JAR was essential reading for the ‘Mad Men’ of the 1960s, and still is across the industry today.
Image © AMC
In an age when news travels around the world in seconds and the Internet provides more new thinking each day than those in the advertising industry could ever track, why should someone take the time to publish in a 50-year-old quarterly journal? Although much of what we see on the Internet is read today and forgotten tomorrow, papers published in the Journal of Advertising Research have longevity and practical resonance. The Journal is not the place for the latest trends or fashions, but rather a forum to share trustworthy studies that add to the body of advertising knowledge.
Looking at the advertising business as a whole, the current fashion appears to be nostalgia. Many consumer campaigns reach back to the roots of the brand, and retro designs are everywhere, from kitchenware to autos. Fashion retailers have noticed a distinct return to long-lasting classic designs over more ephemeral pieces. The trend fits neatly with the recession: The focus on “classic” rather than fashion reduces the need to spend. Longer “wear-in-wear-out” gestation periods are greatly in vogue (no puns intended).
The hit US television show, Mad Men, with its 1960s advertising business setting, is either the result of serendipity, foresight, pure creative genius or perhaps all three. We have yet to see Don Draper, the agency’s leading Creative Director, smoking one of the show’s famous herbal cigarettes while reading the latest edition of the Journal of Advertising Research, but given the JAR was first published in 1960 the thought is not without some substance.
As an industry thought leader, Don Draper presumably would agree with the mission statement of the JAR to act as the research and development vehicle for professionals in all areas of marketing, including media, research, advertising, and communications. It encourages practitioners and academics to expand the scientific body of knowledge about marketing and advertising research and enables both groups an opportunity to share their methods and findings.
In doing so, the JAR has become one of the seminal journals in the marketing field, and in the advertising industry specifically. It is a place where practitioners and academics, who see a practical use for their work, meet to exchange ideas in order to advance practice and knowledge. Academics writing for the JAR tend to put the emphasis on the exacting method, but should not shy away from asking the big questions facing the industry. On the other hand, good practitioners writing for the Journal must be clear about their data and methodology used so that the research is of benefit for all. Both groups need to consider how their work might impact business practice to ensure that clients, research and all kinds of advertising agencies (Don, you wouldn’t recognize the business) find it a valuable read.
In summary, papers published in JAR are classics rather than subject to the vagaries of fashion. They generally meet the following fundamental criteria:
We welcome papers on all aspects of advertising research and practice, and review times at the journal are now on average 6-8 weeks. If you would like your work to be part of something lasting, then share your contribution with us at www.editorialmanager.com/jar or email jar@thearf.org with any questions.
