The Relationship between Brand-program Congruencyand Purchase Intention
International Journal of Applied Sports Sciences, Vol.28, No.2, pp.123-136
초록
The main purposes of the current study were 1) to understand the perceptions of consumers toward congruency levels for a placed brand based on the type of movie and gender of endorser and 2) to examine the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of congruency and purchase intention to have a successful sport media sponsorship. A total of 200 participants completed the questionnaires. The results revealed consumers had higher perceptions of congruency for a sportswear brand placed in a sports program than in a non-sports program. This study also found the positive association between congruency and purchase intention.
Abstract
The main purposes of the current study were 1) to understand the perceptions of consumers toward congruency levels for a placed brand based on the type of movie and gender of endorser and 2) to examine the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of congruency and purchase intention to have a successful sport media sponsorship. A total of 200 participants completed the questionnaires. The results revealed consumers had higher perceptions of congruency for a sportswear brand placed in a sports program than in a non-sports program. This study also found the positive association between congruency and purchase intention.
Introduction
Sponsorship is defined as “an investment, in cash or in kind, in an activity, in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that activity” (Meenaghan, 1991, p.36). It has been one of the biggest and fast growing businesses activities. In North American market alone, the expenditure for sponsorship reached around US$14 billion in 2014, and about 20% of the amount was spent on television and advertising (Kwon, Ratneshwar, & Kim, 2016). As media programs like TV shows and movies are becoming more important parts of people’s daily life (Cornwell & Kwak, 2015), more corporations have attempted to embed their brands or products into various media channels. The majority of product placements were utilized in movies, televisions, and video games (Williams, Petrosky, Hernandez, & Page, 2011). In addition, brands and products were also found in radio programs (van Reijmersdal, 2011), novels (Olsen & Lanseng, 2012), song lyrics (Delattre & Colovic, 2009), plays (Wilson & Till, 2011) and video games (Hang & Auty, 2011) via media sponsorship activities.
In sport, it is not surprising that sponsorship has also become an important resource for local, national, and international events to be successful. For example, Brazil FIFA World Cup generated over US$1 billion through sponsorship (Jacobs, Jain, & Surana, 2014). With respect to media sponsorship in sports, many sportswear brands have utilized various movies or TV shows for their sponsorship activities, such as Nike Mag in Back to the Future II (1989), Nike Internationalist in The Breakfast Club (1985), Under Armour apparel in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Onitsuka Tiger Tai Chi sneakers in Kill Bill Vol.1 (2003), and Adidas jacket in Friends Season 5 Episode 20 (1999).
Product Placement
In order to obtain intended outcomes from media sponsorship, it is very important for marketing to formulate effective product placement strategies. Karrh (1998) defined brand placement as “the paid inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers, through audio and/or visual means, within mass media programming.” (p. 33). Hudson and Hudson (2006) also introduced brand entertainment as integration among brands, entertainment, and media by embedding the advertising brands into storylines of a movie, TV program, or other media outlets.
To understand product placement, it is important to identify different types of product placement. Russell (1998) categorized placements into three dimensions: visual, auditory, and visual-auditory. Visual placement means showing a brand, product or other visual images without relevant audio and sounds on that particular brand or product (Gupta & Lord, 1998). Russell (2002) added that visual dimension has different degrees depending on levels of appearances on the screen. The second dimension auditory or verbal referred to mentioning brand names or messages related to the brand through an audio form (Gupta & Lord, 1998). Auditory placement also has different degrees, depending on the frequency, the character’s tone of voice, and the product’s role in the conversation (Russell, 1998; Russell, 2002). The third dimension was first proposed by Gupta and Lord (1998), and it was also described by Russell (1998) as “plot connection”, which is the combination of visual and audio display in terms of brand name. Later Russell (2002) further suggested that plot connection refers to the degree of integration between the product and the plot. Higher plot connection shows a more important place in the storyline or closer connection with the character, while lower plot connection does not contribute that much to the theme (Holbrook & Grayson, 1986).
Other researchers (e.g. Cowley & Barron, 2008) distinguished product placement into prominence and subtlety. Prominent placement was defined by Gupta and Lord (1998), if the placed brand or product has high visibility on the screen and becomes central to the scene, the placement is prominent. Variables that contribute to prominence usually include the size of the brand logo, connection, and integration to the scene, time of exposure and number of mentions (Cowley & Barron, 2008; Law & Braun, 2000; Russell, 2002). Subtle placement is the opposite, which is not shown prominently on screen, such as short duration of brand exposure (Gupta & Lord). However, regardless of the type of product placement, prominent or subtle placement both has an impact on product placement effectiveness (Gupta & Lord).
Many researchers (Delorme & Reid, 1999; Gould, Gupta, & Grabner-Krauter, 2000) found the advantages of product placement over traditional advertising. They proposed that product placement could be more cost-effective because appropriate produce placement may link to positive brand associations and images. Traditional TV commercials are usually direct and obvious so most of the viewers are likely to be on alert and have negative attitudes towards TV commercials (Balasubramanian, Karrh, & Patwardhan, 2006). However, in terms of product placement, when a product is embedded properly into a scene or storyline, audiences are less likely to perceive the product placement as an obvious commercial attempt while watching (Nebenzahl & Jaffe, 1998). Thus, audiences tend to lower their guard towards product placement per se, which would make product placement more convincing.
Another disadvantage of traditional advertising is the low exposure rate. Kiley (2006) estimated two-third of audiences turn off the sound during commercials or switching channels and skip them all because audiences found commercials between television programs very annoying. However, the amount of exposure time to viewers is secured since product placement is integrated into the program (Meenaghan, 1991). Hudson and Hudson (2006) also indicated that product placement would decrease viewer’s resistance towards the commercial content because product placement is a part of the entertainment entity.
Product placement has also drawn significant attentions in the academic field. The previous research on product placement can be summarized into three topics (McCarty, 2004). First, researchers studied the popularity of product placement in movie and television (DeLorme & Reid, 1999) and attempted to find the nature of product placement (Avery & Ferraro, 2000). The second line of research focused on audiences’ acceptance of product placement in general. Gupta and Gould (1997) conducted a research in the United States, discovering a positive attitude generated by audiences towards product placement in general. The third research topic on the concept was about the effectiveness of product placement. Balasubramanian et al. (2006) summarized three main aspects of the studies on effectiveness of product placement, cognition aspect (brand memory, brand recognition or recall, brand salience, brand typicality), affect aspect (brand portrayal rating, identification with brand/imitation, brand attitude) and conation aspect (purchase intention, brand choice, brand usage behavior). Most researchers focused on the cognition and affect aspect. Several researchers (Gupta & Lord, 1998; Lehu & Bressoud, 2008) studied brand recall and concluded that product placement has a significant impact on increasing recall rate after watching the movie clip. Argan, Velioglu, and Argan (2007) reported a nearly 90% recall rate after watching a strong plot connection placement, even though the duration of the product on the screen was short. Law and Braun (2000) also found an improvement of brand recognition for placed brand. Regarding affect domain, most studies were conducted on consumer attitude towards the placed brand. Kirmani and Shiv (1998) tested that when consumers perceive the product and movie a match, a positive attitude would most likely be generated. Compared the effect of persuasion with congruence, an incongruence between the brand and the movies had a negative relationship with consumer attitude (d’Astous & Seguin, 1999; Russell, 2002).
Despite the popularity of product placement research, only a few studies have been conducted relating to conation aspect, such as purchase intention (Vildan, 2014) and the findings of the research were somewhat inconsistent. Some researchers (e.g. Ong & Meri, 1994; Vollmers & Mizerski, 1994) found no impact of product placement on purchase intention, while Jin and Villegas (2007) revealed an increase of purchase intention after watching the brands/products placed in the movie.
In fact, sports movies have a long history dating back to 1908 (Anderson, 2009). Several studies were conducted relating to sports movies. For example, Briley, Schoenecke, and Carmichael (2008) summarized some sports movies studies regarding historical contents, cultural values, racial, gender and class issues. Warner (2013) conducted a research revealing how movies carried the sportswear into the American style and influenced on how people dressed from 1912-1940. However, research specific on product placement in sports movies is still rare and needs more findings since sports is one of most often used contexts for product placement. Thus, the purposes of the current study were to understand the perceptions of consumers toward congruency levels for a placed brand based on movie theme (e.g., sports movie vs. non-sports movie) and gender of endorser (e.g., male vs. female) and to examine the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of congruency and their purchase intentions.
Program-product Congruity
Congruity topic has been widely spread in advertising and marketing literature. Congruence can be described as “relatedness” and “relevance” by Johar and Pham (1999), or as “compatibility” by Ruth and Simonin (2003), or “link” by d’Astous and Bitz (1995) in sponsorship literature. In cause-related marketing literature, it is proposed as a “fit” (Bainbridge, 2001; Gray 2000). Some researchers (McDonald 1991; Murphy 1999) studied congruence based on the relevance (direct vs. indirect) between the sponsor and the event. Further on, Gwinner (1997) categorized sponsorship congruence into functional and image similarity, interpreting the relationship between core values of consumers and values represented by sponsor and sponsorship event. In addition, Heckler and Childers (1992) defined congruency from the psychological perspective, constructed into relevancy and expectancy. Relevancy refers to how the stimulus pertaining to the meaning of the theme detracts identifications of the major communication messages (Heckler & Childers). Expectancy addresses the degree of how well the messages and information would be expected in the theme (Heckler & Childers).
The classical conditioning theory was mirrored in this study in order to understand the mechanism of how congruity works. The conditioning theory suggests the level of conditioning achieved would be enhanced if the conditioned and conditioned stimuli were suitably placed together (Allen & Janiszewski, 1989). So congruence can moderate and enhance the conditioning process (Speed & Thompson, 2000). This, therefore, suggested that if the sponsor and the event were perceived as fit, participants would generate more positive attitude to the brand.
More specifically, research findings in sponsorship literature revealed the influence of congruence or incongruence on brands. Gwinner (1997) suggested that the sponsor-event congruence can help transfer the image from the event to the sponsors. d’Astous and Bitz (1995) also pointed out the sponsor image was improved significantly when the congruence level between sponsor and event increased from a lower level to a moderate level. Besides, the product-event congruity was found for affecting consumer attitude towards the sponsor. Speed and Thompson (2000) justified that there was a positive relationship between product-event congruity and consumer attitude towards the sponsor. Similar findings were also pointed out by D. Basil and M. Basil (2003) and Rodgers (2003, 2004), suggesting that the congruence would affect the attitudes from consumer towards sponsor positively. Audience responses to sponsorship event were examined by several researchers (Crimmins & Horn, 1996; Speed & Thompson, 2000). They highlighted the positive impact of the close match between the sponsor and the event to audiences.
Researchers (Simmons & Becker-Olsen, 2006) studied the effect of low congruence level as well and found that low congruent levels would increase brand recall. But they also suggested that brand attitude and credibility would be harmed with a low congruence level. Lee and Faber (2007) conducted a research of product placement in the online gaming industry, proposing a consistent finding. They concluded that incongruence between a game and a product would trigger a higher brand recall because people attempted to justify and make sense of the incongruity.
Product placement was considered one type of sponsorship (d’Astous & Seguin, 1999), thus, the insights of sponsorship congruity can be applied to product placement. In this study, the concept of product-program was inspired by Speed and Thompson (2000) and Pentecost and Spence (2004). They proposed that placed brand to be sponsorship, and the media host (i.e. movies/TV) to be the program. Though fit can be further divided based on numerous criteria, such as functional and symbolic characteristics (Speed & Thompsons), the perception of fit in this study was modeled in a general sense in order to avoid misleading. Because, the main purpose of this research was to determine the effect of congruence, not the type of congruence. Thus, the product-program congruity represented the connection and fit in general between placed brand and the movie.
Similar to product-event congruence effects, d’Astous and Seguin (1999) indicated that a strong sponsor-program congruity represents a strong relation between sponsor’s products and the contents of the program. On the contrary, with a weaker sponsor-program congruity, the placed product will reduce credibility and consistency. Russell (2002) explained how differences of product placement modality and plot connection influence consumers’ attitude towards placed brand, and concluded that congruent product placement conveys a strong message so it becomes convincing and favorable brand attitude would be generated by consumers. Moreover, a high congruent placement could evoke a positive emotional response from audiences (d’Astous & Chartier, 2000; Balasubramanian et al. 2006). Balasubramanian et al. explained that with a high product-program match, the audiences tend to criticize less and develop positive attitude compared to incongruent placement.
The product is consistent in this research (i.e. Adidas), the variables (i.e. type of movie and endorser gender) that influence the program were believed to have an impact on the product-program congruity. One factor was the movie theme that the product being placed in. Several studies examined brand placement in movies using content analysis of the movie genre, though most of them examined brand recognition and recall (Park & Berger, 2010). Some researchers studied product placement in different movies and television genres, such as drama (Dirks, 2000), comedy (Zillmann, 2000), and sitcom (Stern & Russell, 2007). Movie theme contributed to genre identification, which was shared by conventions and served as codes to combine producers, texts, and audiences (Fiske, 1987; Park & Berger, 2010). So movie theme played an important role in the message that was delivered to viewers. So based on the previous literature on relevancy and expectancy (Heckler & Childers, 1992), and conditioning theory (Allen & Jeniszewski, 1989; Speed & Thompson, 2000), sports movie and sporting brand shared similar meaning.
Another factor of product-program congruity was the gender of character or endorser in the movies. Tripp, Jenson and Carlson (1994) proved that source credibility has a positive relationship with endorser effectiveness. There are three factors influencing the source credibility: attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise (Kahle & Homer, 1985; Ohanian, 1991; Tripp et al., 1994). Amos, Holmes, and Strutton (2008) found that trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness (in that order) executed the most effective endorsement practice. However, the match-up hypothesis suggested that the natural fit between the endorser and the product being endorsed is the most important element to an effective endorsement (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1995; Boyd & Shank, 2004; Till & Busler, 2000).
In terms of the endorser’s gender, especially in the sports industry, there are plenty of differences between male and female endorsers. Female athlete endorsers were less in number than male athlete endorsers, appearing in only 12% of advertisements featured on magazines in the United Stated (Grau, Roselli, & Taylor, 2007). The image of female athlete endorsers’ sexuality was mostly highlighted (Grau et al., 2007). In general, sports are still perceived as masculine and male-dominated (Messner, 2009), which makes it more natural for men than women to participate in (Hardin & Greer, 2009). This is probably due to gender norms and social role theory. The social role theory indicates that there are behavioral expectations for man and women regarding their own gender role (Eagly, 1987; Eagly, Wood, Diekman, 2000). Heilman (2001) explained that unfavorable evaluations and judgement would evoke from others if one did not behave inconsistently with one’s gender role. Because sport is believed as male dominant, female athletes are seen as violating the gender role which would result in more negative evaluations (Heilman, 2001; Messner, 2002). Thus, male endorsers might be a better fit than female endorsers for a sports brand in movies. Based on the literature, the following hypotheses were proposed.
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Hypothesis 1: Movie theme (sports or non-sports) had a significant relationship on product-program congruity level.
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Hypothesis 2: Movie theme (sports or non-sports) had a significant relationship on purchase intention.
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Hypothesis 3: Character gender in movie/TV had a significant relationship on product-program congruity level.
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Hypothesis 4: Character gender in movie/TV had a significant relationship on purchase intention.
Purchase Intention
Spears and Singh (2004, p56) defined purchase intention as “an individual’s conscious plan to make an effort to purchase a brand.” Purchase intention is a critical indicator for consumer behaviors at a cognitive stage (Beerli & Santana, 1999) and it is widely utilized by researchers to measure purchase behaviors (Schlosser, 2003; Schiffman & Kanuk, 2000). A fit between a sponsor and an event is considered as a key element in understanding consumer responses, like purchase intention to the sponsorship (Speed & Thompson, 2000). Although the direct impact of the congruence between a sponsor and an event on purchase intention was not clarified, many researchers observed the positive relations in the studies. Gwinner and Bennett (2008) found a positive impact of a close fit between a sponsor and an event on consumers’ attitudes for the sponsor, which might eventually lead to higher purchase intention of the consumers. Jin and Villegas (2007) also found the positive link between product placement and purchase intention. Balasubramanian et al. (2006), Lehu (2007), and Lin and Cho (2010) also proposed that efficient product placement would increase purchase intention and sales. Therefore, the following hypothesis was proposed based on previous literature.
Method
Participants and Survey Procedure
The data for the current study were collected from 200 people living in Hong Kong. From a total of 200 participants, 106 participants (53%) were male and 94 participants (47%) were female (N=106). In terms of age, the majority of participants were in the 22-25 group with 135 participants (67.5%), followed by the 18-21 age group with 61 participants (30.5%). 86 respondents (43%) reported that they watched movie 2-3 times a month. Table 1 shows the further details of the movie consumption behaviors and demographic information.
Table 1.
Demographics of respondents and movie watching frequency
| Frequency | Percentage (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Male | 94 | 47 |
| Female | 106 | 53 |
| Age Group | ||
| 18-21 | 61 | 30.5 |
| 22-25 | 135 | 67.5 |
| 26-29 | 4 | 2 |
| Movie Watching | ||
| Never | 1 | 0.5 |
| Less than once a month | 25 | 12.5 |
| Once a month | 44 | 22 |
| 2-3 times a month | 86 | 43 |
| Once a week | 20 | 10 |
| 2-3 times a week | 19 | 9.5 |
| Daily | 5 | 2.5 |
| Total | 200 | 100 |
Instrumentation
A 35-item survey, including congruency, purchase intention, and demographic information (e.g., age, gender, and movie-watching frequency) was used in this study. The video clips used in the questionnaire were self-edited by the authors. The clips were taken from “Fast Girl” (2012) for a female sports movie, “Glee Season 1 Episode 4” (2009) for a female non-sports, “She’s the Man” (2006) for a male sports movie, and “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2014) for a male non-sports movie. Each movie clip was one minute in length. Characters in the movies wore Adidas’ training jackets. In order to avoid potential bias stemming from the sequence of four movie clips in the questionnaire on participants’ responses, four sets of questionnaire were developed with different orders of the movie clips as shown in Table 2. Every movie clip was set to show one time only. Congruency between brand and movie and purchase intention were measured using scales from Speed and Thompson (2000) and Till and Busler (2000). The participants indicated the extent of their agreement for congruity by using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). The participants were also asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed with the question by using a 5-point Likert scale.
Table 2.
Movie clips sequence in different sets of questionnaires
| Set | MovieClip A | MovieClip B | MovieClip C | MovieClip D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set1 | femalesports movie | femalenon-sports movie | malesports movie | malenon-sports movie |
| Set2 | malenon-sports movie | femalesports movie | malesports movie | femalenon-sports movie |
| Set3 | femalenon-sports movie | femalesports movie | malenon-sports movie | malesports movie |
| Set4 | malesports movie | femalenon-sports movie | malenon-sports movie | femalesports movie |
Data Analysis
All the responses in the questionnaire were coded for further analysis and were inputted into the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS program). First, descriptive statistics including demographic information of the participants as well as means and standardized deviations were calculated. Second, the reliability of each construct of the study was assessed using Cronbach’s Alpha. Then, 2x2 MANOVA was performed to measure how the participants perceived congruence between the placed brand and the movie and purchase intention based on the type of movie and gender in the movie. Finally, Pearson correlation was used to examine the linear relationship between congruity and purchase intention.
Results
Reliabilities and Descriptive Statistics of Variables
Reliabilities of two constructs (congruity and purchase intention) were well supported since both Cronbach’s Alphas .937 and .951 exceeded the recommended benchmark of .70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Table 3 shows the means and standard deviations for each item and variables and reliabilities for variables. The results of congruity means ranged from 3.26 to 3.45, and the means of purchase intention ranged from 3.12 to 3.22.
Table 3.
Mean (M), standard deviations (SD), and Cronbach (α) for the variables.
| Gender | Program | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Items | Male | Female | Sports | Non-Sports | |||||||
| M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | α | ||
| 3.38 | .97 | 3.35 | 1.04 | 3.94 | .81 | 2.79 | 3.37 | 3.37 | 1.01 | .937 | ||
| Congruity | There is a logical connection between the brand/product and the movie. | 3.28 | 1.11 | 3.23 | 1.16 | 3.83 | .97 | 2.68 | 1.00 | 3.26 | 1.14 | |
| The image of the placed brand/product and the movie are similar. | 3.37 | 1.10 | 3.37 | 1.13 | 3.95 | .91 | 2.79 | .99 | 3.37 | 1.12 | ||
| The placed brand/product and the movie fit together well. | 3.46 | 1.09 | 3.44 | 1.18 | 4.01 | .91 | 2.89 | 1.07 | 3.45 | 1.14 | ||
| The placed brand/product and the movie stand for the similar things. | 3.29 | 1.08 | 3.32 | 1.13 | 3.91 | .89 | 2.71 | .96 | 3.31 | 1.10 | ||
| It makes sense to me that this brand/product is placed in the movie. | 3.51 | 1.08 | 3.32 | 1.13 | 4.00 | .95 | 2.89 | 1.03 | 3.44 | 1.13 | ||
| 3.15 | .95 | 3.19 | 3.17 | 3.50 | .87 | 2.83 | .95 | 3.17 | .97 | .951 | ||
| Purchase Intention |
How likely for you to purchase products from the placed brand? (unlikely-likely) | 3.15 | 1.00 | 3.18 | 1.10 | 3.52 | .95 | 2.81 | 1.03 | 3.17 | 1.05 | |
| How likely for you to purchase products from the placed brand? (definitely would not-definitely would) (Reversed Code) | 3.10 | .96 | 3.14 | 1.00 | 3.43 | .91 | 2.81 | .95 | 3.12 | .98 | ||
| How likely for you to purchase products from the placed brand? (improbable-probable) | 3.19 | 1.00 | 3.25 | 1.04 | 3.56 | .90 | 2.88 | 1.02 | 3.22 | 1.02 | ||
2 x 2 (type of movie vs. gender) MANOVA
Assumptions of MANOVA were checked prior to 2x2 MANOVA using normality test, Box’ M, and correlation. The results revealed that normality assumption was violated, whereas homoscedasticity and multicollinearity assumptions were met. Therefore, Pillai’s Trace, the robust statistic against violations of assumption for non-normality (Tabachnick & Fidell, 1996), was used rather than Wilk’s Lambda for further analyses.
Table 4.
Multivariate Tests.
| Variable | Value | F | Sig. | df | Error df |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercept | .949 | 7351.894 | .000 | 2 | 795 |
| Movie | .327 | 193.152 | .000 | 2 | 795 |
| Gender | .002 | .847 | .429 | 2 | 795 |
| Movie*Gender | .003 | 1.109 | .330 | 2 | 795 |
As shown in the table 4, the results for the MANOVA indicated significant main effects for different movie theme (sports or non-sports) [Pillai’s Trace=.327, F(2,795)=193.152, p<.01] and no significant main effects for character gender [Pillai’s Trace =.002, F(2,795)=.847, p=.429] interaction between movie theme and character gender [Pillai’s Trace =.003, F(2,795)=1.109, p=.330] on congruity and purchase intention. Therefore, tests of between-subject effects were conducted to examine differences separately. The results of the univariate tests indicated significant main effects for movie theme [F(1,796)=385.177, p<.01] for congruity, but no significant effects for gender [F(1,796)=.338, p=.561]. For purchase intention, significant effects was found for movie theme [F(1, 796)=108.392, p<.01], while no significant effects for character gender for [F(1,796)=.369, p=.543]. In other words, the mean differences for congruity between sports movie (3.94) and non-sports movie (2.79) for purchase intention between sports movie (3.50) and non-sports movie (2.83) were significant, whereas, the mean differences for congruity between male (3.38) and female (3.35) characters in movie/TV and purchase intention between male (3.15) and female (3.19) were not significant. Therefore, H1 and H2 were supported, while H3 and H4 were not supported.
Discussion
The results of the research’s descriptive statistics revealed higher congruence between sportswear brand and sports movies and lower congruence between sportswear brand and non-sports movie. More specifically, for sports movie, the mean (3.94) was above mid-point (3.00), but for non-sports movie, the mean (2.79) was below average. As the placed brand can be viewed as sponsor and media host as program conceptually, stronger relations between sponsor’s products and the contents in the program represent higher congruence (d’Astous & Seguin, 1999; Speed & Thompson, 2000). The findings of the current study were consistent with research by Russell (2002), proposing that with higher plot connection, the product would be perceived congruent with the scene. Thus, the results could be explained by the fact that the nature of sports movie and sportswear brand match with each other.
Research (Crimmins & Horn, 1996; Speed & Thompson, 2000) confirmed the positive impact of fitness on audiences’ responses. According to the meaning transfer model (McCracken, 1989), consistency between source’s meaning and the desired meaning for the product was required. The meanings of sportswear brand and sports movie were consistent. In other words, sportswear brand and sports movie had similar function and image. The similarity indicated that the core values perceived by consumers were consistent with the values of the brand and the movie (Gwinner, 1997).
The results also revealed that consumers would buy products from band placement in sports movie instead of those placed in non-sports movie although some researchers found no positive effect of increasing purchase intention, regardless of integrated product placement in movies (Vollmers & Mizerski, 1994). The current study suggested that sportswear brand partnered with sports movie would mostly increase consumers purchase intention. Based on the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), positive overall attitude toward placed brand is expected to increase purchase intention. The results could be somehow explained as the fitness of sportswear brand and sports movie gained consumers’ positive attitude, they were more likely to purchase products from the sports movie. In addition, congruence and purchase intention were highly related to one another as the correlation was high. With a higher congruity level, consumers were more likely to purchase sportswear brand from sports movies. On the contrary, sportswear brand placed in non-sports movies generated less logical or functional connection and this combination pushed the brand further away from the storyline.
The most important suggestion to marketers would be that marketers should consider how they can embed the product into the plot and demonstrate a fit between product and the scene for conation aspect (e.g. purchase intention) rather than how big they want to put the logo on the screen alone in selecting movies and televisions because placement congruence would be more important for consumers to make their purchase decision. So to speak, congruence would generate more consumer interests and desire, which would lead to purchase behavior (Barry, 1987). The results of this study could also help practitioners narrow down potential media host, especially for sportswear companies.
In addition, the results also indicated that the combination of visual and verbal placement was not necessary to reach congruence between product and program, as long as they have a similar meaning. Researchers (d’Astous & Chartier, 2000; Dens et al., 2012) found that even less prominent placements could generate positive brand attitudes if the plot connection was strong. It is because there is a high possibility that viewers would criticize high prominent placement as annoying and distracting (Cholinski, 2012; d’ Astous & Chartier, 2000; Dens et al., 2012). Nevertheless, congruence of product placement is more powerful than placement methods on consumer’s purchase desire toward the brand placed in movies and televisions.
Although hypothesis 3 and 4 proposed that there was an influence of character gender in movie/TV on consumers’ perception of congruity level and also on purchase intention, the results indicated no significant effect of the character gender in movie/TV on neither relativeness of the product and program nor purchase intention. Though sport, in general, is more associated with masculine and male, some sports are considered feminine and neutral based on sports’ aesthetics, risk, and speed (Koivula, 2001). Hardin and Greer (2009) also placed sports into four types: hyper-masculine (e.g. rugby), masculine (e.g. snowboarding), neutral (e.g. soccer, swimming) and feminine (e.g. gymnastics, volleyball). The findings could be explained because sports movies shown in this research (i.e. soccer, track and field) represented neutral sports and neither a male endorser nor a female endorser violated the social role expectation. For non-sports related movies, the fact that the gender of the character did not change any story development, which made no impact on the storyline influenced the research outcomes. Thus, the findings that gender difference of the character in the movie had no significant interfere between product and the movie as well as consumer’s intention to make a purchase provide the implication to practitioners to save time in choosing female or male endorser/spokesperson for the brand because the results revealed no major influence of gender difference on purchase intention.
This study originally aimed to provide some guidelines to practitioners in selecting movies or television programs to place the brand and products based on the match between brand and media platform. However, the results offered recommendations not only for marketers to make efficient and effective product placement strategies but also for filmmakers or producers to seek and leverage sponsorship packages. For filmmakers and producers, this study should be relevant to enhance product placement value and design placement package. In sponsorship field, Speed and Thompson (2000) found that if opportunities were given to sponsors to demonstrate a match, the owners of the sponsored property could add sponsorship value. The similar condition for product placement, filmmakers and producers can seek sponsors by providing different levels of placement strategies based on that match (value).
Future Studies
Previous research rarely examined the relationship between product placement and purchase intention although purchase intention was one of the most important measures to see the effectiveness of product placement (Ong & Meri, 1994; Vollmers & Mizerski, 1994; Jin & Villegas, 2007). Therefore, the current study’s results provided a unique academic contribution to the literature by exploring those relationships as well as adding usefulness for future studies as well as practical implications for practitioners. However, future research based on the limitation of the current study could be developed to provide more academic and practical implications of the topic.
First, the major limitation of this study was being able to control all the variables. Ideally, the product placed in the two different movies should be the same product and the endorser in the movies should be the same person for each gender, and between male and female, the story scene should be the same. By doing so, prior familiarity with the product (Balasubramanian, 1994), and influence from the endorser/character (Kamins & Gupta, 1994) would be controlled.
Second, for this study, the questionnaires were used to collect responses from participants, though each movie clips were shown once, the reality of participants searching or watching it again could not be controlled. Therefore, for future studies, focus group, and experimental design were recommended to control and minimize those factors.
Finally, the current study unveiled the congruence between brand and media host had a positive association with purchase intention, but it did not examine any causal relation between the concepts and how individual differences would influence viewers’ perceptions on product placement. For example, other studies found visual processing differences between holistic and analytic, which leads to different emphases and results (Goh, Tan, & Park, 2009). Other individual factors included general attitude and acceptability towards product placement (Gupta & Gould, 1997; Balasubramanian et al., 2006), personal involvement with the program (Nelson, 2002), program connectedness, which represented the extent of connection beyond viewing program into personal and social life (Russell, 1998; Russell & Stern, 2006). Thus, future studies should adopt those factors to help marketers and researchers understand product placement’s effectiveness based on the microscope perspectives. Future studies also should examine potential causal relationships among relevant variables.
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