Brand Perception and its Relation to Perceived Performance of a Public Sports Service

In sport context, many contributions are involved in the perception of quality and satisfaction in sport services, but in regards to brand perception, such studies are much less common. Virtually no work is aimed at brand awareness of sports services. In the book chapter the authors expose a case study that analyze the users perception of the image of the service and is related to some performance indicators such as quality of service, satisfaction and future intentions. Data analysis is performed using structural equations and measurement scales adapted to sports facilities. The results of this study show that quality is explained by congruence with a high percentage of variance (76.6%), the latter concept being the aspect with the greatest predictive weight. Furthermore, future intentions are explained by attitudes towards the brand and quality, the latter being the element with greater predictive power.

Branded Entertainment

Branded entertainment is the insertion of a brand within an entertainment property in such a way that the line between entertainment and advertising becomes blurred (Moore, 2006). This hybrid message develops in an increasingly convergent environment in which editorial content and advertising content are blended (Shrum, 2004). This indirect approach to deliver brand messages is gaining momentum as a marketing communications tool to engage consumers with brand messages in a non-interruptive and entertainment context. By using branded films, advergames, and other advertainment-type genres, advertisers aim to enhance consumers´ brand perceptions, brand awareness, brand recall, and brand recognition, along with increasing consumers´ brand attitudes and purchase intentions while providing value to consumers through brand communications. This chapter gives an overview to branded entertainment from an historical approach, analyzing the origins, conceptualization, and genres of branded entertainment. Ethical concerns and legal issues related to branded entertainment are discussed. New trends in branded entertainment are also analyzed.

How Branded Entertainment Shapes Consumers' Brand Attitudes

This chapter investigates how consumers' brand attitudes are influenced by an advanced form of branded entertainment: the Advertiser-Funded Program. Based on prior work on brand placement, hybrid advertising, and branded entertainment, a model is constructed that captures the interplay of three key determinants of brand attitudes: program liking, viewing frequency, and program connectedness. Results indicate that liking of the program is transferred to brand attitudes. This effect is complementarily mediated by connectedness with the program but not by viewing frequency. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for theory and practice and provides an overview of potential avenues for future research.

Deep and Shallow Gamification in Marketing

Gamification started trending as a term around 2010 and enjoyed a rise to mainstream prominence over the following years. The trend extols the use of game elements and game thinking to support behavior and experiences in non-game contexts but has been hotly debated and is currently facing a serious limitation of evidence. This chapter critically examines the field. Combining theoretical perspectives from game design and psychology with marketing examples, the chapter develops a continuum from deep to shallow gamification as an interpretative framework where game qualities and engagement potentials are seen as a function of design richness and integration with the behavior context. The chapter strongly underscores the need for methodologically consistent data collection before conclusions can be drawn about the economic and psychological efficacy of individual design elements and the gamification fad as a whole.

Product Placement in the Pharmaceutical Industry

While physician-oriented marketing remains the largest factor in drug advertising and direct-to-consumer advertising has increased its budget during the last few years (IMS Health, 2001), pharmaceutical brands are exploring new ways to target consumers in a softer way. Product placement in entertainment media allows the promotion of brand drugs in a natural and entertaining context. Using a case study methodology, this chapter analyses the use of product placement of a brand drug (Sinemet) in the television series ER (NBC). To do so, first of all product placement definition and main marketing goals are provided. Then the authors address the legal framework of product placement for brand drugs in television series. Using parasocial attachment theory (Russell & Stern, 2006) and meaning transfer theory (McCracken, 1986) the relationship between actors, brand drugs, and spectators is analyzed. The type of placement and expected outcomes of brand drugs product placement are also analyzed.

Sitcoms Make You Laugh and Recycle

Social marketing and product placement are two common marketing practices. Consumers are seeing the merging of these two concepts through television programming's behavior placements, which are the incorporation of social behaviors into television program storylines to sway viewers to adopt these actions. A major television network has adapted this concept by incorporating environmentally themed messages into its programming. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the concept of “behavior placements” and discuss the effect of these embedded messages on consumers' green attitudes and intentions. Through an example featured in the television sitcom The Office, the research supports the advancement of the behavior placement concept. Implications and future research directions are presented.

Product Placement in Video Games

Organizations look for new ways of communication as traditional media is being saturated with advertising messages. One of the alternatives is product placement in video games. This chapter analyses this new communication alternative. Moreover, through an investigation the chapter shows the consequences of placing a brand in this form of electronic entertainment – in the sense of image transfer from the video game to the brand. Specifically, this chapter focuses on the emotions evoked by the video game. Therefore, the present study develops a scale of emotions adapted to the theme of this research. Additionally, this study analyses the differences between types of product placement and their effects in the image transfer. All conclusions are extracted from the concept map technique.

A Theoretical Model for the Study of Persuasive Communication through Digital Games

In this chapter, the author presents a theoretical model for the study of how persuasive messages can be conveyed through digital games. The objective of developing this new theoretical model is to make visible how persuasiveness can be structured within digital games and to help identify specific aspects of persuasive games that might not be obvious to the naked eye, by giving them order and intelligibility. This model may facilitate the study and implementation of persuasive strategies within advergames from a new and specific perspective. In the first part of the chapter, the author justifies the reasons why the author has chosen to work with a theoretical model. In the second part, the author describes the three characteristics that define these theoretical models and present the new theoretical model as well as a visual representation of it.

A Classification of Branded Entertainment Based on Psychological Levels of Processing

Advertising is changing the way to communicate with consumers. New forms of advertising that are diversifying the types of Branded Entertainment are appearing. This type of advertising has been analyzed in terms of its content but not from the point of view of the psychological processes that induce on the consumer. The aim of this chapter is to present a classification of the different manifestations of Branded Entertainment based on the manner in which they elicit on the consumer psychological processes, activating their cognitive and emotional resources to experience entertainment, create brand value, and make a positive mental imprint in the consumer's mind. As a result of the analysis of current advertising campaigns from this perspective, this classification distinguishes four levels of processing that allows understanding of the whole of the current manifestations of Branded Entertainment and opening new ways to study their advertising effectiveness.

User-Generated-Content

User-generated-content, also called user-generated-media, user-created-content, and consumer-generated-content, refers to all types of content, like pictures, videos, or posts, created by consumers and delivered through online platforms like social media. User-generated content is gaining momentum as a marketing communication tool in the form of contests (e.g., create-your-own advertisements, branded storytelling, or branded interactive applications). By allowing consumers to become prosumers and creating or co-creating brand messages, advertisers increase consumers´ exposure to and involvement with brand communications, which results in a greater level of brand engagement. This chapter analyzes the effects of prosumers' actions on marketing communications using the uses and gratifications theory approach. Two main types of advertising content created by prosumers, spontaneous content and marketing-oriented content, are identified. Five marketing communication outcomes of user-generated-content (credibility, message distortion, loss of control on the message valence, involvement with the message, and virality) are also examined. Implications for practitioners are also discussed.