Guda van Noort

The effects of interactive brand placements in online games on children's cognitive, affective, and conative brand responses

This study investigated how persuasive messages integrated in an online game affects childrens cognitive, affective, and conative responses to the brand, as well as their attitude toward the game itself. An experiment conducted among 2453 girls between the ages of 11 and 17 demonstrated that confrontation with interactive brand placement in the game resulted in more positive attitudes toward the game, higher top of mind awareness of the brand, more positive brand images, and more favorable behavioral intentions. In addition, consistent with persuasion literature and theories on child development, this study showed that there was a three-way interaction effect between exposure to the brand placement, age, and prior brand use for behavioral intentions. The youngest girls who had no prior experience with the brand were more strongly influenced by the brand placement than the oldest girls who had no prior brand experience.

Getting closer: the effects of personalized and interactive online political communication

Political parties and politicians increasingly use the possibilities of the Internet to communicate interactively with citizens and vice versa. The Internet also offers opportunities for individual politicians to profile themselves. These developments are often said to bring politics closer to citizens, increasing their political engagement in politics. Empirical evidence for such claims is, however, scarce. In a scenario experiment and a laboratory experiment using real-world websites, the authors examine whether more personalized online communication (a focus on individual politicians) and the use of interactive features increase political involvement among citizens. The results from both studies demonstrate that both highly interactive and personalized online communication do increase citizens’ political involvement. Moreover, it was also found that political personalization positively moderates the effect of interactivity on political involvement, meaning that the effects of interactivity are even stronger in a personalized setting.

Tailored information for cancer patients on the Internet: effects of visual cues and language complexity on information recall and satisfaction

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to investigate the effects of visual cues and language complexity on satisfaction and information recall using a personalised website for lung cancer patients. In addition, age effects were investigated. METHODS An experiment using a 2 (complex vs. non-complex language)×3 (text only vs. photograph vs. drawing) factorial design was conducted. In total, 200 respondents without cancer were exposed to one of the six conditions. RESULTS Respondents were more satisfied with the comprehensibility of both websites when they were presented with a visual cue. A significant interaction effect was found between language complexity and photograph use such that satisfaction with comprehensibility improved when a photograph was added to the complex language condition. Next, an interaction effect was found between age and satisfaction, which indicates that adding a visual cue is more important for older adults than younger adults. Finally, respondents who were exposed to a website with less complex language showed higher recall scores. CONCLUSION The use of visual cues enhances satisfaction with the information presented on the website, and the use of non-complex language improves recall. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The results of the current study can be used to improve computer-based information systems for patients.

Unraveling the effects of active and passive forms of political Internet use: Does it affect citizens’ political involvement?

In the time since the rise of the Internet, it has often been claimed that it has the potential to contribute to the quality of democracy by fostering citizens’ involvement in politics. So far, empirical evidence regarding this purported effect has been mixed, and many questions about the consequences of specific forms of political Internet use (PIU) have remained unanswered. This study expands the knowledge about the relation between PIU and political involvement by examining the effect of active and passive forms of PIU on citizens’ political involvement: more specifically, interest and voter turnout during election times. The results obtained from a panel study of a representative sample of the Dutch population (N = 985) reveal a positive relation between particular forms of PIU on the one hand and voter turnout and political interest on the other hand. In addition, for two specific forms of PIU, the positive effect on voter turnout is more prevalent for citizens who exhibit lower levels of political interest.

Effects of Disclosing Sponsored Content in Blogs How the Use of Resistance Strategies Mediates Effects on Persuasion

This article presents two studies examining the effects of disclosing online native advertising (i.e., sponsored content in blogs) on people’s brand attitude and purchase intentions. To investigate the mechanisms underlying these effects, we integrated resistance theories with the persuasion knowledge model. We theorize that disclosures activate people’s persuasion knowledge, which in turn evokes resistance strategies that people use to cope with the persuasion attempt made in the blog. We tested our predications with two experiments (N = 118 and N = 134). We found that participants indeed activated persuasion knowledge in response to disclosures, after which they used both cognitive (counterarguing) and affective (negative affect) resistance strategies to decrease persuasion. The obtained insights do not only advance our theoretical understanding of how disclosures of sponsored blogs affect persuasion but also provide valuable insights for legislators, advertisers, and bloggers.

Enhancing the effects of social network site marketing campaigns

This study assesses the consequences of consumers’ self-disclosing of identification information in interactive advertising campaigns on social network sites (SNSs), for brand, product and campaign responses. Building on social response and brand relationship theory, these effects are predicted and tested in an experiment in which consumers did or did not provide personal information to the brand by interacting with an SNS campaign, identifying consumer concern about disclosing personal information as a moderator. The results demonstrate that consumers’ self-disclosure to the brand elicits favourable attitudinal and behavioural consumer responses, especially for individuals who have relatively low online privacy concerns in the SNS context.

Like or dislike? Adolescents’ responses to personalized social network site advertising

ABSTRACT Increasingly, personal data posted by users of social network sites (SNSs) can be used to personalize advertising. The present study investigates how adolescents respond to personalized ads in terms of attitude toward the ad, brand engagement and intention to forward, and whether privacy concerns moderate their responses. According to pretest results, a medium level of personalization was expected to be optimal in terms of advertising effectiveness. A within-subjects experiment involving 40 participants aged 14–18 years was performed. Three conditions of personalized advertising were designed with, respectively, low, medium, and high levels of personalization. The study found that the highest personalization condition generated the most positive response and that privacy concerns did not moderate the effects of personalization. The privacy paradox is discussed as an alternative explanation, along with other implications of the results.

Social Media in Advertising Campaigns Examining the Effects on Perceived Persuasive Intent, Campaign and Brand Responses

Inspired by the increasing popularity of advertising on social media, and especially on social network sites (SNSs), the aim of this study is to give insight into the effectiveness of SNS advertising. The first experimental study compares consumer responses to advertising on SNSs and television (TV) and demonstrates that while TV campaigns are evaluated more positively, SNS campaigns result in more favourable cognitive responses. Moreover, the persuasive intent of SNS campaigns is less recognized than for TV campaigns. Since SNSs are often combined with traditional media in advertising campaigns, the second study examines whether campaigns combining TV and SNSs lead to so-called synergy effects. Results showed that this was not the case: single-medium and multimedia campaigns were equally effective. The third study examines the role of perceived persuasive intent in this relationship and tests whether there is an indirect effect of type of campaign (multimedia or single-medium) on consumer responses via perceived persuasive intent. Results show that SNS–TV campaigns are perceived as less persuasive than SNS-only and TV-only campaigns, resulting in more favourable campaign and brand responses. In sum, the article provides empirical evidence for the value of integrating social media with traditional media in advertising campaigns.

The relationship between online campaigning and political involvement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between interactive and personal campaigning on social media and political involvement, and the mechanisms that explain the effects. Specifically, this study examines whether personal and interactive communication on Twitter increases political involvement among citizens through social presence and perceived expertise. Design/methodology/approach An experimental design – a 2 (low vs high interactivity)×3 (depersonalized vs individualized vs privatized communication) between-subjects design – is used. Findings The findings show that interactive communication leads to a stronger sense of social presence and source expertise, which positively affect involvement. The effects of personal campaigning differ. Individualized communication positively affects involvement via source expertise. Interestingly, privatized communication positively affects involvement via social presence, but negatively via source expertise. Originality/value Although a growing body of work examines the political consequences of social media, there is still very little understanding why social media affect citizens. The current study fills this void by investigating how the use of social media affects political involvement among citizens.

The online behavioural advertising icon: Two user studies

New Internet technologies provide the possibility of automated tracking of consumers’ Internet behaviour. Such tracking is used to create user profiles for the purpose of displaying advertisements that fit the interest of these individuals (e.g., Goldfarb and Tucker 2011; McDonald and Cranor 2010). Confident in the success of such targeted ads, businesses invested heavily in online targeted advertising and this spending is expected to increase.