Advertising of Service

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Journal of Service Research
DOI: 10.1177/109467059921008
1999; 2; 98 Journal of Service Research
Banwari Mittal
The Advertising of Services: Meeting the Challenge of Intangibility
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JOURNAL OF SERVICE RESEARCH / August 1999 Mittal / ADVERTISING SERVICES
The Advertising of Services
Meeting the Challenge of Intangibility
Banwari Mittal
Northern Kentucky University
Service advertisers often are confronted with the problem
of how best to communicate the intangible qualities of a
service to their target audiences. In this conceptual arti-
cle, the author describes what intangibility means, dis-
cusses how it influences the service advertising task, and
derives propositions to handle that task. The article (a)
identifies five conceptual properties of intangibility, (b)
describes the advertising challenge of each, (c) suggests
approaches to meet each challenge, and (d) elucidates
the power of transformational advertising in embedding
intangible service performance into a consumers life ex-
periences. The author argues that in services, intangibil-
ity can contribute to value rather than detract fromit and
that it is well within the advertisings special talent to
communicate intangibility. The author advances propo-
sitions to guide copy and creative strategy for service ad-
vertising managers.
It is by now a universally accepted proposition that the
marketing of services is different from the marketing of
physical goods. Shostack (1977) raised the issue first in a
Journal of Marketing article titled Breaking Free From
Product Marketing. Later, Berry (1980) reiterated that
Services Marketing Is Different. Since then, an impres-
sive body of literature has surfaced, idiosyncratic to ser-
vices (e.g., GAP model, SERVQUAL, servicescapes,
personalization), certifying the different-ness of service
marketing (Bitner 1992; Fisk 1981; Lovelock 1983; Mittal
and Lassar 1996, 1998; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry
1988; Tripp 1997; Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry
1990). This different-ness poses a challenge for all aspects
of marketing including advertising. It is argued that due to
the intangibility of services, communicating about ser-
vices becomes difficult and requires special considera-
tions in copy strategy and creative execution (Day 1992;
Grove, Pickett, and LaBand 1995; Legg and Baker 1987).
Because intangibility is widely cited as the root source of
service advertising difficulty, the question of exactly how
intangibility blocks effective communication requires fur-
ther examination. The purpose of the present article is to
understand intangibility as a characteristic of services, ex-
amine howit affects service advertising, and propose some
approaches to overcoming the challenge of communicat-
ing about the intangible aspects of services.
This article is organized as follows. First, it is argued
that all services do have some tangible elements. Accord-
ingly, service advertising can use the tangible aspects of
the service to create brand identity, to some extent. How-
ever, when the service brands competitive appeal lies in
the intangible (rather than the tangible) aspects of the ser-
vice, the task of communicating the intangible becomes
unavoidable. This calls for an understanding of the nature
of intangibility itself. Accordingly, froma reviewof litera-
ture, five properties of intangibility are identified: incorpo-
real existence, abstractness, generality, nonsearchability,
and mental impalpability. On closer scrutiny, however, it is
proposed that only the first of these five properties is inevi-
table; the other four often tend to be present but are not in-
trinsic to intangibility. It is argued that by following certain
strategies, the advertising of intangible service features
can overcome these undesirable properties. The article
outlines these strategies, whose effect is to transform the
Helpful comments fromJulie Baker andMargaret Myers, and fromthe journal editor and reviewers, are gratefully acknowledged.
Journal of Service Research, Volume 2, No. 1, August 1999 98-116
1999 Sage Publications, Inc.
abstract into the concrete, the general into the specific, the
nonsearchable into the searchable, and the mentally impal-
pable into the palpable. Then, it is argued that, in fact,
many physical products also appeal to consumers with
their intangible benefits and that advertising professionals
already have handled this challenge well. They accom-
plish this by employing a special type of advertising
called transformational advertising. This form of adver-
tising is discussed as a way of executing the service ad-
vertising strategies outlined earlier. The key points of the
article are summarized as a set of eight propositions, and
from these, managerial guidelines are derived and pre-
sented. The central lesson of the article is that rather than
bemoan intangibility, service marketers can leverage it in
their advertising.
THE INTANGIBILITY OF SERVICES
Whereas it is generally agreed that service marketing
is different (Deighton 1994; Mittal and Baker 1998; Rust
and Oliver 1994), the characterization of services as be-
ing intangible has been debated. Lovelock (1994), for ex-
ample, argues that most physical products are (or should
be) offered as product-plus; that is, some sort of service
is attached to the product such as an in-home appliance
maintenance service contract. On the other hand, many
services are accompanied by some physical product such
as an airline service that includes the airplane, in-flight
food, and the like. Thus, market offerings range widely
on a continuum of pure products to pure services (Rust
1995; Shugan 1994; Wright 1995). For this reason, ad-
vertisers of products and services alike face the choice of
featuring physical product elements and/or nonphysical
service elements. But physical product itself seldom suf-
fices as an effective consumer appeal; even pure products
often are sold on nonphysical product benefits such as the
prestige or trendy-ness of a brand of furniture, the mys-
tique of a brand of motorcycle, and the coolness of a
brand of shoes. If product advertising can communicate
such intangible benefits, then it should not be an insur-
mountable task for service marketers to effectively ad-
vertise the nonphysical aspects of their services. To
support this conclusion, this article examines the essen-
tial properties of intangibility (applied to service and
physical product benefits alike) and how each of those
properties influences the nature of communication tasks.
Before turning to a conceptual discussion of intangibility
per se, however, let us briefly reviewthe current literature
for cues on how intangibility is believed to affect the ad-
vertising of services.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The special challenges of service advertising have been
discussed by a number of service researchers. In one of the
early essays on the topic, George and Berry (1981) argue
that service advertising is problematic because of three
features of services, namely, that (a) service is a perfor-
mance delivered by service employees, (b) there is vari-
ability in the delivery of services, and (c) the service
product is intangible. In fact, however, even the first two
characteristics, performance and variability, are related to
intangibility; variability occurs because the service is not a
physical thing that can be subjected to tight design specifi-
cations and mass-produced on assembly lines. To address
these aspects of intangibility, George and Berry suggest a
number of guidelines for advertising. First, because ser-
vice is a performance, the service employees behavior
plays an important role; therefore, some of the advertising
should be directed at employees. Second, because of the
variability, service customers perceive a risk and, conse-
quently, seek word-of-mouth recommendations; there-
fore, service advertising should stimulate word of mouth.
Third, to handle the problem of intangibility, advertising
should make the service tangible by using tangible cues,
that is, concrete images such as the bull in Merrill Lynchs
advertisements and the umbrella in Travelers Insurance
advertisements. Later, it is shown that this last suggestion
is of limited utility. This is because these tangible aspects
help to create brand identity but often do little to convey
the intangible aspect of service.
Legg and Baker (1987) argue that the intangible nature
of services presents problems to consumers at both the
pre- and postpurchase stages. At the prepurchase stage,
consumers have difficulty understanding the service and
forming evoked sets; at the postpurchase stage, consumers
have difficulty evaluating the service experience. To help
the prepurchase assessment, Legg and Baker suggest
(echoing George and Berrys [1981] suggestions) the use
of vivid advertisementsachieving vividness by tangible
cues, concrete language, and/or dramatization. They fur-
ther suggest that service advertisements should feature
behind-the-scenes operations to indicate service quality
both before and after the purchase. Finally, they suggest
that an advertisement should present a service script
(i.e., a description of what will happen during the service)
toset (or correct) customer expectations about the service.
Addressing the same problem of intangibility, Berry
and Clark (1986) propose four strategies of tangibaliza-
tion: association, physical representation, documenta-
tion, and visualization. Association is the linking of the
service to an extrinsic person, place, or object (e.g., Merrill
Mittal / ADVERTISING SERVICES 99
Lynchs bull, Heather Locklear for Ballys Fitness). Physi-
cal representation is showing tangibles that are directly or
peripherally parts of a service (e.g., buildings, vans, em-
ployees). Documentation is the featuring of objective data
and factual information. Finally, visualization is a vivid
mental picture of a services benefits or qualities such as
showing passengers on a cruise ship having fun. This arti-
cle includes many of these ideas in an expanded set of sug-
gested advertising strategies.
Some recent literature has departed from suggesting
specific ad strategies to reflecting on howadvertising com-
municates meaning. In an illuminating literary analysis of
copy and visual elements, Stern (1988) shows howtwo dif-
ferent financial service companies (Merrill Lynch and Fi-
delity) communicate their individualistic and differentiated
personalitythe company mystique, as Stern calls it.
Sterns essay, presenting a critics interpretation rather
than the audiences interpretation, argues that a carefully
crafted advertisement is quite capable of communicating
the key (intangible) attributes of a service offering. Also
focusing on copy strategy, Padgett and Allen (1997) distin-
guish two types of ads: argumentative and narrative. Argu-
mentative ads present and persuade by using objectively
verifiable appeals and benefit claims. By contrast, narra-
tive ads persuade by a story, a set of events in time depicted
by actors or conveyed by another form such as a song,
dance, or mime. That is, a narrative ad, rather than an argu-
mentative one, dwells on the subjective human experience.
Because a service is essentially an experience that is sub-
jectively encoded by the customer, the narrative ad, Padg-
ett and Allen propose, is likely to be more effective for
service advertising.
The foregoing literature addresses the important issue
of intangibility, points to the difficulty it creates, and iden-
tifies several approaches to overcome it. However, the key
concept of intangibility has not been scrutinized closely, a
task germane to a more theoretical and systematic devel-
opment of advertising strategies to overcome the chal-
lenge of intangibility. To further this literature, the nature
of intangibility itself is examined more closely in the next
section.
INTANGIBILITY: THE CONCEPT AND
ITS PROPERTIES
The concept of intangibility as a characteristic of ser-
vices is recognized in virtually all writings in the service
literature. For example, Lovelock (1996) recognizes that
service performance itself is basicallyanintangible (p. 7).
Rust, Zahorik, and Keiningham (1996) describe intangibil-
ity as follows: Pure services . . . cannot be seen or touched.
They are ephemeral performances (p. 8). Zeithaml and
Bitner (1996) describe it as follows: Because services are
performances or actions rather than objects, they cannot be
seen, felt, tasted, or touched in the same manner that we
can sense tangible goods (p. 19). Later, Zeithaml and Bit-
ner allude to services being difficult for the consumer to
grasp even mentally (p. 19). In a more focused discussion
of intangibility, Breivik and Troye (1996) suggest three di-
mensions to intangibility: abstractness, generality, and
nonsearchability (discussed later). The present article
builds on these discussions of intangibility to formulate a
more formal description of the concept, identifying its key
properties.
A useful place to start a formal treatment of intangibil-
ity is with a dictionary definition of the term. Websters
NewWorld Dictionary (Prentice Hall, 1994) defines intan-
gibility as that which cannot be touched or grasped, is in-
corporeal, is impalpable (p. 701). From this definition,
two properties of intangibility are discerned: mental im-
palpability (which also was mentioned by Zeithaml and
Bitner 1996) and incorporeal existence. Adding to these
the Breivik and Troye (1996) list (which consists of ab-
stractness, generality, and nonsearchability) yields an ini-
tial list of five characteristics. Let us consider themone by
one.
Incorporeal existence. The first property refers to the
fact that the service product is not made out of physical
matter and does not occupy physical space. Note that the
intangible nature of the service itself is referred to here, not
the service delivery system, which might well be entirely
tangible. A banking service delivery system, for example,
has many tangible elements (e.g., branch building, auto-
matic teller machines, human tellers). However, the core
banking servicethe safekeeping of customers money
and other valuables with convenient, just-in-time access
itself is nonphysical (i.e., incorporeal).
Abstractness. Proposed by Breivik and Troye (1996),
abstractness refers to something that is thought of apart
from any particular instances or material objects (Pren-
tice Hall, 1994). Abstract paintings, for example, are those
that do not depict concrete objects in naturally occurring
configurations, as in Picassos paintings. By this defini-
tion, service benefits such as peace of mind, happiness,
and financial security all are abstract rather than concrete.
Because abstract images do not have one-to-one corre-
spondence with the objects of the material world, it be-
comes difficult to visualize and understand them.
Generality versus specificity. Generality, another di-
mension suggested by Breivik and Troye (1996), refers to
a class of things, persons, events, properties, or the like, as
opposed to specificity, which pertains to one specific ob-
ject, person, event, or the like. Whereas the opposite of ab-
stract is concrete, the opposite of general is specific. To
100 JOURNAL OF SERVICE RESEARCH / August 1999
differentiate the two, consider food on an airline. Food is
not an abstract entity, but it can be presented as a generality
(e.g., superior food) or as a specificity (e.g., Our en-
tres are made fromscratch). Abstractness and generality
are related but not identical; all abstract claims also are
general, but not all general claims are abstract. Thus, se-
curity and peace of mind as service benefits both are
abstract (i.e., not concrete) and general (i.e., not specific),
but superior food service and clear phone reception
are general but not abstract. Generality makes the service
benefit vague and, therefore, detracts from persuasion.
Nonsearchability. Darby and Karni (1973) advanced
the idea of three types of attributes: search, experience, and
credence. Search attributes are those that can be evaluated
before the purchase. Experience attributes require the con-
sumer to actually experience the product or service. Cre-
dence attributes can be neither searched nor evaluated by
experience; rather, they have to be taken on faith.
Because service is a performance, and it cannot be pro-
duced in advance for prepurchase inspection, it is said to
lack search quality (Zeithaml, 1981). Consider, for exam-
ple, a surgical procedure for a gallbladder removal. It is not
an abstract service, nor is generality an issue. It is just that
the skill of the surgeon is not searchable in that a con-
sumer cannot inspect or observe it directly.
Mental impalpability. This final property comes from
the dictionary definition cited earlier. Some services are
too complex, multidimensional, or nascent; consequently,
it is difficult to mentally grasp them. Although abstract-
ness and/or generality may contribute to this dimension,
there need be no one-to-one correspondence. A vacation
trip to a foreign country is neither abstract nor general; yet,
it is mentally impalpable, at least for persons not exposed
to foreign cultures. Likewise, a yoga class, a virtual reality
recreational game, financial trading in futures, a reengi-
neering consulting service, etcetera, are examples of ser-
vices that are relatively difficult to mentally grasp. Nor are
incorporeal existence and impalpability mutually redun-
dant, at least not entirely. Many physical phenomena may
be impalpable (e.g., experiments in physics and chemistry,
complex mechanical or electronic devices), and many
nonphysical events are palpable (e.g., the concepts of per-
jury, kindness, happiness). What causes impalpability is
the absence of prior exposure, familiarity, or knowledge
needed for interpretation.
Recap. What, then, is intangibility? The preceding dis-
cussion suggests that of the five properties discerned from
the literature, incorporeal existence is the inevitable and
defining property of intangibility; it is true by definition
(intangibility = incorporeal existence). The other four
properties arise from this fundamental property, although
not inevitably and not all of themsimultaneously. It is their
incorporeal existence that makes intangible service prod-
ucts nonsearchable and impalpable (and sometimes also
abstract and general). Intangibility lends itself more natu-
rally to these other properties; therefore, unmanaged, in-
tangible services and communications about them are
likely to become more abstract, general, nonsearchable,
and impalpable and, consequently, to prove ineffective in
persuasion. But communications about intangible ser-
vicesintangibility defined as incorporeal exis-
tencecan be managed to avoid or minimize these four
problem properties.
Advertising Strategies to Manage Intangibility
Advertising professionals employ a number of execu-
tion approaches (i.e., advertising strategies) such as dem-
onstration, comparison, testimonial, and slice of life
(Belch and Belch 1998, p. 275). To successfully communi-
cate the intangible service features, service advertisers
need a special set of advertising strategies. These strate-
gies are assembled in Table 1 along with the definitions of
various terms involved. Different strategies are called for
to override each specific property of intangibility, as dis-
cussed in what follows.
INCORPOREAL EXISTENCE
Incorporeal existence makes advertising difficult due
to a lack of any physical entity to photograph or even ver-
bally describe. This difficulty is resolved, with some suc-
cess, by using ancillary physical elements as tangible
symbols of the service product. Even when the core ser-
vice is itself intangible (e.g., education), the service deliv-
ery system often is tangible (e.g., the classroom, the
teacher), and it is this that forms the substance of at least
the visual images in much of service advertising. Thus, the
employees, their uniforms, physical plant, vehicles, com-
pany stationary, and the likeall woven in a unified color
and stylistic graphics (e.g., red for AVIS car rental, brown
for UPS)are used to give substance and form to service
advertising. This is the strategy that Berry and Clark
(1986) term physical representation.
What exactly does physical representation as an ap-
proach to tangibalization accomplish? A review of litera-
ture and various service advertisements suggests that the
tangibles shown in advertising help in three ways: (a) by
creating an identity for the service firm by consistently
showing the same visual images of the tangible elements;
(b) by serving as surrogate cues to quality (e.g., the profes-
sional appearance of employees or modern furnishings
and equipment might lead consumers to believe that the
firms core service itself might be of a high quality
(Zeithaml and Bitner 1996, p. 122); and (c) sometimes by
promoting an inference of some specific service attribute
(as opposed to an impression of overall quality), as in the
use of a bull to stand for bullish investing by Merrill Lynch.
That is, they might create what Aaker (1991) calls brand
associationsassociating a brand with a specific feature
or property. As Berry and Parasuraman (1991) suggest, a
brands meaning to the customer (i.e., what the brand
stands for) depends on a coherent presentation of various
visual elements of the service delivery system. Each of the
foregoing three effects, however, requires a careful selec-
tion of the tangible element. For identity, the ad must show
a unique visual image of the service firm. For quality of
service, the tangibles shown must themselves reflect qual-
ity. For specific brand associations, the selected tangible
element must cue the intended service attribute. Even
when these effects are attained, it should be recognized
that not all intangible service benefits (e.g., peace of mind)
lend themselves to be reflected in or cued by physical rep-
resentation.
Proposition 1a: In service advertising, featuring ancil-
lary physical elements of the service delivery system
serve as tangible symbols of the service. This physi-
cal representation strategy can help (a) by establish-
ing the service brand identity, (b) as a surrogate (i.e.,
indirect) indicator of quality, and (c) in conveying
brand associations.
Proposition 1b: These benefits of physical representa-
tion are not automatic; they require uniqueness for
identity, specific surrogate cues to signal quality,
and incorporation of specific physical elements to
build relevant brand associations.
Proposition 1c: The physical representation strategy does
not address the task of directly communicating those
intangible benefits that do not reside in or stem from
the tangible aspects of the service delivery system.
It is the second effect of tangibalization (i.e., an impres-
sion of quality) that renders physical things a role as an
evaluative dimension in SERVQUAL, a scale to assess
customer-perceived service quality (Parasuraman,
Zeithaml, and Berry 1988). This recommendation (i.e.,
tangibalization by physical representation) is the most
cited remedy in service communications literature (Berry
and Clark 1986; Shostack 1977; Stafford 1996). Yet, it
should not be assumed that using such physical props ren-
ders the intangible service itself or its intangible benefits
fully communicated. For example, the physical represen-
tation by showing a five-star hotels lobby would do noth-
ing to communicate the hotels responsive housekeeping
service. This brings us to a discussion of other properties
given that these tend to accompany intangibility.
GENERALITY
The solution for generality is to make the message
claimspecific. Punctuality of an airline (a benefit stated as
a generality) can be made specific, for example, by show-
ing a comparative chart of scheduled versus actual arrival
times for a sample of flights (i.e., by depicting specific in-
TABLE 1
Definitions of Basic Terms and Strategies in Services Advertising
Basic terms
Objective claim A message claim that can be verified objectively (e.g., on-time delivery)
Subjective claim A message claim that is experienced only subjectively by the perceiver because it cannot be measured objectively
(e.g., courteous service)
Service feature A characteristic or quality of the service input or process (e.g., punctuality)
Customer benefit The benefit the customer receives from the service, that is, an outcome of the service (e.g., secure future)
Concept An idea that exists in the mind (e.g., a responsive service, financial security)
Episode An empirical event that unfolds in the real world, that is, an instance of responsive service being delivered
Documentation Showing facts and figures
Service process A sequence of activities of the service delivery system and employees
Service performance A specific service event in the service process (e.g., the completion of registration at a hotel, the arrival of a plane)
Service consumption The activity of customers in their consumption role
Advertising strategies
Physical representation Showing some visual components of the service
System documentation When the facts and statistics pertain to the service delivery system (e.g., number of planes an airline has)
Performance documentation When the statistics pertain to service performance (e.g., average lost baggage statistic)
Consumption documentation A consumer documenting his or her experience (e.g., testimonial)
Service process episode A depiction of the entire service delivery process
Case history process episode A variant of the service process episode; presents a case history of one service performance delivered to a
specific client
Service performance episode A specific event being performed by the service system
Service consumption episode A service being received and its experience being enjoyed by the consumer
stances of on-time performance). This strategy is termed
documentation, borrowing from Berry and Clark (1986),
but it is limited here to its literal meaning of showing facts
and figures (and excluding other forms of documentation
such as episode filming). Furthermore, and more specifi-
cally, this approach it termed system documentation when
the facts and statistics pertain to the service delivery sys-
tem (e.g., number of planes the airline has) and perfor-
mance documentation whenthe statistics pertaintoservice
performance (e.g., average lost baggage statistic).
However, not all intangible benefits are performance
facts or objective claims. Some are subjective claims
such as responsive housekeeping service in a hotel. The
generality of such subjective claims can be overcome by
depicting a particular service performance episode that
contains a specific enactment of the claimed service fea-
ture such as a hotels staff getting a guests suit dry-cleaned
at an odd hour and on short notice.
Proposition 2a: If the message needs to focus on objec-
tive service features, then the generality of these
service features can be made specific by presenting
statistics on delivery system resources or system
performance (i.e., the system or performance docu-
mentation strategies).
Proposition 2b: If the message needs to focus on subjec-
tive features, then their generality can be made spe-
cific by depicting a specific service episode that
exemplifies the subjective feature claim, that is, by
using a service performance episode strategy.
SEARCHABILITY
Basically, because intangibles cannot be directly
searched before purchase and use, one seeks evaluations
from others who have experienced the service in the past.
That is, the experience quality of intangible services is
communicated to new customers by communicating the
experience of past customers (e.g., by testimonials) or by
facilitating this communication from past users (e.g., by
word of mouth). These two approaches are termed con-
sumption documentation. Also, the credence quality of the
intangible service can be communicated by the service
marketer by documenting its success history or independ-
ently audited performance claims, a strategy termed per-
formance documentation here (e.g., 800 laser surgeries
done, complication rate .03%).
Proposition 3a: Nonsearchability of intangibles can be
addressed by documenting prior success record if
the message pertains to an objective feature that can
be summarized as a statistic (performance docu-
mentation strategy).
Proposition 3b: Nonsearchability of intangibles can be
addressed by obtaining client testimonials and
stimulating word of mouth if the message pertains to
a subjective outcome/benefit such as customer satis-
faction (consumption documentation strategy).
ABSTRACT SERVICE
Abstract service benefits (e.g., happiness) can be made
concrete by evoking particular instances of those benefits.
Happiness can be concretized, for example, by depicting
concrete instances of service recipients made happy. In
general, then, abstract service benefits can be made con-
crete by depicting what are termed service consumption
episodes. In this strategy, consumers are depicted con-
suming the service and, as an outcome, receiving the fo-
cal intangible benefit. This is akin to Berry and Clarks
(1986) visualization, except that it need not be limited to
the visual mode. Vivid prose or poetry can make incorpo-
real and/or abstract experience come alive. For example, a
recent Amtrak ad uses a narrative to convey the joy of
spending quality time with ones loved ones (Exhibit 1).
Proposition 4: Abstractness of service benefits can be
made concrete by depicting a service benefit epi-
sode, here termed the service consumption episode
strategy.
IMPALPABILITY
Finally, how to overcome impalpability? The root
source of impalpability is unfamiliarity rather than intan-
gibility; intangibility keeps entities from becoming famil-
iar because one rarely is exposed to them in everyday life
(e.g., one does not see laser surgery that others might have
undergone). An approach to making such services men-
tally graspable is to reveal exactly what will transpire or
enumerate exactly what benefits will accrue. This can be
done via a staged exhibition of a service delivery process,
say, captured on a videotape (e.g., videotapes of medical
procedures). This approach is termed a service process
episode. This is the mass advertising equivalent of what
Bitner et al. (1996, 1997), in interpersonal communica-
tions, call service previews; the service staff review the
procedure with the customer. Arelated approach is to pre-
sent a case history showing or narrating what the firm did
for a specific client and in what way it solved the clients
problem. This approach is termed a case history process
episode.
Proposition 5: Mental impalpability of services is ame-
liorated by presenting a step-by-step depiction or
explanation of the service process. This depiction is
situated either in a hypothetical episode (service
process episode) or, when client identity can be re-
vealed, in a client-specific history (case history pro-
cess episode).
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In the process episode of either subtype, the category of
service itself is being demystified, regardless of whether it
refers to the total service (e.g., What is benchmarking
consulting service?) or a specific portion of it (e.g., How
does remote hotel check-in work?).
For illustration, consider a recent print ad by Andersen
Consulting. The ad shows a large picture of an elephant
with the headline, OK, nowfloor it. The body copy goes
on to explain that often the change efforts initiated by top
management fail to reach lower levels and that Andersen
Consulting helps management to create a seamless link-
age of all the essential enterprise components: strategy,
technology, process, and people. The ad and its pictorial
depiction refreshingly echo the management challenge of
taming an organizations stodginess. Yet, it sheds no light
on what exactly the consulting firmdoes offer, thereby do-
ing nothing to reduce impalpability. By contrast, Sprint
uses a case history approach in one of its recent ads, an ap-
proach that makes its business network service relatively
more palpable (Exhibit 2).
Table 2 summarizes these strategies, grouped under
three broad categories: physical representation, documen-
tation, and episodes. Documentation has three subtypes:
system, performance, and consumption documentation.
Episode has four subtypes: consumption, performance,
process, and case history episodes. Each of the eight strate-
gies addresses a particular property of intangibility. Like
the four properties they seek to overcome, these strategy
solutions can remain distinct in practice. For example,
consumption documentation such as a testimonial from a
successful recipient of brain surgery helps to overcome
nonsearchability but does not make it less impalpable,
whereas a step-by-step depiction of the service process
(service process episode) makes it palpable but does not
address nonsearchability (e.g., Is the surgeon any
good?).
Note that the strategies defined in these propositions
address the properties that generally attach themselves to
intangible services; they do not do away with the need for
communicating the intangible (i.e., incorporeal) service
benefits to the customer. Indeed, all the strategies except
physical representation embrace intangibles. Of these, the
three documentation strategies are relatively straightfor-
ward to implement. In these strategies, the feature or as-
pect of service is reduced to an objective fact or document,
and these facts are simply presented in the advertise-
ment in a descriptive copy (what Padgett and Allen 1997
call argumentative copy). Their believability depends, of
course, on the credibility of the documents source, just as
the communication of the tangibles does (e.g., This shoe
is made of genuine leather), but at least the problemprop-
erties of intangibility are resolved by the factual nature
of message content by itself. By contrast, the four episode
strategies depend on effective execution, even to fully
overcome the problem properties of intangibility. This is
because the intangible service aspect contained in the epi-
sode still is subjective, and howthe episodes are presented
influences whether or not the concreteness, specificity,
and palpability are achieved. This requires an understand-
ing of the creative platform that advertising employs to
communicate the subjective and the intangible. That plat-
form is transformational advertising, discussed next.
Transformational Advertising: The Key
to Intangible Communication
Transformational advertising is image advertising that
changes the experience of buying and consuming the prod-
uct (Puto, 1986; Wells, Burnett, and Moriarty 1995). Im-
age is an association with a personality, lifestyle, use/
occasion, prestige level, custom/culture, or mood. Image
advertising generally takes two forms, one grounded in the
TABLE 2
Services Advertising Strategies Matched
With the Properties of Intangibility
Property of
Advertising Strategy Intangibility Proposition Description
Physical representation Incorporeal existence 1 Show physical components of service
Documentation
System documentation Generality 2a Objectively document physical system capacity
Performance documentation Generality 2a Document and cite past performance statistics
Nonsearchability 3a Cite independently audited performance
Consumption documentation Nonsearchability 3b Obtain and present customer testimonials
Episodes
Service consumption episode Abstractness 4 Capture and display typical customers benefiting from the service
Service performance episode Generality 2b Present a vivid story of an actual service delivery incident
Service process episode Impalpability 5 Present a vivid documentary on the step-by-step service process
Case history episode Impalpability 5 Present an actual case history of what the firm did for a specific client
EXHIBIT 2
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tangible product and one independent of the tangible prod-
uct. In the first form, the image being created is anchored
in the physical composition of the product. That is, without
the product being what it is, the image could not be sus-
tained; advertising merely, but importantly, communicates
and advances that image (e.g., BMW as an ultimate driv-
ing machine). The second type of image advertising, the
one more extreme, is where the physical composition of
the product has nothing to do with the experience that im-
age advertising strives to create (Aaker and Stayman 1992;
Shimp 1997, pp. 268-69). A prime example is Marlboros
image of an outdoorsy, individualistic personality. It is the
Marlboro advertising that transforms the experience of
smoking the brand. Transformational advertising is an in-
vitation to escape into a world that is necessarily subjective
and perceptual as well as necessarily intangible. It is the
transformational advertisings unique power to communi-
cate symbols and depict visual/verbal images that makes
the much valued intangibles understood. Transforma-
tional advertising has been employed effectively to com-
municate intangible and subjective benefits of
product/brand use. Therefore, it can achieve the same ef-
fects for communicating the subjective aspects of services
entailed in the episode strategies outlined earlier.
Proposition 6: Transformational advertising is an effec-
tive execution tool for the four episode strategies.
HOW TRANSFORMATIONAL ADVERTISING WORKS
What techniques does transformational advertising em-
ploy to make the intangible real? Consider the well-known
Michelin tire ad that shows a cute baby inside the tire ring
with the caption, When so much is riding on your tires.
The tire attribute being advertised here is safety. Michelin
promotes it by invoking the image of a loved one. Some
might consider this an example of intangible (safety) made
even more intangible (emotional arousal). And love for
ones loved ones and desire for their safety is as intangible
as it can get. Yet, there is nothing unreal about a babys cute
face, and there is nothing unfathomable or mentally impal-
pable about how a car accident due to an inferior tire can
take away ones loved ones. These feelings and images, al-
though invisible to the physical eye, are easily seen in the
minds eye (Pylyshyn 1973). They are made mentally
graspable by relating them to the consumers life experi-
ences. Most life experiences are intangible as wellorigi-
nally enjoyed holistically, relived in memory, seen by the
minds eye (rather than by the physical eye). It is by con-
necting an intangible product or service feature to the simi-
larly intangible life experience that the intangibles are
communicated intelligibly and understood naturally. They
are understood naturally in that the consumer is able to re-
late themto his or her own life, is able to vicariously place
himself or herself in the situation, and is able to feel the
immediacy of the intangible and subjective benefit be-
ing promoted. When this connection (between the service
benefit and the consumers life experience) is made
poorly, the intangible advertising fails. When it is done
skillfully, intangibility adds value rather than detracting
from it.
Intangible benefits belong, by definition, in a con-
sumers social and psychological worlds. A consumers
social world consists of his or her relationships with others
including the enjoyment of interpersonal exchanges and
the esteem in which others hold the consumer (cf. Levy
1959). The psychological world pertains to a consumers
self-concept and self-identity as well as to hedonic plea-
sure and/or experiential consumption (Holbrook and
Hirschman 1982; Sirgy 1982). Because subjective bene-
fits ultimately are experienced in the social and psycho-
logical worlds (Friedmann and Zimmer 1988), it is to these
experiences that the subjective aspects of service con-
tained in the episode messages ought to be linked.
The real challenge of service advertising, then, is how
to capture these subjective experiences effectively, that is,
how to execute subjective episodes effectively. To capture
subjective experiences effectively in advertising is tanta-
mount to making the ad (a) vivid or rich in detail, (b) realis-
tic, and (c) vicariously rewarding. Realistic here means
that the consumer views them as occurring in the world
surrounding him or her and accepts them as being within
his or her reach. Vicariously rewarding here means that the
life experience itself is substantial rather than trivial, is
positive rather than negative or neutral, and has a motiva-
tional attraction to it. For illustration, remembering ones
first day in college class is perhaps trivial for many stu-
dents; it is perhaps also neutral (if not negative) and most
likely has no motivational properties (i.e., it does not make
one want to re-live it). By contrast, remembering ones
first prom date is substantial, positive, and motivational;
consequently, it is vicariously rewarding.
Proposition 7a: Intangible service benefits can be com-
municated effectively by linking them to consum-
ers life experiences.
Proposition 7b: Life experience executions are effec-
tive when they are vivid, realistic, and vicariously
rewarding.
Proposition 7c: Life experience executions are vicari-
ously rewarding when they are nontrivial, positive,
and motivational.
Consider an actual ad for a luxury hotel. Its copy used
phrases such as orchestrating memorable conferences,
highest levels of personal service, architectural integ-
rity, and character and spirit of the surrounding area.
These phrases, and the service concepts they reflect, are
likely to lack any grounding in a typical consumers life
experiences. They make the intangible benefits even more
abstract, general, and mentally impalpable. By contrast,
consider the Amtrak ad (Exhibit 1) that visually and ver-
bally captures a life experience and does so vividly, realis-
tically, and in a vicariously rewarding way. Consider the
following copy in the ad: . . . That night, dinner in a dining
car with linen, china, and chefs. You hold hands under the
table. Could anyone blame you? The lights darken. A
movie is playing in the lounge. You watch the movie and
then the stars. . . . One can see in ones minds eye exactly
what the real experience will be, the experience appears
within the realm of possibility, and imagining oneself in it
already has begun to offer a vicariously rewarding experi-
ence. As employed in the Amtrak ad (Exhibit 1), transfor-
mational advertising is perhaps the most potent method of
capturing and conveying a life experience that subjective
service features or outcomes promise inanepisode strategy.
Proposition 8: By presenting the four episode strategies
as life experiences that are vivid, realistic, and vi-
cariously rewarding, transformational advertising
can execute them effectively.
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
A service product possesses both tangible and intangi-
ble attributes, but featuring tangible attributes in advertis-
ing does not substitute for intangible attributes, especially
if the core promise of the service brand resides in its intan-
gible aspects. Intangibility means, by definition, incorpo-
real existence. The latter is the intangibilitys defining
property. Four other properties that generally stem from
intangibility are abstractness, generality, nonsearchability,
and mental impalpability. This article has argued that these
properties can be overcome by using sound advertising
strategies, as summarized in Table 2.
Specifically, three groups of strategies have been de-
fined: physical representation, documentation, and epi-
sodes. This pool of strategies resembles the Berry and
Clark (1986) scheme with two enhancements. First, fur-
ther subgroups are identified in documentation and epi-
sode strategies. Specifically, documentation has three
subtypes (system, performance, and consumption docu-
mentation), and episode has four subtypes (consumption,
performance, process, and case history episodes). Second,
each strategy is linked to a property of intangibility for
which it is effective. It is from a contemplation of each
property, and of how the message would have to be pre-
sented to overcome that property, that a particular commu-
nication strategy is identified and given a name. The
resulting convergence (in broad terms) with Berry and
Clarks scheme signals compatibility with an important
essay in the literature.
Other essays in the literature also are congruent with
the present article. For example, George and Berrys
(1981) suggestion of stimulating word-of-mouth recom-
mendation is captured in the present strategy of consump-
tion documentation (i.e., user testimonials), and the
present performance episode invariably will feature ser-
vice employees, whomGeorge and Berry identify as a tar-
get audience. Similarly, Legg and Bakers (1987)
suggestion of using tangible cues, concrete language,
and/or dramatization parallels the physical representation,
documentation, and episode strategies, respectively, in the
present article. Furthermore, Legg and Bakers sugges-
tions of using behind-the-scenes operations and presenta-
tion of service scripts are broadly captured in the present
service process episode and case history process episode
strategies, respectively. Finally, Padgett and Allens
(1997) distinction of argumentation and narrative parallels
the present documentation and episode strategies, respec-
tively. But rather than reject argumentation in favor of the
narrative as Padgett and Allen do, the present framework
stipulates the utility of each; that is, argumentation is use-
ful and effective in documentation strategies, but its use
would be ill advised in episode strategies, which demand
the narrative style.
All cited authors emphasize vividness as a desirable
characteristic of communications about intangibles. Legg
and Bakers (1987) dramatization, Berry and Clarks
(1986) visualization, and Padgett and Allens (1997) nar-
ratives would demand, for their efficacy, vividness in pre-
sentation. This vividness (i.e., the quality of something
being real or lifelike) is a hallmark of a particular type of
advertising, namely, transformational advertising. Trans-
formational advertising is used for physical products to
communicate an intangible benefit of product use. Like-
wise, the present article argues that transformational ad-
vertising can be an effective advertising form to
implement the episode strategies whose goal is to trans-
form the abstract, general, and impalpable service attri-
butes into the concrete, specific, and palpable ones.
The strategies summarized in Table 2 are general prin-
ciples that link a specific property of intangibility to a spe-
cific advertising strategy. In the following section, the
foregoing framework is used to deduce a set of managerial
guidelines.
MANAGERIAL GUIDELINES
For years, academics have argued that services are in-
tangible and that advertising should attempt to make them
tangible (Berry and Clark 1986; Hill and Gandhi 1992;
Turley and Kelley 1997). Service advertisers have heard it
loud and clear, or so it would seem.
Consider a print ad of a few years ago by Vanstar, a
communications network design company (since merged
into Inacom). In this particular ad, the company was trying
to promote the flexibility of its network system. Flexibility
is an intangible benefit, and the company tried to tangibal-
ize it by showing, in a side-by-side comparison, a stiff pair
of pants and a flexible pair of pants. Mission accom-
plished, or was it? Consider this: What business network
buyer does not know what network flexibility is? And if
there are any such buyers, would any of thembe helped by
this analogy with a pair of pants? Is this what is meant by
tangibalization? The analysis of intangibility in the pres-
ent article would suggest that intangibility is, by defini-
tion, incorporeal and that property cannot be undone by an
analogy with a corporeal object such as a pair of pants
and it need not be undone. Rather, it is the other properties
of intangibilityabstractness, generality, nonsearchabil-
ity, and impalpabilitythat can and must be overcome.
The tangibalization ploy in the Vanstar ad seems to be di-
rected at impalpability, but it fails to reduce impalpability,
that is, to explain what network flexibility means. One ef-
fective way in which to address impalpability, according to
the present article, would have been to employ a case his-
tory process episode approach (i.e., showing how Vanstar
delivered flexibility to a specific client), as suggested in
Proposition 5. With this example as a backdrop, a set of
managerial guidelines is outlined that stem from the theo-
retical propositions in this article.
Agood starting point for managerial guidelines is to an-
swer two interrelated questions: What is the goal of the
proposed advertising, and what aspect of service is to be
advertised? Although any list of goals is arbitrary, for pres-
ent purposes, possible goals are organized into three broad
categories: brand identity, brand positioning, and demand
creation. Likewise, possible aspects of service to feature in
advertising fall into three broad groups: inputs, processes,
and outcomes. Let us consider each goal in turn.
Brand Identity
Brand identity is an important and minimal goal of any
advertisement, and physical products often use a visual
image of the tangible product to create brand identity. For
intangible services, it is important to recognize that most
services do have certain tangible components, namely, the
service delivery systemthe physical facilities, materials,
and people. Featuring these tangible components in adver-
tising (an approach termed physical representation) cer-
tainly is an effective approach to tangibalizing the
otherwise intangible service product. But physical repre-
sentation can help brand identity only if the physical ele-
ment s shown are uni que i n vi sual appearance
(Propositions 1a and 1b). Thus, the brown UPS vans and
the yellow storefronts of Midas Mufflers car repair shops
serve to advance brand identity, whereas the look-alike
smiling faces of airline hostesses and the shots of swim-
ming pools or hotel lobbies do not. An extension of physi-
cal representation is the use of a distinct brand mark based
on an intrinsic element of the physical delivery system
(e.g., McDonalds golden arches), a physical object extrin-
sic to the service product (e.g., an umbrella for Travelers
Insurance), or a visual symbol (e.g., the Greek letter delta
for Delta Airlines); these also serve to advance the brand
identity. Many services, lacking such unique physical ele-
ments or symbols (e.g., many banks), are deprived of even
this simple tool.
Brand Positioning
Brand positioning entails defining the brands place in
the category, differentiating it from some or all competi-
tors (Ayer Press 1976). Service brands can position them-
selves by highlighting the differentiation on service
inputs, processes, or outcomes. First, consider differentia-
tion by inputs. The role of physical representation for
brand identity was discussed in the preceding paragraph.
Now, note that when physical elements of the service are
not unique (and will not help brand identity), they still can
help brand positioning by serving as cues to quality and/or
by building certain brand associations (Proposition 1b).
Physical representation sometimes can signal overall
quality such as plush hotel lobbies for first-class hotels and
tuxedoed waiters for upscale restaurants. Furthermore,
physical representation can create specific brand associa-
tions. For example, the casually attired crew members of
Southwest Airlines connote their informal and fun behav-
ior. Note, however, that only a limited number of brand as-
sociations can be built by physical representation; brand
associations that do not have a logical connection with any
of the physical elements of the service delivery system
cannot be advanced by the physical representation strat-
egy, as Proposition 1c states. To position a brand by asso-
ciations that have no connection with any physical
elements (e.g., network flexibility), one must look else-
where, as Propositions 2 to 8 suggest.
A second means of differentiating ones service is by
some differentiating feature(s) of ones service processes
such as speed, responsiveness, friendliness, failure-proof,
creative, or efficiency. All of these are intangibles. To
communicate them, service managers have a couple of
choices. First, if the process lends itself to some way of ob-
jective summarization, then the advertiser should present
objective data on process performance such as past punc-
tuality or safety record for an airline. This approach has
been termed performance documentation. Second, if the
process cannot be objectively summarized (e.g., respon-
siveness, friendliness), then the advertiser should depict a
representative service event characterized by that qual-
ity of the process (e.g., an example of responsive or
friendly service being delivered). This approach has been
termed performance episode.
A key difference between the documentation and epi-
sode strategies should be noted because sometimes the
service processes (or, for that matter, outcomes as well)
can lend themselves to either approach. Documentation
uses factual information and cites it in a descriptive copy
style. For this reason, its appeal is rational. By contrast,
episodes are events that occur in space and time, and they
are presented in visual and/or verbal narrative copy. For
this reason, they are capable of capturing and engendering
emotions. Agood example of this strategy is a recent ad by
Allstate Insurance (Exhibit 3). Here, the power of the per-
formance episode strategy is unmistakable. It effortlessly
overcomes all four undesirable properties of intangibility
of Allstates message.
Lastly, some service advertisers might seek to position
their brand by outcomes, that is, customer benefits of the
service. Sometimes, of course, service benefits are tangi-
ble (e.g., clean carpet from a cleaning service). Often,
however, service benefits can be intangible (e.g., peace of
mind from an insurance company). Essentially, these in-
tangible benefits can be communicated by depicting the
service consumer enjoying the benefits, that is, by employ-
ing what has been termed a service consumption episode
such as the one in the Amtrak ad (Exhibit 1).
Demand Creation
The final goal of service advertising can be demand
creation, both primary and secondarydemand for the
service category itself and demand for the specific service
brand, respectively (Belch and Belch, 1998, p. 18). Some
demand creation occurs, of course, by service positioning.
But often, demand is hampered because prospective cus-
tomers do not internalize the service benefits adequately
(i.e., the intangible benefits remain abstract, and prospec-
tive customers do not see the services salience and signifi-
cance to their lives personally [In what circumstances
would I need peace of mind?]), because they cannot
fathom what the service is (i.e., intangibility produces im-
palpability [What is network flexibility?]), or because
they do not know how to select the right service brand or
supplier (i.e., due to nonsearchability of the intangible
service [Which stockbroker is trustworthy?]). Abstract
service benefits and impalpable service features tend to
hinder the primary demand itself; nonsearchability hin-
ders selective demand or, correspondingly, postpones the
primary demand.
The messages aimed at demand creation tend to focus
on service outcomes, that is, service benefits that will ac-
crue to customers. Lacking tangibility, these benefits tend
to be abstract. If an ad were to simply state this benefit in a
descriptive copy (e.g., An Amtrak trip will let you relive
those romantic moments), then that would leave the in-
tangible service benefit quite abstract. The suggested solu-
tion, as Proposition 4 states, is to use a consumption
episode strategy, of which the previously described Am-
trak ad (Exhibit 1) is an excellent example. Likewise,
many service benefits, although not abstract, tend to be
general. Many service advertisements err by merely citing
these benefits in a descriptive ad copy (e.g., Our hotel will
do everything to satisfy you); instead, the suggested solu-
tion to overcome generality is to show the service com-
pany actually delivering those benefits to a specific client
(e.g., a dissatisfied hotel guest actually receiving a full re-
fund), that is, by employing a service performance epi-
sode, as suggested by Proposition 2b. Likewise, it is a mis-
taken practice to simply make performance/outcome
claims (e.g., Lose those unwanted pounds) without ac-
companying evidence to overcome nonsearchability in the
form of either performance documentation (Proposition
3a, e.g., the number of past clients who actually lost
weight) or consumption documentation (Proposition 3b,
e.g., featuring representative client testimonials). Finally,
when service outcomes are impalpable, rather than using
extraneous physical objects to drawan analogy, a case his-
tory approach (Proposition 5) is the effective solution, a
strategy exemplified by the Sprint ad described earlier
(Exhibit 2). Arelated example of the case history approach
is a snapshot of a representative event, a practice illus-
trated by the current print campaign for Hilton Hotels with
the theme It happens at the Hilton (Exhibit 4).
It may be clarified that the boundary between some pro-
cesses and outcomes is blurred. Auseful guideline is that a
behind-the-scenes activity usually is a clear example of
process. By contrast, for service activities performed in the
customers presence in which the customer is receiving the
benefit of the process instantaneously, the process also is,
fromthe customers perspective, outcome. The distinction
in such cases might lie in the message choice of whether to
depict the featured aspect of service from the service per-
formers or the customers vantage point. In either case,
the advertising strategy collectively calls on either docu-
mentation (when the process/outcome is objectively docu-
mentable) or episode strategies (when the process/
outcome is subjective). Arecent ad by Renaissance Hotels
offers a good example of documentation of service per-
formance by citing a J. D. Power and Associates Guest
Satisfaction Study ranking. The same ad, however, does
EXHIBIT 3
EXHIBIT 4 1
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not do as good a job of communicating another message
appeal it contains, namely, At Renaissance, hospitality is
king. This message demands, as Table 3 suggests, a per-
formance episode strategy. Instead, it relies on descriptive
body copy (as opposed to the narrative copy of an episode)
and, as if to tangibalize, on the photo of a famous king
(Henry VIII). These two elements do nothing to make
clear and vivid the otherwise impalpable, abstract, and
general service feature of kingly hospitality.
Consider, by contrast, a recent ad by Wyndham Hotels
(Exhibit 5). The ads selling appeal is the Wyndhamway,
which in this ad is translated as the hotel staffs readiness
to go the extra mile, so to speak. The ad conveys this effec-
tively by employing a performance episode strategy (as
Table 2 recommends). The Wyndhamway is an intangi-
ble service claim that is as abstract, general, and impalpa-
ble as it can get. Wyndham makes that differential
advantage concrete and palpable through a series of differ-
ent performance episodes.
These managerial guidelines are summarized in Table 3.
They represent merely an illustrative framework. Depend-
ing on what the advertising goal is and what service aspect
(input, process, or outcome) is entailed in that goal, a man-
ager should ask which specific property of intangibility is
potentially present in the chosen message. Each of the four
properties calls for a separate strategy, as the propositions
and resulting strategies summarized in Table 2 suggest.
These strategies do not depend on any tangible (i.e., physi-
cal) props. The idea of using tangible props such as physi-
cal objects unrelated to the core service to tangibalize an
intangible attribute is a misguided one. Vanstars pair of
pants, Arthur Andersens elephant, and Renaissance Ho-
tels king might well be judged creative and even success-
ful in achieving other goals (or these ads other elements
might well achieve still other goals), but so far as tackling
intangibility is concerned, their attempt at tangibalization
seems artificial and forced. This is because they attempt to
use as props the corporeal objects that are at best tangen-
tially related to the service benefits. (Arthur Andersens
more recent global best practices print campaign pru-
dently uses tangible visuals that are directly relevant to the
service, e.g., a pizza delivery boy as an example of best de-
livery service practice). The incorporeal existence is an in-
escapable property of intangible messages; it cannot and
need not be undone. What needs to be tackled are the other
four properties of intangibility, and the tangible images of
a pair of pants, an elephant, and a king do nothing to over-
come those. By contrast, the ads by Amtrak, Wyndham
TABLE 3
Managerial Guidelines for Service Advertisers
Advertising Goals Suggested Strategy Description/Illustration
Brand identity Physical representation:
Service system Show unique visuals of service system (e.g., UPSs brown vans)
Brand mark Show unique symbols associated with the service brand (e.g.,
McDonalds golden arches)
Brand positioning
By differentiation on:
Inputs Physical representation Even if not unique, show visuals of service system that might
signal quality and/or other associations (e.g., show casual/friendly
crew of Southwest Airlines to position it as a fun airline)
Processes Performance documentation Cite objective data on past performance (e.g., past punctuality of
airline: 98%)
Performance episode Depict the story of a typical performance incident (e.g., how an
insurance agent delivered superior service in a particular instance)
Outcome Service consumption episode Show vivid images of customers enjoying the service (e.g., cruise
passengers enjoying leisure time)
Demand creation
By service outcome
To make the outcome less:
Abstract Service consumption episode Present vivid vignettes of customers realizing the benefit (e.g., a mature
couple having a romantic time on Amtrak)
General Service performance episode Present specific past incident of service delivering the benefit (e.g., a
hotel guest reporting a specific dissatisfaction received a full refund)
Nonsearchable Service consumption documentation Present a testimonial from a satisfied customer (e.g., a plastic surgery
recipient showcasing his or her postsurgery face)
Impalpable Service case history episode Document and present a past case of how the firm offered service to a
specific client (e.g., the Sprint ad, the Wyndham Hotels ad)
EXHIBIT 5
Hotels, Sprint, Hilton Hotels, and Allstate Insurance strive
to make the intangible service claims concrete, specific,
searchable, and/or palpable.
CONCLUSION
Past literature cites intangibility as the principal source
of challenge for service advertising. The real challenge, in-
stead, is one of choosing a message strategy. Intangibility,
defined as incorporeal existence, does not hurt service ad-
vertising. What hurts are unthoughtful message strategies
(e.g., basing the message on tangible components of the
service delivery system just to avoid the challenge of han-
dling the intangible), ill-conceived creative executions
(e.g., relying merely on descriptive copy without docu-
mentation so that it accentuates generality and abstract-
ness), and failure to embed intangible service performances
or outcomes in realistic consumer life experience epi-
sodes. Whereas most services have some tangible compo-
nents, their differentiating appeal might well lie in some
intangible aspect of service process or outcome. There is
no need to shirk from using such intangible appeals. In-
deed, handling intangibility is advertisings special talent.
Transformational advertising has countless times elevated
mere mortal products into the realm of incorporeal, intan-
gible, psychosocial life experiences. There is no denying
that conveyingintangible features or benefits of the service
is a challenging task. But that is a challenge substantially
tackled by a careful analysis of the nature of intangibility
(i.e., which quality a specific intangible message claim
has) and then choosing a matching advertising strategy as
identified here. In the services literature, principles or
guidelines for advertising are but few. It is hoped that the
propositions advanced here will stimulate a discourse,
among managers and researchers alike, on this important
topic.
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Banwari (Ban) Mittal is a professor of marketing at Northern
Kentucky University. He received his Ph.D. in marketing in 1982
from the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds a B.A. in engi-
neering and and an M.B.A. in marketing. He previously has
taught at the State University of NewYork at Buffalo and the Uni-
versity of Miami. His research has been published in leading
management and marketing journals, where it has twice won
Best Article awards. He has coauthored an innovative book,
Customer Behavior: Consumer Behavior and Beyond (Dryden
1999). His research interests include services marketing, rela-
tionship marketing, and customer behavior analysis for business
planning.

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