Ad Relevance Scale

What it measures

Measures the degree to which a consumer perceives an advertisement as personally meaningful, appropriate, useful, and valuable to them. Originally called 'ad-to-consumer relevance' by Smith et al. (2007) and later referred to as 'meaningfulness' by Lehnert, Till, and Ospina (2014). Together with the Ad Divergence Scale, this forms the two-factor model of advertising creativity in which creative ads are characterised by both divergence from the norm and relevance to the consumer.

Response format

7-point Likert-type (strongly disagree to strongly agree)

Scale items

• The ad was meaningful to me.
• The ad was appropriate for me.
• The ad was useful to me.
• The ad was valuable to me.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Originally labelled 'ad-to-consumer relevance' by Smith et al. (2007); renamed 'meaningfulness' by Lehnert, Till, and Ospina (2014). Items provided via personal correspondence with Lehnert (2015). Convergent and discriminant validity supported across three studies including US students, Colombian community sample, and US advertising practitioners. Direct companion to the Ad Divergence Scale (ADS, ID 593) — the two scales together operationalise Smith et al.'s (2007) two-factor model of advertising creativity. Creative ads score high on both divergence and relevance.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Smith, R.E., MacKenzie, S.B., Yang, X., Buchholz, L.M., & Darley, W.K. (2007). Modeling the determinants and effects of creativity in advertising. Marketing Science, 26(6), 819-833.

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