FINDING THE RIGHT FIT: COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE BRAND EVALUATIONS OF PRODUCT PLACEMENTS ON YOUTUBE

Abstract

Changes in media consumption patterns and the development of alternative media platforms have prompted the need for professional marketers to adjust and rethink their strategies. Accordingly, YouTube product placements have been touted as an attractive proposition, given their emergent use in recent years. However, not much is known about their marketing effectiveness thus far. First, they have hitherto been embedded differentially into YouTube videos. Thus, it is imperative to consider if such differences, specifically in terms of cognitive fit and affective fit, matter to audiences and may hence translate into changes in brand evaluations. Second, as their usage becomes more overt, so have their for-profit purposes become more evident to viewers. Without the element of subtlety that is native to product placements, viewers may perceive them differently and if so, considerations also need to be taken as to whether such differences can affect their receptivity to brands and products embedded in YouTube videos. To investigate these conditions, a 2 x 2 factorial between-subjects online experiment with a video stimulus component was carried out with 186 undergraduate students. The data was analysed using a two-way MANCOVA and the Hayes’ PROCESS macro. The analyses revealed that only cognitive fit influenced product evaluations, brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Narrative enjoyment and attributions of altruistic sponsorship motives were shown to mediate the effects of cognitive fit on product evaluations and brand attitudes in a serial causal order, but not purchase intentions. Multiple indirect pathways through which affective fit influenced brand evaluations were also found, although its direct effect was insignificant. Overall, the findings offer an optimistic overview of the marketing effectiveness of product placements in YouTube videos. In theory, the use of separate cognitive and affective factors as a more specific model of examining congruency effects is also supported.