How TV sponsorship can help television spot advertising

Purpose This paper aims to test TV sponsorship bumper effects, for the same brand, on 30-s TV spot advertising. Design/methodology/approach An experimental study tests sponsorship bumpers and 30-s TV spot ads for eight brands, four familiar and four unfamiliar, using realistic stimuli and a sample representative of the US population. Findings Sponsorship boosts ad effectiveness and is measured by ad awareness and ad liking. Both effects were stronger for unfamiliar brands. Research limitations/implications The results show that combining sponsorship with spot advertising has an additive effect. The study design did not allow tests for potential synergy (multiplicative) effects. Practical implications Advertisers can use the results to evaluate investing in sponsorship and advertising packages, which can help unfamiliar brands achieve familiar brand awareness. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to compare the effectiveness of sponsorship-boosted ads with sponsorship bumpers alone and with TV spot ads.

The influence of experiential augmentation on product evaluation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of experiential augmentation on product evaluation by consumers. An important distinction is made between product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment. Furthermore, the research examines how brand familiarity moderates the effect of experiential augmentation. Design/methodology/approach In two experiments (N = 210 and N = 70), both product-related and environmental experiential augmentation were varied. Participants tasted and evaluated a new coffee product from either a well-known or a fictitious brand. Findings The findings of the first experiment indicate that product-related experiential augmentation contributes positively to product evaluation for both an unfamiliar and a familiar brand. Experiential augmentation of the environment influences product evaluation negatively, but only in the absence of product-related experiential augmentation. The second experiment tests some possible explanations for this negative effect and shows that it occurs only in the case of a familiar brand. Practical implications The findings offer implications for marketing managers seeking to positively influence consumer product evaluations through experiential augmentation. First, marketing managers are advised to make a distinction between product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the evaluation environment, and, second, they should take brand familiarity into account when employing experiential augmentation of the environment. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by showing that product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment differ in the impact they have on product evaluation and providing insight into the relationship between brand familiarity and experiential augmentation.

Interaction Of Brand And Taste In The Liking Of Cola Drinks By School Children

Sugar sweetened soft drinks play an important role in obesity and world wide brands, such as Coca Cola, spend considerable resources on branding and advertising. As a result, their soft drinks tend to be up to 2.5 times more expensive than store brand cola drinks. We investigated the effect that the taste and the label has on the liking of cola drinks by school children. Taste did not have any significant effect and there was a significant interaction effect between the label and the taste. The children preferred cola drinks with their correct labels. A familiar brand with a familiar taste is liked more and the Coca-Cola company with its large advertising campaign and market share take advantage of this effect.

The effect of plain packaging format in cigarette labeling on smoking intent and brand likability among young non-smokers in Macau

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the plain packaging format in cigarette labeling is worth adopting or not. Design/methodology/approach – A lab experiment with a 2 (existing vs plain packaging format) × 2 (familiar vs unfamiliar brand) factorial design was conducted with Chinese subjects in Macau. Findings – The plain packaging format in cigarette labeling reduces both smoking intent and brand likability in familiar brand condition but not unfamiliar brand condition. Social implications – When many governments are currently deliberating about whether to follow the plain packaging initiative, this study constitutes a timely investigation of the effects of it on smoking intent and brand likability among Chinese young non-smokers. The positive effect of the plain packaging in familiar brand condition provides the justification of adopting it by the governments. Originality/value – Studies of plain packaging have not been taking brand familiarity into consideration (the only exceptional study used the top three familiar brands and thus failed to examine the familiarity effect) but the study focussed on it. In the data analysis, if brand familiarity is not considered, wrong conclusion will be drawn. Therefore, by having brand familiarity as moderator, the authors are able to correctly conclude that plain packaging format is worth adopting.

Word-of-mouth

Purpose – This research was designed to expand the understanding of how brand familiarity may affect the motivation to process word-of-mouth (WOM) information in brand evaluation. The pre-WOM brand attitude certainty is expected to explain the moderation effect. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments were conducted. The study participants were undergraduate students from a major university in Singapore. The main statistical analysis was done using a two-way analysis of covariance. Findings – The results of Experiments 1 and 2 support the prediction that consumers are more likely to use the perceived expertise of the WOM sender to evaluate an unfamiliar brand vs a familiar brand. Experiment 2 also provides some preliminary evidence that this interaction effect may be due to the difference in certainty of the study respondents in regards to the pre-WOM evaluation of unfamiliar and familiar brand. Research limitations/implications – This manipulation method of presenting WOM in a printed format may understate the impact of WOM. A more vivid manipulation of WOM that allows for a feedback loop may be considered for future research. Practical implications – The results highlight the importance of considering the strength dimensions of brand attitudes (e.g. attitude certainty) in the marketplace. For marketers of unfamiliar brands, source factors (e.g. expertise of WOM sender) are important to consider for effective use of WOM to market their products. For familiar brands, source factors are less relevant. Originality/value – This paper highlights the importance of considering attitude certainty and the subsequent malleability of attitude toward new information about the brand in the marketplace. Hence, marketers and researchers who are interested in changing brand attitude should take meta-attitude factors into consideration.