Analysing mobile advergaming effectiveness: the role of flow, game repetition and brand familiarity
| Pages | 502-514 |
| Published date | 15 July 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-07-2018-1929 |
| Date | 15 July 2019 |
| Author | Sara Catalán,Eva Martínez,Elaine Wallace |
| Subject Matter | Marketing,Product management,Brand management/equity |
Analysing mobile advergaming effectiveness:
the role of flow, game repetition and
brand familiarity
Sara Catalán and Eva Martínez
Department of Marketing, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, and
Elaine Wallace
Discipline of Marketing, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to explain the effect of flow, game repetition and brand familiarity on players’brand attitude and purchase intention in
the context of mobile advergaming.
Design/methodology/approach –Data from 227 participants who played a mobile advergame were analysed. Structural equation modelling with
partial least squares was used to test the research model.
Findings –The results reveal that the independent variables (i.e. game repetition and brand familiarity) significantly influence the dependent
variables explored in this study (i.e. brand attitude and purchase intentions of players). Results also show that brand familiarity influences players’
flow experience, which in turn significantly affects players’purchase intentions.
Research limitations/implications –The findings of this study are important for advertising practitioners and advergames’developers as
understanding the determinants of mobile advergaming effectiveness is crucial for designing successful advergames that persuade players the most.
Originality/value –This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the effectiveness of mobile advergames,
which is an under-researched area. Second, it offers empirical evidence of the effects of game repetition, flow and brand familiarity on mobile
advergaming effectiveness.
Keywords Purchase intention, Flow, Brand attitude, Advergames
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The use of advergames, electronic games created with the
specific purpose of promoting a brand or a product (Winkler
and Buckner, 2006), has received increased attention in the
literature because of their persuasive power (Roettl et al.,
2016). In recent years, an increasing effort has been made to
understand the determinants of advergaming effectiveness.
Previous research has analyseddifferentaspectsthatcould
affect the success of this tool, including both factors related
to the advergame, such as game-brand and game-product
congruity (Gross, 2010;Hernández et al., 2004;Lee et al.,
2017;Martí-Parreño et al., 2013;Okazaki and Yagüe, 2012;
Ping et al., 2010;Sreejesh et al., 2018;Wise et al., 2008),
prominence of the brand placement (Cauberghe and De
Pelsmacker, 2010;Van Reijmersdal et al., 2010;Vashisht
and Royne, 2016;Winkler and Buckner, 2006)and
interactivity (Gurau, 2008;Ping et al., 2010;Sreejesh and
Anusree, 2017;Sukoco and Wu, 2011); as well as individual
factors of players, such as persuasion knowledge (Ham et al.,
2016;Van Reijmersdal et al., 2010;Vanwesenbeeck et al.,
2016,2017;Vashisht and Royne, 2016) and involvement
(Bellman et al., 2014;Cauberghe and De Pelsmacker, 2010;
Van Reijmersdal et al.,2010;Vanwesenbeeck et al., 2017).
However, still more effort is needed to achieve a better
knowledge about which variables related to the advergame
and the player can influence brand-related outcomes.
In recent years, advergames have gained recognition in
largepartbecausemobiledeviceshavebecomean
increasingly popular way to access them (Tuten and Ashley,
2016). Mobile devices are carried everywhere. Thus, players
can access mobile advergames in situations where they
cannot access other devices, such as computers. Because of
their different characteristics, recent research has found that
online and mobile advergames influence brand-related
outcomes differently (Çardici and Gungor, 2018).
However, even in the past few years, the majority of studies
on advergames has focussed on advergames played through
aconsole(Vashisht and Pillai, 2017a)oracomputer(Ham
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
28/4 (2019) 502–514
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-07-2018-1929]
This study was supported by the Government of Spain, the European
Regional Development Fund (project ECO2017-82103-P), and the
Government of Arag
on and the European Social Fund (GENERES Group
S-54_17R).
Received 4 July 2018
Revised 12 November 2018
14 January 2019
Accepted 16 January 2019
502
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