Application of AW and MI Indicators in Research on the Impact of Television Advertising on Audiences
Purpose: In today's highly competitive advertising landscape, understanding how audiences perceive and retain advertising content is essential for designing effective marketing strategies. Advertisement design, in accordance with multi-stage marketing models, can be supported by modern, precise research methods that utilise cognitive neuroscience techniques. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study examines the application of neurophysiological indicators, specifically the Approach/Withdrawal (AW) and Memorisation Index (MI), to assess the cognitive and emotional impacts of television advertisements on viewers. AW reflects the degree of attention allocated to specific elements of an ad, while MI estimates the likelihood of information being encoded into long-term memory. Using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, participants' neural responses to selected commercials were analysed to identify patterns of attention and memory formation. Findings: As one of the techniques of cognitive neuroscience, EEG can be a valuable tool for verifying the effectiveness of individual elements of an advertisement on the audience, as it allows for the precise determination of which elements arouse interest and are remembered. This makes it possible to tailor advertisements to specific audience groups by studying relatively limited groups. Practical Implications: The results reveal strong correlations between attentional engagement, memory retention, and the perceived effectiveness of advertising messages. These findings provide valuable insights for marketers and content creators, highlighting the importance of aligning audiovisual content with the brain's natural processing mechanisms to enhance audience engagement and message retention. Originality/Value: This study aims to fill a research gap in assessing the effectiveness of advertising on the recipient. The identified methodological gap consists of the lack of tools that allow for substantive verification of the efficacy of individual stages of models on recipients. The practical gap includes deficiencies in the pragmatic verification of the compliance of the assumed effects with theoretical models.