The Role of Persuasion Theory and Advertising Message Strategy: Implications for attacking a market Leader

Competitive theory suggests market challengers
embrace either a head-to-head attack or flanking
maneuver as alternative strategies to attack the
market leader. Our research-in-progress, a threephase
systematic research plan of action, will reveal
whether Monster Energy drink should convey action
sports (head-to-head attack) or academic performance
(flanking strategy) in advertising targeting
college students to challenge Red Bull, the market
leader. Phase I, Content Analysis of Red Bull Advertising,
revealed emphasis on action sports. However,
Phase II (i.e., secondary, qualitative, and survey research)
revealed college students use energy drinks
to increase academic performance. Phase III, Experimental
Research, estimates the relative persuasive
effectiveness of action sports versus academic
themes in Monster advertisements. Ho: no different
in persuasive effectiveness among action sports, academic
performance, and neutral theme (control) on
dependent variables (likeability, relevance, intention
to buy). Ethical standards were met by using valid
scales borrowed from scholarly marketing journals,
consent form, and APA standards.