DETERMINANTS OF EFFECTIVE SMS ADVERTISING: AN

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Dimitris Drossos, Geroge M. Giaglis, George Lekakos, Flora Kokkinaki,

and Maria G. Stavraki

ABSTRACT: Mobile advertising has become one of the most popular applications in mobile commerce, particularly in the form
of text advertising through SMS (Short Messaging Service). However, in the study of mobile advertising little is known regarding
the effectiveness of SMS advertising and the factors contributing to its success. This research investigates the significance of a
number of factors associated with SMS advertising effectiveness through an experimental study. The findings indicate that
incentive, interactivity, appeal, product involvement, and attitude toward SMS advertising in general directly influence attitude
toward the advertisement, attitude toward the brand, and purchase intention. The results of the study suggest that a stronger
focus on these factors is necessary to improve the effectiveness of SMS advertising campaigns.

SMS campaigns are proliferating around the world. In an "wireless marketing." The search was limited to scholarly
empirical study of the state of interactive marketing in five journals, conference proceedings, and papers with full text
large developed markets (United States, Japan, Germany, UK, access. Additional research, according to the same search
and France) and two key emerging markets (China and criteria, yielded four additional papers, which were not
Brazil), Barwise and Farley (2005) found that 19% of the accessible through the above databases. The Appendix
participant firms were already using text messaging either as a includes the references to these papers as well.
direct response or as a "push" channel. Nevertheless, the
Figure 1 presents the variables that were cited the most
academic literature is short of empirical studies investigating
frequently with regard to SMS recipients' cognitive, emotional,
the importance of the factors that determine SMS advertising
and behavioral responses. In much of the research, the focus
effectiveness.
was mainly on message and medium factors that could be
In line with efforts to identify determinants of successful experimentally manipulated. Consumer-related factors (e.g.,
advertising campaigns in other media (e.g., Baltas 2003; attitude toward SMS advertising in general) were also used in
Chittenden and Rettie 2003; Korgaonkar, Moschis, and our study due to empirical evidence suggesting that consumers
Bellenger 1984; Stewart and Koslow 1989), this paper attempts have generally negative attitudes toward mobile advertising
to conceptualize and test factors that influence the effects of a (Tsang, Ho, and Liang 2004).
mobile advertising campaign, with particular emphasis on
Figure 1. Percentages of Factors Represented in Mobile
push advertising via Short Messaging Service (SMS) text. In
Literature Research
the next section, we identify the factors that may influence the
effectiveness of SMS advertising and then develop a number of
hypotheses that are tested experimentally in the remainder of
the paper.
Prior Research on Mobile Advertising
Before we developed our hypotheses, we identified the factors
that had the potential to influence mobile advertising effects.
To this end, we carefully reviewed the relevant mobile
advertising and marketing literature. Initially, we retrieved 36
papers by querying the electronic text databases Business
Source Premier, Elsevier's ScienceDirect, Emerald (MCB),
Kluwer, Wiley InterScience, and ACM (the Appendix provides
the respective references). The keywords used were "mobile
advertising," "mobile marketing," "wireless advertising," and

Journal of Interactive Advertising, Vol 7 No 2 (Spring 2007), pp. 16‐27. 
© 2010 American Academy of Advertising, All rights reserved 
ISSN 1525‐2019 
17  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
 

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
Location and Time
Location-based advertising is regarded as one of the most
interesting opportunities mobile commerce has to offer
because of its impact on the perceived informational utility of
the location-aware advertisement. Various studies have
empirically verified an increase in advertisement effectiveness
through spatial advertising (Andersson and Nilsson 2000;
Gopal and Tripathi 2006). Andersson and Nilsson (2000), for
example, evaluated location-sensitive SMS campaign
effectiveness based on traditional communication effect
measures, and showed that SMS campaigns were effective and
did have a positive impact especially on brand awareness and
purchase intention. In the current research, ‘ad localization' is
considered as sending information to consumers based on
their location, in order to convince them to visit a local store.
Furthermore, consumer behavior theory points to the
interdependence of time and location (Kang, Herr, and Page
2003). Targeting prospects at the right time and place actually
implies minimum perceived effort for the prospect in buying
the advertised product. Measuring actual time (for example,
11:00 p.m.) and location by distance (for example, 2 km from
point of sale) seems inadequate to fully capture the notion of
"right time and place." Therefore, time and location have been
examined under the umbrella of the perceived effort to buy the
advertised product (Cronin, Brady, and Hult 2000). It is
therefore expected that:
H1: SMS advertisements lead to more positive attitudes
toward the advertisement (Aad) and the brand (Ab) and
to more positive purchase intentions (PI) when the
perceived effort to buy the advertised product is low.
Interactivity
Interactive elements of a mobile ad attempt to elicit cognitive
responses by allowing the viewer to search for more
information through the mobile device. By providing
interactivity, the advertiser attempts to increase viewer
involvement by creating a two-way communication in real
time, instead of the usual one-way connection in media
advertising (Lohtia, Donthu, and Hershberger 2003). This
study regards interactivity as an objective medium
characteristic and adopts the "communicator's perspective" of
interactivity, meaning that if a mobile ad allows for a
reciprocal communication, then it is considered as more
interactive than a comparable ad with no such feature
(Hoffman and Novak 1996; Wu 2006). Sundar and Kim (2005)
show that the level of interactivity is positively associated with
ad and product attitudes. Thus, we hypothesize that:
H2: SMS advertisements that have an element of
interactivity lead to more positive Aad and Ab and to
more positive PI than SMS advertisements that have no
interactive elements.
Incentive
Individuals are interested in deriving some monetary benefit
from direct marketing programs (Milne and Gordon 1993). In
a Nokia-sponsored survey, conducted by HPI Research Group,
almost nine out of ten participants (86%) agreed that there
should be a trade-off for accepting advertisements on their
mobile devices (Pastore 2002). Prior research proposes that
price discounts are particularly effective in inducing effects,
such as purchase acceleration and product trial (Shi, Cheung,
and Prendergast 2005). Previous studies have shown that
retail price promotions change consumers' purchase decisions
and that retailers use price promotions more frequently to
boost store sales (Chen, Monroe, and Lou 1998). We therefore
hypothesize that:
H3: SMS advertisements that offer incentives lead to more
positive Aad and Ab and to more positive PI than
advertisements without incentives.
Ad Source (Credibility)
The term "ad source" is used to refer to traits of the
communicator (whether an individual or a company), and
includes expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and power.
Mackenzie and Lutz (1989) found that credibility strongly
influences attitude toward the advertiser, which in turn is an
important predictor of attitude toward the ad. Corporate
credibility is defined as "the extent to which consumers believe
that a firm can design and deliver products and services that
satisfy customer needs and wants" and has been found to have
direct positive effects on attitude toward the ad, the brand, and
purchase intent (Choi and Rifon 2002). We focus on source
expertise and trustworthiness and expect that:
H4: SMS advertisements from expert and trustworthy
sources lead to more positive Aad and Ab and to more
positive PI than SMS advertisements from less expert and
trustworthy sources.
Appeal
Message appeals are usually divided into rational and
emotional ones (Johar and Sirgy 1991). Rational appeals are
18  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
typically based on factual information and focus on product
attributes. Emotional appeals, on the other hand, typically
intend to create positive emotions and develop a brand
personality. Emotional appeals have been found to be most
effective when brand response involvement and advertising
message involvement are low, whereas rational appeals are
found to be relatively more effective when customers are
highly involved with the brand and the advertisement (Baker
and Lutz 2000). Johar and Sirgy (1991) have proposed that
value-expressive advertising appeals are persuasive when the
product is value-expressive, whereas utilitarian appeals are
persuasive when the product is utilitarian. A series of studies
by Shavitt (1990) yielded evidence about the attitude functions
associated with different products, and showed that attitudes
toward products that serve different functions respond to
different types of advertising appeals. In this research, we
assess SMS advertisements' use of emotional appeals for a
"feel" product of moderate involvement and we hypothesize
that:
H5: SMS advertisements for a "feel" product that use
emotional appeals lead to more positive Aad and Ab and
to more positive PI than SMS advertisements that use
rational appeals.
Product Involvement
In light of our initial review of prior research on mobile
advertising, there is a need for comparative research that
explores whether mobile phone users react differently to
diverse types of products. As Malhotra (2005) argues, "it is
likely that the relative effect of cognition versus affect varies...
across objects (e.g., perfumes vs. mutual funds)" (p. 480).
According to the FCB Grid (Ratchford 1987; Vaughn 1986),
products differ in their "feel or think" nature. When
individuals base their purchase decision mainly on how they
feel about the product, then the product is characterized as
"feel"; when the purchase decision is based mainly on
thoughts, then the product is characterized as "think"
(Ratchford 1987). As Laurent and Kapferer (1985) argue, the
degree to which consumers process advertising
communications and react to the message in an active or
passive way depends on their involvement with the product.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo 1986)
suggests that involvement affects motivation to process
information. People with high product involvement may be
more likely to explore more product-specific information. If
advertisement arguments are strong, involved consumers may
be more likely to form a positive attitude toward the advertised
products. Due to the limited information quality that SMS
advertisements can convey to consumers we expect that:
H6: Aad, Ab and PI will be less favorable when an SMS
advertisement concerns a high-involvement product,
compared to an advertisement for a low-involvement
product taking into consideration both think and feel
dimensions.
Attitude toward Mobile Advertising in General
The study of attitude toward advertising in general may be
especially significant because it influences attitudes toward a
specific ad, an important antecedent of brand attitudes (e.g.,
Alwitt and Prabhaker 1992; Mackenzie and Lutz 1989). Tsang,
Ho, and Liang (2004) also found that consumers have
generally negative attitudes toward mobile advertising unless
they have specifically consented to receive the advertising
messages. Thus, it is possible that attitudes toward specific
mobile advertisements are influenced by attitudes toward
advertising via cellular phones in general. We therefore expect
that:
H7: Aad, Ab and PI for the advertised product will be less
favorable when a consumer has a generally negative
attitude toward mobile advertising, than when a
consumer has a generally positive attitude toward mobile
advertising.
Prior to the next section, it should be noted that ad relevance
was not manipulated in our experiment but was controlled
through pre-testing to choose products of moderate relevance
to test hypotheses H1-H7. This was intentionally selected in
order to avoid possible confounding problems via the selection
of products that were of either low or high interest to the
consumer.
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The measures of effectiveness used in our study were attitude
toward advertisement, brand, and purchase intention. Attitude
toward the ad is a strong mediator of advertising effectiveness
(Batra and Ray 1986; Homer 1990) and studies have shown a
strong positive relationship between the ad and brand attitude,
which in turn is positively related to purchase intention.
Figure 2 summarizes our conceptual model. We believe that
consumer attitudes (Aad and Ab) and purchase intention (PI)
are affected by each of the aforementioned ad characteristics
(location and time, interactivity, incentive, appeal, ad source,
appeal, and product involvement).
19  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
Figure 2. Conceptual Model: Factors Affecting Consumer
Attitudes and Purchase Intention
METHOD
Sample
Management Science students from a large university located
in Athens, Greece, participated in the experiment. A student
sample may be better than a sample taken from the general
population in terms of predictive validity (Danaher and
Mullarkey 2003). Ninety-seven students were randomly
assigned to two groups of approximately equal size. Fifty
students formed group 1, while the remaining forty-seven
students formed group 2. Each group saw seven different SMS
advertisements corresponding to the aforementioned
manipulated variables. Among the 97 participants, 58 were
female, while 39 were male. The majority of the participants
were 19-23 years old (92.3%), while the remaining 7.2% were
24-28 years old. Mobile phone ownership reached 100%, with
69.1% of the participants using SMS one or more times per
day. We also took into account previous experience with SMS
advertising. Twenty-two of the participants stated that they
had never received an SMS advertisement.
Procedure
The participants read instructions indicating that they were to
evaluate SMS advertisements for six fictitious products since
prior familiarity with the advertised brands could potentially
confound our results (Dahlen 2001). Each advertisement was
described as permission-based and was shown via a mobile
phone screen to increase external validity (Figure 3). All
participants were asked to state their attitude toward mobile
advertising in general prior to the evaluation of the SMS
advertisements. Each participant belonged either in group 1
(N=50) or group 2 (N=47). Group 1 participants saw seven
SMS advertisements. To be more illustrative, the first SMS
message advertised the fictitious Goldy chocolate bar that
could be bought in a store approximately five kilometers away
from the experimental location. The second ad had no
interactivity element, while the third ad informed the
participant about the price of Goldy but used no price-off
incentive. The fictitious product Delight instant coffee was
employed to test ad source credibility, following the
manipulation procedure of Goldberg and Hartwick (1990).
Conversely, participants in group 2 could buy Goldy from a
shop which was located just a few meters away (advertisement
1); could learn more about the new brand through an SMS
reply (advertisement 2); and, in the third ad, could buy the
chocolate bar with a price-off discount. The experimental
conditions are illustrated in Table 1.
Figure 3. Illustration of an SMS Advertisement
In order to control other possible confounding effects, twenty-
seven product categories were pre-tested for the "feel/think"
nature of the product (following Ratchford 1987) and
involvement. The categories of chocolate bar (moderate
feel/moderate involvement) and instant coffee (moderate
feel/moderate involvement) were selected to examine the
effects of the independent variables, except for the product
involvement conditions. The product categories of sun glasses
(high feel/high involvement), laptop (high think/high
involvement), CD-Recordable (moderate think/moderate
involvement), and potato chips (moderate feel/moderate
involvement) were selected to examine the possible effects of
product involvement.
The arguments contained in the advertisements were also
selected based on a preliminary study, where different
arguments were tested for persuasiveness, comprehensibility,
familiarity, and emotional versus rational appeal (following
20  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
Petty and Cacioppo 1986). Arguments of equal persuasiveness,
comprehensibility, and familiarity were selected to avoid
confounding effects.
Table 1. Experimental Conditions
Finally, the likelihood that participants would go through the
information in the advertisements was not constrained to be
either very high or low. Participants could choose to read the
advertisement or not, according to their motivation. As such,
these experiments were conducted under moderate
elaboration conditions. Importantly, these are likely to be the
conditions under which many recipients will receive
advertisements in real life conditions.
MEASURES
Most of the constructs employed in this study were adapted
from prior research. Table 2 provides the studies for the
operationalization of the employed constructs.
Table 2. Operationalization of the Employed Constructs
Since this study attempted to shed light on the effects of a
great number of factors, the authors intentionally selected
reliable scales that incorporated few items in order to keep the
data collection instrument as short as possible. Thus, six
constructs were measured with a single-item.
RESULTS
Manipulation Checks
As anticipated, the participants in group 1 (M = 4.63, SD =
2.13) perceived buying the chocolate bar as more effortful (t =
6.03, df = 95, p < 0.001) than the participants in group 2 (M =
2.35, SD = 1.15). Moreover, group 1 respondents (M = 3.04,
SD = 1.41) found the second SMS ad less interactive (t = -2.39,
df = 95, p < 0.05) than group 2 respondents (M = 3.77, SD =
1.57). When the participants were asked to state if the offer
provided any cost savings, the group 1 participants' mean was
3.30 (SD = 1.35) and group 2 participants' mean was 5.40 (SD
= 1.33) (t = -7.7, df = 95, p < 0.001). The respondents in group
1 reported that the SMS advertisement's appeal was indeed
emotional (M = 3.08, SD = 1.2) while the respondents in group
2 reported a rational appeal (M = 4.08, SD = 0.9) (t = -4.5, df =
95, p < 0.001). In terms of product importance, the
participants perceived the potato chips and the CD-R as
products of lower involvement (Mpotato chips = 3.03, SD =
1.6 and MCD-R = 5.26, SD = 1.4) than the sun glasses and the
laptop (Msun glasses = 5.95, SD = 1.28 and Mlaptop = 6.36, SD
= 1.2) (tthink = -6.24, df = 96, p < 0.001 and tfeel = 16.38, df =
96, p < 0.001). Finally, the manipulation of credibility was also
successful. The participants in group 2 perceived the advertiser
as more credible (M = 4.7, SD = 0.92) than the participants in
group 1 (M = 3.9, SD = 1.07) (t = -3.96, df = 95, p < 0.001).
Impact of Manipulated Variables on Advertising Effects
Table 3 denotes the t-values for the experimental conditions.
Hypotheses were tested at the 5% significance level. Five out of
the seven independent variables were found to have significant
effects on the dependent variables.
Location and Time. H1 was not supported (p > 0.05). In the
presence of products of moderate involvement and arguments
of moderate persuasiveness, SMS advertisements did not lead
to more positive Aad and Ab, or to more positive PI when
received closer to the selling point.
Interactivity. The direct effects of interactivity features were
tested for a moderate feel product with modest persuasive
arguments. The SMS ad prompted the consumer to send an
SMS to learn more about the advertised chocolate. This
specific interactive feature led to more negative attitudes
toward the advertisement and the brand, and to more negative
purchase intentions than SMS advertisements that did not
21  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
 

have any interactive element. Therefore, H2 was not attitude toward SMS advertising interacted with any of the
supported. above variables manipulated in this experiment. Responses of
general attitude toward SMS advertising were divided into two
Incentive. H3 stated that SMS advertisements that offered
groups based on a median split. Changes in the relationships
incentives would lead to more positive attitudes toward the
between the independent and dependent variables in the
advertisement and the brand, and to more positive purchase
presence of general attitude toward SMS advertising were
intentions than advertisements without any incentives. H3 was
examined using ANOVA. To support the hypothesis that
partially supported, although the use of incentives for the
general SMS advertising attitudes moderate these
specific product type did not positively influence attitude
relationships, we needed to see significant changes in attitudes
toward the brand.
and purchase intentions among the interaction term measures.
Ad Source. Unexpectedly, advertiser credibility did not seem However, the moderator effects were not significant at p <
to influence the dependent variables as predicted by H4. 0.05.
Although it is contradictory to the existing mobile advertising
Table 4. Main Effects of General Attitude toward Mobile
literature, it should be taken into account that all SMS
Advertising on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions
advertisements manipulated in the experiment were perceived
as permission-based. Permission-based marketing, as studied
in the mobile advertising context, seems to have a moderating
effect on source credibility (Tsang, Ho, and Liang 2004).
Appeal. Even though the product employed in the
advertisements was aimed at satisfying a sensory need,
respondents preferred the factual appeal. Thus, H5 was not
supported, and in fact, the results were significant in the
opposite direction.
Product Involvement. While examining the "think and feel"
product dimensions related to the dependent variables, H6
DISCUSSION
was partially supported. The "feel" importance dimension did
not result in any significant relationship, although intense The results from our experiment offer insight into the effects
systematic (central) information processing for low versus of location and time, interactivity, incentives, ad source
high "think" products concluded in partial support of the sixth credibility, appeal, product involvement, and attitude toward
hypothesis. mobile advertising in general, on the effectiveness of mobile
text advertisements. In accordance with the specific
Table 3. Differences in Attitudes and Purchase
experimental settings under which our research took place, the
Considerations between Experimental Conditions
following paragraphs summarize and reflect on our findings
for each of the seven factors tested.
Location and Time
The location of the SMS advertisement recipient did not affect
the dependent variables significantly. Although location-based
advertising has been heralded as one of the most promising
opportunities in mobile commerce because of its impact on
perceived informational utility, our research did not reveal any
main direct effects. However, interdependence may still exist
between location and the remaining manipulated variables.
General Attitude toward SMS advertising. The results revealed This issue calls for further research.
significant direct effects of general attitudes toward SMS
advertising on the dependent variables (Table 4). Thus, H7
was partially supported. In addition, we tested whether general
22  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
Interactivity
Contrary to our expectations, the use of interactive messages
led to negative attitudes and purchase intentions for the
particular product category studied. Research on interactivity
has been rather inconclusive (Liu and Shrum 2002). Some
studies on online web advertisements found interactivity as a
strong cue aiding the persuasive function of the online ads
(Sundar and Kim 2005), while others have concluded that
interactivity has a negative effect on advertising effectiveness
(Bezjian-Avery, Calder, and Iacobucci 1998). Our
experimental conditions showed a negative influence of
interactivity. One explanation for this could be the use of the
chocolate bar in tests of the interactivity variable. A chocolate
bar belongs to the self-satisfaction FCB quadrant (Lepkowska-
White, Brashear, and Weinberger 2003) and the pre-test
results showed a moderate purchase importance. In the
absence of a unique selling proposition (USP), since the
experimental conditions employed arguments of moderate
persuasiveness to avoid confounding effects, the interactivity
feature showed negative direct effects. Additionally, the
participants of the second group in our experiment had to
send an SMS to find out more information about the
advertised product. Sending an SMS implies some additional
monetary cost for a low-cost product, and this could have
negatively affected the dependent variables. Thus, it is essential
to explore the nature of mobile interactivity and determine the
conditions in which interactivity may be useful in an
advertising context.
Incentive
As expected, we confirmed that the use of incentives in SMS
advertisements led to more positive attitudes and purchase
intentions. This is in line with similar research in Internet
advertising, where most web surfers look for incentives to read
an advertisement before they click on it (Lohtia, Donthu, and
Hershberger 2003). In most cases, the presence of promotional
information, such as price reductions or discounts in banner
advertisements, is associated with higher click-through-rates
(Hupfer and Grey 2005). Additionally, in accordance with the
mobile literature (e.g., Barwise and Strong 2002), our research
supports that users expect a reward for receiving SMS
advertisements. Moreover, the use of incentives alleviates the
effects of negative attitudes toward SMS advertising on the
dependent variables. The work of Tsang, Ho, and Liang (2004)
provides further support for our research.
Ad Source (Credibility)
Surprisingly, the source of the advertisement did affect the
dependent variables significantly. A possible rationale is that
the perceived uncertainty and privacy cost effects on mobile
advertising communications may occur when providing
personal data to opt-in databases and not during a permission-
based SMS communication, as was the case of our test.
Permission-based marketing may alleviate the negative effects
of a non-reputable advertiser, at least within the context of an
uncluttered advertising medium as in our case (where nearly
76.3% of the respondents had received few, if any, SMS
advertisements before). Research in this area is at an
embryonic stage and calls for further research to determine the
effects of source credibility as mobile advertising clutter grows.
Appeal
The use of rational appeals led to more positive attitudes and
purchase intentions than emotional appeals, despite the fact
that testing was performed on a "feel" product. Although
several studies on online environments have demonstrated
that the use of emotional appeals in different product
categories exhibit higher effects (e.g., Drossos, Vrehopoulos,
and Ferles 2006), in the mobile context participants responded
more favorably to the informative content strategy. While
mobile devices are perceived as ideal for convenient anytime
shopping, their small screens and low-resolution displays
render the development of graphic applications a challenge. In
the absence of sound, image, and motion that could effectively
convey and demonstrate the product's ability to satisfy a
sensory need, text advertisements may be ineffective in
producing an influential emotional appeal. Instead, the quality
of information may play a more crucial role.
Product Involvement
Attitudes and buying intentions were less favorable when the
SMS advertisement concerned a high-involvement product,
compared to an advertisement for a low-involvement product.
In contrast to the web, the mobile environment is likely to
affect attitudes and purchase intentions for high involvement
"think" products negatively because of its inherent limitation
in enabling information search. However, there could be a
significant increase in the frequency of impulse purchases,
especially in low value, low involvement product categories
(Kannan, Chang, and Whinston 2001).
23  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
Attitude toward Mobile Advertising in General
As expected, attitudes and buying intentions were less
favorable when a consumer had a negative attitude toward
mobile advertising in general. Our data suggest that
respondents hold negative attitudes about receiving mobile
advertisements. The mean overall attitude score was just 2.81
on a seven-point Likert scale. Given the unique nature of
mobile phones, agencies and managers should examine the
features of their opt-in database to effectively target
consumers.
Limitations and Future Research
Our contribution is an empirically-validated framework,
which is clearly lacking in the majority of existing research
regarding the potential and critical success factors of mobile
advertising. The validity and generalization of our results are
of course limited by a number of factors. We have chosen to
base our study on student attitudes. Although this seems like a
logical decision given the participation of this age group to
mobile advertising campaigns, our findings would be more
helpful if we had examined a more representative sample.
Moreover, while identifying the factors that influence mobile
advertising, we could not capture the relative importance
(weight) of each factor and constituent variable on the
campaign's success. Although interdependence may exist
between the manipulated variables, our experimental design
did not allow us to conclude about their interaction effects.
Furthermore, this paper has based its findings on products of
moderate involvement and arguments of moderate
persuasiveness. Different results may appear when employing
different product categories and argument qualities.
On issues of future research, our paper offers some potential
research avenues. Two significant research questions emerge
as a direct consequence of the work presented here. On the
one hand, research could be directed toward identifying the
clusters of consumers that are more positively inclined toward
SMS advertisements. On the other hand, investigating the
interaction of the aforementioned message characteristics
through a full factorial experimental design could elicit a more
precise picture of correlates of successful SMS advertising
campaigns.
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27  Journal of Interactive Advertising  Spring 2007
 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dimitris Drossos is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of
Management Science and Technology at the Athens
University of Economics and Business and currently teaches e-
marketing at the Technological Educational Institute of Patras.
He is currently doing research on mobile advertising, as well
as m-commerce technologies and services.
Dr. George M. Giaglis is an Associate Professor of eBusiness
at the Athens University of Economics and Business. His main
research interests lie in the areas of mobile and wireless
applications and services; ubiquitous, pervasive, and wearable
information systems; business process modeling and
simulation; and information systems evaluation. He has
published more than 100 articles in leading journals and
international conferences. Since 2001, he has been the Director
of the ISTLab Wireless Research Center
(http://www.mobiforum.org/).
Dr. George Lekakos is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Department
of Management Science and Technology, Department of
Computer Science, University of Cyprus. Dr. Lekakos'
research interests are in the area of personalized and adaptive
systems, human-computer interaction, and machine learning.
He has published more than 30 papers in international
journals and conferences, and he is the co-editor of books and
conference proceedings.
Dr. Flora Kokkinaki is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Marketing and Communication at the Athens
University of Economics and Business. Her research interests
include attitude theory and consumer decision-making. She
has published in the British Journal of Psychology, the British
Journal of Social Psychology, and the Journal of Economic
Psychology.
Maria G. Stavraki is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of
Marketing and Communication at the Athens University of
Economics and Business. Her research interests include
consumer behavior and affective processes in attitude change.