I am interested in the uses of Psychology in Advertising and Behaviour Change campaigns. I'm particularly interested in why memorable adverts fail to generate or encourage sales.
Any thoughts from a cognitive psychology perspective?
You may find it useful to study the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) which was developed in a unique collaboration of major behavioral change theorists -- with aim to change health related behaviors. Drs, Kasprzyk, D & Montaño, D. at the Battelle Seattle Research Center have put the IBM into practice with regard to health related behaviors (heart health, sexual, etc).
I recommend reviewing (Ajzen's, 1991) theory of planned behavior. It provides a good framework for predicting (behavioural) buyer intention & developing interventions. I have attached one example, although one should note that the theory has been applied to numerous studies with high predictive validity.
Conversly, the predecessor theory, "theory of planned action", was less reliable but not completely invalid. Plenty of literature is available explaining the reasons for revising the theory. Note, Ajzen is also part of the research gate network should you need to message him.
The main cause of failure relates to a theory referred to as the socio-cultural congruency/ incongruency clash theory. (Cui et al. 2012; Akaba et al. 2015)
This theory is a derivative of the Sherif and Hovland, (1961), theory of social judgment t, the cognitive development theory of Piaget(1952)and the cultural theories of Hoftsede (1985). Akaba et al(2015) used this theory to develop the socio cultural clash theory and used same to demonstrate market success and failure with respect to some notable child adverts in Ghana.
It may be useful to read these references
Akaba, M., Black, D., Boolaky, M. and Pialli (2015) ‘Child television advertising: the perception, attitude and observations of Ghanaian parents’ ELK ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF MARKETING AND RETAIL MANAGEMENT, ISSN 0976-7193 (Print) ISSN 2349-2317 (Online); DOI: 10.16962/EAPJMRM/issn.2349-2317/2014, 6(2)
Cui, G., Yang, X., Wang, H. & Liu, H. (2012) ‘Culturally incongruent messages
in international advertising’, International Journal of Advertising, 31(2), pp. 355–376. Warc.[Online]. Available from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=102&sid=e4ee771a-fd7f-44c5-b1f9-114cd7d0ef2e%40sessionmgr115
Hofstede, G. H. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related
values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Piaget, J.C.(1952) The origins of intelligence in children. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Sherif, M. &Hovland, C.I. (1961) Social judgment: Assimilation and contrast effects in
communication and attitude change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
The IBM combines several theoretical frameworks -- Fishbein, Bandura, & Azjen among others (though these three participated in the developmental working group sponsored by the NIH). { Azjen is same as mention by Daryn above] One operationalization of the model is described by Kasprzyk, Montano & Fishbein (2001) which is referenced and discussed in the rather readable Fishbein & Yzer (2003) - Using theory to design health interventions In: Communication Theory (pdf availiable on the web). Azer has recently revised this as delineated at http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/43568_2.pdf Reading some of the more recent work by Kasprzyk and Montano you will find their collection/analysis/use of ethnographic information in message derivation as touched on by Maxwell above [See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3984408/]..
Personal comment: I was -- once a consultant to a major ad agency in early Grad School for a couple of years -- personally drawn to the IBM by both interest in means to affect safety related behavior (e.g., wearing seat-belts, following safety procedures in a process-control plant, etc) as well as increasing the efficacy of marketing campaigns supported by Battelle. In a small way a decade ago, I worked with Kasprzyk and Montano in various aspects of their ethnographic efforts as well as analyses of specific health-related interventions . These -- and translations of the IBM -- have proven very helpful in recent consulting support of marketing efforts.