Event Title
Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Testing the Effectiveness of Sports Ads
Faculty Sponsor
Kyeong Sam Min
College(s)
College of Business Administration
Submission Type
Oral Presentation
Description
The UNO athletic program has recognized a consistent low attendance and student involvement problem at the home men’s basketball games in recent years. We wanted to show when new UNO basketball advertisements improve students’ intention to attend home game. Our team conducted an experiment to test the effectiveness of different poster advertisements. The three types of advertisements include: (1) an ad containing only the information about the upcoming game without any picture (text only), (2) an ad containing the same information and a picture of a basketball player in action, and (3) an ad containing the same information and a picture of student fans interacting at a game. Drawing on social validation theory (Cialdini, 2008), we predicted that the advertisement with
a picture of fans will be more effective than the other two advertisements. If students believe the sporting event will support socialization among peers, they will be more likely to attend. We surveyed 90 current UNO students, each seeing only one advertisement, to measure their opinions. Unlike our prediction, there was no distinct preference for one advertisement over the other. However, we found that the ad effectiveness was determined by the distance between the Lakefront Arena and students’ home. There was a significant preference for text only promotions among long commuters, and a preference for visual promotions among short commuters. We suggest that if the UNO athletic department wants to target students living close to the arena, they include a visual aspect to their promotions.
Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Testing the Effectiveness of Sports Ads
The UNO athletic program has recognized a consistent low attendance and student involvement problem at the home men’s basketball games in recent years. We wanted to show when new UNO basketball advertisements improve students’ intention to attend home game. Our team conducted an experiment to test the effectiveness of different poster advertisements. The three types of advertisements include: (1) an ad containing only the information about the upcoming game without any picture (text only), (2) an ad containing the same information and a picture of a basketball player in action, and (3) an ad containing the same information and a picture of student fans interacting at a game. Drawing on social validation theory (Cialdini, 2008), we predicted that the advertisement with
a picture of fans will be more effective than the other two advertisements. If students believe the sporting event will support socialization among peers, they will be more likely to attend. We surveyed 90 current UNO students, each seeing only one advertisement, to measure their opinions. Unlike our prediction, there was no distinct preference for one advertisement over the other. However, we found that the ad effectiveness was determined by the distance between the Lakefront Arena and students’ home. There was a significant preference for text only promotions among long commuters, and a preference for visual promotions among short commuters. We suggest that if the UNO athletic department wants to target students living close to the arena, they include a visual aspect to their promotions.
Comments
2nd place