Pola B. Gupta

Product Placement in Movies: The Effect of Prominence and Mode on Audience Recall

Abstract A promotional strategy of growing interest is the placement of branded products in movies. An experiment compared the recall effectiveness of common product-placement strategies with each other and with advertising. Prominent placements elicited higher recall than did advertisements, which, in turn, outperformed subtle placements. The explicit mention of a product in the audio script (without a visual depiction) led to better recall than a subtle visual placement (without audio reinforcement). However, the addition of a complementary audio message did not significantly enhance the recall of a product that already enjoyed prominent visual display.

Product Placements in Movies: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Austrian, French and American Consumers' Attitudes toward This Emerging, International Promotional Medium

Abstract This paper reports on a cross-cultural study which tests the robustness of the approach developed by Gupta and Gould (1997) concerning use of product placements in movies. Using their American data as a comparison point, additional data using the same questionnaire were collected in Austria and France. As an international medium in which movies freely cross borders, product placement is also a less adaptable one, relative to commercials since it remains in the movie regardless of the nation where it is shown. Applying a three-pronged framework which considered country, product and individual differences and their interactive effects, the results of this study indicate the ways in which all three have an impact on the acceptability of product placements and on potential purchase behavior. Finally, implications for managing and further researching product placements based on this framework are drawn.

Information search and efficiency of consumer choices of new cars

The country‐of‐origin (CO) literature has traditionally focused on consumer product evaluations which are presumed to occur during the evaluation of alternative stages of the consumer buying decision process, where knowledge about product attribute information is either provided or assumed. Purchase behaviour has also mostly been measured by purchase intention. Examines the CO effects by incorporating the amount of prepurchase information search and the post‐purchase efficiency of choice measured by the amount of loss buyers incur for not choosing the same or higher quality car at a lower price. Shows that while CO did not affect the amount of pre‐purchase search, it had a significant impact on the efficiency of consumer choices.

COME ON DOWN: How Consumers View Game Shows and the Products Placed in Them

Game shows and the products placed in them as prizes are part of the broad mediascape that both advertisers and consumers inhabit. However, reflecting a dearth of research in this area, this paper reports on two interpretive studies of game show viewers to uncover the meanings they apply to the products placed as contest-puzzle subjects and/or prizes in these shows. A model emerged consisting of three interacting sites of constructed meaning--(1) consumers, (2) game shows, and (3) products placed--each with their own emergent themes. Implications are drawn that apply not only to game shows and the products placed in them, but also to related promotional mediascape meanings in general.

On the interpretation of price-quality relations

While low price-quality correlations are commonly cited as evidence of markets which are in some way inefficient, we argue in this paper that price-quality correlations do not necessarily reflect the degree of efficiency of a market. We first define a measure of market efficiency as the aggregate amount which consumers lose due to not choosing the maximum utility brand. Given this measure, and a model of consumer search behavior, we demonstrate analytically that losses in a particular market depend on the distribution of prices and qualities, on the number of alternative brands, and on the level of search costs, as well as on the price-quality correlation. We construct several numerical examples which demonstrate that losses need not be closely related to price-quality correlations.ZusammenfassungNiedrige Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelationen werden üblicherweise als Zeichen für geringe Effizienz von Märkten angesehen. Allerdings ist der genaue Zusammenhang zwischen Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelationen und Markteffizienz bisher niemals klar aufgezeigt und begründet worden. Dieser Beitrag möchte zeigen, daß solche Korrelationen nicht notwendigerweise ein guter Indikator für die Effizienz eines Marktes sind.Zunächst wird das maß für Markteffizienz als derjenige Gesamtbetrag definiert, den die Konsumenten dadurch verlieren, daß sie nicht die Marke oder Produktvariante mit dem größten Nutzen auswählen. Mit Hilfe eines Modelles für das Suchverhalten von Konsumenten wird abgeleitet, daß solche Verluste auf einem Market zwar auch von der Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelation abhängig sind, aber auch von der Preis- und Qualitätsverteilung, von der Zahl der konkurrierenden Fabrikate, sowie von der Höhe der Suchkosten. Einige konstruierte Zahlenbeispiele zeigen, daß die Verluste nicht einmal eng mit Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelationen verknüpft sein müssen. Darüberhinaus versuchen die Autoren, mit ihren Annahmen über das Suchverhalten und die Präferenzen von Konsumenten empirisch die Verluste für Produkte aus 14 Kategorien zu schätzen, bei denen Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelation leicht aus den Daten der amerikanischen Testzeitschrift Consumer Reports berechnet werden konnten. Diese Analyse zeigt, daß die Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelation ein ziemlich unwichtiger Indikator für Verluste ist.Es folgen einige Zahlenbeispiele, die auch die Anbieterseite und die Herstellerkosten in die Analyse miteinbeziehen. Diese Beispiele zeigen, daß die Verluste gegenüber der Preis- und Qualtätsvarianz mindestens ebenso sensitiv sind, wie sei es gegenüber der Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelation sind. Die Autoren können im Zusammenhang mit ihrem Modell sogar zeigen, daß die Verluste von den Kostenunterschieden zwischen Firmen und davon abhängen, daß die Suchkosten so hoch sind, daß Firmen mit hohen Kosten existenzfähig bleiben. Und weil sie es sind, die letztendlich darüber bestimmen, welche ineffizienten Marken überleben können, und deshalb indirekt die Variabilität der Preise und Qualitäten und die Preis-Qualitäts-Korrelation bestimmen, sind die Suchkosten wohl der aussagefähigste Indikator für die Markteffizienz. Die Analyse und Messung dieser Kosten macht weitere Anstrengungen erforderlich.

Traditional Master of Business Administration (MBA) Versus the MBA With Specialization: A Disconnection Between What Business Schools Offer and What Employers Seek

A trend in master of business administration (MBA) programs has been to offer more specializations beyond the traditional broad MBA. In this article, the authors explore the recruitment practices of business and the curricula of MBA programs comparing general MBA degrees with MBA degrees with specialization. The authors empirically examine whether employers prefer a general MBA or an MBA with a specialization. On the basis of an analysis of 758 employment advertisements and 27 MBA programs being offered by universities, the authors found a disconnection between what employers appeared to want and what business schools offered.

Response of buying‐center participants to B2B product placements

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review product‐placement research in the consumer‐marketing domain, examine the acceptability of the practice for buying‐center participants, and assess recall, attitude and purchase‐intention responses to B2B products placed in movie scenes.Design/methodology/approach – Achievement of the research objectives requires the collection of data from a sample of organizational buying‐center participants and their exposure to B2B placements in entertainment‐media contexts. Qualified participants observed a movie containing B2B products within the context of the feature. They then completed a short questionnaire concerning their observations and the impressions gained from that observation.Findings – Product placements, used prolifically to target household consumers, are beginning to expand into the B2B domain. This research reviews product‐placement research in the B2C domain and examines the acceptability of the practice for a sample of 127 buying‐center participants ...

Estimating the efficiency of consumer choices of new automobiles

Abstract The available literature indicates that consumers are likely to be less than perfectly informed when confronted with a choice situation. But whether the costs to consumers of imperfect information are large enough to warrant public intervention in markets is still an open question. By studying the optimality of new car choices, we attempt to shed light on this question in this study. We use individual-level preference data to rank the alternatives in each respondents choice set on the basis of quality. Defining a non-optimal choice as one in which the consumer could have purchased a brand of higher estimated quality for a lower price than the actual choice, we estimate the cost savings that would have resulted from buying the higher quality brand at the lower price. We go on to relate these estimated losses due to non-optimal choices to brands purchased and to consumer characteristics.

Comparison shopping on the internet

Though comparison shopping is used widely by online shoppers, very little research exists about how comparison shoppers differ from those who are not involved in comparison shopping. A survey of 208 US consumers identified comparison shoppers, both on and off the web. A comparison using the t-test analysis revealed that comparison shoppers, in contrast to those who are not involved in comparison shopping, have a more positive attitude towards shopping on the web; consumers find it more economical and convenient and believe it to offer more bargains and better selection than traditional shopping. Comparison shoppers also possess a more positive attitude to comparison shopping on the web, seeing it as convenient and easy.

On estimating market efficiency

In this paper, we discuss commentaries by Maynes and Hjorth-Andersen on our earlier paper (1990), and then go on to discuss the merits of various measures of market efficiency which have appeared in the literature. While Maynes criticized the model in our 1990 paper for a lack of realism, we argue that our limited objective of demonstrating that price-quality correlations are not necessarily related to market efficiency did not require a model which was realistic in all details. We also demonstrate that our basic conclusion that the price-quality correlation need not measure market efficiency does not depend on our theoretical model. Hjorth-Andersen advanced a number of alternative reasons why price-quality correlations may not measure efficiency, and we view his arguments largely as complementary to ours. The basic conclusion is that there are severe problems with interpreting measured price-quality correlations as measures of efficiency. We go on to discuss alternative measures. While no alternatives are completely satisfactory, we argue that measures based on deviations from an efficient frontier have some attractive properties, and are currently the most desirable alternative.ZusammenfassungDie Autoren gehen in diesem Beitrag auf die Kommentare von Maynes (1992) und Hjorth-Andersen (1992) zu ihrem früheren Beitrag in dieser Zeitschrift (1990) ein und diskutieren dann die verschiedenen Indikatoren der Markteffizienz, die in der Literatur vorgeschlagen wurden. WÄhrend Maynes das Modell des früheren Beitrages der Autoren wegen zu geringer RealitÄtsnahe kritisierte, halten die Autoren jetzt dagegen, da\ für das begrenzte Ziel jenes Beitrages, nÄmlich zu zeigen, da\ Preis-QualitÄts-Korrelationen nicht notwendigerweise mit Marktef-fizienz verknüpft sind, Wirklichkeitstreue in allen Details gar nicht erforderlich ist. Sie zeigen darüber hinaus, da\ ihre grundlegende Schlu\folgerung, da\ Preis-QualitÄts-Korrelationen nicht ein Ma\ der Markteffizienz sein müssen, von ihrem theoretischen Modell nicht einmal abhÄngt. Hjorth-Andersen führt eine Reihe weiterer Gründe an, deretwegen Preis-QualitÄts-Korrelationen keine Indikatoren für Effizienz sein mögen, die von den Autoren als ErgÄnzung der eigenen überlegungen angesehen werden. Das Hauptergebnis des vorliegenden Beitrages ist folglich, da\ es ernste Probleme bei der Interpretation solcher Korrelationen als Effizienz-Ma\e gibt. Sie diskutieren deshalb andere Indikatoren, von denen allerdings keiner vollstÄndig befriedigend ist. Allerdings dürften Ma\e, die die Abweichung von einer Grenzlinie günstigster EinkÄufe erfassen, zur Zeit die aussichtsreichste Möglichkeit sein.