Exaggerate or understate?: The effects of unexpected levels of claim extremity and message explicitness on advertising effectiveness.

Abstract: What is the preferred level and form of claim extremity in brand communication? Imagine Czech car maker Skoda’s next ad campaign, promising “The most exclusive car in the world”. Maybe not the most intuitive ad you would think of. Since a high-level claim is not what consumers might expect from a brand like Skoda, the message would probably meet friction when entering the minds of the consumers. Or would it? This thesis sets out to determine how brands can optimise the effectiveness of advertisements by communicating with the right level and form of claim extremity. Historical research in the field of claim extremity has revolved around message acceptance, as it relates to source credibility and consumer scepticism, which are important variables when the brand is situated at extreme levels on a credibility scale. Furthermore research has not taken into account the possibility of negative effects created by certain levels of claim extremity. This research expands existing theory by measuring how ad effectiveness changes, from negative to positive, depending on two main variables; 1) the match between expected and executed level of claim extremity and 2) the level of message explicitness - thereby contributing to theory within positioning strategy and advertisement production by giving practical implications on how to construct more efficient advertisement claims.