Enjoyment of Advergames and Brand Attitudes

ABSTRACT

Campaigns increasingly implement advergames to engage consumers with a brand through interactive, entertaining media content. However, little research tests the effects of specific features of advergames on desired advertising outcomes. This article reports the results of an experiment designed to examine how variation in the thematic connection between the game associated with an advergame and the brand affects the relationship between attitude toward the game (equated with attitude toward the ad) and attitude toward the brand. The analysis reveals a stronger positive relationship between attitude toward the advergame and attitude toward the brand when participants play games with a high thematic connection to the brand’s product. Therefore, designing advergames that relate thematically to the product of the sponsoring brand should increase the likelihood of positive conditioning of brand attitudes evoked by playing an advergame.

Keywords::

• Advergames
• Brand Attitude
• Relevance

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research was funded by a grant from the Center for the Digital Globe (CDiG) at the University of Missouri.

Additional information

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kevin Wise (Ph.D., Stanford University) is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication and Co-Director of the PRIME (Psychological Research on Information and Media Effects) Lab at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. His research interests include the cognitive and emotional processing of interactive media. E-mail: [email protected].

Paul Bolls (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an Associate Professor of Strategic Communication and Co-Director of the PRIME Lab at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. His research agenda is focused on the cognitive and emotional processing of media content. E-mail: [email protected].

Hyo Kim (M.A., Syracuse University) is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She is interested in media effects and public relations. E-mail: [email protected].

Arun Venkataraman (M.A., University of Missouri) is an analyst at Godbe Research. E-mail: [email protected].

Ryan Meyer is a Senior majoring in Strategic Communication at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. E-mail: [email protected].