The influence of ad-evoked feelings on brand evaluations: Empirical generalizations from consumer responses to more than 1000 TV commercials

•Consumer responses to 1100 TV ads from over 150 product categories are analyzed.•Ad-evoked feelings have a substantial positive effect on brand evaluations.•The effects of ad-evoked feelings do not depend on category-level involvement.•These effects are stronger for hedonic products than for utilitarian products.•The effects remain for durable and nondurable, and for search and experience goods.

It has been observed that ad-evoked feelings exert a positive influence on brand attitudes. To investigate the empirical generalizability of this phenomenon, we analyzed the responses of 1576 consumers to 1070 TV commercials from more than 150 different product categories. The findings suggest five empirical generalizations. First, ad-evoked feelings indeed have a substantial impact on brand evaluations, even under conditions that better approximate real marketplace settings than past studies did. Second, these effects are both direct and indirect, with the indirect effects largely linked to changes in attitude toward the ad. Third, these effects do not depend on the level of involvement associated with the product category. However, fourth, the effects are more pronounced for hedonic products than utilitarian products. Finally, these effects do not depend on whether the products are durables, nondurables, or services, or whether the products are search goods or experience goods.