The effects of embedding advertising in digital games has been explored in only a few controlled studies. This research provides results of an efficacy analysis of in-game advertising within the controlled environment of a racing car game, an environment in which advertising blends in naturally. The experiment was designed to understand the effectiveness of in-game advertising for both players and onlookers. Examining players in both Europe and the United States, this study measured how in-game advertising works on those who participate in electronic entertainment and those who watch it. The results indicate that such advertising is more effective for onlookers than for players. Implications for designers and researchers is discussed.
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Augmented reality (AR) mobile app advertising offers new opportunities for interactiveconsumer engagement to boost advertising effectiveness and elicit positive consumerresponses. In this study, we investigate the role of escapism by analyzing itsantecedents and consequences. We aim to shed light on how AR mobile app adver-tising can be used to enhance escapism experiences by considering two psychologicalmechanisms of mental imagery: narrative transportation (in response to ad storytelling)and spatial immersion. The consequences of escapism experiences include positivesocial media sharing, purchase intentions through brand attitudes, and new brandengagement via AR mobile app advertising. Prior brand preference does not affect therelationship between escapism and consumer responses after exposure to immersiveAR advertising. Our findings have meaningful implications for how industrypractitioners can enhance escapism in the context of AR mobile app advertising.
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Consumers’ low awareness and negative attributions remain critical impediments to companies’ attempts to reap the potential benefits of CSR. Addressing the gap of how and under which conditions what type of attributions arise and the role of stakeholder factors in CSR communication strategies, the aim of this chapter is to assess to what extent national culture influences the attributions that arise towards green advertising. Preceded by a pre-test, a survey was conducted in Colombia, The Netherlands and USA. With a total of 248 responses, a multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze the data. Results show main effects of national culture on the attribution of negative motives. Specifically, the cultural dimensions power distance and uncertainty avoidance have a negative effect on negative attributions. On the other hand, results indicated that positive attributions are not influenced by national culture. The research stresses the relevance of national culture as a stakeholder-factor, influencing the effectiveness of green advertising.
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An array of studies has shown that games can be suitable for marketing communication - but that not all game genres can be expected to be equally successful in generating advertising effects. Since the game task in shooter games requests players to strictly focus on objects that can pose a threat, that game genre seems especially problematic for in-game advertising. Subliminal communication can theoretically be expected to overcome (part) of that problem. Therefore, our experimental study (N = 143) focuses on marketing communication effects of subliminally presented brand logos. We aim to find out (i) whether subliminal marketing communication causes recognition effects and (ii) whether pictorial logos differ from textual logos in the size of the effect they generate. This way we can shine a light on the message processing mechanisms that are foundational to subliminal message effects. The results of our study show that subliminally presented brand logos do have a communicative potential: the recognition effects are significant. Besides, our study indicates that pictorial logos have a greater propensity to subliminally communicate than textual logos.
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Today, consumers expect companies to be socially responsible. However, the literature is undecided about the effects of communicating one's corporate social responsibility activities to consumers. This raises the question of how sustainability-driven companies can best advertise their products to stimulate ethical consumption: using self-benefit frames, where the main beneficiary is the consumer, or using other-benefit frames, where the main beneficiary is a third party. Using three experiments, this study examines the effect of other-benefit (vs. self-benefit) advertising frames on consumers' impulse purchases from sustainability-driven companies. Increasing impulse purchases can help such companies to strengthen their competitive positions. Additionally, it is studied to what extent two types of justification (moral versus deservingness) explain the proposed effect of advertising frames. The results show that only other-benefit frames affect impulse buying behavior, both directly, as mediated by moral justification. This study's insights may help sustainability-driven companies to decide on their advertising strategies by providing evidence that other-benefit-framed advertisements are more effective in enhancing impulse purchases than self-benefit-framed advertisements.
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Despite policy efforts, consumers' well-informed healthful choice is a challenge. Due to increasing number of benefit claims advertising taste or health front of pack (FOP), consumers face the dilemma to trade taste for health. To understand the mechanisms underlying food evaluation, this study investigates the health-pleasure trade-off and its effect on consumers' choice. 240 EU consumers took part in a taste experiment, after being presented with the product FOP. Half of the products carried a nutrition label FOP, respectively, reduced fat for potato chips, reduced sugar for cereal bars. Further, one third of the products carried health benefit claim, one third taste benefit claim, and one third no additional claim FOP. Attention to information and its effect on experienced taste, health perception and the buying intention were measured. The results show that the message displayed FOP altered consumers evaluation and choice. The effectiveness of the FOP message further depended on consumers' health motivation and the healthfulness perception of carrier products. The outcomes are summarized in a framework of health-pleasure trade-off. Current findings call for the establishment of standards to avoid the use of misleading information FOP.
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PurposePhysical stores are increasingly dependent on impulse visits and the impulse purchases of passers-by. Interactive advertising screens in store windows could help retailers increase impulse-visit urges and impulse-buying urges. However, the effects of interactive screens in physical surroundings have not been studied before. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of interactive screens on impulse urges and gain insight into the underlying mechanism that explains the possible effect.Design/methodology/approachAn interactive screen was placed in a store window. Using three field experiments, we studied the effect of interactivity-level (high vs low) on the impulse-visit and impulse-buying urges of passers-by, and the mediating role of self-agency in these effects.FindingsHighly interactive (compared to less interactive) advertising screens in store windows positively affect impulse-visit and impulse-buying urges through self-agency. Retailers can therefore use interactive advertising screens to increase the number of impulse purchases if feelings of self-agency are activated.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine the extent to which interactive screens in a store window enhance the impulse-visit and impulse-buying urges of passers-by and the mediating factor of these effects. By conducting three field experiments, we achieved a high external validity and managed to share very reliable results owing to the replication of the findings.
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With the increase of Virtual Reality (VR), the importance of advertising within VR has become more relevant. However, it is unclear whether advertising strategies used in traditional media also work in VR. This study is focused on openness in advertisements, an advertisement strategy that refers to the degree of guidance towards the intended message. More open means less guidance and is often used to increase attention and attitude. However, open ads have not been researched in VR before. In this study, VR-advertisements were created and tested that differ in openness. An experiment with 87 participants revealed new ways of creating openness based on positioning and timing of anchoring cues. Moreover, the results revealed a negative effect of openness on interpretation, consistent with findings in studies using traditional media. Unexpectedly, openness in VR-advertisements did not influence (ad and brand) attitude, possibly due to the newness-effect causing high appreciation for ads in VR.
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This paper explores how displays can be used to support human needs and activities in public spaces rather than be employed for commercial purposes only. Based on our analysis of screen usage around the world, eight different categories of usage are described and motivated. For the purpose of illustration, this paper discusses the results of a user study of BiebBeep, a touch screen application built to enhance the social and information function of a library.
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