Neural Responses to Hedonic and Utilitarian Banner Ads: An fMRI Study

Previous interactive marketing literature has concluded that banner attributes are key drivers of ad effectiveness and online consumer behaviors. In particular, prior advertising studies have largely defined the two most commonly used ad appeals in online settings: hedonic (i.e., visually attractive, joy-focused, and interactive) and utilitarian (i.e., informative, convenient, and functional). However, no unanimous conclusions have been drawn about their effects on online consumer behavior. Furthermore, no studies have assessed the psychological mechanisms underlying the processing of hedonic and utilitarian banner ads, which could be crucial given the unconscious, internal, and introspective nature of ad evaluation and online purchasing decisions. In this research, the authors used neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) to identify the neural mechanisms underlying the evaluation of hedonic and utilitarian banners. The results reveal that whereas hedonic layouts engage brain areas associated with reward, self-relevance, and emotion, utilitarian banner ads trigger brain networks related to object identification and recognition, reasoning, executive function, and cognitive control. This research also examines the extent to which neural data derived from processing hedonic and utilitarian banners complement the ability of self-reported banner effectiveness to predict online consumer behavior. The results reveal that neural data from banner appeals help predict between 9% and 18% of online consumer behavior beyond that indicated by the perceived ad effectiveness reported by consumers. Taken together, these results provide new insights into the connection between neuropsychological data and real-world online consumer behavior.