Message Characteristics and Students’ Preference of Noodles in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

Ime E. Bassey & Emmanuel L. Unanam

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Abstract

In the current competitive business environment, some businesses lose market share because customers do not buy their products or the message they get from their advertisements does not captivate their interest. This study examined how message characteristics affect students' preferences for selected noodles in Uyo. The specific objectives were to ascertain the extent to which the novelty of the advertising message, worthiness of the advertising message courteousness and use of conversational tone in the advertising message influence the preferences. To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey research design was adopted. The researchers utilized primary data through the use of a structured questionnaire. The population of the study was 44,631 students, 200 of them constituted the sample after adopting a purposive and multistage random sampling. The hypotheses were tested with both simple and multiple linear regression analysis. The simple regression analysis was used to test hypotheses one and two, while multiple regression was used to test hypotheses three. The findings revealed that novelty, newsworthiness, courteousness and the use of conversational tone significantly influence the preference for noodles in the study area. The study concluded that message characteristics of a product convey core information about the product and aid the consumer in making an informed decision about the product, as information is an integral part of marketing activity and that message characteristics perform an important role in marketing communications at the point of sales since they are important elements of modern lifestyle and branding process. It was recommended that noodles-producing firms maintain the novelty of the advertising message to enhance their level of consumer preference.

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