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CONSUMERS' PERCEPTION OF THE CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISEMENTS OF

MTN, AIRTEL, 9MOBILE, AND GLO

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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30585.95849

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CONSUMERS' PERCEPTION OF THE CREATIVITY IN

ADVERTISEMENTS OF MTN, AIRTEL, 9MOBILE, AND GLO

ABSTRACT
Advertising is no longer just about raising awareness or providing product information. With
fierce competition in every industry, creative advertising is the only way to pique or maintain
consumer interest in any brand. However, when developing such advertisements, the
consumers' opinion of inventiveness must be taken into account. This study investigates
whether customers' impressions of innovation in advertising from four telecomm networks:
MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9Mobile, lean toward Divergence or Relevance. The survey research
method was utilized to gather data for this study, and the questionnaire was employed as the
data collection instrument, with a sample size of 100. Consumers across the four networks
thought any advertisement with an equal combination of Divergence and Relevance was
innovative. Most subscribers thought the advertisements of one network were innovative yet
subscribed to a different network, indicating that creative advertisements do not always lead
to purchase or intention to acquire a product. The Elaboration Likelihood Model was used to
guide the research. The study recommended that the creative sector conduct consumer
research before and after each piece of creative advertising content, because consumer
perception is crucial to attracting customers and subsequently purchasing or subscribing to
any of the telecom networks.

Key Words: Consumer perception, Creative advertising, Divergence, Relevance, Creativity.

BY
LIKEH, GODWIN AKAWU
godwin.akawu.pg90785@unn.edu.ng
Master of Arts Student, Mass Communication
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
 2

INTRODUCTION

The importance of creativity in the advertising process cannot be overstated. It acts as a link
between what an advertiser wants to say and what a customer is prepared to pay attention to
(Tsiotsou etal, 2010). In a congested environment, researchers and practitioners in marketing
agree that creativity is one of the most crucial aspects for success in advertising ( (Smith &
MacKenzie, 2007)

Advertisers and marketers both understand the need of creativity in advertising, according to
Ahmed Maree (2012). They also understand that offering something unique or exceptional
attracts clients' attention and stays in their minds for a long time, instilling in them the
confidence needed to make a favorable purchasing decision.

Creativity is known for its ability to capture the attention of customers while also providing
entertaining information. In the advertising industry, creativity has an impact on the profits
and losses of agencies and their clients.
Practitioners claim that the only thing that distinguishes advertising from a salesperson's
blunt and frequently useless presentation is originality.

The use of creativity in advertising raises some important problems. What does it mean to be
creative, according to practitioners? Do these definitions match the public's perceptions of
their work? When creative work is broadcast and published, do both advertising professionals
and people who witness it acknowledge it in the same way, as West, et al. (2008) asks? Is it
true that being creative means coming up with something new and unique? Is the public
responding to innovative advertising in the way that practitioners intended?

Some empirical studies on advertising creativity have been done, according to Ahmed Maree
(2012) (Ang & Low 2000; Kover, James, & Sonner 1997; Pieters, Warlop, & Wedel 2002;
Stone, Besser, & Lewis 2000; White & Smith 2001), However, while these studies are
interesting in and of themselves, they do not portray a cohesive or full understanding of
creative advertising as a whole.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Some argue that “in-depth assessment and insight into the art of advertising creativity” can
only be supplied by experts in the field of advertising research. The general public's opinion
is regarded as being less important. In reality, it is stated that in advertising, neither clients
nor consumers should be considered, with the exception of peers (Hackley and Kover, 2007)

The public, practitioners, advertisers, and agency creative employees all have different
perspectives on advertising innovation. This disparity in perception could result in a business
setback for the company in question. One of the key issues in advertising is the perceptions of
so-called experts and non-experts. This is owing to the fact that advertising practitioners, or
 3

professionals, create advertisements for non-experts, or consumers, who are the most
important audience for every advertisement. If this is the case, why isn't the consumer's
perspective a top focus in what should be considered creative advertising? Instead of
conducting research to check if the customer who is the target audience for such
advertisements views the same as creative, awards are given to firms based on the experts'
viewpoints of creativity. The prize presenters may see an advertisement as primarily original
(divergence), but the consumers' opinion of the ad's relevance and how significant it is to
them may be the most essential aspect of its creativity.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

1. Determine which aspect of advertising innovation is more significant to consumers:

divergence or relevance.
2. To determine if there is a link between the consumer's perception of ad creativity and the
actual or prospective purchase/subscription of Telco products.
3. To determine which medium consumers think is greatest for ad creativity.
4. To find out which telecommunications provider consumers think is the most creative when
it comes to advertisements.

QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH

1. Do consumers place a higher value on the Divergence or Relevance dimensions when it

comes to ad creativity?
2. Which telecommunications business is regarded as having the most innovative advertising?
3. How do consumers react to inventive advertisements in terms of real or planned purchases
of telecommunications products?
4. Which media do consumers think to be the most effective for creative advertising?

REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

Customer Attitudes
To perceive something is to become aware or conscious of it, to interpret or evaluate it in a
specific way, and to realize or comprehend it.
The process through which a consumer selects, organizes, and analyzes information/stimuli
inputs in order to construct a meaningful picture of a brand or product is referred to as
customer perception. It's how a customer perceives a brand based on what he or she has
learned by observing the products, marketing, and feedback, among other things. It is the
customer's mental image of that particular brand (Fatima et al. 2019).

We receive information inputs when we see or hear an advertisement, smell or touch a

product, for example. Perception is the term used to describe all of these processes. Exposure,
 4

attention, and interpretation are examples of perception processes. When a stimulus enters
within the range of a person's sense receptors—sight, smell, or touch—this is known as
exposure. Consumers may either prefer to focus on particular stimuli while ignoring others,
or they may go out of their way to avoid receiving certain messages.

The amount of processing activity committed to a specific input is referred to as attention.

Consumers are frequently subjected to sensory overload, in which they are exposed to far
more information than they can digest, resulting in an ever-increasing battle for their
attention.

The meaning we give to sensory stimuli is referred to as interpretation. Two people can see or
hear the same thing, but their interpretations of it can be as varied as night and day,
depending on their expectations for the stimuli. The meaning we give to a stimuli is
determined by the collection of beliefs we give it. Many marketing decisions hinge on
identifying and evoking the right set of beliefs, because this influences what criteria
customers will use to evaluate a product, package, or message (Nnamdi, 2012, p. 153, 154).

Advertising
The Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (APCON), according to Benson-Eluwa, defines
advertising as persuasive and useful information about goods and services that is paid for, or
a total of concepts defined by advertisers via the use of media (Benson-Eluwa, 2004).

In today's environment, advertising has grown in popularity and has become commonplace.
Consumers rule the market, according to Trehan and Trehan (2011), thus businesses must
persuade and attract customers to offer their goods and services. As a result, advertising plays
a critical role in communication. Advertising appears to be in everything people do and
everywhere they go, from surfing the internet to taking the bus.

Advertisements appear on a variety of websites and can be found in a variety of strange

locations, ranging from can beverages to concert tickets. Advertising is becoming
increasingly popular as more individuals and businesses turn to it as a means of making their
products or services known to the general public. Advertising has three essential
characteristics: it raises customer awareness, provides information, and has the ability to
convince consumers (Remziye Terkan, 2014). .

Creativity
According to Meusburger (2009), academic interest in creativity began with J. P. Guilford's
1950 address to the American Psychology Association, in which he called for a definition,
measurement, and improvement of creative talent (Guilford, 1950). Since then, substantial
efforts have been made to define what creativity is and how it should be measured.

According to Wilken (2001), referenced in Ahmed Maree (2012), creativity is what piques a
person's interest in going beyond, where no one has gone before. Naturally creative people
have an instinctive impulse to innovate.
 5

Creativity is the skill of forging new and meaningful connections between previously
unrelated topics in a way that is relevant, realistic, and in good taste, but that also shows the
product in a new light (El-Murad & West 2004).

First, there must be something novel, innovative, distinct, or unique — this element is known
as divergence. Second, the divergent object created must address an issue or have some sort
of importance (Smith and Yang, 2004).
The society in which we live is extremely competitive, and consumers are constantly
confronted with a plethora of items and options. Because brand loyalty is nearly non-existent,
marketers must come up with unique and innovative strategies to attract and retain customers.

According to Remziye (2014) Consumer loyalty is essential to a company's survival in the

business sector. It also requires being able to expand one's clientele. Because the market is
flooded with products at extremely low prices, people are always willing to try new things.
Companies must devise solutions to survive in the market now more than ever. Advertising
tactics that are both creative and imaginative are important instruments.

Creative Advertising
There has been little agreement on what creativity entails to this point, resulting in a plethora
of definitions in the literature. Regardless of the various approaches to capturing creativity, it
is common ground in the literature that marketing creativity as a product encompasses
concepts such as “creative thinking,” “innovation,” “ability,” “imagination,” “originality,”
“newness,” or “problem solving” (El-Murad, Tsiotsou et al., p. 3), Tsiotsou et al., p. 3).

In advertising, creativity is a means to an end. It's one of the ways ad firms may sway
people's opinions and, eventually, their actions (Till & Baack 2005). Academic definitions of
advertising creativity, according to West et al. (2008), include (1) originality, newness, or
novelty, and (2) appropriateness.

There are various viewpoints on “what constitutes advertising creativity” (Belch and Belch,
2009, p.258). The rationale for this is given by West et al. (2008, p. 35):

Consumers receive and deconstruct advertising based on their needs, and their judgments of
creativity may differ significantly from creatives' "hunches."

This explains the disparities in advertisement creativity perceptions.

Smith, et al. (2007) proposes two approaches to advertising creativity:

The first method is to define creativity as a deviation from the norm or divergence.
Divergence can be described as the amount of brand or execution components in an ad that
are different, novel, unusual, original, unique, and so on.... The second way to define ad
 6

creativity is to say that it is determined by two factors: divergence and relevancy...

Divergence is described as "the extent to which at least some ad/brand components are
meaningful, useful, or value to the consumer," while relevance is defined as "the extent to
which at least some ad/brand elements are meaningful, useful, or valuable to the consumer."

Creative Advertising Dimensions of Divergence and Relevance

Creativity has been treated from a variety of approaches since it first came into contact with
advertising/marketing. Marketing creativity is generally seen as having two traits, similar to
psychology definitions: divergence and relevance (sometimes called effectiveness).

Divergence and relevance, the two general aspects that define creativity, are further
subdivided into more particular factors. To begin, Smith and Yang (2004) proposed a
divergence scale with fourteen features that constitute divergence as well as instances.
Fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, resistance to premature closure, perspective,
synthesis, comedy, fantasy, emotion, richness and color, empathetic perspective, intriguing
questions, and future orientation are the fourteen criteria.

However, according to Smith et al (2007), referenced in Olarotimi (2018), the divergence

factor was evaluated and scaled into a new one with only six divergence factors and three
relevance factors: originality, flexibility, synthesis, elaboration, aesthetic value, and hilarious
value. Ad-to-consumer relevance, brand-to-consumer relevance, and ad/Brand-to-consumer
socio-cultural relevance are all included in the relevance scale.

Smith et al. (2007) propose that divergence is made up of seven separate components derived
from Guilford's (1950, 1956) and Torrance's (1950, 1956) psychological investigations
(1972). Flexibility, fluidity, creativity, elaboration, synthesis, aesthetic worth, and
imagination are among these qualities. Due to further analysis and tests, fluency and
imagination were eliminated, leaving the five factors for divergence as flexibility, originality,
elaboration, synthesis, and artistic merit.

Scholars and practitioners, as well as creatives, have traditionally debated which dimension is
more significant in defining advertising creativity. While some feel that a creative ad should
have a high divergence and low relevance, others say that both dimensions must be of great
value in order for the ad to be considered creative.

According to Holmsäter (2013), If an advertisement can pique a customer's interest,

maintaining that interest is simple if the content is similarly engaging.

Divergence is the most basic element of advertisement innovation as it must have some
elements of originality or stand out in some way, Despite the fact that the concept of
divergence is at the center of ad innovation, it has only acknowledged very minor growth in
advertising (Singh & Gautam 2019).
 7

Smith, et al. (2007), on the other hand, provides the argument from the standpoint of the
consumer:

"While professionals can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two
conceptualizations, it's critical to understand how consumers assess ad creativity because
creativity (like beauty) is "in the eye of the beholder." Consumers' judgments of an ad's
divergence must be compared to their own experiences, whereas consumer perceptions of
relevance must be compared to their own goals, needs, and desires. As a result, it is the
consumer's impression – not that of academics or advertising professionals – that is supposed
to pique his or her attention in an advertisement. As a result, it's critical to comprehend
customer impressions of ad originality. Consumers' opinions of an ad's overall creativity,
followed by their assessments of the ad's divergence and relevancy, could be measured
experimentally to arrive at these conclusions. If divergence is the only significant predictor of
overall creativity, consumers may regard creativity as a function of novelty, originality,
imaginativeness, and other factors. If divergence and relevance (and/or their relationship) are
strong predictors of overall creativity, it suggests that consumers consider creativity to be a
combined function of these dimensions."
This research work is focused on the above thesis. The consumer's perspective on how they
see both the divergence and relevance components of innovation in four Nigerian telecom
firms' advertisements.

As academics have continued to write about advertising creativity, one key point of
contention has been what should be included in advertisements to assess their level of
inventiveness. Almost every scholar says the same thing, just in a different way. They all
believe that a creative advertisement must include both diverse and relevant aspects.

Smith and Yang conducted a review of all previous literatures that defined and identified
creative criteria. They created a table to demonstrate the results, demonstrating that
divergence and relevance are the two predictors of innovation. According to him, "reasoning
leads to the notion that innovative commercials are regarded to be different and relevant"
(Smith and Yang 2004, p. 34).

Dimension of Divergence

Flexibility

When advertisements "contain multiple ideas or switch from one perspective to another,"
they are said to be flexible (Smith et al., 2007, p.821). Divergent advertisements should allow
for a diversity of concepts to emerge from the adverts. This will not only raise the odds of
reaching a wider range of viewers with the diversity of ideas and viewpoints, but it will also
boost the viewers' ability to "break out from pre-existing schema" as different and more
original thoughts and perspectives emerge (Ang et al., 2007, p. 221)
 8

Originality

Ad features that are “rare, startling, or shift away from the obvious and commonplace”
(Smith et al., 2007, p.821) or thoughts that are different from the “accepted norm” (Smith et
al., 2007, p.821) are considered original (Sasser et al., 2013, p. 299).

Elaboration

When commercials "include unexpected details, or finalize and extend fundamental ideas so
they become more intricate, complicated, or sophisticated," the elaboration factor is reached
(Smith et al., 2007, p. 821).

Synthesis

Ads that “combine, integrate, or blend normally unconnected elements or ideas” are referred
to as synthesis (Smith et al., 2007, p.821). This is in line with Ang et al(2012, .'s p. 2)
suggestion that the ad parts should be related in some way, which is their third dimension of
the ad creative cube. The authors defined connectivity as the “degree to which an ad is
relevant to its target audience, that is, the viewers are able to relate the ad material to their
previous experience, values, objectives, wants, and information,” allowing them to synthesize
these generally unrelated aspects.

Artistic Worth

Advertisements have artistic value if they "contain creative linguistic impressions or

attractive colors or shapes" (Smith et al., 2007, p.821). According to Smith et al. (ibid), this
last indicator of divergence was previously known as "richness and colorfulness of imagery"
and was derived from an earlier study by Smith and Yang (2004), in which additional
perspectives on advertising creativity dimensions of an advertising practitioner were sought.

Dimension of Relevance

Researchers consider relevance to be the second factor of advertising innovation (Smith and
Yang, 2004; Smith et al., 2007; Smith et al., 2008; Sheinin, Varki, and Ashley, 2011; Anget
al., 2012; Sasser et al., 2013). It's defined as advertising elements which are "meaningful,
appropriate, helpful, or valuable in some way to the audience" (Smith et al., 2007, p.820).

There are three distinct sorts of relevance (Smith and Yang, 2004) or three approaches to
achieving relevance (Smith et al., 2007), notably Ad to Consumer Relevance, Brand or
Product-to-Consumer Relevance, and Ad-to-Product Relevance.
 9

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

The Elaboration Likelihood Model, established by Richard E. Petty and John T. Cacioppo in
the 1980s, serves as the theoretical foundation for this research. Persuasion dynamics are
described by the elaboration likelihood model (Petty &Cacioppo, 1986).
Individuals can differ in how carefully and extensively they think about a message and the
stance, item, or behavior it advocates, according to Wagner & Petty (2011). That is, along a
"elaboration continuum," a person's degree of elaboration or thinking on a message or subject
in any given setting may vary from low to high. Individuals may think a lot, think
moderately, or think very little about a message, and the amount of thinking they do has a lot
to do with how persuaded they will be (if at all).
In this study, it is critical to highlight that advertisers and professional creative groups must
understand that the consumers' perception or thought pattern about an ad is the most essential
factor in a product receiving a positive response and being perceived as creative.

According to Nwosu and Nkamnebe (2006, p. 91), persuasive advertising can be

accomplished by developing messages that encourage target audiences to engage in thinking
processes in order to accept or reject advertising messages. If the features and dynamics of
the target audience are known and sufficiently taken into account when developing
advertising messages, such changes in the receiver's attitude are most likely. The failure of
most expensive commercials to achieve their specified aims is due to a lack of audience
research prior to crafting messages.

There are two main channels that play a role in delivering a persuasive message, according to
the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion: core and peripheral.

The persuasive strategy used by the Central route is simple and thorough. The central route
necessitates a careful examination of the arguments contained in the message. It necessitates
a greater level of participation on the side of the reader or spectator. The message's recipient
thoroughly considers the message and considers it from all angles. When the communication
is processed through the central channel, the receiver's active participation, as well as his
drive and ability to think, are critical. In simple terms, the receiver should be interested in the
message and subject matter. The core route is really effective. Someone who is distracted or
has difficulty understanding the message may be unable to complete the central processing. If
the communication has no direct impact on the receiver, it will be ignored.

(https://www.communicationtheory.org/elaboration-likelihood-model/).

If a person is motivated and capable of thoroughly considering a message (e.g., high personal
relevance, few distractions), the central route of persuasion is likely to be followed.
Individuals who take the core route carefully evaluate the parts of the message to see if its
proposition makes sense and will help them in some manner. The central path to persuasion
focuses on the message arguments' strength, which are the bits of information in the message
that are intended to give support for the communicator's point of view. If the arguments are
 10

"strong," engaged people will generate mainly favorable ideas in response to the message and
will alter their attitudes in the recommended direction. If the communication, on the other
hand, includes “weak” reasons, attentive recipients may have more negative than positive
thoughts in reaction to the message (i.e., the weaker arguments “fail” under deeper
examination) and experience either no change in attitude or a shift in the other direction
(Petty, Briol, et al., 2009; Wagner & Petty, 2011).

The peripheral route is poor, and the receiver's involvement will be minimal. The
communication sent via the peripheral channel is not cognitively examined. The receiver of
the message is uncertain about whether or not to agree with the message. Because the person
may not be able to elaborate on the message sufficiently, he will be swayed by reasons
unrelated to the message in the end.

Even if the content is not convincing enough, a message given by a person that does not
elaborate on the meaning of the message might nevertheless be persuasive. It could be
because the individual has a direct relationship with the content, is familiar with the issue, has
a positive attitude toward the sender, has positive ideas (sex, money), and so on. This type of
persuasion or attitude shift may not be long-lasting. This can also occur if the recipient is
unable to process the message or the content is insufficient. For example, if your favorite
player endorses an energy drink, you are more likely to purchase that brand over others.

Communication listeners using the peripheral route to persuasion employ basic clues or
mental shortcuts to process the information presented in a message. A cue could be an
emotional state (e.g., "happiness") that becomes positively associated with the message's
advocated position, or a recipient could simply agree with a message without carefully
considering the arguments because it is being delivered by a perceived expert on the subject,
according to Petty, Barden, et al., (2009). To this reason, the intensity of the messaging
arguments can have little impact on creating or modifying attitudes when using the periphery
method.

METHODOLOGY

A. Research Design

The study used survey research design and the questionnaire as the instrument of data
collection. This design allows for the study of consumers' opinion on a given issue as it
concerns advertising. The reason and purpose for the use of the survey is to systematically
explain facts and characteristics of a particular population with regards to what is being
researched.
 11

B. The Research Population

The population of this research comprises of consumers of creative advertising content from
a virtual community group on Facebook and one from Whatsapp. The members of these
communities come from various works of life, and different regions of the country.

C. Sample Size
A sample size of 100 consumers of advertising was used. 50 questionnaires were sent to 50
members of the Facebook virtual Community and 50 questionnaires to 50 members of the
Whatsapp virtual Community.

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

Research Question One: Do consumers perceptions of ads creativity tilt more towards
Divergence or Relevance dimensions?

Table 1 : MTN adverts Divergence and Relevance perception by Consumers

Valid Cases: 36
Divergence/ Consumer Perception Frequency Percent of Percent of
Relevance Responses cases
Flexibility They contain different 18 25 50
ideas that move from one
idea to another
Ad to Consumer The adverts are 12 17 33.3
Relevance appropriate and
meaningful to me
Brand to The products advertised 11 15 30.6
Consumer are meaningful and useful
Relevance to me
Originality Their Adverts are unique 10 14 27.8
and out of the ordinary
Ad to Brand The products advertised 9 13 25
Relevance are related to the adverts
Artistic Value The Adverts are visually 5 7 13.9
and artistically different
Elaboration They contain details that 4 6 11.1
are intricate and
sophisticated
Synthesis The adverts bring unusual 3 4 8.3
items together
Total 72 100 200
 12

From Table 1 above, we consider the first four, Flexibility leads with 25% of responses, Ad
to consumer Relevance 17%, Brand to consumer relevance 15%, and Originality 14%.

Table 2:
Airtel adverts Divergence and Relevance perception by Consumers

Valid Cases: 46
Divergence/ Consumer Perception Frequency Percent of Percent
Relevance Responses of cases
Originality Their Adverts are unique and 27 18.5 58.7
out of the ordinary
Artistic Value The Adverts are visually and 22 15.1 47.8
artistically different
Brand to The products advertised are 21 14.4 45.7
Consumer meaningful and useful to me
Relevance
Flexibility They contain different ideas 19 13 41.3
that move from one idea to
another
Ad to Consumer The adverts are appropriate 18 12.3 39.1
Relevance and meaningful to me
Synthesis The adverts bring unusual 13 8.9 28.3
items together
Elaboration They contain details that are 13 8.9 28.3
intricate and sophisticated
Ad to Brand The products advertised are 13 8.9 28.3
Relevance related to the adverts
Total 146 100 317.5
From Table 2, Originality leads with 18.5% of responses, Artistic value 15.1%, Brand to
consumer relevance 14.4%, Flexibility 13%.
 13

Table 3:
Glo adverts Divergence and Relevance perception by Consumers
Valid Cases: 17
Divergence/ Consumer Perception Frequency Percent of Percent of
Relevance Responses cases
Ad to Brand The products advertised 10 21.7 58
Relevance are related to the adverts
Brand to The products advertised 7 15.2 41.2
Consumer are meaningful and useful
Relevance to me
Artistic Value The Adverts are visually 7 15.2 41.2
and artistically different
Originality Their Adverts are unique 7 15.2 41.2
and out of the ordinary
Ad to Consumer The adverts are 5 10.9 29.4
Relevance appropriate and
meaningful to me
Elaboration They contain details that 5 10.9 29.4
are intricate and
sophisticated
Flexibility They contain different 3 6.5 17.6
ideas that move from one
idea to another
Synthesis The adverts bring unusual 2 4.4 11.8
items together
46 269.8
From Table 3, Ad to brand relevance leads with 21.7% of responses, Brand to consumer,
Artistic value, and Originality all have 15.2% of responses.
 14

Table 4:
9Mobile adverts Divergence and Relevance perception by Consumers

Valid Cases: 7
Divergence/ Consumer Perception Frequency Percent of Perc
Relevance Responses ent
of
cases
Brand to The products advertised are meaningful 4 23.53 57.1
Consumer and useful to me
Relevance
Ad to The adverts are appropriate and 3 17.65 42.9
Consumer meaningful to me
Relevance
Artistic The Adverts are visually and artistically 3 17.65 42.9
Value different
Originality Their Adverts are unique and out of the 3 17.65 42.9
ordinary
Flexibility They contain different ideas that move 2 11.76 28.6
from one idea to another
Ad to Brand The products advertised are related to 2 11.76 28.6
Relevance the adverts
Elaboration They contain details that are intricate 0 0
and sophisticated
Synthesis The adverts bring unusual items together 0 0
Total 17 100 249.3
Table 4 above has Brand to consumer relevance having 23.53% of responses, while Ad to
consumer, Artistic value and Originality all have17.65%.

Research Question 2: Which of these Telecommunication company is perceived as the best in

creative advertising?
Table 5
Options Frequency Percentage
MTN 34 34%
Airtel 47 47%
Glo 15 15%
9Mobile 4 4%
Total 100 100%

From table 5, Airtel is perceived as the best in creative advertising with 47%. MTN comes
second with 34%, Glo 15%, and lastly 9Mobile with 4%.
 15

Table 6
The network respondents actually subscribe to
Options Frequency Percentage
MTN 62 62%
Airtel 22 22%
Glo 11 11%
9Mobile 5 5%
Total 100 100%

In Table 6, MTN is the most subscribed to by respondents with 62%, Airtel comes second
with 22%, Glo with 11%, and lastly 9Mobile with 5%.

Research Question 3: How do consumers respond to creative ads with regards to actual or
intended purchase of Telco's products?

A hundred respondents were asked " Do you subscribe to any network because of your
attraction to their Adverts?”

Table 7
Options Frequency Percentage
Yes 15 15%
No 49 49%
Sometimes 36 36%
Total 100 100%
In table 7, 49% of respondents say NO, they do not subscribe to a network because of their
creativity in the Adverts. 36% say they subscribe sometimes due to creativity in the ads, and
15% agreed that they subscribe to a network due to the creativity in ads.
Research Question 4: Which media do consumers consider best for creative ads?

Table 8
Options Frequency Percentage
Television 66 66%
Radio 3 3%
Newspaper 0 0%
Magazine 0 0%
YouTube 6 6%
Facebook 17 17%
Twitter 1 1%
Others 7 7%
 16

Total 100 100%

Table 8 shows that Television, with 66% of responses is the preferred channel for creative
ads.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Question 1 sought to find out if consumers' perception of ad creativity tilts toward

Divergence or towards Relevance. From the results gathered, it shows the perceptions varied
with the each Network company.
For MTN ads, creativity seen from the point of Flexibility with 25% of responses came tops.
This was followed by Ad to consumer Relevance 17%, Brand to consumer relevance 15%,
and Originality 14%. Using the first four, that is Flexibility, ad to consumer relevance, brand
to consumer relevance, and Originality, it shows an equal view of both Divergence and
Relevance by consumers. But it also shows that Relevance is very important as it occupies
the second and third positions.
For Airtel ads, Originality leads with 18.5% of responses, Artistic value 15.1%, Brand to
consumer relevance 14.4%, Flexibility 13%. This means that for Airtel creative ads,
Originality is a winning factor in the eyes of majority of the respondents. However, Brand to
consumer relevance, which has the same percentage as Artistic value comes second. This
shows that the consumers would consider ads not creative if Relevance, in this case, Brand to
consumer relevance is not taken into consideration.
Though Originality, Artistic value and Flexibility(which are all Divergence dimensions) take
three spots out of the first four, Relevance(Brand to Consumer) cannot be left out. Therefore,
consumers think highly about the relevance of such brand to them.

Glo ads shows evidently that Relevance leads. Ad to brand relevance leads with 21.7% of
responses, Brand to consumer, Artistic value, and Originality all have 15.2% of responses. In
this case, the ad to brand relevance is what most consumers perceive in Glo ads as creative.

The 9Mobile ads follow the same trend as the Glo ads. Relevance leads, this time however
with Brand to consumer relevance having 23.53% of responses, while Ad to consumer,
Artistic value and Originality all have17.65%. In this case, majority of the consumers'
perception tilt toward Relevance(brand to consumer relevance) while the other three had
same percentage.
In all the different network companies creative ads, it is evident that it is an equal
combination of Divergence and Relevance. The first four positions for each network
company's shows that consumers will prefer a mix. This means that Divergence must not be
taken above Relevance and vice versa. A healthy mix of these dimensions when setting out to
bring out ads is what the consumers perceive as creativity. It will then be foolhardy for
practitioners to view one dimension as totally superior to the other.
 17

For Divergence: Originality, Flexibility and Artistic value tops others, while for the
Relevance Dimension: Brand to consumer relevance tops, followed by Ad to consumer
relevance.

Question 2 sought to know which of the telecommunication networks, that is, MTN, Airtel,
Glo, and 9Mobile is perceived as the best in creative advertising. From the results, Airtel is
perceived as the best in creative advertising with 47%. MTN comes second with 34%, Glo
15%, and lastly 9Mobile with 4%.

There is however a major twist. When asked which network company respondents actually
subscribe to, as seen in Table 6, MTN had more subscribers. 62% of the respondents say they
actually subscribe to MTN, while 22% say they subscribe to Airtel.
The question now is, Why is Airtel perceived by majority of the respondents as the best in
creative advertising but majority actually subscribe to MTN. MTN has a larger subscriber
base according to the findings, but Airtel which has a lower subscriber base than MTN is
considered better when it comes to creativity in advertising.
There must be something MTN is doing or has done to have a higher subscriber base beyond
creative advertising. Maybe it is because it is the first to grace the shores of Nigeria, or
maybe it is because it is found in hinterlands and villages where other networks are yet to
cover. Further study can be conducted in this regard.

Question 3 sought to find out if creativity in advertising influences them to purchase or

subscribe to a particular network's services or even have intentions towards subscribing. The
findings were quite surprising as table 7 shows. 49% of respondents say NO, they do not
subscribe to a network because of their creativity in the Adverts. 36% say they subscribe
sometimes due to creativity in the ads, and 15% agreed that they subscribe to a network due
to the creativity in ads.
This goes to show that subscribing to a particular network goes beyond just the creativity in
advertising. Other intervening variables may come into play in affecting the consumers'
choice of which network company to subscribe to. This is why we see Airtel, according to the
findings, considered as the best in creative advertising but still has a lower subscriber
base(from the findings of this research) than MTN. Further study can be conducted in this
regard.

Question 4 sought to find out which medium consumers considered as the best for creative
advertising. From the results in Table 8, an overwhelming 66% of the respondents preferred
Television as the best medium for creative advertising. Face book came second with 17%.

CONCLUSION
From the study, we can see that creative advertising is perceived by the consumer as a mix of
both Divergence and Relevance. The adverts must be Original, Flexible, and have Artistic
Value, which constitute the Divergence dimension of creativity. In the same vein, if it lacks
visible elements of appropriateness or meaningfulness to the consumer, which is the
Relevance dimension, then the consumer does not perceive it as creative. It is also evident
 18

that creativity in advertising is not the only factor that overwhelmingly affects consumers'
purchase intentions or actual subscription, there are other intervening variables which the
advertiser must take into consideration for consumers to subscribe to their products or
services.
Television as a medium may be one of the traditional medium competing with the new media
or social media for relevance, but it still stands out as a great medium for creative advertising.
So advertisers must produce creative content that fits the TV screen as it has great support
from consumers as the best media for advertising.

RECOMMENDATION

The following recommendations were offered in light of the research's findings:

1. Advertisers must always do a consumer research before and after the production of a
creative advert. This will guide them towards the creation of other succeeding contents which
are consumer perception centred.

2. Every creative advert should contain an equal mix of both Divergence( Originality,
Flexibility, and Artistic value) and Relevance( Brand to consumer relevance and Ad to
consumer relevance) for a positive response from consumers who the content is created for as
the target audience.

3. Advertisers should go beyond creative advertising and seek out ways to create better
services for consumers. Consumers are sophisticated, they may love the creativity in your
adverts but still not purchase or subscribe to your services if some important aspects of your
service are neglected.

4. Though social media is the new media and in vogue, the Television as a traditional
medium is still very much appreciated by consumers. Therefore, creative content should not
neglect the power of the Television.

5. Further studies should be carried out to understand why a telecomm network company's
adverts are deemed creative by consumers, yet such consumers prefer to subscribe to another
network whose adverts are not as creative.
 19

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