exposé product and service placement: a cross-cultural ... › fb07 › fileadmin › datas ›...

Running head: Product and service placement: A cross-cultural study

Exposé

Product and service placement: A cross-cultural study on how

Italian and German moviegoers are affected by the different

modalities of this marketing practice

Submitted by

Marco Medusa

European Master in Business Studies

University of Kassel

Exposé: Product and service placement: A cross-cultural study

2

Table of Contents

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. 3

1. ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 4

2. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 5

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................... 6

HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS MODEL ............................................................................................ 9

CUSTOMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY MODEL ......................................................................... 10

DUAL CODING THEORY ........................................................................................................ 10

MERE EXPOSURE THEORY .................................................................................................... 11

3. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 12

4. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...................................... 20

5. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 25

6. OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS STRUCTURE ................................................................ 26

7. PLAN OF WORK .............................................................................................................. 27

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 28


3

List of abbreviations

BP = Brand Placement

BRICS = Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

CBBE = Customer-Based Brand Equity

DCT = Dual Coding Theory

HoE = Hierarchy of Effects

PP = Product Placement


4

1. Abstract

Title: Product and service placement: A cross-cultural study on how Italian and German

moviegoers are affected by the different modalities of this marketing practice.

Keywords: brand attitude; brand awareness; brand behavior; brand familiarity; brand

placement; placement modalities; product placement; service placement.

Background: Product placement is an expression that refers to the method used by

companies to promote their brands in movies, TV series and any other audiovisual programs.

This practice, which is also known as brand placement or embedded marketing, has acquired

more and more importance in the marketing strategies of firms which want to promote their

products, or simply their trademarks, and want to do it by reaching the majority of

consumers.

Purpose: The purpose of our study is to analyze this marketing phenomenon by taking into

consideration the fact that not only product-centered companies, but also those who are

specialized in services adopt this strategy to advertise their brands. For the purpose of the

project, we consider interesting studying also the way in which a product and/or service is

placed (audio, visual or audiovisual placement) and if different means of embedding products

to movies originate different reactions among consumers.

Methodology: To collect the information needed for the purpose of the study we are going to

ask the respondents to watch a video clip in which different examples of product/service

placement are going to be displayed. The video clip will be made available both in full screen

and mobile. Thereafter, we will ask them to fulfill an online survey or a paper, depending on

the way in which they displayed the clip, through which it will be possible to gather data to

be analyzed at a later stage.


5

2. Introduction

The European Commission (EC), in the Regulatory Framework of Audiovisual and Media

Policies, defines product placement as “any form of audiovisual commercial communication

consisting of the inclusion of or reference to a product, a service or the trademark thereof so

that it is featured within a program, in return for payment or for similar consideration”.

Among all the marketing strategies, using movies, TV programs, songs or books to promote

their products is one of the most successful among companies.

Products and services are placed using some modalities which made available the possibility

to promote them by reaching consumers via video only, audio only, or video and audio

together, the most effective and at the same time the most expensive strategy among all three.

This marketing practice has been continuously growing up in the past: between 2012 and

2014, the investments made by companies in product placement have increased by 28,2%,

from 8.25 to 10.58 billion Dollars, driven by a boost of its employment in BRICS (Brazil,

Russia, India, China and South Africa) area. (PQ Media, 2015).

A lot of evidences on this topic can be found in literature (Gupta & Lord, 1998; Karrh,

McKee & Pardun, 2003; De Gregorio & Yonjun, 2010), even though a gap in the available

literature can be identified as the lack of comparisons between the placement of products and

that of services, and how different product and service placement modalities affect

consumers’ buying choices and attitudes toward brands that are promoted in the movies.

Results from this kind of research could provide important suggestions to companies from a

managerial (and marketing) side, perhaps presenting them actual advices to improve the

placements they are actually putting in place.

Lehu and Bressoud (2009) stated that, independently from its typology, placements of

products or services have always a primary link with the brand. Even though ‘product

placement’ and ‘brand placement’ are two terms that nowadays are often used as synonyms,

as both product and service placements are taken into consideration in this research,

henceforth it is considered more precise the usage of the expression ‘brand placement’ in this

research.


6

3. Theoretical framework Taking into consideration this phenomenon from a business model side, product placement

takes place because a company chooses to pay movie studios in order to include their

products or services in the film (Avery and Ferraro, 2000).

The relationships that arise between studios and firms to deal with this kind of contract are

generally mediated by placement agents, who operate as intermediate between the two main

parties (Karrh, 1998).

BP is something to which we have got used to, even if we do not usually realize that we are

constantly faced to this kind of advertising, and this is its principal aim. As Balasubramanian

(1994) pointed out, the principle advantage of embedded marketing, compared to common

advertisements, is that the products/services publicized reach movie/TV program viewers in

an inconspicuous way.

As shown in Chart 1 (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2012), BP efficacy is based on the crucial

interaction between three players: the product that is placed in the movie/TV program, the

character and the consumer. The link between the product and the character is fundamental

The Product

The Character

The Consumer

Figure 1 – The Balance Model, modified from PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2012


7

for the purpose of reaching consumers’ attention: the stronger is the connection between

these two elements of the “product placement triangle” the higher will be the consumer’s

intention to imitate the character/actor/sportsman/singer by buying the product he or she is

using. The attitude that the consumer has toward the character and the product plays the

major role in the final success of this strategy.

Westcott, one of the partners of Rave Reviews, an American firm specialized in BP,

highlights the positive effect which derives from the employment of celebrities in this

context, as they tend to strengthen the persuasiveness of the placement (Morton & Friedman,

2002). He stated “when Jennifer Aniston picks up a bottle of apple juice on Friends, people

don’t think it’s there because a prop person put it there. (…) And if you want to be like her,

you’re going to want that kind of apple juice, too” (Westcott, 2000).

There are three different ways in which this placement can be delivered to audience: visual

placement, which is the most common and used BP type, spoken placement, which implies

that the product/service/brand is not displayed but just mentioned, and finally the plot

placement, which is a combination of visual and spoken placement and, because of its

effectiveness, is the most expensive one among the three (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2012).

Gupta and Lord (1998) went further in the analysis of the different methods mentioned

above. In the research, there are three ways of placing a product/service are defined as visual

only, audio only and combined audio-visual, and these three modes can take place in two

different ways: subtle or prominent. As the words may suggest, a subtle placement consists in

integrating the product in the scene in an inconspicuous way, while with a prominent

placement the object is collocated in the movie set in a way that makes it easy to be seen by

the viewers (Gupta and Lord, 1998).

BP is, despite what people could think, a practice which has been being used in general since

when Jules Verne wrote his novel “Around the world in eighty days” (1873), where different

companies specialized in transportation and shipping raced to be specifically cited in his

work.

Two decades later, precisely in 1896, Lumiere Brothers, in their short movie Laveuses

(Washing Day in Switzerland) (1896), promoted a product of Lever Brothers, Sunlight soap,

which was easily visible in the foreground of one of the scenes.

That was just the beginning of a phenomenon that has now become an everyday life reality.

The main difference between the first examples and nowadays brand placements is that,

while once the decision of embedding a product within a movie was justified by the intention

of making more realistic and authentic scenery, today it is mainly adopted because of the


8

incredibly positive influence which BP has on the brand equity value (Morton & Friedman,

2002). This is the reason why companies are making a massive usage of this commercial

practice. It is easy to realize that when we go to the cinema, or if we simply stay at home to

watch a movie, a TV series or just a music video, we are suddenly surrounded by BP in all of

its forms.

In 2012, marketers spent $ 8.25 billion in BP all over the world (Quinn, 2012) and PQ Media

Global Product Placement Spending Forecast 2012-2016 shows that 57.6% of the overall

spending has been maintained by the United States, which confirms to be the market where

the biggest investments in embedded marketing are made, also considering the fact that in the

most expensive movie productions take place in the US. These figures are even more

dramatic if we consider that, at the beginning of the 1990s, the BP business in feature films

amounted to approximately $50 million per year globally (Elliott, 1992b).

But what is the reason why marketers and advertisers decide to spend this amount of capital

to promote their products?

According to a research based on questions prepared by Deloitte and then conducted by

YouGov in 2010, 86% of people tend to skip advertisements when they are watching TV

shows that have been previously registered in their decoders.

BP first and most valuable positive aspect for marketers is exactly the fact that it cannot be

avoided, because the product/service/trademark is embedded in the video, and most of the

times it is completely involved in the general plot of the movie/TV series.

Previous research conducted by Karrh (1998) illustrate that three explanations exist to justify

the importance and necessity of analyzing BP practice: first of all, BP relevance for

companies from an economic point of view has been increasing enormously since the 1980s,

especially since when Steven Spielberg decided to place Reese’s Pieces candies in his

blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Hershey, the company which produces these candies

and that is today the biggest chocolate producer in the United States, in 1982 registered a

65% increase in the sales of its product just after one month from the official release of the

movie (Babin, 2008). We can definitely consider that as the turning point in BP industry, the

moment when advertisers realized that placing and arranging branded objects on set had not

only the purpose of making the whole scene more credible, but it was an opportunity to

enhance companies’ business performance.

The second reason in favor to this analysis is that is “an interesting and challenging area for

research” (Karrh, 1998, p. 31). Even though many research and studies have been already

conducted on this topic, the phenomenon has been continuously evolving and has been


9

characterized by many different aspects: this makes BP research an always original and

innovative work.

The third reason is linked to legal and ethical effects that BP may have. This subject matter

has been being at the center of attention for decades, and many researches are still

investigating whether this kind of brand marketing should be regulated in a different and

more strict way compared to regular advertising (Avery & Ferraro, 2000).

Hierarchy of Effects Model The Hierarchy of Effects Model as we know it today was developed in 1961 by Lavidge and

Steiner who were questioning themselves on the basic role of advertising. What these two

researchers found out is that advertising does not have the power to turn consumers’ minds

from not wanting something to the opposite extent of desiring to buy that specific thing.

In the light of this consideration, advertising effectiveness must be considered on a long-term

perspective rather than on a short-term.

Consumers’ attitude toward a product/service/brand has to pass through some steps before

evolving from total indifference to actual involvement.

Figure 2: Hierarchy of Effects Model, modified from Lavidge and Steiner, 1961.

These six stages point out the three main components of advertising:

1. The cognitive part: it is related to ideas and information, and it involves the first two

steps of the HoE Model, “awareness” and “knowledge”;

2. The affective part: this dimension is more linked to the attitude that a consumer has

toward a product or a service, and it engages the “liking” and “preference” phases;

Awareness Knowledge Liking Preference Conviction Purchase

Thinking Feeling Acting


10

3. The conative part: the last two steps, “conviction” and “purchase”, define the

component which is related to the person’s motivation and final decision to buy the

product (Lavidge & Steiner, 1961).

Customer-Based Brand Equity Model This model is directly connected to the concept of brand equity. This expression is used to

refer to an immaterial resource held by a company that is based on the knowledge of the

brand in a determined market. The idea behind this concept is that once a brand is well

known among consumers, this reputation directly influences the sales of a product distributed

by that specific company.

The fundamental reasons that justify the research on brand equity are two: one has a financial

nature while the second one is more connected to strategy. The former justification is linked

to the necessity of giving an economic and monetary quantifiable value to the brand, because

in accounting it is considered as an intangible asset and its value is necessary in order to be

included in the balance sheet of the company. The latter reason is that brand value can be

considered as a strategic move to boost the output of marketing activities, as it can affect

consumers’ willingness to buy products or services marketed with that particular brand

(Keller, 1993).

There are two dimensions that allow consumers to acquire a certain knowledge towards a

specific brand, (a) the brand awareness, which consists in the consumer’s ability to recall that

brand in disparate situations and (b) the brand image, which is a more judgmental level as it

is referred to the picture that a consumer has built of that brand in his mind (Keller, 1993).

Keller, in his research, defines customer-based brand equity as “the differential effect of

brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand” (1993, p. 1).

In the light of this, a brand presents a positive CBBE (Customer-Based Brand Equity) if

consumers answer more enthusiastically to marketing mix components of a product that is

sold under that brand instead of another false different brand.

Dual Coding Theory

Paivio in 1971 asserted that two elements drive a person to process the impulses coming from

the outside: “the imagery system and the verbal system” (Runquist, 1973). Paivio thought

that these two systems work as mediators in the process of coding that each one of us usually

do when we are interacting with external stimuli, which are then elaborates through various

mental steps that make us collecting them and putting them aside in our memory afterwards.


11

Paivio (1971), after considering singularly image and words as drivers of information to the

receiver, stated that images’ dynamism could help persons to remember longer the stimuli

that they have been exposed to.

These two imagery and verbal systems usually work independently, but sometimes image and

verbal stimuli are delivered together to the recipient, and that’s when the dual coding takes

place, with both the imagery and verbal memory working simultaneously to store the

information.

This theory is strictly related to BP and especially taking into consideration the three different

modalities through which a product/service/trademark is placed in movies/TV series.

Mere Exposure Theory Zajonc (1968) defines mere repeated exposure as that psychological effect that brings people

to appreciate more things when they are more familiar with them. He states that this effect

can be considered as a sufficient condition under which consumers’ who are faced to a

particular stimulus have their attitudes towards it reinforced.

This is the main reason why, in the advertising world, marketers put a lot of emphasis in

linking brand logos and trademarks to engaging characteristics of the products or services

they are selling (Zajonc, 1968). Thus, a linear process starts from the moment when

consumers get to know about the existence of that product/service until they are finally

confident and familiar with it thanks to the ads to which they have been exposed during, and

mere exposure takes place.

Starting from the consideration that BP has been increasingly adopted in movies over the

years (Galician & Bourdeau, 2004), de Gregorio and Sung (2010) argued that as the number

of movies watched by a person increases, he is going to be exposed to an greater amount of

BP appearances. And as the mere exposure theory states, the more consumers are going to be

faced with BP, the higher will be their familiarity with them, and therefore their attitudes

towards BP will be enhanced (de Gregorio & Sung, 2010).


12

3. Literature review Author Year Title Published Content

Product Placement La Ferle, C. / Edwards, S. M.

2006 Product placement: How brands appear on television

Journal of Advertising, 35(4)

Analysis of BP in TV programs, study of the different BP modalities, reasoning on the differences between BP and plugs, comparison between the placement of consumer products, services, sports, entertainment.

Najmi, M. / Atefi, Y. / Mirbagheri, S.

2012 Attitude toward brand: An integrative look at mediators and moderators

Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 16(1)

This study investigates the influence of BP on consumers’ attitude toward brands; the authors develop a model that analyses the roles of different mediators.

de Gregorio, F. / Sung, Y.

2010 Understanding attitudes toward and behaviors in response to product placement


Study conducted among more than 3,000 of adults using a scheme which takes into consideration peer communication and studying how this influence the attitude of consumers toward different


13

brands. Homer, P. M. 2009 Product

placements. The impact of placement type and repetition on attitude


Analysis on how the repetition of a branded products on TV programs and the different modalities of BP affect the attitude toward that brand, comparison between prominent and subtle placements.

Redondo, I. 2012 The behavioral effects of negative product placements in movies

Psychology and Marketing, 29(8)

Studies on different types of negative BP, comparison between extrinsic and intrinsic negative placements, consideration on how even negative placements can positively influence both consumers’ attitude toward the brand and companies’ sales.

Van , A. 2010 The evolution of product placement in film

The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 1(1)

Study on the evolution of BP across 100 years of Hollywood movies.

Cowley, R. / Barron, C.

2008 When product placement goes wrong. The effects of program liking and placement prominence


Why and when BP negatively influences attitude toward brands, liking/disliking TV programs, Persuasion


14

Knowledge Model

Morton, C. R. / Friedman M.

2002 “I saw it in the movies”: Exploring the link between product placement beliefs and reported usage behavior

Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 24(2)

Research that links together consumers’ perception of product placement with their inclination to buy, analysis of the relation existing between BP and movie viewers beliefs.

Karrh, J. A. 1998 Brand placement: A review

Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 20(2)

General definition of brand placement, framework of theories which analyze this phenomenon, affective link between viewers and characters of TV programs.

Shrum, L. J. 2004 The psychology of entertainment media. Blurring the lines between entertainment and persuasion

Book Consumer psychology, BP and persuasion.

Burke, C. M. / Edell, J. A.

1986 Ad reactions over time: Capturing changes in the real world

Journal of Consumer Research, 13(1)

Attitude toward ads, different exposures across the time, ads liking.

Campbell, M. C. / Keller, K. L.

2003 Brand familiarity and advertising repetition effects


Knowledge that consumers have about products, link between brand familiarity and repetition effectiveness.

Guennemann, F. / Cho, Y. C.

2014 The effectiveness of product placement by

Journal of Service Science, 7(1)

Brand awareness, brand image,


15

media types: Impact of image and intention to purchase

brand familiarity considered by analyzing vehicle’s placements in different kind of media.

Verhellen, Y. / De Pelsmacker, P.

2015 Do I know you? How brand familiarity and perceived fit affects consumers’ attitudes towards brands placed in movies

Springer Science Brand familiarity, brand attitude and product prominence, and brand attitude and plot connection.

Gupta, P. B. / Balasubramanian, S. K. / Klassen, M. L.

2012 Viewers’ evaluations of product placements in movies: Public policy issues and managerial applications


Public issues related to BP that is analyzed considering the points of view of different players in this market, viewers’ attitude toward BP.

Edell, J. A. / Burke, M. C.

1987 The power of feelings in understanding advertising effects


How advertising is affected by consumers’ feelings. Feelings toward advertisements.

Burke, M. C. / Edell, J. A.

1989 The impact of feelings on ad-based affect and cognition

Journal of Marketing Research, 26(1)

Feelings role toward ads and analyzed to understand the effects of advertising.

Service versus product Abernethy, A. M. / Butler, D. D.

1992 Advertising information: Services versus products

Journal of Retailing, 68(4)

Comparison between product and service advertising.

Cravens, D. W. / Holland, C. W. / Lamb, Jr., C. W. / Moncrief, III, W.

1988 Marketing’s role in product and service quality

Industrial Marketing Management, 17

Definition and analysis of product and service quality,


16

C. examining how marketing actions can improve the perception of this qualities.

Prominence effect Gupta, P. B. / Lord, K. R.

2012 Product placement in movies: the effect of prominence and mode on audience recall


BP versus advertising recall effectiveness, comparison between audio and visual BP.

Lehu, J. M. / Bressoud, E.

2009 Recall of brand placement in movies: interaction between prominence and plot connection in real conditions of exposure

Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 24

Viewers perception analyzed to understand the existing link between plot connection and prominence in BP, brand recall degree.

van Reijmersdal, E. A.

2009 Brand placement prominence: Good for memory! Bad for attitudes?

Journal of Advertising Research.

Two laws describing relation between BP and viewers feedbacks, positive influence of BP prominence on consumers’ memory of the brand

Product placement economic worth Mandese, J. 2004 How much is

product placement worth? Advertisers search for a measurement standard

Broadcasting & Cable, 134(50)

Economic analysis of the cost related to BP in American TV programs.

Wiles, M. A. / Danielova, A.

2009 The worth of product placement in successful films: An event study analysis

Journal of Marketing, 73(4)

Analysis of companies’ investments in BP industry and evaluation of their effective worth.


17

Karniouchina, E. V. / Uslay, C. / Erenburg, G.

2011 Do marketing media have life cycles? The case of product placement in movies


Analysis focused on the worth of BP investments in cinema, habituation-tedium theory.

Product placement effectiveness Yang, M. / Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R.

2007 The effectiveness of brand placements in the movies: Levels of placements, explicit and implicit memory, and brand-choice behavior

Journal of Communication, 57

Three different levels of BP, memory, attitude toward brands and behaviors of consumers, implicit and explicit memory.

Redker, C. / Gibson, B. / Zimmerman, I.

2013 Liking of movie genre alters the effectiveness of background product placements

Basic & Applied Social Psychology, 35(3)

BP of products already known by viewers and liking/disliking the movie reshape their attitude toward the brand.

Williams, K. / Petrosky, A. / Hernandez, E. / Page, Jr., R.

Product placement effectiveness: Revisited and renewed

BP definitions, usage and scope, elements that influence its effectiveness.

Lehu, J. M. / Bressoud, E.

2007 Effectiveness of brand placement: New insights about viewers

Journal of Business Research, 61

Reaction of viewers the day after having seen the movie.

Product placement and ethics Ong, B. S. 1995 Should product

placement in movies be banned?

Journal of Promotion Management, 2(3-4)

Fairness of BP in relation to Federal Trade Commission bans, consumers’ consideration from an ethical point of view.

Hackley, C. / Tiwsakul, R. A. / Preuss L.

2008 An ethical evaluation of product placement: A

Business Ethics: A European Review, 17(2)

Ethical consideration concerning BP and other


18

deceptive practice?

marketing practices.

van Reijmersdal, E. A. / Tutaj, K. / Boerman, S. C.

2013 The effects of brand placement disclosures on skepticism and brand memory

De Gruyter Mouton.

BP disclosures in TV programs and movies, disclosures regulations, viewers’ attitude toward them.

Hierarchy of effects Lavidge, R. J. / Steiner, G. A.

1961 A model for predictive measurements of advertising effectiveness


Advertising main functions, different steps of HoE.

Alexandris, K. / Tsiotsou, R. H.

2012 Testing a hierarchy of effects model of sponsorship effectiveness

Journal of Sport Management, 26

HoE related to sponsorship in a sport context.

Barry, T. E. The development of the hierarchy of effects: An historical perspective

Analysis of the evolution of hierarchy of effects (HoE) across the decades.

Brand equity Keller, K. L. 1993 Conceptualizing,

measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity

Journal of Marketing, 57

CBBE Model, brand knowledge, managing brand equity.

Berry, L. L. 2000 Cultivating service brand equity

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1)

Marketing for service companies, service branding model, strategies adopted by service companies to manage brand equity.

Dual coding theory Paivio, A. 2014 Intelligence, dual

coding theory, and the brain

Intelligence, 47 Dual Coding Theory (DCT), relation between verbal and


19

nonverbal cognition.

Mere exposure theory Burgess II, T. D. G. / Sales, S. M.

1971 Attitudinal effects of “Mere Exposure”: a reevaluation

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7

Mere exposure analysis from Zajonc definition, two studies investigating the relationship between exposure frequency and attraction, and between affect and familiarity

Zajonc, R. B. 1968 Attitudinal effects of mere exposure

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Monograph Supplement, 9(2)

Link between mere exposure and the effects this phenomenon has on people’ attitudes.


20

4. Problem statement and research questions

Even though it is simple to find different kind of studies and researches on BP in literature,

this topic is continuously changing, both because technological techniques and national

legislations are evolving in order to improve BP effectiveness and regulations of this

marketing practice, respectively.

What researchers have still not properly explored is the difference between products and

services advertising, and, in the specific, the placement of these two different goods in

movies and TV programs.

In the United States, at the beginning of the 1990s, more than a half (53%) of the money that

consumers totally spend every year is connected to the purchase of different kind of services

(Abernethy & Butler, 1992). In the past two decades this percentage has been continuously

increasing, and in 2014 consumers spending in services amounted to the 66% of the total

personal expenditures (Bureau of Economic Analysis).

These data clearly justify the importance of conducting researches on how not only products,

but also services are placed in the different mass media.

Thus, the main research question that we are investigating on, and one of the central points of

our whole work, is as follows:

Do products and services appear differently when placed in movies?

In addition to that, we would like to analyze how different variables (movie liking, frequency

of watching, placement prominence, placement modalities) influence consumers’ attitude and

behavior toward placements of products and services in movies.

In this context, it necessary to give a clear definition of attitude and behavior in order not to

fall in the logical trap of considering them as the same entity.

Attitude can be defined as deep-rooted personal judgments that every person holds towards

other people, things, and general topics such as marketing practices (Solomon, Bamossy,

Askegaard, & Hogg, 1999).

Thus, while attitudes are more related to the sphere of personal feelings generated by

particular stimuli, behaviors can be considered as the consecutive step that involves


21

consumers’ willingness to make decisions and actions linked to that attitude object (Solomon

et al., 1999).

It is important to specify that, while from a general point of view behaviors can be considered

as the logical consequences of attitudes, actually it would be wrong to believe that positive

attitudes towards an object always generate positive behaviors. In fact, as discussed by

Solomon et al. (1999), it is possible to find many evidences in literature proving that there

isn’t always a direct linkage between how a person feels about something and his/her

behavior towards it.

The goal of this research, and thus of the following hypothesis is to see if moviegoers have

the same attitude and behaviors towards services they have toward products that are placed in

movies.

Usually, the reason why people spend a lot of time watching movies and TV Series is that

they like doing so, and it is reasonable to think that if love it they will be more keen in

appreciating the different components that take place in these media. Therefore, people who

watch movies/TV programs more frequently tend to understand and better accept BP.

Frequency is, in fact, one of the discriminants that influence viewers acceptance and positive

behaviors toward embedded marketing (Gupta & Gould, 1997).

In addition to what Gupta and Gould stated, mere exposure theory states that one of the

consequences of watching frequently movies is that it makes people more used to BP

displaying, and therefore their familiarity degree towards products and services placed will

increase and their attitudes towards them will be enhanced as well.

According to MacKenzie and Lutz (1989) and Andrews (1989) consumers’ attitudes toward

advertising influence the attitude they have toward the product or service promoted (as cited

in Gupta & Gould, 1997). Therefore, the acceptance of a brand placed in a movie might be

directly affected by whether or not they accept the placement itself.

• H1a: Frequency of movie watching will be positively related with brand placement

acceptance.

• H1b: Frequency of movie watching will be positively related with brand placement

attitudes.

• H1c: Frequency of movie watching will be positively related with brand placement

behaviors.


22

The successive step, which is directly linked to the previous hypothesis, is that BP attitude of

consumers influences the relation they have with that particular brand.

Burke and Edell (1987) pointed out that the experiences we have every day influence impact

on the judgment we make on the products and services we use, and this psychological

process have implications for the opinions that every person creates when is exposed to BP.

Our scope consists in trying to understand weather attitudes that German and Italian

moviegoers possess towards BP as a marketing strategy can affect the awareness of the brand

placed in the movie and also the attitude toward that particular brand.

Despite the existence of many analysis of BP phenomenon and its effect in the US, it is

possible to find just sporadic investigations on Germany and Italy.

We believe it is important to study these two countries, especially considering their relation

with the motion picture world. From this point of view, Germany offers a prime example:

considering the total box office revenue per year, the sales originated by German cinema

amounted to 1.023 million Euro in 2013 (Filmförderungsanstalt, 2014), and due to this reason

it is included in the Top 10 countries world rank.

• H2a: Brand awareness will be higher for moviegoers who show positive attitude

toward brand placement.

• H2b: Attitudes towards brands will be stronger for moviegoers who show positive

attitude toward brand placement.

• H2c: Behaviors towards brands will be stronger for moviegoers who show positive

attitude toward brand placement.

According to Gupta and Gould (1997), it is possible to find an identification effect that links

sex to particular products categories. For example, Milner, Fodness and Morrison (1991)

described how guns are generally a kind of product more representative of, and consequently

more accepted by male consumers, and the same interaction is generally true concerning cars

and race-vehicles, as pointed out by Kanungo and Pang (1973) (as cited in Gupta & Gould,

1997, p.39). Therefore, this allows us denoting some categories as more masculine, as those

mentioned above, or more feminine, such as cosmetic products.

Another important consideration that has to be done while examining this kind of topic, is

that, as explained by van Roosmalen and McDaniel (1992), females have in general a higher


23

degree of awareness of the consequences connected to the use of ethically-charged products,

such as guns, alcohol and cigarettes.

Gupta, Gould and Grabner-Kräuter (2000), broaden this sex-products link also to buying

behaviors of respondents, asserting that male movie-viewers compared to female consumers,

present a higher degree of willingness to brands placed in movies.

By supporting this hypothesis, our purpose is to provide a more significant contribution to the

whole research both from a theoretical and practical point of view. In fact, the final results

could help companies and movie studios in understanding better gender differences among

consumers’ preferences and trends in Germany and Italy, two markets that still haven’t been

examined accurately.

• H3a: There will be a product x sex interaction regarding the acceptability of products

placed in movies.

• H3b: Men will be more likely to claim that they would purchase a brand they had

seen in the movies than will women.

A significative link has been discovered and studied in literature between brand awareness

and viewers’ familiarity with the brand; this means that the effect that BP will have on them

will also depend on the level of knowledge they possess regarding those products and

services that have been placed in the movie/TV program (Gawronsky & Bodenhausen, 2006).

The fact of having already experienced that particular brand makes easier for viewers to

make connections that can enhance the level of brand recall and, consequently, awareness

(Guennemann & Cho, 2014).

• H4: Brand awareness will be higher for moviegoers who were familiar with the

placed brand.

Imagens and logogens are two expressions used to refer to nonverbal and verbal components

of two bigger systems that recognize and analyze, through sensory systems, nonverbal and

verbal stimuli coming from the outside, mentally re-elaborating them afterwards. The DC

consists in combining together these two methods of receiving external information,

increasing the accuracy and the lasting of that information in mind (Paivio, 2014).


24

In BP, there are three different modalities that can be used to deliver info to viewers: screen

placement, script placement and plot placement. The first one is linked to the physical

presence of a product, the second modality is linked to the auditory sphere, while the plot

placement could be defined as the dual coding placement, because it merges material

appearance and audible presence (Russel, 1998). This dual coding placement has a more

positive effect on the recall length over time than those deriving by “mono-channel”

placements (Paivio, 1979).

Further researches extended the analysis started by Paivio, proving that not only a

simultaneous imaginal and verbal placement has a stronger effect on product/service/ brand

recall than an only-audio/only-video placement, but also that script placement is associated to

a greater recall than the screen one (Gupta & Lord, 1998).

• H5a: Dual-mode placements generate better cognitive outcomes (i.e. recall) than

single-mode placements.

• H5b: With respect to cognitive outcomes (i.e. recall), dual-mode placements generate

a stronger impact than verbal-only placements, which, in turn, produce a stronger

impact than visual-only placements.


25

5. Methodology

The majority of studies that have been conducted on BP (Gupta & Lord, 1998; Redondo,

2012; Homer, 2009; Redker & Zimmerman, 2013; Morton & Friedman, 2002; van

Reijmersdal, Tutaj & Boerman, 2013; Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2007; Cowley & Barron,

2008) have used as sample for their researches graduate/undergraduate/high school students.

This choice is justified by statistics collected on movie viewers habits: in 2014, in the US and

Canada, the age group which registered the highest presence at movies was 12-24 years old

(Theatrical Market Statistics, 2014).

In spite of this, many researchers have identified a weak point in the decision of interviewing

just this age group.

This study intends in carrying out to broaden the sample by considering also elder

moviegoers, in order not to limit and bias the research by considering the opinions of just a

segment of the population.

The analysis in this study consists in conducting a quantitative research among moviegoers

coming from two European countries: Germany and Italy.

The reason behind the choice of these two states is that it is difficult to find in literature

studies that have been conducted in Europe involving German and Italian consumers.

Concerning the size of the sample, the final number would be around 370 respondents,

considering a margin of error equal to .05, a 50% response distribution and a confidence level

of 95% (Bartlett, Kotrlik & Higgins, 2001).

For what concerns the design of the research, our idea is to realize a short video in which we

will include different scenes drawn from various movies, where viewers will be faced with

different types of product and service placement.

A quantitative questionnaire will follow the viewing of the clip, with the purpose of

investigating more deeply interviewees’ attitudes and behaviors toward embedded marketing.

We will design this questionnaire using the program Sphinx, and we will use the same

program to analyze data afterwards.


26

6. Overview of chapters structure Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Literature review

2.1. Product and service placement

2.1.1. History of BP

2.1.2. Types of BP

2.1.3. BP Modalities

2.1.4. BP Pros and cons

2.2. Conceptual Framework

2.2.1. BP and Brand recall

2.2.2. BP Attitude

2.2.3. Brand awareness

2.2.4. Brand Familiarity

2.3. Research models

2.3.1. Hierarchy of Effects model

2.3.2. Customer-Based Brand Equity model

2.3.3. Dual Coding Theory

2.3.4. Mere Exposure Theory

3. Hypothesis construction

4. Methodology

5. Data analysis

6. Results and discussion

7. Implications

8. Conclusions and limitations

Bibliography


27

7. Plan of Work # Time period Task 1 01/09/2015 – 08/10/2015 Exposé (draft) +

Exposé (final version)

2 01/09/2015 – 27/10/2015 Literature review 3 27/10/2015 – 17/11/2015 Questionnaire + Pre -

Test 4 17/11/2015 – 15/12/2015 Questionnaire spread

+ Descriptive analysis

5 15/12/2015 – 24/12/2015 Writing results 6 25/12/2015 – 02/01/2016 Buffer 7 02/01/2016 – 20/01/2016 Conclusions and

thesis finalization # September October November December January 1

2 3 4 5 6 7


28

Bibliography Abernethy, A. M., & Butler, D. D. (1992). Advertising information: Services versus products.

Journal of Retailing, 68, 398-419.

Andrews, J. C. (1989). The dimensionality of beliefs toward advertising in general. Journal

of Advertising, 18, 26-35.

Avery, R. J., & Ferraro, R. (2000). Verisimilitude or advertising? Brand appearances on

prime-time television. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 34, 217-244.

Babin, L. A. (1996). Advertising via the box-office. Journal of Promotion Management, 3,

31-52.

Balasubramanian, S. K., Karrh, J. A., & Patwardhan, H. (2006). Journal of Advertising, 35,

115-141.

Barry, T. E. (1987). The development of the hierarchy of effects: An historical perspective.

Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 10, 251-295.

Bartlett, II, J. E., Kotrlik, J. W., & Higgins, C. C. (2001). Organizational research:

Determining appropriate sample size in survey research. Information Technology,

Learning, and Performance Journal, 19, 43-50.

Berry, L. L. (2000). Cultivating service brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing

Science, 28, 128-137.

Bressoud, E., & Lehu, J. M. (2008). Product placement in movies: questioning the

effectiveness according to the spectator’s viewing conditions. New Trends in Advertising

Research (pp. 145-163). Lisboa: Sílabo.

Burgess II, T. D. G., & Sales, S. M. (1971). Attitudinal effects of “Mere Exposure”: A

reevaluation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 461-472.

Burke, C. M., & Edell, J. A. (1986). Ad reactions over time: Capturing changes in the real

world. Journal of Consumer Research, 13, 114-118.

Cowley, E., & Barron, C. (2008). When product placement goes wrong. The effects of

program liking and placement prominence. Journal of Advertising, 37, 89-98.

de Gregorio, F., & Sung, Y. (2010). Understanding attitudes toward and behaviors in

response to product placement. A consumer socialization framework. Journal of

Advertising, 39, 83-96.

Edell, J. A., & Burke, M. C. (1987). The power of feelings in understanding advertising

effects. Journal of Consumer Research, 14, 421-433.


29

European Commission. Product Placement (2012). Definition – Article 1 (1) (m). Available

from

http://ec.europa.eu/archives/information_society/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/advertising/product/index

_en.htm#1m

Filmförderungsanstalt (2014). [Graph table expliciting cinema figures in Germany in 2014].

Das Kinoergebnis 2014. Retrieved from http://www.ffa.de/kinoergebnisse-uebersicht.html

Guennemann, F., & Cho, Y. C. (2014). The effectiveness of product placement by media

types: Impact of image and intention to purchase. Journal of Service Science, 7, 29-42.

Gupta, P. B. & Gould, S. J. (1977). Consumers’ perceptions of the ethics and acceptability of

product placement in movies: Product category and individual differences. Journal of

Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 19, 37-50.

Gupta, P. B., & Lord, K. R. (2012). Product placement in movies: The effect of prominence

and mode on audience recall. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 20,

47-59.

Homer, P. M. (2009). Product placements. The impact of placement type and repetition on

attitude. Journal of Advertising, 38, 21-31.

Karniouchina, E. V., Uslay, C., & Erenburg, G. (2011). Do marketing media have life cycles?

The case of product placement in movies. Journal of Marketing, 75, 27-48.

Karrh, J. A. (1998). Brand placement: A review. Journal of Current Issues & Research in

Advertising, 20, 31-49.

Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand

equity. Journal of Marketing, 57, 1-22.

La Ferle, C., & Edwards, M. (2006). Product placement. How brands appear on television.

Journal of Advertising, 35, 65-86.

Lavidge, R. J., & Steiner, G. A. (1961). A model for predictive measurements of advertising

effectiveness. Journal of Marketing, October 1961, 59-62.

Lehu, J. M., & Bressoud, E. (2007). Effectiveness of brand placement: New insights about

viewers. Journal of Business Research, 61, 1083-1090.

Lehu, J. M., & Bressoud, E. (2009). Recall of brand placement in movies: Interactions

between prominence and plot connection in real conditions of exposure. Recherche et

Applications en Marketing, 24, 7-26.

Loechner, J. (2013). Product placement an emerging brand marketing solution. MediaPost.

Retrieved from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/190933/product-

placement-an-emerging-brand-marketing-solu.html


30

MacKenzie, S. B., & Lutz, R. J. (1989). An empirical examination of the structural

antecedents of attitude toward the ad in an advertising pretesting context. Journal of

Marketing, 53, 48-65.

Moran, G. (2000). Show time. People flip channels during the break… But what if your

products were on the show? Entrepreneur. Retrieved from

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/28264

Morton, C. R., & Friedman, M. (2002). “I saw it in the movies”: Exploring the link between

product placement beliefs and reported usage behavior. Journal of Current Issues &

Research in Advertising, 24, 33-40.

Najmi, M., Atefi, Y., & Mirbagheri, S. (2012). Attitude toward brand: An integrative look at

mediators and moderators. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 16, 111-133.

Paivio, A. (2014). Intelligence, dual coding theory, and the brain. Intelligence, 47, 141-158.

Plunkett, J. (2010). TV advertising skipped by 86% of viewers. The Guardian. Retrieved

from http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/aug/24/tv-advertising

PricewaterhouseCoopers (2012). Product placement in movie industry. Strategic insights &

fashion apparel case studies. Retrieved from

https://www.pwc.com/it/it/publications/assets/docs/product-placement-movie.pdf

Quinn, P. (2012). A century later, product placement remains relevant & effective in a Digital

Media Universe. Global Product Placement Forecast Series. Retrieved from

http://www.pqmedia.com/PQM_Point_of_View_2-Prod_Place_Still_Relevant-

Effective_(02_08_13).html

Redker, C., Zimmerman B. G., & Zimmerman, I. (2013). Liking of movie genre alters the

effectiveness of background product placements. Basic and Applied Social Psychology,

35, 249-255.

Redondo, I. (2012). The behavioral effects of negative product placement in movies.

Psychology and Marketing, 29, 622-635.

Rose, S. (2014). As seen on TV: why product placement is bigger than ever. The Guardian.

Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jun/24/breaking-bad-tv-

product-placement

Runquist, W. N. (1973). Aspects of cognitive process: A review of imagery and verbal

processes by Allan Paivio. The Canadian Psychologist, 14, 290-296.

Russel, C. A. (1998). Toward a framework of product placement: Theoretical propositions.

Advances in Consumer Research, 25, 357-362.


31

Solomon, M., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S., & Hogg, M. G. (1999). Consumer behavior: A

European perspective (3rd ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.

Statista (2012). Product placement spending worldwide and in select countries in 2012 (in

million U.S. dollars). Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/261454/global-

product-placement-spending/

Statista (2015). The world’s most expensive film productions as of June 2015 (in million U.S.

dollars). Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/273416/most-expensive-film-

productions-worldwide/

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. National Income and

Products Account Tables. Available from

http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=9&step=1&acrdn=2#reqid=9&step=1&isuri

=1

van Reijmersdal E. A., Tutaj K., & Boerman, S. C. (2013). The effects of brand placement

disclosures on skepticism and brand memory. Communications, 38, 127-146.

Yang, M., & Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R. (2007). The effectiveness of brand placements in the

movies: Level of placements, explicit and implicit memory, and brand-choice behavior.

Journal of Communication, 57, 469-489.

Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology Monograph Supplement, 9, 1-27.

exposé product and service placement: a cross-cultural ... › fb07 › fileadmin › datas ›...

Documents