Communicating Brands Playfully

Transcription

1 Communicating Brands Playfully The Impact of Ad Placements in Computer Games Gunnar Mau, Sebastian Kehres, and Günter Silberer Institute of Marketing and Retailing Structure 1. Introduction: Computer Games 2. Computer Games as a Communication Tool 3. Prior Research 4. Hypotheses 5. Method 6. Results 7. Discussion and Conclusion 2

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3 Introduction: Computer Games Growth of importance of computer games Higher sales have been generated by computer games ($11 billion) than by movies ($9.185 billion) in the US (Gaudiosi 2004; Nelson 2005) A total of $22 billion was spent worldwide on computer games in 2003 (Christman 2004; Nelson 2005) Impressive number of players; about 35 million people took part in online games in 2004 (prediction for 2006: up to 105 million players) (Hopper 2002; Wan and Youn 2004) 5 Computer Games as a Communication Tool (I) Computer games have been discovered for marketing purposes Steady rise in the number of companies placing their brands, products or advertising messages in computer games It is assumed that hundreds of millions of dollars were already earned in 2004 with advertising and product placements in computer games Computer games offer interesting marketing possibilities: Growing number of players Characteristics of the players Research argues against the stereotype of the young, nerdy male computer player (Chaney, Lin and Chaney 2004; Fattah and Paul 2002; Griffiths, Davies and Chappell 2003) Players represent a particularly interesting target group: above-average income, novelty seeking, and intensive word-of-mouth communication (Youn, Lee and Doyle 2003) 6

4 Computer Games as a Communication Tool (II) Computer games offer interesting marketing possibilities: Special nature of the game situation High involvement (Zentes and Schramm-Klein 2004) Flow experience (Rheinberg and Vollmeyer 2003; Csikszentmihalyi and Lefevre 1989) Creative thinking and active perception (Green and Bavelier 2003; Nelson et al. 2004; Steuer 1992) Technical / design opportunities Ease and economical realization of ad placements It is possible to fit the advertising message to the individual player and specific game situation 7 Computer Games as a Communication Tool (III) Placement of billboards Source: EA FIFA 2006 Electronic Arts 8

5 Computer Games as a Communication Tool (IV) Product placement Source: EA The Sims antbyrne706/index2.html 9 Computer Games as a Communication Tool (V) Game object design by players Source: Nascar Racing

6 Prior Research Most studies focus on the impact of playing games on psyche and health (Goldstein 2003; Klimmt 2004; Southwell and Doyle 2004) Consumer motives for playing computer games (Cassell and Jenkins 1998) Studies dealing specifically with advertising in computer games are rare Acceptance of ad-placements in computer games (Hernandez, Chapa, Minor et al. 2004; Nelson 2002; Nelson et al. 2004; Nicovich 2005) Brand recall or recognition (Chaney et al. 2004; Hernandez and Minor 2006) Brand preference, defined as the intention to buy and use (Grigorovici and Constantin 2004) Impact of ad placements on the attitude towards the advertised brand has not been researched at all yet 11 Hypotheses (I) Impact of attitude towards the ad-game on attitude toward the brand Ideas of the influence of attitude towards the adgame on attitude towards the brand is adapted from advertising research; Attitude-towards-the-ad models postulate impact of A AD on A B (Lutz 1985; MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch 1986; Burke and Edell 1989;Gresham and Shimp 1985) Elaboration Likelihood Model: Advertising is processed by its generally little-involved recipients on the peripheral route, i.e. for the most part the attitude towards the ad placements acts as a peripheral cue (MacKenzie and Lutz 1989; MacKenzie et al. 1986; Mitchell and Olson 1981) In the context of ad-games, the game containing advertising can be considered as a peripheral cue H1: A more positive (negative) attitude towards the ad-game leads to a more positive (negative) attitude towards the brand advertised. 12

7 Hypotheses (II) Impact of valence of players affective experience on attitude towards the brand The valence can influence the judgement of objects in a mood-congruent direction (Burke and Edell 1989; Forgas 1995; Gorn, Pham and Sin 2001) Consumers seem mainly to recall contents congruent with their mood at the time (Isen, Shalker, Clark et al. 1978) Consumers refer to their affective experiences as information when assessing objects (affect-as-information heuristic; Schwarz 1987; Schwarz and Clore 2003) Empirical studies show an impact of affective experience on attitude towards the brand (Ang and Low 2000; Brown, Homer and Inman 1998; Burke and Edell 1989) Computer games are associated with intensive positive feelings (Döring 2003; Nelson 2005) H2: A more positive (negative) valence of gamers affective experience leads to a more positive (negative) attitude towards the brand advertised. 13 Hypotheses (III) Acceptance of ad placements in games Oppositional views concerning ad placements in computer games I think the billboards don't intrude on the game in any way. I certainly notice them, which is what they're going for, but I don't think they're bad as long as they stay in the background of the game and don't impede on or control the entire level's look and feel. I pay $40 for a game (an escape from reality) only to have to watch them rake in more from peppering everything with a Coke logo? I don't get it, are we to have ads on everything? I've had enough of it, f-- me, they would tattoo ads on our eyelids if they could. (Nelson et al. 2004) 14

8 Hypotheses (IV) Impact of the acceptance of ad placements in games by the players on the attitude towards the brand Ads embedded in computer games could lead to reactance and can consequently trigger negative reactions H3: The non acceptance of computer games containing ads leads to a more negative attitude towards the advertised brand. 15 Method Stimulus Modified frequently used Counter-Strike map (First-Person-Shooter) Only modification: inclusion of four billboards Participants Were acquired through the German-language online forum Using a specially installed server, the modified map could be downloaded and played N = 162 computer players, only 2 (1.2 %) were women Age: M = 20.4 (SD = 4.9) 16

9 Method attitude towards the brand was ascertained with items of the kind I find the brand Coca-Cola by means of scores on a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = absolutely right 5 = not true); based on Dröge (1989) and MacKenzie and Lutz (1989) using the adjectives congenial, pleasant, enjoyable, positive, valuable and unique. (factor analysis extracted a single factor; 73.9 % explained variance; cronbach s α =.92). attitude towards the game with the embedded ad was also recorded this way and rated on the adjectives good and interesting (r(n = 162) =.76; p <.01; cronbach s α =.86). attitude towards the unmodified game without advertising was also recorded with this method (r(n = 162) =.80; p <.01; cronbach s α =.89). valence of the players affective experience was captured with selected items of the pleasure dimension according to Mehrabian and Russell (1974) ( While playing I was ; in a good mood, pleased, cheerful, satisfied, happy; 1 factor, 57.5 % explained variance; cronbach s α =.81). 17 Results (I) Hypothesis 1 and 2: Regression Analysis Attitude towards the Ad-game.41*** Attitude towards the ad-game and valence of the affective experience Attitude towards the Brand Both have a positive impact on the attitude towards the brand being advertised Valence of the Affective Experience.23** R 2 =.23*** The influence of the attitude towards the adgame is considerably greater. 18

10 Results (II) Hypothesis 3: T-Test Complete Sample n = 162 acceptance of ad placements in games by the players Group 1: better without ads n = 108 (66.7 %) Group 2: just as good with ads n = 54 (33.3 %). Players could be divided into two groups Group1: better without ads Group 2: just as good with ads t (160) Players who find the ad-game worse do indeed subsequently rate the brand lower than the players who find both versions of the game at least equally good Attitude towards the Brand Valence of the Affective Experience M = 2.92 (SD = 1.23) M = 3.76 (SD = 0.72) M = 3.35 (SD = 1.13) M = 3.78 (SD = 0.68) 2.17*.158 n.s. There is no difference between the two groups in the valence of affective experience during the game 19 Discussion and Conclusion Attitude towards the brand is influenced by attitude towards the ad-game and the valence of affective experience during the game Identification of a group of players with a lower evaluation of ad-games than games without advertising Those players who show less acceptance of games containing ads show a lower attitude towards the brand Further research should analyze if there are different reasons for the rejection of ad placements in computer games and if those have an influence on the impact of attitude towards the game on attitude toward the game 20

11 Thank You! Introduction: Computer Games Computer games have departed from their original context to become the subject and medium of Movies, Art exhibitions, Exercise equipment, Educational tools, Armed forces training and more besides 22