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The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers' Purchase

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The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers' Purchase THE EFFECTS OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT, IN FILMS, ON THE CONSUMERS’ PURCHASE INTENTIONS Nuno Alexandre Gaspar da Silva Oliveira Barroso Dissertation submitted as partial requirement for MSc. in Marketing Supervisor: PhD. Paulo Rita, ISCTE Business School, Department of Management Co-Supervisor: PhD. Francisco Esteves, ISCTE-IUL, Department of Psychology December 2011 The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers’ Purchase Intentions ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are some people that deserve a mention because they were of extreme importance in order to conclude this paper. In first place, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor PhD. Paulo Rita for all his support over the last year. In instances where I would feel a little bit lost, his insights, opinions and comments weighted gold. For that, I am extremely thankful. I would also like to acknowledge my co-supervisor, PhD. Francisco Esteves, for providing me the conditions to perform the laboratory experience, for his different insights and views to the research, that have given me a broader look into the product placement theme. To my Father and Mother for all the love, care, support and respect they have been giving me throughout all these years. For encouraging me always to give my best, no matter how difficult the situations may appear to be. Thank you. To my brothers, for being constant sources of laughter in my life and for the constant interest they took in my thesis. To everyone in my team, the Voice Product Direction at ZON Multimédia, for being understanding and flexible, giving me the margin I needed to concluded this paper. To everyone who took time from their busy schedules to participate in my little experience. I would also like to thank everyone that responded to my online questionnaire. Without all of you, this paper would have not been possible. I also would like to thank my friends for all the support, encouragement and fun. i The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers’ Purchase Intentions ABSTRACT Traditional forms of communication have been losing their once golden effectiveness due to, mainly, consumer saturation. Since the modern world is characterized by an advertising clutter, in wich each citizen living in urban areas is exposed daily to an average of 3,500 stimuli, companies are now looking for ways to differentiate themselves from competitors, and are now immersing their ways onto product placement. As investment in product placements increases over the years, making it now a billion dollar industry, there is a necessity to deeply explore this theme to better understand what its main effects on consumers are. Purchase intention is a step that mediates consumer attitude and effective behavior. The link between this stage of consumer behavior and product placement represents an area in which previous scholars’ results have not been overly consistent, making it not as crystal clear as desired. The present research conveys an experimental design resorting to eye tracking tools and softwares, providing data concerning the viewers’ levels of attention. As this experiment also aims to denote differences between reactions to product placements in different contexts (comedy vs. drama), two experimental and two control groups were defined, totaling a sample of 85 subjects. This paper covers the effects that the variables identified on the literature review have on brand attitudes, and subsequentely, on purchase intentions. The formulated hypotheses provide an in-depth look to how product placement affects consumers. Key-Words: Product Placement, Communication, Purchase Intentions, Experimental Study. JEL: M31, C91 ii The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers’ Purchase Intentions RESUMO As formas de comunicação tradicionais têm vindo a perder a sua eficácia devido à, essencialmente, saturação do consumidor. Dado que o mundo moderno é caracterizado por um ambiente com excesso de publicidade, em que um cidadão residente em áreas urbanas é exposto, em média, a 3.500 estímulos diários, as empresas estão à procura de novas formas de se diferenciarem da concorrência apostando cada vez mais em product placement. À medida que o investimento em product placement aumenta, tornando-o numa indústria que movimenta milhares de milhões de dólares, surge a necessidade de explorar profundamente este tema almejando uma melhor compreensão dos efeitos que tem no consumidor. A intenção de compra representa o primeiro passo no processo de decisão de compra do consumidor, e a ligação entre este patamar e o product placement representa uma área que não tem suscitado coerência em estudos passados, tornando-a pouco clara. O presente estudo experimental recorre a ferramentas e software de eye tracking, proporcionando informação acerca dos níveis de atenção dos espectadores em relação aos estímulos definidos. Dado que esta experiência também pretende identificar diferenças nas reacções ao product placement em contextos distintos (comédia vs. drama), dois grupos experimentais e dois grupos de controlo foram definidos, totalizando uma amostra de 85 elementos. Esta dissertação cobre os efeitos que diferentes variáveis identificadas na revisão de literatura têm nas atitudes do consumidor perante a marca, e consequentemente, nas suas intenções de compra. As hipóteses formuladas oferecem um olhar aprofundado sobre a forma de como é que o product placement afecta os consumidores. Key-Words: Product Placement, Comunicação, Intenções de Compra, Estudo Experimental. JEL: M31, C91 iii The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers’ Purchase Intentions TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... X LIST OF GRAPHICS .................................................................................................................. X EXECUTIVE SUMARY ............................................................................................................ XII 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1. THE THEME’S PERTINENCE ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2. OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.3. THESIS STRUCTURE ............................................................................................................... 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 5 2.1. PRODUCT PLACEMENT: DEFINITION AND HISTORY ....................................................................... 5 2.1.1. THE EVOLUTION OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT ...................................................................................... 6 2.1.2. PRODUCT PLACEMENT TODAY ....................................................................................................... 7 2.2. TYPES OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT .............................................................................................. 8 2.3. PROMINENCE AND PLOT CONNECTION .................................................................................... 10 2.4. PRODUCT PLACEMENT MODALITIES ....................................................................................... 11 2.5. ETHICS ............................................................................................................................ 12 2.5.1. GENERAL ETHICAL CONCERNS ..................................................................................................... 13 2.5.2. SPECIFIC ETHICAL CONCERNS ...................................................................................................... 15 2.6. TYPE OF FILM: MAKING CONSUMERS LAUGH ON THEIR WAY TO THE SHOPPING AISLES? ....................... 15 2.7. ACTORS AND ACTRESSES: THE ROLE CELEBRITIES PLAY IN COMMUNICATION ..................................... 17 2.8. BRAND RECALL AND BRAND ATTITUDE .................................................................................... 18 2.8.1. BRAND RECALL ......................................................................................................................... 19 2.8.2. BRAND ATTITUDE ...................................................................................................................... 20 2.9. ATTENTION AND EYE MOVEMENTS ........................................................................................ 21 2.10. PRODUCT PLACEMENT AND PURCHASE INTENTION ................................................................... 23 3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................... 25 iv The Effects of Product Placement, in Films, on the Consumers’ Purchase Intentions 3.1. PROPOSED CONCEPTUAL MODEL ........................................................................................... 25 3.2. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES ...................................................................................................... 25 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 30 4.1. CONTEXTUALIZATION .........................................................................................................
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