ADVERGAMES The Impact of Brand Prominence and Game Repetition on Brand Responses

The impact of in-game brand exposure strength is explored by investigating the advertising effects of brand prominence and game repetition. Four hundred eighty participants played an online game two or four times. The results indicate a positive effect of brand prominence on brand recall, without influencing brand attitude. Repeatedly playing an identical game had no effect on brand recall, but had a negative impact on brand attitude, indicating that the wear-out phase was reached quickly. Product involvement had a moderating effect for game repetition only, with more negative attitude effects of game repetition for a high-involvement product than for a low-involvement product. In a follow-up study in which participants could play the game as often as they wanted, the effects of repeatedly playing the game were confirmed.