The effectiveness of brand placements: A meta-analytic synthesis

Although brand placements are commonplace in promotion strategies, the extant literature lacks a quantitative empirical synthesis of the effect of placements on cognitive, attitudinal, and conative outcomes. The authors report a meta-analysis addressing the extent to which brand placements affect consumers’ brand placement memory, brand salience, consumer attitude toward the placed brand, and purchase intentions or choice. Four hierarchical meta-regression models explore contexts and executional characteristics that contribute to relatively stronger or weaker brand placement effects. Overall, findings suggest strong, positive placement effects on brand placement memory and small or modest, positive placement effects on brand salience, attitude, and conation. Among the factors potentially moderating these effects, brand-plot connection emerges as a key executional characteristic associated with stronger (more positive) cognitive, attitudinal, and conative effects for plot-connected relative to unconnected placements. Moreover, prominent placements enhance brand placement memory effects while not evidencing any significant backlash on persuasive effects. The same pattern emerges for placement disclosure. The findings have significant implications for marketing managers and public policy makers and provide important directions for further research.     

Contrasting user generated videos versus brand generated videos in ecommerce

This empirical research (n = 177) compared the impact of user generated videos and brand generated videos on online shopper perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions. The study was guided by the technology acceptance model. Source of videos was a between-subjects factor. The findings indicated that online shoppers did not differentiate between the two video sources when evaluating the perceived usefulness of the videos. Conversely, user generated videos had a significantly greater impact on attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand than brand generated videos. Further, there was no significant main effect of video source on shopper purchase intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Measures of brand attitude: Are cognitive structure approaches really needed?

Recent research on attitude toward the advertisement provides a theoretical base that questions the usefulness of multiattribute attitude measures. Arguments for global measures of brand attitude in affect-referral choice situations are presented. The two types of measures are tested as predictors of purchase intentions for ten supermarket brands. Global brand attitudes demonstrated greater predictive value for nine of the ten test brands.     

Beyond brand attitude: Individual drivers of purchase for symbolic cobranded products

Cobranding, or the use of two brand names on a single product, generally coincides with higher purchase intentions. Prior research focuses on ingredient co-branding and suggests that attitude toward both the primary and the secondary brands and congruence between the brands are important drivers of cobranded products' success. This research shows that self-congruity with the secondary brand and need for uniqueness have significant positive impacts on symbolic co-branding purchase, in addition to perceived congruence and attitude toward the primary brand. In contrast, attitude toward the secondary brand does not relate to purchase of symbolic cobranded products. Therefore, managers should rely on self-congruity, instead of attitude toward the secondary brand, when choosing a partner for symbolic cobranded products. Moreover, product category involvement enhances the impact of self-congruity on purchase intent.     

The impact of brand equity on brand preference and purchase intentions in the service industries

The antecedents of brand equity are considered to be brand attitude and brand image, and the consequences of brand equity are considered to be brand preference and purchase intentions. This study concentrates on service brands, selecting 18 from 3 service categories. A structural equation model is presented. Not only does it show a good fit with the research constructs but also the relationships between brand image and brand equity, and brand attitude and brand equity. The impact of brand equity on customer preference and purchase intentions is confirmed as well, which tends to validate the proposed research framework.     

Marketing eco-fashion: The influence of brand name and message explicitness

This study investigated the influence of two variables – brand name and message explicitness – on attitude toward advertisement and attitude toward brand, and further, explored the impact of attitude toward advertisement, attitude toward brand, and other variables on consumer purchase intention. A questionnaire with an experimental design component was administered to 343 college students. Results revealed that respondents formed positive attitudes toward apparel brand when the advertising message contained explicit information about environmentally friendly products. Attitude toward brand, subjective norm, attitude toward advertisement, eco-fashion involvement, and environmental commitment were strong predictors of intention to purchase an environmentally friendly apparel brand. Implications are that apparel marketers may build more positive attitudes toward brands by providing explicit information about environmentally friendly products in their marketing claims. This may be one way for marketers to attract college students who are interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products, but who are not fully committed to a green lifestyle. Further, marketers may be able to reach those who are less interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products by raising awareness and knowledge of the benefits associated with their products and brands, which may help to establish a sustainable market for eco-fashion.     

An exploration of celebrity business ventures and their appeal to fans and non-fans

Recently, an increasing number of celebrities have launched their own businesses. Although celebrity entrepreneurs may expect their credibility to enhance customers’ purchase intentions, this study does not find this effect. Instead, it finds that customers’ purchase intentions rely mainly on customers’ attitudes toward the celebrity's venture brand. Customers’ perceived congruence between a celebrity and the celebrity's business significantly affects their brand attitudes. Additionally, this study finds that a celebrity's credibility can only increase fans’ positive attitudes toward the celebrity's venture brand; therefore, being a celebrity entrepreneur is riskier than being a brand endorser in terms of consumer attitude.     

The effects of audio-visual and visual-only cues on consumers' responses to co-branded advertising

Co-branded advertising (two brands featured in the same ad) is a relatively new and under-researched area of advertising that offers advertisers the opportunity to share advertising costs and leverage brand equity. Despite its growing popularity, few research studies have examined the potential benefits and/or limitations of this executional strategy, and particularly a strategy in which one brand (a focal brand) is paired with another, but less emphasized (peripheral) brand. This study reports the results of an empirical investigation that examines how modifying reference to the peripheral brand (visual-only versus simultaneous visual and audio references) influences consumers' perceived associations of the advertised brands, as well as their attitudes toward the advertisement and intentions to purchase either brand. Employing a convenience sample of undergraduate students on a university campus in the United States, the results of this study indicate that audio-visual cues enhance brand association and purchase intentions. However, additional analyses reveal that attitude toward a co-branded advertisement mediates the brand association effect on purchase intentions toward the focal brand, whereas brand association has a direct effect on purchase intentions toward the peripheral brand.     

Children and advergames: the role of product involvement,prior brand attitude,persuasion knowledge and game attitude in purchase intentions and changing attitudes

The central aim of this study is to build upon previous research by investigating the role of product involvement, prior brand attitude, persuasion knowledge and game attitude in the brand attitude changes and purchase intentions of children after playing an advergame. In all, 279 respondents between the ages of 10 and 12 years participated in the study. First, they were asked to complete a pre-test survey addressing product involvement and prior brand attitude towards several products and brands. Two weeks later, the respondents were asked to play an advergame and complete a survey addressing brand attitude, purchase intention, persuasion knowledge and attitude towards the game. Our analysis reveals that a positive attitude change is more likely when the game player has already evaluated the brand positively. Furthermore, game attitude is positively related to attitude changes towards the advertised brands, consistent with affect transfer theory. Counterintuitively, a higher level of persuasion knowledge is associated with a higher intention to buy the advertised product. Finally, children who had a more positive attitude towards the game were more likely to report higher purchase intentions, indicating that games which provide good experiences positively influence behavioural intentions. We conclude the paper by discussing the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.     

A note on the role of cause type in cause-related marketing

This note examines an unexplored area of cause-related marketing: the influence of the cause category on consumer perceptions. The experiment shows that the four cause categories which represent the domain of charitable causes can have a differential effect on attitudes and purchase intention. The health cause category and human services cause category have a greater effect on attitude toward the cause than the animal or environmental cause categories when brand familiarity and cause importance were high. Only the human services category has a greater effect on attitude toward the alliance when brand familiarity and cause importance were high as well as when both were low. For attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions, there were no differences among the cause categories.     

The influence of ad-evoked feelings on brand evaluations: Empirical generalizations from consumer responses to more than 1000 TV commercials

It has been observed that ad-evoked feelings exert a positive influence on brand attitudes. To investigate the empirical generalizability of this phenomenon, we analyzed the responses of 1576 consumers to 1070 TV commercials from more than 150 different product categories. The findings suggest five empirical generalizations. First, ad-evoked feelings indeed have a substantial impact on brand evaluations, even under conditions that better approximate real marketplace settings than past studies did. Second, these effects are both direct and indirect, with the indirect effects largely linked to changes in attitude toward the ad. Third, these effects do not depend on the level of involvement associated with the product category. However, fourth, the effects are more pronounced for hedonic products than utilitarian products. Finally, these effects do not depend on whether the products are durables, nondurables, or services, or whether the products are search goods or experience goods.     

We share; we connect: how shared brand consumption influences relational brand connections

This research examines how married consumers form relational brand connections. Findings from two studies contribute to research on identity‐related brand consumption by showcasing how shared brand consumption and marital satisfaction influence relational brand connections and the perceived importance of the brand to the marital relationship. This research has important theoretical contributions and managerial implications. From a theoretical perspective, the authors show how consumers incorporate brands into their interpersonal relationships through shared brand consumption and that relational brand connections influence brand‐related outcomes, such as brand attitudes, purchase intentions, brand affect, and brand separation distress. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight the importance of considering relational aspects of brand consumption when designing branding strategy and advertising appeals.     

Brand familiarity as a moderating factor in the ad and brand attitude relationship and advertising appeals

Studies examining the effects of advertising appeals have yielded conflicting results. Some have found that an emotional appeal is more persuasive than an informational appeal, while others have demonstrated the opposite. The objective of the current study was to explore a theoretical explanation for the conflicting results in advertising appeal research. The findings of this study support the theory that brand familiarity determines the effectiveness of advertising appeal. The study results additionally support the theory that attitudes toward the ad predict the consumer’s attitude toward the brand. In addition, the study found that brand familiarity moderates the strength of the relationship between ad attitude and brand attitude. Other aspects and the implications of these findings are discussed in this paper.     

Product placements in movies and on Broadway

On the basis of 17 characteristics of 100 Belgian radio commercials (amount of information and brand quotes, humour, emotionality, eroticism, music, action-impulse, and so on), three types of radio spot were identified: image-dominant and emotional/creative spots, information-dominant and emotional/creative spots, and information-dominant and non-emotional/not creative spots. The affective and cognitive attitudes towards each commercial, as well as attitudes towards the brands and purchase intentions, were measured in a sample of 100 respondents. Overall, the information-dominant, emotional/ creative type of commercial resulted in the most positive attitudes towards ads and brands. The other two types of ad performed less well. The components of the attitude towards the ads were strongly correlated with the attitude towards the brands. In particular, the affective reactions and, to a lesser extent, the perceived degree of informative-ness of an ad significantly explained attitude towards the brand.     

Attitudes toward the extension and parent brand in response to extension advertising

This paper investigates how ads for extensions can trigger different reactions with respect to consumers' attitudes towards new line and brand extensions of familiar brands. Using a structural equation model, the authors research the influence of attitude towards the ad (Aad), parent brand quality, and perceived fit on attitude toward the extension (Aext), and resulting feedback effects on attitude toward the parent brand (Apb) with a sample of 509 Belgians. Results are compared between two types of advertising strategies (informational vs. positive emotional). The findings indicate that informational appeals, in comparison to emotional appeals, reduce the effects of parent brand quality and fit, but Aad is all the more important. In terms of feedback effects to the parent brand, Aext transfers more easily to Apb with an informational appeal than with a positive emotional appeal. On the other hand, Aad directly influences Apb for positive emotional appeals, but not informational appeals.     

Does “Passing the Courvoisier” always pay off? Positive and negative evaluative conditioning effects of brand placements in music videos

The proliferation of brands in television programming has abounded in recent times. Especially in rap videos, actors frequently depict brands and products. One mechanism by which placements can affect consumers' attitudes is evaluative conditioning. Given that in rap videos brands are paired with liked as well as disliked actors, there is a high potential for positive and negative conditioning effects. In an experiment with an authentic rap video, the appearance of placements and the image of the rap actors were varied. The results indicate that the pairing of a brand with positively evaluated artists produces positive attitudes toward the brand. In contrast, a negative conditioning procedure results in negative attitudes toward the brand. Further analyses demonstrate that conditioning effects are even stronger when preference for rap music is high and recognition of the brand rather low. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Case for Compatibility: Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions for Upper versus Lowercase Brand Names

Although retailers know that brand names are important conveyors of product benefits, little is known about how subtle characteristics of brand names affect consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. This research proposes and shows that the letter case of brand names affects product attitudes and purchase intentions but that these effects depend on congruity between brand case and the gender of consumption benefits. Studies 1 and 2 show that lowercase brand names are associated with feminine characteristics while uppercase brand names are associated with masculine characteristics, as measured through judgments of name gender, gendered brand personality traits, and overall brand gender perceptions. Three additional studies demonstrate that greater congruity between brand case and the gender of consumption benefits increases product evaluations and purchase intentions. Study 3 demonstrates that greater congruity between brand case and the gender of a female consumer’s consumption goal leads her to have more favorable product attitudes. Study 4 replicates these effects by manipulating the gender of product benefits, shows that effects on purchase intentions are moderated by the consumer’s biological sex, and identifies processing fluency as the underlying mechanism. Study 5 demonstrates that brand case, rather than letter shape, drives these results. This work advances understanding of how seemingly subtle brand name characteristics affect gender perceptions and consumer behavior, with implications for brand design and positioning in the retailing industry.     

Modelling consumer responses to an apparel store brand: Store image as a risk reducer

To make informed private label (PL) strategy decisions, retailers must understand the factors influencing consumer's brand choices. Previous PL studies have investigated grocery products, and ignored unique features of different types of own brands. We investigate attitudes towards buying a retailer-endorsed brand, or store brand (SB), in apparel retailing. Customers of a Finnish department store were surveyed. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Perceived value and quality of SB apparel appear to be the main drivers of purchase intentions. Perceived risk reduces SB value and purchase intentions. Store image affects purchase intentions indirectly, by reducing perceived risk and increasing SB quality perceptions.     

Exploring Brand Personality–Celebrity Endorser Personality Congruence in Celebrity Endorsements in the Indian Context

The objective of the research reported in this paper was to develop and test a model of brand personality–celebrity endorser personality congruence and its impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. In particular, the study drew on social adaptation and attribution theories to develop hypotheses related to the impact of this congruence on consumers’ perceptions of endorser credibility and suitability, and the subsequent impact of these perceptions on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. The study was motivated by recent attention being paid to the importance of personality in choosing celebrities for product endorsements and the fact that the brand personality–celebrity endorser personality congruence has not been explored before. The model was tested based on data obtained from a sample of participants in India. Results from path analyses indicated a positive and significant impact of personality‐based congruence on endorser credibility and suitability, which, in turn, positively and significantly impacted ad believability. Ad believability in turn significantly impacted attitude toward the ad, which had a significant impact on brand attitude and purchase intentions. Research and managerial implications are discussed, as are directions for future research.