In-game advertising: the role of newness congruence and interactivity

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effect of game newness and game interactivity on players’ brand recall and brand attitude using contrast effect, mind-engagement and transfer effect theories. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 (newness: congruent or incongruent) × 2 (game interactivity: high or low) between-subjects measures design was conducted. A total of 224 undergraduate management students participated in the study. A 2 × 2 between-subjects measures multivariate analysis of variance was used to test the hypotheses. Findings – Findings show that incongruent-newness results in higher brand recall but less favorable brand attitude. Under incongruent-newness condition, high interactivity results in higher brand recall. However, under congruent-newness condition, both high- and low-interactivity conditions result in similar brand recall. Under congruent-newness condition, high interactivity results in more favorable brand attitude, whereas under incongruent-newness condition, both high- and low-interactivity conditions result in similar brand attitude. Practical implications – Developing high brand recall rates and attitudes are the prime goals of advertisers for selecting a medium to promote their brands. This experimental study adds to the knowledge of online media advertising, especially in-game advertising (IGA) as a media-strategy to advertise brands taking newness and game-interactivity factors into consideration. Originality/value – From the perspectives of attention, cognitive elaboration, engagement and transportation of experience, this study adds to the literature of IGA by examining the impact of newness and game interactivity.