Experiencing Interactive Advertising beyond Rich Media

ABSTRACT

Theories from social psychology, consumer psychology, and Human Computer Interaction suggest that 3D gaming Virtual Environments increase users affective engagement with the stimuli/environment content due to their particular structural features (high immersion, presence, etc.). This, in turn, modifies the way in which embedded advertisements are processed by providing a direct, although virtual, brand experience. At the same time, product placements and blatant advertisements (i.e., virtual 3D billboards) were previously shown to be processed differently, given the increased reactance of media users toward messages identified as ads. A 2 (ad type: billboard vs. product placement) × 2 (IVE arousability level: high vs. low arousing 3D worlds) mixed factorial design was employed to test the effects of 3D billboards and product placements embedded within a 3D gaming Virtual Environment on brand recall and recognition, and brand preference.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are indebted to several people for their support and contribution during different stages of this paper: Henrikki Saraspaa (Cybelius Software, http://www.cybelius.com/) for his provision of the Virtual Workspace as a data tracking management interface as well as support in coding parts of the stimulus; Dr. S. Shyam Sundar, for his invaluable comments and suggestions for improvements; Mr. Phillip Hansel (http://philliphansel.com/), Kamil Dabkowski (http://www.geometrek.com/), Lauren Gauthier (http://www.3dnetproductions.com/, http://www.officetowers.com/), Park Tae Ha, and the Web3D Consortium members and Web 3D enthusiasts for kindly providing existing 3D/VRML original content for use in this research as well as assisting with ideas and advice.

COPYRIGHT NOTE

The IVE used in this research were obtained from the respective authors cited above. The original environments were adapted to serve the purposes of this study (data tracking code and interfacing with the data management and SQL tools were added, non-relevant content was removed, and 3D objects for advertisements were added), with permission to use from the copyright owners. For additional inquiries regarding the rights of use and copyrighted material, contact the corresponding author. No parts of the interactive demo used in this research shall be used without written permission from the author.

Additional information

ABOUT THE GUEST EDITOR

Dan Grigorovici is a Fellow of the Institute for Information Policy and Doctoral Candidate in Mass Communication at Pennsylvania State University. His research interests revolve around e-commerce and e-learning and are approached from two perspectives: measurements investigating the Information Society (Information Indicators, e-readiness indices), and exploring the persuasive effects of Interactive Media (Virtual Reality, Web 3D, Computer Mediated Communication). His publications have appeared in Global Economy and Digital Society, Being There: Concepts, Effects and Measurement of User Presence in Synthetic Environment, Enhanced Realities: Augmented and Unplugged, and Experiential E-Commerce, among others. Prior to joining PSU, he worked for Ogilvy & Mather and held several creative and research positions in the Advertising and Public Relations industry. Email: [email protected]

Corina Constantin (ABD, The Pennsylvania State University) is a Ph. D. candidate and communication lecturer in the College of Communications at The Pennsylvania State University. She teaches courses in communication and advertising research methods. Her research interests include social and psychological effects of interactive media and new technologies, visual processing of online stimuli, and psychophysiology. Email: [email protected]