Making the Pitch
Success is Not Final; Failure is Not Fatal: How Failure Vs. Success Messaging Leads to Preference for Masculine Brands
Niusha Jones, Blair Kidwell & Anne Hamby
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming
Abstract
Marketers commonly use ads that associate brands with success in persuasive communications. Yet, these ads may not be the most effective way to promote brands, particularly masculine brands. The current research examines when and why failure messaging can be an effective promotional approach. Across eight studies using both observational and experimental data from field and lab settings, the authors demonstrate that experiences of failure in achievement contexts, and ads that employ failure (vs. success) messaging, are more effective in promoting masculine but not feminine or neutral brands. An increase in consumers' hostility mediates these effects. Feminine brands that employ aggressive branding cues (e.g., red color) can also benefit from failure messaging. Additionally, the benefits of failure messaging are enhanced when people do (vs. do not) take responsibility for their failures, and this moderating effect is intensified (weakened) when failures are attributed to unstable (stable) causes. Finally, the consumption of masculine options was found to assist consumers in recovering from achievement failures.
The Consumption of Advertising in the Digital Age: Attention and Ad Content
Anthony Dukes & Qihong Liu
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article studies the consumption of advertising when attention is costly. Our objective is to understand the advertiser's optimal decision for informational and noninformational content when facing consumers with heavy distractions common in the digital age. We take an equilibrium approach in which an ad is consumed if and only if the content of the ad is worth the viewer's attention. We classify many advertising decisions observed in practice. First, an advertiser can structure content to induce curiosity for continued viewing by showing the information that is relatively less likely to resonate with the broad audience. This tactic is evident in clickbait ads and "mystery ads." Second, we find that digital ads, which tend to be skippable, have lower amounts of noninformational content (e.g., entertainment) relative to nonskippable ads. This finding can explain the industry perception that ads on digital media are of lower copy quality than traditional ads.
What Are the Morals of Video Game Stories? A Content Analysis of the Most Popular Video Games
Marina Klimenko, Kevin Kapadia & Gaillot Andre
Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, forthcoming
Abstract:
A content analysis of moral content in the most popular video game franchises with stories between 1996 and 2021 was conducted. The results of the study revealed that there were, on average, 19 moral themes per 3-hour gameplay, and more acts followed basic moral principles. Binding morals (with group loyalty) was the most frequently depicted moral domain; individualizing immoral acts received more negative evaluations. Most moral and immoral acts received no consequences. There was a significant increase in all moral domains from 1996 to 2021. The significance of the findings, as well as limitations and future directions, are discussed.
Do Rising Opportunity Costs Lead to Increases in Media Multitasking Over Time?
Allison Drody et al.
Media Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Evidence suggests that one's likelihood of media multitasking increases with time-on-task, which can negatively impact performance. The opportunity costs account of sustained attention might explain this finding. This account states that rising feelings of boredom and effort signal increasing opportunity costs, motivating us to direct our attention elsewhere and causing progressive decreases in performance. We examined whether patterns of media multitasking, boredom, effort and performance during a sustained attention task supported the notion that rising opportunity costs drive temporal increases in media multitasking. We further tested this account by affording one group of participants the option to respond to increasing opportunity costs by watching a video (media multitasking) while completing the task. Another group received no such option. Temporal patterns of media multitasking, boredom, effort and performance partially supported the opportunity costs view. Surprisingly, many also multitasked with activities outside the experimental context. Exploratory analyses revealed that patterns of boredom, effort and performance among these individuals and those who did not multitask supported the opportunity costs view. Our findings suggest that many media multitask in response to rising opportunity costs signaled by changes in feelings of boredom and effort -- a relation that may be particularly problematic for online studies.
The Early Impact of GDPR Compliance on Display Advertising: The Case of an Ad Publisher
Pengyuan Wang, Li Jiang & Jian Yang
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), with its explicit consent requirement, may restrict the use of personal data and shake the foundations of online advertising. The ad industry has predicted drastic loss of revenue from GDPR compliance and has been seeking alternative ways of targeting. Taking advantage of an event created by an ad publisher's request for explicit consent from users with European Union IP addresses, the authors find that for a publisher that uses a pay-per-click model, has the capacity to leverage both user behavior and web page content information for advertising, and observes high consent rates, GDPR compliance leads to modest negative effects on ad performance, bid prices, and ad revenue. The changes in ad metrics can be explained by temporal variations in consent rates. The impact is most pronounced for travel and financial services advertisers and least pronounced for retail and consumer packaged goods advertisers. The authors further find that web page context can compensate for the loss of access to users' personal data, as the GDPR's negative impact is less pronounced when ads are posted on web pages presenting relevant content. The results suggest that publishers and advertisers should leverage targeting based on web page content after the GDPR's rollout.