion, which builds up to the purpose and

research questions of the study. Chapter one as well includes delimitations of the research.

The second chapter “Literature review” provides the study with relevant theories from prior

6

research in the areas; traditional advertising, ambient advertising, perception, Generation X

and Generation Y. The chapter ends with the section conceptual framework, which presents

the model of perceptual process and the guideline for this research. The third chapter

“Methodology” presents the conduction of the research, as well justifications are provided

concerning the choices made by the authors. The fourth chapter “Empirical data” presents the

data generated through the four conducted focus groups. The data will be linked to the

presented theories in the fifth chapter “Analysis”. The sixth chapter “Conclusion” will

provide the findings generated by the research, which will answer the purpose of the study. It

will as well present the limitations of the study. Chapter seven “Research implications”,

which is the last chapter, will provide information about managerial implications, theoretical

insights and recommendations for further research.

Figure 1: Outline of the thesis, self-generated.

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2. Literature review This chapter provides a literature review of already existing research, which is of relevance

for this thesis. The first section in the chapter provides a presentation of the area, traditional

advertising. The next section examines ambient advertising. The chapter continues on with a

sections describing perception, since it is the perceptions of the generational cohorts that are

of interest. At the end two sections describing the generational cohorts are presented;

Generation X and Generation Y.

2.1 Traditional advertising As mentioned earlier, there are two types of advertising; traditional and non-traditional. The

difference between them is the placement of the advertisement (Dahlén & Edenius 2007).

According to Dahlén and Edenius (2007) and Pfeiffer and Zinnbauer (2010), traditional

advertising is advertisements that are presented in television, radio, the Internet, print and

billboard campaigns. Bezjian-Avery et al. (1998) also states that in traditional advertising the

presentation of products is featured one after another in a linear flow and the consumer is

passively exposed to the product/service information. He also mentions that the consumer has

no control over the order in which they are exposed to the advertisements. As a consequence,

the consumer will become familiar with these kinds of advertisements and the advertisements

will lose their power to attract attention (Hutter & Hoffmann 2011). This is the reason why

traditional advertising forms of communication appear to be losing effectiveness

(McNaughton 2008; Trusov et al. 2009; Hutter & Hoffmann 2011). Consumers today have

also, according to Dahlén et al. (2009), become successful at avoiding traditional advertising

because of new technology or mentality. They state that consumers screen out most

advertising because its perceived value is so low that it is not considered worth attending to.

2.2 Ambient advertising Ambient advertising is a media that is non-traditional to character and often very cost

effective for the organization (Reyburn 2010; Shanwar & Brett 1999). Gambetti (2010),

states that ambient advertising includes three different media types. The first one he states is,

2-D traditional, innovative print and pictorial media, which includes advertising components

such as classical billboards (banners), new high-tech billboards (digital billboards and

displays) and new street furniture. Within these new street furniture, for example stairs,

shopping carts, gas pumps, road signs, building facades, as well as busses, trains and taxi cars

8

can be cited as new ways of carrying out a message. The second media he mentions is 3-D

artefact based media, which refers to when organizations places objects in unusual contexts.

He states that the objects can be everything from key rings, bags, plastic cups etc. He also

informs that this can occur at one or a number of occasions, which is often located in

connection to where the brand is distributed. The third media he mentions is 4-D motion

based/interactive media, and it concerns the advertising where the consumers interact and

participate, and where they also are involved in spreading the message further.

Ambient advertising makes use of already existing elements in the environment and often

plays out in unexpected places. It is sometimes even explained as unexpected place-based

marketing (Reyburn 2010). But what is seen as unusual locations differs from time to time;

places can lose their unusually character especially if the process is repeated (Luxton &

Lachlan 2000). The location for ambient advertising can be both inside for example train and

subway stations, airports and shopping malls, as well as located outdoors (Gambetti 2010).

The selection of location is as important as the messages fit with the consumers. The better

the fit is with the context and the consumer, the bigger is the chance that it will turn out

successful (Reyburn 2010). According to Gambetti (2010) ambient advertising is targeting

smaller groups that are in movement, because it is easier to get them involved than the big

mass audience. Yet, it is usually still effective and enables a broad reach according to him,

because of its natural spread through word-of-mouth. He states that consumers are seen as a

part of the advertising strategy. He mentions that this occurs through that a two-way road is

created between the organization and the consumers and in this way the consumers become

co-creators. He further states that this makes it difficult for the target audience to avoid the

advertisement.

The reasons why advertising strategies such as ambient advertising have increased in spread

are according to Gambetti (2010) due to that how people live their lives have changed. He

explains that people nowadays are spending more time travelling to and home from work,

encouraging marketers to take advantage of this by putting advertising in new places. He also

explains that it is also due to that new technology enables new solutions. Other variables that

have resulted in the spread are the possibilities of targeting specific groups, point-of sale

(Gambetti 2010; Shanwar & Brett 1999) and the cost effectiveness (Gambetti 2010). Ambient

advertising is a strategy that is not designed to move the consumers closer towards a

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purchase, yet instead to reinforce the brand and the relationship (Luxton & Lachlan

2000).

For an ambient advertising strategy to work it is important that it is newness within the idea

(Luxton & Lachlan 2000). Creativity is therefore a very important requirement according to

Gambetti (2010), but it is significant that the idea follows with the already existing brand

concept. He also states that ambient advertising can elicit responses through all human senses

(hearing, taste, touch and smell) or by creating feelings and/or emotions. He continues

describing that the advertising can involve the consumers in a thinking process where the

consumers for example should solve a problem. It can as well take form as a physical

experience, where the consumer can use its own creativity and create products especially

suitable for the persons own lifestyle (Gambetti 2010). But ambient advertising is not as

straight forward as explained above, Luxton and Lachlan (2002) state that there is a risk that

the message will be hidden, due to that media takes over and overshadows it. They continue

stating that there are as well problems with the measuring of the effect of the ambient

advertising. The measurements normally used in connection to traditional advertisements

cannot be applied because they are using different tactics (Luxton & Lachlan 2000).

2.3 Perception Perception is the process in which people select, organize and interpret senses (sight, smell,

sound, taste, texture) (Solomon 2009) and it is concerned with how each individual sees and

makes sense of their environment (Fill 1995). The study of perception focuses on what

people add to these raw senses in order to give them meaning (Solomon 2009). Almost our

entire understanding of the world is experienced through our senses, and they are as well our

link to memory and they can tap right into emotion (Lindstrom 2005). How a person select

what to notice depends on their values, motives and attitudes as well as their social situation,

current interests and preoccupations (Evans et al. 2009; Keshari et al. 2013).

2.3.1 Visual perception

Most of our decisions in daily life are based upon sight impressions, which make sight one of

the most important senses to influence when it comes to advertising (Hultén et al. 2009).

According to Krishna (2010), when it comes to consumer behavior, visual imagery has

shown to be of big help in assisting product information processing and in facilitating

memory and persuasion. She continues; a lack of imagery-facilitating visual input may

10

nevertheless have negative effects on persuasion. She further states that when an

advertisement is not presented in a visual vivid way, it impairs the fluency of consumption

imagery. It also impairs the ease for consumers to generate their own imagery of their

consumption experience, making the appeal to the advertisement negative (Krishna 2010).

Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in advertising and meanings are communicated on

a visual channel through a product’s size, styling, brightness and distinctiveness compared to

others (Solomon et al. 2010). Hultén et al. (2009) state that sight can help consumers perceive

contrasts and differences between for example small and big, light and dark, or thin and thick.

Therefore the sense of sight according to them makes it easier for consumers to notice the

changes and differences that characterize design, a different look, or a new commercial. They

mention that everyone can notice and observe events, colors, forms, materials, texture, things

or people. The colors used in advertisements are especially crucial for what responses and

perceptions the advertisements will elicit (Labrecque & Milne 2012).

Gorn et al. (1997), state that colors can be divided into the different variables; hue, chroma

and value. According to them hue is the pigment of the color for example blue, red, yellow

etc. Chroma can be explained as how much color it is in the specific tinting and value

concerns how bright or dark the color is. They continue stating that research has shown that

colors that have a high value create and increase relaxation feelings among the receivers.

Colors that instead have a high level of chroma generate excitement feelings among the

viewers. Advertisements that contain both high levels of chroma and hue result in positive

attitudes towards the ad. Also the specific choice of color is crucial for what responses it will

create, since advertisements containing red instead of blue generate stronger feelings (Gorn et

al. 1997).

An advertisement can continuously, according to Krishna (2010), have different modalities in

which visual information is provided, which includes the relative picture/word ratio.

According to her advertisements with higher word content have the goal of having consumers

read and examine them. Meanwhile advertisements with a higher pictorial content she states

are those that consumers likely view and glance at. Advertisements can continuously,

according to her, have semantical value; inferring meanings according to brand message.

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2.3.2 Perception vs. attitude

Evans et al. (2009), state that when consumers interact with advertisements they usually

follow the sequence of exposure, attention, perception, learning, attitude, action, and post-

purchase. This means that consumers first have to be exposed to an advertisement and give it

attention to notice it. After this they state that consumers’ senses help in forming a perception

about the advertisement and teach them something new. From this new exposure the

consumer forms a good or bad attitude about the advertisement, which then helps the

consumer to take action and buy the product/service or not. According to Kotler &

Armstrong (2008) a consumer’s perception and attitude about an advertisement are similar

and connected with each other. However they also mention, as stated above, perception is the

stage where consumers notice and interpret the advertisements and from this perception the

consumer learns and forms an attitude towards an object or idea. Therefore the perception of

consumers influence and decide their attitude toward an advertisement (Evans et al. 2009).

Armstrong et al. (2009) mention that the only way to change a customer's attitude towards a

product is to change the product itself or change the consumers perception towards it. They

continue, if customers do not purchase a new product, they do not perceive a need for it.

Marketing managers can according to them influence this by launching advertisements that

trigger a need that helps the consumer to solve a problem.

2.3.3 Perception of advertisement message

According to Coulter et al. (2001), attitudes toward advertising are a function of a consumer’s

perceptions of the various aspect of advertising, such as its informational value and its use of

idealized images. Harben & Kim (2007) also mention that advertising attitude is based on

consumer’s perceptions towards different elements of the advertisement, such as model,

celebrity, endorser, colors, layout and text message. Coulter et al. (2001) state that findings

spanning three decades have indicated that consumers perceive advertising as encouraging

unnecessary purchases and promoting materialism. They also indicate that advertising are

corrupting society’s values by reinforcing stereotypes and promoting undesirable behaviors.

According to them it has been viewed as less than truthful, often misleading and insulting to

consumers’ intelligence. Harben et al. (2007) state that recognition and understanding of an

advertisement message influences consumer’s attitude. They mention that the advertisement

message needs to be in agreement with the brand and product, since how consumers perceive

the message in the advertisement may influence their advertisement attitude. Research has as

well shown that advertisements that bring in nostalgic features elicit favorable responses, this

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regardless of the readers past experiences of the brand (Muehling et al. 2014). Yet, According

to Braun-LaTour (2007) the responses are stronger if the earlier experience was positive.

They as well state that the response will be more powerful if the experience origin from the

persons early childhood.

2.4 Generation X Generation X is defined by Reisenwitz and Iyer (2009) as those born from 1965 to 1975.

Frandsen (2009), states that it is the population born from 1965 to 1980. Tulgan and Martin

(2001) describe Generation X as those born within 1963-1977 and Krahn and Galambos

(2014) give the description of Generation X as born within 1966-1980. For purposes of this

research Generation X is defined as those born during the years 1965-1980, meaning people

that are 34 to 49 years old.

The name Generation X comes from the best-selling novel by Coupland in 1991; Generation

X: Tales for an Accelerated culture (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Krahn & Galambos 2014).

Reisenwitz and Iyer (2009) state that Generation X is a generation that has been working for

a while and continues to develop their careers and increase their income. They continue

describing this generation as a generation with greater brand/product loyalty than members of

Generation Y. They are less committed to traditional institutions and are more dissatisfied

than other generations (Krahn & Galambos 2014).

2.5 Generation Y The age of Generation Y varies a lot from researcher to researcher. According to Parment

(2013) Generation Y is described to be the population born from 1977 to 1990. Tulgan and

Martin (2001) describe Generation Y to be born within 1978-1984. In another source,

Parment (2009) states that Generation Y is born from 1980 and upwards, not giving an end

year. According to Reisenwitz and Iyer (2009) Generation Y is described as the population

born within 1977-1988. Frandsen (2009), states that it is the generation born from 1981 to

2000 and according to Wallace (2007) Generation Y is the population born from 1982 to

2005. Parment (2009) also states that it is not perfectly clear who is included in Generation Y

and that it is not critical to know. For purposes of this research Generation Y is defined as

those born during the years 1981-1995, meaning people that are 19 to 33 years old.

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The concept of Generation Y was first introduced in 1993 by the magazine Advertising Age

(AdAge) as a successor to Generation X (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009; Wallace 2007; Parment

2009). The Generation is described as more inclined to value traditions than prior generations

(Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009). Wallace (2007) also describes them as technological liberate,

creative, independent and adoptable. Generation Y are labelled as a generation of multimedia

and as the multitasking people (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009). They have a good knowledge of

how the Internet and new technology works, as well as the desire to fulfil themselves and

give meaning (Parment 2009).

Parment (2009) gives the description of Generation Y as having both a critical approach and

an automatic screening of the information that passes. He as well states that they are used to

making decisions faster and more naturally than other generations and they have big social

networks. He also mentions that Generation Y is faster at adopting new opportunities.

Generation Y’s loyalty is said to change quickly, yet they are fashion-, trend-, and brand-

conscious, focusing on style and quality versus price (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009). It is hard to

create customer loyalty among them, since there is a clear attitude that it is the experience

that decides who will capture their purchasing power (Parment 2009). Schullery (2013)

brings forward that Generation Y is reluctant to give whole-hearted efforts to anything they

find less-than-meaningful work and that they have gained a reputation of being entitled,

rather than fight for something. For Generation Y, work should be fun and they see no clear

dividing line between work and fun, meaning that they will job-hop if not engaged (Schullery

2013).

2.6 Conceptual framework Based on the literature review discussed above the authors have designed the following

conceptual framework; a model of perceptual processing. The model is based upon Priya

Raghubir’s model “A model of visual processing” that is presented in Krishna’s book

Sensory marketing (Krishna 2010:202). The authors used the appearance and the basic

meaning of the model, but change some of the concepts and adopted it to better fit this

research.

As the authors of this thesis are focusing on the concept of perception, this will be of focus in

the model. The model starts with the advertising properties (1). These are built up from the

theoretical chapter of this thesis and will later be the building blocks of the analysis. The

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advertising properties are built up from theories that are said to affect consumers in different

ways. The next step of the model shows how these properties are being processed by

perception, which is the mediating role in focus. In other words how consumers select,

organize and interpret these properties (2). This step will also be the measurements that are

used in the data collection; to build up the focus group guide (See appendix 2). There are two

sets that can make the link between the advertising properties and the perception contingent

(5). The first set includes the context, meaning the cases being analyzed (the ambient- and

traditional advertisements) (3), whereas the second set focuses on the individual differences,

meaning the generational cohorts being studied (Generation X and Generation Y)(4). This

means that it is the sets; the generational cohorts and the advertisements, which are being

scrutinized through the processes of perception (2) in accordance with the advertising

properties (1). In the end it is the processes (2) that dictate the end perception (5).

Figure 2: A model of perceptual processing, adopted from Priya Raghubir.

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3. Methodology This chapter explains how the research of this thesis is structured and conducted, by giving

an explanation of the following sections; research approach, research design, research

strategy, data sources, data collection method, data collection instruments, sampling, data

analysis method and finally quality criteria. Each section further contains a justification

concerning the choices the authors have conducted.

3.1 Research approach

3.1.1 Inductive vs. deductive research

How research and theory is connected can according to Bryman and Bell (2011), take on two

conflicting views; deductive and inductive approach. They state that the deductive approach

is the most commonly used. It is presented as an approach used to test already existing

findings where the theory guides the research, and hypotheses are generated, which steers the

collection of data. The deductive approach is most commonly used in quantitative research

(Bryman & Bell 2011). Inductive approach on the other hand, according to Bryman and Bell

(2011) and Chambliss and Schutt (2010), uses research to generate new findings that can be

turned into theories. Here the hypotheses and themes are generated out of the gathered

material and therefore the used hypotheses can constantly be changed. The inductive

approach is mostly associated with qualitative research (Wallén 1996; Bryman & Bell 2011).

The final phase of an inductive approach can sometimes take on a deductive approach, to test

the findings. As well can the deductive approach include elements of an inductive approach

(Bryman & Bell 2011).

This research will in the greatest extent take the form of a deductive approach; this due to that

the theories used will work as a base for the investigation. The perception theory will provide

variables that are used to guide the construction of the data collection. The theories will as

well provide an understanding for the concepts themselves.

3.1.2 Quantitative vs. qualitative

The research design of a study can, according to Bryman and Bell (2011), take on a

qualitative or quantitative strategy, or a combination of them both. They describe that the

quantitative strategy has an emphasis on numbers and is intensely associated with the

deductive approach. They further explain that the strategy usually takes the view of the

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researcher, which will examine and explain the behavior. According to them potential

research methods in a quantitative study are structured observations and interviews, where

variables and the conduction are predetermined. A qualitative research is as they continue

often associated with an inductive approach that collects data with emphasis on words. Here

the researcher is interested in the participant’s views, to get access to their perspectives. This

strategy will not only according to them examine the behavior, but as well the meaning of the

behavior. Therefore it will take the form as an unstructured research that enables the

researcher to be flexible. Chambliss and Schutt (2010) explain further that participant

observations, semi- and unstructured interviewing and focus groups are commonly used

research methods in qualitative research, where the researcher does not have predetermined

variables.

The research in this thesis will take on a qualitative research strategy. Bryman and Bell

(2011) state that a qualitative research strategy gives the possibility to more deeply examine

how respondents will react to the different types of advertising. This is the reason for why the

researchers chose this research strategy. The research is as well qualitative to character since

variables will be looked for in the gathered material.

3.2 Research design There are three main types of research design in a qualitative research according to

Christensen et al. (2010); exploratory-, descriptive- and causal design. They describe that in

an exploratory research the researcher has no prior or little knowledge beforehand about the

topic that is being studied. The researchers therefore make a journey of discovery and are not

certain where the research will take them. Shukla (2008) explains that an exploratory design

is most commonly used in a qualitative research and Christensen et al. (2010) mention that

the design concerns the questions what, how and why. A researcher that carries out an

exploratory research design according to them is required to act with curiosity, creativity and

attention, since this research design is dependent on the researcher as a person and not on

systematic techniques or statistical calculations. It is therefore the researcher that needs to

discover the small differences and patterns in the collected data and develop an overall

understanding of the research.

The descriptive design is appropriate when the researcher already possesses prior knowledge

about the topic, but is missing a clear picture and/or new updated information (Christensen et

17

al. 2010). According to Shukla (2008) it concerns the questions how, who and when. He

mentions that the descriptive design is mostly used in quantitative researches. In a descriptive

design the researcher is more interested in describing, than exploring, new phenomenon’s

(Christensen et al. 2010).

When the researcher is familiar with the topic of the study and possesses prior knowledge a

casual design is, according to Christensen et al. (2010), appropriate. This since the researcher

probably is interested in why the phenomenon functions the way it does. Therefore it

concerns the question why (Christensen et al. 2010) and is usually used in a quantitative

research (Shukla 2008). According to Christensen et al. (2010) a casual design is based on

exploratory and descriptive designs, but it identifies and explains the reason of the

phenomenon by looking for casual relationships through different variables. They continue

describing the fact that the different variables can both be dependent and independent

variables. They also state that with a causal research design it is possible to study the

relationship of how the dependent variable changes when the independent variable is

changed.

This research has an exploratory research design. This is the case since the generational

differences, when it comes to advertising to consumers, is a relatively under researched topic

in Sweden. Therefore the researchers possess very little knowledge about the topic that is

being studied. It is also the most suitable alternative when a qualitative study is conducted.

The research questions used in this study are how questions, which are connected to both the

exploratory- and the descriptive- research design. But it is not a descriptive design since the

authors do not possess prior knowledge about the topic. A casual design is not suitable for

this research either, since the aim is not to discover the relationship between different

variables and how they affect each other.

3.3 Research strategy A research strategy can be explained as a general orientation about how the research will be

conducted (Bryman & Bell 2011). Zikmund et al. (2010) argue that there are no strategies

that are simply the best; instead the researcher has to make a decision about which method

will be the most suitable for the specific research purpose. Yin (2014) provides a framework

that helps to outline which research strategy that will be best suited for the study, namely

which method should be used. This can be seen in the figure below. He states that the

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decision is based on the three variables; what type of research question is used, if the

researcher must be able to control behavioral events or not and if there are a focus on

contemporary events or not.

Method Form of research question

Requires Control of Behavioral events?

Focuses on Contemporary Events?

Experiment How, why? Yes Yes

Survey Who, what, where, how many, how much?

No Yes

Archival Analysis

Who, what, where, how many, how much?

No Yes/no

History How, why? No No

Case study How why? No Yes

Figure 3: Relevant situations for different research methods (Yin 2014).

What can be inferred from the figure above is that since the research will use “how”

questions, the following methods will be useful; experiment, history and case study. But since

the researchers do not need to have control over behaviors, the experiment method is

considered as not potential for this aim. Also the history method can be deselected since all

the data will be gathered in the same point of time and not over a long time period. The

remaining method is then the case study method and according to this framework it will be

best suited for answering this research’s research questions.

This research has two different focus points that the research strategy has to take into

account; the advertisements that are being used and the population that is being investigated.

As stated above a case study design is best suited for both focuses because of the research

questions. But there are some differences between the two case strategies. The focus of the

advertisements lay on the specific cases and their unique contexts, and Bryman and Bell

(2011) therefore give the advice that this strategy should be conducted as a multiple-case

study, as it will. They also give the advice that when the population’s focus on the other hand

lays on producing general findings, with little regard for the unique context of each of the

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advertisements, it should be conducted as a cross-sectional design. Therefore this strategy

will be conducted as a cross-sectional design. At the end a comparative design will be used,

both to compare the perception from the population about the different advertisements and to

compare the perceptions between the different generations.

3.3.1 Case study

A case study is preferred when contemporary events will be examined, it is as well important

that the relevant behaviors concerning the investigation will not be possible to manipulate

(Yin 2014). A case study will in depth examine both the complexity and the nature of the

case in question (Malhotra 2010; Bryman & Bell 2011). Case studies are strongly associated

with qualitative research due to the methods used in the process of collecting data (Bryman &

Bell 2011). The most common data collections in case studies are participant observations

and unstructured interviewing (Yin 2014; Bryman & Bell 2011). According to Yin (2014)

case studies are able to process a very broad variety of data, but they also have some

restrains. He states that case studies are time consuming and the risk of generating too much

data that are not useful for the research, are always present. Another constraint with a case

study according to him is the lack of generalizability of the finding when only one case is

being used. Therefore the findings should be considered more generalizable to theoretical

propositions instead of to populations or universes.

According to Bryman and Bell (2011) a case study does not need to consider only one case. It

can as well concern multiple or collective groups of cases, which enable the possibility of

exploring a general phenomenon, also called a multiple-case study design. They state that a

multiple-case study presents the possibility to contrast and compare the information from the

different cases. They mention that here the researcher is interested in the cases and their

unique context. The conclusions of a multiple-case study is often seen as convincing since it

is based on more information than just a single-case; this also makes it more generalizable to

the target population (Yin 2014). When choosing the advertisements and conducting the

multiple-case design in this research the cases will be limited to only traditional and ambient

advertising, seven of each, one brand represented in both categories. It will also include five

ambient advertising video clips. The advertising cases and their unique context is the focus of

this design since the researches aim is to develop a rich understanding recurring Generation X

and Generation Y’s perception about advertising.

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Another strategy available when using multiple cases is according to Bryman and Bell (2011)

the cross-sectional design. They state that the cross-sectional design collects data on more

than one case at a single point in time, this to seek similarities and differences. This enables

the cross-sectional design to focus on producing general findings. The cross-sectional design

is according to them mostly used in quantitative studies, because it focuses to a great extent

on quantification. They continue that when it is used in qualitative studies the process of

gathering material is often carried out through unstructured or semi-structured interviews, as

in this research through focus groups. In this research this strategy will be used when

choosing the population since the emphasis of the population is to produce general findings

about advertising, with little regard for the unique contexts of each individual. The cross-

sectional material will be gathered through four focus groups, which will enable the

researchers to look for patterns between how Generation X and Generation Y perceive

traditional and ambient advertisements.

At last since both the case strategies will be compared in some way a comparative design will

be applied. According to Bryman and Bell (2011) a comparative design entails that the study

will use more or less identical methods of two or more contrasting cases. They explain that

the design uses comparison, in that it implies that social phenomena can be better understood

when it is compared to two or more meaningfully contrasting cases. They further explain that

the design can be used in both quantitative and qualitative design and the key to the

comparative design is its ability to allow the distinguishing characteristics of two or more

cases to act as a springboard for theoretical reflections about contrasting findings. By making

a comparison between the traditional and ambient advertising the researchers want to see if

they are perceived differently by the population. By making a comparison between

Generation X and Generation Y, the researchers want to further find out if the perceptions

will differ between the generations. By making comparisons information that otherwise

would not have been recognized may be revealed.

3.4 Data sources According to Malhotra (2010) and Zikmund et al. (2010) data in research can take form in

two different ways, namely as primary data or secondary data. They explain that secondary

data is collected by somebody else and for another purpose, but is very suitable as

background information. This due to that it can be collected quickly and at a low cost for the

researcher. One disadvantage with secondary data is, according to them, that it has been

21

collected for another purpose. Therefore the fit with your research may not be completely

suitable, since it may have used other methods and reached other conclusions. Some other

problems they state can be that the sources are not up to date and there can as well be a lack

of accuracy and dependability of the sources. Secondary data can, according to Zikmund et

al. (2010), be divided into internal data and external data. They describe that internal data is

data that have been created, generated or recorded by the organization itself. They further

explain that external data is information about the organization that has been generated or

recorded by someone else than the organization itself, often information that is presented in

newspapers or journals.

According to Zikmund et al. (2010) primary data is sources of information that is collected by

the researchers themselves, with the specific purpose in mind. They explain that it therefore

will provide more exact and useful data in the research area than the secondary data has

potential to do. The process of collecting primary data should according to them not be

started until the secondary data has been fully analyzed. Some disadvantages with primary

data they mention is that it is very time consuming and also more expensive than secondary

data. Malhotra (2010), states that the case for this is because it includes the processes of

sampling and collection of data, which is more comprehensive.

The data collection included in this thesis will cover both secondary data and primary data.

The secondary data collected provides an understanding for the concepts, as well as it

provides the different traditional and ambient advertisements that have been chosen for this

research. The different cases collected cover both external and internal data since some of the

information is provided by the companies themselves, and others are presented by external

sources. The primary data will be collected through the conduction of the focus groups,

which will generate more specific information to the research.

3.5 Data collection method The data needed in a research can, according to Bryman and Bell (2011), be collected in

multiple ways. Yet they state that it is important that the data collection process will not start

until that the research questions are clearly stated and elaborated. They further state that the

literature review of the thesis should as well have been carried out. Which data collection

method that is best suitable for a research strongly depends on if it will take on a quantitative

or qualitative approach (Christensen et al. 2010; Bryman & Bell 2011). Since this research is

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based on a qualitative approach, methods that let the respondent to be free and not very

controlled in his or hers answers or behaviors are suitable. The most commonly used methods

in qualitative research are; participant observations focus group (Christensen et al. 2010;

Bryman & Bell 2011), ethnography and semi- or unstructured interviews (Bryman & Bell

2011).

In both ethnography, and participant observations, the researcher immerses himself in the

setting of the case for a longer period of time (Bryman & Bell 2011). Since this thesis will be

conducted on cases that have already taken place, these two methods will not be suitable in

this research. The method of interviews will also be deselected, due to that the researchers

wants to get a deeper understanding of the participants feelings and reactions, than an

interview can give. As Bryman and Bell (2011) explain focus groups can help the researcher

get a better understanding about how the respondents reaches their answers, because the

respondents can question each other’s answers. There is also according to them the possibility

that the participants will end up with a statement that they would not have been able to

generate on their own. Based on this information, the best suited research method for this

thesis will be focus groups. But the research will as well include documents as sources of

secondary data. The documents consists of the advertisements used in the focus groups and

the important information about the different concepts presented in the thesis.

3.5.1 Documents

Documents can, according to Bryman and Bell (2011), be used as sources of data; it is most

potentially used in qualitative research as secondary data. They state that the documents used

can take on many different variations and be produced for a broad variety of purposes. They

highlight that it is important to keep in mind that text does not only concern words when

using documents as sources. It includes everything that can be read. Documents can

according to them be divided into the three categories, to make a clear distinction; personal-,

public- and official documents.

Bryman and Bell (2011) more deeply explain that there are six different kinds of documents

that can be used as sources of data. Personal documents; concerns diaries and personal letters.

This type of material can be used as information on its own; it is as well potential to

complement other types of data. Public documents; is material provided by the state. The

state does often provide a lot of contextual data, which can potentially be used in research.

23

Organizational documents; companies do often provide information about the organization

that everyone can access, such as annual reports, mission statements, press releases,

advertising etc. They often produce documents for internal use, that the researcher needs

permission to access. Mass media outputs; takes the form of newspapers, magazines etc.

When using this type of data there is rarely a problem of representativeness. Visual

documents; is data in the form of photographs and films. This type of data is often widely

spread, especially on the Internet. The documents can be used as data on their own or as a

complement to documents built up by words. Virtual documents; is data that is provided on

the Internet. This kind of data is potentially growing.

When using documents as sources of data, Bryman and Bell (2011) further explain that the

search process for the right documents can be very time consuming and as well frustrating.

They also mention that when this kind of material is used it should be deeply evaluated. The

credibility, representativeness and also whose view is presented should according to them be

taken into consideration.

For this thesis the authors have chosen to include a broad variety of different types of

documents, in the collection of data. The advertisements gathered are both organizational

documents and mass media outputs, since some of the organizations themselves provide the

advertisements, but some of the advertisements are provided by others than the organization.

The organizational documents that are provided by the companies are all available for public

consumption. The advertisements used, are presented as visual documents, namely

photographs and movies. They are as well virtual documents, since they all are provided on

the Internet. The scientific articles that have been collected for the research also take the

shape of virtual documents. Literary data presented in books are as well included in the

thesis. Even if the literature documents do not fit into any of the above given explanations of

the different document categories, it can be considered as documents of sources.

3.5.2 Focus group

A focus group is according to Bryman and Bell (2011) a tool for collecting data, from a group

of respondents, not only to elicit how they feel about a given topic but also why. This is

according to them something that will be brought forward through the group discussion. They

explain that it often is reflected in how a person is saying something instead of what exactly

is said. This type of data collection can as they explain be potentially used in both

24

quantitative and qualitative research, since it can be structured, semi-structured or

unstructured. Cohen and Garret (1999) state that it most commonly is conducted as

unstructured, which allows the moderator to ask follow-up questions on new subjects that are

brought up by the respondents. Christensen et al. (2010) explain that the moderator in a focus

group can affect the respondent with his or her behavior or with a leading question, which is

called an interview effect. They further explain that errors can be a result when the

interviewer perceive and interpret the respondents answers in a wrong way. The interaction

that takes place between the participants can result in revealing new, unexpected or

uncovered information (Gaižauskaitė 2012). It can also result in findings that would not have

been possible to generate by a respondent alone, since it has developed during the process of

the group (Christensen et al. 2010).

The number of participants in a focus group is recommended to vary between six and twelve

respondents (Christensen et al. 2010; Gaižauskaitė 2012), this due to that everyone must be

able to share their meanings (Gaižauskaitė 2012). The number of participants in a focus

group can though, according to Bryman and Bell (2011), vary depending on variables such as

time and resources. They explain that if the number of participants increases the possibility to

handle the group gets harder. They therefore state that it sometimes is recommended not to

carry out focus groups bigger than eight people, since if it is larger than eight it is often

harder for people to deeply express their thoughts. It is as well important that the participants

are comfortable in the environment where the focus group is conducted; otherwise there is a

risk that the participants will not fully contribute to the discussion (Krueger & Casey in

Krueger et al. 2001). Focus groups can, according to Bryman and Bell (2011), either be

conducted with respondents that know each other or not know each other beforehand. They

state that there is no wrong or right answer which is best suited, but both have their positive

and negative aspects. Their reason for this is that when using people that know each other,

there can be a risk that every detail is not fully described. Instead the group of people may

use taken-for-granted assumptions. Yet they state that it is very useful in exploring shared

meanings in a group. A group of people that do not know each other are according to them

better suited when understandings that are built on taken-for-granted assumptions are

required. They further recommend that a focus group session should be recorded and then

transcribed, since it enables the researcher to refer back to exact material, and who said what.

The focus groups that will be carried out in this thesis will take on a semi structured format,

since some specific questions and topics will be brought up and covered during the process.

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The semi-structured design will as well enable the respondents to enter topics that they find

interesting in the discussion connected to the head topic. The design enables the interviewer

to follow up new directions and discussions with follow-up questions, which would not have

been possible with a structured design. The semi-structure of the focus groups will guarantee

the possibility of comparisons, even if in a limited way. Since both Generation X and

Generation Y will be examined in this thesis four focus groups, where the generation

categories are separated, will be conducted. This will be conducted to enable the researchers

to compare the two groups with each other. In this way the different age categories will not

affect and influence each other. The focus groups in this research will be conducted with

respondents who both know and do not know each other beforehand. By doing this the

respondents were more relaxed, but at the same time the discussion could not be built on

taken-for-granted assumptions.

3.6 Data collection instruments

3.6.1 Translation of focus group

Since the thesis is written in English and the focus groups are carried out with Swedish

respondents, the authors decided to translate the interview guide including the questions into

Swedish. To ensure that the translation was conducted in a referable way, two people were

asked to translate the document. The two were selected on the basis that they were a third

party and that they possessed knowledge in both the Swedish and the English language. The

questions were first translated by the authors themselves, from English to Swedish and then

back to English. The two persons who were asked to translate the documents carried out the

same procedure as the authors, and then all the translated documents were compared. If there

were any differences, the authors changed the questions according to the translators.

3.6.2 Operationalization

According to Bryman and Bell (2011) and Holme and Solvang (1997) the operationalization

and operational definitions are crucial for the research and its measurements. They state that

it should show how theory will be measured in reality and it describes activities to be

performed to be able to empirically establish the degree of existence of what is defined by the

concept. Without defining theory and concepts it is not possible to relate them to gathered

data (Ghauri & Grønhang 2005). They state that it is therefore important to map empirical

observations and theory to relate findings to the knowledge base

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The process of operationalization is critical for a qualitative research (Cohen et al. 2011) and

Arbnor and Bjerke (1994) state that the operationalization process involves the

transformation of concepts into measurements. They also mention that the data collection

should not begin until the concepts are clearly defined.

Since this research is based on the concept of perception, the perceptual building blocks,

selection, organization and interpretation, served as the foundation for the operationalization.

The building blocks were identified in the literature review and were then visualized in the

conceptual framework (see section 2.6). First, a conceptual definition was created of each

building block, to provide information of the meaning of the building blocks, and to relate

them to the gathered data. Secondly, an operational definition was defined, to better be able

to relate the building blocks to the gathered data, and to explain how they were applied to

gain the data needed. Finally, workable questions were operationalized out of the building

blocks.

Table 1: Operationalization, self-generated.

Concept

Conceptual definition

Operational

definition

Measures

Selection

“The act or an instance of selecting or the state of being selected” (Thomson 2012:1508).

It gives meaning of how consumers select what to remember, what to give attention to and what they find interesting.

-Write down the first 5 advertisements you remember, with both brand name and what the advertisement is about. -Write down the advertisements you remember. -Which advertisements do you perceive as the most interesting? -Which advertisements do you perceive as least interesting? -Do you often pay attention to advertisement and in what situations? -What kind of advertising caught your attention the most; traditional or ambient advertising? -Would this have caught your attention in real life? -Would it affect your future purchases?

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Organization

“The act of organizing or the state of being organized” (Thomson 2012:1175).

How consumers choose to organize what they see, to create meaning.

-Which ones did you notice right away and why? -Divide the pictures into two piles, depending if you can see any similarities or connections in their visual appearance. -Please try to divide the advertisements into two different piles, one for traditional advertisements and one for ambient advertisements.

Interpretation

“The act or process of interpreting or explaining; elucidation” (Thomson 2012:851).

How consumers choose to interpret and give meaning to the different advertisements.

-Can you please write down five keywords about what you associate with these advertisements (adjectives). -What was your first thought when you saw the advertisements? -Why were that/those advertisements interesting? -Why were that/those advertisements the least interesting? -Do you know what traditional and ambient advertising are? If yes, can you explain them? -Have you experienced any traditional advertising before? If yes, can you describe your experience? -Have you experienced an ambient advertising before? It yes, can you describe your experience? -Do you think that ads have any emotional connection with your past? -Which sort of advertising do you think that you will remember for the longest time? Why? -Do you sometimes perceive advertising as negative? If yes, in which way? -Did you understand for which brand and what product the advertising was conducted? -Did you understand the message of the ambient advertising? -What did you think about this advertisement?

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As seen in the literature review (see chapter 2), the perceptual building blocks are only a

small part of the theory building of this research. Yet, as described in the conceptual

framework (see section 2.6) these building blocks are the basis of perception. The other

concepts will later be analyzed through the data collected from the focus groups. Thus, the

gathered data will examine the generational cohorts’ perception of the advertising strategies

and their advertising properties. Through doing this, all the concepts in the literature review

will be covered.

3.6.3 Pretesting

When conducting an interview, a focus group or a survey it is important to pretest the

questions before the final use (Christensen et al. 2010). As Chambliss & Schutt state

(2010:169); “The only good question is a pretested question”. It is important to ensure that

the questions are correctly formulated so the respondents understand them completely

(Chambliss & Schutt 2010; Christensen et al. 2010). The questions should be easy to

understand and possible to answer (Christensen et al. 2010). According to Bryman and Bell

(2011) pretesting has a role of ensuring that the chosen research instrument functions well.

They further state that it even provides the interviewer with more confident and helps the

researcher to see if the instructions are clearly presented. To pretest the questions and

documents with a focus group enables the authors to check for consistent understanding of

the terms and identify the range of events or experiences which the participants will be asked

to report (Chambliss & Schutt 2010).

In this research the pre-test concerned testing the questions and the documents (pictures and

video clips), to examine which to use in the final focus groups. The pre-tested focus group

consisted of six persons, four women and two men, three of them belonging to Generation X

and three of them belonging to Generation Y. The researchers decided to mix the generations

in the pre-test focus group, since it was the questions and documents that were of interest.

The pre-tested focus group started with an unaided recall test where the participants were

asked to write down advertisements they remembered, and then keywords that described

those advertisements. The participants were later exposed to 20 pictures of both traditional

and ambient advertisements. They discussed freely and were then asked to write down which

ones they recalled. After this the moderator presented the different types of advertisement,

traditional and ambient. Then according to this description the participants were asked to

divide the pictures into two different piles. Afterwards they were asked to write down five

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keywords about the different types of advertisements. In the end of the pre-test the

participants were exposed to eight different video clips about ambient advertising and they

were asked different questions connected to them.

From the pre-test the authors discovered things that needed to be changed before the real

focus groups were conducted. Clearer instructions, for when the participants are asked to

write down the keywords are needed. In the pretest the participants had a hard time

understanding what they were supposed to write, which led to a lot of questions. Therefore

the authors added the description that the words needed to be adjectives. The authors as well

added a clearer description for when asking the participants to write down advertisements. In

the real focus groups, the participants will be asked to write down both the brand and the

appearance/performance of the advertisement. This since most participants in the pretest only

wrote the brand, or the appearance. The advertising pictures were reduced from 20 to 14,

since some of them were diffuse and drew too much or too little attention. The moderators

continuously decided to let the participants write the aided recall test before a discussion,

since the discussion in the pretest made it really easy for them to remember almost all

advertisements. The video clips of ambient advertisement were reduced from eight to five,

since the participants thought that they were too many and therefore lost their focus. The

authors decided to keep the ones that produced the best discussions. Continuously, many of

the questions connected to the different parts were reformulated or deselected, since some of

them reached the same answers.

3.6.4 Conduction of focus group

The focus group will begin with that the moderator welcomes the participants and thanks

them for participating. The participants will then be told that their behavior and discussions

will be recorded throughout the entire process, to get their consent.

The focus group will start with an unaided recall test. The participants will without any prior

discussion or help write down five advertisements that they remember. They need to write

down both the brand and what the advertisement symbolizes, in order for the moderators to

understand which they mean in retrospect. After this the respondents will be asked to write

down five key words about the advertisements they wrote. This will give the researchers an

understanding about the general perceptions about advertising before any impact has been

made. The introduction will after this continue with an explanation of the aim of the focus

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group; advertising. Pictures of 14 advertisements (see appendix 1) will be presented on the

table in front of the respondents. All the pictures will be of the same size, A5, and they will

be presented simultaneously. By doing this no advertisement will get a bigger or longer focus

than another. The placement of the advertisements will also be presented alike in all the focus

groups to insure the repeatability and to insure that the perceptions of the respondents will not

differ because of differences in the presentations. After that the participants have viewed the

advertisements for two minutes they will be cowered. The participants will then be asked to

write down which advertisements they remember. The focus group will continue on with a

discussion about the pictures shown, to investigate what the participants think about the

advertisements and if they have any specific opinions. This was the first step out of three that

will be covered.

In the second step the participants will be asked to divide the different advertisements into

two piles, depending on what they see, and how they interpret the advertisements. This will

be done to get an understanding about how consumers select and divide advertisements. What

the participants do not know is that two pictures from each brand will be represented, one of a

traditional advertising and one of a non-traditional ambient advertising. The reason for this is

to be certain that the brands themselves will not affect the participants in any direction. After

they have piled the advertisements the moderator will present what traditional advertising and

ambient advertising are. After the explanation has been given, the participants will together

place the different advertisements in two different piles again, one for which they think is

ambient advertisement and another for which they think is traditional advertisement. This

will be done, for the moderators to see if the participants understood the differences in the

concepts and if it is possible to distinguish the two. After this the participants will once again

be asked to write down keywords, but this time five keywords describing traditional

advertising and five words describing ambient advertising.

The third step of the focus group will begin with that movie clips of different ambient

advertisements will be shown and afterwards discussed. Through doing this the moderators

get a chance to ask the participants about their perceptions about ambient advertising in detail

and to have a discussion about the concept. At the end of the focus group there will be a

discussion about what the participants have experienced in real life. The presented cases will

all be advertisements that have taken place in the Swedish market.

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3.7 Sampling A sample refers to the segment of the population that is selected for research (Bryman & Bell

2011). It is a subset of a population used to study the population as a whole (Chambliss &

Schutt 2010). According to Bryman and Bell (2011) the researchers need to decide what kind

of population is suited to the investigation of the topic and find a sample that is generalizable

to that population. In order to be able to generalize the findings from the sample to the

population from which it was selected they state that the sample must be representable. They

further describe that it is important that your sample is not biased; meaning that it does not

represent the population from which it was selected. According to them it is very difficult to

remove bias altogether, but it has to be ensured to keep it to a minimum.

Since the purpose of this research is to investigate Generation X’s and Generation Y’s

perceptions of ambient and traditional advertising in Sweden, the researchers selected this

segment as their population. These two generations were sampled because of their said

similar backgrounds (Reisenwitz & Iyer 2009) and the researchers’ interest in finding out if

this would give them the same perceptions toward advertising. The reason for sampling

Swedish consumers within the two generation was the lack of data found on this topic in

Sweden and that the placement of the study is in Sweden.

The advertisements chosen for this research were sampled on the basis that each company

represented had to have both an ambient advertisement and a traditional advertisement. The

reason for this was that the advertisements would not be able to affect the participants

differently according to which brands were represented, either as ambient or traditional

advertising. The advertisements were also required to be presented in a “real” environment,

meaning that the pictures of the advertisements had to show the advertisements as they were

shown in real life. Since showing advertisements in different settings can also affect the

participants differently. Also all the advertisements needed to be non-gender products since

the population consists of both males and females. The advertisements also had to have been

shown in Sweden since the Swedish consumers were the target audience. The advertisements

chosen did not need to represent a Swedish brand, but it had to live up to the criteria that it

had been shown in the Swedish market.

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3.7.1 Sampling frame

A sampling frame is the listing of all units in the population from which the sample will be

selected (Bryman & Bell 2011). It is a representation of the elements of the target population

and a list of directions for identifying the target population (Malhotra 2010). Bryman and

Bell (2011) mention that it is of great importance that the sample frame is as representative as

possible for the specific population. They state that if it is not comprehensive or is in some

way inaccurate, the sample might not be representable.

According to Chambliss and Schutt (2010) as well as Christensen et al. (2010) a sample can

be decided through either a probability sample or a non-probability sample. They explain that

a probability sample allows the researcher to know beforehand how likely it is for any

element of a population to be selected. They further describe that in a non-probability sample

the elements are not known beforehand. In qualitative research a non-probability sample is

according to them the most common and so is the case in this research as well. When a

sample is made, whichever the method, it will, according to Christensen et al. (2010), never

fully represent your population. Therefore the generalizability and representability of the

study will be highly affected by the conformance of your sample and your study. Malhotra

(2010) states that a non-probability sample relies on the personal judgment of the researcher

and can yield good estimates of the population´s characteristics. Yet, he mentions that

because there is no way of determining the probability for the selection of the sample, the

sample will not be statistically projectable to the population.

When doing a non-probability sampling, four common sampling methods are available;

availability sampling, purposive sampling, quota sampling and snowball sampling

(Chambliss & Schutt 2010). Availability sampling, or convenience sampling as Zikmund et

al. (2010) calls it, refers to sampling by obtaining people or units that are conveniently

available. It is based on the fact that the sample is available and easy to find (Chambliss &

Schutt 2010). In purposive sampling, or judgment sampling according to Zikmund et al.

(2010) each sample is chosen for a purpose, usually the unique position of the sample

elements (Chambliss & Schutt 2010). In a quota sampling Chambliss and Schutt (2010)

explain that the sample represents certain characteristics in proportion to their prevalence in

the population. They further explain that a snowball sampling is when the researcher

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identifies one member of the population and then asks him/her to identify another from the

same population and so on, then the sample “snowballs” in size.

The sample of the participants in this research consists of a purposive sampling, since the

researchers decide who is going to participate in the research according to the population.

This is a common sample in qualitative research, when the researcher is not interested in

measurements; instead the focus is to generate a deeper understanding of the phenomena

(Christensen et al. 2010). The participants need to meet the requirements of belonging to the

right age group, be willing to talk and contribute to the focus group.

The sampling of the different cases of traditional and ambient advertisements will be selected

through a non-probability sample. When sampling the cases a purposive sampling method

will be used. Purposive sampling will be used since the researchers themselves will choose

which cases should be included or not. The cases that will be selected have to live up to some

criteria that have been set up by the researchers. Namely that the advertisements have to have

been conducted in the Swedish market and that they include both traditional and ambient

advertising. The advertisements have to target both the female and male population and they

should not be conducted by leading brands on the market. The brands of the advertisements

does not need to be Swedish brands, they just have to have been carried out on the Swedish

market. Based on this, 20 different cases where collected for a pre-test, where they later were

limited to the 14 best representative. Also five ambient advertising movie clips were included

in the sample.

3.7.2 Sampling selection and data collection procedure

Four focus groups were conducted, two with Generation X and two with Generation Y, to get

broad representative sample of the populations being researched. The focus groups were also

conducted in four different cities, Lund, Växjö, Halmstad and Uppsala, to get a wide spread

of responses. The purpose of the study was to capture general perceptions of the population

being researched and therefore the identification of the respondent per se is not important.

The names of the respondents are therefore of ethical aspects kept undisclosed. Although a

brief description of the sex and age will be presented to get a good understanding of the

samples.

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Focus group 1 was conducted with Generation Y, in Lund, on Thursday the 8th of May. Here

six respondents were included in the focus groups, ranging from age 21 to 28 years old, two

males and four females. One of the respondents has an occupation and five of the respondents

are students, all within different areas.

Table 2: Participants in the focus group conducted in Lund. Participant Age Gender Occupation Participant 1 28 Male Medical student Participant 2 21 Male Nursing student Participant 3 24 Female Graphic design student Participant 4 24 Female Economics student Participant 5 27 Female Social worker student Participant 6 23 Female Nurse

Focus group 2 was conducted with Generation Y in Växjö on Friday the 9th of May. Here

eight respondents were included in the focus group, ranging from age 22 to 30 years old, four

males and four females. Two of the respondents have occupations, five of the respondents are

students and one respondent is unemployed.

Table 3: Participants in the focus group conducted in Växjö.

Participant Age Gender Occupation Participant 1 24 Female Economics student Participant 2 25 Male Nursing student Participant 3 26 Male Science in engineering

student Participant 4 28 Male Industrial management

student Participant 5 24 Female Independent courses Participant 6 22 Female Economics student Participant 7 30 Female Sales person Participant 8 26 Male Nurse

Focus group 3 was conducted with Generation X in Halmstad on Saturday the 10th of May.

Here eight respondents were included in the focus group, ranging from age 34 to 49 years

old, four males and four females. All of the respondents, except for one, have occupations,

within different areas. However, one of the respondents with an occupation is on maternity

leave.

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Table 4: Participants in the focus group conducted in Halmstad.

Participant Age Gender Occupation Participant 1 49 Female Real estate broker Participant 2 39 Male Bricklayer Participant 3 36 Female Rector Participant 4 36 Male Teacher Participant 5 34 Female Mother vacant Participant 6 48 Female Unemployed Participant 7 47 Male Carpenter Participant 8 49 Male Techniques

Focus group 4 was conducted with Generation X in Uppsala on Thursday the 15th of May.

Here eight respondents were included in the focus group, ranging from age 35 to 47 years

old, three males and five females. All of the respondents have occupations, within different

areas.

Table 5: Participants in the focus group conducted in Uppsala.

Participant Age Gender Occupation Participant 1 43 Male VD Participant 2 42 Female Audiologist Participant 3 44 Female Coordinator of the

cochlea implant team Participant 4 39 Male Painter Participant 5 35 Female Head of the

audiologist department.

Participant 6 47 Female Secretary Participant 7 37 Male Sales person Participant 8 38 Female Police

The advertisements incorporated in the focus groups were the same in every focus group.

They were narrowed down to 14 pictures and five movie clips after the pre-test focus group.

The advertisements were chosen after relevance and understanding from the pre-test

respondents. The advertisements can be found in appendix 1.

3.8 Data analysis method A qualitative research usually results with a vast amount of empirical data that needs to be

examined, categorized or combined through data analysis (Miles & Huberman 1994). This is

36

necessary since the research should be able to draw empirically based conclusions (Yin

2014). According to Bryman and Bell (2011) there are few well-established and widely

accepted rules for the analysis of qualitative data. In a qualitative data analysis, the

researchers need to focus on the whole picture and consider the specific context of the

research design (Chambliss & Schutt 2009). The overall aim of the qualitative analysis

method is according to Christensen et al. (2010) to discover underlying patterns that exist in

the collected data, through discovering pattern-controlling variables that explain most of the

content and the variations. They explain that these variables consist of different conceptual

categories that summarize, describe and explain the collected data. They further explain that

the categories can be keywords or concepts that have appeared central in the collected data or

drawn from the theoretical framework. This research’s data analysis method will be carried

out by the three steps developed by Miles and Huberman (1994); data reduction, data display

and conclusion drawing and verification.

Data reduction is a process where the researcher is selecting, focusing, simplifying and

transforming the collected data (Miles & Huberman 1994). Data reduction occurs

continuously throughout the qualitative research (Christensen et al. 2010). The process of

data reduction includes continuous revision of the structure, as well as sharpening and

improving the analysis to facilitate the final conclusion (Miles & Huberman 1994). In this

research the data reduction concerns the transcripts and notes from the focus groups. It

facilitated for the authors to refer back to the theoretical framework, in order to capture the

relevant information for this research.

Even though the collected data is reduced, Miles and Huberman (1994) and Christensen et al.

(2010) explain that it needs to be displayed correctly in order to become useful. Data display

according to them means that the reduced text and the emergent patterns need to be displayed

and organized. Hence the reader will be able to interpret and understand the findings

correctly. They further mention that data display can be presented in a summarized text,

figures and tables. Figures can be matrices, documents, schemas that describe and explain the

connection between the different keywords (Christensen et al. 2010). In the focus groups the

participants will be asked to write down keywords when they are exposed to different

documents, these keywords enable for the authors to discover patterns. These patterns are

displayed with help of figures.

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Conclusion drawing and verification is the third and final step. Miles and Huberman (1994)

and Christensen et al. (2010) state that right when the first qualitative data collection starts

the researcher begins to analyze the participants’ answers and connect to the theories, in order

to find meaning and understanding of the problem. They explain that regularities, patterns,

explanations, possible configurations, casual flows and proportions can be discovered.

Finally the authors are able to conclude the actual meaning or reason for things being the way

they are (Miles & Huberman 1994). The data reduction and data display will be performed

continuously throughout the study. Discovery of patterns and themes will provide the study

with relevant and essential conclusions and answers to the research questions.

3.9 Quality criteria It is important to judge and evaluate a research. Validity and reliability are useful to decide

the quality of a conducted research (Christensen et al. 2010; Bryman & Bell 2011). Validity

is a concept used to guarantee that what is said to be measured also is measured. The concept

of validity can further be divided into other concepts, namely; face validity, construct validity

(Bryman & Bell 2011) and external validity (Yin 2014). These concepts are according to

Bryman and Bell (2011) most suitable to quantitative research because of their need of

measures. They mention that the concepts have been used in qualitative studies as well, but

then the meanings have been change to fit them better. They continue stating that new

concepts have further been developed to better suit the requirements of qualitative research,

for example the concept of trustworthiness, which can be divided into four criteria´s;

credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability.

3.9.1 Face validity

When a new measure is being developed by researchers, Bryman and Bell (2011) and

Chambliss and Schutt (2010) state that, it is important to examine if it has face validity. This

means that the concerned concept in the research is reflected by the measure carried out.

They mention that to generate face validity experts with experiences within the field can be

asked to evaluate the process (Bryman & Bell 2011; Chambliss & Schutt 2010).

To ensure the face validity in the research, the authors decided to send their thesis, including

the focus group guide to their tutor, Dr. Soniya Billore and examiner, PhD Setayesh Sattari.

They did this to receive an approval of the conduction, before carrying out the focus groups,

to ensure that the right questions were asked to generate useful answers. As well, a pretest

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were conducted to test the focus group questions, this to ensure that the different questions

and procedures generated relevant answers, before starting to gather data.

3.9.2 Construct validity

Yin (2014) explains construct validity as the level of precision, in which the measures of the

research are reflecting the concept studied. One way of increasing the construct validity is to

base the measures of the study on already existing theories (Bryman & Bell 2011; Chambliss

& Schutt 2010). Another way of increasing the construct validity is to use a broad variety of

sources in the collection of data (Yin 2014).

To ensure the construct validity of the research the authors chose to use a combination of

existing theories to construct a model for the conceptual framework. In the collection of data

as well multiple sources of evidence have been used.

3.9.3 External validity

According to Bryman and Bell (2011), the question whether the research and its findings can

be generalized is the concern in the external validity. They state that the question is as well

closely connected to the sample of the study. This since it is the sample that to a large extent

will provide with the information. According to them a single-case is hard to generalize since

only one case is providing the information. Yet, if conducting a cross-sectional research, it

will concern more than one case, and the external validity will be stronger.

The cross-sectional and multiple cases used in this research will increase the external validity

of the study. This, since the findings are based on more than one case, different locations and

as well two generational cohorts.

3.9.4 Reliability

The reliability according to Bryman and Bell (2011) and Chambliss and Schutt (2010)

concern the question whether the research is repeatable or not. They mention that for a

research to be repeatable it is important that the measurements are consistent. Measurements

that are reliable are less affected by chance variation and random error according to them. It

is as well important that the thesis is presented in such a way that the research can be

conducted again, hopefully generating the same result (Bryman & Bell 2011).

39

Since the research is carried out by including a number of focus groups the reliability is

higher than if it had been carried out on just one occasion. Qualitative studies, because of

their often unstructured character can be hard to replicate (Bryman & Bell 2011; Yin 2014).

But since this thesis includes the focus group guide and because the data collected are

presented in the Empirical chapter, the reliability will as well increase.

3.9.5 Credibility

Bryman and Bell (2011), state that credibility parallels to the concept internal validity. The

credibility will as they mention increase with the numbers of conducted sources. They

explain that if the research has been conducted in a preferred way of good practice the

credibility will also increase. One way of increasing the credibility is according to them by

returning to the respondents to clarify that the social setting has been understood correctly.

By conducting multiple focus groups the credibility will increase, since it will give a greater

weight to the findings. The credibility will as well be positively influenced by the fact that the

focus groups will take place in four different locations in Sweden; Lund, Halmstad, Växjö

and Uppsala. This will give a broader coverage than if it had been conducted on a single

location. The information that has been conducted from secondary sources have all been

gathered from trustworthy sources. The researchers have also tried to use as many secondary

sources as they could find to strengthen the credibility of their theories and facts in the

research.

3.9.6 Transferability

According to Bryman and Bell (2011), transferability parallels to the concept external

validity. They explain that it can be hard to apply the findings to other contexts than the ones

where the research has been conducted or the same context in another timeframe. This is the

case because qualitative studies are often conducted in depth, instead of in breadth. Therefore

they state that it is important to describe the culture and details in depth so the reader can

make a judgment of the transferability on its own.

According to the research the studied advertisements will represent different product

categories. But all the cases will be located in the same geographic area; Sweden. The

findings from the focus groups about advertisements would therefore be able to be adapted to

other products within the same product categories in Sweden. But it is not recommended to

40

be applied to other geographic areas before the reader on its own have made a judgment of

the transferability.

3.9.7 Dependability

Bryman and Bell (2011) state that dependability parallels reliability. They recommend that all

the gathered data and produced documents such as records of interviews, notes and choice of

respondents should be saved. This should be done to be able to strengthen the research if any

potential questions are brought up.

By including the focus group guide and the transcripts from the focus groups in an appendix

the dependability increases, because it can justify the findings presented in the thesis. The

process of choosing the respondents is as well presented in the sampling section of the

method chapter, which increases the dependability. By presenting this information it enables

other researchers to conduct the same process again.

3.9.8 Confirmability

According to Bryman and Bell (2011), confirmability parallels objectivity. They state that it

is important that the researcher stays objective and do not let personal values affect the

research.

In the focus groups this is especially important, but also when reading the documents

gathered. But it is hard to stay completely objective since humans refer to their own lived

experiences. These are aspects that the researchers have taken into consideration when

conducting the focus groups. For example no leading questions have been asked and the

moderators have tried to participate as little as possible to not affect the participants. It is as

well important to consider for which purpose the secondary sources have been written or

produced and whose view is presented, to be able to consider if the documents are biased.

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4. Empirical data This chapter will introduce the results gathered from the four focus groups; two from

Generation X and two from Generation Y. The information presented is the answers and

general perceptions of the respondents. This information will later be analyzed together with

the theoretical chapter in the analysis chapter. The references for this chapter are the

transcripts from the conducted focus groups. They are compiled in appendix 3-6.

4.1 Generation X Two separate focus groups were conducted with Generation X, one in Halmstad and one in

Uppsala. Each focus group included eight participants, making them 16 in total.

Generation X participants found it hard to remember advertisements when conducting the

unaided recall test, where the participants were asked to write down five advertisements they

remembered. Yet, a pattern could be detected. The advertisements they recalled were the ones

that have been repeated over a long time period. The five best recalled advertisements were

as well presented with a celebrity. For example 13 of the 16 participants remembered ICAs

advertisement movies. Continuously, five participants remembered the Tele2 advertisement

containing the sheep Frank. But there were some differences between them according to what

feelings the respondents had toward these two advertisements. They had positive feelings

about the ICA movies, but the Tele2 commercial they instead thought was annoying.

Participant 2 and 3 in the Uppsala focus group were the only ones that liked Tele2 Frank.

Participant 3 even found it great. Meanwhile six participants hated him. Another new

advertisement that a big number of participants remembered was Volvos advertising series,

with Zlatan and Robyn. Seven out of the 16 participants wrote down the one with Robyn and

six out of the 16 participants wrote down the one with Zlatan.

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Figure 4: Unaided recall test, Generation X.

The five keywords that the participants were asked to write down connected to the

advertisements were very different. The most common ones where; funny (stated ten times),

good (stated six times), cool (stated six times) and boring (stated four times).

Figure 5: Unaided keywords, Generation X.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

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When conducting the aided memory test, the participants were exposed to 14 pictures of

different advertisements, which after two minutes were covered again. The advertisement that

turned out to be remembered by the biggest number of the participants was the Kalles kaviar

ambient advertisement. Eight participants, all members of the focus group conducted in

Uppsala, remembered it. No participant in Halmstad recalled it, but participant 1 in Halmstad

said; “I should have remembered that advertisement” and pointed at the ambient

advertisement for Kalles kaviar. At the same time participant 3 in the same focus group had

no memory of the ambient Kalles kaviar advertisement at all. All participants in the focus

group in Halmstad were surprised that they could miss and also forget the Kalles kaviar

ambient advertisement. Another advertisement that as well got the high score of seven in the

memory test was the traditional advertisement for Tele2, which contains the sheep Frank. The

advertisements MER (traditional), Kalles kaviar (traditional) and Norwegian (traditional)

were remembered six times each. The advertisements that scored the least in the memory test

were both advertisements for Amnesty, both for Rädda barnen, H&M traditional and Tele2

ambient.

Figure 6: Aided recall test, Generation X.

When the participants were asked about which advertisements they found the most interesting

out of the 14 they were exposed to, a lot of different results between the participants were

found. Three of the participants found the ambient advertisement for Amnesty as interesting.

0123456789

44

Yet, their reasons for this were their lack of understanding it. They thought it was creepy and

therefore it created interest. Half of the participants had no clue about what it represented.

Participant 1 and 7 in the focus group conducted in Halmstad found the traditional

advertisement for Amnesty interesting, but as well here participant 7 had no clue what it

represented. The participants also found the ambient advertisement for Kalles kaviar

interesting. Participant 1 in Uppsala explained that it created an interest since it is placed in

an environment where you do not expect to see it. What could be seen throughout the

discussion was that the participants in Uppsala to the biggest extent discussed the ambient

advertisements. Participant 2 in the focus group stated that he really liked the Norwegian

kilt, and that he found it cool. The participants in the focus group conducted in Halmstad

instead found the traditional advertisements of biggest interest.

When the participants were asked about which of the advertisements they found least

interesting, the result turned out to be; Rädda barnen traditional (which were stated by three

participants), Kalles kaviar traditional (stated by three participants) and H&Ms ambient

(stated by four participants). The participants found the ones from Rädda barnen and Kalles

kaviar (traditional) as least interesting because they thought that there was nothing that stood

out. The participants discussed the traditional advertisement for Kalles kaviar for a while. It

did, as written before, not created an interest, yet six of the participants remembered it. They

as well understood that it was for Kalles kaviar even if it was not stated on the billboard.

Participant 2 in Uppsala stated that since “they use their colors, blue and yellow and the same

type of font” you connect it to the brand. According to the ambient advertisement for H&M,

participant 2 (Halmstad) stated that he did not understand that the “blurred one” was for

H&M. Another participant (3, Uppsala) found it hard to remember which advertisement that

was connected to which brand. The advertisements that the participants did not like contained

much text. Participant 8 in Uppsala stated that, “Norwegian (traditional) is super boring, it

contains a lot of text”. They neither liked when the advertisements demanded too much of the

receiver. One participant (7, Uppsala) stated that he did “not like the ones that become too

intrusive”. Then he does not watch them. Participant 1 in Uppsala stated that the Tele2

ambient advertisement had the wrong color. It should according to him be blue and not red,

since it is conducted for Tele2. Now he thought that it better matched Norwegian. Three of

the participants as well avoided the advertisements that they perceived as scary, like the

Amnesty and the Rädda barnen advertisements. These as well had a really small text

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presenting the advertising message, making the participants uninterested. They had no energy

reading the small text.

When the participants were asked about how often they pay attention to advertisement and in

what situations, all the participants answered ordinary advertisements, mostly on TV and the

radio. Two participants (5 and 4, Halmstad) stated that “the advertisements on the television

are annoying”, but participant 4 and 7 sees it as an opportunity to go and get something to

drink. They agree that they rarely watch advertisements on TV, but they still hear and

recognize them. Participant 1 (Uppsala) as well stated: “the worst is that you see

advertisements all the time and you think that it does not affect you, but it actually does”.

When the participants were asked to divide the pictures into two piles according to their

visual appearance the two different focus groups did it totally different. The focus group that

was conducted in Halmstad did it based on the colors used in the advertisements. First they

divided them into three piles; one for blue, one for yellow and one for grey. But since it only

was supposed to be two piles they decided to put it in one pile for colorful and one for grey.

The focus group that was conducted in Uppsala divided their pictures based on what they

thought appealed to them or not. The ones that contained something that they recognized

turned out to be appealing to them. Yet the colors in the advertisement also decided if they

were appealing or not. The ones that appealed to participants in the focus group conducted in

Uppsala were; the ambient advertisement for Norwegian, both Kalles kaviar advertisements,

both MER advertisements and the traditional Tele2 advertisement.

When the participants were asked about if they had heard about the different concepts

traditional and ambient advertisement before, they clearly stated that they never had heard

about the two different concepts. After an explanation from the moderators the participants

were asked to divide the advertisements into two new piles; one for traditional and one for

ambient advertisement. They almost divided them correctly. The participants in Halmstad

placed the Rädda barnen traditional and Amnesty traditional in the wrong pile. They thought

of them as ambient advertisements because they found them hard to read and as well hard to

understand. The participants in Uppsala divided them correctly, but they as well found it hard

to place the Amnesty (traditional) advertisement. A long discussion was also held about the

Tele2 (ambient) advertisement before placing it in the right pile.

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When the participants were asked if they had experienced traditional advertising, the answers

were clear. All participants had experienced traditional advertising on the Internet, through

radio and TV, at billboards and in newspapers. But as well through flyers from different

companies that you get in the mail every week. But when being asked the question if they had

experienced ambient advertisements, the participants were not as sure. One of the

participants, namely participant 1 (Halmstad) had experienced an ambient advertisement

when she was in Gothenburg. There had been a toothpaste company in the city mall

Nordstan, which made it possible for people to see if they had brushed their teeth enough.

Otherwise the participant could only remember ambient advertising as the ones in the grocery

stores where people can try food. People dressed as signs or “hot dogs” also came to mind.

Except for this, no one else had experienced it or at least it was nothing that they had

reflected over or could remember.

Then the participants were asked about which sort of advertisement they thought that they

would remember for the longest time. Three of the participants (1, 3 and 7, Halmstad)

thought that they would remember the traditional advertisements the longest, due to “that the

other one seems kind of annoying”. Participant 4 (Uppsala) also thought that he would

remember the traditional ones best, due to that he do not like to interact. But after a longer

discussion about the advertisements, they all agreed that they would remember ambient

advertising for the longest time period. They realized that more senses would be used when

watching ambient advertising, then when watching traditional advertising. The group in

Uppsala reached the conclusion, that both types of advertising could be easily remembered.

They thought that it would depend more on the appearance of the advertisement. A traditional

advertising can create attention and ambient advertisements can include too much interaction,

which results in that the receivers instead ignore it.

Regarding the question if advertisements have any connection with the participants emotional

past, participant 4 in Halmstad stated; “advertisements often includes nostalgic aspects”. The

other seven participants (Halmstad) agreed on that advertisements have a connection to their

emotional past. They think that advertisements often play on people’s feelings and interests

and therefore they feel differently in different situations. Participant 4 in Halmstad as well

brought up that she thinks that advertisements play on people´s experiences and that the

target group should be able to recognize themselves in the advertising, for them to be good.

Participant 3 in Uppsala strongly agreed on that advertisements include nostalgic aspects. She

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mentioned that Kalles kaviar brings up memories from her youth, when she was visiting her

grandmother that had horse camps. Every afternoon they ate sandwiches and the only spread

was kaviar.

When the participants were asked to write down the keywords about traditional and ambient

advertising, the participants’ keywords turned out to be very different from each other. About

ambient advertising the most common words were; funny, colorful, new thinking, interesting

and interactive. But words as strange, boring, unusual and grey were as well used. About

traditional advertising they wrote; boring, grey, and square. But the words funny, colorful and

interesting also used.

Figure 7: Ambient keywords, Generation X.

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Figure 8: Traditional keywords, Generation X.

The movie clips the participants were exposed to had many reactions. All the participants

were very positive toward the first clip with Volkswagen, but none of them could connect the

advertising to the brand. Participants 3 in Uppsala thought it was an advertisement for

Stockholm´s subway. They as well discussed possible connections between the advertisement

and the brand and participants 3 in Halmstad thought that it had something to do with

movements. Participant 2 in Uppsala stated “that it should be fun to drive”. All the

participants thought that they would have interacted with the piano stair if they were there

and they thought that they would really appreciate it. But still none of them believed that it

would affect their future purchase.

The second movie was about Apotekets hair products. All the participants understood what

brand it was, yet they had a harder time understanding the message. One participant, namely

participant 6 (Halmstad), thought it symbolized that the hair comes alive and participant 8

(Halmstad) thought that the hair gets airy. All the participants agreed on that they really liked

this advertisement though. They thought that it was interesting, funny, clever and cool.

Participant 4 in Uppsala, stated that “here we really talk ambient”. The participants think that

it would have attracted their attention. There were disagreements between the participants

concerning if it would have affected their future purchase. If they normally would buy

shampoo at Apoteket, they think that it would have influenced them. But since they do not

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buy shampoo at Apoteket it would not have an effect. In the end eleven of the participant (1,

3 and 8 in Halmstad and all the participants in Uppsala) stated that it would not have affected

their purchases, but participant 3 in Halmstad would still have talked about it.

The third movie clip was about Coca-Cola. All the participants, except for one (participant 8,

Halmstad), were really positive towards this advertisement. All the 16 participants

understood what brand it was for. None of the participants understood that the message was

to share happiness, but participant 3 and 4 in Halmstad brought up the word happiness. Nine

out of 16 participants liked the experience; both the Coca-Cola and the visual imagery would

have made them happy. Participant 3 in Uppsala thought that it would have made it more fun

to stand there waiting. The participants in Halmstad also thought that they remember Coca-

Cola advertisements because of the friendship that it always symbolizes. All the participants

think that it would have caught their attention. 14 out of the 16 participants would have

bought Coca-Cola because of this, but those participants are already Coca-Cola consumers.

The fourth movie clip was about McDonalds. All the 16 participants understood that it was

for McDonalds and seven of them thought that they would have interacted with the

advertisement. But participant 1 (Halmstad) and participant 8 (Uppsala) would have done it

because of their competitive instinct and to see if they could make it. But they would not have

done it for the gifts, since they do not eat McDonald’s food. Participant 4 in the focus group

conducted in Halmstad thought that it was more like a trap for young consumers, to attract

them and teach them at an early age to go to McDonalds. But all participants in Uppsala were

not sure about if the advertisement in itself would have attracted their attention. They instead

believe that all the people standing there would have caught their attention. None of the 16

participants think that it would have affected their future purchases.

The last movie clip was about Posten. All the 16 participants understood which brand the

advertising represented, but half of the participants had a harder time getting the message.

The first half understood the message with “safe hands”; all packages sent with Posten are

delivered safe and intact. Participant 3 (Halmstad) would have tried it at one occasion, but not

more. Participant 4 (Halmstad) thought that it would be better suited for a younger

generation, but still half of participants would have tried it. Three out of the 16 participants

thought that the advertisement was bothersome, farfetched, too much and boring. All 16

participants thought that it would not have affected their future purchases.

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4.2 Generation Y Two separate focus groups were conducted with Generation Y, one in Växjö and one in Lund.

The focus group conducted in Växjö included eight participants and the focus group

conducted in Lund included six participants, making them a total of 14 participants.

The participants were first asked to write down five advertisements from their memory, as an

unaided recall test. The advertisements that Generation Y wrote down and had the best

unaided recall for were foremost advertisements with famous people. Advertisements with

celebrities scored a high retention; the most remembered celebrities were Zlatan, five of the

14 participants from generation Y referred to him. Three participants wrote down Robyn and

other celebrities that were mentioned by just one participant were, for example; David

Beckham, Tiger Woods, Adriana Lima and George Clooney. Continuously, brands with

distinct themes or figures that have been around for a long time had a big recall, like Frank

the sheep for Tele2, which five of 14 participants remembered. Four of the 14 participants

remembered the Telenor commercials with their “family”, and the ICA commercials with

their characters had a huge recall. Nine out of the 14 participants from Generation Y wrote

down the ICA commercials. Brands with well-known slogans were also easy for them to

remember, for example “unexpected visit” with Gevalia.

Figure 9: Unaided recall test, Generation Y.

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The five keywords that the participants were asked to write down in connection to the

unaided memory test, were of a wide spread. Yet, the most common ones were; funny (11

times), annoying/irritating (five times) and boring (three times.

Figure 10: Unaided keywords, Generation Y.

When the respondents were exposed to the 14 advertisements for the first time, and

conducted the aided recall test, they remembered the MER ambient advertising best; 11

participants remembered it. The second best recalled was the traditional Kalles kaviar

advertisement which a total of eight of the 14 participants remembered. In third place, with

seven recalls each, came the traditional MER advertisement, the ambient advertisement for

Kalles kaviar, the Tele2 traditional advertising and the ambient advertising for H&M.

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Figure 11: Aided recall test, Generation Y.

When the participants later answered questions about the advertisements, the recalled ones

were also the ones that they discussed the most. The ones generation Y thought were the most

interesting were both the ambient and the traditional MER advertisements, because those felt

happy. They also found Amnesty (ambient) and Rädda barnen (traditional) interesting, since

those felt terrifying and evoked strong emotions. Participant 4, in Lund stated; “I first found

Rädda barnen boring, but after looking at it for a while it became more interesting”. Another

advertisement that participant 2 in Lund liked were the ambient Rädda barnen advertisement

with the stop sign. “The stop sign is the best one; I believe that everyone should use that kind

of advertising”. But these advertisements as well evoked feelings of dislike. Six participants

found these advertisements boring and weird. Participant 6 in Lund stated that “Amnesty is

very boring; I do not think that I would have noticed it, I would probably just have passed it.

It looks more like a joke, or a painting, he looks so weird”. Other non-interesting

advertisements were according to Generation Y the traditional Tele2 advertisement, the

traditional Norwegian advertisement and the traditional H&M advertisement. The reason was

that they felt boring and were ordinary billboards. They did not steal attention and would

probably have gone unnoticed, according to the participants.

When the participants were asked about if they notice advertisements and in which situations,

they stated that traditional advertising is available everywhere, but they rarely pay any

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attention to it. In the focus group in Lund participant 6 stated; “it is not the ordinary

billboards, but the ones like the skirt (Norwegian ambient) I believe that I would have

noticed”. Generation Y usually notices advertisements when they are travelling or waiting for

something, since then they “do not have anything better to do”. Participant 1 in Lund stated;

“When I travel or when I am sitting at a bus stop I notice advertising the most”. Participant 8

in Växjö as well stated; “advertising is the most noticeable when I am in a place for a really

long time, for example at a bus stop, because then I have the opportunity and the time to

watch”. Other places where the participants usually notice advertisements are on the Internet

and when they are watching TV, since they often are forced to watch them there. They

explain that advertising breaks on the television are very irritating; most of them change the

channel or mute the TV. According to participant 2 in Lund they watch commercials very

passively, yet they still get advertisements stuck in their heads unconsciously. The volume of

advertisements on TV is often louder than the television programs, which makes it hard to

avoid advertisements even when leaving the room. They further explain that if you use

YouTube or stream movies and series, the commercials that appears before and during a

YouTube clip, get very annoying as well. Some of the participants mentioned that they often

get upset and feel a bit assaulted from the advertisements on Facebook. They feel that the

Facebook advertisements are targeting the wrong person sometimes. Participant 5 in Lund

stated; “the commercials on Facebook are so annoying, and they are adapted to specific target

groups. Sometimes I get offended because I do not feel that I fit in that target group”.

When the moderator asked the participants to divide the pictures into two piles, according to

their visual appearance, the two focus groups did it differently. The focus group conducted in

Lund put the pictures into two piles according to if the advertisements felt different or

ordinary. The pile with different advertisements consisted only of ambient advertisements.

The other pile consisted of all the traditional advertisements and the ambient Amnesty

advertisement. After the moderator explained the differences between ambient and traditional

advertising, it was easy for the participants to correct the piles. The focus group in Växjö

divided the pictures between boring/serious and clever/fun, which gave the result of a broad

mix in both piles. They also found the colorful advertising to be clever/fun and the not so

colorful advertising to be more boring. After the moderator explained the differences between

ambient and traditional advertising, they too could correct the piles without much difficulty.

Concerning the question if the participants had experienced traditional advertising, all

participants had at some point in time experienced traditional advertising. They gave

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examples, as on the Internet, radio, TV, vehicles, billboards and in newspapers. But

concerning the question if they had experienced ambient advertisements, it turned out that

they had not in the same extent experienced this type of advertising. The first brand that came

to mind concerning ambient advertisement was Red Bull, with its different competitions,

their cars and free Red Bull giveaways. Participant 5 in Lund had seen the ambient MER

advertisement of the bench before. Participant 6 in Lund has seen that FI (Feminism

Initiative), a Swedish political party, had placed pink chairs outside the municipality houses.

It was a hashtag on them, that said, “Take place”, because they want to be a part of the

European parliament. One participant had seen “Humorgalan in Lund” (a comedian gala),

where two comedians placed yellow chairs in the center of the town and on them wrote;

“Please do not take the chairs before we are done” and chained them, but people took them

anyway. They also colored some bricks, and when you followed them you arrived at the

different events. Another ambient advertising that participant 5 in Lund remembered was

Movember, meaning the prostate cancer foundation support that occurs in November. Many

of the participants had also experienced companies putting covers on their bike seats, to get

attention.

Concerning the question; which of the two types of advertisement the participants thought

that they would remember for the longest time, they believed that they would remember

ambient advertising the longest. It is according to them surprising and it brings up a topic to

talk about. Participant 4 in Växjö talked about the Norwegian ambient advertising; “I would

remember and talk very much about the kilt, either at work or where ever. It would be funny

to see who dares to lift the kilt”. Participant 1 in Växjö believes that she would remember

advertisements with strong brands, good slogans and with a theme that repeats itself.

Participant 4 in Växjö stated that he believes that brands like Kalles Kaviar are very clever

because they play on people’s patriotism, with their yellow and blue logo. Their products are

extremely connected to Sweden, which make Swedish consumers relate to both the brand and

products. They mention that eating Kalles Kaviar “makes them proud Swedish consumers”.

Participant 2 in Växjö also stated; “I am thinking about that sheep, he is so irritating, but still

that is the one I remembered first. I hate him“.

The participants were asked if they believe that advertisements have any emotional

connection to their past. All of the participants believed that people remember advertisements

better when they have an emotional connection to them. Participant 1 in Växjö said; “I do

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believe that the past affects which advertisement you pay attention to, for example if you

have been in touch with Rädda barnen you notice those commercials more and react stronger

towards them”. Also, participant 7 in Växjö stated that commercials that have existed for

many years like the ICA commercials are easy to remember and they evoke emotions.

Further, well-known brands are easier to remember.

When the participants were asked to write down keywords about traditional and ambient

advertising their keywords were very different. The most ambient advertising keywords they

wrote were: new thinking (eleven times), funny (seven times), surprising (four times),

provocative (four times), creative (four times), experience (four times) and colorful (four

times). The most traditional advertising keywords the participants wrote were: boring

(thirteen times), annoying (six times), flat (five times), repeated (four times) and simple

(three times).

Figure 12: Ambient keywords, Generation Y.

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Figure 13: Traditional keywords, Generation Y.

The movie clips the participants were exposed to created many reactions. The participants

were very positive toward the first clip with Volkswagen, but they could not connect the

advertising to the brand. Participant 3 in Lund thought that the advertising was for shoes,

participant 1 in Lund thought a health company or for the municipality. The advertising

message was as well difficult. Participant 3 in Växjö said; “When you drive a Volkswagen

you need good condition since they easily break down”. No one knew or understood what the

real message for this advertising could be, but they would all interact with the piano stair if

they got a chance. They thought that they would really appreciate it. Participant 4 in Växjö

stated; “I would take the stairs every time. You would have to drag me away”. They do not

believe that it would affect their future purchase, since it is too disconnected to the brand.

Participant 8 in Växjö stated; “I would not prefer a fun car I would like one that is safe and

practical”.

The second clip about Apotekets hair products was clear and easy to understand. They

understood which brand it was for and they understood the message it delivered; that your

hair comes alive with these products. Participant 5 in Lund thought that it was really clever

and funny. More than half of the participants thought that they would notice it. Participant 1

in Lund thought that if she was in a hurry she would probably miss it but if she had to stand

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there and wait for a train, she would have noticed it. It would not have affected any of the

participants’ future purchase.

The third movie clip was about Coca-Cola. The participants were really positive towards this

advertising. They understood what brand it was for and that the message was to share

happiness. They would all interact with it. Participant 2 in Växjö stated; “I would have called

all my friends and told them about this. Participant 1 Växjö continues; “I would have taken

the coke, called some friends and taken some pictures. I would have been so amazed”. All of

the participants are loyal Coca-Cola users so their future purchase would not be affected, they

would continue to buy it anyways. Although participant 6 in Lund stated; “I believe that I

would have been a bit happier the next time I bought a Coca-Cola”. They all believed that

getting a Coca-Cola for free is always a positive thing.

The fourth movie clip was about McDonalds. The participants understood that it was for

McDonalds and most of them thought that they would have interacted with the advertisement.

Participant 1 in Lund stated that; “I would have done it because it is a competition, not

because of the price. Everything that is free is something that is appealing”. But they would

probably not do it if they were alone, because they would feel a bit embarrassed. Taking

pictures alone or collecting the price would make participant 2 in Lund feel uncomfortable,

since the value of the price is only around 10SEK. It would not affect their future purchase.

The last movie clip was about Posten and all participants understood for which brand the

advertising was for. The participants were most negative to this advertising since the effort

you make compared to what you get is too big and then it is not worth it. According to

participant 8 in Växjö; “it depends on what you get compared to the effort that you make; if it

is worth it or not”. Participant 2 in Lund stated; “It would have caught my attention but I do

not believe that I would have done it”. Most of them were negative towards it. Yet,

participant 2 in Växjö still liked it since it was a competition and you could get a gift for free.

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5. Analysis In the analysis the gathered data presented in the empirical chapter will be analyzed with the

literature review. First the generations’ perceptions about traditional and ambient

advertising are compared. Then the different generations’ perceptions are analyzed through

the different advertising properties. The last section of this chapter will present a figure that

summarizes the analysis.

5.1 Traditional vs. ambient advertising When Generation X was asked if they had heard about the advertising concepts before, they

all were clueless. This could be seen already when they, prior to the description of the

concepts, divided the advertisements into two piles according to their own visual cues. Their

piles were widely spread with the two concepts. Both focus groups conducted with

Generation Y on the other hand had prior knowledge about the concepts. Yet, only the focus

group conducted in Lund realized the connection when dividing the two piles. When asked if

they had experienced either of the advertisements after the explanation of the concepts, some

different examples from both generations were brought up. The traditional advertisements

that Generation X could think of were as theory states, namely mail and advertising on the

radio and on TV. Generation Y on the other hand mentioned more modern outlets as the

Internet, vehicles and bus stops, as well as the radio and TV. Reasons for this can be that

Generation Y is more technological liberate and that they have a lower income, making them

commute more. Ambient advertising was harder to recall for Generation X. They could

mostly think of people walking around dressed up like signs and tastings at supermarkets.

Generation Y had an easier time recalling ambient advertising. They gave a broad range of

examples. An explanation for this could be that Generation Y perceives ambient advertising

as more memorable than Generation X and that they do not give whole hearted efforts to less

than meaningful events.

Generation X first discussed the possibility of remembering traditional advertising better than

ambient advertising. They thought that ambient advertising was stressful and annoying. This

is surprising since ambient advertising is supposed to attract attention and be effective, not

traditional advertising. Yet, theory about Generation X state that they are more dissatisfied

than other generations, and this can be a reason for their dislike of ambient advertising. Not

all of Generation X was negative toward ambient advertising though. Most of them agreed

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with theory and argued that ambient advertisements were more memorable. They stated, as

theory, that ambient advertising is harder to avoid and attracts more attention. They also

concluded that ambient advertising activates more senses, which theory concludes elicit

bigger responses. Yet, the focus group conducted in Uppsala came to the conclusion that it

can be a combination. They agreed that the traditional advertisements can attract attention

just as good as ambient advertising. They as well agreed that ambient advertising sometimes

includes too much interaction, making them ignore it. Generation Y, as mentioned earlier,

only discusses ambient advertisements when they discuss which advertisements they would

remember and give attention to. They would only give attention to advertisements that would

be interesting to talk about. Continuously, they further mention that advertisements that have

strong brands, good slogans and themes that repeat themselves create a good recall. This

might be the case since Generation Y value tradition and demand meaningful interactions,

more than Generation X.

Continuously, when investigating what the participants in Generation X stated when

discussing the advertising prior to the concept descriptions, it as well is widely spread. The

focus group in Uppsala stated that they perceived ambient advertising as more interesting and

that it caught their attention better, when looking at and discussing the pictures. They only

discussed ambient advertisements and their appearance, as the Norwegian kilt, which they

thought was cool. Other appearances they liked with ambient were the curiosity it elicited, the

3D effect and the unusual places they were placed in, which all supports the ambient

advertising theory. Yet, the focus group in Halmstad had totally other perceptions. They

found that the traditional advertisements stole most of their attention. The only ambient

advertisement that caught their attention at first sight was the MER ambient advertisement.

Continuously, they found both ambient advertisements and traditional advertisements

interesting. They preferred advertisements that evoked feelings and started a thought process,

rather than the caring about the placement and concept of the advertising. They dislike

traditional advertisements mostly because of dullness and the hardness to understand some of

them. Generation Y were very consistent in their perceptions about which advertisements

were interesting even prior to the knowledge about the concepts. They all thought that the

ambient advertisements were the most interesting and the traditional advertisements were the

least interesting because of the different levels of dedication put into them. The ambient

advertisements are perceived as funny and the traditional advertisements were perceived as

dull.

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If the participants of Generation X’s own conclusions are compared with their actions in the

focus group prior to the introduction of the concepts, it is possible to conclude one thing.

Mainly that they are not affected by the concepts when remembering and acknowledging

advertising. They state that noticing and remembering an advertisement has to do with a

particular advertisement per se, and its advertising properties, not the concepts. This can be

seen in the aided recall test, where the participants wrote down which they remembered. Here

it was possible to see that Generation X does not give attention towards advertising in

accordance to the concepts at all. The ranking of memorable advertisements are widespread,

with both concept represented in the top and the bottom of the ranking. Generation Y stated

all through the focus group that they perceived ambient as most interesting and memorable.

Yet, when analyzing the results from the aided recall test, the result was mixed with both

ambient advertisements and traditional advertisements at the top. One explanation for this can

be the statement that also strong brands, good slogans and repeated themes give strong

recalls. All the traditional advertisements that were easy to remember were namely of strong

brands, with repeated characters or colors, such as Kalles kaviar, MER and Frank the sheep

for Tele2.

Continuously some other connections between Generation X and the two concepts can be

made. If analyzing the five most mentioned keywords connected to the both concepts, it is

possible to see that Generation X perceives traditional advertising as boring, grey, square,

funny and colorful. Meanwhile they perceive ambient advertising as funny, colorful, new

thinking, interesting and interactive. Through this it can be detected that Generation X finds

the possibility of both advertisements to be of color and fun, which fits with their whole

perception about the both concepts being able to provoke the same responses. Yet, they also

had words that apply with theory of both the concepts, with traditional advertising being dull

and ambient advertising being interactive. Generation Y on the other hand perceive

traditional advertising as boring, annoying, flat, repeated and simple. Their keywords for

ambient advertising were new thinking, funny, surprising, provocative and creative. This also

fits with Generation Y’s perceptions about the two concepts throughout the entire data

collection. Generation Y have a strong sense of ambient advertising being better than

traditional advertising.

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When the two generations watched the different ambient advertising clips some general

patterns could be found, agreeing with theory. Both groups agreed that ambient advertising

would attract their attention and that they probably would spread it through word-of-mouth.

This reinforces the brand and the relationship with the consumers, as theory states. It can also

be concluded that the fit between the advertising and the brand message is important. No

participant, in neither generational cohort, understood the message of the Volkswagen clip.

They all loved it and thought it was really fun, but no one would connect it to the brand and

therefore the advertisement would not be effective for the brand reinforcement. Generation X

also had a hard time understanding the message of the Posten clip, for the same reason. The

differences between the generations were most clear when it came to participation. Theory

states that Generation Y would not give a wholehearted effort to less than meaningful work.

This matches the participants’ responses discussing participation in ambient advertisements.

They state that the reward for conducting something needs to be at least of the same amount

as the work put in. They would never participate in the Posten competition for a “cheap”

product. They would only participate if they perceived the price to be worth the work. The

same perceptions were collected from the McDonalds clip. Most participants from

Generation Y perceived that the products that could be collected were not worth the time put

in. Generation X on the other hand did not mention anything about the reward. They were

merely not interested in a too big of commitment in general, regardless the price.

5.2 Advertising properties After conducting the focus groups, general patterns about advertisements as a whole could be

found. Since all the participants, except two, were unaware about the advertising concepts,

they put relevance into other details when explaining their view of advertising. The following

sections summarize the patterns that were found.

5.2.1 Color

When the participants were asked to divide the pictures into two piles based on their visual

appearance the colors played a big role for Generation X. They based their division on

colorful vs. grey and advertisements that appealed vs. not appealed to them. The ones that

appealed to them also included only bright colors. The colorful and appealing advertisements

were the same ones as those that got the biggest retrieval in the aided memory test, except for

the traditional advertisement for Norwegian. The words colorful and grey as well played a

big role when Generation X was asked to write down keywords about both ambient and

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traditional advertisement. Both grey and colorful were used to describe both concepts. Grey

was used four times and colorful was used three times by the Generation X when explaining

traditional advertising. When describing ambient advertising, grey was used two times and

colorful was used six times. This corresponds with the aided memory test, since the concepts

were mixed in accordance to which they remembered, but only colorful advertisements were

represented at the top (except Tele2 traditional).

Generation Y did not to the same extent rely on colors. One of the focus groups based their

division on the colors presented in the advertisements. They divided the advertisements based

on the variables clever/fun and boring/serious, which also presented themselves as

colorful/dull. Yet, when investigating the advertisements that generation remembered best in

the aided recall test, the colorful and dull advertisements were mixed. When investigating

Generation Y’s keywords they only mentioned colorful when describing ambient advertising

and grey was not mentioned describing any advertising concept. Yet, boring and invisible

were used describing traditional advertising. From this it can be detected that Generation X

perceives colors better than the concepts, while Generation Y puts bigger importance on the

concepts than colors.

Generation X further discussed the importance of the colors and their importance to match

with the brand image. One participant brought up the Tele2 ambient advertising could easily

be misstaken, since it contained the wrong color for representing Tele2. It should have had

their blue color and not the red color that it had now. This made it really hard for him to

connect the advertisement to the brand. This goes in line with Reyburn’s theory that explains

the importance of advertisements to fit with the consumer, since the ambient advertisement

for Tele2 did not fit with Generation X’s image of the brand. Generation X further discussed

the traditional advertisement for Kalles kaviar. This advertisement instead had a great fit

between the advertisements and the brand. The logo of the brand or the brand name was not

stated in the advertisement, but the receivers understood which brand it represented anyway,

by only looking at the colors and the front used. Reyburn brings up the company’s fit with the

consumer as a significant aspect of advertisements, since the better the fit is, the better is the

possibility that it will turn out successful. This was clearly showed in these two

advertisements. Generation Y did as well understand the advertisement for Kalles kaviar,

without even discussing it. They stated it without even questioning the lack of brand

representation in the aided memory test, which further attests the importance of this.

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According to Gorn et al. colors can be examined more deeply, based on the three variables

hue, chroma and value. They as well explain that the different forms of the variables

influence the receiver in different ways. When analyzing the answers received by the

Generation X in the aided memory test patterns can be discovered. Concerning the hue,

which means the color in the advertisement it, can be seen that Generation X best remembers

advertisements that include clear colors. The advertisements that received the highest

retention by the participants from the age cohort included the clear colors yellow (MER), red

(Norwegian) and blue (Kalles kaviar). One advertisement did not follow this pattern. It was

the Tele2 traditional, since it is black and white. The other seven pictures that received the

lowest retention contained dull colors. When examining the answers received by Generation

Y no clear pattern could be discovered. This since the order of their retention of the

advertisements was mixed up by both colorful and grey advertisements. But what could be

seen was that the colorful pictures containing the colors yellow (MER) and blue (Kalles

kaviar) occupied the four advertisements that got the greatest retrieval by Generation Y. But

the red pictures that in Generation X had a high score had in Generation Y instead a very low

retrieval. Based on this information it can be seen that Generation X answers follows with

what Gorn et al. states in their theory, namely that red colors elicits strong feelings.

Contrariwise the answers received from Generation Y do not follow what is stated in the

theory. This due to that the advertisements containing the color red do not receive a high

retrieval score by Generation Y. Therefore those advertisements could not have caused strong

feelings by the participants in Generation Y.

When analyzing the answers generated from Generation X and Generation Y based on the

variable chroma, which means how much pigment the colors contain, differences could be

discovered between the two cohorts. The seven advertisements that got the biggest retention

by Generation X contained a high level of chroma. The other seven remaining advertisements

did not, since they were softer in their appearance. When the pictures got divided based on

their appearance by Generation X this pattern were as well followed. When pictures

contained both a high level of hue and chroma it elicits positive responses. But this research

shows that it is not consistent at all times, since the traditional Kalles kaviar advertisement

were perceived as least interesting by some of the participants included in the cohort of

Generation X. When analyzing the answers received by Generation Y no clear pattern can be

discovered concerning the amount of chroma represented in the pictures. The pictures that

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included a high level of chroma and those that had low levels were mixed up throughout the

answers, nearly in the same way as the order concerning the hue for Generation Y.

According to the value, which means how much white or black it is in a color, the same

pattern as above can be found for Generation X. The picture that contained the biggest white

areas, the Tele2 traditional advertising, got the next biggest retrieval by the Generation X.

This is a good example on that value can have a big influence when it comes to the recall. For

Generation Y a new pattern took shape, since the fifth advertisement representing Tele2

traditional as well as the other four with the highest retrieval contained more white than

black.

5.2.2 Format

When examining the advertisements that Generation X recalled the most, after the aided

recall test, it is clear that pictorial pictures are the easiest to recall. The two best remembered

advertisements were Kalles kaviar (ambient) and Tele2 (traditional). These two are extremely

pictorial, with no text at all except the brand names. Yet, at the same time, the textual pictures

were not the least remembered either. The advertisements containing more text than visual

images were harder to remember than the pictorial, but not the hardest. Both pictorial and

textual advertisements were represented at different levels in the participants’ memory. For

example, the fourth most remembered advertisement was the traditional Kalles kaviar. It only

contains one line of text. It does not even present the brand. Yet, as some of the participants

stated, the text and especially the colors are highly connected to the brand, and this can be the

reason for the high remembrance. Continuously, the fifth most remembered advertisement

was the traditional Norwegian, an advertisement containing nothing but text and a textured

background. One participant even stated that because of all the text, it was super boring. Yet,

it still created attention. It is easier to see a pattern when it comes to semantics. The pictures

with a story to tell, and which means something, are the least remembered according to

Generation X (Amnesty & Rädda barnen). The participants found these hard to understand

and creepy. The text presenting the brand and advertising message were as well really small,

and the participants mentioned that this made them uninterested. They did as well not have

the energy to read the small text.

Generation Y also found it easier to remember pictorial advertisements when conducting the

aided recall test. Though, the traditional Kalles kaviar is placed in second place. Yet, as stated

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prior in the analysis, the traditional Kalles kaviar advertisement builds on its strong brand,

which therefore makes it easy to remember. Otherwise none of the textual advertisements had

high remembrance at all. When it comes to semantics, Generation Y as well had hard time

remembering the advertisements conducted by Amnesty and Rädda barnen. They stated in

the focus groups that they found these advertisements weird and boring. They perceived these

advertisements as jokes instead of serious, which made them forget them.

As a conclusion both generations agree with the theory. The textual pictures are supposed to

evoke consumers to read and examine them and pictorial pictures are supposed to make

consumers likely to view and glance at them. Yet, as seen in previous text, neither

generations are positive to participating too much in an advertisement; therefore the pictorial

pictures elicit a better response. Continuously, neither generational cohort prefer semantical

advertisements, since they are to intense and elicits avoidance from the participants.

5.2.3 Nostalgia

When the participants were asked about nostalgic aspects in advertising, a clear pattern could

be discovered. Generation X strongly believes that companies make use of nostalgic aspects.

The participants gave a number of examples of how the nostalgic aspects for them create

attention towards products. For example one participant explained that Kalles kaviar

immediately brought up memories from her youth. The participants in the cohort of

Generation X as well believed the companies’ build their advertisements on the consumers’

emotional past and earlier experiences to create attention for their products.

Generation Y had similar perceptions as Generation X, namely that nostalgic aspects are

included in advertisement. One of the participants for example explained that Kalles kaviar is

a good example on this. Their brand image is built on their strong brand recall and their

patriotic emotional value. One participant further brought up that there is a risk with using

that type of nostalgic aspects. The participants from Generation Y as well stated that it is the

brands that people have had an earlier experience with that as well caught their attention.

Further explained they find it easier to remember those brands that they have an emotional

connection to. Generation Y as well found it easier to remember well-known brands such as

Coca-Cola and McDonald's. The reason for this may not only be because they are big and

strong brands. It can to some amount be an outcome since the participants probably have

experienced these brands since an early age.

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What can be inferred from the above two sections is that both Generation X and Generation

Y find it easier to remember but as well give attention toward brands that are building on

nostalgic aspects. This can especially be seen concerning the aided memory test where the

nostalgic brand Kalles kaviar had a high retention by both the cohorts. As many as 14

participants in Generation X and 15 participants in Generation Y recalled the brand. This

goes in line with what theory states, namely that research has shown that nostalgic features

elicit favorable responses. This can be seen time after time on the answers generated by the

participants in both cohorts. Namely when brands elicit memories of the consumers, it results

in that attention is created for the brand as well as the products.

5.2.4 Placement

There is a difference to where Generation Y and Generation X notice advertisements the

most. Generation Y notices advertisements mostly on technological places like on TV and the

Internet. Generation X notice advertisement mostly on TV, radio and through flyers that they

get in your mailbox. This goes in line with the description of Generation Y as more

technological liberate.

When it comes to which placements the generational cohorts interact with advertising, it is a

clear difference. Generation Y mentions more creative advertisements than Generation X.

They talked about the Red Bull car, and about bigger and more interactive advertisements as

the ones from “Humorgalan” and “Movember”. Generation X mostly mentioned

advertisements in traditional environments as in stores. Theory states that Generation Y is

more creative and adoptable. Further that their loyalty quickly changes and that the

experience decides who will capture their purchasing power. This can be a good reason to

why they are more open and interactive with unusual advertisements, than Generation X. Yet,

Generation Y also notices advertisements on billboards and traditional advertisements placed

in vehicles. They mention that the reason for this is that they usually travel with trains,

subways and buses, which make them stand and wait for long time periods. They stated that

this makes them more open to process advertisements.

Generation X discussed the slide with the Kalles kaviar a lot. They found it to be placed in an

unusual environment and that it is not really natural for it to be placed there. This shows that

Generation X as well find advertisements in unusual places interesting. Yet, when

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investigating the placement and the appearance of the slide, it is still not as extreme as

advertisements that Generation Y appreciated.

When investigating this it can be seen that both generations appreciate a surprising effect, and

advertisements in unexpected places, which corresponds with ambient advertising. Yet,

Generation X notices advertisements better in traditional places and Generation Y are more

open minded towards noticing advertising in new places.

5.2.5 People

When analyzing if the participants remembered advertisements better when celebrities,

models, common men or objects are included some patterns could be found. Generation X

did to a big extent remember advertisements that included celebrities better when conducting

the unaided recall test. The four advertisements that received the highest scores by the cohort

included celebrities of some sort. The celebrities represented consisted of both real and

fictional characters. They remembered advertisements conducted by ICA, Volvo and Tele2

immensely. The ICA advertisements include five characters in an ICA store. These

advertisements have been used on the market for a number of years, which have turned the

common men characters into celebrities on the Swedish market. Volvos two new

advertisements include the self-made celebrities Robyn and Zlatan, and the Tele2

advertisements have the sheep Frank. Frank is a fictional character that as well can be seen as

a celebrity, for the same reason as the ICA characters. He functions as the company’s front

person in their marketing communication. Differences can be found between the attitudes that

the participants have formed toward the mentioned advertisement. Only two from Generation

X liked the advertisement containing Frank. Meanwhile seven participants found him

annoying and irritating. Yet the participants remember the advertisements, which corresponds

with a participants statement; “even bad advertising is good advertising”. Hence, even though

the participants of Generation X found the advertisement for Tele2 with the sheep annoying,

they can still elicit responses and a top-of-mind remembrance.

When the same analysis was conducted for Generation Y some following patterns could be

discovered. The advertisements that were remembered the most in the unaided memory test

were the same as for Generation X, just in another order. Their recalled advertisements as

well included celebrities, objects and common men, since the advertisements were the same.

Generation Y also remembered the Telenor advertisements that are built up out of common

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men presented as an “ordinary family”. These characters are today, as ICA and Tele2, well

known in Sweden, and can therefore also be seen as celebrities. It is possible to see that

advertisements with celebrities or common men who become celebrities are the most recalled

ones within Generation Y. The participants as well brought up advertisements including

celebrities such as; David Beckham, Tiger Woods, Adriana Lima and George Clooney.

In these cases it is the celebrities, or common men that constitute the advertisements. It is

obvious that celebrities have a great impact on both generations when it comes to recalling

advertisements. It is also important to highlight that all the common men that here have high

recalls, have been in the market for quite some time. Therefore new advertisements with

common men would probably not elicit the same recalls. These particular patterns go in line

with what Coulter et al. state; aspects in advertisements such as idealized images affect

consumers’ perception and in the end this will form the receivers’ attitude towards the

advertisement. Harben et al. especially mention that celebrities can have an influencing force.

In the aided memory test a pattern could as well be discovered. Yet here it is important to

highlight that only one of the advertisements contained a well-known character, or celebrity,

namely the sheep Frank mentioned earlier. In the test conducted by the Generation X, the

Tele2 advertisement with the sheep Frank generated a high retention once again (second

place), just as in the unaided test. Others with a high recall were the ambient advertisement

for Kalles kaviar (first place) and the traditional advertising for MER (third place). These

could be said to represent objects in their advertisements, since Kalles kaviar is a slide and

the MER advertisement shows their bottle.

Generation Y gave the advertisement for Tele2 that contained Frank a lower placement than

what the Generation X did, namely the fifth place of the order. Generation Y better recalled

more advertisements with objects than Generation X. The ones that received higher recalls

than Tele2 were both MER advertisements and both Kalles kaviar advertisements. Three of

these contain objects of some sort. What can be seen from this is that the participants of

Generation Y found it easier to recall advertisements containing objects in the aided recall

test. Yet, as stated above, this can be due to that only one celebrity; the sheep Frank was

included in the aided memory test.

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From this research a clear pattern can be discovered, namely that participants in both

Generation X and Generation Y, scored a high recall on advertisements that included

celebrities when it concerned the unaided memory test. Yet, if celebrities cannot be used,

objects should be used, especially with Generation Y, since they responds even better to

objects than Generation X. The common men did not receive any high scores in any of the

memory tests, neither did models.

Table 6: Comparative analysis model, self-generated.

Generation X

Generation Y

Traditional vs. ambient advertising

- No knowledge about the concept ambient advertisement. - Traditional advertisement experienced; advertisement on mail, TV and radio. - Ambient advertisement experienced: people as walking signs and tastings at the supermarket. - Believes that a combination of ambient and traditional advertisement will be best remembered. - Believes that both concepts are able to provoke the same responses. - Not interested in a too big commitment, regardless of the price.

- Knowledge about the concept ambient advertisement. - Traditional advertisement experienced: Internet, vehicles, bus stops, radio and TV. - Ambient advertisement experienced: broad range of examples. - Believes that ambient advertisements will be best remembered. - Strong sense of ambient advertising as being better than traditional advertising. - Would not give a wholehearted effort to less than meaningful work.

Color

- Remembers colourful advertisements better than according to the advertising concepts.

- Remembers advertising better according to the concepts than according to color.

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- Remembers advertisements with clear colours best (yellow, red and blue). - Remembers advertisements that have a high value of chroma best (much pigment). - Remembers advertisements with a high value best (much white).

- No clear pattern can be discovered concerning if clear or dull colors are best remembered. - No clear pattern can be detected. - Best remembers advertisements with a high value (much white).

Format

- Easiest to recall pictorial advertisements. - Hard time remembering advertisements that builds on semiotics.

- Easiest to recall pictorial advertisements. - Hard time remembering advertisements that builds on semiotics.

Nostalgia

- Advertisements that include nostalgic aspects help Generation X with retrieval.

- Advertisements that include nostalgic aspects help Generation Y with retrieval.

Placement

- Mostly notice advertisements on the TV, radio, and flyers you get home. - They mostly notice advertisements in traditional environments.

- Mostly notice advertisements on TV, internet and on places you stand and wait such as bus stops. - They are more open-minded to advertisements in new environments.

People

- Big retrieval concerning advertisements including celebrities.

- Big retrieval concerning advertisements including celebrities. -Better retrieval of objects than Generation X.

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6. Conclusion This chapter will present the conclusions that can be drawn from the analysis concerning this

research. The conclusions stated will answer the purpose of this research. The chapter will

as well include the limitations of the study.

The conclusion that can be inferred from this research is that Generation Y perceives ambient

advertising better than Generation X, since they are more open for this type of advertising.

They are more amenable for interaction with events such as advertisements campaigns.

Ambient advertising is as well suitable for targeting Generation X, but not to the same extent

as Generation Y. Generation X perceives traditional and ambient advertising as similar, when

it comes to persuasion. They do not perceive one as better than the other, based on the

placement and the concepts. Which advertising strategy that is best suited to target this cohort

depends more on the particular advertisement; from case to case.

According to the advertising properties, advertisements for Generation X should include clear

and bright colors with a high value, which means that it contains a big amount of the color

white. The advertisement should as well be pictorial; mostly containing pictures instead of

texts. This due to that Generation X finds advertisements containing too much written

information boring and uninteresting. A preferable variable to bring in is celebrities, due to its

positive effect on the generation’s retention power. The cohort does not have a positive

preference concerning involvement with advertising events. Companies targeting Generation

X should therefore not demand involvement from them in advertisement campaigns.

Advertisements that best targets Generation Y should as well include a high value, but the

advertisements can here build on both clear and dull colors. The advertisements should as

well use a pictorial format, and include small amounts of text, since Generation Y better

understands and appreciates the advertisement when small amounts of information are given.

But there is a fine line between the two, since too much information is perceived as boring

and uninteresting by the cohort. For this age generation celebrities are as well preferable to

include, since the retrieval of the advertisement increases when celebrities are incorporated.

The generation cohort is open to interaction, but it is important for them that the effort that

they put in also generates a return of the same value or more.

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6.1 Limitations A limitation for this research was the narrow time frame given to carry out this research,

which affected the sample. The sample for this research consisted of 30 participants, which is

not generalizable to the whole population of Generation X and Generation Y in Sweden. Yet,

as stated, a qualitative research approach usually includes a rather small and deep sample size

that is not generalizable, since it is the underlying patterns that are the goal of the research.

Another limitation to this research is that during the conduction of the focus groups one error

was found. The part where the participants were exposed to the different advertisements and

asked to write down which they remembered, some of the participants did it incorrectly. They

were asked to write down both the brands and a description of the picture, but some of the

participants misunderstood this and only wrote down the brand or only the description. Some

of the participants as well wrote answers that were unclear and impossible to read. According

to Christensen et al. (2010) those answers need to be removed since they are incorrect. This

led to a loss of, and a reduction of, the answers in the aided recall test.

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7. Research implications In this chapter managerial implications will be provided, which includes for whom the

findings can be potential to use. The chapter as well includes theoretical insight, stating what

contributions the research has generated to the area. The chapter ends with presenting

further recommendations.

7.1 Managerial implication From this research the authors wanted to find out if it is appropriate to create the same

advertisements for both generations in Sweden, or if the different generational cohorts

demand different advertising strategies. The empirical findings provided empirical evidence

of how the two generational cohorts perceive advertising, and if there is a difference to the

cohorts’ perception about the advertising strategies.

As could be seen after the analysis, there are no big differences between the cohorts. Yet

there are some. Generation Y is the only cohort of these two who perceive ambient

advertising as superior. Generation X perceives the two strategies as equal. Therefore

ambient advertising should work better with Generation Y. Generation X finds it more

important that the fit between the brand and the advertising message match. Generation X

also appreciates bright and strong colors, better than dull ones. Generation Y does not care

about colors at all.

These findings could be used as a guide for marketing managers, when creating

advertisements for Generation X and Generation Y. The findings correspond with theory

when it comes to the importance to create and uphold a relationship between the companies

and the consumers. By doing this marketers need to know their consumers. This research can

help in creating and upholding this relationship, since when advertisements correspond with

consumers’ perception, they are better received.

7.2 Theoretical insights This research can contribute to the research field, since the topic of how Generation X and

Generation Y perceive traditional and ambient advertising in Sweden is relatively under

researched. Most of the research about Generation X and Generation Y is from and within the

USA, not much research from and within Sweden.

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The model, “A model of perceptual processing”, is adapted and uniquely transformed to this

particular research and therefore it is a contribution to the research field. When using the

model “A model of perceptual processing”, it contributes with information to the research

field about how Generation X and Generation Y perceives ambient and traditional

advertisements through the variables; color, format, nostalgia, placement and people. This

model can be adapted into other situations within the advertising research area. It is possible

to change the variables in the model to better fit other researches particular contexts and

individual differences; hence the model is useful in many situations.

7.3 Direction for further research According to the findings, the authors recommend others to further research all the cohorts,

since this research only covered the two youngest generational cohorts. It would also be

interesting to examine how consumers perceive advertising in real life, to see if consumers’

perceptions about advertising are true to reality. This could be done conducting a quantitative

research, using an experimental research design, in order to collect a broader and more

generalizable result.

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Appendix 1 – The ambient and traditional advertisements

1a. 1b.

1a. Amnesty traditional advertising: http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/arbitrary-.detention.jpg [2014-04-03].

1b. Amnesty ambient advertising: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2009/amnesty-woman-in-suitcase/ [2014-04-03].

2a. 2b.

2a. H&M traditional advertising: https://www.google.se/search?q=glocalnet+reklamskylt&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=r1FZUSPBKKiyQPaooCwAg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1680&bih=956#q=hm+reklamkampanj&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=nY3U4yrXCeBrWM%253A%3BIjKcQZ4u3XuM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgfx.aftonbladetcdn.se%252Fimage%252F12703235%252F800%252Fnormal%252Fa1abcb24ece70%252Fhm10%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.aftonbladet.se%252Fwendela%252Farticle12704011.ab%3B800%3B450 [2014-04-03].

2b. H&M ambient advertising: http://www.havelle.se/523222/special [2014-04-03].

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3a. 3b.

3a. Kalles kaviar traditional advertising: http://www2.ling.su.se/staff/oesten/pictures/frukosten.jpg [2014-04-03].

3b. Kalles kaviar ambient advertising: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=kalles+kaviar&FORM=HDRSC2&id=0A0175D673D5975CA27F9D20307E0547486D66C0&selectedIndex=30#view=detail&id=0A0175D673D5975CA27F9D20307E0547486D66C0&selectedIndex=0 [2014-04-03].

4a. 4b.

4a. Tele2 traditional advertising: http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/tele2-telecommunication-services-sitting-in-a-chair-12684955/ [2014-04-03].

4b. Tele2 ambient advertising: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/31947478578885301/ [2014-04-03].

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5a. 5b.

5a. Norwegian traditional advertising: http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/kampanjer/article2479927.ece [2014-04-03].

5b. Norwegian ambient advertising: http://www.havelle.se/523222/special [2014-04-03].

6a. 6b.

6a. MER beverage traditional advertising: http://www.becka.nu/blog/img/2005/051225-002.jpg [2014-04-03].

6b. MER beverage ambient advertising: http://cargocollective.com/mitteblomqvist/MER [2014-04-03].

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7a. 7b.

7a. Rädda barnen traditional advertising: http://www.resume.se/manadens-kampanj/manadens-pu/december-februari-2011/ [2014-04-03].

7b. Rädda barnen ambient advertising: http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/kampanjer/article426219.ece [2014-04-03].

Ambient movie clips 1. Volkswagen

2. Apoteket – Apoliva

3. Coca-Cola Happiness machine

4. McDonald's

5. Posten - Sweden's safest hands

Ambient movie clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw&list=PLGVu_tHp1S64pSjvt3x2AHsDDBIjqMSCu [2014-04-03].

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Appendix 2 – Focus group guide

The moderator welcomes everyone and thanks them for participating. Then they inform the

participants that the focus group will concern the subject advertising.

Step 1:

First we will conduct an unaided recall test.

-Write down the first 5 advertisements you remember, with both brand name and what the

advertisement is about. (Selection)

-Please write down five keywords about what you associate with these advertisements

(adjectives). (Interpretation)

The moderator places all the documents of advertisements on the table, in the specific order,

when the participants are not looking.

- Now you can look without talking to each other.

After two minutes the moderators cover the pictures and conduct an aided recall test:

- Write down the advertisements you remember. (Selection)

Then the moderators expose the pictures again and include themselves in the discussion by

asking questions. The moderator observes the participants behavior and takes notes:

-What was your first thought when you saw the advertisements? (Interpretation)

-Which ones did you notice right away and why? (Organization)

-Which advertisements do you perceive as the most interesting? (Selection)

-Why were that/those advertisements interesting? (Interpretation)

-Which advertisements do you perceive as least interesting? (Selection)

-Why were that/those advertisements the least interesting? (Interpretation)

-Do you often pay attention to advertisement and in what situations? (Selection)

Step 2:

First the participants are asked to divide the pictures in two piles after how they perceive

them.

-Divide the pictures into two piles, depending if you can see any similarities or connections in

their visual appearance. (Organization)

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-Do you know what traditional and ambient advertising are? If yes, can you explain them?

(Interpretation)

The moderators will now present a description about the two concepts traditional advertising

and ambient advertising:

-Traditional advertising is advertisements that are presented in television, radio, the Internet,

print and billboard campaigns. In Traditional advertising the presentation of products is

presented one after another in a linear flow and the consumer is passively exposed to the

product/service information.

-Ambient advertising is advertisements that are located in unusual places which can be both

inside and outside. The consumers are interacted, both as participants in the advertisement,

but as well in the process to continue spread the message. Ambient advertising builds on that

it should be surprising for the consumer, including something new that have not been seen

before.

Then the moderators will ask the participants to divide the pictures again, after what they

think is representative of the concepts:

-Please try to divide the advertisements into two different piles, one for traditional

advertisements and one for ambient advertisements. (Organization)

The moderators observe the participants, to see if they understood the difference between the

concepts. When the participants are finished the moderator goes through the piles and if

there is any un-clarity the moderator explains the difference further. Then the moderators

will ask questions about the both advertisements, to get a general perception:

-Have you experienced any traditional advertising before? If yes, can you describe your

experience? (Interpretation)

-Have you experienced an ambient advertising before? It yes, can you describe your

experience? (Interpretation)

-What kind of advertising caught your attention the most; traditional or ambient advertising?

(Selection)

- Do you think that ads have any emotional connection with your past? (Interpretation)

-Which sort of advertising do you think that you will remember for the longest time? Why?

(Interpretation)

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-Do you sometimes perceive advertising as negative? If yes, in which way? (Interpretation)

The moderator will finish step 2 by asking the participant to once again write down

keywords, this time five keywords about traditional advertising and five about ambient

advertising (adjectives/nouns).

Step 3:

Now the moderators will show clips of ambient marketing to the participants, for them to get

an even better experience of ambient marketing. After every shown clip the participants will

have a chance to discuss what was shown and the moderators will ask questions. The

moderators will also make it clear to the participants that it is the real life ambient marketing

that is the focus and not the commercial and advertising clip in itself:

-Did you understand for which brand and what product the advertising was conducted?

(Interpretation)

-Did you understand the message of the ambient advertising? (Interpretation)

-What did you think about this advertisement? (Interpretation)

-Would this have caught your attention in real life? (Selection)

-Would it affect your future purchases? (Selection)