This study represents a field experiment on the effectiveness of brand placements in movies. The authors investigate the interaction effect of prominence (how prominently the brand is represented in ...the movie) and plot connection (how well the placement is related to the movie's story line) on actual moviegoers' recognition of brands and their attitude toward them. The results show that brand recognition scores are highest for brand placements that are both highly prominent and strongly plot connected, whereas brand attitude is most positive when brands are strongly connected to the plot, but placed less prominently. The results further show that brand recognition mediates the effect of plot connection, but not prominence, on brand attitude.
This article investigates the moderating roles of advertising strategy (relational vs. elaborational) and perceived parent brand quality on the influence that parent brand-extension fit exerts on ...consumer evaluations of both extensions and the parent brand. Two studies manipulate fit in terms of either brand concept consistency or product feature similarity. Lower fit results in negative consumer responses, yet an elaborational advertising strategy mitigates the negative effects of lower fit on extension evaluations. This mitigating effect is stronger for high quality than for average quality brands. The results also indicate extension feedback effects for the parent brand, suggesting that elaborational advertising strategies may reduce the impact of fit on parent brand feedback effects. This latter link is not moderated by parent brand quality.
The present study is the first to explore the effects of brand placement disclosures in fiction. Prior to reading a short story featuring an unfamiliar brand, participants were exposed to either a ...brand-unspecific, brand-specific, or no placement disclosure. A longitudinal design was employed, such that conceptual persuasion knowledge (advertising recognition) and author-related perceptions (trustworthiness, intrinsic and ulterior motives for inserting the brand) were measured immediately (Time 1), while brand purchase intention was measured both immediately (Time 1) and after a two-week delay (Time 2). Mediation analyses showed that (especially specific) disclosures enhance advertising recognition and increase perceptions of the author's ulterior (commercial) motives (both directly and via advertising recognition). Although disclosures did not influence purchase intention directly at either measurement point, they exerted an indirect negative effect on purchase intention at Time 2 via decreasing author trustworthiness.
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.
The present study aims to explore the moderating effect of culture-related values on responses to male and female gender role stereotyping in advertising. Based on an experiment in Sweden (n = 507) ...and Germany (n = 506), we test the impact of respondents' masculinity, power distance, assertiveness values and feminine role orientation on ad attitudes and brand attitudes. The results show that, in general, perceived stereotyping contributes positively to ad and brand attitude, and this effect is enhanced for more masculine, more power distant, more assertive and less feminine-role oriented individuals. In addition, consumers respond more negatively to perceived female stereotyping compared to male stereotyping, and this is especially true for more power distant and more assertive individuals.
The aim of this study is to investigate interaction effects between branding strategy (new brand versus established brand), advertising execution strategies (informational, positive emotional and ...negative emotional) and product category involvement (low and high) on consumers’ attitudes towards the product, purchase intention and the (parent) brand. Two analyses are performed in which involvement is manipulated at product category and at individual level. The results show that in general, line extensions of established brands are preferred over new brands. Furthermore, advertising strategy has little impact on consumer responses to line extensions of familiar brands. The type of advertising strategy used does have a significant impact on product and brand attitude and purchase intention for new brands, where negative emotional appeals lead to significantly more negative responses. The results are further moderated by product category involvement. Informational appeals score especially well in high-involvement situations, whereas positive emotional appeals perform better in low-involvement situations. Interestingly, the differences between advertising appeals in both low- and high-involvement conditions are greater for new brands than for extensions.
PurposeThis study aims to assess the relative importance of the argument strength, argument sidedness, writing quality, number of arguments, rated review usefulness, summary review rating and number ...of reviews in determining the perceived usefulness and credibility of an online review. Additionally, the authors use insights from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to explore the effect of consumers' product category involvement on the cues' relative importance.Design/methodology/approachA conjoint analysis (N = 287) is used to study the relative importance of the seven previously mentioned attributes. A balanced orthogonal design generated eight cards that correspond to individual reviews. Respondents scored all eight cards in a random order for perceived usefulness and credibility.FindingsOverall, argument strength is the most important cue, while summary review rating and the number of reviews are the least important for perceived review usefulness and credibility. The number of arguments is more important for people who are more highly involved with the product, while writing quality and rated review usefulness are relatively more important for the low-involvement group.Originality/valueThis study provides a comprehensive test of how consumers perceive online reviews, as it the first to the authors’ knowledge to simultaneously investigate a large set of cues using conjoint analysis. This method allows for the implicit valuation (utility) of the individual cues, revealing the cues' relative importance, in a setting that comes close to a real-life context. Besides, insights of the ELM are used to understand how the relative importance of cues differs depending on the level of review readers' product category involvement.
PurposeEngaging in webcare, i.e. responding to online reviews, can positively affect consumer attitudes, intentions and behavior. Research is often scarce or inconsistent regarding the effects of ...specific webcare strategies on business performance. Therefore, this study tests whether and how several webcare strategies affect hotel bookings.Design/methodology/approachWe apply machine learning classifiers to secondary data (webcare messages) to classify webcare variables to be included in a regression analysis looking at the effect of these strategies on hotel bookings while controlling for possible confounds such as seasonality and hotel-specific effects.FindingsThe strategies that have a positive effect on bookings are directing reviewers to a private channel, being defensive, offering compensation and having managers sign the response. Webcare strategies to be avoided are apologies, merely asking for more information, inviting customers for another visit and adding informal non-verbal cues. Strategies that do not appear to affect future bookings are expressing gratitude, personalizing and having staff members (rather than managers) sign webcare.Practical implicationsThese findings help managers optimize their webcare strategy for better business results and develop automated webcare.Originality/valueWe look into several commonly used and studied webcare strategies that affect actual business outcomes, being that most previous research studies are experimental or look into a very limited set of strategies.
Review set valence (the degree of negativity or positivity of a set of online reviews) strongly determines review readers' responses. Previous research has mainly considered the mere number of ...positive and negative reviews to determine a review set's valence. This paper aims to study how increasing the number of important positive reviews influences readers' hotel staying intention, exploring the 'tipping point' at which important positive reviews compensate for the negative effect of a larger number of less important negative reviews. We further explore whether reader responses are more positive when all positive reviews address the same product attribute or different attributes. We present a 4 (review set valence) x 2 (attribute repetition vs. different attributes for the positive reviews) online experiment (N=408). The results show that a more positive review set leads to a higher staying intention only when the positive reviews discuss different attributes (and do not repeat the same attribute). The 'tipping point' at which positive reviews compensate negative ones is four positive reviews about different attributes in a set of 12. This study nuances the bandwagon effect, negativity bias, and truth effect by showing that negative review sets can be positively evaluated.
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