Cathy Nguyen

Are two brands better than one? Investigating the effects of co-branding in advertising on audience memory

Co-branded advertising, where advertisements feature two partnered brands from different categories, should ideally benefit both brands. We test this assertion by studying the effect of featuring a second brand in advertisements on ad and brand name memorability, and the role of category context on which brand is recalled. Our test covers online display advertisements for consumer-packaged brands paired with charity and retailer brands in three markets (USA, UK, and Australia). Independent sample comparisons across 54 brand pairs show that advertising two brands has a neutral effect on ad memorability and negative effect on brand memorability. Furthermore, the advertisement’s category context determines which of the brands is recalled. Our findings support a competitive interference theory of dual-brand processing, whereby the two brands compete for attention resources. The results have implications for the return on investment from advertising expenditure, which will vary substantively depending on whether the costs of advertising are shared or borne by one brand in the pair.

Is consumer psychology research ready for today’s attention economy?

ABSTRACT Attention has become an area of major interest in marketing research as a dependent or moderating variable. In this article, we argue for respondent attention as a pivotal part of any consumer psychology research protocol and highlight the risks of not incorporating realistic attention components into research design. We propose four areas where this approach can help the external validity of consumer psychology research. Our recommendations include accounting for variability in the baseline attention levels; smart use of distractions; allowing for variability in attention over the task and avoiding attention leading/assumptive questions.

Does an expanded brand user base of co-branded advertising help ad-memorability?

A well-established empirical generalization is that brand users are more likely than non-users to recall advertising for the brand they use. The pairing of a corporate and charity brand in advertising should create an expanded brand-user base, which should, in turn, lead to higher ad-memorability than either brand advertising alone. This study tests this hypothesis for consumer-packaged goods and charity brands in the United Kingdom and Australia. We find evidence that extends the generalization that ad-memorability is higher among brand users to charity supporters in non-profit contexts. We also find that when two brands are present, ad-memorability is highest among those who use the brand and support the partner charity. However, the uplift in ad-memorability among these dual-brand users is dampened by the lower ad-memorability experienced by those who use only one brand, due to a suspected information overload. The findings challenge accepted wisdom on the benefits of co-branded advertising and have implications for partner-selection for co-branded activities.