THE AESTHETIC APPEAL OF FRACTALS: A BOOST FOR ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS?

THE AESTHETIC APPEAL OF FRACTALS:

A BOOST FOR

ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS?

2

Relevance of Research:

Boost for Advertising Effectiveness

!  Trend: Rising figures in global advertising spending

(eMarketer, 2014)

!  Increased advertising clutter (Fennis & Stroebe, 2010)

3

Fractals:

Introduction

complex natural scenes (Spehar & Taylor, 2013)

!  Essential characteristics of fractals:

#  Self-similarity (Voss, 1988)

#  Scale invariance (Redies, 2007)

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Fractals:

Quantification

!  1/f statistics (Graham & Field, 2008)

!  Fractal dimension D (Taylor et al., 2005)

scribed by familiar integer values – for a smooth line (containing no fractal

struc-ture) D has a value of 1, whilst for a completely filled area (again containing no

fractal structure) its value is 2. However, the repeating structure of a fractal

pat-tern causes the line to begin to occupy area. D then lies between 1 and 2 and, as the

complexity and richness of the repeating structure increases, its value moves

closer to 2. Figure 4 demonstrates how a fractal pattern’s D value has a profound

effect on its visual appearance. For fractals described by a low D value close to one

(left), the patterns observed at different magnifications repeat in a way that builds

a very smooth, sparse shape. However, for fractals described by a D value closer to

two the repeating patterns build a shape full of intricate, detailed structure (right).

The research by Rogowitz and Voss indicates that people perceive imaginary objects (such as human figures, faces, animals etc.) in fractal patterns

character-ized by low D values [6]. For fractal patterns with increasingly high D values this

perception falls off markedly. This result caused Rogowitz and Voss to speculate that the ink blots used to induce projective imagery in psychology tests of the

1920s were fractal patterns described by low D values. Indeed, their subsequent

Fractals: A Resonance between Art and Nature

57

Fig. 3. Ink blot patterns created by R.P. Taylor using the technique employed

by Rorschach when generating his ten original patterns

Fig. 4. A comparison of patterns with different D values:

1 (left), 1.1, 1.6, 1.9 and 2 (right)

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Fractals:

The Aesthetic Appeal

!  Fractals have a high aesthetic appeal (Spehar & Taylor, 2013)

!  Highest preferences for fractals with an intermediate

fractal dimension (Joye, 2006) corresponding to that of

natural scene statistics (Taylor et al., 2011)

#  Biophilia hypothesis (Kellert & Wilson, 1993)

#  Developmental adaptation of the human visual

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Aesthetics:

The Effect on Consumer Responses

!  Print advertising aims at changing consumer buying

behavior in favorable ways with visually pleasing images (Phillips & McQuarrie, 2004)

!  Aesthetically pleasing ads can increase

#  WTB (Spears & Singh, 2004)

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Research Objective

!  Do different levels of fractal dimensions in visual

advertisements differentially influence willingness to buy and approach behavior toward the

promoted product?

" Aim: Develop guidelines on how to optimize the aesthetic appeal of visual advertising to make

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Research Design

!  Online Survey

!  2 x 3 research design, between-subject design

!  Sample size n=153 (after purification)

!  Random assignment to one of the six experimental

conditions:

#  High vs. intermediate vs. low fractal dimension

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Research Design

11

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Results: Effect of Fractals &

Product Type

!  ANOVA

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Results:

Effect of Aesthetic Liking

!  Pearson correlation analysis

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Results:

Mediation

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Results:

Moderation

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Managerial Implications

!  The aesthetic appeal of an ad represents a

successful way to increase advertising effectiveness

!  Take new approaches and explore innovative ways

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Research Limitations &

Ideas for Further Research

!  Representativeness of the sample

" Future research with different set of participants

!  Advertising stimuli

#  Self-made design

#  Hedonic and utilitarian product

#  Number of elements

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Discussion

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References

! Abraham, M. M., & Lodish, L. M. (1990). Getting the most out of advertising and promotion.

Harvard Business Review , 68 (3), 50-60.

! Desmet, P., & Hekkert, P. (2007). Framework of product experience. International Journal of

Design , 1 (1).

! eMarketer. (2014). Global Ad Spending Growth to Double This Year. Retrieved 12 09, 2015, from

Global Ad Spending Growth to Double This Year: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Global-Ad-Spending-Growth-Double-This-

Y ear/1010997

! Fennis, B., & Stroebe, W. (2010). The Psychology of Advertising. East Sussex: Psychology Press. ! Graham, D. J., & Field, D. J. (2008). Variations in intensity statistics for representational and

abstract art, and for art from the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Perception , 37 (9), 1341-1352.

! Joye, Y. (2006). Some reflections on the relevance of fractals for art therapy. The Arts in

psychotherapy , 33 (2), 143-147.

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References

! Phillips, B. J., & McQuarrie, E. F. (2004). Beyond visual metaphor: A new typology of visual rhetoric

in advertising. Marketing Theory , 4 (1/2), 113-136.

! Redies, C. (2007). A universal model of esthetic perception based on the sensory coding of natural

stimuli . Spatial Vision , 21 (1), 97-117.

! Schmeichel, B. J., Harmon-Jones, C., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2010). Exercising self-control increases

approach motivation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 99(1), 162.

! Spears, N., & Singh, S. N. (2004). Measuring Attitude Toward the Brand and Purchase Intentions .

Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising , 26 (2).

! Spehar, B., & Taylor, R. P. (2013). Fractals in Art and Nature: Why do we like them? Human Vision

and Electronic Imaging , 1-12.

! Taylor, R. P., Newell, B., Spehar, B., & Clifford, C. (2005). Fractals: a resonance between art and

nature. Heidelberg: Springer Berlin.

! Taylor, R. P., Spehar, B., Van Donkelaar, P., & Hagerhall, C. M. (2011). Perceptual and

physiological responses to Jackson Pollock’s fractals. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience , 5, 1-13.

! Voss, R. F. (1988). Fractals in nature: From characterization to simulation. New York: Springer

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Back-Up:

Product Selection

!  Pre-test 1 – Hedonic Value

Pre-selection of products:

#  Product is easily recognizable

#  Integration with fractal element

#  Durable good

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Back-Up: Approach Behavior

as a Dependent Variable

!  Measured with behavioral activation system (BAS)

scale

!  Trait measure

!  Due to lack of state measure for approach behavior,

scale can be used as a dependent measure (Schmeichel,

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Back-Up:

Descriptives

!  Total 194 participants, 153 completed the survey

!  44.4% males and 55.6% females

!  Average age 29.1

!  Basic education (0.7%), Secondary School (3.3%), A

Levels (13.1%), Vocational Training (11.8%)

Bachelor (34%) to Master/Diploma (34%), PhD (0.7%) and Others (2.6%)

!  ANOVA and Pearson‘s Chi squared Test show six

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Back-Up:

Mediation

!  IV X can exert an indirect effect on DV Y through

mediator M although when the direct association between X and Y is not significant

!  Multiple effects can cancel each other out leading to

the fact that the total effect is not significant, even

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Back-Up:

Hypotheses

Hypotheses Results

H1 a/b: Fractal-like image properties have a positive effect on WTB/approach

behavior. Not supported

H2 a/b: The aesthetic liking of a print advertisement,

caused by fractal-like image properties, has a positive mediating effect on WTB/ approach behavior.

Not supported

H3: The aesthetic liking of a print advertisement is higher when the fractal-like image

properties in the ad correspond to the mid-range fractal dimension of natural scenes,

as opposed to lower or higher fractal dimensions. Not supported

H4 a/b: Aesthetic liking of a print advertisement has a positive effect on WTB/

approach behavior.

Supported for WTB

H5: Aesthetic liking of a print advertisement with

intermediate fractal dimension is higher for hedonic compared to utilitarian products. Not supported

H6 a/b: The effect of aesthetic liking of a print advertising

on WTB/approach behavior is higher for hedonic compared to utilitarian products. Not supported

H7: The higher the aesthetic sensitivity of an individual, the more positive is the

relationship between advertisements with intermediate fractal dimensions and aesthetic liking.

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Back-Up:

Discussion

!  Possible explanations of the findings that fractals do

not have a significant effect on WTB, approach behavior and aesthetic liking:

#  Focus on the product instead of the fractal image