The cognitive process in advertising communication

Abstract

[Abstract] Vertising is a kind of communication which proceeds between two sides in unequal positions. One side (the sender of the message) is tangible and evident while the other (the recipient) is a mass of different minds which is usually named «target-audience” by the marketers. The successful transfer process is based on two factors — definition and differentiation. The brand as initiator of the communication-act faces the problem of constructing the most appropriate code by means of which to transfer its message in such a way that allows it to reach the customer’s mind in the way intended by the initiator. This code simultaneously combines three functions: it defines the brand as such (indicating its existence), differentiates it from the competition (from the noise of the environment) and proposes a concrete reason for purchase to be done (i.e. makes the Unique Selling Proposition). Implementing these three functions in this particular order is a necessary condition for advertising to trigger a change in the consumer’s behavior. Without this implementation, advertising does not fulfill it’s main goal of triggering a change in the customer’s behavior but becomes a piece of visual art and/or entertainment. In addition, by means of a detailed segmentation of the market, the brand predetermines to a maximum degree the chances for the audience to take up the message. In this way it lays the foundations of the decoding process (focusing attention on and understanding the information encoded) and defines the set of verbal and visual signs which a given segment is «open” for.