Thought favorability: mediating role in fit and brand advocacy

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of game-product fit on brand advocacy and mediating role of thought favorability in fit and brand advocacy relationship in the context of in-game advertising (IGA) using congruity theory and heuristic systematic model. This expounds the conditions under which in-game brand placements form favorable or unfavorable thoughts about the game and the advertised brand, and following brand advocacy.Design/methodology/approachA total of 144 student-gamers participated in the study. One-way ANOVA and a path analysis were used for hypotheses testing.FindingsResults showed that the high-fit game resulted in higher thought favorability and greater levels of brand advocacy than the low-fit game. Furthermore, results also revealed that thought favorability mediated the relationship of game-product fit and brand advocacy among players.Research limitations/implicationsResearch on IGA is still in its relative infancy, and how gamers respond to brand placements in games has yet to be fully established. This paper’s theoretical implications are primarily in the context of in-game advertising and explain the role played by game-product fit as an originator to thought favorability that further adds value to thought favorability and brand advocacy relationship.Practical implicationsThe study offers important implications for marketers, advertisers, policy-makers in terms of effective game-designing and IGA execution.OriginalitySince very little research has been done focusing on mediating role of thought favorability in game-product fit and brand advocacy relationship in the context of IGA from attention and elaboration perspectives, this paper scores as a pioneering study of its kind in India.

Communicating and Building Destination Brands With New Media

The chapter aims to discuss building destination brands with the use of brand placements, like in movies and in songs, brand communities, and storytelling through new media options. The objective is to share how these three tools using new media can help build a destination's brand awareness, brand recognition, brand associations, and brand personality. The chapter presents the meaning of new media and old media and then details the meaning and applications of brand placements, brand community, and storytelling. There is a discussion to understand how these three tools help build a destination brand by sharing information with consumers. The use of three techniques will help gain consumers' attention and may develop their attitudes in favour of destination brands to visit the destination.

Effectiveness of brand placements in music videos on viewers’ brand memory, brand attitude and behavioral intentions

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effects of brand placement repetition in music videos on consumers’ memory, brand attitudes and behavioral intentions, as well as, explores the effective frequency needed to achieve optimal advertising impact. Design/methodology/approach The proposed hypotheses and research questions were tested using an experimental approach. Participants watched a block of music videos containing various levels of brand placement repetitions. Afterward, participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure memory, brand attitudes and behavioral intentions. Findings At low levels (below 4–5 exposures), the repetition of a brand placement has a positive effect on brand memory, brand attitudes, intentions to buy and to recommend the brand to others. However, further increases in repetition had detrimental effects on brand attitudes and purchase intentions, but not on memory measures. Additionally, the effects of brand placement repetition on brand attitudes and memory measures were moderated by respondents’ brand familiarity. Research limitations/implications The effects of brand placements were measured through explicit tests that refer to the placement event. Researchers are encouraged to test suggested propositions by using implicit tests. Practical implications The results of this study can serve as guidance for marketing practitioners on optimal ways to integrate their brands into the contents of mass media programming. Originality/value Despite the increasing usage of music videos in marketing promotions, limited scholarship explores the effects of placing consumer brands in this promising medium. Current research addresses this gap and contributes both to brand placement literature and scholarship on advertising repetition.

Effect of interactivity and congruence on brand advocacy and brand acceptance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the combined effect of game-interactivity and game-product congruence on consumers’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance in the context of in-game advertising. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (interactivity: high or low)×2 (game-product congruence: high or low) between-subject measures design is used. In total, 140 students participated in the study. A 2×2 between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results reveal that for a high-interactive game, congruent condition results in higher brand advocacy and superior brand acceptance than the incongruent condition. However, for a low-interactive game, both congruent and incongruent conditions will result in the same level of brand advocacy as well as equal levels of brand acceptance. Research limitations/implications This paper provides implications for theory as well as practice by providing the empirical evidence of the combined effect of game-interactivity and game-product congruence on consumers’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance from the perspective of attention and elaboration. If higher brand advocacy and greater brand acceptance are the objectives of the brand managers, then a high interactive with congruent brand placements would be the right approach for effective advergames. Originality/value This investigation contributes to non-traditional advertising media literature, specifically to the area of branded entertainment, like brand placements in digital games by examining and exploring the influence of game-specific factors on players’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance. Moreover, this paper is one of the first to reveal the real-time roles of game-specific factors in generating gamers’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance from the perspectives of attention and elaboration, in an emerging marketing context, like India.

Modelling the Effects of Brand Placements in Movies: An Investigative Study of Event Type and Placement Type

Movies are getting extremely costly and product placement has become inevitable to accommodate brands to support their budgets. Moreover, brands are demanding return on investment for their placements. This article makes an attempt to evaluate the outcome of brand placements in movies. As Indian audiences are exposed to both Hollywood and Bollywood movies, product placement is rapidly turning into a colossal path for brands to achieve their objectives by placing the brand in a subtle or blatant way. It is reasonable to count on that consumer contrast of brands will genuinely get influenced based on the type of the entertainment event (Bollywood vs. Hollywood) and type of the product placement (subtle vs. blatant). A structural equation model was developed to assess the effect of entertainment event and placement type (PT) on brand attitude (AB) and consequently on purchase intentions (PIs). The study also explores the possibility of mediation and conducted multi-group analysis on event type and PT using AMOS and SPSS. The findings help us to comprehend the event type (Hollywood movie vs. Bollywood movie) and the PT (subtle vs. blatant) that has the most significant impact on AB and subsequently on PI.