How can Coca-Cola Advertise in World of Warcraft? An Exploratory Examination of Gamers Attitudes Towards Around-Game Advertising (original) (raw)
Related papers
Scottish Doctoral Management Conference 2010, 2010
In December 2007 the Scottish Government achieved a UK first when it utilised Microsoft’s Xbox Live gaming platform to transmit its Anti-Drink Driving campaign message direct to Scottish gamers. The successful use of Internet Protocol Targeting, (IPT), heralds a new dawn in in-game advertising within a sector which has continued to show growth despite the global financial crisis which has gripped many other business areas. This use of in-game advertising by the Scottish Government, (including their subsequent campaigns for Safer Scotland, Country Roads in July 2008 and the Anti-Airgun campaign in March 2009), represents just one investigative sphere of wider research being conducted which will utilise a mixed methodology research approach constructed around a three phase, hierarchical research framework of: (i) Phase One consisting of three desk based studies looking at the areas of: (a) general game advertising and the video & computer games sector, (including the undertaking of a Systematic Literature Review), (b) game advertising prevalence and (c) consumer behaviour and brand attitudes; (ii) Phase Two consisting of two semi-structured interview based studies looking at the Scottish Governments use of in-game advertising, (undertaken as a case study), as well as gauging opinion within the general video games industry; and (iii) Phase Three consisting of both an experimental focus group, (utilising a Solomon 4-Group Design with a purpose built two level game), and an online survey/questionnaire within the wider gaming community.
Journal of Interactive Advertising 5 (1), 2004
Using netnography and questionnaires, we examine how commercial practices are interpreted by electronic game-players. An analysis of 805 postings on Slashdot (2002-2004) revealed active discussions and insight into gamers' beliefs about the effectiveness and appropriateness of marketers' tactics as well as the perceived impact on self. Players were fairly positive about brands in games when they added realism. Those who were negative about product placements were also negative about advertising. While some players did not think they were influenced by product placements, others reported instances of learning about and then purchasing new brands. A survey of gamers empirically tested observations from the netnography. Positive relationships between attitudes toward advertising in general and attitudes toward product placement in games were noted, and each of these was positively related to perceived impact on purchasing behaviors. Attitudes toward product placements in games partially mediated the effect of attitudes toward advertising on respondents' perceived purchasing behaviors.
Game advertising: a conceptual framework and exploration of advertising prevalence
The Computer Game Journal 3(1) pp94-123, 2014
Although academic business-based research into the area of Video and Computer Games (games) has increased in recent years, it will be shown that these have had a propensity to concentrate upon either Advergames or In-Game Advertising. However, this does not present the full picture of the association of games with advertising, and as such, a conceptual framework is offered, which is more inclusive of other aspects of marketing concepts used. Furthermore, our results into game advertising prevalence within the top 200 games within each year from 2005 through 2009 show that nearly 38% of these had advertising and marketing associations and that over 30% were through Around-Game Advertising associations.
International Journal of Sport Communication, 2008
Sport video games (SVGs) are a popular form of sport media and sponsorship, and advertising in SVGs is increasingly common. This study assessed the effectiveness of SVG in-game advertisements in 3 consumption domains: cognitive, affective, and conative. An experimental study was designed with 89 gamers randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: (a) experimental, playing an SVG with advertisements, or (b) control, playing an SVG without advertisements. Consumption background and identification level were incorporated as covariates to ensure group equivalence. Participants responded to a questionnaire measuring brand awareness, brand attitude, and purchase intentions. MANCOVA revealed that after controlling for the effect of covariate variables, the experimental group had a significantly (p < .05) greater mean brand-awareness score than the control group. Mean brand-attitude and purchase-intention scores were not significantly (p > .05) different between groups. The findings indica...
International Journal of Sport Communication, 2013
Sport video games (SVGs) are a highly consumed media source among 18- to 34-yr-old sport consumers. Many corporations have become advertisers or sponsors of SVGs to reach this consumer segment. This case study examined the systematic relationships among SVG motives, consumption levels, and sponsorship effectiveness. Research participants (N = 213) were SVG gamers who responded to a survey. The proposed hierarchical relationships were tested in a structural model analysis to determine the effectiveness of SVGs. The fit indices showed that the model fit the data well, indicating that, sequentially, SVG motivations influenced game play frequency, awareness of sponsoring brands in SVGs, attitude toward the sponsoring brands, and future purchase intentions of sponsoring products. Researchers and practitioners may consider applying SVG motivational factors to enhance SVG play frequency so as to enhance the awareness of and attitude toward sponsoring brands, which would in turn promote beh...
Acceptance of Branded Video Games (Advergames)
Marketing and Consumer Behavior: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, 2015
Advergames are free, branded video games used by advertisers to target audiences with marketing communications in a playful, interactive, and engaging way. Despite their advantages for consumers (i.e., free entertainment content), advergames can also cause concern in consumers (i.e., advertising clutter), making it necessary to explore consumers' attitudes that lead to acceptance of advergames. This chapter analyses the factors that lead consumers to accept advergames as an advertising format analyzing three variables related to consumer-media relationships: 1) consumer attitude toward advertising, 2) consumer attitude toward the presence of brands in video games, and 3) previous experience with video games. The moderating role of culture is also analyzed. To do so, an empirical research study involving American and Spanish students was developed. Findings suggest that attitude towards advertising is the primary factor affecting advergame acceptance for the Spanish sample, while attitude towards product placement in advergames is the primary factor affecting advergame acceptance for the American sample. These results suggest cultural differences related to advergame acceptance.