Synced Brand (Mis)Match Effect on Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intention

Team: Garim Lee, Ph.D. Candidate at College of Design, University of Minnesota; Asma Sifaoui, Ph.D. student at Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations, University of Texas-Austin; Claire M. Segijn, associate professor at Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota

Program: Retail and Consumer Studies - Apparel Studies, Design Graduate Program

Will advertising effectiveness differ depending on whether a synced ad is synchronized with the same or a competitor brand?

Synced advertising is a newly introduced personalized advertising strategy that uses real-time media consumption data. With synced advertising, consumers can simultaneously receive synchronized ads across media. Advanced programmatic advertising technologies, which allow real-time ad inventory transactions, enable the ad from the same brand and also competitor brands to be synchronized across media. We tested the differential effects depending on whether an ad is synchronized with the same or a competitor brand under the theoretical framework of repetition from the multi-layered concept of relatedness.

We conducted an online scenario-based experiment (Study 1; N=122) and an online task experiment (Study 2; N=227). Study 1 participants read the scenario, while Study 2 participants actually engaged in multitasking using their main and mobile devices. Study 1 results confirmed the positive effect of synced brand ads. Participants’ positive brand attitudes and purchase intention were the highest when the same brand was synced across media, followed by a competitor brand was synced, and no synchronization.

However, the differences were non-significant in Study 2. This research is one of the first that empirically tested the effectiveness of synced advertising with the same versus a competitor brand. This research offers theoretical, practical, and methodological implications.