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Part Three Analyzing the Communication Process
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
Figure 6-2 Source
attributes and receiver
processing modes
Source Factors
Exhibit 6-1 Tennis star
Andre Agassi serves as a
spokesperson for Head
III. Analyzing the
Communication Process
6. Source, Message, and
Channel Factors
Source attribute Process
Credibility
Attractiveness
Power
Internalization
Identification
Compliance
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
or suggest they can enhance their attractiveness to the opposite sex. Some marketers
compare their brands to the competition.
4. Source/attention: Who will be effective in getting consumers’attention? The large
number of ads we are bombarded with every day makes it difficult for advertisers to
break through the clutter. Marketers deal with this problem by using sources who will
attract the target audience’s attention—actors, athletes, rock stars, or attractive
models.
The source component is a multifaceted concept. When Tiger Woods appears in a
commercial for Nike, is the source Woods himself, the company, or some combination
of the two? And, of course, consumers get information from friends, relatives,
and neighbors; in fact, personal sources may be the most influential factor in a purchase
decision. Word-of-mouth information transmitted from one individual to
another is often perceived as more reliable and trustworthy than that received through
more formal marketing channels such as advertising. As was discussed in Chapter 1,
marketers are using buzz and stealth marketing methods to generate favorable wordof-mouth
discussion and recommendations for their products and services. 2
We use the term source to mean the person involved in communicating a marketing
message, either directly or indirectly. A direct source is a spokesperson who delivers a
message and/or demonstrates a product or service, like tennis star Andre Agassi who
endorses Head tennis rackets in Exhibit 6-1. An indirect source, say, a model, doesn’t
actually deliver a message but draws attention to and/or enhances the appearance of
the ad. Some ads use neither a direct nor an indirect source; the source is the organization
with the message to communicate. Since most research focuses on individuals as
a message source, our examination of source factors follows
this approach.
Companies are very careful when selecting individuals to
deliver their selling messages. Many firms spend huge sums of
money for a specific person to endorse their product or company.
They also spend millions recruiting, selecting, and training
salespeople to represent the company and deliver sales
presentations. They recognize that the characteristics of the
source affect the sales and advertising message.
Marketers try to select individuals whose traits will maximize
message influence. The source may be knowledgeable,
popular, and/or physically attractive; typify the target audience;
or have the power to reward or punish the receiver in some
manner. Herbert Kelman developed three basic categories of
source attributes: credibility, attractiveness, and power. 3 Each
influences the recipient’s attitude or behavior through a different
process (see Figure 6-2).
Source Credibility
Credibility is the extent to which the recipient sees the source as
having relevant knowledge, skill, or experience and trusts the
source to give unbiased, objective information. There are two
important dimensions to credibility, expertise and trustworthiness.