The effectiveness of the usage of a brand mascot in advertising for a music festival

(1)

The effectiveness of the usage of a brand mascot in

advertising for a music festival

Maaike Steenhuis 10871578

Master’s Thesis 24 June 2016 MSc. in Business Administration

Entrepreneurship and Management in the Creative Industries Track Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam

(2)

Statement of originality

This document is written by Maaike Steenhuis who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original

and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of

(3)

Acknowledgement

This thesis is the final milestone of my study at the Amsterdam Business School. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Frederik Situmeang for his supervision. He encouraged me to keep on improving the thesis, by thinking harder and by providing me with constructive criticism. Next to that, I would like to thank the organization of Op Dreef! Festival as they helped in boosting the response rate of the survey. They sponsored two tickets to the festival, which I raffled among all respondents.

(4)

Appendix B4, Table 7. Conditional effect of openness on brand-self connection. 8 Appendix B5.1, Table 8. Mediation effect of perceived differentiated position on purchase intention. 8 Appendix B5.2, Table 9. Mediation effect of perceived differentiated position on purchase intention. 9 Appendix B5.3, Table 10. Mediation effect of perceived differentiated position on willingness-to-pay. 9 Appendix B5.4, Table 11. Mediation effect of perceived differentiated position on willingness-to-pay. 9 Appendix B6.1, Table 12. Mediation effect of brand-self connection on purchase intention. 9 Appendix B6.2, Table 13. Mediation effect of brand-self connection on purchase intention. 10 Appendix B6.3, Table 14. Mediation effect of brand-self connection on willingness-to-pay. 10 Appendix B6.4, Table 15. Mediation effect of brand-self connection on willingness-to-pay. 10 Appendix B7.1, Table 16. Mediation effect of purchase intention on willingness-to-pay with brand-self

connection as the independent variable 10

Appendix B7.2, Table 17. Mediation effect of purchase intention on willingness-to-pay with brand-self

connection as the independent variable 11

Appendix B8.1, Table 18. Mediation effect of purchase intention on willingness-to-pay with attitude

towards the advertisement as the independent variable 11

Appendix B8.2, Table 19. Mediation effect of purchase intention on willingness-to-pay with attitude

towards the advertisement as the independent variable 11

Appendix B9.1, Table 20. Mediation effect of attitude towards the advertisement on purchase intention with openness as independent variable, for the brand mascot condition (N=208) 11 Appendix B9.2, Table 21. Mediation effect of attitude towards the advertisement on purchase intention with openness as independent variable, for the brand mascot condition (N=208) 12 Appendix B9.3, Table 22. Mediation effect of purchase intention on willingness-to-pay with attitude towards the advertisement as the independent variable, for the brand control condition (N=184) 12 Appendix B9.4, Table 23. Mediation effect of purchase intention on willingness-to-pay with attitude towards the advertisement as the independent variable, for the brand control condition (N=184) 12 Appendix B10.1, Table 24. Kruskal-Wallis test of condition and perceived differentiated position, brand-self connection, openness, purchase intention, willingness-to-pay, credibility towards the

advertisement and attitude towards the advertisement. 13

Appendix B10.2, Table 25. A Mann-Whitney U-test of condition and perceived differentiated position, brand-self connection, openness, purchase intention, willingness-to-pay, credibility towards the

(6)

Abstract

Brand managers apply a brand mascot in advertising for experiential products to be able to communicate with consumers. This thesis examines whether the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement for a music festival is related to a greater perceived differentiated position and brand-self connection, than when no brand mascot is used in the advertisement. The perceived differentiated position indicates that consumers think that the music festival stands out compared to other music festivals and is different than other music festivals. The brand-self connection is the connection consumers have with a brand by relating the brand to themselves. Moreover, this thesis examines whether greater levels of perceived differentiated position and brand-self

connection relate to greater levels of purchase intention and willingness-to-pay. Additionally, this thesis finds out whether consumers who score higher on the dimension of openness are more likely to have a greater relation between the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement and the brand-self connection. After analysing the data that are collected via an online survey, statistical evidence shows that the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement for a music festival does not relate to higher levels of perceived differentiated position and brand-self connection, compared to an advertisement wherein no brand mascot is visible. However, additional analyses show that individual differences with regards to the level of openness do mater when looking at the consumers’ attitude towards the advertisement that includes a brand mascot. Moreover, the consumers’ purchase intention positively mediates the relation between the attitude consumers have towards the advertisement and willingness-to-pay, as well as the relation between the brand-self connection of that music festival and willingness-to-pay.

(7)

1. Introduction

A brand mascot is a non-human fictional character that represents the impersonation of the values and personalities of a brand (Cayla, 2013; Cohen, 2014). The goal of using a brand mascot in advertising is to transmit positive feelings and opinions to the consumers about the brand (Cohen, 2014). A brand mascot is a type of spokes-character. Just like a brand mascot, spokes-characters are non-human characters created by a firm that serve as a tool to communicate with the consumers (Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). However, whereas spokes-characters always promote the brand by verbally communicating to the consumers, a brand mascot does not always do this (Cohen, 2014). Moreover, brand managers use a brand mascot for one brand only whereas they may apply the same spokes-character for multiple brands (Cohen, 2014).

Originally, a mascot is a character like a stuffed animal or a thing that is supposed to bring good luck to win sport games (Cohen, 2014). The sport mascot serves as a character that excites the fans and gives the fans a feeling of coherence (Jacobsen, 2013). As an example, ‘Dutchy’ is a fictional lion that is the mascot of the Dutch football team. The mascots serve in sports as a symbol for a team or a club. Sport fans visibly show that they support clubs, by for instance wearing clothes with the mascot on it or holding stuffed copies of the mascot during matches (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Jacobsen, 2013). Thus in sports a mascot is not only a symbol for good luck, it also serves as an identity-signalling tool.

In marketing, however, brand managers use brand mascots in their advertising to boost sales instead of to bring luck (Cohen, 2014; Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). Since the end of the nineteenth century, brand managers of all kinds of industries make use of brand mascots in their advertising (Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). Examples of such brand mascots are Ronald

(8)

Mouse of Walt Disney in the film industry, Pardoes of the Dutch theme park de Efteling and Bibindum the Michelin Man in the transport industry. Also within the music festival industry brand managers are deploying brand mascots. Examples are Rapid Razor Bob who is the brand mascot of the Dutch festival Lowlands (Hengeveld, 2012), and the owl of the corporate firm of the festival brand Insomniac (Matthews, 2015).

Because of new technological possibilities, the number of brand mascots in advertising over the internet is increasing (Stafford et al., 2002). Reasons for this growth are the potential advantages that come with using a brand mascot in advertising. One advantage of having a brand mascot in advertising is that it allows brand managers to communicate with consumers through a character (Cohen, 2014). Moreover, the design of the brand mascot is within the firm’s control. Therefore, the thoughts and feelings consumers have when they think about a brand are easier to manage by using a brand mascot than by using an endorser in advertising (Keller, 2005). Brand managers use the brand mascot as a tool to link positive thoughts and feelings to the brand, in order to improve the consumers’ attitude towards the brand (Keller, 2005). The more favourable the attitude of consumers towards a brand, the more likely the consumers are to purchase

products from that brand (Shimp, 1981; Park & McInnis, 2006). On top of that, a brand mascot can express the personality of a brand which in turn allows consumers to identify with the brand (Aaker, 1997). When consumers like this personality, it is more likely that they like the brand and purchase products from it (Aaker, 1997). Another advantage of using a brand mascot within advertising is that consumers can more easily remember a brand because the brand mascot

provides a source of tangibility to intangible products (Eisend & Stokburger-Sauer, 2013). In turn when a brand is more on top of mind of the consumers, consumers are more likely to purchase products from it (Keller, 2001).

(9)

However, it is not clear yet whether a brand also stands out compared to other brands because the usage of a brand mascot in its advertising. Brand managers try to ensure that their brands are different than other brands, as they believe it helps to survive the competition (Keller et al., 2002). When consumers are being exposed to a brand, thoughts and feelings come to mind that are known as brand associations (Keller, 2001). Once these associations are „strong”,

„favourable" and „unique” in the sense that they are different from the associations of brands that offer the same products, the brand is positioned well in the mind of the consumer (Keller, 2001, p. 18). The better a brand is positioned in the mind of a consumer, the more likely it is that the consumer chooses this brand above other brands. To strengthen the position of the brand in the mind of the consumer, several brand elements (e.g. the „logo”, „name”, „slogan” etc.) reinforce the brand associations (Keller, 2005, p. 20). The brand mascot is one of those brand elements.

Existing research focus mainly on the characteristics of the brand mascot, in order to explain why or when the usage of a brand mascot is effective (Folse et al., 2012; Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). But, it is not clear yet whether consumers perceive the brand to be distinct from other brands because of the brand mascot. If the consumers see the brand as distinct from brands that offer the same products, the brand has a perceived differentiated position (Sujan & Bettman, 1989). So firstly, this thesis aims to find whether the usage of a brand mascot in advertising is effective because the brand has a perceived differentiated position.

Next to that, consumers may try to connect to a brand mascot. Advertising over the internet, hereafter online advertising, offers new ways to build consumer-relationships. On social media platforms, such as Facebook, organizations and consumers build brand fan pages that help to increase the brand loyalty of the consumers (De Vries et al., 2012; Laroche et al., 2013;). Some brand mascots are so strongly positioned in the consumers’ minds, that they become brands on their own (Chang, 2014). For example, Ronald McDonald has its own Facebook Page. Such fan

(10)

pages can form the basis of brand communities. Brand communities consist of individuals who rate a certain brand very positively and who are mutually connected, even though they might be distant from each other (Muniz & O’guinn, 2001). These brand community members feel a strong connection to the same brand (Muniz & O’guinn, 2001). Garretson and Niedrich (2004) question whether a brand mascot enhances the consumers’ connection to a brand. One aspect of that connection is the „brand-self connection” which is „the cognitive and emotional connection between the brand and the self” (Whan Park et al., 2010, p.2). Attributing human characteristics to a brand facilitates a relationship between the consumer and the brand (Fournier, 1998; Alvarez & Fournier, 2016). An emotional connection can be seen as “the emotional bond connecting an individual with a consumption entity” (Park & MacInnis, 2006, p. 17). Once a consumer is emotionally attached towards a brand, it enhances the attitude consumers have towards the brand (Park & MacInnis, 2006). That may change the behaviour of the consumers, in that their intention to purchase the product is higher (Park & MacInnis, 2006). To make consumers feel attached to a brand and to make them identify with a brand, brand managers deploy brand mascots in their advertisements (Delbaere et al., 2011). However, whether a brand mascot allows for connecting consumers’ own identity to a brand remains unclear (Alvarez & Fournier, 2016). So secondly, this thesis aims to study whether the usage of a brand mascot in advertising is effective because it enhances the consumers’ brand-self connection.

Moreover, whether individual differences can explain why some people feel a connection to a brand mascot is also questionable. Existing research does not focus on individual differences with regards to whether consumers connect to a brand mascot or not. However, consumers have different personalities that may explain their attitude towards a brand mascot (Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). More specifically, since a brand mascot is a fictional character, it may be that people who have a greater imagination will have a more favourable attitude towards the brand

(11)

mascot. People with a greater imagination score high on openness, which is one of the Big Five personality dimensions (Füller et al., 2008). This thesis fills in an existing gap in research by examining the relation between the usage of a brand mascot in advertising and brand-self connection while taking individual differences on the dimension of openness into account. That is, this thesis studies whether individual differences on the dimension of openness allow for a stronger relationship between the usage of a brand mascot in advertising and the brand-self connection.

Taken together, this thesis aims to find answers to the following research questions:

To what extent can the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement be effective, as it relates to a perceived differentiated position or a brand-self connection? To what extent does a relation between the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement and the brand-self connection differ between individuals when looking at their level of openness?

The context of this thesis is the music festival industry. A music festival is an event that usually occurs once a year and where music performances take place. A music festival is an experiential creative product, which means that it requires consumption before the consumer can evaluate the product (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). Especially because of this experiential character of a music festival, a brand mascot may provide a source of tangibility to this product. Moreover, the brand mascot may inspire the consumers by evoking feelings relating to the experience (Pine & Gilmore, 1998), which may relate to greater brand-self connection.

But there is another reason why the context of the music festival industry suits to examine the research questions. Existing research shows that advertisements can be effective by using a celebrity as an endorser or by making comparisons with brands that offer similar products (Kalra & Goodstein, 1998; Rindova et al., 2004). However, for the creative industries these two

(12)

company operating in the creative industries is not fully artistically interested, once the

advertising of this company focusses mainly on commercial outcomes (Caves, 2003). The usage of a brand mascot in advertising may be a subtler way of promoting the brand, which thus may be more effective for creative products.

Next to that, it seems especially now important that music festivals are perceived to be differentiated. That is because the number of music festivals are growing in the Netherlands, since this number increased from 708 in 2012 to 801 in 2014 (Respons, 2015). A reason for this growth is that on the demand side, the costs for attending a music festival decreased while the consumers’ purchasing power as well as their amount of time off increased (Frey, 1994). With regards to the supply side, compared to a fixed institution like an opera house, a music festival has the benefit that it has less fixed labour costs which makes it attractive for entrepreneurs to start a music festival (Frey, 1994).

The intensified competition as a result of the growth of music festivals has led some festivals to crash (Leenders, 2010). This calls for better ways to attract and retain consumers, thereby laying the emphasis on the marketing activities of the music festivals. Therefore, the results of this thesis may lead to important implications for festival organizers. Especially

because music festivals occur usually once a year, relying on loyal consumers who have a strong brand-self connection may be beneficial (Whan Park et al., 2010). Brand loyalty is recognized by consumers who; purchase products of a brand on a regular basis (Dick & Basu, 1994); have a feeling of affinity to other consumers who love the brand, express that they love the brand and sometimes even participate in brand communities (Keller, 2001; Muniz & O’guinn, 2001). A brand that has loyal consumers is more resistant to competitors and other external threats (Keller, 2001).

(13)

festival to be differentiated are beneficial for music festivals in particular because of the current competitive marketplace. Particularly in the competitive music festival industry, a brand mascot in advertising may be of great importance if it is effective. Within this thesis, willingness-to-pay and purchase intention are the measures for the effectiveness. The underlying premise is that a brand mascot enhances the brand’s perceived differentiated position and the brand-self

connection of the consumer towards the brand, thereby increasing the consumers’ willingness-to-pay and intention to go to a music festival. To support that premise, the next chapter consists of a literature review that provides a brief overview of important existing research with regards to brand mascots. That discussion of the existing research results in five hypotheses. After that, the research design and strategy, data collection and data analysis follows. After describing the results, a discussion of the findings continues with theoretical and marketing implications. The findings of this thesis provide recommendations with respect to the usage of a brand mascot in advertising, by focusing on the perceived differentiated brand position and the brand-self connection and taking individual differences into account.

2. Literature review and hypotheses

A brand mascot is one of the elements that help to build a brand (Keller, 2005). So the first section describes branding in relation to a brand mascot. The second section explains brand anthropomorphism, which is a tendency of human beings that explains why advertisers design brand mascots. Thereafter, arguments based on existing research are supporting the hypotheses.

2.1 Branding

(14)

distinguishing the products from the ones offered by competitors (Keller, 1993). Consumers value the products they use, as well as the brand of those products. When consumers evaluate the same product with and without a brand name and the product that includes the brand name scores higher than the product without it, then brand creates value for the consumer. That value is also called „customer-based brand equity” (Keller 1993, p. 8). That value can be ascribed to the brand only, and not to other characteristics of the product (Keller, 1993). That is why branding is important to brand managers, because a brand may create an extra value to the consumers. This value means more value for the company as well, as consumers are willing to pay more for products of brands with a higher customer-based brand equity (Keller, 2001).

If a brand has customer-based brand equity, the brand stands out in the eyes of those consumers. However, in order to create a brand and customer-based brand equity the consumers firstly need to know the brand (Keller, 2003). After that, the consumers associate the brand with certain characteristics, feelings or thoughts. As indicated in the introduction, these feelings, thoughts or characteristics are the brand associations (Keller, 2001). The brand associations help consumers to activate the brand in their minds. The stronger the brand associations are linked to the brand, the more easily the brand is activated in the mind of the consumers (Keller, 2001). Altogether, those brand associations form eventually the attitude a consumer has towards a brand (Keller, 2001).

A brand mascot can be one of those brand associations in the mind of the consumers. The brand mascot is a brand element that is directly linked to the brand and completely under the control of the brand mangers (Keller, 2005). Other examples of brand elements are “names, logos, symbols, slogans, and packaging” (Keller, 2005, p. 20). A brand element can be defined as „a trademarkable visual or verbal information that identifies and differentiates a product or service” (Keller, 2005, p. 20). Each brand is built around brand elements, that help the brand to

(15)

be different compared to other brands. These brand elements reinforce the brand every time a consumer is in contact with a brand (Keller, 2005). Therefore, the brand elements can be seen as free advertising tools. A brand mascot as a brand element derives from brand anthropomorphism.

2.2 Brand anthropomorphism

The creation of a brand mascot comes from anthropomorphism, which includes assigning human characteristics to non-human things such as „ humanlike mental capacities (e.g.,

intentionality, emotion, cognition)” (Waytz et al., 2010, p. 220). People have a natural tendency to anthropomorphise (Waytz et al., 2010). According to Epley et al. (2007), factors underlying the tendency to anthropomorphise are „sociality” and „effectance” (p. 871). Both factors help to understand how anthropomorphism can be effective for brands (Epley et al., 2007).

Sociality involves the tendency to be connected to other people (Epley et al., 2007). Research suggests that human beings attribute human characteristics to non-human things in order to build a connection with it (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007; Fournier, 1998; Guido et al., 2014; Kim & Kramer, 2015). The underlying premise behind it is that if a person wants to interact with a materialistic object or brand, human characteristics needs to be attributed to it. After attributing human characteristics to it, the object or brand is seen as a partner that in acts a certain way and thus consumers can form a relationship or connection with it (Fournier, 1998). For instance, having a relationship with a brand already seems a manner of anthropomorphising since a brand is a non-human thing (Fournier, 1998). So firstly, brand anthropomorphism allows consumers to build a relationship with a brand. This is important, since having a relation with a brand is one of the first steps to having loyal consumers (Keller, 2001). A deeper discussion of this sociality motivation follows when elaborating hypothesis 1.

(16)

The effectance motivation involves the fact that people try to understand the things around them by attributing familiar characteristics to things (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007). Effectance is the tendency to control the surroundings, in order to reduce the uncertainty of the unknown and thus allowing people to make sense of the world around them (Epley et al., 2007). So secondly, brand anthropomorphism helps people to understand unknown things. People are more likely to become loyal to the brand if they perceive this brand as being anthropomorphised, because it reduces the uncertainties of the unknown (Hudson et al., 2015-2). This effectance motivation comes back when discussing hypothesis 3.

Brand managers apply different strategies in order to anthropomorphise a brand (Cohen, 2014). Brand managers use celebrities or spoke-persons in advertising to provide the brand with a face. However, this is usually an expensive option (Brown, 2010), plus brand managers cannot fully control the design of those spokes-persons (Keller, 2005). Moreover, people with

democratic differences may differ in their attitude towards the spokes-persons (Brown, 2010). A second strategy is anthropomorphising products in advertising. That strategy involves attributing human characteristics to products (Delbaere et al., 2011). An example is a car that appears to be smiling in an advertisement (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007). In their research, Aggarwal and McGill (2007) suggest that the evaluations of the advertisements of products are more positive when the products are anthropomorphised. They find that the advertisements wherein products seem to have facial expressions, receive higher consumers’ evaluations than the advertisements of

products that do not seem to have facial expressions. However, consumers do not greater evaluate anthropomorphised products that do not seem to have a face (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007).

Another strategy of brand anthropomorphism that brand managers apply is the usage of a brand mascot or other spokes-characters. This strategy can also be beneficial for a brand. The spokes-character may strengthen the associations the marketers want the consumers to perceive

(17)

in relation to their brands (Keller, 2005). Moreover, the spokes-character may transmit positive feelings and thoughts to the consumers about the brand, which may result in a more positive brand attitude (Keller, 2001). Next to a more positive attitude of consumers towards the brand, a spokes-character can increase the likelihood for consumers to remember the brand (Folse et al., 2013; Garretson & Burton, 2005). When consumers can easily remember a brand, the brand is more on top of mind (Keller, 2001). Garretson & Burton (2005) propose that advertising that does not include a spokes-character is more susceptive to advertising of other companies. Their argument is that a spokes-character is more unique and thus better stands out compared to advertisements of other companies that do not include a spokes-character. Additionally, Folse et al. (2013) go one step further by arguing that a spokes-character can protect the value of a brand against negative publicity. However, this is only the case when the spokes-character is not linked to the negative publicity and when the spokes-character evokes feelings of trust. The reason for this is that the spokes-character reminds the consumers of positive thoughts and feelings, which may overcome the negative attitude (Folse et al., 2013).

But, consumers may perceive the spokes-character as unpleasant, flabbily or cheap (Cohen, 2014; Delbaere et al., 2011). Therefore, it is important that consumers perceive the spokes-character as credible and honest (Cotte et al., 2005). Still, Delbaere et al. (2011) suggest that anthropomorphising products is better than using spokes-characters, since many brand managers apply spokes-characters in advertising which may bore the consumers. However, for firms that offer experiential products, like a music festival, it is not possible to anthropomorphise the product since the product is not tangible (Pine & Gilmore, 1998).

Especially for music festivals, the usage of a spokes-character in advertising sounds promising. Firstly, a spokes-character is a tool to anthropomorphise the brand when the products offered by the brand are intangible. Secondly, existing research suggests that spokes-characters in

(18)

advertising need to fit with the product that is being advertised for (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007; Stafford et al., 2002). The usage of a spokes-character in advertising seems more effective for hedonic than for utilitarian products. A utilitarian product fulfils the functional needs of a

consumer, whereas a hedonic product fulfils more emotional needs like pleasure. More precisely, when people consume hedonic products multiple senses and feelings are activated (Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982). In their research, Stafford et al. (2002) use a spokes-character in advertising for a bank and for a restaurant. The advertisement with the spokes-character scores better with regards to stimulating feelings, attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise, for the restaurant than for the bank (Stafford et al., 2002). A possible explanation for this is that more functional products evoke less senses than hedonic products (Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982), thus for hedonic products a spokes-character may reinforce these senses whereas it may not for a utilitarian product. Moreover, consumers find it more important that a utilitarian product functions properly whereas they value more the emotional benefits of hedonic products (Aaker, 1996; Geuens et al., 2011). Therefore, especially for a music festival that is a hedonic product, a spokes-character in an advertisement may be more influential.

One type of spokes-characters is a brand mascot. This brand mascot is „a recognizable and distinctive personified character, exclusively associated with the brand, who, supported by the brand’s messaging, and not necessarily by the mascot’s own verbalizations, is positioned to generate goodwill as well as positive imagery, thoughts, and feelings toward the brand” (Cohen, 2014, p. 5). Like mentioned in the introduction, brand managers use a brand mascot for one brand only, but a spokes-character can promote multiple brands. On top of that, brand managers make promotional demands via spokes-characters whereas a brand mascot does not always verbally communicate to the consumers (Cohen, 2014). Since the design of a brand mascot is brand-specific, the brand mascot is unique to the brand. Because of this uniqueness, it is expected that

(19)

the usage of a brand mascot in advertising helps to differentiate the brand from other brands. Therefore, it is expected that a brand mascot especially may be beneficial for an experiential hedonic product because it helps the brand to differentiate.

2.3 Perceived differentiated position

A perceived differentiated position indicates whether a brand is distinguishing itself positively from other brands in the eyes of the consumers (Sujan & Bettman, 1989). In other words, when consumers see the brand as different and they think that the brand stands out, they see the brand as an attractive option because the consumers believe that the brand is

advantageous compared to other brands (Aaker, 1996). There are two reasons why a brand mascot is expected to increase the perceived differentiated position for a music festival.

Firstly, consumers may derive meaning from the brand mascot and thereby understand better the identity of the brand (Kim & Kramer, 2015). The brand identity is what a brand is known for in the consumers’ minds (Keller, 2001). When consumers see a brand mascot, thoughts and feelings come to mind. Consumers may relate those thoughts and feelings to the values of the brand (Keller, 2005). For example, Ronald McDonald, the brand mascot of McDonalds, has an appearance of joy (LeBel & Cooke, 2008). When consumers see an advertisement of MacDonald’s that shows Ronald MacDonald, they may think that the brand MacDonald’s stands for joy too (LeBel & Cooke, 2008). Moreover, consumers perceive thoughts and feelings when looking at an advertisement that influence their attitude towards the brand (Holbrook & Batra, 1987; Olney et al., 1991, Shimp, 1981). That is why brand managers strive to yield positive emotional responses from consumers with regards to their advertisements, because negative emotions may damage the attitude consumers have towards the brand (Yoo & MacInnis, 2005). Brand mascots may transmit these emotions and thoughts and thus express the meaning of

(20)

the brand, so that consumers can make sense of the brand (Cayla & Penaloza, 2012). Especially when consumers are not able to see before consumption whether a brand differs from other brands, like is the case with music festivals, a brand can differentiate by showing the brand’s identity (Aaker, 1996). This because music festivals, and other creative products, require

experience before the consumer can make a judgement about it (Friedman & Jones, 2011). Then, the brand mascot may provide information about the brand which is otherwise not available. For instance, a study by Chang (2014) shows that when a spokes-character is visible in advertising, the advertisement provides extra information about the brand, thereby making consumer more aware of what the brand stands for. When consumers understand the brand’s identity, they can derive benefits from it which may result in a preference for that brand (Aaker, 1996). Thus, a brand mascot in advertising may help to express the identity of a brand, thereby differentiating the brand from other brands (Cayla, 2013).

Next to expressing the brand’s identity through a brand mascot, the brand mascot is unique to the brand. The more unique the brand elements are to the brand, the more likely it is that consumers think of that brand only instead of other brands when they are exposed to that brand element (Keller et al., 2002). Since a brand mascot is unique to the brand, consumers are more likely to link the brand mascot to the brand only (Chang, 2014). That makes the consumers more aware of the brand. Then, showing the brand mascot to consumers may already activate the brand in the mind of consumers (Keller, 2005). So secondly, the brand mascot helps consumers to recall and remember a brand.

Furthermore, coming back to the sociality motivation to anthropomorphise, Epley et al. (2008) suggest that lonely people tend to anthropomorphise animals as well as intangible creatures (such as angels) more, than people who are not lonely. So when there is a need to be connected to others, people tend to anthropomorphise more (Epley et al., 2007). Besides that,

(21)

consumers of music festivals go to a music festival because of the live music experiences and the atmosphere of the festival, as well as the possibility to socially connect with others (Crompton & McKay, 1997). Therefore, anthropomorphising the brand by the usage of a brand mascot may be effective for a music festival in particular. This because the brand mascot may reflect the social connection motivation and plus reflects the motivation to go to the music festival. Then again, the consumers may think that the music festival has a beneficial value. That in turn, may differentiate the music festival from other festivals.

Therefore, it is expected that the usage of a brand mascot in advertising reinforces the identity of the brand, makes it easier for consumers to remember a brand and reflects the motivation to visit the music festival. Thus, a brand mascot in an advertisement may make a brand stand out, compared to an advertisement wherein no brand mascot is visible. Altogether, the consumers thus may perceive that the brand differentiates from other brands. Consequently, hypothesis 1 suggests:

Hypothesis 1: There is a greater positive relationship between an advertisement for a music festival and the consumers’ perceived differentiated position of that music festival, when that advertisement includes a brand mascot then when it does not include a brand mascot.

2.4 Brand-self connection

In order to receive a high customer-based brand equity, consumers need to have a

connection with the brand (Keller, 2001). If that connection relates to the consumer as a person, it is called a brand-self connection (Whan Park et al., 2010). More specifically, consumers with a strong brand-self connection feel that the brand represents what they are or would like to be (Whan Park et al., 2010). This brand-self connection resides in the minds of consumers and is mostly based on emotional values, since the consumers have all kinds of emotions towards the

(22)

brand (Whan Park et al., 2010). That is one reason why advertisers use emotions in advertising, as it may strengthen the brand-self connection consumers have towards a brand (Batra & Ray, 1986; Berry, 2000; Holbrook & Batra, 1987).

Extensive research shows that the transmission of emotions via advertising has beneficial effects. First of all, emotions in advertising enhance the attitude consumers have towards a brand (Heath et al., 2006). Secondly, emotions can touch potential consumers which may attach those consumers emotionally towards the brand (Berry, 2000; Holbrook & Batra, 1987; Batra & Ray, 1986). Moreover, an emotional connection appears to have an effect on word-of-mouth by consumers. For instance, the usage of emotions in social media communications triggers the consumers to talk about the festival (Hudson et al., 2015-1), especially if the emotion triggers the consumers level of activation. This because emotions that evoke a high level of activation, activate the consumers to share what they have seen (Berger and Milkman, 2012).

Given the advantages of emotions used in advertising, it is important that those emotions are easily transmitted to the consumers. As mentioned on page 13, emotions in advertising are more important for hedonic and experiential products than for utilitarian products (Aaker, 1996; Geuens et al., 2011). However, brand managers must ensure that consumers perceive those emotions that they intend to transmit via advertising (Cotte et al., 2005). Especially because a brand mascot is used to transmit feelings to the consumers, consumers may become connected to the brand and to this brand mascot (Brakus et al., 2009).

For one thing, a brand mascot in advertising may yield emotions more easily and

unconsciously to the consumers than when no brand mascot is visible in an advertisement. That in turn, may relate to a greater brand-self connection. A reason for this is that the brand mascot has facial expressions and thus it can show and transmit emotions. For instance, existing research on the usage of people in advertising shows that when in an advertisement a person is smiling,

(23)

the person who is perceiving the advertisement gets a pleasant feeling too (Kulczynski et al., 2016). That pleasant feeling in turn enhances the attitude of the advertisement perceiver towards the brand and the advertisement (Kulczynski et al., 2016). Because of the facial expression of a brand mascot in a picture, words are not necessarily needed to express the emotions. That also enhances the transmission of emotions, since words encourage cognitive thinking (Small and Verrochi, 2009). In turn, cognitive thinking can suppress the transmission of emotions (Heath et al., 2006). Therefore, it is important that the transmission of emotions happens unconsciously (Hudson et al., 2015-1), for instance via a brand mascot. Moreover, when consumers see human characteristics in something that is non-human, it is more likely that consumers respond

emotionally towards the advertisement (Delbaere et al., 2011). That in turn increases the chance of building up a relationship with the consumer (Delbaere et al., 2011). Also in the music festivals industry, emotions in advertisements have been used to build a relationship with consumers (Hudson et al., 2015-1). So overall, it thus seems that a brand mascot may

unconsciously trigger emotions and thereby increase the brand-self connection of consumers towards a brand.

Besides the transmission of emotions, as explained on page 15, a brand mascot can play an important role in expressing the identity of the brand, which shows the personality of the brand (Aaker, 1996). The personality of the brand is “the set of human personality characteristics associated with a brand” (Aaker, 1997, p. 347). When consumers see similarities between a brand’s personality and their own or ideal personality, the higher the chance that these consumers will like the brand (Aaker, 1997). Moreover, when consumers see similarities between what a brand stands for and themselves, they are more likely to build a relationship with that brand (Malär et al., 2011; Rauschnabel and Ahuvia, 2014). When a brand mascot is visible in an

(24)

than when no brand mascot is visible in the advertisement. This because the advertisement then shows human characteristics that a consumer also possesses, making it easier for a consumer to connect to it.

Taken together, a brand mascot in an advertisement may transmit emotions to consumers. That makes it more likely that the consumers experience a brand-self connection. Secondly, a brand mascot allows for a stronger brand-self connection because the brand mascot makes it possible for consumers to perceive the personality of the music festival. Consumers then may identify themselves easier with the brand, because the consumers then may perceive similarities between themselves and the brand mascot. Therefore, hypothesis 2 suggests:

Hypothesis 2: There is a greater positive relationship between an advertisement for a music festival and the consumers’ brand-self connection, when that advertisement includes a brand mascot then when it does not include a brand mascot.

2.5 Openness and brand-self connection

Research suggests that people react differently towards advertising, because they have different personalities. For example, consumers can perceive different emotions while having viewed the same commercial (Edell & Burke, 1987). Those differences between people might also explain differences in the brand-self connection in relation to the usage of a brand mascot in advertising. Previous research gives some insights regarding different personalities of consumers and brand anthropomorphism. For example, LeBel & Cooke (2008) compare spokes-characters to each other and find that men and women differ in which spokes-characters have their preference. Controversially, Delbaere et al. (2011) suggest that individual differences do not matter in relation to the attitude towards an advertisement wherein products are anthropomorphised. Their argument is that anthropomorphism is a natural tendency for anyone. However, in their

(25)

experiment they measured only three personality differences; „gender”, the extent to which an individual experiences a feeling of „loneliness” and the extent to which an individual is „susceptible” (Delbaere et al., 2011, p.126).

Getting back to the effectance motivation, existing research shows that consumers coming from countries that score high on effectance, are more likely to be loyal to an anthropomorphised brand (Hudson et al. (2015-2). As mentioned in the introduction, the effectance motivation is a human tendency to control the environment, to avoid uncertainties in order to understand the world. Individuals who prefer to control their surroundings and avoid uncertainties are more likely to be sensitive to brand anthropomorphism (Hudson et al., 2015-2).

However, even though research finds evidence for this effectance motivation, it seems that there is another personality trait that makes those people more likely people to anthropomorphise. Openness is one of the ‚Big Five’ personality traits. Openness relates to imaginative, curious, open-minded and artistically sensitive people (Füller et al., 2008). People who score high on openness are curious and open to new ideas and thus are not likely to feel a strong need to control their surroundings (Füller et al., 2008). In that sense, openness is the opposite of effectance. One motivation of going to a festival is the opportunity to explore new things (Crompton & McKay, 1997). If a consumer is motivated to go to a music festival because this consumer wants to explore new things, it is very unlikely that this consumer tends to avoid uncertainties. Moreover, consumers attend a music festival because they see it as recreation and an adventure (Crompton & McKay, 1997). Therefore, for consumers of a music festival, it is unlikely that the effectance motivation to anthropomorphise applies to them.

However, music festival consumers who score high on openness may be more likely to anthropomorphise as well and in turn have a greater brand-self connection. This because

(26)

are more likely to anthropomorphise more (Letheren et al., 2016). As Delbaere et al. (2011) suggest, once a consumer anthropomorphises a brand more, this consumer also likes the brand that is being advertised for more. Moreover, anthropomorphism is driven from humans’ imagination, as it involves that consumers imagine that a certain brand or thing has human characteristics (Waytz et al., 2010). So because people who score higher on openness tend to anthropomorphise more the brand-self connection is expected to be greater for them. This because people with a greater imagination are more likely to imagine that a connection between them and a non-human thing is possible (Huang & Mitchell, 2014; Letheren et al., 2016). On top of that, research suggests that people who score high on openness have a bigger chance to know more about brands (Füller et al., 2008). Knowing more about a brand, is seen as the first step to an emotional connection towards the brand (Keller, 1993).

Taken together, the effectance motivation does not seem to apply to consumers of a music festival because they are not likely to avoid uncertainties. However, people who score higher on openness tend to anthropomorphise and explore a brand more, which may result in a greater relation between the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement for a music festival and the brand-self connection. Thus, hypothesis 3 suggests:

Hypothesis 3: The positive relation between the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement for a music festival and the brand-self connection is moderated by the openness of the consumer, so that this relationship is greater for higher levels of openness.

2.6 Perceived differentiated position, increased purchase intention and willingness-to-pay

Purchase intention is „the consumer behavioural component of the advertising effect, and can be assessed by consumers’ subjective intention to buy a specific brand based on

(27)

is prepared to pay for a certain product. A brand manager is concerned with the willingness-to-pay and purchase intention. Because, when consumers want to purchase more frequently the product or they want to pay more for it, the brand manager can ask higher prices for the offerings (Krishna, 1991). Then, the firm makes more revenue. Thus, advertising is effective when it increases the consumers’ willingness-to-pay and purchase intention.

Hypothesis 1 suggests that the brand mascot enhances the perceived differentiated position of the brand. A perceived differentiated brand position comes along with a preference for that brand which results in an increased purchase intention of the product by the consumers (Knox, 2004), If a brand is not standing out in the eyes of consumers, the brand is substitutable which may result in consumers easily changing between brands when they need to pay a higher price (Aaker, 1996; Keller et al., 2002). Therefore, a perceived differentiated position may relate to a higher purchase intention and a higher willingness-to-pay. Furthermore, as mentioned on page 15, a brand mascot may help to express the identity of a brand (Chang, 2014). In turn, when a consumers see a value within a brand that no other brand can provide, they are willing to pay more for products of this brand (Keller, 2001).

Taken together, the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement is expected to be an effective advertising strategy for a music festival. This because an advertisement that includes a brand mascot is expected to relate to a greater perceived differentiated position of that music festival, then when no brand mascot in the advertisement is visible. When a consumers perceive that the brand has a differentiated position, they are more likely to purchase products from that brand as well as to pay more for the products of it. Thus, hypothesis 4 suggests:

Hypothesis 4: A positive relation between the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement of a music festival on the one hand and purchase intention and willingness-to-pay on the other hand, is mediated by the perceived differentiated position of the music festival.

(28)

2.7 Brand-self connection, increased purchase intention and willingness-to-pay

As mentioned before when elaborating on hypotheses 2, a brand mascot allows for a

consumer to have a brand-self connection. When this brand-self connection is stronger, it is more likely the the willingness-to-pay is also higher (Folse et al., 2012). Moreover, when there is a strong relationship between the consumer and the brand, the consumers are more likely to make regular purchases from the brand (Fetscherin & Heinrich, 2014). On top of that, the brand-self connection involves that consumers see similarities within a character the brand stands for and themselves. When consumers perceive these similarities, they are more likely to become truly loyal to that brand (Rauschnabel and Ahuvia, 2014). Loyal consumers in turn, are more likely to purchase products from the brand more often and are prepared to pay higher prices for those products (Folse et al., 2012; Keller, 2001; Whan Park et al., 2010). So, when the consumers have a brand-self connection, they are more likely to pay a higher price and have an increased

purchase intention.

Secondly, when consumers have a brand-self connection they may be more susceptible to emotions transmitted via brand mascots or persons in the advertisements. For instance,

consumers can perceive an emotional connection towards a brand when they get a pleasant feeling from looking at an advertisement wherein a person is smiling towards them (Kulczynski et al., 2016). This is then also related to a higher willingness-to-pay for the advertised

(Kulczynski et al., 2016). Likewise, consumers can feel connected to a sad person in advertising, which relates to higher amounts of donations for those persons (Small & Verrochi, 2009). But also, the emotions evoked by a spokes-character may be more persuasive when consumers have a brand-self connection to a brand. For instance, when a spokes-character builds trust towards the consumers, the consumers are more likely to spend more money on the brand (Folse et al., 2012).

(29)

Altogether, the brand mascot may allow for a brand-self connection which may result in more loyal consumers. Loyal consumers are more likely to pay higher prices for a music festival and to have a greater purchase intention. Next to that, the brand-self connection may allow for emotions to be transmitted via the brand mascot more easily which may urge the consumers to buy tickets for the festivals or to pay a higher price for it. Therefore, hypothesis 5 suggests: Hypothesis 5: A positive relation between the usage of a brand mascot in an advertisement of a music festival on the one hand and purchase intention and willingness-to-pay on the other hand, is mediated by the brand-self connection.

2.8 Conceptual framework

To better illustrate the hypotheses, figure 1 shows the conceptual framework.

(30)

3. Data and method

This chapter firstly presents the research design and strategy of data collection. Subsequently, the second paragraph describes the measurements for all variables. Finally, this chapter provides the method of data collection and an initial analysis of the data.

3.1 Research design and strategy of data collection

Two advertisements for a hypothetical music festival were developed and served as two distinct conditions, one with and one without a brand mascot. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two advertisements. A survey was used to measure the variables of the respondents of both groups. This research strategy allows for easy comparisons between groups of great sizes (Saunders et al., 2012). Next to that, a survey serves to find out how a group of people think about a certain subject and their chance to behave in a certain way (Saunders et al., 2012). Therefore, the survey seems an appropriate strategy to measure the relations of the conceptual framework.

The first block of the survey consisted of the introduction, which describes that the survey takes six to eight minutes and that it is about a hypothetical festival. To attract more respondents and to guarantee a low dropout rate, the participants could join a raffle in order to win prices. The prices distributed are two festival tickets and two gift cards for a Dutch web shop (i.e. bol.com).

Via convenience and snowball sampling of 400 respondents is reached. More specifically, more than 40 respondents shared the survey on Facebook. Next to that, 460 email contacts of students who currently are finishing their Master of Business Administration at the University of Amsterdam received a link to the survey in their inbox. Moreover, the survey is posted on an online student forum four times.

(31)

3.2 Measurements

This section describes the measurements for each variable. Table 1 in Appendix A1.1 provides an overview of the constructs, scales and items for the variables more than one item. These scales all show a reliable Cronbach’s Alpha in existing research (all α >.70).

3.2.1 Independent variable

The independent variable consists of two advertisements of a hypothetical music festival, one advertisement with and one without the brand mascot. Figure 2 shows these advertisements. The brand mascot is a monkey who invites the respondents to ‘be part of my party’. That text box points towards the direction of the brand mascot. The condition without a mascot only invites respondents to ‘be part of the party’. These small differences in the text and lay-out serve to ensure that respondents of the brand mascot condition see the brand mascot. The fact that the

(32)

brand mascot speaks, shows that it has human characteristics. The name of the hypothetical festival is Platano. Since Platano is a non-existing name for a music festival, it is unlikely that the respondents thought of an existing festival. The respondents saw the advertisement only once. Furthermore, the respondents had to assume that the music performances at this festival are of their interest and that the festival takes place within one hour traveling from their home. After describing what a brand mascot is, the respondents in the brand mascot condition answered a manipulation check question. In that question, respondents indicated whether the following two statements were true or false” ‘I saw a brand mascot in the advertisement of Platano’ and ‘In the advertisement of Platano a brand mascot is not visible’.

3.2.2 Mediators and moderator

The second block of the survey consisted of questions about the two mediators: perceived differentiated position and brand-self connection. The scale of Sujan & Bettman (1989) measures the perceived differentiated position. One item is added to this four item 7-point Likert (strongly disagree – strongly agree) scale. More specifically, the word ‚atypical’ has been changed into ‚different’ so that all respondents understand the statement. Also, to ensure reliability one item is reversed (i.e. ‘Platano festival is identical like other music festivals’).

With regards to the brand-self connection, the five item 11-point Likert („not at all” - „completely”) scale of Whan Park et al. (2010, p. 5) is used. One item is added: “To what extent do you have many thoughts/feelings about Platano?” (Whan Park et al., 2010, p.6). A reason for this added item is that the respondents are not able to already have a great brand-self connection, because Platano is a hypothetical festival. According to Keller (2001) consumers make a

(33)

concerns a hypothetical festival, this item has been added to ensure that the advertisements evoke thoughts and feelings and thus possibly allows for an opportunity to connect to the brand.

To measure the level of openness of the respondents, the 10 item 7-point Likert (strongly disagree – strongly agree) scale of John & Srivastava (1999) is used. This scale includes two reversed items (i.e. ‘I see myself as someone who prefers work that is routine’ and ‘I see myself as someone who has few artistic insights’).

3.2.3 Dependent variables

The third block consisted of questions that measure the purchase intention and willingness-to-pay of the respondents. In order to measure the purchase intention, the three item 7-point Likert (strongly disagree – strongly agree) scale of Schnittka et al. (2012) is used. To improve reliability, one item is reversed (i.e. ‘I would not be likely to purchase a ticket to Platano’). In order to measure the willingness-to-pay, an open question is used. Just like Miller et al., (2011) the respondents indicated the price they would be willing to pay for the tickets to Platano. In their research, Miller et al. (2011) show that the hypothetical willingness-to-pay does not significantly differ from the actual willingness-to-pay.

3.2.4 Control variables

The last block of questions concerns the control variables. As Cotte et al. (2005) suggest, the advertisements need to be perceived as credible, otherwise the respondents may not take the advertisement seriously and that can bias the results. Thus, the credibility of the advertisement is measured by using the three item 7-point Likert (strongly disagree – strongly agree) scale of Cotte et al. (2005) of which one item is reversed (i.e. ‘this advertisement is not truthful’). Next to

(34)

the credibility, the attitude towards the advertisement may differ between the respondents of the two conditions. The attitude towards the advertisement is measured by using the three item 7-point Likert scale (strongly disagree – strongly agree) of Cotte et al. (2005). Also here, one item is reversed (i.e. ‘My attitude towards this advertisement is bad’). Moreover, purchase intentions may differ between consumers who prefer different music genres (Lacher and Mizerski, 1994). Therefore, respondents indicated which music genre they preferred the most out of „Pop, Rock, Dance, Jazz, Hip Hop, R&B, Classical, World, Folk” (Kuijken et al., 2016, p. 16). On top of that, respondents who regularly visit festivals, may be willing to pay more or have a greater purchase intention for music festivals. Therefore, the respondents mentioned how many festivals they visited in 2015 as a proxy to measure festival loyalty. Next to that, the respondents indicated their age (i.e. ‘What is your age in years?’), their gender (i.e. ‘What is your gender?’), their living location (i.e. ‘Do you live in a city or village?’) and their salary (i.e. ‘What is your gross income per month?’). This last question existed of an ordinal scale. Since the question with regards to the respondents’ income may be a sensitive question, respondents who choose not to answer that question indicated ‘I’d rather not answer this question’.

3.3 Data analysis

3.3.1 Description of the analytic strategy and data cleaning

In total 711 respondents started the online survey, of which 260 (36,57%) dropped out. Possible explanations for respondents to drop out are the fact that respondents had to answer the questions before they could move on to the next one and the fact the the survey is in English. In total, 451 respondents finished the survey. To clean the data, the dataset excludes 16 respondents who finished the survey within less than 3 minutes. Thus, the final sample consists of 435

(35)

respondents (N=435), wherefrom 201 respondents saw the advertisement of the control condition and 234 respondents saw the advertisement of the brand mascot condition. There were only 15 (1.15%) missing values for the three open questions (e.g. willingness-to-pay, age and number of festivals visited in 2015). Moreover, the outliers are replaced by the highest or lowest value that is not an outlier (for an overview of the replaced values, see Appendix A2, table 2). After

replacing the outliers, the data is less biased (Field, 2012). Lastly, the reversed items of the scales for perceived differentiated position, purchase intention, openness, credibility towards the

advertisement and attitude towards the advertisement are transformed into new variables.

3.3.2 Normality testing

The models used to test the hypotheses rely on the assumption that the continuous or interval variables are normally distributed. Field (2012) recommends to compile Q-Q plots to test for normality when the samples are large, before replacing outliers. Appendix A3.1 until A3.7 show the Q-Q plots of the mediators, the moderator, the control and dependent variables for both conditions. With the exception of perceived differentiated position and openness, the Q-Q plots show that the variables are not normally distributed. To control for normality more precisely, table 1 in Appendix A3.8 shows the Z-values for kurtosis and skewness of those variables before replacing the outliers. These scores show that the variables are skewed (all Z = >1.96 or Z =<-1.96) with the exception of perceived differentiated position (Z = -1.96<x<=<-1.96). On top of that, willingness-to-pay, credibility towards the advertisement, attitude towards the advertisement and purchase intention show kurtosis (Z= >1.96 or z =<-1.96). Thus, the z-scores as well as the Q-Q plots show that the variables are not normally distributed.

Field (2012) suggests two strategies that improve the data in order to get normality. Firstly, Field (2012) suggests data trimming, whereby 5% of the highest and lowest values is excluded.

(36)

Therefore, 5% of the highest and 5% of the lowest values of the skewed variables and variables that show kurtosis are deleted. Table 2 in Appendix A3.9 shows the Z-values of skewness and kurtosis after data trimming. Data trimming does not improve the distribution, as purchase intention, willingness-to-pay, credibility towards the advertisement and attitude towards the advertisement are still skewed (Z= >1.96 or Z =<-1.96). Also, brand-self connection, willingness-to-pay and credibility towards the advertisement still show kurtosis (Z= >1.96 or Z =<-1.96). Thus, data trimming does not improve the data is therefore undone.

A second strategy Field (2012) recommends is to replace the outliers with the highest and lowest values that are not outliers. Table 1 shows the Z-values after replacing the outliers with the the highest and lowest values that are not outliers. Now, openness is not skewed anymore (Z= -1.96 <x< -1.96). Furthermore, only two variables in the control condition show kurtosis, namely brand-self connection (Z=2.44), and attitude towards the advertisement (Z=2.07). Thus, the dataset without outliers is improves the normality of most variables. However, some variables still show skewness and therefore two nonparametric tests follow in the results chapter.

Construct Condi-tion Skewness SE skewness Z-value Kurtosis SE Kurtosis Z-value

Outliers Can normality be assumed? Perceived differentiated position 1 -.253 .172 -1.471 -.331 .341 -.971 None Yes 2 -.037 .159 -.233 -.605 .317 -1.909 Brand-self connection 1 .424 .172 2.667* -.831 .341 -2.437*

None Positive Skewness, negative kurtosis 2 .354 .159 2.226* -.595 .317 -1.877

Openness 1 -.222 .172 -1.291 -.198 .341 -.581 None Yes 2 -.213 .159 -1.340 -.277 .317 -.874

Purchase intention

1 -.794 .172 -4.616* .469 .341 1.375 None Negative skewness 2 -.668 .159 -4.201* .134 .317 .423

Willingness-to-pay

1 .659 .174 3.787* -.109 .346 -.315 None Positive Skewness 2 .658 .162 4.062* .373 .322 1.158

Credibility towards the ad

1 -.647 .172 -3.762* -.292 .341 -.856 None Negative Skewness 2 -.624 .159 -3.925* -.152 .317 -.479

Attitude towards the ad

1 -.998 .172 -5.802* .705 .341 2.067* None Negative skewness, kurtosis for condition 1 2 -.646 .159 -4.063* -.119 .317 -.375

Table 1. Z-values for kurtosis and skewness after replacing the outliers with the highest and lowest values that are not outliers.

Note. * Indicates that the Z-value is >1.96 or <1.96, meaning that kurtosis or skewness is severe. Condition 1 is the control condition, condition 2 is the brand mascot condition.

(37)

3.3.2 Reliability analysis and validity

The reliability analysis serves to find out whether the measures are consistent. Table 2 shows the Cronbach’s Alphas of the constructs that exist of more than one item. All these construct show to be reliable (all α >.70). Of five out of these six constructs, the corrected item-total correlations show that all the items have a high correlation for the interrelated scales

(all >.30). The only exception is the item ‘I see myself as someone who prefers work that is routine’ of the openness scale. However, this scale does not substantially improve if that item is deleted (α would improve with .023), so this item stays within this scale. Additionally, none of the scales improve substantially in reliability if one of the items of the scales is deleted. This indicates that the items used to measure the constructs are internally consistent and related to each other, which makes the data reliable to analyse.

With regards to internal validity, the survey only includes existing scales of previous research. Those scales prove that what is being measured is also contemplated to measure, because researchers extensively tested these scales (Saunders et al., 2012). Only the independent variable is not tested before. However, the manipulation question shows that this independent variable is internally valid. More precisely, out of the respondents who saw the advertisement with the brand mascot, 94.4% answered that a brand mascot was visible and 93.6% indicated that they saw a brand mascot in the advertisement of Platano. Thus, also the independent variable measured what is intended to measure. Now that the data has been checked upon reliability, validity and normality, the data is ready for analysing the results.

Construct Cronbach’s

Alpha

Perceived differentiated position 0,832

Brand-self connection 0,919

Openness 0,753

Purchase intention 0,839

Credibility of advertisement 0,741 Attitude towards advertisement 0,876 Table 2. Cronbach’s Alpha for measurement scales

The effectiveness of the usage of a brand mascot in advertising for a music festival