A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: Using Depicted Movement in Picture-Based Ads to Increase Narrative Transportation

Abstract

Storytelling is a common tactic used by marketers to connect with consumers and persuade through narrative transportation. While researchers have explored how narrative transportation can be generated through many different mediums, little research has investigated how narrative transportation can be achieved through a single image, such as those used for print ads and billboards. This research examines how single-image, picture-based ads with high levels of depicted movement can prompt consumers to empathize with characters in the ad, activate their imagination, and experience narrative transportation leading to more positive attitudes toward that ad. In addition, when ads incorporate a design tactic that requires inductive inference, such as showing products as humanized, narrative transportation can be generated even in the absence of depicted movement. This research adds to the narrative transportation literature by providing depicted movement and humanization as specific tactics advertisers can use in a single image to persuade through narrative transportation.

Disclosure Statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

Partial funding to support this research was provided by Kent State University.

Notes on contributors

Jamie L. Grigsby

Jamie L. Grigsby (PhD, Kent State University) is an assistant professor of marketing, College of Business, Missouri State University.

Robert D. Jewell

Robert D. Jewell (PhD, The Ohio State University) is a professor of marketing, Ambassador Crawford College of Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, Kent State University.

César Zamudio

César Zamudio (PhD, University of Texas at Dallas) is an assistant professor of marketing, School of Business Administration, Virginia Commonwealth University.