reverse product placement, fictional brands and purchase intention:fancy a coffee with friends in...

399399International Journal of advertising, 32(3), pp. 399–417© 2013 advertising associationPublished by Warc, www.warc.comdoI: 10.2501/IJa-32-3-399-417

Fancy a coffee with Friendsin ‘Central Perk’?

Reverse product placement, fictional brandsand purchase intention

laurent MuzellecUniversity College Dublin, Ireland

Christopher KanitzUniversity of Bremen, Germany

theodore lynnDublin City University, Ireland

fictional brands are brands that exist only in the world of fiction and not the real physicalworld. reverse product placement consists of transforming these fictional brands into productsand services in the real physical world.this paper posits that consumers,despite having no pre-existing experience of fictional brands in the real world, may develop positive attitudes towardsfictional brands; hence the fundamental managerial question is to ascertain whether thesepositive attitudes can drive purchase intention to justify the investment into a real product orservice based on the fictional brand. using two fictional service brands, ‘Maclaren’s Pub’ and‘Central Perk’, featured respectively in How I Met Your Mother and Friends, this study confirmsthe existence of protobrands, and shows that attitudes towards a fictional brand are driven byperceived service quality, identification with the brand and attitudes towards the televisionprogramme. the study goes on to provide evidence that attitudes towards the fictional brandcan influence purchase intention of a future defictionalised brand in the real world.the papercontributes to product placement and branding literature in a new emerging area.

Introduction

Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.Walter Landor

this quote, attributed to Walter landor, suggests that brands may be created following aprocess independent from the manufacturing of a product or the design of a service offer-ing. the psychology-based approach of brand equity partially recognises this contention,and also holds that brand equity exists when consumers have high levels of familiarity

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InternatIonal Journal of advertIsIng, 2013, 32(3)

with a brand with strong, unique and favourable brand associations (Keller 1993, 2008;aaker & Joachimsthaler 2000). Hence the ultimate goal of branding is to capture a shareof the mind of potential consumers (ries & trout 2001; stern 2006).

for most brands, creating images in the minds of consumers is subsequent to themanufacturing or service delivery process, and is undifferentiated from other elements ofthe marketing mix. However, brand marketers may sometimes leverage brand images thatalready exist in the minds of consumers. this technique is instrumental in the success ofretro-branding, where marketers circulate heritage stories and allegories that tap in to thenostalgic psyche of consumers (Brown et al. 2003; Holt 2004). fictional brands may alsobe another avenue for brand marketers to leverage existing ‘brand’ images prior to thelaunch of a new product or service. fictional brands are brands that do not exist in the realworld yet, may possess strong and unique associations in the mind of viewers, and are cre-ated in fictional media platforms (Muzellec et al. 2012). Muzellec et al. (2012) posit that aproportion of fictional brands may have commercial potential, especially if they possess thetwo key features of customer-based brand equity, i.e. brand salience (awareness) and posi-tive brand associations. a number of fictional brands have crossed over from the fictionalworld in which they initially reside to become real products. since 2007, ‘duff ’ – a beerbrand featured in the animated television series The Simpsons – has been available for con-sumption in europe. In 2011, ‘avion tequila’, from the HBo television series Entourage,was also defictionalised and is now available as a real product in new York bars. Morerecently, a fictional brand, ‘dunder Mifflin’ paper (originally a fictional brand in televisionseries The Office), was advertised during the 2013 superbowl. this phenomenon has beenreferred to as ‘reverse product placement’, the placement of initially fictional brands in areal market environment (edery 2006; Wasserman 2007). Commentators have suggestedthat this strategy could be used as a means for launching brands at significantly lower coststhan creating new brands from first principles (edery 2006).

the literature on product placement holds that product placement may drive purchaseintention (Balasubramanian et al. 2006) but so far no research has examined whether atti-tudes towards fictional brands could drive purchase of real product/services. this paperaims to address this gap in the literature by proposing and testing a model that exposes theantecedents (namely attitudes towards the brands, perceived quality and brand identifica-tion) and consequences of the attitudes towards fictional service brands. It focuses on twofictional service brands from the television programmes How I Met Your Mother and Friends.

the paper’s structure is as follows. first, the conceptual foundations are outlined anda model is presented. the paper then details the methodology and presents the resultsof an online questionnaire with 926 valid responses. the paper ends with a discussion ofmanagerial and theoretical implications from our results.

Conceptual foundation and model development

the subject of our study is novel, necessitating the definition of the object (fictionalbrands) and the phenomenon (reverse product placement) under investigation. a fictionalbrand is a non-existent brand used in artistic or entertainment productions – paintings,

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fanCY a Coffee WItH FRIENDS In ‘Central PerK’?

books, comics, movies, tv serials, etc. the fictional brand may be designed to imitate areal corporate brand, satirise a real corporate brand or differentiate itself from real corpo-rate brands (andersen & gray 2008). Hence, initially, fictional brands were created eitherbecause corporations were unwilling to license their brand names for use in the fictionalwork, particularly where the work holds the product in a negative light (lehu 2007) orbecause the content creator was unwilling to feature real brands in their artistic produc-tions. By way of example, Quentin tarantino has made use of a number of fictional brandnames, such as Big Kahuna Burger, a fictional Hawaiian-themed fast-food restaurant, orred apple Cigarettes, a fictional cigarette brand. Muzellec and lynn (2010) have positedthat fictional brands may be used for commercial purposes through the process of foment-ing a brand aura entirely in the abstract and the virtual, but capturing the imagination andemotional attachment of real consumers. they labelled this phenomenon ‘brand preces-sion’ as the virtual brand precedes the real and is not necessarily dependent on a physicalexistence to generate commercial value. others have labelled this phenomenon reverseproduct placement (edery 2006).

Product placement is based on well-developed concepts and a large body of empiricalresults (Balasubramanian et al. 2006; lee et al. 2011; van reijmersdal 2011). one of thebenefits of product placement is the fact that audiences appreciate the realism that realbrands bring to a movie (lee et al. 2011). In other words, the practice of product place-ment is about bringing the reality of products/brands into an abstract fictional worldwhen reverse product placement is exactly the opposite, i.e. bringing to life in the realworld an imaginary brand (Muzellec et al. 2012).

this study assesses both the antecedents and outcomes of fictional brand placement inorder to assess the potential of those brands as future real services. In order to build sucha model, the paper draws on two well-established streams of literature: product placementand branding.the product placement literature and the branding literature both integrateseveral factors that might influence attitudes towards a brand and conative outcomes(Balasubramanian et al. 2006; de gregorio & sung 2010). this paper specifically high-lights the importance of attitudes towards the television programme in which the fictionalservice brand is presented, perceived fictional service quality, and identification with thefictional service brand as drivers of attitudinal and conative outcomes (as measured byintention to purchase).

the traditional branding literature posits that corporate associations or corporateimages of the makers or service provider influence customers’ perceptions of a brand andin particular associations relating to the company’s capabilities for producing goods anddelivering services (Brown & dacin 1997; Berry 2000; Muzellec & lambkin 2007). forfictional brands, the television programme within which the brand is created is the makerof the brand and could therefore be equated to the corporate (master) brand.

the product placement and advertising literature also assume that attitudes towardsa placed product may be affected by a television programme genre, type and programmeinduced mood. In fact, early studies showed that ‘happy’ television programmes, suchas tv sitcoms, produce happier moods and greater perceived advertising effective-ness (goldberg & gorn 1987). russell (2002) also posits that affect may transfer from

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television programme to placed products. the audience of a popular television series isexposed to the programme content over several months and seasons – exposure that iscompounded by reruns. during this period, a connection between the viewer and the tele-vision programme develops (russell et al. 2004; Patino et al. 2011). several studies showthat television programmes influence viewers’ emotional experience, and may generate apositive feeling and evaluation of brands placed or advertised during the programme (e.g.Murry et al. 1992). this relationship can be explained by the depiction of possible con-sumption patterns through the social roles and lifestyles of the characters using the prod-ucts or services in the television programme, which may influence viewers’ consumptionpatterns (Bang & sanchez 2002; Morton & friedman 2002). Hence, the connectednessbetween the television programme viewers and the placed products or service can arisefrom aspiration, modelling, imitation, fashion or even escape (russell et al. 2004). theoverall connectedness can be understood as an attitudinal evaluation of the television pro-gramme. Hence, it is logical to posit a similar transfer between the television programmeand the fictional brand, and subsequently the real product. the hypothesis, H1, facilitatesthe proposed relationship between the attitude towards the television programme and theattitude towards the fictional service brand (russell & stern 2006):

H1: attitude towards a television programme has a positive influence on attitudetowards a fictional service brand.

the second identified antecedent of attitudes towards fictional brands is perceived fic-tional service quality.

Consumer choice of service is driven by the service value, which comprises service price(e.g. nowlis & simonson 1997; tse 2001) and service quality (Parasuraman et al. 1991;Berry 2000; Hess et al. 2003; lin et al. 2009). In the context of fictional brands, the servicedoes not exist; hence the price variable is difficult to perceive – especially if no indicationof the price level of fictional products or services within the television programme is given.Hence, in the context of fictional service brands, the perceived quality of the (service)brand is a variable that can be used to determine future consumer choice.

several studies show that perceived quality of the service has a positive impact on theoverall evaluation of the brand (Berry 2000; Hess et al. 2003; dens & de Pelsmacker2010). for fictional service brands, this perceived quality of the service can be witnessedonly through the programming context.viewers cannot experience the real service, yet theyare in an observation position and can therefore make judgements about the quality of theservice being delivered within the television programme. It is important to get a picture ofthe past service and also the service recovery to provide a proper service evaluation (Hesset al. 2003). Watching a television programme over several seasons provides a good oppor-tunity for such an evaluation. notwithstanding this, not all service brands may possess thepositive brand associations necessary to build strong brand equity to justify an investmentfor defictionalisation. ‘oceanic airlines’, for example, plays a central role in the televisionseries Lost and is also used in other television series such as Desperate Housewives andBuffy the Vampire Slayer, among others. While it is a recognisable brand, in the context of

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television programming this fictional service brand is used for a specific narrative purpose:‘oceanic airlines’ planes almost systematically crash or have serious flight incidents. It isreasonable to assume that perceived service quality for such a fictional airline would be low,and would result in negative attitudes towards the brand and an associated low purchaseintention. Conversely, one might posit that a high-quality perception of a fictional servicebrand would have a positive impact on attitudes towards a fictional service brand:

H2: Perceived quality of a fictional service has a positive influence on attitudetowards a fictional service brand.

Identification with a fictional brand may also be considered as an antecedent of attitudetowards a fictional brand. While watching a television programme, a connection betweenthe spectator and the television programme, and often also between the spectator andthe main characters of the programme, develops (russell 2002; russell et al. 2004). thismay result in viewers imitating the behaviours of characters in the television programme,e.g. fans may speak like or dress themselves as characters from the programme (russellet al. 2004). this phenomenon may be extended to the consumption of the brands fea-tured within a television programme and associated with favoured characters. for realbrands, this topic has been discussed extensively in the product placement literature (e.g.Balasubramanian et al. 2006). reverse product placement suggests that viewers may alsoconsume fictional brands featured in a television programme. the identification with abrand is sometimes referred to as self-connection (aaker et al. 2004). self-connection‘indicates strength through activation of the person’s identity system and contained itemscapturing the degree to which the relationship delivered on centrally held identity themes,or helped express real and collective selves’ (aaker et al. 2004, p. 7). therefore, the self-connection is seen as an emotional attachment to a certain brand, and refers to a strong fitbetween the identity of the brand and the person’s identity (aron et al. 2000). this emo-tional attachment is strongly linked with the main characters in television programmesand the brands they use. In conventional product placement literature, an influence of theemotional attachment to a brand placed and used in a television programme on the over-all evaluation of the brand was proven (russell & stern 2006). thus, in reverse productplacement, the identification with a fictional brand, understood as emotional attachmentto a fictional brand, should also have a positive impact on the overall evaluation of thebrand. Hence, hypothesis H3 facilitates the proposed relationship between identificationwith a fictional service brand and attitude towards a fictional service brand:

H3: Identification with a fictional service brand has a positive influence on attitudetowards a fictional service brand.

finally, multiple studies have shown that the attitude towards a brand has an influenceon the behavioural intentions of consumers (Keller & aaker 1992). specifically, researchsuggests that attitudes towards a brand have a positive and significant effect on purchaseintention (e.g. Mitchell & olson 1981; gresham & shimp 1985; ailawadi et al. 2001). In

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addition, marketing practitioners and academics claim that, under certain conditions, prod-uct placement increases sales and purchase intention (Balasubramanian et al. 2006; lehu2007; lin & Cho 2010). applied to fictional brands, this implies a relationship betweenattitude towards a fictional service brand and purchase intention of a fictional service brand:

H4: attitude towards a fictional service brand has a positive influence on purchaseintention of a fictional service brand.

Hypotheses H1 to H4 are summarised by the structural framework shown in figure 1.

Methodology

the empirical tests comprise two stages. In the first stage, we conducted a pre-test toobtain baseline evidence about the awareness of the fictional service brands and their ori-gins, which are used in our framework. Building on the initial evidence from the pre-test,we then performed the second stage of the analysis, which is a quantitative evaluation ofthe structural model. the main study was conducted to test hypotheses H1 to H4 usinga structural equation modelling (seM) approach (Bagozzi & Yi 2012).

Pre-test

High level of familiarity and exposure to a brand is a necessary condition to the effective-ness of product placement as well as positive attitudes towards the brand (low & lamb2000).this may also be true for reverse product placements (Muzellec et al. 2012). Hence,participants in the survey need to be familiar with the fictional brands and with the tele-vision programme within which the brands are being placed. as such, a three-step pre-study was conducted to investigate fictional brand awareness. In the first step, a survey was

Figure 1: Structural model with hypotheses

H2(+)

H3(+)

H1(+) H4(+)Attitude towardsthe TV programme

(ATV)

Identification withthe fictional service

brand (IDB)

Perceivedservice quality

(PQB)

Purchase intentionof the fictional service

brand (PIB)

Attitude towardsthe fictional service

brand (AFB)

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conducted resulting in a list of more than 100 fictional brands. as a result of a qualitativesurvey the majority of those fictional brands featured on the list have been identified asnot well known to the general public; 13 fictional product and service brands from tentelevision programmes or movies were pre-selected in that first step.

In step 2 of the pre-study, these brands were presented to a convenience sample ofundergraduate students. the suitability of student samples in advertising research hasbeen challenged as several authors state that students differ in important ways from thepopulations typically of interest to researchers (e.g. James & sonner 2001). But, still, stu-dents are an important target group for international advertising due to their high degreeof education and their probable international orientation (Backhaus et al. 2001). studentsamples have been used extensively in product placement studies (nebenzahl & secunda1993; gupta, Balasubramanian & Klassen 2000; sung et al. 2009). a sample size of N =252 college students was composed conducting the pre-study.the participants were askedto answer two questions:

1. the first question was focused on the awareness of the fictional origin (e.g. televisionprogramme or movie): ‘Do you know the following TV show/movie: _______?’

2. the second question was focused on the awareness of the fictional brand: ‘Do you knowthe following brand _______ within the TV show/movie: _______?’

the answers to the pre-study were analysed by examining the level of brand awareness ofthe television programmes or movies as well as the fictional brands. as a result, six caseswith a high brand awareness of the origin as well as the actual fictional brand were identi-fied: ‘Moe’s tavern’, ‘duff Beer’ (The Simpsons), ‘Maclaren’s Pub’, ‘goliath national Bank’(How I Met Your Mother), ‘Central Perk’ (Friends) and ‘Bertie Bott’s every flavour Beans’(Harry Potter) (see table 1).

Table 1: Summary of pre-study results

Fictional brand Origin of fictional brand Awareness of brand Awareness of origin

Moe’s Tavern The Simpsons 0.877 1.000

Duff Beer The Simpsons 0.873 1.000

MacLaren’s Pub How I Met Your Mother 0.839 0.960

Goliath National Bank How I Met Your Mother 0.802 0.960

Central Perk Café Friends 0.784 0.992

Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans Harry Potter 0.746 1.000

Bubba Gump Shrimps Forrest Gump 0.351 0.960

ACME Looney Tunes 0.291 0.940

Booty Sweat Tropic Thunder 0.219 0.290

Big Kahuna Burger Pulp Fiction 0.213 0.968

Cyberdyne Corp. Terminator 0.112 0.603

Slurm Futurama 0.108 0.623

Red Apple Cigarettes Pulp Fiction 0.086 0.968

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finally, the relevant brands were structured. each case was reviewed to assess whetherthe brand, as presented, was positive or negative. If negative, the brand was removed asthe potential for brand equity was limited by this factor ab initio. on this basis, ‘goliathnational Bank’ from How I Met Your Mother was removed, as the brand symbolises a ‘bad’bank in a fun and entertaining way. this example can be compared with the aforemen-tioned ‘oceanic airlines’ brand. as a result only five brands were considered for furtherexploration.these five fictional brands were structured by a 2 × 2 matrix with the dimen-sions ‘category’ (product vs service) and ‘movie/programme type’ (animated vs non-animatedorigin) as shown in figure 2.

Main study

this study focuses on non-animated fictional service brands in situational comedy televi-sion programmes. service brands often play a major role within a television programmedue to their use as a primary setting for the television programme. this ensures con-tinuous and repetitive exposure. In both Friends and How I Met Your Mother (hereinafterreferred to as HIMYM), a café (‘Central Perk’) and a bar (‘Maclaren’s Pub’), respectively,are the core settings for much of the television programmes and as such are the focus forour main study.

Procedure and sampling

once the fictional brands for the main study were chosen, we proceeded to design a ques-tionnaire aimed at an international audience.the main questionnaire, which was based onthe applied constructs, was set up in english and then translated into german and french.

Figure 2: Systemisation of fictional brands

Category

Mov

ie/p

rogr

amm

ety

pe

Products Services

Central Perk Café(Friends)

McLaren’s Pub(How I Met Your Mother)

Bertie Bott’sEvery Flavoured Beans

(Harry Potter)

Duff Beer(The Simpsons)

Moe’s Tavern(The Simpsons)

Non-animated

Animated

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a non-probability convenience sample was employed to elicit data from a snowball sampleof respondents interested in either one of the two investigated tv programmes.this formof sampling is often used when it is impossible to identify beforehand all those who mightfall into the project’s category of interest (Hall & Hall 1996; Winkler & Buckner 2006).this is the case, as only respondents interested in the tv programmes and knowing thetv programme as well as the placed fictional service brand can be further considered.

one of the problems with using snowball sampling is the fact that it is unlikely toobtain a representative sample, because there is no real control of the snowball effect(Winkler & Buckner 2006). therefore, only respondents within the advertising-relevanttarget group of 18 until 49 years were further considered. the online questionnaire wasinitially sent via email and social networking sites to respondents in four different coun-tries: france, germany, Ireland and the us. the respondents were incentivised to passon the questionnaire to their social network and to participate themselves in the studythrough entry in a lottery to win a dvd box set of either HIMYM or Friends. eachquestionnaire (english, french and german) had one winner. as the questionnaire wasdistributed online and through social networking sites, there is no information as to howmany people received the survey link. therefore, response rates cannot be calculated.

the main qualification for the sample was the brand knowledge of the participants.the participants were surveyed on their familiarity with the television programmesFriends and HIMYM, and the brands ‘Central Perk’ and ‘Maclaren’s Pub’ using a 7-pointlikert scale where 1 represented ‘not at all’ and 7 represented ‘very well’. If the rating oneither scale was below 3 for either the origin or the brand, meaning awareness would bevery remote or non-existent, they were excluded from the sample.

due to the length of the questionnaire – the duration of which was on average 10 min-utes – and to avoid dependencies between the answers of the two brands, the order of thefictional brands were randomised. In addition, items for each construct were randomised,thus lowering the likelihood of dependencies between the answers for the items.

Before analysing the data, the whole dataset was cleaned. this comprised three steps.first, the questionnaires were separated into two datasets based on the television pro-gramme, i.e. Friends or HIMYM. of 969 questionnaires, 1,895 cases (966 for HIMYMand 929 for Friends) were extracted. second, all responses without any data relating to theknowledge of the television programme or the fictional brand were excluded. all responseswith little or no knowledge of the television programme or the fictional brand wereexcluded, as well. this procedure excluded 668 (35.3%) cases (396 for HIMYM and 272for Friends) from the sample.finally, all questionnaires with too many missing values (morethan 10%) were eliminated. this procedure excluded 301 (15.9%) cases (118 for HIMYMand 183 for Friends) from the sample.table 2 summarises the data cleaning of the sample.

the final sample comprised 926 cases (452 for HIMYM and 474 for Friends). fivemajor clusters were considered based on geographic location: france (326 cases, 35.2%),germany (242 cases, 26.1%), the uK/Ireland (138 cases, 14.9%), the us (111 cases,12.0%) and the rest of the world (109 cases, 11.8%). the final sample was composedof 52.7% women and 47.3% men. the age range was from 18 to 49 years (advertising-relevant target group).

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Measures

all scales were drawn from previous research. a list of all the factors and measured itemscan be seen in table 3.

Dependent variablesattitude towards brand (afB) has been investigated by a substantial amount of stud-ies. Many different combinations of items have been used and tested. for the contextof fictional service brands, items with a good fit for services needed to be defined. ‘Like/dislike’, ‘good/bad’ and in the case of the setting’s atmosphere, ‘pleasant/unpleasant’, weredeemed suitable descriptors of our service-oriented measurement. this scale had alreadybeen used by other studies in the context of advertising research and proved highly reli-able (Mitchell 1986; griffith & Chen 2004). the construct was measured on a 7-pointsemantic differential scale (griffith & Chen 2004). Concerning the outcome variable, thepurchase intention (PIB) was based on stafford (1998) and stafford et al. (2002). theyinvestigated consumer attitudes and advertising perceptions in a service context. thescale used was initially called ‘conative attitude toward the ad’ (stafford 1998). We used athree-item scale: I would like to try this pub; I would actively seek out this pub (in my city inorder to buy a drink); I would patronise this pub. other product-orientated studies, especiallywithin advertising research, referred to a similar scale (neese & taylor 1994; griffith &Chen 2004). the construct was measured on a 7-point likert scale (stafford et al. 2002).

Independent variablesthe first independent variable was attitude towards the television programme (atv).theattitude towards the television programme measures the overall evaluation of a televisionprogramme (russell 2002; russell et al. 2004). However, the items used by russell (2002)introduce localisation issues in the research context for this paper. for example, the item‘favourable/unfavourable’ cannot be translated into german and french, and therefore wasreplaced with ‘pleasant/unpleasant’.this three-item scale of semantic differentials was alsoused in different studies concerning the attitude to a specific object, and proved reliable(griffith & Chen 2004).the second independent variable is the perceived service quality

Table 2: Data cleaning

How I Met Your Mother Friends Total

Number of questionnaires 969

Number of cases 966 929 1,895

Elimination

1) Knowledge of TV show/brand 396 272 668

2) Missing values (<0.10) 118 183 301

Eliminated cases 514 455 969

Considered cases 452 474 926

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Tabl

e3:

Scal

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for

cons

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2002

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ffit

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Chen

2004

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itch

ell1

986;

Yi19

90)

6.1

1.2

0.95

0.95

0.85

Like

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like

0.91

0.82

Goo

d/ba

d0.

930.

86

Plea

sant

/unp

leas

ant

0.93

0.87

Perc

eive

dse

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equ

alit

y(T

aylo

r&

Bake

r19

94;B

ansa

let

al.2

005)

4.3

1.4

0.89

0.89

0.73

Ibel

ieve

that

the

gene

ralq

ualit

yof

‘Mac

Lare

n’s

Pub’

s’se

rvic

esis

low

0.82

0.67

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side

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acLa

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serv

ices

tobe

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0.87

0.75

The

qual

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‘Mac

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gene

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high

0.87

0.76

Att

itude

tow

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bran

d(G

riffit

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2004

;Mitc

hell

1986

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5.1

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0.94

0.94

0.83

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0.91

0.82

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930.

87

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0.90

0.81

Purc

hase

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n(S

taff

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1998

;Sta

ffor

det

al.2

002)

4.6

1.8

0.77

0.77

0.53

Iwou

ldlik

eto

try

this

pub

0.75

0.57

Iwou

ldac

tivel

yse

ekou

tthi

spu

b(in

my

city

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drin

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750.

56

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ldpa

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ise

this

pub

0.68

0.47

410


of the fictional service brand. as a service brand is different from a product brand, servicemeasurements need to be applied. taylor and Baker (1994) and Bansal et al. (2005) useda three-item scale to measure global service quality. We adapted the scale into the contextof fictional brands and used a 7-point likert scale to measure the construct (taylor &Baker 1994; Bansal et al. 2005). the last independent variable is the identification withthe fictional service brand previously measured by aaker et al. (2004) using a five-itemscale.they referred to it as a measurement of self-connection, which can be interpreted asidentification with the brand, as explained previously. these items were measured in ourstudy using a 7-point likert scale, as proposed (aaker et al. 2004).

each measurement item is presented in table 3 and includes relevant factor charac-teristics, such as mean, standard deviation, Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability, averagevariance extracted (ave), factor loadings and item reliabilities for all scales (fornell &larcker 1981; Hair et al. 2010; Bagozzi & Yi 2012). all scales had a sufficient reliabil-ity for all constructs (e.g. Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliabilities are between 0.77and 0.95). furthermore, all item reliabilities are above the recommended value of 0.40(Bagozzi & Baumgartner 1994).the variance extracted was above 0.40 for each construct,giving evidence of convergent validity (Bagozzi & Yi 2012).

to assess convergent and discriminant validity of our construct operationalisations, weconducted a confirmatory factor analysis (Cfa) using aMos 16.0. the overall resultswere: rMsea = 0.07, CfI = 0.96, gfI = 0.93, IfI = 0.96 and tlI = 0.96. Consideringthe sample size and the number of parameters estimated, these results suggest the measure-ment models are an acceptable fit to the data (Baumgartner & Homburg 1996; Hair et al.2010; Bagozzi & Yi 2012).We assessed the discriminant validity of the construct measuresusing the criterion proposed by fornell and larcker (1981). It suggests that discriminantvalidity is supported if the average variance extracted (ave) exceeds the squared correla-tion between all pairs of constructs. all pairs of constructs met this criterion.

Analysis and results

as the differences between the investigated geographic region clusters are rather low,focus will be given to the overall examination of cross-geography study results. results ofthe analyses are presented in table 4 and discussed below.

Independent variablesConcerning the attitudinal construct, the attitude towards the television programme(atv) had a strong positive effect on the overall attitude towards the fictional brand (b =0.450, t = 14.979, p < 0.001).the result, consistent with H1, indicates a strong connectionbetween the fictional origin and the fictional brand.

Consistent with H2, we also show that the perceived quality of the fictional servicebrand (PQB) had a strong positive effect on the overall attitude towards the brand (b =0.306, t = 9.608, p < 0.001). thus, as the brand is still fictional and does not have a realproduct or service attached, the evaluation of the quality is rather complicated. Instead ofa real product experience the product quality has to be evaluated through pure perception

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and imagination, as the fictional brand is not real yet. therefore, the standardised coef-ficient is lower than for the attitude towards the television programme.

the identification with the fictional service brand (IdB) has a high positive impact onthe overall attitude towards the fictional brand as well (b = 0.376, t = 11.826, p < 0.001).this result is consistent with H3.the self-connection with the brand, as defined by aakeret al. (2004), therefore influences the overall evaluation of the fictional brand.

the degree of explanation for the attitude towards the fictional brand is rather moderate(R2 = 0.437). this shows that, in addition to (i) the attitude towards the television pro-gramme, (ii) the perceived service quality of the fictional service brand and (iii) identificationwith the fictional service brand, further antecedents exist that need to be studied in future.

Dependent variableConcerning the dependent variable, we show the behavioural relevance of fictional brands.the results support H4. the attitude towards the fictional brand (afB) has a strongpositive effect on the purchase intention of the fictional brand (b = 0.602, t = 16.718, p <0.001, R2 = 0.362).

the overall results of the global fit indices were: rMsea = 0.08, CfI = 0.94, gfI =0.90, IfI = 0.94 and tlI = 0.93.

General discussion

research on fictional brands is in its infancy. as the research in this field is largelytheoretical, an empirical investigation of the drivers and behavioural relevance of fictionalbrands was requested (Muzellec et al. 2012).this study answers this request in relation tofictional service brands, and confirms the positive relationship between attitude towardsthe television programme, perceived service quality and fictional brand identification withthe attitude towards the fictional brand for the case of fictional service brands. theseantecedents would appear to be major determinants in the overall evaluation of the atti-tude towards a fictional service brand, thus influencing consumer behaviour.the findingsprovide a first direct examination of fictional service brands. this shows that the fictional

Table 4: Summary of study results

Unstandardised coefficients(standard errors)

Standardisedcoefficient Hypotheses results

ATV → AFB 0.436 (0.029)*** 0.450*** H1 supported

PQB → AFB 0.281 (0.029)*** 0.306*** H2 supported

IDB → AFB 0.301 (0.025)*** 0.376*** H3 supported

AFB → PIB 0.638 (0.038)*** 0.602*** H4 supported

R-square AFB 0.437

R-square PIB 0.362

***p < 0.001RMSEA = 0.08; CFI = 0.94; GFI = 0.90; IFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93

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service brand may have the potential to be used in real life as real services, as viewers showan interest in those services as measured by possible purchase intention. these findingshave both theoretical and managerial implications.

Theoretical implications

this study, which is at the crossroads of the literature on branding (and in particularservice brands) and product placement, contributes to those two academic disciplines. Bydemonstrating that fictional service brands may drive purchase intention, the study rein-forces the notion of brands as purely iconic and symbolic devices (duncan & Moriarty1998). In building brand value, ‘perception is more important than reality’ (duncan &Moriarty 1998). abela (2003) proposes an additive interpretation of a brand, whichdepicts the product and brand as separate, with the brand as a mark that is added to theproduct. this study goes further by showing that brands may be created without anyconnection to a real product or service, and confirms the proposition of ‘protobrands’, i.e.fictional brands representing brand potential rather than reality (Muzellec et al. 2012).respondents in this study had developed some level of familiarity with the fictionalbrands and also had some mental images of the fictional brands. If, as is often suggested,brands exist only once they capture the imagination of potential consumers (Keller 1993),this study provides a concrete illustration of this notion. although no services reallyexisted, consumers evaluated the fictional brands based on dimensions such as perceivedservice quality. one might argue that the brand is therefore in the process of becoming‘real’ in the mind of the consumers, as evidenced by consumers’ eagerness to associatethemselves with the fictional brand. they also show an appetite for visiting the displayedservice brand if it did in fact exist in reality. the positive relationship between the brandand purchase intention of the potential service shows that fictional brands may effectivelybe ‘defictionalised’ for the pleasure of the television programme viewers and the benefitof the brand owner. tangible services may be created out of what was originally a simu-lacrum. therefore reverse product placement could be used as an innovative technique offomenting images in the mind of consumers to entice future consumption of the serviceat some later date. Most traditional brand-building models assume that the product/service is at the heart of brand equity (Keller 1993; aaker & Joachimsthaler 2000; Berry2000). However, reverse product placement challenges the traditional models of brandmanagement; the data gathered from this particular research show that brands may bebuilt without any reliance on a physical product/service. the brand may initially just bea sum of images that are fomented in a fictional environment. the ‘productisation’ of thebrand may occur well after the launch of the fictional brand, when the trademark is beingregistered and/or while the brand is being monetised.

Managerial implications

as the behavioural relevance of fictional service brands has now been demonstrated, thisprovides an opportunity for marketing practitioners or media creators to use the concept

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of fictional brands to foment future services and products, retrospectively or by designab initio.

a us-based agency has already started to commercialise fictional brands retrospec-tively. omni Consumer Products is a product development company with a focus onlicensing, defictionalisation and reverse branding. It has launched a number of defiction-alised brands, including ‘sex Panther’ cologne from the film Anchorman and ‘tru Blood’bottled blood from the television series, True Blood. equally, the success of ‘duff ’, thebeer from The Simpsons and ‘final fantasy’ energy drinks from the video games of thesame name clearly indicates that there is a market for fictional brands. Chang, newelland salmon (2009) have proposed three business process models for product placement:serendipitous (through chance), opportunistic and planned product placement. similarcategories could be used for reverse product placement, but so far the initiatives describedabove seem to have been opportunistic rather than planned. there is no evidence ofdesign ab initio. In the case of ‘duff ’ beer, the defictionalisation occurred independentlyof the brand creator (fox), suggesting that not only are fictional brands an opportunity toexploit but also a risk to mitigate.

Instead of the traditional attitude of piggy-backing on existing brands through brandextensions, companies could be much more proactive by creating, embedding and protect-ing fictional brands with a view to future defictionalisation. Management should considerthe development of fictional brands through traditional and non-traditional media untilsuch point as a market for licensing, merchandising or other defictionalisation exists.situation comedies may be particularly suited to such strategies due to their endurance,frequency, syndication likelihood and positive induced moods. soap operas may havesimilar advantages.

Management should consider fomenting fictional brands on media platforms such asmovies and computer games. the fomenting of fictional brands should not be viewed asindependent of conventional product placement, but complementary. While conventionalproduct placement serves as a direct income source for film studios prior to production,the effect of fictional brand is time-displaced; rent generation is derived post-production,as in the case of ‘Bertie Bott’s every flavour Beans’ from Harry Potter, now licensed andsold by Jelly Belly Beans Company.

Limitations and future research

this study represents an initial foray into research in the area of fictional service brands.as such, it represents a substantial mine for further research. first, the three factorsconsidered (attitude towards the television programme, perceived quality of the fictionalbrand and identification with the fictional brand) accounted for only 43.7% of thevariance of attitudes towards the fictional service brands. although this is significant, italso means that several other factors are not yet being taken into consideration, such asprogramme-induced mood, viewer predisposition towards advertising and programmemodality, among others. this study focused on two situation comedies that, by theirnature, are designed to induce positive mood. similarly, in the current study, ‘Central

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Perk’ and ‘Maclaren’s Pub’ play central roles in the narrative of their respective tele-vision programmes. they are featured in nearly every episode, resulting in high levels ofrepeat brand exposure. further investigation is needed to determine the impact of variousexecution variables, individual preferences (including predisposition to advertising) andprocessing depth on outcomes.

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About the authors

laurent Muzellec is a lecturer at Michael smurfit graduate Business school where heteaches marketing management and digital marketing communication at masters andMBa level. He is the programme director of the Msc in digital Marketing. His researchinterests pertain to the field of corporate brand management, fictional brands and (reverse)product placement and social media marketing. His articles have appeared in severalinternational publications including Industrial Marketing Management, Marketing Theory,the Journal of Product and Brand Management and the European Journal of Marketing.

since 2009, Christopher Kanitz is a research associate at the Chair of innovativeBrand Management at the university of Bremen in germany. subsequently he works asa management consultant at KeYlens Management Consultants. His research interestsare related to brand management, brand architecture, customer management and strategicmarketing. He holds a diploma from the university of Mannheim and was a research fel-low at the essCa Business school in angers and Paris, france, and a visiting lecturer atthe Institute of International studies in Bangkok, thailand. He is author of publicationsin journals such as the Marketing ZFP – Journal of Research and Management, MarketingReview, Journal of Medical Marketing and the Pharma Marketing Journal.

theodore lynn is a senior lecturer at dCu Business school where he teaches stra-tegic thinking and digital marketing. He is Principal Investigator of the Irish Centre forCloud Computing and Commerce and a director of Marketinglab, an applied market-ing technology research centre based at dublin City university. dr lynn has set up andsold a number of software companies and is a Partner in the 30/60 seed Capital venturefund. He advises a number of Irish and international companies.

address correspondence to: laurent Muzellec, Michael smurfit graduate school ofBusiness, university College dublin, Carysfort avenue, Blackrock, Co. dublin, Ireland.

email: [email protected]

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