Do ads that tell a story always perform better? The role of character identification and character type in storytelling ads

Dessart, Laurence

doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2017.12.009

Article (Scientific journals)

Do ads that tell a story always perform better? The role of character identification and character type in storytelling ads

Dessart, Laurence

2018 • In International Journal of Research in Marketing, 35 (2), p. 289-304

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2268/227826

DOI
10.1016/j.ijresmar.2017.12.009

Files (1)Send to Details Statistics Bibliography Similar publications

Files

Full Text

Dessart_IJRM_2018 .pdf

Publisher postprint (630.16 kB)

Request a copy

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to

RIS BibTex APA Chicago Permalink X Linkedin

Details

Keywords :

storytelling; narrative; digital marketing

Abstract :

[en] The growing use of storytelling as an advertising strategy for brands online poses the question of their relative effectiveness compared to more factual types of ads. In this context, this article focuses on the role of character identification and character type in the effects of narrative transportation that occur from storytelling ads. Using four experimental studies in two different contexts, two brand types, and two character types (human versus animal), the findings present a cautionary tale for the use of storytelling. By generating higher levels of narrative transportation, storytelling video ads can reduce character identification, which results in an overall decrease in positive attitude toward the brand, when using animal characters. These main findings are nuanced in the presence of joyful emotions. Implication for research and practice are discussed.

Disciplines :

Marketing

Author, co-author :

Dessart, Laurence ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > Marketing et intelligence stratégique

Language :

English

Title :

Do ads that tell a story always perform better? The role of character identification and character type in storytelling ads

Publication date :

2018

Journal title :

International Journal of Research in Marketing

ISSN :

0167-8116

eISSN :

1873-8001

Publisher :

Elsevier, Netherlands

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

289-304

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 17 September 2018

Statistics

Number of views

350 (22 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

5 (3 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

Bibliography

Adage, The most shared ads of 2015: Cute animals and do-good messaging dominate the top 20. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/media/cute-animals-good-messaging-dominate-shared-ads-2015/301431/, 2016 (Accessed Nov. 16, 2017).
Adaval, R., Wyer, R.S., The role of narratives in consumer information processing. Journal of Consumer Psychology 7:3 (1998), 207–245.
Addis, M., Holbrook, M.B., Consumers' identification and beyond: Attraction, reverence, and escapism in the evaluation of films. Psychology and Marketing 27:9 (2010), 821–845.
Adweek, Why it's time to kill advertising as we know it and start building “Storyworlds” lessons from Hollywood for marketers and brands. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-it-s-time-kill-advertising-we-know-it-and-start-building-storyworlds-172337, 2016.
Aggarwal, P., McGill, A.L., Is that car smiling at me? Schema congruity as a basis for evaluating anthropomorphized products. Journal of Consumer Research 34:4 (2007), 468–479.
Bagozzi, R.P., Dholakia, U.M., Mookerjee, A., Individual and group bases of social influence in online environments. Media Psychology 8:2 (2006), 95–126.
Belk, R.W., Extended self in a digital world. Journal of Consumer Research 40:3 (2013), 477–500.
Bennet, A., Royle, N., An introduction to literature, criticism and theory. 2004, Pearson Education, Harlow, UK.
Bergami, M., Bagozzi, R.P., Self-categorization, affective commitment and group self-esteem as distinct aspects of social identity in the organization. British Journal of Social Psychology 39:4 (2000), 555–577.
Bhattacharya, C.B., Sen, S., Consumer-company identification: A framework for understanding consumers' relationships with companies. Journal of Marketing 67:2 (2003), 76–88.
Bruner, J., The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry 18:1 (1991), 1–21.
Busselle, R., Bilandzic, H., Measuring narrative engagement. Media Psychology 12:4 (2009), 321–347.
Ching, R.K., Tong, P., Chen, J.S., Chen, H.Y., Narrative online advertising: Identification and its effects on attitude toward a product. Internet Research 23:4 (2013), 414–438.
Connell, P.M., The role of baseline physical similarity to humans in consumer responses to anthropomorphic animal images. Psychology and Marketing 30:6 (2013), 461–468.
Cooper, H., Schembri, S., Miller, D., Brand-self identity narratives in the James Bond movies. Psychology and Marketing 27:6 (2010), 557–567.
Curras-Pérez, R., Bigné-Alcaniz, E., Alvarado-Herrera, A., The role of self-definitional principles in consumer identification with a socially responsible company. Journal of Business Ethics 9 (2009), 547–564.
Deighton, J., Romer, D., McQueen, J., Using drama to persuade. Journal of Consumer Research 16:3 (1989), 335–343.
Delbaere, M., McQuarrie, E.F., Phillips, B.J., Personification in advertising. Journal of Advertising 40:1 (2011), 121–130.
Escalas, J.E., Narrative processing: Building consumer connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology 14:1&2 (2004), 168–180.
Escalas, J.E., Self-referencing and persuasion: Narrative transportation versus analytical elaboration. Journal of Consumer Research 33:March (2007), 421–429.
Escalas, J.E., Bettman, J.R., You are what they eat: The influence of reference groups on consumers' connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology 13:3 (2003), 339–348.
Escalas, J.E., Stern, B.B., Sympathy and empathy: Emotional responses to advertising dramas. Journal of Consumer Research 29:4 (2003), 566–578.
Fisher, R.J., Group-derived consumption: The role of similarity and attractiveness in identification with a favorite sports team. Alba, J.W., Hutchinson, J.W., (eds.) Advances in Consumer Research, 25, 1998, 283–288.
Fornell, C., Larcker, D.F., Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research 18:1 (1981), 39–50.
Fournier, S., Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research 24:4 (1998), 343–373.
Gerrig, R.J., Narrative thought?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20:6 (1994), 712–715.
de Graaf, A., Hoeken, H., Sanders, J., Beentjes, J.W., Identification as a mechanism of narrative persuasion. Communication Research 39:6 (2012), 802–823.
Green, M.C., Brock, T.C., The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 2000, 701.
Green, M.C., Brock, T.C., Kaufman, G.F., Understanding media enjoyment: The role of transportation into narrative worlds. Communication Theory 14 (2004), 311–327.
Green, M.C., Garst, J., Brock, T.C., The power of fiction: Determinants and boundaries. Shrum, L.J., (eds.) The psychology of entertainment media: Blurring the lines between entertainment and persuasion, 2004, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 161–176.
Green, M.C., Tesser, A., Wood, J.V., Stapel, D.A., Transportation into narrative worlds: Implications for the self. Tesser, A., Wood, J.V., Stapel, D.A., (eds.) Building, defending and regulating the self: A psychological perspective, 2005, Psychology Press, New York, NY, 53–75.
Guido, G., Peluso, A.M., Brand anthropomorphism: Conceptualization, measurement, and impact on brand personality and loyalty. Journal of Brand Management 22:1 (2015), 1–19.
Hanks, L., Line, N., Yang, W., Status seeking and perceived similarity: A consideration of homophily in the social servicescape. International Journal of Hospitality Management 60 (2017), 123–132.
Hayes, A.F., Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. 2013, Guilford Press, New York, NY.
Herskovitz, S., Crystal, M., The essential brand persona: Storytelling and branding. Journal of Business Strategy 31:3 (2010), 21–28.
Hirschman, E.C., Predictors of self-projection, fantasy fulfillment, and escapism. The Journal of Social Psychology 120:1 (1983), 63–76.
Hirschman, E.C., Evolutionary branding. Psychology and Marketing 27:6 (2010), 568–583.
Hoffman, D.L., Novak, T.P., Marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated environments: Conceptual foundations. The Journal of Marketing 60:3 (1996), 50–68.
Hoffner, C., Buchanan, M., Young adults' wishful identification with television characters: The role of perceived similarity and character attributes. Media Psychology 7 (2005), 325–351.
Holbrook, M.B., Batra, R., Assessing the role of emotions as mediators of consumer responses to advertising. Journal of Consumer Research 14 (1987), 404–420.
Hollenbeck, C.R., Kaikati, A.M., Consumers' use of brands to reflect their actual and ideal selves on Facebook. International Journal of Research in Marketing 29:4 (2012), 395–405.
Holt, D.B., How brands become icons: The principles of cultural branding. 2004, Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA.
Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M.S., Madden, T., The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing 33:1 (2015), 27–41.
Kannan, P.K., Li, H.A., Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda. International Journal of Research in Marketing 34:1 (2017), 22–45.
Kelly, L., Kerr, G., Drennan, J., Avoidance of advertising in social networking sites: The teenage perspective. Journal of Interactive Advertising 10:2 (2010), 16–27.
Kim, S., McGill, A.L., Gaming with Mr Slot or gaming the slot machine? Power, anthropomorphism, and risk perception. Journal of Consumer Research 38:1 (2011), 94–107.
van Laer, T., de Ruyter, K., In stories we trust: How narrative apologies provide cover for competitive vulnerability after integrity-violating blog posts. International Journal of Research in Marketing 27:2 (2010), 164–174.
van Laer, T., de Ruyter, K., Visconti, L.M., Wetzels, M., The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers' narrative transportation. Journal of Consumer Research 40:5 (2014), 797–817.
Lancendorfer, K.M., Atkin, J.L., Reece, B.B., Animals in advertising: Love dogs? Love the ad!. Journal of Business Research 61:5 (2008), 384–391.
MacKenzie, S.B.G., Lutz, R.J., An empirical examination of the structural antecedents of attitude toward the ad in an advertising pretesting context. Journal of Marketing 53:2 (1989), 48–65.
McFarland, S.G., Effects of question order on survey responses. Public Opinion Quarterly 45 (1981), 208–215.
Miles, C., Ibrahim, Y., Deconstructing the meerkat: Fabular anthropomorphism, popular culture, and the market. Journal of Marketing Management 29:15–16 (2013), 1862–1880.
Mollen, A., Wilson, H., Engagement, telepresence and interactivity in online consumer experience: Reconciling scholastic and managerial perspectives. Journal of Business Research 63:9 (2010), 919–925.
Oatley, K., A taxonomy of the emotions of literary response and a theory of identification in fictional narrative. Poetics 23:1 (1994), 53–74.
Pace, S., YouTube: An opportunity for consumer narrative analysis?. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 11:2 (2008), 213–226.
Padgett, D., Allen, D., Communicating experiences: A narrative approach to creating service brand image. Journal of Advertising 26:4 (1997), 49–62.
Polyorat, K., Alden, D.L., Kim, E.S., Impact of narrative versus factual print ad copy on product evaluation: The mediating role of ad message involvement. Psychology and Marketing 24:6 (2007), 539–554.
Rifon, N.J., Choi, S.M., Trimble, C.S., Li, H., Congruence effects in sponsorship: The mediating role of sponsor credibility and consumer attributions of sponsor motives. Journal of Advertising 33 (2004), 29–42.
Schank, R.C., Abelson, R.P., Knowledge and memory: The real story. Advances in Social Cognition, 8, 1995, 1–85.
Sicilia, M., Ruiz, S., The effects of the amount of information on cognitive responses in online purchasing tasks. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9:2 (2010), 183–191.
Sirgy, M.J., Using self-congruity and ideal congruity to predict purchase motivation. Journal of Business Research 13:3 (1985), 195–206.
Slater, M.D., Rouner, D., Entertainment—Education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of narrative persuasion. Communication Theory 12:2 (2002), 173–191.
Stern, B., Authenticity and the textual persona: Postmodern paradoxes in advertising narrative. International Journal of Research in Marketing 11 (1994), 387–400.
Super Bowl Commercials, The 9 best 2016 super bowl animal ads. Retrieved from http://www.superbowlcommercials.co/best-commercials/best-2016-super-bowl-animal-commercials/, 2016 (Accessed Nov 16, 2017).
Tal-Or, N., Cohen, J., Understanding audience involvement: Conceptualizing and manipulating identification and transportation. Poetics 38:4 (2010), 402–418.
Wegener, D.T., Petty, R.E., Smith, S.M., Positive mood can increase or decrease message scrutiny: The hedonic contingency view of mood and message processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69:1 (1995), 1–15.
Weick, K.E., What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly 40:3 (1995), 385–390.
Wentzel, D., Tomczak, T., Herrmann, H., The moderating effect of manipulative intent and cognitive resources on the evaluation of narrative ads. Psychology and Marketing 27:5 (2010), 510–530.
Woodside, A.G., Brand-consumer storytelling theory and research: Introduction to a Psychology & Marketing special issue. Psychology and Marketing 27:6 (2010), 531–540.
Woodside, A.G., Sood, S., Miller, K.E., When consumers and brands talk: Storytelling theory and research in psychology and marketing. Psychology and Marketing 25:2 (2008), 97–145.
Yee, N., Motivations for play in online games. Cyberpsychology & Behavior 9:6 (2006), 772–775.
Zhang, Y., Moe, W.W., Schweidel, D.A., Modeling the role of message content and influencers in social media rebroadcasting. International Journal of Research in Marketing 34:1 (2017), 100–119.