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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of game-product fit on brand advocacy and mediating role of thought favorability in fit and brand advocacy relationship in the context of in-game advertising (IGA) using congruity theory and heuristic systematic model. This expounds the conditions under which in-game brand placements form favorable or unfavorable thoughts about the game and the advertised brand, and following brand advocacy.

A total of 144 student-gamers participated in the study. One-way ANOVA and a path analysis were used for hypotheses testing.

Results showed that the high-fit game resulted in higher thought favorability and greater levels of brand advocacy than the low-fit game. Furthermore, results also revealed that thought favorability mediated the relationship of game-product fit and brand advocacy among players.

Research on IGA is still in its relative infancy, and how gamers respond to brand placements in games has yet to be fully established. This paper’s theoretical implications are primarily in the context of in-game advertising and explain the role played by game-product fit as an originator to thought favorability that further adds value to thought favorability and brand advocacy relationship.

The study offers important implications for marketers, advertisers, policy-makers in terms of effective game-designing and IGA execution.

Since very little research has been done focusing on mediating role of thought favorability in game-product fit and brand advocacy relationship in the context of IGA from attention and elaboration perspectives, this paper scores as a pioneering study of its kind in India.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of game-speed on brand attitude and mediating role of thought favorability in the speed-attitude relationship in the context of in-game advertising (IGA). Specifically, this investigation employs the Limited Capacity Model of Attention and the heuristic-systematic model to explain the conditions under which in-game brand placements form favorable or unfavorable thoughts about the game and the embedded brand, and subsequent brand attitude.

In total, 78 student-gamers participated in the study. One-tailed independent-samples t-tests and a path analysis were used for hypothesis testing.

Results revealed that fast-paced games resulted in higher thought favorability and more favorable brand attitude than the slow-paced games. Furthermore, the results also showed that thought favorability mediated the relationship of game-speed and brand attitude among Indian gamers.

This paper adds to advertising literature from a non-traditional advertising perspective, primarily in the context of IGA, and explains the role played by game-speed as an antecedent to thought favorability that adds value to thought favorability and brand attitude relationship. Also, the study provides an important implication for the marketers that to generate more positive brand attitudes and high favorable thoughts, advertisers and game-developers must focus on high-speed games.

This study is the first in its stream toward understanding the mediating role of thought favorability in determining the persuasion effect on Indian gamers’ brand attitude in the context of online advertising from attention and elaboration perspectives.

The motivation behind the study is to look at the impact of novelty in games on brand recall and attitude, and to dissect the directing job of game interactivity from the points of view of “contrast effect,” “engagement theory” and “transportation theory”.

A 2 (novelty: congruent or incongruent) × 2 (game interactivity: high or low) between-subject measures design was used. In total, 172 management students participated in the study. A 2 × 2 between-subjects measure multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized to test the hypotheses.

Incongruent novelty results in higher brand recall but less favorable brand attitude than congruent novelty. Interactivity moderates the relationship between novelty congruence and brand recall such that in a high-interactivity condition, incongruent novelty results in higher brand recall than that in the low-interactivity condition. But, in case of the high-interactivity condition, congruent novelty results in more favorable brand attitude than that in the low-interactivity condition.

Developing high brand recall rates and attitudes are the prime objectives of the marketers for choosing a medium to advertise their brands. This investigation adds knowledge to the area of interactive marketing, particularly in-game advertising as a media technique to promote brands taking novelty and game interactivity factors into thought.

From the perspectives of interactive marketing, psychological elaboration, mind-engagement and transportation of experience, this investigation adds to the literature of advanced media advertising, explicitly to in-game advertising by looking at the effect of novelty and game interactivity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of interactivity and game-product congruence on the players’ feelings of presence and their brand attitude in the context of in-game advertising. Specifically, this research illustrates the conditions under which the brand placements in digital games create attention, engagement, subsequent feelings of presence and brand attitude by drawing the insights from the “limited capacity model of attention,” the “vividness effects theory” and the “transportation theory.”

A 2 (interactivity: high or low)×2 (game-product congruence: high or low) between-subject measures design is used. In total, 152 students participated in the study. A 2×2 between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that for a high game-product congruent game, high interactivity results in greater levels of feelings of presence than a low-interactivity condition. However, for a low game-product congruent game, both high- and low-interactivity conditions result in the same level of presence. Furthermore, the findings also show that for a high game-product congruent game, high interactivity results in more favorable brand attitude than a low-interactivity condition. On the other hand, for a low game-product congruent game, both high- and low-interactivity conditions result in the same level of brand attitude.

This paper provides implications for theory as well as practice by providing the empirical evidence of the combined effect of game-product congruence and interactivity on feelings of presence and brand attitude from the perspectives of attention, engagement and transportation of experiences in an emerging marketing context like India. The findings are useful for marketing practitioners in terms of effective in-game advertising, designing and execution. Future research can be conducted by exploring the in-game advertising effects of various other variables, such as product-involvement, game-involvement or game-repetition.

This investigation contributes to the literature of non-traditional advertising media, specifically to the area of branded entertainment, like brand placements in digital games by examining and exploring the influence of game-specific factors on the players’ feelings of presence and brand attitudes. Moreover, this paper is one of the first to reveal the real-time roles of game-specific factors in creating gamers’ feelings of presence and brand attitude from the perspectives of attention, engagement and transportation of experience in an emerging market context like India.

The purpose of this study is to enhance the knowledge about advertising effects of brand placements in games on players’ brand recall and attitude. More specifically, this study examines the varying effects of brand prominence on gamers’ brand recall and brand attitude under varied game-involvement and need for cognition (NFC) conditions from attention and elaboration perspectives in the context of in-game advertising (IGA).

A 2 (brand prominence: prominent or subtle) × 2 (game-involvement: high or low) × 2 (NFC: high or low) between-subject measures design was used. Moreover, 240 student gamers participated in the study. A between-subjects measure multivariate analysis of variance was used to test the hypotheses.

The results revealed that for a game with prominent brand placement, low game-involvement resulted in greater brand recall than high game-involvement condition. Furthermore, for a game with prominent brand placement, high game-involvement condition resulted in more favorable brand attitude than low game-involvement condition. For a game with subtle brand placement, no differences in brand recall rates as well as brand attitudes were found between the high and the low game-involvement conditions. Likewise, for a game with prominent brand placement under low game-involvement condition, high NFC players reported higher brand recall rates and less favorable brand attitudes than the low NFC players. On the other hand, for a game with subtle brand placement under high-game-involvement condition, no differences in brand recall rates as well as brand attitudes were found between the high and the low NFC players.

The process of experimentation used in this study to collect responses was susceptible to some limitations. However, this research adds to advertising literature from a non-traditional advertising viewpoint, predominantly in the context of IGA. This study enlightens the role of brand prominence and its boundary conditions to create customers’ brand memory and brand attitude. Likewise, this investigation adds to the marketing knowledge on how to embed and position the brands effectively in digital games taking into account the specific physiognomies of each game and individual traits of gamers.

This study provides a clear understanding of how marketers can design and develop effective games with a purpose to increase and improve customers’ awareness and attitudes toward the advertised brands by embedding brands in games. The experimental findings suggest the advertising practitioners and game designers to think for a right mix of game-specific factors, that is brand prominence, and individual and situational factors, that is game-involvement and NFC, while creating games to have a stoutest positive advergaming effect on players’ brand recall and brand attitude.

This study adds to the literature of non-traditional advertising media, specifically to the context of IGA, by investigating the impact of brand prominence, game-involvement and gamers’ NFC on their brand recall and attitude. From the attention and elaboration perspectives, this study is the first attempt to understand how brand prominence and its boundary conditions, that is game-involvement and NFC, impact players’ brand recall and brand attitude.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge on gamers’ brand recall and attitude in the context of online advergames. Specifically, this investigation uses limited capacity model of attention and persuasion knowledge model to expound the conditions under which brand placements create attention, elaboration and subsequent brand recall and brand attitude.

A 2 (brand prominence: prominent versus subtle) × 2 (game involvement: high versus low involvement) × 2 (persuasion knowledge: high versus low) between-subjects measures design is used. A total of 224 student gamers participated in the study. A between-subjects measures multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that an advergame with prominent brand placement under low game involvement condition results in high brand recall but less favorable brand attitude than under high game involvement condition. Furthermore, a three-way interaction shows that for a prominent brand placement advergame with high game involvement, the subjects with high persuasion knowledge report high brand recall than the subjects with low persuasion knowledge. The findings also reveal that for a prominent brand placement advergame with high game involvement, the subjects with high persuasion knowledge report less favorable brand attitude than the subjects with low persuasion knowledge.

This paper adds to advertising literature from a non-traditional advertising viewpoint, predominantly in the context of online advergames, and expounds the role played by brand placement and its boundary conditions to create customers’ brand memory and attitude. Furthermore, this investigation adds to the marketing knowledge on how and where to position and embed the brands effectively in advergames taking into account the characteristics of the gamer, such as the game involvement and gamers’ persuasion knowledge about the advergame.

This study adds to the works of online advertising, particularly the advergames by discovering the impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge on gamers’ brand recall and attitude. Also, this study is the first in its stream toward understanding the moderating role of persuasion knowledge on Indian gamers’ recall and attitude in the context of online advertising.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the combined effect of game-interactivity and game-product congruence on consumers’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance in the context of in-game advertising.

A 2 (interactivity: high or low)×2 (game-product congruence: high or low) between-subject measures design is used. In total, 140 students participated in the study. A 2×2 between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that for a high-interactive game, congruent condition results in higher brand advocacy and superior brand acceptance than the incongruent condition. However, for a low-interactive game, both congruent and incongruent conditions will result in the same level of brand advocacy as well as equal levels of brand acceptance.

This paper provides implications for theory as well as practice by providing the empirical evidence of the combined effect of game-interactivity and game-product congruence on consumers’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance from the perspective of attention and elaboration. If higher brand advocacy and greater brand acceptance are the objectives of the brand managers, then a high interactive with congruent brand placements would be the right approach for effective advergames.

This investigation contributes to non-traditional advertising media literature, specifically to the area of branded entertainment, like brand placements in digital games by examining and exploring the influence of game-specific factors on players’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance. Moreover, this paper is one of the first to reveal the real-time roles of game-specific factors in generating gamers’ brand advocacy and brand acceptance from the perspectives of attention and elaboration, in an emerging marketing context, like India.

Advergames, or integrated brand messages within digital games, have received considerable attention from researchers and practitioners. Despite increased use of advergames as a brand promotion strategy by a range of well-known brands, limited understanding exists about a number of issues related to the effective use of such games. This paper aims to critically review the literature on advergames by performing a detailed analysis of existing research in this area and propose an organizing framework. Based on this framework, the authors discuss key issues with current understanding and propose important questions for future research.

This literature review follows Webster and Watson’s (2002) concept-driven systematic review methodology elaborating on the key antecedents and consequences identified in advergame studies (what we know: current knowledge), followed by the discussion of key factors that should be investigated as antecedents and consequences (literature gaps).

This paper presents a review and synthesis of advergame studies based on Terlutter and Capella’s (2013) integrated marketing communication framework. It identifies game, individual and social factors and suggests how these factors could affect a consumer’s brand-related cognitive, attitudinal and behavioral responses. The authors further propose an advergame framework that identifies two different “unit of analysis” (antecedents and consequences of game factors and antecedents and consequences of individual and social factors), which can be used by scholars to center their research efforts in a more detailed fashion.

Research questions posed in this literature review indicate that future research in the area of advergames should focus on investigating the effects of various game, individual and social factors on consumers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral responses.

The advergame framework provided here provides firms with a guide to the factors that may affect their consumers’ cognitive, affective and behavioral responses and helps them in developing effective advergames.

The paper provides a comprehensive review of the advergame literature that has not been done before and develops a general advergame framework that can be applied in all contexts and will guide future studies in the area. Overall, the study helps the researchers to identify critical issues and concepts related to advergames and shapes future research in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of nature of advergame and moderating roles of game-product congruence and need for cognition (NFC) on gamers’ ad-persuasion from attention and elaboration perspectives.

A 2 (nature of game: fast or slow)×2 (game-product congruence: high or low)×2 (NFC: high or low) between measures design is used. In total, 224 graduate students participated in the study. A 2×2×2 between subjects ANOVA is used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that slow-paced advergames result in high persuasion than fast-paced advergames. A 2 way-interaction indicates that for a slow-paced advergame, low game-product congruence result in high persuasion than in high game-product congruence. Furthermore, findings reveal that for a slow-paced advergame with low game-product congruence, subjects with high NFC report high persuasion than subjects with low NFC. For a fast-paced advergame with low game-product congruence, subjects with high NFC report high persuasion than subjects with low NFC.

The findings of the study are very important for advertising practitioners as selection of media that fit the advertised product with reference to the content of the media is a planning strategy that has been widely used by media planners. Thus, if high brand recall and recognition is the primary goal for advertisers, then, slow-paced advergames with low-congruent brand placements can be considered a better media strategy for in-game advertising. Furthermore, advertising managers can design advergames by taking into account NFC factor to make sure that the implementation has the strongest positive effect on consumers’ persuasion. Furthermore, advertising managers can design advergames by taking into account NFC factor to make sure that the implementation has the strongest positive effect on consumers’ persuasion.

This research contributes to the literature of non-traditional online advertising, specifically advergaming context by exploring the impact of nature of game and game-product congruence on gamers’ ad-persuasion. Also, this study is the first attempt toward understanding the moderating role of NFC on gamers’ ad-persuasion in the context of online advertising.

This research aims to exhibit the impacts of vocal music vs instrumental music on ad-recall from the perspectives of attention and elaboration.

A 2 music-product congruence (congruence vs incongruence) × 2 music lyrics (lyrics vs no lyrics) between-subject measures design is used. 180 management students participated in the study. A 2 × 2 between-subjects ANOVA is used to test the hypotheses.

Results showed that the instrumental rendition of an ad-song prompted higher ad-recall over the vocal variant. The instrumental rendition provoked the subjects to create the verses or lyrics in their minds, prompting superior recall. Further, it was found that a music-product congruent ad resulted into higher ad-recall than an incongruent ad. Moreover, for a congruent ad condition, the instrumental version of ad-song resulted into higher ad-recall than the vocal version of ad-song. On the other hand, for an incongruent ad condition, the instrumental version as well as the vocal version of ad-song resulted into same level of ad-recall.

The study offers important implications for marketers and advertisers in terms of effective ad-designing and execution considering lyrics and music-product congruence as important factors in the context of radio advertising.

Since very little research has been done focusing on the combined effect of music lyrics and music-product congruence relationship on ad-recall from attention and elaboration perspectives, this paper scores as a pioneering study of its kind in India.