What if there were a positive side to working on tasks we would rather not do?

‍

‍My research shows that, in the context of advertising, working for a disliked brand is not necessarily detrimental. I conducted a field experiment with creatives from national and international advertising agencies, and I found that creatives produced more rational and less emotional ads for brands they disliked than for brands they liked. I propose that this happens because creatives who dislike the brand believe that their negative attitudes might impact the work negatively. In order to correct for this, they approach the creative task in a level-headed way: by suppressing emotions and staying rational. Importantly, both emotional and functional ads can be beneficial. For instance, functional ads outperform emotional ads if the objective is to advertise products in new markets. Thus, contrary to common wisdom, managers might consider assigning creatives not only to brands they like, but also to brands they dislike. Of course, in the latter case, I cannot guarantee that creatives are going to be happy about it.

‍

‍

Research co-authored with Irene Consiglio, academic director of the Nova SBE Behavioral Lab

‍

RESEARCH CORNER is the new section of Nova SBE E-research news, September Edition. Access here