Effect of game-interactivity and congruence on presence and brand attitude

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of interactivity and game-product congruence on the players’ feelings of presence and their brand attitude in the context of in-game advertising. Specifically, this research illustrates the conditions under which the brand placements in digital games create attention, engagement, subsequent feelings of presence and brand attitude by drawing the insights from the “limited capacity model of attention,” the “vividness effects theory” and the “transportation theory.” Design/methodology/approach A 2 (interactivity: high or low)×2 (game-product congruence: high or low) between-subject measures design is used. In total, 152 students participated in the study. A 2×2 between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results reveal that for a high game-product congruent game, high interactivity results in greater levels of feelings of presence than a low-interactivity condition. However, for a low game-product congruent game, both high- and low-interactivity conditions result in the same level of presence. Furthermore, the findings also show that for a high game-product congruent game, high interactivity results in more favorable brand attitude than a low-interactivity condition. On the other hand, for a low game-product congruent game, both high- and low-interactivity conditions result in the same level of brand attitude. Research limitations/implications This paper provides implications for theory as well as practice by providing the empirical evidence of the combined effect of game-product congruence and interactivity on feelings of presence and brand attitude from the perspectives of attention, engagement and transportation of experiences in an emerging marketing context like India. The findings are useful for marketing practitioners in terms of effective in-game advertising, designing and execution. Future research can be conducted by exploring the in-game advertising effects of various other variables, such as product-involvement, game-involvement or game-repetition. Originality/value This investigation contributes to the literature of non-traditional advertising media, specifically to the area of branded entertainment, like brand placements in digital games by examining and exploring the influence of game-specific factors on the players’ feelings of presence and brand attitudes. Moreover, this paper is one of the first to reveal the real-time roles of game-specific factors in creating gamers’ feelings of presence and brand attitude from the perspectives of attention, engagement and transportation of experience in an emerging market context like India.