The Effect of Context Content and Immersion in Product Placements

Abstract

This graduation project is carried out for Greenhouse Group (GHG), a company that is active in the field of online marketing. Because the online marketing world is a competitive field, looking into innovative technologies like AR and VR is important. In this way they can find new ways to enhance their marketing position. AR is about supplementing the physical, real world environment with elements that are generated with a computer, while VR is about completely secluding a person’s view from the outside world by a head-mounted display, making the consumer feel like being in a virtual environment. These technologies can be used as innovative channels for product placements, making a product or brand appear in a virtual or augmented environment. Such technologies offer the option to easily adjust the context of the product placement and to make the consumer immerse into the environment of the placed product. These features might change the overall effectiveness of the product placement. Process The balance model, proposed by Russell and Stern (2006) was used as the basis of this research. The connections in the model were adapted to product placement situations, using holographic technologies (like AR and VR) as their channel. Like the initial model, the adapted one was based on Heider’s balance theory (1946). To find out whether this model is applicable to predict the effect of such product placements, an independent 2x2 research was carried out with 170 participants. Results The results of this research showed that the adapted balance model is applicable to predict the effect of product placement situations using AR or VR as their channel, but only when the consumer-context connection was evaluated as positive. The evaluation of this connection can significantly be influenced by the content of the context. Manipulating the level of immersion had a significant direct effect on the consumer’s attitude towards the placed RNP. When a content full context was shown, the immersion manipulation also affected the vividness and imaginability of the product. By knowing these findings, the effectiveness of product placements can be influenced. Conclusions Based on the results, recommendations for GHG and product innovation management could be made. The most important ones are: 1. Combining the benefits of AR and VR with other skills the company has can improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Such skills include using open data to find the consumer’s preferences, to realize the most effective context situation. 2. Add product placements into the increasingly popular immersive games. Compared to traditional product placements, this way seems less persuasive and results in a higher day after recall, and thus more effective product placements. 3. By changing a product placement’s context according to the consumer’s preferences, the product placement can be made more effective.