Viral Advertising: A Field Experiment on Viral Intentions and Purchase Intentions

Abstract

This study conducts an investigation of viral advertising by developing and testing a model to integrate the influence of three types of video ad appeals (humor, sex, or information), ad sources (known or unknown), attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, and demographics on intentions to forward an ad and purchase a brand. The model is tested by collecting data from a sample of national online consumers. The findings demonstrate the importance of ad appeals for both attitude toward the ad and viral intentions. Attitude toward the ad is also found to be a significant influencer of viral intentions, and mediator of the relationship between ad appeals and viral intentions. The study also found support for a positive relationship between viral intentions and purchase intentions.

KEYWORDS:

• advertising appeals
• humor
• sexual appeal
• viral advertising
• viral intentions