Design versus Advertising

Abstract: This thesis investigates the signal effects generated from the two marketing approaches design and advertising. Signal effects, advertising and design are all concepts that contain previous research and testing. However the concepts defined and combined in the way as in this thesis is up until now untested. By combining theory from these research areas and conducting a quantitative study with a hypothesis-testing approach and deductive reasoning, the authors show that brands using a design approach generate more positive signal effects than brands using an advertising approach. Main variables measured are attitudes, quality, ability and purchase intentions. The thesis also show that the variable Attitudes will be moderated by the level of involvement and that Third Person Effects can mediate the result.