Literature Review > Interactivity
The final component of the research puzzle at hand is interactivity and how it relates to the presentation of visually rhetorical advertising in the online environment. It is important for companies to maintain a positive and current identity online so that consumers see their brand as one that transcends different media types and serves them well in each one. As consumer markets become more fragmented, it will become critically important to attract new customers with high powered creative that makes them feel smart and fulfilled. Coupled with interactivity, open advertising presents a unique method to reach out to online consumers and make the impact that results in more positive brand attitudes. Interactive, open advertisements have the potential to increase experiential flow within hedonically minded consumers. (Huang, 2003)
Within the scope of this review, interactivity will be defined as "the degree to which two or more communication parties can act on each other, on the communication medium, and on the message and the degree to which such influences are synchronized." (Liu et al., 2002) Interactivity is seen as a multidimensional variable; to account for this, Liu et al. (2002) present three additional dimensions of interactivity, 1) active control, 2) two-way communication, and 3) synchronicity. Active control refers to a consumer's ability to control information flow within their online environment. The assumption here is that higher levels of active control make for more engaged consumers. Two-way communication involves the responsiveness of the given communications medium, i.e. a website with interactive advertising. The quality of communication presented by the marketer will work in forming brand attitudes within the consumers, for example if a website is quick to respond and intrigue a consumer then their attitude will become more positive. Synchronicity refers to the simultaneity of consumer action and the medium response. Similar to two-way communication, synchronicity comes in to play for consumers as they interact with a website. The more synchronous a website, the more experiential flow the consumer is likely to maintain while on the website. To affect this synchronicity, open advertisements could be used within a website or to link to another website within a network.
Interactive advertising to date has focused on the effects of vividness, increasing levels of dynamism, and successful attempts to induce experiential encounters. (Coyle & Thorson, 2001; Huang, 2003) These studies found higher levels of vividness and dynamism to produce potent experiential encounters between consumers and the online environment. Specifically, Huang (2003) determined that increasing levels of interactivity make for higher levels of experiential flow among visitors. Taking this into consideration, it can be posited that interactive, open advertising will induce "telepresence" and experiential flow within consumers online. (Coyle & Thorson, 2001) The challenge is then to discover a method of producing interactive, open advertising for websites that still maintains high design and usability standards and low annoyance levels.