# data[].attributes.headline
advertising; how is advertising percived whilst being clourblind and how does this affect sales

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advertising; how is advertising percived whilst being clourblind and how does this affect sales

# data[].attributes.headline
Consumer Behavior and Psychological Reactance (bra)

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Consumer Behavior and Psychological Reactance (bra)

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/2488740?searchText=psychological+advertising+behaviors&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dpsychological%2Badvertising%2Bbehaviors%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ab5e7d7e5c561e9c06c8ac8213683eff0&seq=1

# data[].attributes.headline
Advertising and Consumer Behavior (mkt relevant

# data[].attributes.subject
Advertising and Consumer Behavior (mkt relevant

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4187929?searchText=psychological+advertising+behaviors&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dpsychological%2Badvertising%2Bbehaviors%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ab5e7d7e5c561e9c06c8ac8213683eff0&seq=1

# data[].attributes.headline
is hbtqia as represented in advertising as it is in the modern society

# data[].attributes.subject
is hbtqia as represented in advertising as it is in the modern society

# data[].attributes.body
now and then, development, fair representation, acceptance

# data[].attributes.headline
how did swiss typography gain it's glory and how does it compare to (other countries) typography

# data[].attributes.subject
how did swiss typography gain it's glory and how does it compare to (other countries) typography

# data[].attributes.headline
Tattoos, art or destruction. how are tattoos percived by the creative industry and how could it affect your future in it?

# data[].attributes.subject
Tattoos, art or destruction. how are tattoos percived by the creative industry and how could it affect your future in it?

# data[].attributes.headline
is the growing intrest of NFT purchase sustainable?

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is the growing intrest of NFT purchase sustainable?

# data[].attributes.headline
how could space travel advertising look and a research of it's target audience reations to it

# data[].attributes.subject
how could space travel advertising look and a research of it's target audience reations to it

# data[].attributes.body
kfc commercial liy grant mother, 800 nuggets. is it worth consumerism to promote consumerism?

# data[].attributes.headline
is art subjective or can art be judged good or bad by objective criterias?

# data[].attributes.subject
is art subjective or can art be judged good or bad by objective criterias?

# data[].attributes.body
alice and me on 180 the strand, so different experiences

# data[].attributes.headline
how can fashion affect the perception of who you are and is this cruical for sucess?

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how can fashion affect the perception of who you are and is this cruical for sucess?

# data[].attributes.headline
how does the high fashion industry create desire and what is the middle class response to this?

# data[].attributes.subject
how does the high fashion industry create desire and what is the middle class response to this?

# data[].attributes.body
middle class? not the right word. like how does the people who can not afford prada respond to wanting that item but not being able to buy it. what do they wear instead? fast fashion copies and so

# data[].attributes.headline
to what extend does the creative sector exist of neurodiverse people and how does this affect the individual

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to what extend does the creative sector exist of neurodiverse people and how does this affect the individual

# data[].attributes.body
Neurodiverse in the creative industry a blessing or a curse, life balance , planning, stress

# data[].attributes.headline
how does diversity in commerical film look today and how is the industry working to become more diverse

# data[].attributes.subject
how does diversity in commerical film look today and how is the industry working to become more diverse

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We offer a wide range of advertising dissertation topics employing both conventional and digital advertising methods. The list of project topics on advertising has been released after a thorough research which you can select for your academic research writing. Our writers can also provide you with quality dissertation writing help on the selected research topics on advertising. You can explore more related and relevant branding dissertation topics to get more views

A list Of advertising dissertaton topics

Studying the concept of internet advertising, the specifics, tendencies of development, and its impact on profitability.

Comparison of print versus online advertising considering the impact of youth buying behaviour.

Analysing the fight for customer's attention: YouTube as a platform for advertising.

The Impact of advertising on the intention of purchasing in social media entertainment - analysis of the effect on brand attitude.

Examining the portrayal of women in advertising and its impact on youngsters.

To study the processes and effects of targeted online advertising among children.

Studying the impact of consumer beliefs on consumer attitude taking in view the social media advertising perspective.

Impact of TV advertising on consumer buying behaviour in developing countries.

Role of Ad blocking on user engagement with the web.

Importance of informative advertising in the pharmaceutical sector.

A systematic analysis of internet advertising on the behaviour of teenagers.

Impact of junk food advertising on obesity in children.

Conducting generational research and advertising to millennials.

Focusing on the worth of advertising context taking evidence from consumer credit marketing field experiment.

To study the impact of consumer multi-homing on advertising markets and media competition.

Evaluation of advertising campaigns on social media networks.

Studying the formalisation impedes employee creativity and organisational innovation.

To analyse the positive and negative effects of advertising taking in view message framing, regulatory focus, and product type.

Analysing consumer attitudes towards unethical advertising.

To find out the impact of digital marketing strategies that appeal, motivate, or annoy the millennials.

To examine the young people's awareness of the timing and placement of gambling advertising on social media and traditional platforms.

Focusing on comparison of advertising across cultures.

The case of neuromarketing while analysing the impact of music on advertising effectiveness through facial emotions and eye-tracking.

To study the consumer scepticism towards advertising on television media.

Response of bilinguals towards advertisements related to different products.

Exposure to cartoons promoting healthy eating on the children's food preferences and choices.

A behavioural study on the advertising and marketing practices of multinational corporations.

Digital native advertising considering the practitioner perspectives and research.

Effectiveness of YouTube advertising on consumer purchasing behaviour.

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Advertising Dissertation Topics List (29 Examples) For Your Research

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We offer a wide range of advertising dissertation topics employing both conventional and digital advertising methods. The list of project topics on advertising has been released after a thorough research which you can select for your academic research writing. Our writers can also provide you with quality dissertation writing help on the selected research topics on advertising.

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the role of adblocker in the advertisng industry and it effect on user engagement with brands

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the role of adblocker in the advertisng industry and it effect on user engagement with brands

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is targeted ads hurting the consumers perception and relation with the brands?

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is targeted ads hurting the consumers perception and relation with the brands?

# data[].attributes.body
triggerbee, which brands uses targeted commerical, is this hurting the brand, targeted ads, promoting sales and a destroyer of brands
think about evidence

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has the formats of advertising been changed due to the decreasing attention span?

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has the formats of advertising been changed due to the decreasing attention span?

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inspo fr gustav

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The graphic designers job, treathend by design software accesability?

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The graphic designers job, treathend by design software accesability?

# data[].attributes.headline
how is the narrative of storytelling affected by the shorter formats adapted to decreasing attentionspan

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how is the narrative of storytelling affected by the shorter formats adapted to decreasing attentionspan

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inspo fr gustav

# data[].attributes.headline
is personal branding increasing sales or do people stick to the brands they know, future or flop

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is personal branding increasing sales or do people stick to the brands they know, future or flop

# data[].attributes.body
inspo fr nils

# data[].attributes.headline
Does pop culture have a (posetive) no effect on advertising and its perception of the brands.

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Does pop culture have a (posetive) no effect on advertising and its perception of the brands.

# data[].attributes.body
the role of popculture in advertising, is advertising percived as the villain or becomeing your everyday life.

# data[].attributes.body
scolorships and journals are better then new articles because they have bibliography and are less bias.
newpaper and ted talk by academic professors are popular sources, but also look the professor up to back it up.
tabloids are gossip might not check facts, the language is simpler.
boardsheet newspaper less trusted as a journalistic
the independent checks their facts
wired is also good
new york times
rolling stones
the conversation
open demorcracy
google scolar not to long search sentences
keywords and synonyms
jstor
kanopy not academic but good source
don't forget podcast, who made it for who, who funded it, do research on the source. a docummentary can be a good source depending on the platform. just be aware of where it is form.
wikipedia nono absolutely not.

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The Ravensbourne University library has a large collection of print, online and multimedia resources available for staff and students to use.

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In what was have the advertising industry been affected by the consumers desire for sustanabilty 2022 compared to 2012?

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In what was have the advertising industry been affected by the consumers desire for sustanabilty 2022 compared to 2012?

# data[].attributes.body
What does the sustainabilty goals look like and how does makerting have to comply to this.
Adverstisibg and pop culture, medias effect on sustainabilty awateness
Does consumers express a desire for sustaibanable co sumer goods.
How does sustainable advertising compare to avertising in general
What does sustainable advertising look like and how is it used today
What is okay to call sustainable
to what extent does advertising meet a consumer desire for sustainabity and to what extent does the consumers have a desire for sustainable fashion and to what extent does advertising meet this desire
what is sustainablity mean in advertising and to what extent does is meet the consumer desire for sustanabile advertising.

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In what was has short narrative film changed the consumers perspective on advertising

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In what was has short narrative film changed the consumers perspective on advertising

# data[].attributes.headline
does the consumer know when it's advertising or not

# data[].attributes.subject
does the consumer know when it's advertising or not

# data[].attributes.headline
SUSTAINABLE MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA: A Cross-Country Analysis of Motives for Sustainable Behaviors

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SUSTAINABLE MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA: A Cross-Country Analysis of Motives for Sustainable Behaviors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 'new green' lets printers do the right thing for business and the planet--and look good doing it.

Growing concern about all things green among senior executives from Fortune 500 companies, major publishers and leading financial institutions tells us that climate change and sustainability are issues that the graphic arts industry must begin to take seriously. Indeed, hundreds of printers already have made the first steps to do so. But that means literally thousands more firms may be missing a critical opportunity--and putting their businesses at risk. Two examples underscore the tenor of these concerns among major print buyers. Organizers of a conference on so-called "Green Advertising," held in New York City in June, were delighted to see that 200 individuals had pre-registered. But AdAge magazine, which planned the conference on environmental issues in the media, was stunned when another 350 showed to sign up on site--the crowd spilling out into the busy streets of Manhattan. A few days later, a similarly themed event played to a standing-room-only crowd at a panel discussion about Advertising, Publishing and Supply Chain Sustainability organized by the Institute for Sustainable Communication and hosted by Citi Smith Barney in Manhattan. Around the country, gatherings focused on sustainable print and packaging seem to be springing up every few weeks.

Why the heightened interest in green advertising? And what does it mean to printers? You might call it the "new green."

The new green is not based on moral or ethical imperatives, or on purely emotional appeals. It is based on a conceptual framework called "sustainability" that is being used to redefine the way business is done. Increasingly it will change the nature of demand for printing services, printing equipment and supplies.

A catalyst for the popularity of these topics were the hundreds of thousands of people who have seen the documentary film, "An Inconvenient Truth." Millions more attended or viewed "LiveEarth" last month, a global rock concert aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues. Business press coverage of green issues has also increased, in major publications like Business Week, Time, Fortune, Forbes , The New York Times , and, of course, Graphic Arts Monthly .

In combination, these efforts are transforming awareness and helping to reset priorities of business and...

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Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers, videos and more, on the ProQuest Platform.

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497116/

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An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017) ⭐ 6.6 | Documentary

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Greenwashing could create consumer distrust

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Greenwashing could create consumer distrust

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Greenwashing could create consumer distrust

Combs, Heath E.
Furniture Today Vol. 32, Iss. 8,  (Oct 29, 2007): 6.

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alex doing project on sustainability in brand
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romane environmental queen
tamzin good at culture and long term sustainability

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try to get ucl access advertising sustainability

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try to get ucl access advertising sustainability

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Chapter

First Online: 05 April 2019

1327 Accesses

Part of the Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication book series (PSMEC)

Abstract

This chapter explores how advertisements represent sustainability. It initially provides discussion of the contemporary advertising industry and its role in promotional culture and it also considers the textuality of advertisements and their communicative power. The chapter also discusses the features of green advertising and the practice of greenwashing. An analysis of Aotearoa New Zealand energy television advertisements shows how humour and celebrity are used to offer a positive and easily attainable portrayal of sustainability. Alternatively, the second case study analysis of Australian household sustainability magazine advertisements reveals how the technical and scientific features of sustainability are foregrounded.

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Author information

Affiliations

1. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

Geoffrey Craig

Authors

1. Geoffrey Craig

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Craig, G. (2019). Advertising Sustainability. In: Media, Sustainability and Everyday Life. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53469-9_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53469-9_4

Published: 05 April 2019

Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53468-2

Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53469-9

eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

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This chapter explores how advertisements represent sustainability. It initially provides discussion of the contemporary advertising industry and its role in promotional culture and it also considers the textuality of advertisements and their communicative power. The...

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upper case lower case in sustianable marketing (not super relevant)

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upper case lower case in sustianable marketing (not super relevant)

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https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1333/htm

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School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 30 January 2019 / Accepted: 21 February 2019 / Published: 4 March 2019

Recent green advertising research has focused on the effectiveness of different advertising claims and people's interactions with the environment or environmental concerns, indicating the significant role of visual appeals in influencing people's environmental attitudes. However, surprisingly, only a limited amount of research has addressed the effect of lettering case in green advertising on people's perceptions and their consequent environmental concerns. This study tries to fill in this research gap by showing that uppercase (vs. lowercase) advertising taglines on environmental threats could improve people's fear arousal, advertising congruence, environmental concern and the mediating role of fear arousal and congruence in this process. The managerial implications and limitations are also discussed in this study.

1. Introduction

Faced with increasing levels of environmental problems, such as animal extinction, ocean pollution, climate change, and air pollution, people tend to pay more and more attention to concerns relating to environmental issues [ 1, 2]. This increasing environmental concern leads companies or institutes to reconsider the significant role of green advertising in the communication of their pro-environmental claims or environmental sensitivity [ 3]. In addition, it is common to see variations on the alphabetical combination of lowercase and uppercase letters in green advertising expressing specific, sustainable concepts or meanings to people. For example, different environmental protection institutes or advertising agencies use different lettering cases in their logo designs or adverting campaigns to promote elements related to the environment. While the Go Green Advertising Awards (GGAA), one of the most important green advertising awards, used all lowercase letters in its logo design, "go green", RobecoSAM, an international investment company with a specific focus on sustainability investments, utilised all uppercase letters in its logo, "ROBECOSAM". More commonly, variant usages of uppercase and lowercase were found in advertising taglines. For instance, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment, used either uppercase letters or lowercase letters in its green advertising. The WWF used the almost all lowercase tagline "Each year, plastic pollution kills more than 100,000 marine creatures" in its marine creature protection adverting, while in its environmental protection advertising, it used the all uppercase tagline 'DON'T LET GARBAGE REPLACE WILDLIFE' [ 4]. In this case, we might wonder whether the lettering case has an impact on people's perceptions, reactions and consequent environmental concerns.

Recent green advertising research has focused on the effectiveness of different advertising claims and people's interactions with the environment or environmental concerns, indicating the significant role of visual appeals in influencing people's environmental attitudes [ 5, 6]. In addition, within various visual advertising appeals, fear appeal plays a crucial role in influencing people's immediate perceptions [ 7]. In this context, it is common to see environmental threat advertising on issues such as the preservation of animals and the environment in daily green campaigns. For example, Shin et al. [ 5] have examined the relationships among fear appeals, advertising effectiveness, and environmental involvement, and showed that fear appeal had a positive impact on people's environmental attitudes. Moreover, Xue and Muralidharan [ 6] further explained the effect of visual environmental appeals on people's environmental attitudes and the moderating role of product involvement.

Lettering case, one of advertising's most important elements, also plays a crucial role in influencing a firm's or institute's performance [ 8]. However, surprisingly, only a limited amount of research has addressed the effect of lettering case in green advertising on people's perceptions and their consequent environmental concerns. For example, prior research on lettering case has mainly focused on its effect on brand perception [ 9], brand name [ 10], and lingual features [ 11]. Scant research has discussed the role of lettering case in the context of advertising, especially green advertising, regarding people's subjective perceptions and behaviors. In order to fill this research gap, the current study aims to analyze the effects of lettering case in green advertisements on people's perceptions of the advertising and consequent behavioral reactions. The practical implications of the application of lettering case are also discussed in this research.

2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

2.1. Green Advertising and Sustainability

2.2. Lettering Case, Arousal, and Congruence

Lettering case (or case) is the difference between two consecutive terms, uppercase letters (also uppercase, large letters, or, more formally, majuscule) and lowercase letters (also lowercase, small letters, or, more formally, minuscule), in some linguistic writing systems [ 39]. Two corresponding sets of letters (uppercase and lowercase) are differentiated from each other, in that each one in one set has an equivalent in the other set. Accordingly, the two identical letter cases have the same pronunciation, meaning, alphabetical sequence, and name in alternative written representations [ 11]. Regarding the specific usage of lettering case, while uppercase letters are frequently used in some specific names, the initial letter of a sentence or the initial letter of an acronym is used in other situations. Ordinary people are actually more familiar with lowercase letter usage than uppercase letter usage in daily life [ 10, 40]. Take the New York Times (NYT, January to March, 1992) corpus, for example, where the frequencies of uppercase and lowercase were not the same. To specify, the total of lowercase letters was around 17.48 times higher than the total of uppercase letters [ 40].

However, uppercase letters might play a significant role in particular situations, since we might be more accustomed to lowercase letters. According to the conversational norm theory, people tend to figure out the underlying inferences when they encounter unfamiliar situations [ 41]. In this way, it is easy for uppercase letters to attract people's attention, and the process of drawing attention to visual stimuli is usually related to a concept's 'perceived strength' or 'perceived authority' [ 9]. For instance, people associate a higher level of perceived strength with potent typefaces, such as larger and heavier typefaces [ 37]. Regarding lettering case, a similar finding also suggested uppercase letters would be likely to elicit the perception of strength than lowercase letters [ 9, 37, 42].

Perceived strength or perceived authority was also related to perceptions of arousal [ 43, 44]. From a practical point of view, it is customary to see the application of uppercase letters attracting people's attention, especially in communicating specific information by emphasizing, reminding, and cautioning [ 42]. Accordingly, people tend to have a higher level of arousal perception and perceived authority, and their consequent behavior is also influenced, when faced with authoritative advertising [ 45]. For instance, it is common to see a full and large uppercase warning sign in a public space, such as 'STOP' or 'NON-SMOKING', which tends to attract attention and show their authoritative role. When faced with such strong, authoritative advertising, people experience a higher level of fear arousal, paying more attention to the advertising's influential and dominant information [ 46, 47]. Regarding the reaction people have to the tagline for the given information, the spillover effect suggests that the cognitive reaction to the tagline would transfer into the given product, service, or brand [ 48, 49]. Therefore, we could expect that the fear arousal invoked by uppercase letters in a tagline could spill over into environmental threat advertising.

Moreover, previous research on social psychology has suggested that fear and threats are closely related to perceived authority or perceived strength [ 50, 51, 52]. For example, Feldman and Stenner [ 52] argued that various forms of threat would contribute to authoritarianism, since people tended to perceive insecurity and want to 'escape from freedom' when faced with an uncertain situation. In other words, a threat environment would be more congruous with perceived authority. In terms of 'congruence', it was commonly used in the fields related to advertising, brand extension, cultural perspective, and personality integration [ 53, 54, 55]. Prior research has emphasized the effect of different elements of congruence in advertising. For instance, Lee and Mason [ 56] adapted the concept of congruence from social cognition first, and then discussed the effect of two dimensions of congruence, relevancy and expectancy, in the context of advertising. To specify, in complex advertising information processing, congruence referred to 'the general focus of a story to which the plot adheres', and it played a significant role in processing the impression-based prior expectancy of a given advertisement. While relevancy refers to the extent to which a factor or a component helps to identify the related information presented by the advertising, expectancy was more associated with the extent to which an item or some information (verbal or visual) was connected to a predetermined pattern from the advertising. In addition, Moore et al. [ 57] further discussed the effect of congruence between color and context on people's attitudes and attention attraction from both a verbal and visual perspective. While incongruence in advertising or text-color contrast might attract people's attention, congruence in advertising improves people's information acceptability.

2.3. Congruence, Arousal, and Environmental Concern

Similarly, prior research has suggested that advertising congruence could improve the effectiveness of an advertisement. For example, Misra and Beatty [ 79] used the context of celebrity spokesperson and brand congruence to figure out how celebrity-brand congruence works as an efficient way to improve the effectiveness of advertising. In particular, they found that the recall of a brand, the transfer of an effect from the spokesperson to a brand, and the transfer of an effect to a brand were significantly improved when the celebrity and brand were matched. Given that uppercase letters would relate more to an environmental threat advertising scenario, it is reasonable to predict that the effectiveness of green advertising in eliciting environmental concern would be improved when the tagline in the advertisement was written in uppercase. Therefore, the mediating role of congruence on environmental concern should also be studied in detail. To sum up, lettering case could potentially improve fear arousal and advertising congruence, having a mediating impact on people's environmental concern.

2.4. Summerised Literature and Hypotheses

In order to clearly illustrate the relationships between lettering case, congruence, arousal, and environmental concern, we summarized the most relevant literature in Table 1. We propose the following hypotheses ( Figure 1):

H1a.

An uppercase (vs. lowercase) advertising tagline causes people to perceive a higher level (vs. a lower level) of fear arousal in environmental threat advertising.

H1b.

Fear arousal would mediate the effect of lettering case in environmental threat advertising on environmental concern.

H2a.

An uppercase (vs. lowercase) advertising tagline causes people to perceive a higher level (vs. a lower level) of congruence in environmental threat advertising.

H2b.

Congruence would mediate the effect of lettering case in environmental threat advertising on environmental concern.

H3.

An uppercase (vs. lowercase) advertising tagline causes people to have a higher level (vs. a lower level) of environmental concern in environmental threat advertising.

3. Research Method

The aim of this study was to investigate the belief that an uppercase (vs. a lowercase) green advertising tagline could improve people's environmental concerns and the mediating role of fear arousal and congruence in this process. The causality relationship of the theoretical model was examined though a behavioral experimental approach.

3.1. Experiment Design and Stimuli

The experiment employed a between-subjects design that contained three lettering scenarios: all lowercase, initial letter uppercase, and all uppercase. One professional advertising designer made these three environmental threat advertisements, which were adapted from a NGO website [ 80] in the experiment (for stimuli, see Figure 2).

To avoid potential confounding influences stemming from existing perceptions of green advertising or other fields, we carefully controlled the potential confounders. To specify, for the lettering case with either lowercase letters or uppercase letters, the total length of the slogan was controlled in the same manner. The font used was Franklin Gothic, since this typeface is widely used in advertising [ 81]. The tagline was "save the planet", which is commonly used in green campaigns. In addition, other advertising elements, such as positioning, were also controlled to avoid any cofounding effects.

3.2. Subject and Procedure

In order to analyze the relationship between lettering case and its effect, a sample group (from Amazon Mechanical Turk, AMT) was recruited and participated in the experiment. AMT is a reliable data collection platform to address the lettering case issue, since we could specifically choose U.S. and Canadian AMT workers whose official language was English. The participants were required to have basic English reading ability. In addition, a large number of social experiments have been used to collect data through AMT, and showed adequate quality and reliability compared with physical lab experiments [ 82].

To avoid self-selection and professional survey takers, Qualtrics was utilized, since it applies by-invitation-only online panel recruitment, thus attracting a cross-section that better generalizes to the population to a significant extent. The experiment was designed to examine the main effect of lettering case on environmental concern, and the mediating role of fear arousal and congruence in shaping people's perceptions.

A total of 244 participants were recruited for this study (mean age = 43.32 years; 145 men and 99 women). They first consented to take part in the study, and then they were randomly assigned to one of three scenarios. To specify, 81, 83, and 80 participants were assigned to the all lowercase, all uppercase, and initial letter uppercase scenarios, respectively. They were required to look at the green advertising for five seconds, and then they were required to answer several questions on the given advertising.

This experiment measured the influence of different lettering case taglines on people's fear arousal, advertising congruence, and environmental concern. Perceived fear arousal in green advertising was measured with three items ("This advertising makes me feel frenzied"/"This advertising makes me feel awake"/"This advertising makes me feel aroused) on a seven-point Likert rating scale [ 47]. In addition, congruence was measured with three items ("This ad slogan is compatible with the ad"/"This ad slogan is a good fit for the ad"/"This ad slogan matches the ad well") on a seven-point Likert rating scale [ 79, 83]. Lastly, environmental concern was measured with three items ("Mankind is severely abusing the environment"/"There are limits to growth beyond which our industrialized society cannot expand"/"Humans must live in harmony with nature in order to survive") on a nine-point Likert rating scale [ 84, 85].

4. Data Analysis and Results

Tests for H1a and H2a, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey HSD were performed with lettering case (all lowercase vs. initial-letter uppercase vs. all uppercase) as the independent variable, and fear arousal, congruence, and environmental concern as the dependent variables. According to the results of the ANOVA, we found a significant difference in fear arousal and congruence among these three scenarios (fear arousal: F(2, 241) = 6.228, p < 0.05; congruence: F(2, 241) = 9.220, p < 0.05; see Table 2 & Table 3 and Figure 3 & Figure 4).

Regarding H1a, the post-hoc Tukey HSD results revealed that people in the all uppercase letter advertising scenario showed significantly higher fear arousal than those in the all lowercase letter advertising scenario (Mean = 4.68 vs. 3.94, SD = 1.47 vs. 1.61; Tukey HSD, p < 0.05). While people grouped in the initial letter uppercase advertising scenario also showed significantly higher fear arousal than those in the all lowercase letter scenario (Mean = 4.63 vs. 3.94, SD = 1.39 vs. 1.61; Tukey HSD, p < 0.05), there was no significant difference between the initial letter uppercase and all uppercase advertising scenario in terms of fear arousal (Tukey HSD, p = 0.97).

Regarding H2a, the post-hoc Tukey HSD results showed that people in the all uppercase letter advertising scenario showed significantly higher congruence than those in the all lowercase letter advertising scenario (Mean = 5.72 vs. 4.82, SD = 1.06 vs. 1.64; Tukey HSD, p < 0.05). While people in the initial letter uppercase advertising scenario also showed significantly higher congruence than those in the all lowercase letter scenario (Mean = 5.39 vs. 4.82, SD = 1.29 vs. 1.64; Tukey HSD, p < 0.05), there was no significant difference between the initial letter uppercase and the all uppercase advertising scenario in terms of congruence (Tukey HSD, p = 0.26).

Regarding H3, the results of the ANOVA similarly showed a significant difference in environmental concern among these three scenarios (one-way ANOVA, F(2, 241) = 4.864, p < 0.05; see Table 4 and Figure 5). The post-hoc Tukey HSD results showed that people in the all uppercase letter advertising scenario showed no significantly higher environmental concern than those in the all lowercase letter advertising scenario (Mean = 7.18 vs. 6.76, SD = 1.48 vs. 1.64; Tukey HSD, p = 0.19). While people in the initial letter uppercase advertising scenario showed significantly higher environmental concern than those in the all lowercase letter scenario (Mean = 7.52 vs. 6.76, SD = 1.11 vs. 1.64; Tukey HSD, p < 0.05), there was no significant difference between the initial letter uppercase and the all uppercase advertising scenario in terms of environmental concern (Tukey HSD, p = 0.34).

In order to test H2a and H2b regarding the mediating role of fear arousal and congruence, environmental concerns were regressed on the lettering case (uppercase vs. initial letter uppercase vs. lowercase) through the PROCESS SPSS macro [ 86] (Model 4, n = 5000 resamples).

For H2a, the results indicated that lettering case was a significant independent variable of fear arousal, β = 0.3463, SE = 0.1189, p < 0.05, and that it was also a significant independent variable of environmental concern, β = 0.2881, SE = 0.1199, p < 0.05. Fear arousal was also a significant independent variable of environmental concern, β = 0.2650, SE = 0.0637, p < 0.05. In addition, the results showed the indirect effect, LLCI = 0.0258 and ULCI = 0.1756, does not contain 0, implying that the mediating role of fear arousal was significant (see Figure 6).

For H2b, the results indicated that lettering case was a significant independent variable of congruence, β = 0.2856, SE = 0.1091, p < 0.05, and it was also a significant independent variable of environmental concern, β = 0.2647, SE = 0.1154, p < 0.05. In addition, congruence was a significant independent variable of environmental concern, β = 0.4031, SE = 0.0671, p < 0.05. Furthermore, the results showed the indirect coefficient was significant, β = 0.1151, SE = 0.0550, LLCI = 0.0212, ULCI = 0.2357 (see Figure 7).

5. Conclusions and Discussion

This study aimed to explore whether different lettering cases would have an impact on people's perceptions and consequent behavioral changes. The current study empirically tested the theoretical framework of lettering case, fear arousal, congruence, and environmental concern. For uppercase letter advertising (vs. lowercase letter), we found that people tended to have a higher level of fear arousal and congruence (supporting H1a and H2a) and exhibited a higher level of environmental concern when it was used in green advertising (supporting H3). To specify, an all uppercase letter tagline and an initial letter uppercase tagline tended to evoke a stronger perception of fear arousal and congruence in environmental threat advertising compared to an all lowercase letter tagline, while there was no statistical difference between the all uppercase tagline and the initial letter uppercase tagline. Similarly, an initial letter uppercase tagline also significantly improved people's environmental concern compared with an all lowercase tagline, while there was no significant difference between the all uppercase tagline and the initial letter uppercase tagline, and between all uppercase and all lowercase scenarios. This process was mediated by congruence and fear arousal (supporting H2a and H2b). Previous study suggested that the relationship between people's behavioral reactions and mental arousal interacts as an inverted U-shaped relationship [ 77]. Although the results from the current study did not find the statistically significant U-shaped relationship, environmental concern of the initial letter uppercase scenario was the highest in all three scenarios. The experimental context in Ben-Zeev et al. [ 77] was an actual behavioral experiment which contained the combinations of five senses. In the future study, we could implement multiple senses scenarios with even higher level of fear arousal to further validate the mediating role of fear arousal on environmental concern.

This study provides the following theoretical contributions. Firstly, previous research on green advertising has emphasized the effects of environmental claims, perceived trustworthiness, end prices end, and label issues on environmental attitudes and environmental concerns [ 2, 18, 20, 24]. This study endeavored to supplement and extend the literature on environmental concerns from a visual advertising perspective, highlighting the role of lettering case in people's fear perceptions, congruence, and consequent behavioral reactions concerning environmental threat advertising [ 87]. In addition, the results of this study are consistent with recent neuroscientific research findings on the role of the amygdala in visual fear information processing [ 88, 89, 90]. To specify, fear stimuli simultaneously activate fear and attract attention, and this effect is highly correlated with a subcortical brain network centered in the amygdala. Secondly, only a limited number of studies have analyzed the effects of lettering case on the perceptions of brands and companies, such as perceived friendliness, perceived authority, and perceived strength [ 9], and there have been few studies discussing the spillover effect of lettering case on advertising perceptions and the consequent behavioral reactions, which have been under-researched in prior empirical studies. Faced with increasing environmental problems, drawing people's attention to environmental issues and improving their environmental concerns plays an important role in green advertising [ 1]. Regarding this context, it is necessary to analyze the underlying mechanism of the effects of lettering case on people's environmental concerns. This study develops a more complete framework on how lettering case affects people's environmental concerns by identifying the mediating role of congruence and fear arousal in environmental threat advertising. Lastly, previous research on advertising taglines has mainly focused on the semantic and linguistic perspective [ 91, 92]. For example, Puntoni [ 91] suggested the effect of tagline languages in an increasingly globalized marketplace. However, this research largely neglected to analyze the effect of taglines from a lettering case perspective that would also contribute to the literature on advertising tagline research.

6. Implications, Limitations, and Future Research

This study offers the following managerial implications. Firstly, it might help NGOs or environment protection institutes to communicate environmental threats in their advertising. Raising public fears of negative environmental consequences is very helpful in improving environment protection activities [ 3]. However, only a limited amount of research has addressed how to strengthen environmental threat advertising through the application of the appropriate lettering case. This study will help to illuminate a new path for NGOs or other related institutes to communicate specific information to the public more effectively and influence their consequent environmental concerns through design.

There are a few limitations of this study that are worth noticing to highlight directions for future investigation. This study mainly focused on lettering case out of many other advertising features that also play important roles in fear appeal advertising, such as the role of culture, message involvement, message acceptance, and rhetoric factors [ 93, 94, 95]. It would be interesting to explore the association between those attributes and lettering case, and their interactions in terms of environmental concern. In addition, this study emphasized green advertising designed from an environmental threat perspective. However, there are also many green advertisements oriented towards the positive attributes of a green product. It would also be interesting to explore whether the type of green message and lettering case would have a moderating impact on environmental concerns. Moreover, in terms of environmental perceptions, previous studies have discussed that there are different types of perceptions, such as environmental attitudes, environmental concerns, and moral salience, which could all increase people's pro-social behaviors [ 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63]. However, the relationship among those concepts and the effect of lettering case on those concepts remains ambiguous, requiring further clarification in the future. Lastly, the current research mainly focused on exploring the effect from an NGO perspective, while assessing the way to influence public consumption or consumer behavior would also help facilitate environment protection. In fact, many companies have run green advertising to show their sensitivity regarding environmental protection. Future research could try to further explore the impact of commercial advertising on product attitudes and related environmental concerns.

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Design for Sustainability: The Effect of Lettering Case on Environmental Concern from a Green Advertising Perspective

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Recent green advertising research has focused on the effectiveness of different advertising claims and people’s interactions with the environment or environmental concerns, indicating the significant role of visual appeals in influencing people’s environmental attitudes. However, surprisingly, only a limited amount of research has addressed the effect of lettering case in green advertising on people’s perceptions and their consequent environmental concerns.

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online marketing sustainabilty maybe relevant

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online marketing sustainabilty maybe relevant

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https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3436/htm

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1. Introduction

Traditional media communication medium was considered to be very important a few years ago, but from last few years the digital media is prospering considerably and it has become a very important mode of communication in marketing and advertising for building brand sustainability. Digital marketers interact and communicate effectively and inexpensively to the customers by using the mechanism of digital media channels. Due the rise and popularity of this new media, the marketers are providing information and advertising campaigns to their consumers by utilizing digital innovation for last decade and it has now become very easy to build brand sustainability through digital media advertising [1]. New media has empowered marketers to promote and distribute their offers and new products to consumers. More interestingly, they no longer require their computers—rather high-tech mobile phones, portable computers, and through the portal, the real-time exchange of information can be transmitted anywhere and at any time to their customers, and, for this reason, consumer’s behavior has become an essential element [2]. With the expansion of new channels of digital media the traditional print and electronic media, like magazines, newspapers, TV, hoardings, and billboards facing real threats and major crises [3]. The millions of customers use the companies’ websites, YouTube, online portals for watching different brands, and it was a real challenge for marketers to build their brands [4]. The introduction of new interactive media was also crafted new business opportunities and new business and advertising horizons for marketers. User-generated content in new interactive media, for instance, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, the customers showed their enthusiasm by sharing and talking about their favorite brands. According to Mathwick et al. [5], these media also reduce the phenomenal cost of advertising and enhancing the effect of many folds. Business organizations reach to customers and interact with them, and their interactions, through browsing or purchasing through the use of this new media and companies can trigger or stimulate their purchase behaviors through different practices and measure multiple modes. These options are usually valued for marketing, but individual users have particular relevance to developing individual marketing activities on the employees, customer relationship management. New media using the opportunities, which are provided by the new media users, are attracted to a full understanding of how and why they affect customers’ attitude and behavior in order to build brand sustainability. Novel strategy and the pre-amative marketing approach and new media properties are in line with their impact on consumers, which must be developed [5,6]. New media is a broad concept that focuses on emerging media trends that prevent previous forms, newspapers, books, or other forms of writing. Tasks that require manual skills can now be more efficiently carried out and more complex, while taking into account less time and energy. Most people who have Internet access are familiar with the concept of new media, which includes Facebook and Twitter, and video blog sites, such as YouTube. The new media has greatly changed with the invention of microprocessors, such as Handhelds, using interactive applications on smartphones. As the new media is constantly improving to connect to as many different platforms and people as possible, one of the key features is interactivity. The real-time conversion has made this conversion process easy. “Cyber-chat” has become instantaneous for the general public, especially for young people, in the 20th century. Blogs are a form of new media that expanded the concepts of our interactivity level that is created by the new media. The ability of anyone to publish a text, a photo, or a video was seen as a gain in communication, and, in particular, the number of e-journalists. Today, there is more personalization, individualized results for each user, which are customized for each request [7,8,9,10].

The undertaken study is an effort to examine the importance and effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability. The online digital media is a real-time medium of communication that uses as a strategic tool for building brands through marketing and advertising campaigns. Companies are now more tilted towards the different channels of digital media. The interactive online digital media is an effective channel for interacting with the consumers at real-time, and get the instantaneous feedback regarding the products and services. The companies are using this media due to the cost effectiveness and reach when compared to the conventional media. Another important reason for using the interactive online digital media is the customer relationship is that the marketers have direct interaction with the consumers due to the variety of online channels, thus companies have better relationship and communication with their customers through this media [8,9]. The digital online media is not only cost effective, but is also user-friendly and it provides numerous digital channels to connect with the consumers. The term “Globalization” is fit for the online digital media, thus, with the help of digital online media, the companies launch their products and services globally with minimal cost. The new digital media capture the audiences from all over the World, in reality; the new interactive digital media has translated the true essence globalization. The customer can use the interactive digital media to provide their suggestions and comments regarding the products and services, and to also discuss the good and bad characteristics of the company’s products. Therefore, companies can obtain immediate feedback regarding their products and can alter their strategies timely for the long-term sustainability of their brands [10,11]. The use of this new media has become imperative and important for Pakistani companies; marketers also understand the importance of this media as a strategic tool for building brand sustainability. Globally, many researches have been carried out, but all of these researches are either generic or conducted in the international perspective by keeping in view of their own local culture and business atmosphere. Hence, there is an utmost need to carry out a research study in Pakistani perspective [12,13]. However, few research studies have been carried out in Pakistan but the scope of these studies were very narrowed and limited. Moreover, the practical implementation and implications are missing, therefore, there is a strong need to conduct detailed and thorough research, which addresses all of the aspects of digital media. In this research, we have taken ten different sectors of the economy and also incorporated the survey of consumers and professionals.

1.1. The Objective of the Research

The objective of the research is to evaluate the creativity and effectiveness of digital media for building brands sustainability for the Pakistani companies and to also assess its utility and effectiveness from the consumers’, professionals’, and marketers’ perspective. The results of the study help to the current and potential online buyers for selecting the medium for their purchase decision and, at the same time, the outcomes of the study are also helpful to the marketers of services and manufacturing sectors to formulate their online media communication campaigns in order to attract maximum consumers for their products and services. The marketers can examine the effectiveness of interactive digital communication tools from the analysis of the results of this study, and they can incorporate digital media communication tools in their IMC plans. The advertising agencies can obtain a better understanding of the different channels of digital media communication and they can incorporate in their campaigns to facilitate their organizational customers in a better way. A common consumer can assess the effectiveness of different online digital media and choose the best one for their online purchase decision. The government and different regulatory bodies can formulate different rules and regulations to protect the consumer who is using this online medium.

1.2. The Novelty and Significance of this Research Study

The significance of this research is many folds, because this is the first kind of the study that examines the building brands sustainability for the Pakistani companies. In the undertaken study, we employed an important digital media tools and evaluated the impact of digital media channels on the effectiveness of advertising for different sectors of Pakistan [12]. Eight mediating and six moderating variables have also been incorporated and evaluated the impact in an association of digital media tools and their influence on advertising for service and manufacturing industry of Pakistan. Thus, this research also investigated consumers’ attitude, brand loyalty, previous purchase experience, the design of an advertisement, quality content of the advertisement, and the duration of advertisement as the mediating variables [11,12]. This research has also taken care of technology constituents as moderating variables, and it incorporated different dimensions of information and telecommunication technologies, such as smartphone, generation technologies (1G–5G), speed of processors, and fiber optics technology, and identified the role of these moderating variable for building brands sustainability, and the overall impact on the effectiveness of advertising for Pakistani services and manufacturing industry. The undertaken study is an exclusive that provides guidelines to the marketers and advertisers as to how and which element is important while they are making their marketing communication messages on digital media channels. Finally, this research also provides a basic foil to the researchers and scholars for their research studies.

2. Review of Previous Literature

Famous scholarly literature and practitioners discovered the term interactivity in the early 1990s [13]. Numerous researches have been conducted by various scholars on how people interact while using different media channels, how consumers and individuals interface with technical tools, such as computers and telecommunication tools, and what is the nature of the content of interactivity. These days, the concept of interactivity is considered as central and the main characteristics of media. However, researchers cannot conclude and generalize that all new digital media tools are interactive, and it is very crucial to comprehend which characteristics make these media channels to interactive [14]. Most importantly, people in various contexts and situations perceive the concept of interactivity differently. If the practitioners have a clear understanding of what interactivity is then it can lead to such environments, which can facilitate interaction among them. It has been understood that all those consumers who can utilize these new digital channels, they can more efficiently use it interactivity if they have a clear understanding of it [15]. Furthermore, from the scholar’s perspective, it is very vital to understand interactivity in order to propose and develop theories regarding new media.

2.1. New Online Digital Media

Most of the researchers have tried to create a link between new and old media. Many of the metaphors were investigated that how emailing, roundtable, telegraph, and the bonfire are different from each other [16]. The most important thing is how both media are different from each other. The main differentiating factor is that basis of new media is a digital rather than physical fragment [17]. Consumers have more control and choice over new media rather than old media [18]. There are major hallmarks of new media, which includes demassification, interactivity, and synchronicity. Other than that, new media create a scale between mass communication methods and categories of interpersonal communication [19,20]. The art of mass communication is advanced and enhanced due to the advent of technological advancement excluding the innovation of telephone. These new technologies are shifting toward interpersonal communication [21]. There were numerous ways that were identified in which new technologies facilitate interpersonal communication [22]. Currently, the focus of research studies is shifted to identify the features and attributes of interactivity [10,23]. Few of the researchers have attributed specific features of interactivity with focused strategies, such as virtual stores, mass customization, and importance of learning in collaborative form [24,25].

2.2. Perceived Interactivity

Researchers who were trying to identify the attributes of interactivity got criticized from other groups of researchers. The other group suggested that interactivity is a phenomenon that can be seen in the eyes of the beholder. Basically, it is how a consumer perceives it [26,27,28,29]. The concept of interactivity can be conceptualized by considering qualitative experiences of consumers [26,27,28]. According to Chitra and Sasikala [27], it is very crucial to understand how consumer considers interactivity in order to find out how new technologies and the form of media is influencing them in their personal lives. Individual perception must be considered as a focal point to understand the concept of interactivity and new online media [29,30]. It is found that, how consumer perceive the concept of interactivity is directly related to how they use Web sites and how they interact with these websites [31,32,33,34]. Their perception leads to their interaction with technologies, such as computers [35,36]. According to Lee [30], it is very important to understand how consumers perceive and uses that particular form of media, rather than investigating what is the level of interactivity with respect to technical features of new media. There are two wide-ranging kinds of interactivity, which are how it interacts with individuals and what kind of interaction it has with technology [37]. Two interactivities between machine and person interactivity were also identified. Other than that, how humans interact with each other and how human interaction with media was identified [38]. It is identified that there are several levels of interactivity, such as consumer-to-consumer, user-to-computer, and consumer-to-document, etc. [39]. Other researchers have also identified these three-dimensional concepts of interactivity [40,41]. Other dimensions of interactivity can be seen as artificial intelligence and interaction in program dominant [40]. According to Mahler and Rogers [37], the main aim or focal point of interactive telecommunication innovation is to associate those individuals who have adopted technology or either link that adopter to others who have adapted to similar innovation.

2.3. Interacting with New Online Digital Media

The new form of collaborative mass media has been noted. In the context of this concept, the audience or consumers are the main cause of media contents that are available to its creators. The definitions of mass media have been developed, which focus on diversion from one-to-many and many-to-many communication forms [42,43]. Few of the scholars argued that the concept of interaction with creators of content is not merely based on its creators, but rather the main focus is on audience, which is considered as an active receiver of information, not just a passive receiver of information in new literature [44,45,46,47,48]. It is suggested that there must be an association between interactive content and actions of individuals. According to Rafaeli and LaRose [45], a concept of interactivity must refer to such situations where prompt and real feedback is established from the receivers of a different communication channel and various sources are used to regularly update and enhance the message, which is received and then delivered to a particular receiver.

2.4. Online Digital Media Characteristics

A difficult problem can be seen in the analysis of the impacts and effectiveness of interactive media is that the digitalization or emergence of the Internet is basically a new idea or concept that has recently emerged and most of marketers and customers have just adopt it for usage. So today’s usage of interactive media is inclined to mix up with the impact of new technology implementation along with long terms impact of interactivity [49]. According to Leonard–Barton [47], the new digital technology implementation is not according to the current method of marketer and consumer communication. With the emergence of new methods or technologies, the hurdles come in the way of implementation and usage of new media; it is due to the fact that new media has certain unique features or systems as sophistication level, restrictiveness, and completeness [50,51]. As the interactivity is dependent on the implementation of media, it is significant to separate the elements of interactive media implementation and usage from the major impact of interactive media once implemented. The implementation of new media has just altered the interaction context. Accordingly, new context of media is emerged by the broadcast media comparative to print, and such context emerged for the time being i.e., radio and television were one time technologically addressed, which render make them enabled to get together in a family [15,18,52].

3. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses Formulation

3.1. Digital Media Communication Channels

The new online digital media advertising has provided the new directions to the customary advertising design through giving the basic place to the clients to share the thoughts. It has improved the skylines of correspondence more than the customary. According to Chitra and Sasikala [27] and Çïzmecï and Ercan [49], digital advertising gives the workplace to the advertisers and purchasers in light of the time and area for speedier reaction. Digital advertisers utilize intuitive and advanced elements for giving data and arranging the clients in view of their necessities, so, along these lines, it is a magnificent and the best media diverts with a specific end goal to make brand mindfulness that helps for building brand sustainability [53,54].

3.2. Email Marketing Tool and Online Digital Media Advertising

In the view of McCloskey [50], it has been found that email marketing seems to be a significant part of online marketing tools, where it is the direct way of enabling the communication between customer and seller. The relationship among customer and seller in online marketing or email marketing is just not same as in tradition; for that, the marketers need to construct a way of communication that is liberal in conveying the message with attractive and related content. However, in the views of Moustakas et al. [32], it has been identified that a common online survey showed that most of the executive level online user understands the significance of email marketing. However, the promotional messages are still at the low set up, where a customer does not bother to open the email sometimes. Email marketing has its own advantages, in which one of the most appreciable components is that it helps in promoting green marketing, as there is no paperwork required, so it saves a lot of papers. Statistics show that global email users have increased from 1.2 billion to 4.4 billion. Thus, email advertising has become a highly effective means of conveying a message for building brand sustainability [55,56]. The most common use of email advertising is for B2B businesses, and the reason behind this strategy is that it saves printing cost, is highly interactive, and is has an enormous number of users. It helps in creating brand awareness and improving and strengthening marker relations and helps the business in successfully launching its product [57,58]. In improving changes, there is one more type of email marketing emerging that is called “permission-based marketing” [59,60]. Email marketing is used, as there are a number of advantages attached to it, some of them are as: it has a noticeably higher response rates, there is an enormous number of customer available, surprisingly cost-effective medium, a remarkable return on investment when compared to any other mediums, it impacts customers more effectively, is time-saving, creates an effective brand image, and is sustainable [61,62]. On the basis of the above-mentioned we analyzed and designed the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

Email marketing tool has a positive and significant influence on building brand sustainability, and substantiated the effectiveness of digital media advertising.

3.3. Mobile Phone Marketing Tools and Online Digital Media Advertising

The progression in media transmission innovation gives the new and compelling road of special chances to the advertisers to promote their brands and their current and potential clients for building brand sustainability [61,62,63]. According to Al-Meshal and Almotairi [48], Çizmeci and Ercan [49], Muk [60], Kolla [61], and Barwise and Strong [62], an enormous increment in the mobile phones overall unveiled another medium of advertising for organizations to connect their clients viably. The most broadly utilized mobile phone marketing is the SMS (short message benefit) content advertising, and advertisers use the SMS messaging as a productive tool as compared with the traditional advertising tools [64,65,66,67,68]. According to Bamoriya et al. [63], the SMS advertising channel is more viable and practical when contrasted with the conventional media. The past writing exhibited that SMS publicizing is being broadly utilized in light of its remarkable qualities, simple to target particular pool of clients, and on-going intuitive elements [65,66,67]. Organizations utilize this medium for both push and pulls techniques, each kind of altered messages can be produced, and the SMS channel could be used without time bar, which makes this medium profoundly viable to make mark mindfulness, and brand faithfulness for their brands [68,69,70]. The SMS advertising could be utilized for the assorted gathering of clients with bringing down the cost than the conventional media, and the most imperative explanation behind utilizing this medium is a result of high perusing apportion, it is assessed that around 99% of clients read their SMS [71,72,73,74,75,76]. The examination of advertising messages highly influences the relevance of mobile advertising that helps for building brand sustainability [77,78]. Thus, we have formulated the following hypothesis on the basis of previous literature:

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

Mobile phone marketing tool has a positive and significant influence on building brand sustainability, and substantiated the effectiveness of digital media advertising.

3.4. Search Engines Optimization and Companies’ Websites and Online Digital Media Advertising

According to Reyes-Menendez [74] and Breuer et al. [76], the 1.3 billion consumptions are made by heavy internet users who are online buyers of Europe, and these purchases happened every six months, making an average of € 747, 00. The consumers use the search engines to show their buying needs and wants, which leads to the purchase of products and services [79,80]. Search engines have become very important for generating new leads and bringing new customers [81,82,83], this is the reason that search engines are taken as the most effective online communication network that helps for building brand sustainability [83,84,85]. The definition of the SEO, according to the Web design library, is that it is used to assure that a link appears on the top of the page when one searches and types a specific keyword. The aim of the SEO is to increase the number of web visitors and make the website rank very high with the use of correct keyword and by explaining the website content. The task of SEO includes search algorithm and searches of online customers. According to Ahmed et al. [80] and Vakratsas and Ambler [86], when online users search for data with the help of search engines, the opportunities for marketers arise. Count of visitors, stays, again visits, and rise of repeat visits, buying of rejection rate such as 1) Site quality in light of appraisals and honors; consumer loyalty with the site, physical engaging quality, 2) Pages of data given, hit rates, site hits, and stickiness, 3) Cost per click, cost per arrange, cost per client obtained. Paid and natural web search tool rankings, 4) Perceivability: web index rankings and page areas with respect to key contenders, 5) Navigate rates and number of webpage visits from paid and natural pursuit promoting, and 6) Number of changes: qualified leads, beginning buys, and so forth [87,88]. Thus, we have formulated the following hypothesis on the basis of previous literature:

Hypothesis 3 (H3).

Search Engines optimization and companies’ websites have a positive and significant influence on building brand sustainability, and have substantiated the effectiveness of digital media advertising.

3.5. Social Media Networks and Online Digital Media Advertising

The social media is a distinctive hallmark to engross customers online in real-time networking across the communities that establish customers’ relationship, which enables marketers to create brand awareness and build brand sustainability [89,90]. According to Mangold and Faulds [85], Laroche et al. [87], and Blair [88], the social media offers opportunities of networking between the organization and customers, which provide brand awareness, brand reach, customers’ transaction, referrals, brand equity, company’s influence, and brand sustainability. According to Çizmeci and Ercan [49] and Laroche et al. [87], the social media has many advantages, like influenced customer behavior by providing information, post-purchase satisfaction, and the Internet usage pattern. Social media has many advantages as compared to other online media; it allows for creating the customized content, exchange of user-generated content, direct connection with the customers, customer relationship, and to translate these advantages into customer building and brand awareness and purchase intentions at minimal expenditure [91,92,93,94,95,96]. According to Kim et al. [92] and Popp and Woratschek [93], the social media also used the stimulus of customer perceptions and behaviors, therefore, the companies use this media as a strategic tool for developing their strategies in order to increase corporate image, brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand equity, and brand sustainability. Hence, we have formulated the following hypothesis on the basis of previous literature and discussions:

Hypothesis 4 (H4).

Social media marketing tool has a positive and significant influence on building brand sustainability and substantiated the effectiveness of digital media advertising.

3.6. Mediating Variables and Hypotheses Formulation

3.6.1. Characteristics of Advertisement and ONLINE Digital Media Advertising

Advertisement characteristics, including the design of an advertisement, the quality content of the advertisement, and the duration of advertisement, played a vital role as mediating variables for the attraction and retaining the consumers on real-time media channels [97]. Thus, marketers and advertisers consider these variables as a major influence on online digital advertising for building brand sustainability [98]. As the new interactive media has grown the consumers’ needs more moving objects and animation to pay more attention to a particular advertisement [99]. The characteristics played a vital role in the overall attraction of consumers, which offer a competitive advantage to the organization and lead to higher revenues. The customers are interested in the long-lasting outcomes of online advertisement that also attract the consumers by providing rich quality material on the ads. Thus, companies should take care of the contents of the online ads while making their online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability [49,100]. If the ads display for a longer period of time then it carries more customer attention and chances of retention. This carryover effect may differ across different digital media; for instance, the email has greater carryover effect when compared to the other digital online medium [101,102,103]. Thus, keeping in the view of these characteristics of the online advertisement and previous literature, the researchers have developed the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 5A (H5A).

The characteristics of the online ad mediates email marketing tool and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 5B (H5B).

The characteristics of the online ad mediates mobile phone marketing tools and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 5C (H5C).

The characteristics of the online ad mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 5D (H5D).

The characteristics of the online ad mediates social media marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.2. Design of Advertisement and Online Digital Media Advertising

The elements of an advertisement’s design create more attention for sticking on the advertisement for a longer period of time. Consumers always give more importance for two aspects of the online advertisement, such as the security and the user interface of the design. According to Bevan [96], the websites of advertisement should be user-friendly and user-centered, because the E-business systems are referred as customer-facing systems and the significance of human-computer communication is high for the design of web-application. According to Vakratsas and Ambler [86] and Noyes and Baber [97], consumers’ only care about their interests and benefits; therefore, the organization should design an ad while taking the consideration of consumers. The design of the ad is played a vital role to gain the attention, which ultimately enhances the organizations’ competitive advantage and revenue. The design of ad comprises on: 1) Appeal that includes sex, humor, style, a slice of life, fantasy etc. 2) Text includes attributes such as font, size, color of font etc. 3) Color includes black and white or colorful material [102,103,104]. The elements of rich–media includes video, music, sound, takeovers, and floating images, and many more. Moreover, the size of ads, color, location, animation, and interactivity influence consumers independently, and consequently, the effectiveness of online ads enhances many folds to engage consumers for a longer period of time that is also helpful for building brand sustainability [105]. Therefore, on the above discussions and based on previous literature, the researchers have formulated the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 6A (H6A).

Design of advertisement mediates email marketing tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 6B (H6B).

Design of advertisement mediates mobile phone marketing tools and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 6C (H6C).

Design of advertisement mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 6D (H6D).

Design of advertisement mediates social media marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.3. Duration of Advertisement and Online Digital Media Advertising

According to Gallagher et al. [104], the consumer has complete and direct control on the online ads to when, where, and how they like to watch and react to these ads; thus, the duration of ads plays a vital role in the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability [105,106]. The format and physical presentation of an ad are also structural components that enhance the duration of the ad to the online consumer [107,108]. Similarly, Danaher and Mullarkey [82] have demonstrated that the effectiveness of online ads depends on the viewing duration of the advertisement webpage. The importance of animation, duration, and location of the web banner ad have distinct importance for the attraction and attention of consumer [109,110,111]. According to Oliver [107], and Kapferer [110], the duration and location have more prominent role in the effectiveness of banner ad, they further argued that the top on the webpage is the prime location for an online ad with longer duration, which alludes more to the consumers to the stock on the ad. The reappearance experience is one of the most crucial elements in online advertising, as the greatest number of consumers can have exposure to view the ads more than once [112]. This is an important finding that, if the repeated exposure of advertisement does not take place, then there would be chances of a diminishing effect on return on investment, because single exposure of online ads cannot add any value to the consumer. Thus, several research studies recommended the marketers and advertisers to consider more frequency of ad exposures if they want optimal outcomes for building brand sustainability [113,114,115]. Hence, on the basis of discussions and previous literature, the researchers have formulated the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 7A (H7A).

Duration of advertisement mediates email marketing tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 7B (H7B).

Duration of advertisement mediates mobile phone marketing tools and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 7C (H7C).

Duration of advertisement mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 7D (H7D).

Duration of advertisement mediates social media marketing channels and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.4. Quality of Content of the Advertisement and Online Digital Media Advertising

The content is one of the crucial components, which sticks to the consumer for a while and, eventually, this may cause the retention and brand loyalty of the consumer. The contents of the ad comprise of different characteristics, such as title/feature/body, and contact, etc. [115]. The quality of ad content is the fundamental piece of the composed ad, which gives a significant drawing of the promotion for building brand sustainability. Content has different components, including the design (textual style write or estimate), content sum (number of words), and the measure of data [116]. In the quality of contents for any ad, it additionally incorporates information regarding the brand, organization, and contact information. This idea is exceptionally successful for the advertising and promotion of brands and services for an organization. McCoy et al. [95], and Pieters and Wedel [98] have examined three essential components (brand, picture, and content) for drawing the attention of consumer to promote any service or product. They promote the content as the key component in catching the purchasers’ consideration. Pieters and Wedel [98] also concluded that the content features are considered the benchmark for the effectiveness of any online ad. According to Cox [116], the promotional incentives for the banner ads have a higher click-through rate, similarly, Xie et al. [99] demonstrated that the incentives improve the higher–click-through rate, but it also depends on the sort of appeal, either it is rational or emotional. The banner advertisements that provide samples gained the less high–click-through rate than the ads, which contain the detailed information [117,118]. Thus, on the basis of discussions and previous literature, the researchers have formulated the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 8 (H8A).

Quality of content mediates email marketing tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 8 (H8B).

Quality of content mediates mobile phone marketing tools and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 8 (H8C).

Quality of content mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 8 (H8D).

Quality of content mediates social media marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.5. Customers’ Attitude and Online Digital Media Advertising

The former literature was used to craft an attitude of consumer towards digital marketing messages and communication channels as well. There are two main types of consumer value, utilitarian, and hedonic. Utilitarian value refers to the instrumental or practical value, such as product quality or the ability to effectively perform a task [119]. Hedonic value includes an effective component and it accounts for the experiential value based on an effective definition of experience. In an empirical study, the role experiential features in relation to product success of a selection of well-known products were tested [25,119,120,121]. The results showed that the experiential features contribute to the value recognized by customers. This confirms that customers are not purely rational. Simultaneously, the customers did not neglect function. The products that included some sort of practical use had to live up to a required standard and they have certain functional features to enable optimal experience [122]. For these products, the study concludes that it is optimal to deliver a balance between the utilitarian and hedonic value. The appropriate weight of utilitarian versus hedonic value would depend on the given product [65,123]. Therefore, on the basis of previous literature, the following hypotheses have been developed:

Hypothesis 9 (H9A).

Customer attitude mediates email marketing tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 9 (H9B).

Customer attitude mediates mobile phone marketing tools and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 9 (H9C).

Customer attitude mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 9 (H9D).

Customer attitude mediates social media marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.6. Brand Loyalty and Online Digital Media Advertising

According to Bennett and Rundle-Thiele [105], Chaudhuri and Halbrook [106], and Oliver [107], the researchers and practitioners have given paramount attention to building and maintaining brand loyalty. According to Keller [108], brand loyalty can be abstracted as the last measurement of customer mark reverberation symbolizing the customers’ definitive relationship and the level of distinguishing proof with the brand. As brands enhance positive, selective, and prominence in the minds of customers, and win the loyalty of customers that help for building brand sustainability [124,125]. According to Frambach et al. [111] and Brito [112], the Google has transformed the system of its search context to empower to customers, thus, in this way, the Google providing refreshed and relevant material that enhances the customers’ confidence and loyalty for the brands. There are several platforms for interacting with the customers, and it is difficult for marketers to simultaneously choose all of the platforms, thus, they select the best one to speak with the customers [126]. Moreover, offering flexible functions enable customers to draw in with the brand consistent and build brand loyal. Thus, on the basis of above discussions and previous literature, we have developed the following hypotheses for the mediating role of brand loyalty between exogenous variables and effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability [49,127]:

Hypothesis 10 (H10A).

Brand loyalty mediates email marketing tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 10 (H10B).

Brand loyalty mediates mobile phone marketing tools and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 10 (H10C).

Brand loyalty mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 10 (H10D).

Brand loyalty mediates social media marketing channels and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.7. Previous Purchase Experience and Online Digital Media Advertising

On the organizational level, the customer experience is about managing the relations to the customer and their interactions with the company. Consistency across these interactions is important for the total experience, interacting with a company is part of any customer relation. However, when addressing customer experience, an emotional part is often included due to the belief that customers are not purely rational [128]. In terms of maintaining loyalty, emotional bonds are both harder to imitate and sever [129]. It is argued that this leads to long-lasting loyalty and that a ‘ladder of customer loyalty’ is a function of the total customer experience [130]. Only improving one aspect of the customer experience is not likely to deliver the full experience that customer’s desire [130,131]. While the consumption emotions are elicited in the post-purchase phase, it cannot be seen in isolation from the rest of the customer journey. Satisfaction literature commonly addresses the influence of expectations in relation to product performance; however, there are also more emotional and imaginative aspects to consider. Richins [118] claims that the cognitive and affective process has the consumer before acquisition influence the magnitude and nature of the experienced emotion after acquisition [122,123,124,125]. These thoughts and emotions are carried over in the post-purchase stage, where they influence the emotions during consumption. When understanding how to elicit such a response, one can deliberately ‘design for experience’. Being seen in relation to the broader construct of customer experience already discussed, product experience is more specifically focused on the brand and its user, which is ultimately helpful for building brand sustainability [49,131]. Therefore, on the basis of previous literature, the following hypotheses have been developed:

Hypothesis 11 (H11A).

Previous purchase experience mediates email marketing tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 11 (H11B).

Previous purchase experience mediates mobile phone marketing tools and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 11 (H11C).

Previous purchase experience mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 11 (H11D).

Previous purchase experience mediates social media marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.6.8. Word of Mouth and Effectiveness of Online Digital Media Advertising

FMCGs and services organizations are serving their customers by providing quick feedback and the best information about products and services. The satisfied customer can spread the positive word of mouth that certainly presents a great advantage in that it promotes consumer depiction and awareness [132]. Leigh and Gabel [121] and Groeger and Buttle [122] showed that a demonstrable word of mouth is more efficacious when compared with the advertising. Çizmeci and Eracan [49] and Murtiasish et al. [123] have effectively considered and finished up a confirmed impact of word of mouth on brand awareness and brand sustainability. According to Herr et al. [124], the positive word of mouth has a critical effect on positive brand advertising. As indicated by Vivilaite et al. [125], the positive data go by the client about the brand has a huge and positive and important impact on advertising. Likewise, Cornelissen [126] additionally demonstrated in their investigations that word of mouth is a huge arbiter between intuitive online media and brand advertising. SMS promoting has a greater effect than traditional advertising in connection to brand awareness [132]. As per Morgan et al. [128] and Goldenberg et al. [129], these days, word of mouth plays an extremely pertinent role in online media on the grounds that the purchasers share their encounters subsequent to utilizing any item; this makes the positive effect on advertising and brand sustainability. In this way, now, in light of the discussed literature, the researchers have formulated the following hypotheses between online digital media channels and word of mouth:

Hypothesis 12 (H12A).

Word of mouth mediates email marketing tool and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 12 (H12B).

Word of mouth mediates mobile phone marketing tools and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 12 (H12C).

Word of mouth mediates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 12 (H12D).

Word of mouth mediates social media marketing channels and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.7. Moderating Variables and Hypotheses Formulation

Marketers are facing cutthroat competition from the rivals, as the customers have ample choices available to decide about the brand to purchase [132,133]. The technology is paramount in this new kind of online media, thus we have taken innovation in information technology and its two dimensions, and innovation in telecommunication technology, and it has two dimensions, as follows.

3.7.1. Innovations in Information Technology and the Effectiveness of Digital Media Advertising

The technological development in information technology changes very rapidly, such as in hours, not in weeks or months, thus, the significance of IT is manifolds for interactive online digital media advertising. Colrain and Zuppo [132] have suggested an ICT hierarchical model; Ziden et al. [133] have further demonstrated that every level of the hierarchy “contains some degree of commonality in that they are related to technologies that facilitate the transfer of information and various types of electronically mediated communications”. According to Chandler and Munday [134], numerous industrial sectors are associated with information technology, for instance, e-commerce, telecom equipment, computer software, and computer hardware, etc. Currently, the Internet is a backbone of information technology that has transformed the marketing communication in an effective way around the globe, thus this technology has provided the ease to the consumers to reach out significantly towards a large number of brands at one–click [134]. According to Chitra and Sasikala [27], Çizmeci and Ercan [49], Blair [88], and Montgomery and Chester [135], the information technology has provided the vast mass communication channels to the advertisers and marketers for the promotion and brand awareness of their brands, so, in this way, the information technology is considered as a powerful moderator. Thus, on the basis of the above discussions and previous literature, we have developed the following hypotheses for the moderating role of innovation in information technologies between exogenous variables and effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability [136,137]:

Hypothesis 13 (H13A).

Innovation in information technology moderates email marketing channel, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 13 (H13B).

Innovation in information technology moderates mobile phone marketing media tool, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 13 (H13C).

Innovation in information technology moderates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 13 (H13D).

Innovation in information technology moderates social media marketing, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.7.2. Processors’ Speed and Effectiveness of Online Digital MEDIA advertising

In the arena of e-business, it is still imperative as the applications of e-business become more complicated as websites combine more rich media, for instance, video and audio [138]. The content of the site needs to download within a few seconds; otherwise, the credibility of the site would be hampered. This research further concluded that the poor performance of the website reduces to visitors by up to 64% and reduces e-business activities by 62%. If there will not be significant crowd for accessing the particular website, then there will not be any delay in fetching information [139]. On the contrary, if there would be an enormous crowd for accessing that particular website, then there will be significant delay in downloading the requested pages, thus, in this condition, both web server software and hardware have to cope up the problem [140]. The speed of a network connection also administers the download speed, the network connection speed generally, illustrious as “the bandwidth”. If the size of the bandwidth would be higher, then there will be a greater flow of information to the consumer [80,141]. Therefore, in this way, the speed of processors provides more ease for the consumers to download web–pages, which is ultimately beneficial for online digital advertising [49,140,141,142]. Thus, on the basis of the above discussions and previous literature, we have developed the following hypotheses for the moderating role of speed of processors between the exogenous variables and effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability:

Hypothesis 14 (H14A).

Processors speed moderates email marketing media tool and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 14 (H14B).

Processors speed moderates mobile phone media tools, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 14 (H14C).

Processors speed moderates search engines optimization and companies’ websites and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 14 (H14D).

Processors speed moderates social media channels and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.7.3. Fiber—Optic Internet and Online Digital ONLINE media Advertising

Fiber broadband is the fastest method of delivering high-speed Internet to homes and businesses. Consumers think of fiber as a new technology, but the Internet “backbone” network that connects cities and countries has been built with fiber optic cables since the emergence of the Internet [143]. Fiber to the home, or FTTH as it is generally referred to, is the best quality level of private Internet providers; it is nothing unexpected that fiber optics is the fastest type of broadband innovation [141,142,143]. The speedy and flawless information and data could be downloaded since fiber optics Internet is the speediest Internet accessible [80,140]. The major benefits of fiber optics Internet are: (1) Fiber is quicker than normal broadband speeds, (2) Download is now quicker with fiber–optics Internet, and (3) Fiber Internet is more reliable than copper and less ‘inconsistent’ than Wi-Fi. New fiber providers, such as, Google Fiber has arrived in the market and is providing aspiring plans, which is a turning point in online advertising due to its exceptional speed [49]. At speeds up to one Gigabit for each second, fiber Internet transports much faster downloads than broadband. Thus, this exceptional speed provides greater ease to the consumers to use in online buying processes, which opens up new doors of online advertising to the marketing practitioners and advertisers to the diverse sectors of the industries [25,80]. Thus, on the basis of the above discussions and previous literature, the researchers have formulated the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 15 (H15A).

Fiber optic Internet moderates email marketing media tool, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 15 (H15B).

Fiber optic Internet moderates mobile phone media tools, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 15 (H15C).

Fiber optic Internet moderates search engines optimization and companies’ websites, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 15 (H15D).

Fiber optic Internet moderates social media channels, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.7.4. Innovations in Telecommunication Technology and Online Digital Media and Advertising

The new interactive media is a form of new communication, which combined the telecommunication technologies, smartphones, and computers with the help of the Internet. These telecommunication technologies are used as new channels for the dissemination of messages, data, and information to the heterogeneous audience, irrespective of time, space, and location. According to Ahmed et al. [80], this new interactive media has been formed with the new dimensions of telecommunication and information technologies, which comprises of the Internet, smartphones, email, video conferencing, online magazines and newspapers, and chat rooms, etc. The old and traditional media has been transformed into the new interactive digital media with the help of digital computing and digital communication devices, and has become more potent for the advertising industry [25,143]. The use of this new interactive media in advertising has enhanced the reach and it spans to the online consumers across the globe. This new form of media has been used in effective promotional and advertising campaigns of almost every industrial and services sectors [141,142,143]. The growing trend of new interactive media technologies has provided the new avenues of advertising to the advertising practitioners and marketers to target more consumers in an effective and inexpensive way for building brand sustainability [50,142]. Thus, on the basis of above discussions and previous literature, we have developed the following hypotheses for the moderating role of telecommunication technologies innovations between the exogenous variables and effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability:

Hypothesis 16 (H16A).

Innovation in telecommunication technologies moderates’ email marketing media tool, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 16 (H16B).

Innovation in telecommunication technologies moderates’ mobile phone media tools, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 16 (H16C).

Innovation in telecommunication technologies moderates’ search engines optimization and companies’ websites, and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 16 (H16D).

Innovation in telecommunication technologies moderates’ social media channels, and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.7.5. The Smartphone and Online Digital Media Advertising

According to Ahmed et al. [80], “Mobile phones that contain default applications and having the more advanced features of the Internet (3G and 4G) than the traditional one, called Smartphone. Smartphone performs more functions apart of texting and calling and it has a very advanced way of interaction than that of the old one [49]. The rapid changes in the digital marketing technology have transformed the smartphone product, like their life cycles, as contrasted than earlier, like Android, Windows Phone, etc., as the advancement occurs. This change in technology has boosted the use of smartphones, and consumers are using all the time of these smartphones for satisfying their desires, except “The Calling”. Many organizations, including Pepsi and Co., Subway Kellogg’s, Burger King, and McDonald use the mobile marketing strategy. The mobile phone advertising strategy is more result oriented than the online feature of the Internet so most of the companies prefers the smartphone advertising strategy [135,136,137,138,139,140]. According to Holzer and Ondrus [139], all these software are especially made for mobile phones apps and are sometimes already installed on smartphones, and sometimes it could be installed by downloading it from the host companies’ websites. All of these Mobile apps usually advanced and developed the in-house production or sometimes through outsourcing [138,139]. The consumers of smartphone use the apps to order specific services via easy approach that was provided by the app to get access to the particular producer [142]. It is reported that more than one app is used in one smartphone and it is expected that 55 billion spent on apps may be downloaded [143]. Thus, based on the above discussions and previous literature, it is very clear that the smartphones are the one of most significant hi-tech dynamics, which performs a very pertinent part in digital media marketing channels, and help marketers to make and execute effective marketing communication strategies for increasing the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability. Hence, we have formulated the following hypotheses on the basis of previous literature:

Hypothesis 17 (H17A).

Smartphone moderates email marketing tools, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 17 (H17B).

Smartphone moderates mobile phone marketing media tool, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 17 (H17C).

Smartphone moderates search engines optimization and companies’ websites marketing, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 17 (H17D).

Smartphone moderates social media marketing channels, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.7.6. Generations (1G–5G) of Wireless Technologies and Online Digital Media Advertising

The mobile wireless sector has begun its technology invention, revolution, and evolution since the beginning of the 1970s, for last few decades, mobile wireless technology has been categorized according to its generation, which mainly signifies the kind of data transfer speed and the types of services of every classification of technologies [142]. The Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) has initiated 1G technologies in Japan, and it was introduced in Europe two years later, but this technology was not capable of operating between countries, thus it was the big drawback of this technology [143]. Later on, 2.75G or enhanced data rates GSM evolution technology (EDGE) has been introduced, which allows for the fastest and clear transmission of the information and data. The 3G–3.75G technologies were introduced that offers more innovative facilities, like video calls, broad wireless data transfer, and WAW services. Now, the 4G technologies have been used commercially all over the world, offering more bandwidth speed, excessive quality video, and audio streaming [138,139,140,141,142]. The five-generation (5G) is significant for the portable media communication. Several research studies have demonstrated the positive impact of these technologies in creating more avenues of brand awareness, brand loyalty, and brand sustainability by using online media channels [49,80,110]. Thus, on the basis of the above discussions and previous literature, we have developed the following hypotheses for the moderating role of generation technologies (1G–5G) between exogenous variables and the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability:

Hypothesis 18 (H18A).

Generation wireless technology (1G–5G) moderates email marketing media tool, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 18 (H18B).

Generation wireless technology (1G–5G) moderates mobile phone media tools, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 18 (H18C).

Generation wireless technology (1G–5G) moderates search engines optimization and companies’ websites, and effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

Hypothesis 18 (H18D).

Generation wireless technology (1G–5G) moderates social media channels, and the effectiveness of digital media advertising for building brand sustainability.

3.8. The Conceptual Framework of the Research Model

Finally, based on the above discussions and previous literature, as mentioned in the previous section, the researchers have constructed a conceptual framework of the research model, which is depicted in Figure A1 as shown in Appendix A.

4. Materials and Methods

4.1. Research Design and Measurements Selection

This research is quantitative and data was collected through structured questionnaire. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources, for primary data, the researchers have devised a self-structured, but partially adapted items from Ahmed et al. [11], Filipovic [42], and Geçti and Gümüş [43], Çïzmecï and Ercan [49], and Blair [88] etc., and used five points Likert scale and get the responses from the professionals of different sectors of the manufacturing and services sectors of Karachi city, the researchers also collected primary responses from consumers and customers. The secondary data has been collected from different sources, like research Journals, newspapers, dissertations, books, and Internet sources, which was properly cited throughout the research study.

4.2. Sampling Technique and Sample Size

Researchers have used a purposive sampling technique for the collection of data due to the infinite sampling framework of consumers and for the representative sample. The researchers have collected data through structured questionnaire in person, and through email, we have given the questionnaire as File S1 in the Supplementary Materials. Initially, researchers have taken responses from 950 individuals, but 40 responses were found to be incomplete and inappropriate. Thus, the final selected sample size was 910 respondents from the corporate sector and consumers from the mentioned five important markets of Karachi city. The samples comprise of marketers and brand managers, entrepreneurs, middle and upper-level managers, students, teachers, doctors, patients, fashion designers, TV and film producers and artists, finance personnel, HR staff, bankers, stock brokers, real estate developers, and common household consumers of these online brands.

4.3. Statistical Techniques for Estimation

We have used several methods, such as for the descriptive analysis we employed descriptive statistics, for the analysis of data. We employed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for the validation and reduction of items and factors. In EFA we employed the rotated component matrix method, KMO and Bartlett’s Sphericity analysis, and the total variance explained method. In the SEM-Based approach, we employed structural equation modeling, and confirmatory factor analysis for the examination of reliabilities, Cronbach’s alphas, composite reliabilities, convergent validities, and divergent validities. Finally, we employed the Hayes process modelling for the analysis of direct hypothesized relationship, and also to investigate the indirect hypothesized relationship, such as mediation and moderation. We have also shown three-dimensional (3D) graphical presentations to confirm the moderation analysis. We further define all of these statistical techniques in the estimations and results sections.

4.4. Sample Description

Nine hundred and fifty (950) respondents of all the groups were attempted to get responses; however, 910 responses were properly answered on a voluntary basis. Thus, in this way, the response rate was 95.79%. According to Anderson and Gerbing [144], the sample size is adequate for structural equation modelling. The income is given in Pakistani rupee (PKR), and complete profile of respondents is exhibited in Table 1.

5. Estimations of Results

5.1. Descriptive Statistics for Operational Constructs

According to Huang et al. [145], the normality pattern of sample data is a pre-requisite for employing structural equation modeling and multiple regression analysis. Thus, we have converted data into a standardized Z-score for checking the normality pattern. The outcomes exhibit that all of the responses are within the prescribed bracket of ±3.5; moreover, the standard deviation, skewness for each construct and variable within the range of ±1.5, and Kurtosis is within the range of ±3. According to Ahmed et al. [11], Rutherford et al. [146], and Byrne [147], these ranges substantiated the normality pattern of the sample data.

5.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis—EFA

The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is the process of lessening the preliminary number of factors and items, since if there were a huge number of variables initially, then it should be reduced up to an applicable number of factors and items. It is very difficult to analyze and interpret the huge numbers of factors and items; thus, to reduce into a smaller number of factors and items through EFA. In exploratory factor analysis, the variables will not be categorized into independent, dependent, and any other kind of variables; they just simply take account of the dependence relationship for the appropriateness. Exploratory factor analysis comprises of several tests, such as the anti-mage correlation method, Bartlett’s test of Sphericity, principal component analysis, KMO analysis, and total variance explained.

5.3. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett’s’ Sphericity Tests

In exploratory factor analysis for measuring the sampling tolerability, the researchers have employed the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) approach. Table 2 demonstrated the outcomes of the KMO value for the considered variables, which is 0.880 (88.00%), which showed the precision of the considered sample for this research, which is considered to be very good in comparison to 0.50 (50%), the cut-off value. Similarly, the outcome of Bartlett’s Sphericity exhibited that the value of probability is less than 0.05 (p < 0.05), which established that there is significant variation in the identity matrices and correlation properties [148]. Thus, the result of Bartlett’s Sphericity has been statistically significant at 1%, now, on the basis of these results; researchers can proceed for further analysis [149].

5.4. Total Variance Explained

The total variance explains the variance panel among the potential variables or factors, since there are nineteen (19) factors or variables and fifty-seven (57) components. The Eigenvalues explain the effectiveness of variables; the cut-off values should be more than one for all of the variables in terms of Eigenvalues. The outcomes exhibited that all nineteen (19) factors have the Eigenvalue of more than 1. The outcomes further demonstrated that these nineteen variables have 86.10% cumulative variance, which is considered to be very good against the cut-off value of 60%. Thus, the researchers have taken all 19 variables and 57 items for their analysis of this research study.

5.5. Rotated Component Matrix (Principal Component Analysis)

The researchers have used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for the substantiation of all the items of independent, mediating, moderating, and dependent variables. The EFA converts a higher set of factors to the lower set of factors; thus, for this reason researchers have used principal component analysis with Varimax rotation approach [11,147]. In the questionnaire of this study, the researchers have considered the total of 57 items for 19 variables, including dependent, independent, moderating, and mediating variables. The researchers have used four independent variables with 12 constructs, a dependent variable with three constructs, eight mediating variables with 24 items, and six moderating variables with 18 constructs. The results of an interrelationship between the constructs and factors have been demonstrated in the principal component analysis, as exhibited by Table A1 in Appendix A. The outcomes of principal component examination established that each set of variables has more than 0.50 values, thus, the researchers can take all of the construct and variables for the undertaken study. According to Kaiser [150], factor analysis (FA) was considered to be significant in order to select or deselect the variables and items.

5.6. Reliabilities, Validities, and AVE of Variables and Constructs

The reliabilities are considered to be very good if α ≥ 0.90, good if α ≥ 0.80, and satisfactory if α ≥ 0.70, and these values were measured as a threshold [147]. The outcomes of Table 3 exhibited that the composite and Cronbach’s reliabilities followed these cut-off values, and these results have shown that all of the variables and constructs also have internal consistency. It is also confirmed from the results of the average variance extracted that the square root of AVE for every variable and construct showed the values are greater than 0.50, so these factors and constructs also have good construct validities, which are also the requirement for structural equation modeling [151]. The requirement for discriminant validity has been achieved from the outcomes of factor loading for each item that demonstrated the values are between 0.70–0.90, as shown in Table A1 in Appendix A. According to Hsieh and Hiang [152] and Huang et al. [145], discriminant validity is a fundamental need for structural equation modeling. The results of the rotated component matrix of Table A1 in Appendix A demonstrated that each set of items have the inter-correlation values are greater than 0.50, which vindicated the individuality of items for the convergent validity. The individual outcome of average variance extracted (AVE) further justified the convergent validity, because each item of a variable has greater than 0.50 values, as demonstrated in Table 3 [153,154].

5.7. Structural Equation Modelling

According to the theory of structural equation modeling, the results of the considered fit indices for structural and measurement, models are presented in Table A2 in Appendix A. We have taken 57 constructs for 19 variables in our structured and measured models. The researchers have constructed the model by taking one dependent variable (online digital media) with three operational constructs, four independent variables, such as email marketing, with three operational constructs, mobile phone marketing with three constructs, search engine optimization and companies’ websites with three operational constructs, and social media marketing with three operational constructs. Moreover, researchers have taken eight mediating variables, such as characteristics of advertising, the design of advertising, duration of advertising, quality content advertising, customer attitude, previous purchase experience, brand loyalty, and word of mouth, and each variable has three operational items. Finally, the researchers have considered six moderating variables, such as innovation in information technology, fiber optics Internet technology, the speed of processors, innovation in telecommunication technology, smartphone technology, and generation (1G–5G) technologies, in which every moderating variable have three operational constructs. Table A2 in Appendix A exhibited the summarized results of structural and measurement models for all of the factors and items, which followed the cut-offs, such as Parsimonious fit indices (PCFI > 0.75, PGFI > 0.75 and PNFI > 0.75), absolute fit indices (GFI > 0.95, χ²–low, probability < 0.05, χ²/df–relative χ² < 5.0), relative fit–indices (NFI > 0.90, IFI > 0.95, TLI > 0.95), and Non-centrality based fit indices (RNI > 0.95, CFI > 0.95 and RMSEA < 0.05) that specifies the good model fitness [154,155].

5.8. Confirmatory Factor Analysis

We have used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to validate the considered factors and indicators on the basis of prior theory [11,153,154,155]. According to Byrne [147] and Meyers et al. [156], there are more than twenty (20) fit indices, and there is no consensus as to which and how many are to be reported to measure the hypothesized model. Table A2 in Appendix A exhibited the outcomes of summarized CFA for the considered factors and indicators that demonstrated the considered factors and indicators followed the cut-offs, such as Parsimonious fit indices (PCFI > 0.75, PGFI > 0.75 and PNFI > 0.75), absolute fit indices (GFI > 0.95, χ²–low, probability < 0.05, χ²/df–relative χ² < 5.0), relative fit–indices (NFI > 0.90, IFI > 0.95, TLI > 0.95), and Non-centrality based fit indices (RNI > 0.95, CFI > 0.95 and RMSEA < 0.05) that specifies the good model fitness [154,155,156].

5.9. Hypothesized Relationship of Direct Impact

The outcomes of Table 4 demonstrated the hypothesized association between the independent and dependent variables. The researchers have formulated four hypotheses to examine the influence of email marketing, mobile phone marketing, SEO and companies’ websites marketing, and social media marketing on the effectiveness of online digital media marketing for building brand sustainability. Fur hypotheses (H1–H4) have been formulated for this purpose, the outcomes demonstrated that the email marketing, mobile phone marketing, search engine optimization and companies websites marketing, and social media marketing have a positive and significant influence on the effectiveness of online digital media advertising campaigns (T > 2 and p < 0.05). The individual results demonstrated that mobile phone marketing has the highest influence (0.649), and the least impact (0.115) of social media marketing have been observed on the effectiveness of online digital media advertising (ODA). However, email marketing has an impact (0.223) on ODA, and search engine optimization and companies’ websites marketing has an influence of (0.133) on the effectiveness of online digital advertising (ODA) for building brand sustainability.

5.10. Hypothesized Relationship of Mediation

The results in Table 5 demonstrated the mediating impact of brand awareness in an association of exogenous variables, such as email marketing and mobile phone marketing, SEO and companies’ websites marketing, social media marketing, and endogenous variable i.e., online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability. The results of mediation have been extracted through normal theory and bootstrapping methods. We formulated thirty-two hypotheses of eight sets, such as H5A–H5D, H6A–H6D, H7A–H7D, H8A–H8D, H9A–H9D, H10A–H10D, H11A–H11D, and H12A–H12D. In the bootstrapping method, we analyze the zero between Boot LLCI and Boot ULCI, if zero does not lie between 95% bias-corrected bootstrapping confidence interval, then we conclude the perfect mediation [157]. Thus, the outcomes of Table 5 exhibited that the all eight mediating variables have significant impact between exogenous variables and the impact of online digital advertising (ODA), except the H9C: SEO & CW and ODA & H9D: SMM and ODA, and H11C: SEO & CW and ODA & H11D: SMM and ODA. Similar results have been depicted by the normal theory method as Z > ±1.96, and the corresponding probabilities are less than 0.05 [80,155]. Hence, it is finally concluded that all the sets of hypotheses are supported and confirmed the perfect mediation of all eight mediators between the exogenous and endogenous variables, except H9C, H9D, H11C, and H11D. Thus, both the Bootstrapping and Normal theory methods exhibited that mediating variables, such as characteristics of the advertisement, have a significant and positive influence between email marketing and online digital advertising, mobile phone marketing and online digital adverting, search engine optimization and companies’ websites and online digital advertising, and social media marketing and online digital advertising. Similarly, design of the advertisement, duration of the advertisement, and quality of content of advertisement have significant mediating influence between email marketing, and online digital advertising, mobile phone marketing and online digital adverting, search engine optimization and companies’ websites and online digital advertising, and social media marketing and online digital advertising. Similarly, customers’ attitude has significant mediating influence between email marketing and online digital advertising, and mobile phone marketing and online digital advertising. The mediator brand loyalty also has significant influence between email marketing and online digital advertising, mobile phone marketing, and online digital adverting, search engine optimization and companies’ websites and online digital advertising, and social media marketing and online digital advertising. Likewise, the mediator previous purchase experience also has significant influence between email marketing and online digital advertising, and mobile phone marketing and online digital advertising. Finally, word of mouth has a significant influence between EM and ODA, MPM and ODA, SEO & CW and ODA, and SMM and ODA.

5.11. Hypothesized Relationship of Moderation

The results of Table 6 have shown that all of the moderating variables, such as innovation in information technology, fiber optics Internet, speed of processors, innovation in telecommunication technology, smartphone, and generation technologies (1G–5G) have significant effect between the exogenous variables, such as: email marketing, mobile phone marketing, SEO and companies’ websites marketing, and social media marketing, and online digital advertising (endogenous variable) for building brand sustainability, except the moderation of fiber optics Internet between social media marketing and online digital media advertising. The values of T-statistics are greater than 2, and the corresponding probabilities are less than 0.000 (p < 0.000); hence, this confirmed the significant influence of moderation of all the variables between exogenous variables, and online digital advertising (dependent variable) for building brand sustainability, except the moderation of fiber optics Internet between social media marketing and online digital media advertising.

5.11.1. Conditional Effect of Moderators

According to Hayes [147] and Ahmed et al. [11], the different quantitative readings are ±1SD from the mean value that parallels to the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of the distribution of moderating variables’ scale in the sample at the 95% confidence interval. The outcomes exhibited that the conditional effect of the exogenous variables, including email marketing, mobile phone marketing, and social media marketing on the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability at three values the moderating variables, such as: innovation in information technology, fiber optics Internet, speed of processors, innovation in telecommunication technology, smartphone, and generation (1G–5G) technologies are significant, because the corresponding probabilities i.e., p < 0.05 [11,157].

5.11.2. Visualization of the Conditional Effect

Researchers produced 3D Plots to observe the interaction of moderating variables, such as: innovation in information technology, fiber optics Internet, speed of processors, innovation in telecommunication technology, smartphones, and generations (1G–5G) technologies, and exogenous variables, such as email marketing, mobile phone marketing, search engine optimization and companies’ websites marketing, and social media marketing, and visualize the effectiveness of online digital media advertising, as displayed in Figure A2 in Appendix A. The 3D plots show that exogenous variables and the effectiveness of online digital media advertising felt a significant influence, while researchers assimilated the moderating variables. The values of online digital media advertising are changing with the variations of moderating variables’ values. This is an essential condition to show the graphical plotting of moderating influence, because it explains the conclusive evidence of moderation between exogenous and endogenous variables [11,157]. According to 3D plots, the purple color depicts the effects of moderating variables, the red color portrays the exogenous variables’ readings, and the orange color illustrated the effectiveness of online digital media advertising. Hence, from the 3D plots it is concluded that all of the moderating variables have significant influence in a relationship of exogenous variables, and online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability, because, at every reading of moderating variables, the readings of effectiveness of interactive digital media channels advertising changes, and kept on changing with the variation of moderating variables’ values. Only one hypothesis H14D regarding the moderating influence of fiber optics Internet between social media marketing and online digital media advertising has not been substantiated, otherwise, all the sets of hypotheses, such as H13A–H13D, H14A–H14C, H15A–H15D, H16A–H16D, H17A–H17D, and H18A–H18D, have been supported and confirmed the influence of the moderating variables.

6. Discussions

The outcomes of the undertaken study demonstrated that the channels of online digital media have positive and significant influence on the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability. The mobile phone marketing tool has the most cogent influence, and these results are consistent with previous literature [139,140,141,142], and then email marketing channel has a significant positive influence on the online digital media advertising, these results are in line with previous research studies, such as Lee et al. [30] and Yoon [103], and are followed by SEO and companies’ websites marketing tools, and these results are also consistent with the previous literature [35,36,38,74]. However, the previous research studies concluded the email marketing is an effective communication tool, but these studies have been carried out in perspective of business-to-business marketing, where email marketing plays a vital role when compared to any other online media channel. On the contrary, we have used email tools for both B2B and B2C business, and our respondents were mixed; therefore, our results are bit different from few previous research studies. Moreover, a search engine optimization tool has also played an important and vibrant role in western populations while they complete online purchases [11,49,75], but in the Pakistani context, people are not mainly using search engines for the online purchases, rather they use other channels, such as mobile marketing, and social media marketing etc. [79,80]. Interestingly, the mobile marketing channels are more effective in the case of Pakistan, whereas, in the Western studies, the social media is the most powerful tool [49,68,71], but several previous research studies substantiated the similar results, where mobile phone marketing plays a significant role, such as in [85,86,87]. Another important factor for the popularity of mobile phone marketing is smartphone usage by the new generation, which are more actively involved in online purchases in Pakistan. The researchers have also examined the impact of characteristics of online advertisement, design of advertisement, duration of advertisement, quality content of advertisement as mediating variables between exogenous variables and endogenous variable, and the results of the mediating effect demonstrated a significant influence, which further substantiated the previous studies [101,102,103,104]; the significance of these factors demonstrated how important these elements are for the digital marketers while constructing online advertising messages. Moreover, the researchers have introduced customers’ attitude, previous purchase experience, brand loyalty, and word of mouth as the mediating variables and concluded the significant influence of these mediating variables between the exogenous variables and endogenous variable, which is also in line with previous literature [80,105,108,110], thus these results further demonstrated that digital marketers should also take care of the psychological and behavioral factors of the consumers while making any digital advertisement. Thus, the overall outcomes are coherent with the previous literature, which demonstrated the same positive and significant impact of customers’ attitude and word of mouth [106,107,109]; brand loyalty and sustainability are also consistent with the previous literature, such as [105,120,125,137], and previous purchase experience is also very much in line with the previous literature e.g., [30,80]. Technology always remained a vital factor in digital media communication tools, as indicated by previous researchers [50,80,130]; therefore, the researchers have incorporated innovations in information technology, fiber optics Internet, and speed of processors as moderating variables, and concluded the significant moderating effect of these variables, which further enhance the effectiveness of online digital advertising in relation to exogenous variables. Thus, these outcomes have substantiated the previous literature that also demonstrated similar results [47,51,75,133,134]. The researchers have further incorporated innovations in telecommunication, smartphones, and generation (1G–5G) telecommunications as the moderating variables and concluded the same significant influence of these moderating variables between the exogenous variables, and the effectiveness of online digital media for building brand sustainability. The research results are also coherent with the results of previous literature [11,25,28,143]. The outcomes of technological elements are the most important for online digital media advertising, because the technology is changing in hours, not in weeks or months; therefore, for the effective, fastest, and customized advertising, it is essential to embed all kinds of new technologies, as examined in the undertaken study should be taken care.

7. Conclusions

This research is a comprehensive study, which was conducted in Pakistan to date, pertaining to the role of online digital media channels to establish the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability. This research covers the services sector and manufacturing sector of Pakistani industry, and researchers have taken those organizations, which are effectively involved in online digital media advertising and successfully while using all of these online digital media channels for the online advertising for their brands. The outcomes of the undertaken study concluded that the channels of online digital media have a positive and significant influence on the effectiveness of online digital media advertising for building brand sustainability. The mobile phone marketing tool has the most cogent influence, and then the email marketing channel, and followed by the SEO & companies’ websites marketing tool. Interestingly, the mobile marketing channels are more effective in the case of Pakistan, whereas, in Western studies, social media is the most powerful tool. The reasons behind these findings are the cost-effectiveness of the mobile phone SMS, and the availability of databases of the consumers, and, most importantly, the lack of implementation of existing legislation and laws for using the protection of consumers’ data. The outcomes of hypotheses pertaining to the mediating effect of different variables, such as: characteristics of the online advertisement, design of advertisement, duration of advertisement, quality contents of advertisement, consumers’ attitude, brand loyalty, previous purchase experience, and word of mouth between exogenous variables and the effectiveness of online digital media advertising have substantiated the positive and significant effect between the exogenous variables and dependent variable, except for the mediation of customer attitude and previous purchase experience between SEO and companies’ websites marketing, and the endogenous variable, and mediation customers’ attitude, and previous purchase experience between social media marketing and the effectiveness of online digital media advertising. Thus, this further concluded that there are several factors, which are important in creating an online advertisement, thus, the marketer should take these mediating variables while devising any integrated marketing communication (IMC) campaign for online digital media for the optimal outcomes. Similarly, the outcomes of hypotheses pertaining to the moderating effect of different variables, such as: innovations in information technology, fiber optics Internet, speed of processors, innovations in telecommunication technology, smartphone, and generations (1G–5G) telecommunication technologies between the exogenous variables and the effectiveness of online digital media advertising have substantiated the significant effect between exogenous variables and dependent variable, except the moderation of fiber optics Internet between social media marketing and creativity and effectiveness of online digital media advertising. Hence, it is proved that the technology is the most significant factor for devising online digital advertising, the technology is changing in hours, not weeks or months, and thus digital marketers should be more vigilant to adopt diverse elements of latest technologies in order to gain a competitive advantage. The overall results concluded that the online digital media tools have significant and positive influence on the effectiveness of online digital advertising, thus, it is also demonstrated that the sustainability of interactive digital media has a major factor for the long term brand awareness, brand recall, brand loyalty, and building brand sustainability for manufacturing and services sectors of Pakistani industry. It is further concluded that the considered moderating and mediating variables have cogent influence between the exogenous and endogenous variables that further enhance the brand sustainability and repeat purchase. It is finally concluded that the sustainability of online digital media channels and sustainability of mediating and moderating variables also brought significant positive influence on brands’ recall, brand life, and augmented business opportunities as compared to the competitors.

7.1. The Managerial and Theoretical Contribution

The results of this research have provided the basic foil to the policymakers of the organizations to set their right directions, while they take the strategic decisions for making advertising and sales promotion strategies for their valuable brands. This research is a valuable guide to the brand managers, marketing managers, digital media managers, and advertisers of professional agencies that are intensely involved in offering their services to individuals and organizations. Moreover, the results of this research have provided directions to government agencies, which are involved in making rules and regulations, and law enforcement to protect the consumers’ rights. The brand managers, marketing managers, advertisers, and digital media managers should adopt the online media channels as the first line of advertisement and sales promotion due to cost-effectiveness, global reach, real-time interactivity to the consumers and customers, high response rate, instant feedback, and excellent customer relationship. The brand managers and the digital media managers should get the comprehensive customers data from the cellular companies or they make them a partner in the business to launch more effective online advertising campaigns to capture the largest customers’ pool. The brand managers and digital media managers should allocate more emphasis to the design of an advertisement, effective and quality content of the advertisement, while they devise and craft the online advertisement. Moreover, the timing or duration of online advertisement also played a significant influence as a mediating variable; therefore, the brand managers and digital media managers should take care the right slot, timing, and duration when they do advertise their advertisement campaigns on the online digital media channels. This study also recommends to the brand managers and digital media managers to obtain the greatest benefits of these technologies in their online advertising campaigns and create their ads, which will be user-friendly and support these technologies. Finally, it is recommended to the relevant government agencies to intervene for the online consumers’ rights and provide a safe and secure online shopping environment to the Pakistani online consumers.

7.2. Limitations and Suggested Areas of Future Research

The potential area of future research is the comparative analysis with other regional countries, such as India, China, Bangladesh, Iran, and other South Asian countries. This research is based on the Pakistani perspective; thus, more generalized results could be concluded by taking these regional countries. The researchers have taken a few sectors of the economy; therefore, future research might be focused on all of the sectors of the Pakistani economy to obtain a comprehensive picture of online digital advertising effectiveness. In undertaken research only four online media channels have been incorporated, thus, it is recommended to future researchers that they should incorporate the remaining online media channels for their research studies. This research has taken eight mediating variables, however there are numbers of other important mediating variables. Therefore, it is recommended to the future scholars that they should incorporate other important mediating variables for more comprehensive effects of mediation. Finally, the undertaken research has incorporated six important moderating variables, but still, there are numerous other moderating variables that may be taken as the moderating variables for future research studies.

Supplementary Materials

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3436/s1, File S1: Questionnaire: Effectiveness of online digital media advertising as a strategic tool for building brand sustainability: Evidence from FMCGs and Services sectors of Pakistan.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, R.R.A.; Data curation, R.H.S.; Formal analysis, D.S.; Investigation, D.S.; Methodology, R.R.A.; Project administration, Z.A.C.; Resources, D.S.; Software, G.B. and R.H.S.; Supervision, J.V. and Z.A.C.; Validation, Z.A.C.; Visualization, R.R.A. and G.B.; Writing – review & editing, J.V. All authors contributed equally to this work.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Appendix A

Figure A1. The conceptualized framework of Research Model.

Figure A1. The conceptualized framework of Research Model.

Table A1. Rotated Component Matrix a (Principal Components Analysis).

Table A1. Rotated Component Matrix a (Principal Components Analysis).

Items/Components | Component
ODA | EM | MPM | SEO & CWM | SMM | COA | DSA | DUA | QCA | CA | BLO | PPE | WOM | IIT | FOI | SOP | ITT | SMP | GTT
ODA1 | 0.837 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
ODA2 | 0.736 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
ODA3 | 0.881 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
EM1 | | 0.742 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
EM2 | | 0.827 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
EM3 | | 0.805 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
MPM1 | | | 0.842 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
MPM2 | | | 0.827 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
MPM3 | | | 0.902 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
SEOCW1 | | | | 0.842 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
SEOCW3 | | | | 0.827 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
SEOCW3 | | | | 0.802 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
SMM1 | | | | | 0.827 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
SMM2 | | | | | 0.922 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
SMM3 | | | | | 0.798 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
COA1 | | | | | | 0.837 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
COA2 | | | | | | 0.728 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
COA3 | | | | | | 0.803 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
DSA1 | | | | | | | 0.735 | | | | | | | | | | | |
DSA2 | | | | | | | 0.735 | | | | | | | | | | | |
DSA3 | | | | | | | 0.806 | | | | | | | | | | | |
DUA1 | | | | | | | | 0.749 | | | | | | | | | | |
DUA2 | | | | | | | | 0.829 | | | | | | | | | | |
DUA3 | | | | | | | | 0.832 | | | | | | | | | | |
QCA1 | | | | | | | | | 0.738 | | | | | | | | | |
QCA2 | | | | | | | | | 0.831 | | | | | | | | | |
QCA3 | | | | | | | | | 0.843 | | | | | | | | | |
CA1 | | | | | | | | | | 0.831 | | | | | | | | |
CA2 | | | | | | | | | | 0.923 | | | | | | | | |
CA3 | | | | | | | | | | 0.797 | | | | | | | | |
BLO1 | | | | | | | | | | | 0.841 | | | | | | | |
BLO2 | | | | | | | | | | | 0.736 | | | | | | | |
BLO3 | | | | | | | | | | | 0.808 | | | | | | | |
PPE1 | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.731 | | | | | | |
PPE2 | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.838 | | | | | | |
PPE3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.842 | | | | | | |
WOM1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.828 | | | | | |
WOM2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.826 | | | | | |
WOM3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.902 | | | | | |
IIT1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.728 | | | | |
IIT2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.825 | | | | |
IIT3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.809 | | | | |
FOI1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.728 | | | |
FOI2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.822 | | | |
FOI3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.821 | | | |
SOP1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.826 | | |
SOP2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.921 | | |
SOP3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.801 | | |
ITT1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.821 | |
ITT2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.819 | |
ITT3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.834 | |
SMP1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.829 |
SMP2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.812 |
SMP3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.782 |
GTT1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.725
GTT2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.816
GTT3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0.796

Table A2. Fit-measures of indices for measured and structured models.

Table A2. Fit-measures of indices for measured and structured models.

Construct | Absolute Fit Indices | Relative Fit Indices | Non-Centrality-Based Indices | Parsimonious Fit Indices
χ² | Df | χ2/df | Probability | GFI | NFI | IFI | TLI | CFI | RMSEA | RNI | PCFI | PNFI | PGFI
Measured model | 4.028 | 1 | 4.028 | 0.028 | 0.969 | 0.950 | 0.970 | 0.951 | 0.970 | 0.032 | 0.952 | 0.757 | 0.825 | 0.798
Structured model | 5.023 | 2 | 2.511 | 0.042 | 0.971 | 0.901 | 0.960 | 0.952 | 0.956 | 0.005 | 0.955 | 0.822 | 0.780 | 0.890
Criteria | Low | N/A | <5.0 | <0.05 | > 0.95 | >0.90 | >0.95 | >0.95 | >0.95 | <0.05 | >0.95 | >0.75 | >0.75 | >0.75

Figure A2. The visualizing conditional effect of moderators.

Figure A2. The visualizing conditional effect of moderators.

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Table 1. Profile of Respondents.

Table 1. Profile of Respondents.

Demographics | Frequency | Percent
| Male | 515 | 56.6%
Female | 395 | 43.4%
Marital Status | Single | 522 | 57.4%
Married | 362 | 39.8%
Divorced | 26 | 2.9%
Age (In Years) | 18–30 | 323 | 35.5%
30–40 | 206 | 22.6%
40–50 | 124 | 13.6%
50–60 | 144 | 15.8%
More than 60 | 113 | 12.4%
Education | High School diploma | 395 | 43.4%
Graduation | 289 | 31.8%
Post-Graduation | 146 | 16.0%
Professional degree | 80 | 8.8%
Experience (In Years) | 1–5 | 244 | 26.8%
5–10 | 273 | 30.0%
10–15 | 126 | 13.8%
15–20 | 121 | 13.3%
More than 20 | 146 | 16.0%
Income (In PKR 000) | 10–30 K | 158 | 17.4%
30–50 K | 403 | 44.3%
50–70 K | 187 | 20.5%
70–90 K | 98 | 10.8%
More than 90K | 64 | 7.0%
Total—N | 910

Table 2. Outcomes of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s tests.

Table 2. Outcomes of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s tests.

KMO and Bartlett’s Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy | 0.880
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity | Approx. Chi-Square | 50,899.51
Df | 253
Sig. | 0.000

Table 3. Reliabilities, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and Factor Loading of operational constructs.

Table 3. Reliabilities, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and Factor Loading of operational constructs.

Factors | Operational Constructs | Factor Loading | Cronbach’s Alpha | Composite Reliability | AVE
Online Digital Media Advertising | ODA1 | 0.837 | 0.902 | 0.887 | 0.724
ODA2 | 0.736
ODA3 | 0.881
Email Marketing | EM1 | 0.742 | 0.871 | 0.834 | 0.628
EM2 | 0.827
EM3 | 0.805
Mobile Phone Marketing | MPM1 | 0.842 | 0.927 | 0.893 | 0.736
MPM2 | 0.827
MPM3 | 0.902
SEO and CW Marketing | SEOCW1 | 0.842 | 0.893 | 0.864 | 0.679
SEOCW2 | 0.827
SEOCW3 | 0.802
Social Media Marketing | SMM1 | 0.827 | 0.925 | 0.887 | 0.724
SMM2 | 0.922
SMM3 | 0.798
Characteristics of Advertisement | COA1 | 0.837 | 0.862 | 0.833 | 0.625
COA2 | 0.728
COA3 | 0.803
Design of Advertisement | DSA1 | 0.735 | 0.852 | 0.803 | 0.577
DSA2 | 0.735
DSA3 | 0.806
Duration of Advertisement | DUA1 | 0.749 | 0.889 | 0.846 | 0.645
DUA2 | 0.829
DUA3 | 0.832
Quality Content of Advertisement | QCA1 | 0.738 | 0.901 | 0.845 | 0.644
QCA2 | 0.831
QCA3 | 0.843
Customer Attitude | CA1 | 0.831 | 0.922 | 0.888 | 0.726
CA2 | 0.923
CA3 | 0.797
Brand Loyalty | BLO1 | 0.841 | 0.858 | 0.838 | 0.634
BLO2 | 0.736
BLO3 | 0.808
Previous Purchase Experience | PPE1 | 0.731 | 0.897 | 0.846 | 0.649
PPE2 | 0.838
PPE3 | 0.842
Word of Mouth | WOM1 | 0.828 | 0.912 | 0.889 | 0.727
WOM2 | 0.826
WOM3 | 0.902
Innovation in Information Technology | IIT1 | 0.728 | 0.896 | 0.831 | 0.622
IIT2 | 0.825
IIT3 | 0.809
Fiber Optics Internet | FOI1 | 0.728 | 0.882 | 0.834 | 0.627
FOI2 | 0.822
FOI3 | 0.821
Speed of Processors | SOP1 | 0.826 | 0.928 | 0.887 | 0.724
SOP2 | 0.921
SOP3 | 0.801
Innovation in Telecomm. Technology | ITT1 | 0.821 | 0.899 | 0.865 | 0.680
ITT2 | 0.819
ITT3 | 0.834
Smartphones | SMP1 | 0.829 | 0.892 | 0.849 | 0.654
SMP2 | 0.812
SMP3 | 0.782
Generation (1G–5G) Telecom. Technology | GTT1 | 0.725 | 0.871 | 0.823 | 0.608
GTT2 | 0.816
GTT3 | 0.796

Table 4. Standardized regression weights for the research model (predictors on dependent variable).

Table 4. Standardized regression weights for the research model (predictors on dependent variable).

Hypothesis | Variables | Regression Paths | Standardized Regression Weights (β) | SE | T | P | Decision
H1 | Email marketing | EM † → ODA | 0.223 | 0.030 | 7.347 | 0.000 | Supported
H2 | Mobile phone marketing | MPM † → ODA | 0.649 | 0.025 | 25.371 | 0.000 | Supported
H3 | SEO & CW marketing | SEO & CWM † → ODA | 0.133 | 0.030 | 4.772 | 0.000 | Supported
H4 | Social media marketing | SMM † → ODA | 0.115 | 0.029 | 4.490 | 0.000 | Supported

Table 5. Mediation analysis.

Table 5. Mediation analysis.

Hypotheses | Mediation | Bootstrapping Method | Normal Theory Method | Decision
Indirect Effect | Boot SE | Boot LLCI | Boot ULCI | Indirect Effect | SE | Z * | Prob. **
H5A | EM→COA→ODA | 0.261 | 0.040 | 0.175 | 0.333 | 0.261 | 0.041 | 6.308 | 0.000 | Supported
H5B | MPM→COA→ODA | 0.269 | 0.033 | 0.203 | 0.335 | 0.269 | 0.033 | 8.102 | 0.000 | Supported
H5C | SEOCW→COA→ODA | 0.305 | 0.044 | 0.211 | 0.387 | 0.305 | 0.045 | 6.793 | 0.000 | Supported
H5D | SMM→COA→ODA | 0.272 | 0.036 | 0.199 | 0.342 | 0.272 | 0.036 | 7.443 | 0.000 | Supported
H6A | EM→DSA→ODA | 0.248 | 0.039 | 0.182 | 0.334 | 0.248 | 0.039 | 6.324 | 0.000 | Supported
H6B | MPM→DSA→ODA | 0.076 | 0.036 | 0.006 | 0.149 | 0.076 | 0.035 | 2.125 | 0.033 | Supported
H6C | SEOCW→DSA→ODA | 0.193 | 0.038 | 0.123 | 0.275 | 0.193 | 0.038 | 5.072 | 0.000 | Supported
H6D | SMM→DSA→ODA | 0.178 | 0.033 | 0.116 | 0.249 | 0.178 | 0.033 | 5.372 | 0.000 | Supported
H7A | EM→DUA→ODA | 0.391 | 0.033 | 0.324 | 0.456 | 0.391 | 0.033 | 11.802 | 0.000 | Supported
H7B | MPM→DUA→ODA | 0.285 | 0.039 | 0.204 | 0.361 | 0.285 | 0.040 | 7.091 | 0.000 | Supported
H7C | SEOCW→DUA→ODA | 0.353 | 0.036 | 0.283 | 0.422 | 0.353 | 0.036 | 9.765 | 0.000 | Supported
H7D | SMM→DUA→ODA | 0.340 | 0.034 | 0.275 | 0.408 | 0.340 | 0.034 | 9.796 | 0.000 | Supported
H8A | EM→QCA→ODA | −0.362 | 0.057 | −0.495 | −0.272 | −0.362 | 0.055 | −6.512 | 0.000 | Supported
H8B | MPM→QCA→ODA | −0.108 | 0.035 | −0.181 | −0.043 | −0.108 | 0.034 | −3.100 | 0.001 | Supported
H8C | SEOCW→QCA→ODA | −0.226 | 0.049 | −0.335 | −0.137 | −0.226 | 0.050 | −4.522 | 0.000 | Supported
H8D | SMM→QCA→ODA | −0.204 | 0.035 | −0.282 | −0.142 | −0.204 | 0.034 | −5.856 | 0.000 | Supported
H9A | EM→CA→ODA | −0.062 | 0.029 | −0.118 | −0.005 | −0.062 | 0.029 | −2.122 | 0.033 | Supported
H9B | MPM→CA→ODA | −0.073 | 0.027 | −0.127 | −0.020 | −0.073 | 0.027 | −2.638 | 0.008 | Supported
H9C | SEOCW→CA→ODA | −0.018 | 0.026 | −0.069 | 0.035 | −0.018 | 0.026 | −0.713 | 0.475 | Not Supported
H9D | SMM→CA→ODA | −0.017 | 0.042 | −0.099 | 0.063 | −0.017 | 0.042 | −0.414 | 0.678 | Not Supported
H10A | EM→BLO→ODA | −0.186 | 0.047 | −0.285 | −0.096 | −0.186 | 0.048 | −3.838 | 0.000 | Supported
H10B | MPM→BLO→ODA | −0.108 | 0.043 | −0.191 | −0.022 | −0.108 | 0.043 | −2.464 | 0.013 | Supported
H10C | SEOCW→BLO→ODA | −0.128 | 0.044 | −0.212 | −0.039 | −0.128 | 0.045 | −2.846 | 0.004 | Supported
H10D | SMM→BLO→ODA | −0.116 | 0.045 | −0.205 | −0.026 | −0.116 | 0.045 | −2.540 | 0.011 | Supported
H11A | EM→PPE→ODA | −0.095 | 0.033 | −0.160 | −0.035 | −0.095 | 0.031 | −2.991 | 0.002 | Supported
H11B | MPM→PPE→ODA | −0.073 | 0.033 | −0.140 | −0.009 | −0.073 | 0.033 | −2.185 | 0.0289 | Supported
H11C | SEOCW→PPE→ODA | −0.073 | 0.039 | −0.155 | 0.000 | −0.073 | 0.039 | −1.859 | 0.063 | Not Supported
H11D | SMM→PPE→ODA | −0.067 | 0.038 | −0.145 | 0.006 | −0.067 | 0.039 | −1.734 | 0.082 | Not Supported
H12A | EM→WOM→ODA | −0.095 | 0.033 | −0.160 | −0.035 | 0.433 | 0.033 | 12.902 | 0.000 | Supported
H12B | MPM→WOM→ODA | 0.393 | 0.028 | 0.341 | 0.452 | 0.393 | 0.029 | 13.389 | 0.000 | Supported
H12C | SEOCW→WOM→ODA | 0.456 | 0.030 | 0.403 | 0.525 | 0.456 | 0.031 | 14.564 | 0.000 | Supported
H12D | SMM→WOM→ODA | 0.425 | 0.029 | 0.375 | 0.491 | 0.425 | 0.028 | 14.886 | 0.000 | Supported

Table 6. Moderating effect.

Table 6. Moderating effect.

Hypotheses | Moderator | Moderation | Coefficient | SE | T | p * | LLCI | ULCI | Decision
Moderating Effect of IIT b/w EM and ODA |
H13A | IIT | EM x IIT | −0.2173 | 0.0120 | −18.06 | 0.0000 | −0.2409 | −0.1937 | Supported
Moderating Effect of FOI b/w EM and ODA |
H14A | FOI | EM x FOI | −0.0332 | 0.0086 | −3.87 | 0.0000 | −0.0500 | −0.0164 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SOP b/w EM and ODA |
H15A | SOP | EM x SOP | −0.2323 | 0.0122 | −19.02 | 0.0000 | −0.2563 | −0.2084 | Supported
Moderating Effect of ITT b/w EM and ODA |
H16A | ITT | EM x ITT | −0.1733 | 0.0124 | −13.98 | 0.0000 | −0.1977 | −0.1490 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SMP b/w EM and ODA |
H17A | SMP | EM x SMP | −0.1941 | 0.0115 | 16.82 | 0.0000 | −0.2167 | −0.1714 | Supported
Moderating Effect of GTT b/w EM and ODA |
H18A | GTT | EM x GTT | −0.0419 | 0.0119 | −3.51 | 0.0000 | −0.0654 | −0.0185 | Supported
Moderating Effect of IIT b/w MPM and ODA |
H13B | IIT | MPM x IIT | −0.0687 | 0.0107 | −6.4255 | 0.0000 | −0.0897 | −0.0477 | Supported
Moderating Effect of FOI b/w MPM and ODA |
H14B | FOI | MPM x FOI | −0.0212 | 0.0072 | −2.9204 | 0.0036 | −0.0354 | −0.0069 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SOP b/w MPM and ODA |
H15B | SOP | MPM x SOP | −0.1233 | 0.0113 | −10.9348 | 0.0000 | −0.1455 | −0.1012 | Supported
Moderating Effect of ITT b/w MPM and ODA |
H16B | ITT | MPM x ITT | −0.1071 | 0.0100 | −10.7143 | 0.0000 | −0.1267 | −0.0875 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SMP b/w MPM and ODA |
H17B | SMP | MPM x SMP | −0.0643 | 0.0105 | −6.1002 | 0.0000 | −0.0849 | −0.0436 | Supported
Moderating Effect of GTT b/w MPM and ODA |
H18B | GTT | MPM x GTT | −0.0557 | 0.0087 | −6.4227 | 0.0000 | −0.0728 | −0.0387 | Supported
Moderating Effect of IIT b/w SEOCW and ODA |
H13C | IIT | SEOCW x IIT | −0.1516 | 0.0125 | −12.1523 | 0.0000 | −0.1761 | −0.1272 | Supported
Moderating Effect of FOI b/w SEOCW and ODA |
H14C | FOI | SEOCW x FOI | −0.0612 | 0.0093 | −6.6096 | 0.0000 | −0.0793 | −0.0430 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SOP b/w SEOCW and ODA |
H15C | SOP | SEOCW x SOP | −0.1534 | 0.0134 | −11.4289 | 0.0000 | −0.1798 | −0.1271 | Supported
Moderating Effect of ITT b/w SEOCW and ODA |
H16C | ITT | SEOCW x ITT | −0.1466 | 0.0127 | −11.5462 | 0.0000 | −0.1716 | −0.1217 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SMP b/w SEOCW and ODA |
H17C | SMP | SEOCW x SMP | −0.1291 | 0.0122 | −10.6272 | 0.0000 | −0.1530 | −0.1053 | Supported
Moderating Effect of GTT b/w SEOCW and ODA |
H18C | GTT | SEOCW x GTT | −0.0513 | 0.0115 | −4.4831 | 0.0000 | −0.0738 | −0.0289 | Supported
Moderating Effect of IIT b/w SMM and ODA |
H13D | IIT | SMM x IIT | −0.1675 | 0.0118 | −14.1478 | 0.0000 | −0.1907 | −0.1442 | Supported
Moderating Effect of FOI b/w SMM and ODA |
H14D | FOI | SMM x FOI | −0.0042 | 0.0081 | −0.5212 | 0.6024 | −0.0202 | −0.0117 | Not Supported
Moderating Effect of SOP b/w SMM and ODA |
H15D | SOP | SMM x SOP | −0.1946 | 0.0119 | −16.3033 | 0.0000 | −0.2180 | −0.1712 | Supported
Moderating Effect of ITT b/w SMM and ODA |
H16D | ITT | SMM x ITT | −0.1203 | 0.0119 | −10.0857 | 0.0000 | −0.1437 | −0.0969 | Supported
Moderating Effect of SMP b/w SMM and ODA |
H17D | SMP | SMM x SMP | −0.1620 | 0.0115 | −14.1348 | 0.0000 | −0.1845 | −0.1395 | Supported
Moderating Effect of GTT b/w SMM and ODA |
H18D | GTT | SMM x GTT | −0.0770 | 0.0104 | −7.4359 | 0.0000 | −0.0973 | −0.0567 | Supported

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Effectiveness of Online Digital Media Advertising as A Strategic Tool for Building Brand Sustainability: Evidence from FMCGs and Services Sectors of Pakistan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The purpose of the undertaken study is to examine the effectiveness of online digital media advertising as a strategic tool for building brand sustainability. For this purpose, we investigate the impact of different channels of online media, such as email marketing, mobile phone marketing, search engine optimization and companies’ websites, and social media marketing for the effectiveness of online digital media advertising.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/02634500810860584/full/html?fullSc=1&fullSc=1&fullSc=1&mbSc=1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To read the full version of this content please select one of the options below:

Peter Jones (The Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK)

Colin Clarke‐Hill (The Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK)

Daphne Comfort (The Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK)

David Hillier (Centre for Police Science, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK)

Abstract

Purpose

-

The purpose of this paper is to raise for debate among marketers the issue of the relationship between marketing and sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

-

An opinion piece, that presents the views of four authors on the current state of the debate in this field.

Findings

-

There is little consensus on these matters. There are those who believe that marketing and sustainability simply cannot be reconciled, while there are others who argue that marketing can contribute to the development of sustainable consumption.

Originality/value

-

The paper opens up the debate on a subject that is clearly going to be high on the agenda for years to come.

Keywords

Citation

Jones, P., Clarke‐Hill, C., Comfort, D. and Hillier, D. (2008), "Marketing and sustainability", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 123-130. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500810860584

Publisher
:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright

© 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To read the full version of this content please select one of the options below: Peter Jones (The Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK) Colin Clarke‐Hill (The Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK) Daphne Comfort (The Business School, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK) David Hillier (Centre for Police Science, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK) - The purpose of this paper is to raise for debate among marketers the issue of the relationship between marketing and sustainability.

# data[].attributes.body
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41262-021-00236-8

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Introduction

In recent years, threats to our environment have led to an increased relevance of sustainability, moving this topic into the center of general public awareness. Thus, sustainability has become a relevant purchase criterion for consumers, a driver of survival and growth for enterprises (Claudy et al. 2014; Wang and Wu 2016; Walsh and Dodds 2017; Rahman et al. 2019), and has been extensively researched by a number of business disciplines, including marketing (Cairncross 1991; Hoffman and Bazerman 2007; Belz and Peattie 2013; Kumar and Christodoulopoulou 2014).

The basis for a still ongoing discussion on what sustainability really means is the definition stated in the WCED's Brundtland Report in 1987: A development that 'meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (WCED 1987, p. 37). Very often sustainability is said to include economic, environmental and social aspects, this being referred to as the 'triple bottom line.' Acting sustainably therefore means companies pursue their business in a manner that considers its impact on society and the environment, while also being profitable (Elkington 1998; Sheth et al. 2011).

Of these three dimensions, the environmental dimension has attracted the highest level of attention (Obermiller et al. 2008; Kumar et al. 2013; Kumar and Christodoulopoulou 2014; Dangelico and Vocalelli 2017). The large body of marketing literature related to environmental sustainability has been concerned for example with profiling sustainable consumers (Seegebarth et al. 2016; Walsh and Dodds 2017; Balderjahn et al. 2018), analyzing environmentally friendly consumer behavior (Auger et al. 2010; Sudbury-Riley and Kohlbacher 2016) or consumers' willingness to pay for sustainable products (van Doorn and Verhoef 2011; Balderjahn and Peyer 2012). With regard to social sustainability, none of these topics have been discussed.

Brands offer a unique opportunity to differentiate a company's offerings by providing functional, as well as emotional, benefits. They are the basis for the development of customer attitudes and promote strong customer relationships. A key concept in creating these relationships is brand personality, defined as the 'set of human characteristics associated with a brand' (Aaker 1997, p. 347). As customers relate to the personality traits that a brand has, brand personality helps to build an emotional connection between the brand and the consumer and enables them to express and shape their self-image (Fournier 1998; Aaker 1997; Sung and Kim 2010).

Brand personality is created by the 'intentional behaviors' a brand shows, which are observed by consumers. Thus, the influencing factors of the brand personality are numerous: consumers derive characteristics of the brand personality not only from the branded product and product category, but also from its media appearance, price, distribution channels, employee behavior or the typical user of a brand (Aaker and Fournier 1995). This broad spectrum of possible determinants of brand personality also includes sustainability advertising. Defined as the communication on the sustainability efforts of a company or brand (Leonidou et al. 2013), it could be an appropriate way to add elements of sustainability to brand personality, reflecting its increased relevance to consumers.

To our knowledge, the impact of sustainability advertising on brand personality has not been researched yet. Therefore, the objective of our research is to analyze this impact of sustainability advertising on brand personality based on the following research questions:

1. 1.
Does sustainability advertising have a positive impact on brand personality and hence on credibility, attitude toward the ad and brand attitude?

2. 2.
Is environmental or social advertising more successful in building brand personality, credibility, attitude toward the ad and brand attitude?

To provide answers to these questions, the impact of sustainability advertising on brand personality, credibility and attitude is analyzed. This is done on a general basis, as well as with a specific focus on environmental versus social sustainability.

Theoretical background and hypotheses development

Sustainability marketing and sustainability advertising

The idea of ecological marketing, as a starting point to today's sustainability marketing, was first brought up in the beginning of the 1970s by Kassarjian and Fisk (Kassarjian 1971; Fisk 1974). However, it only gained more attention in the late 1980s, when consumers started to consider environmental aspects in their buying behavior, and thereby replaced moral motives of environmentally sustainable behavior by market pressure (van Dam and Apeldoorn 1996; Menon and Menon 1997; Polonsky and Rosenberger 2001). During the last 20 years, the concept of ecological marketing developed first into green, then greener, and finally sustainability marketing. The scope broadened throughout this transformation to include more than just the environmental dimension, and finally comprised all three dimensions of sustainability (Peattie 2001; Gordon et al. 2011; Kumar et al. 2013; Dangelico and Vocalelli 2017).

Looking more specifically at the marketing mix to be used as part of 'green' or sustainability marketing, a first effort has been made by Polonski and Rosenberger in 2001 to explain specifics for all four marketing-mix elements (Polonsky and Rosenberger 2001). More recently, Dangelico and Pontrandolfo ( 2010) provided an overview on research conducted regarding the marketing-mix elements, including promotion and advertising. Overall, sustainability advertising can be described as applying advertising messages promoting sustainable goods or services and/or informing stakeholders about the firm's social, environmental or economic sustainability efforts (Minton et al. 2012; Leonidou et al. 2013). The focus of interest in this research area was centered on the content of 'green' messages, the impact of eco-labeling, greenwashing and consumer responses to green advertising as well as the effects on brand attitude (Banerjee et al. 1995; Thorson et al. 1995; Rex and Baumann 2007; Purohit 2012; Reilly and Hynan 2014; Schmuck et al. 2018a).

Environmental and social sustainability advertising

Environmental sustainability addresses a firm's impact on natural resources, asking for a behavior that does not compromise the health of the ecosystem (Hart 1995; Morelli 2011). Leonidou et al ( 2013) therefore define environmental or 'green promotion' as all communication 'designed to inform stakeholders about the firm's efforts, commitment and achievements toward environmental preservation' (Leonidou et al. 2013, p. 154). Banerjee et al ( 1995) define 'green advertising' as any advertising that addresses the relationship between a product and the biophysical environment, promotes a 'green' lifestyle and/or presents a corporate image of environmental responsibility (For a distinction of 'environmental' vs. 'ecological' sustainability, refer to Morelli ( 2011)).

Social sustainability focuses on a firm's impact on society, demanding that a firm conducts fair business practices with its workforce, human capital and the community, thereby meeting the needs for human well-being (Elkington 1998; Rogers et al. 2012). Analogous to the environmental dimension of sustainability, one could therefore assume that there is also 'social advertising' that promotes socially sustainable behavior of a firm. However, while research on 'green' or environmental advertising is plentiful, there is no concordant discussion for social sustainability. The lack of a definition is compounded by the fact that several similar terms are used in different contexts, such as social media and social marketing, so that a fundamental delimitation of the terms is required.

Research that focuses on the promotion of a firm's socially sustainable behavior exists in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Obermiller et al. 2009; Chabowski et al. 2011; Tarabashkina et al. 2020; for a detailed discussion on similarities and differences of CSR and sustainability, refer to van Marrewijk ( 2003)). Here, CSR advertising is defined as 'promot[ing] CSR actions to stakeholders, including the wider society' (Farache and Perks 2010, p. 235). However, there is 'only embryonic marketing research on CSR communications' (Maignan and Ferrell 2004, p. 17) and 'the term CSR advertisement is not widely used' (Farache and Perks 2010, p. 235). To differentiate the term from other current uses, we therefore propose to apply ' social sustainability advertising ' to our context, which we define-based on foundations of 'green' and CSR advertising-as advertising designed to inform stakeholders about a firm's efforts, commitment and achievements toward contributing to a better society.

Chabowski et al. ( 2011) clearly point to the need to distinguish between socially and environmentally focused elements of sustainability for several reasons: it enables companies to develop distinct competitive resources and capabilities, examine the impact of each on competitive advantage, and install adequate performance measures. In the marketing context, however, only a limited body of research explicitly makes that distinction and comparison: Frank and Brock ( 2019) analyze consumption motives for products with social and environmental features. Catlin et al ( 2017) investigate the differences in consumers' perception of the social and environmental dimension of sustainability. They conclude that the social dimension is perceived as linked to 'affective, short-term, and local factors,' whereas the environmental dimension is considered 'more cognitive, long-term, and global' (Catlin et al. 2017, p. 262). Hosta and Zabkar ( 2020) focus on determining whether consumers act differently when behaving environmentally or socially responsibly, and whether these kinds of behaviors have different antecedents. Simpson and Radford ( 2014) provide an assessment of the relative importance of sustainability dimensions in consumption choices using a choice-based conjoint set of experiments. Their results indicate that the environmental dimension of sustainability is the most relevant for consumers, followed by economic and social attributes. Other research supports that prominent role of environmental sustainability in consumers' minds: 'It is clear that for most respondents there is an alignment between the term sustainability and the environment [...]. The one-dimensional operationalization of sustainability as green, which is evident in literature and popular press, is indeed translating to consumer understanding' (Simpson and Radford 2012, p. 281). Consumers seem to be better informed about environmental issues and consider environmentally responsible products more connected to regular purchases than socially responsible products, which are in turn more relevant for special occasions (Hosta and Zabkar 2020).

Brand personality

The conceptualization of brand personality is largely based on Aaker's groundbreaking article on the Brand Personality Dimensions (Aaker 1997): Based on the 'Big Five' dimensions of human personality, she identified 'sincerity,' 'excitement,' 'competence,' 'sophistication' and 'ruggedness' to be the five dimensions of brand personality. Since the publishing of Aaker's paper, researchers have continuously aimed at testing and refining the operationalization of brand personality: such as Geuens et al's ( 2009) development of a new scale that reflects the Big Five human personality traits only, Arora and Stoner's ( 2009) combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to measuring brand personality, or Eisend and Stokburger-Sauer's ( 2013b) investigation of intercorrelations and reliabilities of Aaker's brand personality dimensions. Later research in other countries showed that Aaker's brand personality scale cannot be applied globally, but must, at least partly, be adapted to country- or culture-specific conditions. For example, while the dimensions 'sincerity,' 'excitement,' and 'sophistication' are transferable to a certain extent, 'competence' and 'ruggedness' seemed not to be relevant to Spanish or Japanese consumers, but were replaced by other facets of brand personality (Aaker et al. 2001). A similar need for local adaptions was found in other cultural backgrounds (Sung and Tinkham 2005; Milas and Mlačić 2007; Halonen 2013).

These five dimensions are the result of an aggregated analysis based on the mean values of the assessment of each brand characteristic across all respondents. Alternatively, Mäder ( 2005) later carried out an analysis based on individual data, which led to an alternative brand personality inventory. Bosnjak et al ( 2007) made a third attempt to develop a suitable brand personality inventory for the German-speaking countries. They used disaggregated data and included both positive and negative brand-related adjectives in their investigation.

In this study, Mäder's first aggregated approach to measuring brand personality is used, as this system explicitly includes the dimension of 'naturalness,' which appears particularly relevant in the context of the sustainability advertising examined here. Mäder's brand personality scale has also been widely discussed in the German-language literature and has been the basis for further analyses of brand personality-related research (Wentzel et al. 2008; Lorenz 2009; Kilian 2011). Furthermore, the primary focus of this study is on the 'naturalness' dimension of brand personality. Based on environment protection being a core dimension of sustainability and environmental sustainability advertising, it seems only logical that this dimension of brand personality should be impacted most.

Just as a person's personality is expressed through their behavior, the brand personality is created by every direct and indirect contact with the brand. Both person-oriented impressions (e.g., resulting from employee behavior or typical users) and performance-oriented determinants, such as product design, price level or communication activities, play a role in determining the brand personality (Fournier 1998; Wysong 2000; Sung and Kim 2010). It can therefore be assumed that sustainability advertising also generates trait inferences that shape the consumer's perception of a brand personality.

Hence, we propose the following hypothesis:

H1a

Environmental and social sustainability advertising lead to a positive impact on brand personality.

Due to the prominent role of environmental sustainability in consumers' minds described earlier, we also propose:

H1b

Environmental sustainability advertising has a stronger effect on brand personality (i.e., brand personality created by environmental sustainability advertising is perceived to be more 'natural' than brand personality created by social sustainability advertising).

Ad credibility

Ad credibility consists of three underlying determinants: the perceived claim discrepancy of the ad, the credibility of the advertiser and the credibility of advertising in general. Ad discrepancy means that claims made in the advertising are inconsistent with the viewer's prior perception of the brand (Lutz 1985).

We believe that brand personality also has a positive impact on ad credibility. A substantial literature stream has explored the impact of a favorable brand personality: it offers an opportunity for differentiation (Aaker 1996), increases consumers' trust and loyalty (Fournier 1998; Kim et al. 2001), and positively influences purchase intention (Freling et al. 2011; Eisend and Stokburger-Sauer 2013a). In addition, Freling and Forbes ( 2005) show that brand personality has a positive impact on number, uniqueness and proportion of congruent and strong brand associations-a phenomenon they call the 'brand personality effect.' We assume that this sharpened set of brand associations resulting from a strong brand personality will in turn decrease the perceived claim discrepancy of the ad. Having researched the 'brand personality effect' for all dimensions of brand personality individually, Freling and Forbes ( 2005) could show that this effect occurred regardless of which dimension was manipulated. Therefore, we assume that a positive impact of sustainable advertising on the 'naturalness' of a brand will have an impact on brand associations in the sense that perceived claim discrepancy is reduced and, hence, credibility of the ad increased. In addition, we assume that brand personality has a positive effect in the context of 'greenwashing': due to the large number of 'green' advertising messages, consumers are quite skeptical about their credibility (Schmuck et al. 2018b). Research has shown, however, that consumers are likely to use brand personality as an alternative source of information, if they cannot form their own opinion about certain product characteristics due to lack of experience, lack of time or insufficient information (Freling and Forbes 2005). Therefore, a clear perception of brand personality will support its surrogate function and help increase ad credibility.

Therefore, we propose the following:

H2a

Brand personality-here specifically a stronger profile with regard to the naturalness of a brand-has a positive impact on ad credibility.

As with hypothesis 1, we also assume that-based on the stronger effect on brand personality-the effect of environmental sustainability advertising will be stronger:

H2b

Environmental sustainability advertising is perceived to be more credible than social sustainability advertising.

Attitude toward the ad

Attitudes toward the ad are defined as 'a predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner to a particular advertising stimulus during a particular exposure occasion' (Lutz 1985). In contrast to the attitude toward advertising in general-which represents attitudes toward the category (advertising) as a whole-attitude toward the ad focuses on a particular advertising stimulus, that is the exposure to a specific print or TV ad (Jin and Lutz 2013).

The impact on attitude toward the ad has been studied in various studies. Jain and Posavac ( 2004) show, for comparative advertising, that the more believable the claim is, the more positive is the attitude toward the ad. Cotte et al. ( 2005) have revealed that if viewers perceive ad content by the advertiser to be manipulative, they judge it as inappropriate and unfair and are likely to resist the message. In contrast, if consumers find an ad credible and perceive no manipulative intent, the emotional responses will be more congruent with the intent of the advertiser. This has also been proven in the context of green advertising. Newell et al ( 1998) show that misleading environmental claims, that the consumer recognizes as being false, untruthful or omitting information, leads to negative feelings. Hence, these have adverse effects on the consumers' attitudes toward the ad. Davis ( 1993) found that the more specific an ad-that is the more detailed, relevant, understandable and supported information on the advertised product's environmental attributes and promised environmental benefits it contains-the more positive the attitude is toward the advertiser and the overall product. Hence, we propose the following hypotheses:

H3a

Ad credibility has a positive impact on attitude toward the ad.

Again, we assume a stronger impact for the environmental sustainability advertising due to its stronger effect on brand personality and ad credibility:

H3b

Environmental sustainability advertising builds a more positive attitude toward the ad than social sustainability advertising.

Brand attitude

Brand attitudes are considered to be part of brand equity (Aaker 1991; Keller 1993) and are defined as an 'individual's internal evaluation of the brand' (Mitchell and Olson 1981).

Various studies suggest that attitude toward the ad positively impacts brand attitude (Edell and Burke 1984; MacKenzie and Lutz 1989; van Grinsven and Das 2016; Gahlot Sarkar et al. 2019). If consumers have a positive perception about an ad, it impacts how the advertised brand is seen. Muehling and McCann ( 1993) found, as early as in the 1990s, at least 37 studies that support the fact that individuals' attitude toward the ad has a direct impact on brand attitude. Only the variety of conditions varies, such as the level of involvement (Muehling et al. 1991), the type of industry (Kim et al. 2002) or the geographic region (Wahid and Ahmed ( 2011) for Yemen).

The link between attitude toward the ad and brand attitude has also been proven in green advertising. Davis ( 1993) shows that the attitude toward the ad, and hence brand attitude, is enhanced if environmental advertising uses stronger rather than weaker claims. Olsen et al ( 2014) show that if claims are used during product launches of green new products that communicate the environmental value of the product, this can positively change the brand attitude. Matthes et al ( 2014) found that ads that combine functional and emotional appeals have a positive impact on brand attitudes by shaping ad attitudes.

Hence, we propose the following hypotheses:

H4a

Attitude toward the ad has a positive impact on brand attitude.

In addition-as outlined for the earlier hypotheses and based on the stronger effect on brand personality, ad credibility and attitude toward the ad-we assume a stronger impact of environmental sustainability advertising:

H4b

Environmental sustainability advertising builds a more positive brand attitude than social sustainability advertising.

Methodology

Data collection and sample

An online questionnaire survey was conducted in order to test our research hypotheses. The questionnaire was pretested by a small group consisting of students and scientific staff in order to check for clarity of the questions. After minor adjustments based on the pre-test, the data collection took place between March 28 and April 11, 2019. The survey was distributed via different social media channels, a German platform for online surveys (surveycircle.com), and the student access panel of Pforzheim University. The resulting convenience sample was self-selective and non-representative. Knowledge of the brands included in the survey was precondition for participation. A total of 451 participants started the survey, 268 (59.4%) finished it. A total of 102 questionnaires had to be excluded because participants did not know at least one of the three brands included. The resulting 166 valid questionnaires were included in the analysis. 30.1% ( n = 50) of the respondents were men and 69.9% ( n = 116) were women. Mean age was 26.4 years (SD = 9.7), and 73.5% of the sample were between 18 and 25 years. The majority of respondents were students ( n = 124; 74.7%), n = 34 (20.4%) were employed, and a small number of the respondents had a different professional status ( n  = 8; 4.80%).

Research design and stimuli

The impact of sustainability advertising was investigated within a single-factor design with an experimental manipulation of the advertising condition. A neutral advertising condition served as the control condition and avoided advertising messages related to sustainability by emphasizing general positive aspects of a certain product. Two additional experimental conditions focused on environmental and social sustainability advertising messages. The environmental condition addressed ecological aspects related to the advertised product, the social condition focused on social aspects, such as the avoidance of child labor or discrimination in the workplace. All stimuli used pictures and short text descriptions to illustrate the different advertising messages.

In order to assess the advertising impact on brand attitude, three brands from common product categories (mineral water, sports shoes and yogurt) were selected. For each brand, advertising stimuli for all three advertising conditions were created, resulting in a total of 9 advertising stimuli (3 brands × 3 advertising conditions, see "Appendix A" section). In a within-subjects design, each participant was confronted with three advertising stimuli, representing the three advertising conditions (neutral, environmental, social) in randomized order. So, each participant was presented one of three environmentally oriented stimuli ("Appendix A" section, stimulus 1, 4 or 7), one socially oriented stimulus (stimulus 2, 5 or 8) and one neutral stimulus (stimulus 3, 6 or 9). Within each participant, each condition was associated with a different brand (e. g., neutral condition/Teinacher, environmental condition/Reebok, social condition/Ehrmann). The association between advertising conditions and brands was randomized between the subjects.

Main criteria for the selection of brands were familiarity of the anticipated target group with the product categories, and a medium level of brand awareness. Brands with very high brand awareness were avoided because extensive brand knowledge or very stable brand attitudes might have weakened the experimental manipulation: the more stable the attitude toward a brand is, the less likely an experimental manipulation might be able to affect this attitude, which would reduce the internal validity of the research design. We excluded test persons who did not know at least one of the brands. Brands and stimuli were discussed and optimized in several iterations within the research group to make sure that differences between the three advertising conditions are primarily based on sustainability-oriented content, without other confounding aspects like text length, picture quality, etc. In addition, manipulation check items were used to verify the effect of the experimental conditions.

Measures

Table 1 shows all measurement items for the main constructs and their sources. We used the 'naturalness' dimension of Mäder's ( 2005) aggregated German brand personality scale. Mäder systematically developed this instrument using several exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to reduce his initial item pool and to optimize reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the scale and its dimensions.

For ad credibility, we used the pretested 6-item scale of Chang ( 2011), which is a slight adaptation of the original scale of MacKenzie and Lutz ( 1989).

Attitude toward the ad was measured with the pretested scale of Holbrook and Batra ( 1987), for which the authors found good reliability scores. This is in line with other scales which use similar items (MacKenzie and Lutz 1989; Mitchell and Olson 1981; Kim et al. 2002). For brand attitude, we have chosen a multi-item scale according to academic practice, which is the scale used by Spears and Singh ( 2004). It has been recently validated by a study of Veirman et al. ( 2017), which found high internal consistency and is similar to other scales, such as the ones used by Mitchell and Olson ( 1981), Holbrook and Batra ( 1987) or MacKenzie and Lutz ( 1989).

As a manipulation check, we included items measuring different aspects of ad perception ( To what extent does the ad of brand x express the following aspects?). Participants had to rate the three aspects: sustainability, ecological aspects and social engagement.

The English scales for ad credibility, attitude toward the ad and brand attitude have been translated into German using the method of translation and backward translation to achieve valid items. All items were rated on 5-point scales. The unipolar items for measuring brand personality, ad credibility and the manipulation check items were anchored by 1 = strongly disagree agree and 5 = strongly agree. In addition, sociodemographic questions on gender and age were included in the last section of the questionnaire.

Results

Analysis

To test hypotheses H2a, H3a and H4a, we calculated structural equation models using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (ML) for the data of the experimental conditions 'environmental' and 'social' separately. Convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement models were investigated by a confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha scores as indicators for scale reliability.

To compare the three experimentally manipulated advertising conditions (hypotheses H1a, H1b, H2b, H3b, H4b), we conducted one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) with advertising condition as the within-subject factor (with the levels neutral, environmental and social). The three manipulation check items and the averaged multi-item scales for brand personality, credibility, attitude toward the ad and brand attitude were used as dependent variables. Greenhouse-Geisser correction was used to adjust for lack of sphericity (Greenhouse and Geisser 1959). We applied univariate ANOVA instead of MANOVA because the constructs have mostly been investigated separately in previous research studies (Huberty and Morris 1989). Due to the assumed relations between the four constructs brand personality, ad credibility, attitude toward the ad and brand attitude, the level of significance was set at 0.01 (instead of 0.05) which is slightly more conservative than Bonferroni correction (0.05/4 = 0.0125). One-tailed t-tests with Bonferroni correction ( α  = 0.01) were performed as post hoc tests.

Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS 25.0 and IBM SPSS AMOS 25.0 for the structural equation models.

Measurement models

Confirmatory factor analysis of the constructs demonstrated good overall model fit for both the environmental and social sustainability advertising conditions based on established standards (Hu and Bentler 1999). The analysis of the environmental advertising condition resulted in Chi ² (113) = 158.846, p < 0.001, Chi ²/df < 2.0, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation RMSEA = 0.050, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual SRMR = 0.043, Comparative Fit Index CFI = 0.975. For the social condition, we found Chi ² (113) = 156.868, p < 0.001, Chi ²/df < 2.0, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.0388, CFI = 0.977.

Table 1 displays reliability and convergent validity metrics of the measurement scales for the variables of both experimental conditions. All factor loadings and Average Variance Extraction (AVE) estimates exceeded 0.50, indicating good convergent validity of both measurement models. Square root of the AVE scores was greater than the correlations between the corresponding constructs (see Table 2), demonstrating good discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker 1981). Smaller differences in the corresponding values of the two experimental conditions could be observed. Since for both measurement models the square root of the AVE scores clearly exceeded the correlations between the constructs, we assume that there were no systematic differences in terms of discriminant validity between the two experimental conditions. One item of the naturalness scale (fresh) was removed in advance due to low factor loading. For the resulting 2-item scale, the more appropriate Spearman-Brown coefficient was calculated instead of Cronbach's alpha (Eisinga et al. 2013). Spearman-Brown and Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged between 0.823 and 0.921 indicating good scale reliability. Overall, all reliability and validity metrics exhibited acceptable measurement quality.

With regard to the subsequent ANOVAs, reliability scores for the data of the neutral conditions were calculated as well. The Cronbach's alpha scores for the constructs ranged from 0.890 to 0.900, and the Spearman-Brown coefficient for the naturalness scale was 0.693, also indicating acceptable scale reliability.

Structure models

Results from both structural models suggest an adequate overall fit: Chi ² (115) = 162.237, p < 0.001, Chi ²/df < 2.0, RMSEA = 0.050, SRMR = 0.0421, CFI = 0.974 for the model of the environmental condition, Chi ² (115) = 163.914, p < 0.001, Chi ²/df < 2.0, RMSEA = 0.051, SRMR = 0.0546, CFI = 0.975 for the model of the social condition. All hypothesized relations between the constructs were significant (H2a, H3a, H4a, see Fig. 1). The only nonsignificant path in both models was the direct connection between brand personality and attitude toward the ad.

Structural models and hypotheses for environmental and social sustainability advertising

Comparisons of advertising conditions

One-way repeated measures ANOVAs for all dependent measures were significant (see Table 3). Post hoc tests revealed significant differences between all experimental conditions for the three manipulation check items. The environmental sustainability advertising condition was perceived as significantly more sustainable than the other two conditions ( p < 0.001). The socially oriented condition showed significantly greater values for sustainability and ecological aspects than the neutral control condition ( p < 0.001), and it was associated with social engagement to a greater extent than the other two conditions ( p  < 0.001). Therefore, it can be concluded that the experimental manipulation had been successful.

Post hoc tests for the brand personality dimension 'naturalness' revealed significant differences between the environmental and the other two conditions ( p < 0.001) with the environmental condition being perceived as most natural; no significant differences could be found between the conditions neutral and social ( p  = 0.076).

The significant main effect of the ANOVA, with ad credibility as the dependent measure, is also based on the significant difference between the environmental and the other two conditions (post hoc test for environmental vs. neutral: p = 0.006; environmental vs. social: p < 0.001). The conditions neutral and social did not differ from each other ( p  = 0.198). Hence, the advertising condition focusing on environmental aspects was perceived as more credible than the other two conditions, whereas there was no positive effect for the social condition.

The ANOVAs for the dependent measures attitude toward the ad and brand attitude showed similar result patterns. In both analyses, post hoc tests revealed significant differences between the environmental and the other two conditions (post hoc tests for attitude toward the ad: environmental vs. neutral and environmental vs. social: p < 0.001; tests for brand attitude: environmental vs. neutral and environmental vs. social: p < 0.001). Again, the environmental advertising positively affected the two dependent measures, whereas there was no effect for the social advertising ( p  = 0.500 for attitude toward the ad and for brand attitude).

Since the environmental condition showed significantly greater values across all dependent measures compared to the social condition, H1b, H2b, H3b and H4b could be confirmed. Due to the fact that only the environmental condition differed significantly from the neutral condition, whereas there was no such effect for the social condition, H1a was only partially confirmed. Table 4 summarizes our findings.

Discussion and conclusion

Secondly, a higher favorability of an environmentally oriented brand personality appeal might also be relevant here, adding a qualitative aspect to the explanation. Freling et al ( 2011) developed a measure of a brand's ability to appeal to consumers based on its personality. This measure includes the three dimensions 'favorability,' 'originality' and 'clarity' of a brand's human characteristics, with 'favorability' being a result of the satisfaction consumers derive from a specific attribute (Freling et al. 2011). This satisfaction is a result of an evaluation process, assessing the 'goodness or badness' connected to a brand trait. The current challenges of climate and environmental protection, which have dominated the public debate on sustainability in recent years, have certainly reinforced an urgency related to environmental aspects that is less present for social considerations. A focus on environmental aspects in advertising might therefore lead to a brand personality perceived as more satisfying, leading also to a more positive attitude toward the brand.

A key practical implication for brand management is that the differentiation of a brand by promoting sustainability will be more successful with the help of environmental messages. The higher level of knowledge about environmental aspects obviously offers more points of reference for environmental sustainability messages of a brand. As a result, the impact on the brand personality is increased, and the credibility of the advertisement is also better evaluated.

A key implication for academic research on the topic of brand personality is that the construct of brand personality should be expanded or updated in the course of the current debate, considering the greatly increased relevance of sustainability aspects also in other national contexts. As Davies et al ( 2001) and Alpatova and Dall'Olmo Riley ( 2011) have already pointed out, the five dimensions identified by Aaker are not supported enough, and hence are not complete. In the course of this detailing, it could then also be examined whether aspects of sustainability should be included, and how they should be measured. The naturalness subscale of Mäder's brand personality instrument only consists of three items, with one item showing insufficient item properties. Subscales with more items might improve the reliability and validity of measuring instruments addressing environmentally oriented aspects of brand personality.

Limitations

The results of this research are subject to a number of limitations. Regarding sustainability, a clear dominance of environmental aspects in consumers' perception is evident. However, further studies should examine the interdependencies between the two concepts of CSR and sustainability in more detail. Tarabashkina et al ( 2020) already showed an impact of CSR communication on brand personality. However, further research in this area is needed to assess whether social sustainability could play an equally important role for consumers, but is more strongly linked to CSR.

In addition, other moderating variables could also strengthen the impact of social sustainability advertising: It might for example be more relevant in collectivist cultures. In contrast to individualistic cultures, collectivistic cultures have social rules that promote selflessness and put community needs ahead of individual needs; people tend to do what's best for society (Hofstede 1984; Wang et al. 2017). Hence, it might be expected that people in collectivist cultures identify more with social sustainable advertising, as the cause supports the community's need rather than the individual's goals.

Furthermore, it is conceivable that a positive attitude of consumers toward ethical consumption and their knowledge of sustainability reinforces the importance of social sustainability advertising, as both would help to better grasp the complexity of the term (Kim et al. 2016; Sudbury-Riley and Kohlbacher 2016). It could also be expected that the more consumers already show an ethically minded purchasing behavior, or the more this behavior is practiced in their environment (thereby creating social norms), the greater the impact of social aspects in brand communication. Thus, the future research could include collectivism versus individualism as a moderating variable as well as consumers' attitude toward ethical consumption, actual ethical consumption behavior and sustainability knowledge.

In addition, our research focuses on one brand personality dimension only, the 'naturalness.' This is the only plausible dimension of Mäder's five dimensions that reflects environmental sustainability properly. However, we see the need to revise and/or expand the existing scales to include all aspects of sustainability, also social sustainability. This revision/expansion is not only relevant for Mäder's scale for Germany, but also for others, such as Aaker's scale for the USA. Geuens et al's ( 2009) 'responsibility' dimension of brand personality could serve as a basis to include the aspect of 'caring for others' even more explicitly in brand personality scales and thereby be able to assess the impact of social sustainability advertising.

While analyzing the different impacts of environmentally or socially oriented sustainability advertising on brand personality and advertising effectiveness, our research is limited regarding its impact on other relevant success factors of brand management. Further studies could investigate the impact of environmental and social sustainability advertising on other key success factors, such as brand associations, brand loyalty or brand equity. Also, a comparison of socially or environmentally responsible behavior needs to be analyzed with regard to a larger range of topics, such as antecedents of the respective consumer behavior (Hosta and Zabkar 2020).

Furthermore, limitations may have been caused by aspects of our experimental design. We implemented several measures to achieve a high internal validity (e. g. randomization, within-subjects-design to reduce the effects of interpersonal differences, constant advertising elements such as text length or image sizes). The manipulation check items proved that the perception of the environmentally oriented condition was dominated by environmental aspects, and the social condition was perceived as being more social compared to the other conditions. But certain aspects of brands or advertising stimuli might have affected the results. For example, we did not control for brand involvement. Due to the use of multiple brands and the randomized assignment between brands and experimental conditions, we do not suspect systematic biases. But unsystematic effects may have occurred, which is why brand involvement should be taken into account in further studies. The same applies to cause-brand fit: several studies have found that a high perceived fit of the initiative and the brand lead to more positive consumer responses (Becker-Olsen et al. 2006). Therefore, in future studies, this aspect should also be analyzed more closely.

Finally, we investigated relations between sustainability advertising, brand personality and several measures of advertising effectiveness in a sample of German, predominantly younger, adults. As some research shows that older people are less concerned with environmental considerations, but show a higher degree of compassion for others (Sudbury and Simcock 2009), the results could be different in a sample that is more balanced in terms of age. In addition, results are only valid for German consumers, as former research had shown a need for nationally adapted brand personality scales. Therefore, our results should be confirmed using representative sampling techniques, larger sample sizes and a transnational approach.

Funding

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Author information

Affiliations

Hochschule Pforzheim University, Tiefenbronner Straße 65, 75175, Pforzheim, Germany

Frauke Sander, Ulrich Föhl, Nadine Walter & Vera Demmer

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frauke Sander.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants have been approved by the appropriate institutional research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Appendix A: Advertising conditions

Appendix A: Advertising conditions

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Sander, F., Föhl, U., Walter, N. et al. Green or social? An analysis of environmental and social sustainability advertising and its impact on brand personality, credibility and attitude. J Brand Manag 28, 429-445 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-021-00236-8
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Keywords

Brand personality

Sustainability advertising

Social sustainability advertising

Environmental advertising

Brand attitude

Credibility

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Green or social? An analysis of environmental and social sustainability advertising and its impact on brand personality, credibility and attitude - Journal of Brand Management

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The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of sustainability advertising on brand personality, credibility, attitude toward the ad and brand attitude; special attention was given to whether or not environmental and social sustainability advertising have different effects. The results of an online survey revealed that environmental sustainability advertising has a stronger influence than social sustainability advertising.

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Got (oat) milk?

Source: Oatly Facebook Page, 2017

Milk didn’t always feel so ambiguous. It was a dairy product. It came from cows. It “built strong bones.” That’s all I knew growing up. I even had the iconic “Got Milk?” posters I ripped out of Sports Illustrated taped to my wall.

The non-dairy alternative industry is booming as we enter the post milk generation. Soy made the first charge and almond quickly followed taking the market by storm. However, once it became public knowledge that one almond requires about a gallon of water to grow, almond milk took a slight tumble. Now oat milk is seizing the opportunity, driving an irreversible wedge between younger consumers and dairy for good.

Who could have predicted in a global pandemic, oat milk shortages would be a real topic of conversation? Nielsen data tracking 52 weeks until March 7th, showed that retail sales of oat milk were five to six times higher than those of dried beans, rice, and household items like rubbing alcohol, bath, and shower wipes. Only hand sanitizer and aerosol disinfectants saw bigger increases during the period.

So, how did we get here?

Let’s Start From the Beginning

“It’s like milk, but made for humans.”

Unsurprisingly, Oatly’s foundation began with a belief in oats as a nutritional alternative to dairy. Rickard Oste, a food-science professor, figured out a way to liquefy oats into milk while still retaining their fiber. Thus, Oatly was born. Oatly’s team saw the potential in their product to target people with a dairy sensitivity, vegans, or anyone who simply didn’t care for cow's milk.

Despite a small and loyal following in Sweden, Oatly didn’t grab people’s attention in a dairy-obsessed country. As John Schoolcraft, Creative Director of Oatly said.

“It looked like a Dutch multinational, just indistinguishable from anything else on the shelves.”

Source

Then in 2012, Oatly hired a new CEO, Tony Peterson, who took the company in a completely new direction. Alongside John Schoolcraft, he shaped Oatly into a challenger brand, sparking a revolution of companies dedicated to humanizing their organization.

The new packaging mixed perfectly with an environmentally conscious, often humorous rebrand. And Oatly seamlessly integrated into a generation of savvy consumers ready for brands to do more than sell products and pay for advertising.

Source

As a result, the product gained popularity in Europe and was a coffee house staple after entering the U.S. in early 2017. Its singular focus on one plant-based ingredient helped the company liftoff in the non-dairy alternative market, nearly tripling its sales from $68 million in 2017 to $200 million last year, per the company.

Why Oatly’s Rebrand Worked So Well

There are three keys to this tiny upstarts marketing strategy that positioned it to be the oat milk brand to beat.

1. Niche targeting

Oatly’s singular focus on baristas was a stroke of genius. To bring the product to market in the U.S., Oatly sent coffee shops its barista edition as a sample.

Caroline Bell, co-owner of Café Grumpy in New York City, told Time Magazine:

“We had tried soy, almond, hemp, coconut, and nothing worked with coffee. With some varieties, you couldn’t taste the coffee; with others, the milk would curdle. The oat fibers plus the added oil in the barista edition of Oatly give the milk a thicker consistency, which produces a stable, undulating foam that will hold for a long time.”

Clearly, she wasn’t alone. Soon coffee shops across the United States were rushing to stock their shelves with Oatly. This built exclusivity for consumers who wanted to use what the baristas had — it also got coffee community leaders to back the product.

2. Authentic messaging

The phrase “Be human and not a logo” is featured in Oatly’s lookbook. It’s simple, alluring, and transparent. Whether you’re a fan of the self-deprecating humor often displayed on Oatly’s products or really believe in their commitment to bettering the environment, it’s hard to argue that Oatly doesn’t know who its brand is.

In Germany, the brand even petitioned that all food in retail should have to be labeled with greenhouse gas emissions during production.

Oatly

Oatly invokes feelings of sustainability and collaboration, while traditional dairy products often come across as outdated. Plus, Oatly only does one thing: oats. Other companies have dipped their toes into the oat milk market with competing products, but Oatly’s commitment to oats has put them a length ahead of everyone else.

3. Health anxiety

Oatly has mastered the art of telling you what its products don’t have. By using statements on the packaging like “non-dairy”, “gluten-free”, and “soy-free,” consumers are less inclined to actually read the ingredients. They trust the product is good for them because it doesn’t include trigger ingredients we perceive to be bad.

Ultimately, Oatly’s transformation from a bland oat milk company full of researchers into an entertaining content powerhouse has created an enviable trend rocking the food and beverage industry. They still value the science that makes a great product, but they have also created an extensive brand strategy that’s unapologetically fun for an audience tired of sales pitches.

What Does This Mean for Dairy?

We are currently in the midst of an alternative-milk revolution.

Environmental concerns have shed a negative light on dairy products, and younger consumers are wary of brands that don’t connect with them on a personal level. It’s not always about nutritional value. Its true oat milk is a good source of dietary fiber. But it’s also lower in protein and higher in carbs than dairy milk and other non-dairy alternatives. Some non-dairy kinds of milk pump their products with additives, despite making it appear they are healthier alternatives.

Still, consumers have been thinking twice before drinking dairy milk for years, with growing health concerns. Add the environmental impact of dairy products on a consumer-base increasingly dedicated to sustainability, and it seems dairy milk will only continue its downward spiral.

This is only the beginning. As Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business said in a 2019 interview:

“Peak plant milk is about three to five years away, at most.”

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In this return of Toni TV, two opposing philosophies clash as Oatly's Creative Director uses whatever means possible to test Oatly's CEO Toni Petersson and his commitment to plant-based oat drinks. With variable results, of course. The campaign also included a complaint to the Swedish Competition Authority, a book about delusions on milk, some old-school print ads and a bunch of other things.

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In this return of Toni TV, two opposing philosophies clash as Oatly's Creative Director uses whatever means possible to test Oatly's CEO Toni Petersson and his commitment to plant-based oat drinks. With variable results, of course. The campaign also included a complaint to the Swedish Competition Authority, a book about delusions on milk, some old-school print ads and a bunch of other things.

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Oatly is a Swedish manufacturer of oat based foods and drinks. A tiny company with huge ambitions. They have a lot to say and want to be in the middle of the discussion concerning sustainability and health. The only problem is that their media budget is, to put it mildly, limited. Which is why we decided to treat the packaging as Oatly’s main media channel, as an advertising space in itself.

The Oatly products are being sold in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, UK, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Italy and the US.

Case Study

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Oatly is a Swedish manufacturer of oat based foods and drinks. A tiny company with huge ambitions. They have a lot to say and want to be in the middle of the discussion concerning sustainability and health. The only problem is that their media budget is, to put it mildly, limited. Which is why we de…

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ted are ad agencies destroying the climate

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ted are ad agencies destroying the climate

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Oat milk company Oatly makes its market debut Thursday, after pricing its IPO at $17 a share. The company raised $1.4 billion, valuing it at $10 billion.

Oatly has become a popular new alt-milk in the United States. It can be found at Starbucks, and an investment group that includes Oprah Winfrey and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz invested $200 million in the company last year.

But while Oatly is pretty new to American consumers, the company and its signature product have been around for nearly three decades. Oat milk was invented in 1994 in Sweden by Oatly's founders, brothers Rickard and Bjorn Oeste, who were researching an alternative to cow's milk for people with lactose intolerance.

"Our founders just figured, OK, if vast majority of the world population are intolerant to milk why don't we make something that is actually designed for human beings not baby cows?" Oatly CEO Toni Petersson previously told CNBC Make It.

And for decades, that's where it languished. That is until Petersson came on as CEO in 2014.

Petersson gave Oatly a rebrand and set his sights on the America, where the plant-based milk market was growing.

First, he changed the logo, from having a small, red "Oatly" on the corner of the carton to bold block and bubble letters spelling out "OAT-LY!" front and center.

He also switched the packaging copy from Swedish to English so no matter where it was sold, many people could read it. This allowed Oatly to reach not only the U.S., but a global audience.

Petersson also commissioned a report that highlighted how Oatly was better for the environment than dairy. (In its filing, Oatly says that "on average, a liter of Oatly product consumed in place of cow's milk results in around 80% less greenhouse gas emissions, 79% less land usage and 60% less energy consumption.")

And in what turned out to be a key move, Petersson debuted a special barista blend of Oatly oat milk.

Oatly knew persuading U.S. consumers to try, let alone buy, a new product would be a challenge, U.S. general manager Mike Messersmith told CNBC Make It. So as a way to introduce the plant-based milk to the U.S., Oatly sent representatives to high-end coffee shops in New York City to share the product with local baristas in person. Then the baristas could recommend and use oat milk with customers.

"We thought about specialty coffee shops and tea shops, where if you were able to take the recommendation of your local barista you see every day, and try our product through an expertly prepared latte or cappuccino that would be a really amazing way to kind of be introduced to even just the idea of oat milk," Messersmith said.

By the end of 2017, Oatly was being served in about 650 coffee shop locations.

From 2018 to 2019, sales of oat milk skyrocketed from $6 million to nearly $40 million, Genevieve Aronson, VP of communications at Nielsen, told CNBC Make It.

"We were a bit unprepared and taken by surprise by the massive hype around the brand," Petersson says.

As of Dec. 31, Oatly products can be found in about 8,500 retail shops and some 10,000 coffee shops in the United States, according to the company's SEC filing.
This story has been updated to include China Resources and Verlinvest's investment.

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How Oatly went from a decades-old obscure brand to a $10 billion IPO

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Oat milk company Oatly makes its market debut Thursday, after pricing its IPO at $17 a share. The company raised $1.4 billion, valuing it at $10 billion. Oatly has become a popular new alt-milk in the United States.

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Deconstructing how Oatly used psychology in their advertising and to what extend this have affected the paradigm shift of consumers perception and habits of sustainability?

Can psychology in advertising be considered a tool for mass persuasion and how did Oatly use it to change consumers habits and perception of sustainability

Can psychology in advertising be considered a tool for mass persuasion to change the perception of sustainability and change consumer behaviour?

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Vegan milk brand Oatly is facing protests by climate and political activists who say the decision to sell a stake in the company to a consortium that includes Blackstone, a powerful private equity firm headed by Trump donor Stephen Schwartzman, has left a sour taste.

The $200m deal for the Swedish oat milk brand, favored by many vegans and non-dairy drinkers and considered one of the most sustainable non-dairy milk brands, was agreed in July.

But now the agreement, which valued Oatly at nearly $2bn and involved investors including Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Portman, former Starbucks chief Howard Schultz and the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, is coming under scrutiny.

A Twitter thread appeared over the weekend that linked Blackstone to a controversial Brazilian infrastructure investment that has been accused of contributing to deforestation in the Amazon.

Blackstone has previously been targeted for investments in Hidrovias, a Brazilian infrastructure company, which has previously been accused of having links to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Blackstone has denied the accusation, saying in a statement: "The erroneous claims and mischaracterizations were blatantly wrong and irresponsible."

On Tuesday, the company reiterated its position that Hidrovias was not involved in a road through the Amazon rainforest used to transport soy grown on illegally deforested land and had won awards for its sustainability efforts.

"Hidrovias does not own, control or have any interest - direct or indirect - in the road in question (BR-163). This road has been operated by the Brazilian government since 1976. The company did not build this highway, nor are they paving it," Blackstone said.

Notwithstanding that accusation, Blackstone's Schwartzman has been a prominent Wall Street supporter of Donald Trump. According to Bloomberg, the billionaire investor has donated $3m to Super Pac America First Nation, which supports the president's re-election.

Oatly has now been placed in the position of defending the deal. In a statement posted on Twitter, the company said Blackstone may be an "unexpected choice", but the investment "will help us expand our sustainable mission and create more plant-based products".

The company added: "It also steers capital that would've otherwise gone into another commercial investment into sustainability instead, making their investments greener."

But that has yet to placate critics. The original Twitter thread's creator, activist Laura Young, wrote: "I don't want my money going to the destruction of the planet, and putting peoples lives and land at risk just so that I can have a creamy coffee in the morning!"

Oatly responded to that thread, offering: "We're sorry to hear you're frustrated in our choice - we're still the same company with sustainability at the core of everything we do. Which includes who we choose as owners, as we need to move global capital in a sustainable direction if we're to see real change."

The company added: "If we just shut out the companies that may make less sustainable choices, we won't give them the chance to improve and make more sustainable choices, so global capital will keep being steered in a less sustainable direction."

When it was signed, the deal underscored the growing popularity of plant-based foods. Oat milk's popularity is soaring - sales in US stores grew nearly 300% year-over-year to June, according to Nielsen data.

Founded in the 1990s by brothers Rickard and Björn Öste, Oatly entered the US market four years ago. Last year sales doubled over 2018 to about $200m. It expects to have similar growth this year, according to reports, and plans to use the investment to more widely distribute its oat-based yogurt, spreads, on-the-go drinks and ice cream.

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Activists sour on Oatly vegan milk after stake sold to Trump-linked Blackstone

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Vegan milk brand Oatly is facing protests by climate and political activists who say the decision to sell a stake in the company to a consortium that includes Blackstone, a powerful private equity firm headed by Trump donor Stephen Schwartzman, has left a sour taste.

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n the spring of 2018, New York was gripped by a sudden, very particular and, for some, calamitous food shortage. Gaps appeared on grocery shelves. Coffee shops put out signs, turning customers away. Twitter and Instagram brimmed with outrage. The truly desperate searched from Williamsburg to Harlem, but it seemed undeniable: New York was out of oat milk.

It wasn't just New York, in fact. The entire US was suffering from a shortage of Oatly, a Swedish plant milk whose rapid rise from obscure digestive health brand to the dairy alternative of choice had caught even Oatly by surprise. Since its US launch in 2016, Oatly had gone from supplying a handful of upscale New York coffee shops to more than 3,000 cafes and grocery stores nationwide. The company had ramped up production by 1,250%, but when I spoke to CEO Toni Petersson in late summer, they were still struggling to meet demand. "How do we supply when the growth is this crazy?" Petersson said.

Fortunately, when it comes to milk, in 2019 there is no shortage of alternative alternatives. Visit your local supermarket and you will find a refrigerated aisle overflowing with choice: almond milk, hazelnut milk, peanut, tiger nut, walnut, cashew - and that's just the nuts. Coconut, hemp, spelt, quinoa, pea - you name it, somewhere a health-food startup is milking it. London tube stations are filled with ads for new plant milks - or rather, "mylks" (EU law prevents dairy alternatives from using the word milk if it isn't produced by a lactating mammal). Cookbooks dedicate entire chapters to blending and straining your own. Sainsbury's now stocks around 70 different options. There are the wellness punks (Rebel Kitchen, Rude Health), the dairy puns (Malk, Milkadamia, Mooala) and the nourishers (LoveRaw, Good Karma, Plenish). "People are just looking at every nut that exists and seeing if they can squash it into a milk," said Glynis Murray, one of the owners of Good, which squashes hemp seeds into oil and milk.

It seems unthinkable now, but as recently as 2008, alternatives to cow's milk largely meant soya (invariably Alpro in the UK, Silk in the US). For anything else, you'd need to scour health-food shops for drab, clinical-looking, long-life cartons of rice milk buried in the back with the other digestive aids. "It was the deathly aisle," said John Schoolcraft, Oatly's global creative director. "It was just for people who were lactose intolerant [or] had an allergy to milk; vegans, vegetarians - people who, at that time, were on the fringe of society."

Plant milks are no longer fringe. Just over one in 10 of Pret a Manger's hot drinks in the UK are ordered with dairy alternative milks (organic soya milk or organic rice-coconut milk). According to research firm Mintel, UK plant milk sales have grown by 30% since 2015, buoyed by a surge in vegan and vegetarian diets. In the US, nearly half of all shoppers now add a plant milk to their baskets. Globally, the industry is estimated to be worth $16bn.

Meanwhile, reduced demand for cow's milk and falling prices led to the closure of 1,000 dairy farms in the UK between 2013 and 2016. Milk's reputation as a healthy food is under threat from anxieties about bovine antibiotics, animal cruelty and the industry's environmental impact, as well as increased diagnosis of lactose intolerance. Teenagers now consider cow's milk less healthy than plant milk alternatives, a development the former chairman of Dairy UK, David Dobbin, called "a demographic time bomb".

"Consumers are really not sure about the dairy industry," Caroline Roux, a dairy analyst at Mintel, told me. "They're not convinced these products are good for them any more."

But the plant milk boom is, as one entrepreneur told me, "way bigger than just switching your milk". To converts, almond and oat milk are the next wave in a fundamental shift towards a more conscious, sustainable way of living. To critics, they're little more than cleverly marketed nut juice with additives - a symptom of everything that's wrong with modern food culture. And so a strange battle has emerged, between an industry trying to replace something it says we don't need in the first place, and dairy, a business that for a century sold itself as the foundation of a healthy diet, while ignoring the fact that most of the world does just fine without it.

e are all born milk drinkers. Babies' guts produce the enzyme lactase, which breaks down lactose, the sugar in breastmilk (and cow's milk), into the simpler sugars glucose and galactose. But for the majority of humans, production of the enzyme lactase plummets after weaning. "From a human perspective - no, to go further than that, from a mammalian perspective - the norm is to be able to tolerate your mother's breast milk, and then as you get past infancy, to stop producing lactase and become lactose intolerant," said Adam Fox, a consultant paediatric allergist at Guy's and St Thomas's hospitals, and one of the UK's leading food allergy experts. "Then you've got a small group of humans that have a mutation which means they maintain production of lactase into adulthood. Northern Europeans, the Masai [in east Africa], some Arab groups as well. But that's the exception, not the rule."

That schism between milk-drinkers and the rest - actually a series of independent genetic mutations - appears to have occurred about 10,000 years ago, around the time humans were domesticating farm animals. It is the reason that in countries such as the UK, Sweden and Ireland, more than 90% of adults can drink milk without suffering any ill effects, butworldwide, more than two-thirds of all adults are considered lactose intolerant. For lactose-intolerant people, a glass of milk can induce bloating, stomach pains and diarrhoea. (Lactose intolerance should not be - though often is - confused with cow's milk allergy, an immune response to the proteins in cow's milk that affects around 1% of UK adults.)

Even in northern Europe, milk as we know it is a recent phenomenon. Fresh milk, left unrefrigerated, spoils quickly and can harbour a variety of deadly pathogens, including E Coli and tuberculosis. For most of history it was either consumed within moments of milking, or processed as cheese or yoghurt. Few drunk milk in its liquid form. "The Romans considered it a sign of barbarism," said Mark Kurlansky, author of Milk! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas. "The only people who drank milk were people on farms, because they were the only ones who could get it fresh enough." (Even then, cow's milk was considered inferior to alternatives such as goat or donkey.) In the 19th century, "swill milk" - so called because cows were fed the filthy runoff from inner-city breweries, turning their milk blue - was linked with thousands of infant deaths. Only in the early 20th century, with the introduction of mandatory pasteurisation - in which milk is heated to kill off any bacteria before bottling - did milk become safe enough for most people to drink regularly.

Cows being machine-milked in France in 2017. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

It was the first world war that ultimately aligned political forces behind the dairy business. In Britain, rationing meant food was limited, and child malnutrition was rife. The emerging field of nutritional science identified milk - with its high protein content and newly discovered "vital amines", or vitamins - as a potential solution. Thanks to government price controls, milk was one thing not in short supply. Soon, "consumers everywhere witnessed a snowfall of propaganda documenting the miracles worked by milk", writes Deborah Valenze in Milk: A Local and Global History. Milk became the original superfood: a boundless source of calcium, protein and vitamins. In 1946, Clement Attlee and Harry S Truman's governments both passed measures to ensure milk was available free with school meals. Industry alliances like the UK's Milk Marketing Board embarked on campaigns to enhance milk's image. More recently, in the US, the Got Milk? campaign showed celebrities from Beyoncé to Kermit the Frog with milk moustaches. The message was clear: if you wanted your children to grow up big and strong, they needed to be drinking milk.

Today, dairy is a vast and highly regulated behemoth, worth more than $400bn, produced by a global herd of more than 274 million cows. Politicians mess with milk at their peril (when Margaret Thatcher, as education secretary, in 1971 took the draconian step of cutting free school milk for the over-sevens, she was branded " milk snatcher"). And yet, for many consumers, the allure of milk is on the wane. In 1975, the average American consumed 247 pounds (around 130 litres) of milk per year; in 2017, it was just 149 pounds (66 litres).In the US, milk sales have fallen 15% since 2012.

Milk's "share of throat" - an industry term for the proportion of total liquid we consume in a day - has been eroded by a steady flow of soft drinks, juices and smoothies, even bottled water. But none of these presented an existential threat. Blanket marketing established the connection between milk and wholesomeness and good nutrition. Now new forms of persuasion, more targeted and pervasive, have stripped away that healthy sheen from dairy.

The internet has given animal rights activists new reach. Search for "dairy" on YouTube and you will be assaulted by videos with titles like Dairy Is Scary (5m views), which depicts in graphic detail the suffering of dairy cows. Netflix, too, has provided previously untapped audiences for documentaries like Cowspiracy and What the Health. Besides the ill-treatment of animals, evidence has mounted that the dairy industry is catastrophic for the environment. Animal agriculture contributes more greenhouse gases than aviation, shipping and road vehicles combined. One recent study led by Oxford University claimed that observing a vegetarian or vegan diet is the single most effective way to reduce your own environmental footprint.

Plant milks received a boost from their association with clean eating, a craze that has also had the effect of linking dairy with negative health issues. Clean eating, advocated by a fresh-skinned, glossy crop of wellness bloggers and Instagram celebrities, argued for the elimination of any foods deemed overly processed, allergenic, or otherwise "unnatural": gluten, caffeine, meat and dairy. Its proponents blamed lactose intolerance as the cause of a range of ailments, including acne, eczema, lethargy, joint pain and a variety of digestive issues. And, as the clean eaters warned their readers off dairy, they sent them into the willing arms of plant milk startups. A steady supply of attractive millennial influencers filled their Instagram feeds with appetising shots of peanut-milk Thai curries and gluten-free beetroot bread. (According to industry analysts, one of the keys to the plant-based trend is that it looks appetising on Instagram.) The clean eaters did what years of vegan campaigning never could. Suddenly, giving up milk wasn't just a health issue. It was part of living your best and most beautiful life.

he notion of milking plants is not new. In China, soya milk has been made since at least the 14th century, most commonly as a step in making tofu. The earliest written mention of almond milk appears in a Baghdadi cookbook from 1226, the Kitab al-Tabikh. "If you look at Medieval recipes, they will often give you a choice between milk or almond milk," said Mark Kurlansky (whose best-seller Cod: A Biography, launched an entire genre of food microhistories).

In the west, until recently, almond and soya milk remained relatively unknown, except by vegetarians and the odd eccentric (Henry Ford, of the car company, was an early soya evangelist). In 1956, the Plantmilk Society was established in London by Leslie Cross, then vice-president of the British Vegan Society, a nascent group of animal rights activists. Cross, who particularly objected to the cruelty of the dairy industry, set about trying to find a dairy replacement using crops that could be grown in Britain.

"The big issue originally was: how do you get a protein in a liquid that can emulate dairy milk?" said Adrian Ling, whose father, Arthur, was chair of the new organisation. Photos from the time show the smiling pioneers in white lab coats examining many glasses of questionable opaque liquids. "They did a lot of work on cabbage," Ling said. Eventually, they settled on the soya bean. "It was a very small market - a few hundred people," said Ling. "They lost a lot of money."

In 1981, a young Belgian food tech named Philippe Vandemoortele decided to use a new packing technology, the sterile Tetra Brik, to sell soya milk. "I started in a garage with pots and pans, a grinder. I was young, and very naive," Vandemoortele, now 73, told me. He called his soya milk Alpro. Reviews were mixed. The local supermarket refused to stock it. "The buyer tasted my product, and he said: 'Whoa. It's awful!'" But Vandemoortele persisted. Today Alpro is owned by Danone, and in 2017 had a turnover in excess of £183m.

Soya's real break came in the late 90s, when a Colorado soya company called WhiteWave made what seems like a confoundingly obvious discovery: if they moved the product to the refrigerated aisle alongside the dairy milk, more people bought it. WhiteWave's new refrigerated soya drink, which it called Silk, was a sensation. At the same time, Silk, Alpro and others jumped on emerging evidence about the link between high cholesterol and heart disease to market themselves as a healthy alternative. All of a sudden, soya was for everyone.

Soya's rapid growth was short-lived, in large part due to the fact that it doesn't taste very good. Even modern soya milks, which add sugar, thickeners and other additives to imitate dairy milk, have a beany taste and odour. In the early 2000s, soya had its own health scare. Soya contains phytoestrogens, oestrogen-like compounds that can mimic the hormone's effects in humans, a discovery that led to fears about it disrupting hormones and "feminising" men. Clinical studies have consistently shown those fears are overstated. Even so, neo-Nazis continue to push the theory that soya milk is a liberal conspiracy to emasculate men, and drink cow's milk at rallies to demonstrate "digestive superiority".

In 2008, the Blue Diamond Growers, a large cooperative of almond farmers in California, sensed an opportunity. Its milk, Almond Breeze, had long lagged behind Silk, by then America's leading soya brand. "We knew if we were wanting to compete with them, we would need to be in the refrigerated case," Al Greenlee, Blue Diamond's director of marketing, told me. Supermarkets maintain a tight grip on shelf space, charging high fees to stock a new product. Lucrative, high-traffic displays like the refrigerated case are fiercely competitive. The owners of Silk at that time - the dairy giant Dean Foods - had leveraged its industry clout to get Silk positioned alongside milk. "So we followed a similar path, and established a partnership with the second largest dairy in the country". Blue Diamond started in Florida, targeting neighbourhoods with large Hispanic populations, who have a higher genetic incidence of lactose intolerance.

Meanwhile, the California almond industry embarked on a vast marketing spree, funding - and publicising - new research into the health benefits of almonds. The effect was immediate. Glossy magazines proclaimed almonds a "superfood". Almond Breeze was so successful that within two years Silk launched its own almond milk to try and keep up. By 2013, almond had overtaken soya as the best-selling plant milk in the US.

n today's crowded market, newcomers require something special to stand out. An Australian milk called Nutty Bruce boasts of "activated almonds", which is a nod to the current craze for charcoal (superheated and then oxidised, "activated" charcoal is marketed as a detoxifier), but at closer inspection just means the almonds are soaked in water for slightly longer than usual. A San Francisco startup called Ripple claims to have developed a hi-tech process to isolate the protein in yellow peas without any of the associated flavours or colourings. Cheryl Mitchell, the chief scientist of the New York-based producer Elmhurst Milked, told me excitedly about her patented extraction process, which uses "high-pressure water and a sloughing action" to break down nuts and pulses while keeping the proteins intact.

Mitchell comes from an esteemed line of food technologists: her father, Bill, invented Cool Whip imitation cream, the Pop Rocks popping candy and Tang fruit-flavoured drink. In the 1980s, she helped develop Rice Dream. Elmhurst was a dairy for 90 years; at its peak, it supplied public schools and Starbucks branches across Manhattan. But in 2016, its owners sold off the cattle and switched to plant milk. It now sells 11 varieties. "Wait till they see the corn milk," she said. "It's yellow, but it has more antioxidants than blueberries!"

It seems every ingredient has its acolytes. "We are here to spread a philosophy about a way of being, one which is much more harmonious and symbiotic with nature," Tamara Arbib, the founder of London-based coconut drinks company Rebel Kitchen, told me. Rebel Kitchen's Mylk, launched in 2014, is a blend of coconut, rice and cashew. "I'm a massive fan of eating right for your blood type," Arbib said. "A lot of blood types do better without dairy."

In July, I went to see one of the UK's most prominent plant milk startups, Rude Health, in London. Launched by Camilla and Nick Barnard in 2005, Rude Health started out selling muesli, but quickly grew into a small health food empire. It was the tail end of a heatwave, at brunch time, and the Rude Health Cafe hummed with healthy looking professionals sipping cashew lattes. Nick, who has sharp features, grey hair, and wore an open-collared white shirt, ordered a kombucha. "I'm having dairy," Camilla said, conspiratorially.

Rude Health had attracted negative press in 2017, after some vegans became incensed at a company blogpost promoting sustainable dairy. "It hadn't crossed our minds that to be for dairy free, we were expected to be against dairy," Camilla said. "We were just chugging along, thinking we were for good quality." The episode had made them reconsider their marketing strategy, to clarify that they're not an exclusively vegan brand. "Why does everything have to be the magic pill, or the devil? Why do you have to be for or against?"

Rude Health got into plant milks in 2013, selling three flavours: oat, brown rice and almond. Today, it sells 10, including Tiger Nut, Cashew and Hazelnut & Cacao. We walked over to the company's offices nearby for a tasting session. Rival products and plant-based cookbooks lined the shelves. Nick poured shots of various shades of beige into small glasses. Many plant milk brands add calcium carbonate - chalk - to make the liquid whiter and more opaque (the calcium content is a happy bonus) but the colouring in these plant milks, Camilla assured me, was natural. We tried a few. The coconut was sweet, like a Bounty dissolved in water. The hazelnut was pleasingly thick, if slightly overwhelming. "Tondo Gentile," Nick said, approvingly. "A gourmet hazelnut."

The almond tasted thin by comparison. The brand's regular Almond Drink contains brown rice, "cold-pressed" sunflower oil and sea salt, but Rude Health also offers Ultimate Almond - just nuts and water - intended for purists. "There is a hardcore market," Camilla said.

Today, almond makes up around two thirds of all plant milks sold, but it is suffering its own reputational crisis. One issue is environmental: it takes 4.5 litres of water to grow a single almond (technically not a nut, but a seed). In California, which grows eight in 10 of the world's almond crop, almond growing consumes an estimated 10% of the entire water supply - a controversial issue in a state often afflicted by drought.

Consumers have also caught on that the actual almond content of most almond milks is minuscule. Both Silk and Alpro contain just 2% almonds. "It's actually a water-based emulsion that you're adding oils, a lot of sugar and gums to, and then just adding a couple of nuts on top," Elmhurst's Cheryl Mitchell said. "As a business model, it's great - any time you can sell water, right? That's essentially what they're doing." The industry insiders I spoke to agreed that almond's moment is over. Right now the real growth is in coconut, and in oat.

In 2012, when Petersson took over as CEO of Oatly, almost nobody had heard of oat milk outside Sweden. The company was founded in 1994 by Rickard Öste, a researcher at the university of Lund. "It's a really good crop. You can grow oats everywhere," said Petersson. "It has carbs, it has fat, it has protein and it has fibre." Compared to oat milk, he said, almond is just "flavoured plant juice".

'Welcome to the cult' ... an Oatly marketing campaign. Photograph: Oatly

Petersson, who is 50, with dark hair and slim features, set about reinventing oat milk's image. He hired John Schoolcraft, a marketing and advertising executive who had been running his own company, to help him. The concept, Schoolcraft said, was simple: "If you're not lactose intolerant, why would you notice our product?" The pair redesigned its packaging, ditching its previous generic, 1990s aesthetic for a brash, millennial-friendly redesign: Oatly was restyled as Oat-ly! and the side of each carton displayed one of more than 80 messages written by Oatly staff, which congratulated readers on being part of the "post-milk generation" and, only semi-ironically, joining "the cult".

Oatly's real masterstroke was the creation of its Barista Edition. Most plant milks split in hot drinks - one reason that so many manufacturers use acidity regulators and other additives - and don't foam like cow's milk (the problem is the plant proteins). There, Oatly has an advantage: it foams, and the taste of oat is mostly masked by the coffee. Petersson and Schoolcraft ignored supermarkets and targeted coffee bars in the hip neighbourhoods of Brooklyn in New York and Shoreditch in London. "The volume comes from retail, but the demand is created in coffee shops," Petersson explained. "That's where you try our product and experience oat for the first time, in an environment that you like."

"It blew my hair back," said Stuart Forsyth, a former barista and the co-founder of vegan coffee brand Minor Figures. "Oatly made oats sexy."

atly's growth hasn't been without controversy. In 2015, the Swedish milk industry sued it, claiming its ad slogan "Like milk, but made for humans" unfairly denigrated cow's milk. Oatly lost, but Petersson and Schoolcraft continue to use the slogan outside Sweden. "The line implies what everyone already knows. Milk is produced by cows for the benefit of baby cows," said Schoolcraft.

Whether or not plant milks really are a healthy substitute for cow's milk is a matter of fierce debate, and not an inconsequential one. In June 2017, a Belgian couple were convicted of unintentionally causing the death of their seven-month-old baby, after feeding him oat and quinoa milks instead of infant formula. The parents, who ran a health-food shop, believed the child was lactose intolerant and sought the advice of homeopaths rather than seeking medical attention.

Much of the debate revolves around whether or not plant milks should be fortified with additional vitamins to better imitate cow's milk. Oatly fortifies its product according to WHO guidelines. Rude Health doesn't. "The minute you start fortifying, you're pretending it's milk," Camilla Barnard told me. "I don't want to do that. It feels dishonest." Because the Soil Association refuses organic certification to fortified products, many new plant milks choose the "purity" (and associated high price) of organic over the use of additional nutrients. Califia Farms' unsweetened almond milk boasts "50% more calcium than milk" on its bottle - but it doesn't contain Vitamin D, B12, Riboflavin or any of the other nutrients found in milk or other fortified plant milks.

"A consumer has to read the label and understand the variation that exists in these milks, because they range tremendously," said Dennis Savaiano, a professor of nutrition science at Purdue University who has studied milk for more than 30 years.

What most plant milks are desperate to tell you is what they don't have in them. Dairy-free; sugar-free; soya-free; gluten-free; GMO-free; bisphenol A-free - in some cases, the "free from" declarations are actually longer than the ingredients list. Califia Farms boasts its products are carrageenan-free, despite the widely used stabiliser being approved as safe by the European commission, the US Food and Drug Administration and the WHO. It's the inevitable culmination of today's anxious eating culture: we've gone from buying foods on the merits of their ingredients, to buying them on the basis of what's left out.

"If you look at our category, it's a little bit messed up, you know?" Petersson conceded. "What's the definition of an oat milk? Think of the comparison between oat milk and soya milk and almond or rice - are those all plant-based milks, or not? Nobody really knows."

To protect against such uncertainty - and protect the dairy industry from the upstarts - a US senator from Wisconsin sponsored a bill in 2017 called the Dairy Pride (Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, Milk and Cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday) Act, which would ban plant drinks from impersonating dairy.

"No one is necessarily drinking milk for the nutritional benefits of it," said Tamara Arbib of Rebel Kitchen. "When you're an adult, you're having it because you want something creamy in your drinks." It is true that our postwar worries about child malnutrition have been replaced with fears about childhood obesity. And the two-thirds of the world that can't drink milk aren't suffering from osteoporosis or rickets; in fact, China and Japan have lower rates of these conditions than Europe.

"A lot of scientists think this thing about how children have to drink cow's milk is bogus. This idea that it makes you big and strong is clearly bogus," Mark Kurlansky, the food historian, told me. "On the other hand, this idea that 'milk is bad for you so I'm going to have almond milk or soya milk or something' - that's bogus, too. Because it's a totally different food."

very nutritionist I spoke to emphasised that milk is no less healthy than it's ever been; in fact, it's never been safer. "From a scientific perspective, the data that suggests milk is a bad food just doesn't exist," said Savaiano. "It has a lot of nutrients in it. It's a great source of calcium, it's a great source of protein, it's a good source of riboflavin and potassium. So you can't make the argument it's not a nutritious food." Nor could any health professional I spoke to point to any data showing a confirmed rise in diagnosed lactose intolerance, though most agreed that cases of self-diagnosis are rising.

But the plant milk boom is not really about nutrition. Nor is it the first wave of a shift towards ethical, plant-based living - much as we need it. "Those other things might be on people's lists, but they're secondary selling characteristics," explained Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business, a food industry analyst firm that has tracked plant milk's rise. He pointed out that 90% of plant milk buyers still purchase other dairy products, like cheese and ice cream, both of which are still growing. The forces driving us towards plant milk are really something bigger: a manifestation of a collective anxiety that something is wrong with our bodies. That we aren't as healthy and happy as we could be - or perhaps, should be - and something, or someone, must be to blame.

"There's a lot of people discovering dairy intolerances and gluten intolerances and that kind of stuff, but actually I think what you're looking at is much more intolerance to the life we've been living," said Arbib.

Our growing suspicion of milk is perhaps a symptom of a lost faith: in Big Agriculture, in nutritional science. "People have learned that dietary advice changes," Mellentin said. First saturated fat was killing us, now sugar is the number one enemy. Eggs and nuts were sources of bad cholesterol, now they're superfoods. "So, understandably, people have become sceptical," Mellentin went on. "Why listen to an expert when they change their mind all the time?" It doesn't matter that that is how science works. Science changes, so who's to say that your blood type doesn't affect your dairy tolerance, or that carrageenan wasn't the reason for some unspecified malaise? Just because our newfound lactose anxiety isn't necessarily medically diagnosable, Mellentin said, that doesn't mean it should be written off. "It's not to do with allergies. It's to do with how people feel, and making themselves feel better," he said. How can you argue with that?

Recently, Oatly has begun eyeing plant milk's next target: China. It launched in the country in 2016, after receiving an undisclosed investment from a Chinese conglomerate. Sales have been promising. Demand for milk in China is growing, and Chinese businesses are investing heavily in plant milk and lactose-free alternatives. To Oatly, conquering China is more than business, it's an ethical obligation. "The worst thing that could happen [environmentally] is if the Chinese people started to drink dairy milk, because there wouldn't be enough cows in the world to support that," said Toni Petersson, the CEO. The company's latest challenge is competition: Quaker has announced plans for a line of oat drinks, and in January Silk launched its own oat brand, Oat Yeah. "We think oats can become its own category," Petersson said.

Other plant milk entrepreneurs were more cautious. Everyone knows how quickly health-food hype - juice cleanses, coconut oil - can die off. Meanwhile, kombucha is gaining ground as the gut-friendly food cure of the moment. Mellentin was blunt: "Peak plant milk is about three to five years away, at most."

* Follow the Long Read on Twitter at @gdnlongread, or sign up to the long read weekly email here.

* This article was amended on 29 January 2019. An earlier version stated that Winston Churchill introduced free milk to schools in 1946. Clement Attlee was prime minister at that time, and it was his government that passed those measures.

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White gold: the unstoppable rise of alternative milks

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In the spring of 2018, New York was gripped by a sudden, very particular and, for some, calamitous food shortage. Gaps appeared on grocery shelves. Coffee shops put out signs, turning customers away. Twitter and Instagram brimmed with outrage. The truly desperate searched from Williamsburg to Harlem, but it seemed undeniable: New York was out of oat milk.

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Oatly is a Swedish manufacturer of oat based foods and drinks. A tiny company with huge ambitions. They have a lot to say and want to be in the middle of the discussion concerning sustainability and health. The only problem is that their media budget is, to put it mildly, limited. Which is why we decided to treat the packaging as Oatly’s main media channel, as an advertising space in itself.

The Oatly products are being sold in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, UK, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Italy and the US.

Case Study

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Oatly is a Swedish manufacturer of oat based foods and drinks. A tiny company with huge ambitions. They have a lot to say and want to be in the middle of the discussion concerning sustainability and health. The only problem is that their media budget is, to put it mildly, limited. Which is why we de…

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Oat milk company Oatly makes its market debut Thursday, after pricing its IPO at $17 a share. The company raised $1.4 billion, valuing it at $10 billion.

Oatly has become a popular new alt-milk in the United States. It can be found at Starbucks, and an investment group that includes Oprah Winfrey and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz invested $200 million in the company last year.

But while Oatly is pretty new to American consumers, the company and its signature product have been around for nearly three decades. Oat milk was invented in 1994 in Sweden by Oatly's founders, brothers Rickard and Bjorn Oeste, who were researching an alternative to cow's milk for people with lactose intolerance.

"Our founders just figured, OK, if vast majority of the world population are intolerant to milk why don't we make something that is actually designed for human beings not baby cows?" Oatly CEO Toni Petersson previously told CNBC Make It.

And for decades, that's where it languished. That is until Petersson came on as CEO in 2014.

Petersson gave Oatly a rebrand and set his sights on the America, where the plant-based milk market was growing.

First, he changed the logo, from having a small, red "Oatly" on the corner of the carton to bold block and bubble letters spelling out "OAT-LY!" front and center.

He also switched the packaging copy from Swedish to English so no matter where it was sold, many people could read it. This allowed Oatly to reach not only the U.S., but a global audience.

Petersson also commissioned a report that highlighted how Oatly was better for the environment than dairy. (In its filing, Oatly says that "on average, a liter of Oatly product consumed in place of cow's milk results in around 80% less greenhouse gas emissions, 79% less land usage and 60% less energy consumption.")

And in what turned out to be a key move, Petersson debuted a special barista blend of Oatly oat milk.

Oatly knew persuading U.S. consumers to try, let alone buy, a new product would be a challenge, U.S. general manager Mike Messersmith told CNBC Make It. So as a way to introduce the plant-based milk to the U.S., Oatly sent representatives to high-end coffee shops in New York City to share the product with local baristas in person. Then the baristas could recommend and use oat milk with customers.

"We thought about specialty coffee shops and tea shops, where if you were able to take the recommendation of your local barista you see every day, and try our product through an expertly prepared latte or cappuccino that would be a really amazing way to kind of be introduced to even just the idea of oat milk," Messersmith said.

By the end of 2017, Oatly was being served in about 650 coffee shop locations.

From 2018 to 2019, sales of oat milk skyrocketed from $6 million to nearly $40 million, Genevieve Aronson, VP of communications at Nielsen, told CNBC Make It.

"We were a bit unprepared and taken by surprise by the massive hype around the brand," Petersson says.

As of Dec. 31, Oatly products can be found in about 8,500 retail shops and some 10,000 coffee shops in the United States, according to the company's SEC filing.
This story has been updated to include China Resources and Verlinvest's investment.

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How Oatly went from a decades-old obscure brand to a $10 billion IPO

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Oat milk company Oatly makes its market debut Thursday, after pricing its IPO at $17 a share. The company raised $1.4 billion, valuing it at $10 billion. Oatly has become a popular new alt-milk in the United States.

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Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries

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With nearly half of young Americans - between the age of 24 and 39 - identifying themselves as flexitarians, plant-based options are no longer the quirky dietary choice but a part of a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, with so many options now appearing in stores, it is becoming increasingly challenging for plant-based food brands to cut through the noise and position themselves.

To stay ahead of the competition and be relevant among consumers, plant-based food brands need to think beyond category and communicate with customers in a disruptive and memorable way. Consider Oatly's cartons - sitting alongside comic manifestos surrounding the company's work and environmental mission - designed to be witty and opposing the "preachy vegan" stereotypes.

Brands should not let their product story drive the brand. Instead, narrate the brand with a symbolic story that audiences can connect with on a subconscious level. Think beyond the "plant-based food" category and engage with customers on an emotional level. Tapping into cultures and communities outside of the plant-based category can further help these companies drive loyalty and future growth anchored in feeling over function.
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Plant-based food brands should focus on emotionally engaging with customers | YouGov

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With nearly half of young Americans - between the age of 24 and 39 - identifying themselves as flexitarians, plant-based options are no longer the quirky dietary choice but a part of a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, with so many options now appearing in stores, it is becoming increasingly challenging for plant-based food brands to cut through the noise and position themselves.

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21 may to 23 july Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It

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21 may to 23 july Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It

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The natural world is in crisis. As our demand for food, materials and energy soars, forests are becoming farmland, plastic is filling our oceans and the climate is heating fast.

The global UN conferences of COP15 on biodiversity and COP26 on climate change may have ended, but you can still join us as we continue debate why and how our relationship with the natural world needs to change.

The programme includes a free display at the Museum, online events and articles which delve into the issues we all face.

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Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It | Natural History Museum

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The natural world is in crisis. As our demand for food, materials and energy soars, forests are becoming farmland, plastic is filling our oceans and the climate is heating fast. The global UN conferences of COP15 on biodiversity and COP26 on climate change may have ended, but you can still join us as we continue debate why and how our relationship with the natural world needs to change.

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Perceived Greenwashing: The Interactive Effects of Green Advertising and Corporate Environmental Performance on Consumer Reactions

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Perceived Greenwashing: The Interactive Effects of Green Advertising and Corporate Environmental Performance on Consumer Reactions

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/boom.2013.3.4.54?searchText=branding%20sustainability&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dbranding%2Bsustainability&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A034750a472eff84facd51b1d2b1e8183

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Urban Sustainability: A Global Perspective

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Urban Sustainability: A Global Perspective

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt130hjhm?turn_away=true&searchText=branding%20sustainability&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dbranding%2Bsustainability&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A034750a472eff84facd51b1d2b1e8183

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep02698.12?searchText=branding+sustainability&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dbranding%2Bsustainability&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A034750a472eff84facd51b1d2b1e8183#metadata_info_tab_contents

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Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability

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Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vjqpt?turn_away=true&searchText=branding%20sustainability&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dbranding%2Bsustainability&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A034750a472eff84facd51b1d2b1e8183

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https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rave/detail.action?docID=1095001