TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumer Attitudes toward Sponsors’ Counterambush Marketing Ads
AU - Koenigstorfer, Joerg
AU - Uhrich, Sebastian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2017/6
Y1 - 2017/6
N2 - Since the existing measures to prevent ambush marketing are widely ineffective, sponsors can use countercommunications, a public response to an ambushing attempt that aims to strengthen their own brand, relative to the ambusher. This research examines consumer responses to three types of counterambush marketing ads: humorous complaining, naming and shaming, and consumer education. Three experimental studies using both real and fictitious brands as well as different event settings indicate that a humorous counterad (vs. naming and shaming and consumer education counterads) results in more favorable consumer evaluations of the countermessage. The studies also show that perceptions of the advertising tactic's appropriateness mediate these effects and that a humorous counterad is only advantageous when consumers hold positive (vs. negative) attitudes toward the practice of ambush marketing. In addition, comparing the three types of counterads with a common sponsorship leveraging ad suggests that a humorous counterad and simply ignoring the ambusher produce equal perceptions of tactical appropriateness and similar positive indirect effects on consumer attitudes toward the ad. The studies thus provide implications for how sponsors can respond to ambushers.
AB - Since the existing measures to prevent ambush marketing are widely ineffective, sponsors can use countercommunications, a public response to an ambushing attempt that aims to strengthen their own brand, relative to the ambusher. This research examines consumer responses to three types of counterambush marketing ads: humorous complaining, naming and shaming, and consumer education. Three experimental studies using both real and fictitious brands as well as different event settings indicate that a humorous counterad (vs. naming and shaming and consumer education counterads) results in more favorable consumer evaluations of the countermessage. The studies also show that perceptions of the advertising tactic's appropriateness mediate these effects and that a humorous counterad is only advantageous when consumers hold positive (vs. negative) attitudes toward the practice of ambush marketing. In addition, comparing the three types of counterads with a common sponsorship leveraging ad suggests that a humorous counterad and simply ignoring the ambusher produce equal perceptions of tactical appropriateness and similar positive indirect effects on consumer attitudes toward the ad. The studies thus provide implications for how sponsors can respond to ambushers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018966396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/mar.21011
DO - 10.1002/mar.21011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85018966396
SN - 0742-6046
VL - 34
SP - 631
EP - 647
JO - Psychology and Marketing
JF - Psychology and Marketing
IS - 6
ER -