Roles of cognition demand and advertising literacy in advergames

Abstract

PurposeTo determine the impact of advergame specific factors on players’ brand recall and brand attitude by conducting two experimental studies.Design/methodology/approachTwo 2 × 2 × 2 experiments were conducted in this study.FindingsIndividuals with high-cognition-demand reported superior brand recall for an advergame with prominent brand placements and low game-product analogy and a more favorable brand attitude for a prominently placed game with high game-product analogy than the low-cognition-demand individuals. Individuals with high advertising literacy reported higher brand recall but less favorable brand attitude for games with less game-rapidity but high product-involvement than those with low advertising literacy.Practical implicationsThe research outcomes are highly significant for the marketing specialists, as choosing a communication tool that best fits the advertised product with regard to the content of the media is a planning stratagem that has been broadly used by the media designers.Originality/valueThis research mainly adds to the literature of online advertising, exclusively the advergames by probing the impact of game-specific and gamer-specific factors on brand recall and brand attitude. Also, this study supports comprehending the moderating roles of cognitive demand and advertising literacy on players’ cognitive and affective brand responses.