Communicating brands playfully

An online experiment was conducted to study the effects of brand placements in computer games on brand attitude as well as game attitude (N = 521; between subject design: familiar vs unfamiliar brands vs no brand). Results show that particularly unfamiliar brands can achieve a better attitude, while the attitude towards the familiar brand worsens as a result of ad placements. In any case, the game will suffer as a result of the integration of advertising: attitude towards the game worsens as a result of ad placement. However, these effects were not moderated by ad scepticism. In terms of the process of attitude formation, attitude towards the game has a direct impact on attitude towards the advertised brand.     

Brand Placement Recognition

Abstract

This study examines the impact of adding an audible reference to a visually prominent brand placement on recognition of the brand placed. Facilitated recognition scores were used to control for the effects of brand familiarity on brand placement recognition. Subjects exposed to one of two complete movies were asked to indicate recognition of brands that were or were not placed in their movie. Results indicate that brand placement recognition levels achieved by audio-visual prominent placements exceed the recognition rates achieved by visual-only prominent placements. Additionally, familiar brands achieve higher levels of recognition than unfamiliar brands, even when the recognition scores for familiar brands are adjusted for the guessing and constructive recognition that may result from inferences associated with familiar brands.     

Audio and Visual Distractions and Implicit Brand Memory: A Study of Video Game Players

Utilizing a computerized racing game, the experiment investigates the influence of sensory distractions on implicit brand memory. The results suggest that auditory distraction inhibits retrieval of implicit brand memory, but visual distraction causes no significant effect. The effects of the character's sensory distractions appear only for familiar brands, probably because relatively less attention enhances the interference on implicit memory. Comparatively, novel unfamiliar brands attract more attention, which nulls the character's sensory distraction. Therefore, relatively higher distraction effects on implicit memory occur for familiar brands.     

The efficacy of cause-related marketing within a social network: The effects of congruency,corporate credibility,familiarity of cause brands,and perceived altruistic motive

This study investigates the value of cause-related marketing (CRM) effects by constructing a theoretical model within a social network site. This study aims to evaluate the effects of congruence, brand credibility, and cause brand familiarity within consumer sentiment with regard to a brand collaborating with a cause. A 2?×?2?×?2 factorial experiment design was implemented to investigate the significance of the relationship between consumer attitudes toward a brand, perceived motives, and intention to spread the campaign. The study proposed a two-stage moderated mediation model. The study generated significant results from three-way interactions among the key variables on attitude toward a brand. For participants who were exposed to familiar cause brands, there existed an interaction between congruence and credibility, such that in conditions of high credibility, congruence led to a significantly higher attitude toward the brand than incongruence. However, in conditions of low credibility, attitude toward the brand was very similar for congruent brands and incongruent brands. In addition, the results showed that the effect of attitude toward a brand on behavioral intention was moderated by perceived altruistic motive. This study presents interesting implications for future CRM campaigns.     

Advertisement Disclaimer Speed and Corporate Social Responsibility: “Costs” to Consumer Comprehension and Effects on Brand Trust and Purchase Intention

It is not uncommon for advertisers to present required product disclaimers quickly at the end of advertisements. We show that fast disclaimers greatly reduce consumer comprehension of product risks and benefits, creating implications for social responsibility. In addition, across two studies, we found that disclaimer speed and brand familiarity interact to predict brand trust and purchase intention, and that brand trust mediated the interactive effect of brand familiarity and disclaimer speed on purchase intention. Our results indicate that fast disclaimers actually reduce brand trust and purchase intention for unfamiliar brands, suggesting that there are both economic and social responsibility reasons to use less rapid disclaimers for unfamiliar brands. Conversely, disclaimer speed had no negative effects on brand trust and purchase intention for highly familiar brands, presenting ethical tensions between economic interests (e.g., an efficient use of advertisement time) and social responsibility. We discuss the implications of our framework for advertising ethics, for corporate social performance, and for corporate social responsibility.     

The Aad-Ab-PI relationship in children: The impact of brand familiarity and measurement timing

Given the explosion of research in the past decade that has examined the Aad-Ab-PI relationship using adult subjects, one would expect to see an almost parallel stream of research involving children. However, as is evident in Brown and Stayman's (1992) meta-analysis of the literature, no studies investigating this area have used children as the sample. This study provides an initial exploration into the Aad-Ab-PI relationship in children with specific focus given to the impact of brand familiarity and measurement timing while controlling for prior brand attitudes. Forty-three third graders and sixty-eight sixth graders participated in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment that manipulated brand familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and measurement timing (immediate vs. delayed). Similar to the results using adult subjects, the children's Aad measures significantly affected Ab for both familiar and unfamiliar brands, even after controlling for prior brand attitude. However, contrary to adult responses, the children's Aad had a significant, albeit modest, impact on their PI responses. Based on these results, the paper offers implications for marketers and public policy makers and questions for future research. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Do I know you? How brand familiarity and perceived fit affect consumers’ attitudes towards brands placed in movies

The present study uses Associative Network Theory to construct a model that explains effects of brand placement in movies. Based on a field experiment (n?=?167), we investigate the effects of plot connection and prominence on brand attitude, as well as the mediating role of brand-movie fit and the moderating role of brand familiarity. Results show that more closely connecting a brand to the plot of a movie positively impacts brand attitude by increasing the perceived fit between the brand and the movie. Brand familiarity moderates the effect of the interaction between a placement’s plot connection and prominence on brand attitude. When brand familiarity is high, there is no significant effect of plot connection on brand attitude, nor is this effect moderated by the prominence of the placement. However, when brand familiarity is low, both prominently and subtly connecting the brand to the plot of the movie positively influences brand attitude. More importantly, the effect of plot connection is significantly stronger when an unfamiliar brand is prominently placed, than when it is subtly placed.     

Brand placement repetition in a fictional text

This paper investigates the effect of brand name repetition on brand attitude in the context of a fictional text. Furthermore, it tests the moderating impact of brand familiarity, narrative transportation, and individual differences in need for cognition (NFC). Participants in an experiment read the full text of a real short-story, which featured the target brand. Brand name repetition and brand familiarity were systematically manipulated. The results show that brand name repetition affects attitude towards an unfamiliar brand and readers’ narrative transportation and NFC moderate this effect: Attitude towards the brand improves with repetition only when both transportation and NFC are relatively high. No effects were found for the familiar brand.     

The Relation Between Brand-name Linguistic Characteristics and Brand-name Memory

Copytesting results from a commercial copytesting firm were used to assessthe relation between the presence of linguistic features in brand names and memory for those names. Brand names in the ads being tested (<I>n</I> = 480) were coded on 23 linguistic properties, of which 11 occurred with sufficient frequency to be retained for analysis. Regression analyses tested for the association between linguistic properties of the brand names and brand-name memory as a function ofbrand-name familiarity,controlling forexecutionalvariables.Resultsrevealed thatthree linguistic variableswerepositively related to brand-name memory (semantic appositeness, paranomasia, initial plosives), but only for less familiar brands. Two linguistic variablesshowed main effectsfor brand-name memory: unusual spelling (positive) and blending (negative). However, the effects for unusual spelling and blending were also qualified by the same interaction with familiarity: The effects were stronger for less familiar brands than they were for more familiar brands. These results are interpreted within Craik and Lockhart's (1972) depth of processing framework and implications for the naming of brands are discussed.     

Does competitive clutter in television advertising “interfere” with the recall and recognition of brand names and ad claims?

This paper contrasts the effects of competitive clutter on the recall and recognition of information from ads for familiar brands. An experiment was conducted utilizing ads for the type of relatively familiar brands typically advertised on network television; the dependent variables were recall and recognition of brand names and ad claims. Results showed that brand name recall scores were substantially reduced by competitive clutter. However, exposure to competitors' ads had little effect on ad claim recall. These data are consistent with the view that information about familiar brands will tend to be compartmentalized in memory, reducing interference effects in attribute recall. Exposure to competitive clutter had relatively little effect on recognition task performance. Suggestions for future advertising research considering competitive interference and brand familiarity issues are provided.The authors thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their guidance. Ray Burke. Frank Kardes, James Kellaris, Karen Machleit, Joe Mandese, and Don Schumsky provided helpful comments on various aspects of this research.     

The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands

Researchers and brand managers have limited understanding of the effects social media communication has on how consumers perceive brands. We investigated 504 Facebook users in order to observe the impact of firm-created and user-generated (UG) social media communication on brand equity (BE), brand attitude (BA) and purchase intention (PI) by using a standardized online survey throughout Poland. To test the conceptual model, we analyzed 60 brands across three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and mobile network operators. When analyzing the data, we applied the structural equation modeling technique to both investigate the interplay of firm-created and user-generated social media communication and examine industry-specific differences. The results of the empirical studies showed that user-generated social media communication had a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude, whereas firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, we assessed measurement invariance using a multi-group structural modeling equation. The findings revealed that the proposed measurement model was invariant across the researched industries. However, structural path differences were detected across the models.     

Conveying Trustworthiness to Online Consumers: Reactions to Consensus, Physical Store Presence, Brand Familiarity, and Generalized Suspicion

Etailers have been losing market share to brick and mortar retailers that also sell products online. Two related studies investigate means by which etailers can convey trustworthiness to consumers and thereby increase purchase intentions relative to hybrid firms. Study 1 examines whether consensus information (i.e., the extent of satisfaction agreement among previous customers) and brand familiarity exert independent or interactive effects on consumer perceptions across retailers that possess, or lack, a physical presence. Study 2 tests a potential boundary condition of the effects of consensus information and brand familiarity by introducing generalized suspicion, which is a common condition for online buyers. Results suggest that consensus information provides a broad cue that conveys trustworthiness and leads to greater purchase intentions for both familiar and unfamiliar brands, as well as hybrid and etailer firms. In comparison, the effects of physical presence and brand familiarity were somewhat narrower in scope. However, we find that consensus information alone is not sufficient to buffer against active, generalized suspicions online. Instead, a combination of high consensus and brand familiarity is necessary for this purpose. The paper concludes with recommendations on how etailers can convey trustworthiness in online exchanges and how future research can build upon these findings.     

Investigating the impact of brand vs cause interaction on cause related advertisements

Cause-related Marketing (CRM) strategies have been widely implemented by numerous brands in their communication with customers through advertisements. This research employs four quasi-experimental studies to understand how brands and cause related variables interact to impact attitude towards advertisements and brands. Study I (n = 623) seek to understand the influence of brand related variables, namely, brand familiarity, brand importance, and brand association on the attitude towards advertisements and brands. Study II (n = 722) shows the moderating effect of advertisement type (CRM vs non-CRM) on the relationships connecting branding variables to advertisement and brand attitude. In Study III (n = 637), the effect of cause related dimension, namely, cause familiarity, cause importance, and cause brand fit on the attitude towards advertisement and brands is studied. Finally, study IV (n = 549) shows the interaction effect of brand and cause related dimensions on the attitude towards advertisements and brands. Results indicate cause brand fit to be the most significant variable affecting attitudes followed by brand association, brand importance, and cause importance. Cause importance also interacted with brand importance and brand association to cause a positive and negative magnifying effect on the advertisement attitudes respectively.     

“Retail is detail! Give consumers a gift rather than a bundle”: Promotion framing and consumer product returns

Retailers often use the promotion strategy of offering supplementary products (e.g., free gift, bundle) to attract consumers and increase sales. Despite the growing literature on the promotions that are differently framed but offer economically identical values, little research has examined the link between promotion framing and consumer product returns. The current article sheds light on this relationship, hypothesizing that a free gift promotion would be superior to a bundle promotion in reducing consumer product returns. The findings suggest that a gift‐framed promotion leads to a lower product return intention than an economically equivalent bundle promotion, because consumers tend to perceive more loss from giving up the gift‐framed (vs. bundle‐framed) deal. Further, this study examines a moderating role of brand familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and shows that the merits of free gift framing on product return intention via perceived loss are amplified (attenuated) when the promoted brand is familiar (unfamiliar). Overall, the investigations of this study imply that it is better to frame a promotion as a “free gift” than a “bundle” to increase perceived loss in returning the purchase and thus to decrease consumer product returns. This strategic intervention works especially when the gift is offered by familiar brands.     

Modeling the Effects of Green Advertising on Brand Image: Investigating the Moderating Effects of Product Involvement Using Structural Equation

ABSTRACT

?This experimental study examined consumers’ response to green advertising for high- and low-involvement products by measuring its effect on consumers’ intention to purchase such brands. The present study enhances our understanding of the moderating role of product involvement and extends the structural equation tests of the four causal models. A dataset of 169 respondents is used to examine the role of brand image and brand attitude in the context of green advertisements. Consistent with earlier findings, the suggested model provides a good fit of the data and results indicate that positive attitude toward green advertisements, brand image, and attitude toward the brand enhances the chances of consumers’ purchase intention of such brands. The study also verifies that product involvement moderates the positive relationship between attitude toward green advertisements and brand image such that at higher levels of product involvement, attitude toward green advertisements has a stronger effect on brand image.     

Do social networking sites contribute for building brands? Evaluating the impact of users' participation on brand awareness and brand attitude

Social networking sites (SNSs) have attracted increasing attention from brands, which look at the platform as a privileged communication channel to reach their audiences. Despite their growing adoption, few research efforts have been devoted to evaluate SNSs' concrete implications for the brands. The current study addresses this opportunity, proposing a model that evaluates the impact of users' participation in SNSs on brand awareness and brand attitude, the two main pillars of brand knowledge. The study focuses on brand like pages in Facebook, the most used SNSs platform for brands. An online quantitative survey with brand like page users of leading brands in Facebook was implemented. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the measurement model and structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed research hypotheses. The results identify a significant, positive and direct impact of users' participation on brand awareness. Brand attitude also substantially benefits from users' participation, but this relationship is mediated by brand awareness. The findings help to validate SNSs' significant role on building brand knowledge and to position users' participation at the core of brands' SNSs objectives. Furthermore, the study provides a practical research framework, easily adapted for monitoring purposes and managerial guidance. Future research directions are discussed.     

Brand crises: The roles of brand familiarity and crisis relevance in determining the impact on brand evaluations

Brand crises, defined as well-publicized claims of unsubstantiated or false brand propositions can do severe damage to brands. Yet, the damaging effects of brand crises may not always be uniform. In other words, the effects of crises may be subject to moderators such as the relevance of the crisis to the brand and brand familiarity. We propose a framework that helps us understand the effects of brand crises on consumers' brand evaluations. We test the hypotheses that crisis relevance interacts with familiarity in its effect on brand evaluations, and that this effect is mediated by perceptions of the seriousness of the crisis. Results from two experiments support these predictions.     

Get in the Game: The Effects of Game-Product Congruity and Product Placement Proximity on Game Players’ Processing of Brands Embedded in Advergames

This study focused on the effects of game-product congruity and product placement proximity on advergame players’ brand memory, brand attitude, game enjoyment, and future intention to play. A 2 (congruity) × 2 (proximity) repeated-measures experiment was used. Results revealed that players’ implicit memory improved for congruent games only. Explicit memory measures also showed signs of improvement for brands in the congruent/central game condition. Surprisingly, it appears that the incongruent/peripheral game condition produced the best results overall with the smallest negative attitude change, the most game enjoyment, and the highest intention to play again in the future. These contradictory findings suggest to brand marketers who design advergames to be careful when combining multiple game featurescongruity and proximity) within a single advergame because this strategic move may provide optimal brand memory while also producing the opposite desired effect for attitude toward the brand, game enjoyment, and intention to play.     

Tweet this,not that: A comparison between brand promotions in microblogging environments using celebrity and company-generated tweets

Despite the popularity of social media in general and Twitter specifically, little empirical research exists to assist marketers in how to successfully connect with consumers in these environments. The purpose of this study was to identify the ways in which brands can connect with consumers through Twitter and to examine how the category of Tweet impacts brand engagement. Findings reveal that whereas celebrity Tweets may be successful at capturing attention and disseminating brand information, they have minimal impact on changing brand opinions. What influence celebrities do have may be best served with unfamiliar brands rather than familiar ones – results suggest that not unlike in traditional offline media, in social media celebrities may be influential in drawing attention to unfamiliar brands. Our results also suggest that companies with established familiar brands should be cautious about paying to seed their own Tweets using Twitter's ‘Promoted by’ option, particularly if the brand is one that consumers have a neutral opinion of, as this can lower consumers' opinion of the brand. Instead, these companies should encourage consumers to follow them on Twitter as this will enable the brand to interact directly with consumers.     

Reducing uninformed responses: The effects of product‐class familiarity and measuring brand knowledge on surveys

Consumers often give answers to survey questions about which they are uninformed. Although research has documented this phenomenon and examined the conditions under which it occurs, the current research project is the first to examine how survey researchers might reduce uninformed response bias through the use of additional questions added to surveys that measure knowledge of brands for which consumers might be uninformed. In the current study, adding brand knowledge questions pertaining to an unknown (fictitious) brand reduced the likelihood of respondents providing uninformed responses when later asked to evaluate that brand. However, the effects of asking for brand familiarity on uninformed response rates differed by consumers' level of product‐class familiarity and the relative placement of the brand knowledge and brand attitude questions on the survey. Brand knowledge questions can suggest the existence of brands, placing them within a knowledge schema, thus leading to more uninformed responses from consumers low in product‐class familiarity. These results, coupled with recent other research findings suggest that researchers must consider the effects of related knowledge on what have been previously considered completely uninformed responses. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.