HEAR ME OR NOT – SUBTLE BRAND
PLACEMENTS IN EGO DEPLETION CONDITION
By
ALBERTO CAPPELLARI
Master Thesis
University of Groningen
Faculty of Economics and Business
MSc Marketing Management
June 2019
Seminar Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Bob M. Fennis Second Supervisor: Jan A. Koch, MSc
Vondellaan 71 9721 LB Groningen
(+39) 3454585167 a.cappellari@student.rug.nl
HEAR ME OR NOT – BRAND PLACEMENTS IN EGO DEPLETION CONDITION
INTRODUCTION ... 3
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ... 4
Brand Placement ... 4
Ego Depletion ... 6
Ego Depletion and Brand Recognition/Attitude ... 8
METHOD ... 9
Design and Sample ... 9
Procedure ... 10 RESULTS ... 12 Manipulation Check ... 12 Brand Recognition ... 13 Brand Attitude ... 13 GENERAL DISCUSSION ... 17 REFERENCES ... 20 APPENDIX ... 24 ABSTRACT
During their daily routine, customers are likely to be exposed to subtle brand placements while listening to music. Besides, the study conducted by Baumeister (2002) showed that people are often in a state of low mental resources during their typical day of work or at home. The current study aims to test, combining those ideas, if a state of ego depletion can moderate the impact of subtle placements inserted in the verses of a song on customers’ brand recognition and brand attitude. Results showed a non-significant impact on participants’ brand recognition. However, the mindlessness condition was proven to lead to a more favourable attitude for the brand when customers were not exposed to the placement. Furthermore, significant differences in the brand attitude were not found among depleted and non-depleted participants after the exposure to the subtle placements. The theoretical and practical implications of those findings are discussed. Keywords: music, brand placement, ego depletion, brand recognition, brand attitude.
Acknowledgements: I would never have been able to finish this journey through my master’s in Marketing Management at the University of Groningen without the support and the patience of my parents, it is because of them if now I can close this chapter of my life without regretting anything. I also want to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Bob M. Fennis, for the motivation and the help he gave me during those six months of the thesis. Finally, but not because of less importance, I want to thank the “Marketing Team”, my group of friends that allowed me to live an experience that I will never forget in my life.
INTRODUCTION
How many times do you listen to music on a typical day? According to Spotify (one of the major businesses that provide music in streaming) on average, customers subscribed to their service listen 50 minutes of music per day (2017), which means 14 songs with an average length of 3.5 minutes. These data are particularly interesting as, albeit customers are just listening to the new single of their favourite artist, or maybe to the “Top 50 songs” chart in the Netherlands, they are probably under the influence of a brand’s marketing communication strategy without even noticing it.
An average American customer is exposed every day to more than 1000 persuasive messages through different media and different instruments (Fennis and Stroebe, 2016), the purpose of this research is to study one of the main techniques that marketers use in order to influence and catch the attention of customers, namely brand placement. Adopt a brand placement as a marketing strategy refers to the inclusion of brand or products in editorial content (Smit, Reijmersdal & Neijens, 2009), indeed, also in music. Taking into account that streaming services count only for 18% of our weekly time spent listening to licensed music sources, we want to investigate the possible implications on brand recognition and brand attitude for brands placed subtly in songs such as the worldwide success “This is America”, song released by the American rapper Childish Gambino which reached 286 million of airplay on Spotify (data of February 2019) and that contains the brands “Gucci” and “Kodak” in its verses.
should be placed subtly while congruent brands should be blatant (Ferguson and Burkhalter, 2015).
However, as said before, the opportunity to explore other factors of interest still exists. The contribution of this paper is to investigate how a state of ego depletion, a circumstance when people lack mental resources and are more easily persuaded (Fennis, Janssen, & Vohs, 2009), can impact the effectiveness of brand placements on the recognition and the attitude towards a brand cited in the verses of a song.
These findings aim to improve the existing literature about marketing and ego depletion, giving more insights on the implication of low mental resources on customers’ behaviours in their daily routine. Furthermore, the contribution to managerial decision-making will be even more critical. Managers will understand how subtle brand placement in the music media work and its impact on the customers’ minds with a specific focus on brand attitude and brand recognition.
In the next paragraph, there will be the theoretical background of this research, written in order to better and deeper understand the variables and the relationships mentioned before. Next, the hypotheses formulated about this topic will be investigated through an experiment, to then conclude with a discussion of the results and the prospects of this academic paper.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Brand Placement
placement with other traditional promotion tools, generally prefer it (Nebenzahl and Secunda, 1993), believe it to be more effective (Daugherty and Gangadharbatla, 2005) and view it as a less aggressive tool (Karrh, 1998). Since one of the most relevant drivers of the strength of this marketing element is the individual’s overall attitude concerning advertising tactics (Daugherty and Gangadharbatla, 2005), those conclusions are essential to understand why placements are so effective and used by marketers to promote their products.
In a general context, it is possible to classify brand placement based on two different dimensions: modality and centrality to the plot (Yang and Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2007). The modality focuses on whether the brand name is only seen or also mentioned. Instead, centrality refers to the relevance of the product in the plot and classifies placements in background (e.g., the Pepsi vending machine showed in background in the movie of 1991 “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”), more central (e.g., a character of the TV show “Friends” drinking Coca-Cola) and most central placements (e.g., the Lamborghini Murcielago used by an actor in the movie of 2017 “Fast and Furious 8” to escape from the antagonists). Based on the concept of centrality and modality, past literature categorized brand placement in two classes, subtle and blatant placements.
This distinction plays a fundamental role in defining placements in music. As reported by de Gregorio and Sung (2009), prominence, which can be related to high centrality, should be considered according to the frequency and the repetition of mention of the brand. Another point-of-view regarding placements in music is given by Delattre and Colovic (2009). According to their research, prominent brand placements are the ones which are clearly and slowly pronounced and the ones which appear in the chorus, title or the refrain of the song (Delattre and Colovic, 2009). It is possible to argue then that, in music, blatant placements are the ones in the chorus and/or title of the song and subtle placements the ones in the verses. This difference will have an essential role in the experiment of this article, as verses’ placements are the most relevant in the music media (de Gregorio and Sung, 2009).
(2008) and Homer (2009) have shown that brand attitude does not differ when comparing subtle versus blatant placements, but this unless their liking for the program is very high or the placements are repeated. This repetition effect can be explained by the principle of familiarity in social influence since, as familiarity breeds liking (Fennis and Stroebe, 2016), multiple exposures of a brand in a song can also increase the attitude towards it.
However, marketers do not just have to choose between subtle and blatant placements, but also in which song they want to promote their brand. As confirmed in the research made by Law and Braun-LaTour (2003), the attitude towards the program in which the brand is placed can influence its effectiveness. Consequently, De Gregorio and Sung (2009) studied which genres of music customers perceive as more appropriate for brand placements in music, showing that Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B are the most relevant followed by Pop and Country, while Classical and Opera songs are perceived as less appropriate. Based on those findings, for the following experiment, an R&B song was used in order to expose participants to subtle placements.
After this review of the existing literature about brand placements, it is now possible to understand the importance of this tool for marketers and the influence on brand attitude and recognition that can have a brand placed in a song. Indeed, a famous song has millions of airplay, millions of views in the music video and it also has the possibility to be included in a movie or in a videogame, all media that can provide access to repetitive exposure for consumers (Balasubramanian 1994), impacting their memory and their attitude towards the placed brand. Ego Depletion
If we think about some feasible situations in which people listen to music in their daily routine, we can point out situations such as listening to the radio while driving the car after work, inside a store, while working/studying – and more of them – all with a common denominator, a high probability to be in a state of ego depletion.
extended period of time (Baumeister, 2002) and past researches have shown that it can derive from high levels of stress (Oaten and Cheng 2005), from choice between multiple options (Vohs, Baumeister, Schmeichel, Twenge, Nelson, & Tice, 2008), after performing vigilant tasks (Thomson, Besner, & Smilek, 2015) and when a routine is broken (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, & Muaven, 1998). Mental resources are then likely to be depleted throughout the day due to the high probability of encounter daily tasks that require exerting willpower, overcoming impulses, or resisting unwanted influence as also proved by the study of Baumeister (2002).
In the marketing context, the state of ego depletion has powerful implications on how customers can respond to advertising and persuasion techniques. Indeed, numerous studies have shown that a mindlessness condition influences self-regulatory abilities, decreasing them, and leading to research for immediate gratification (Muraven, Collins, & Neinhaus, 2002). Precisely, ego depletion increases the likelihood of dismissing information perceived as irrelevant (Fischer, Greitemeyer, & Frey, 2008), the probability to yield to temptation (Baumeister 2002), and increases the susceptibility to principles of reciprocity (e.g. door-in-the-face technique), commitment and consistency (e.g. foot-in-the-door and lowball techniques) and liking (Fennis et al., 2009). Furthermore, Wheeler, Briñol and Hermann (2006) proved that consumers in a state of low self-control are more susceptible to weak persuasive arguments compared to non-depleted individuals, while Vohs and Faber (2007) found that people in a mindlessness condition exposed to products and advertisement are more inclined to impulse buying and have a higher willingness to pay for the product.
Ego Depletion and Brand Recognition/Attitude
Past researches already studied brand placement in music, showing, for example, that brands placed in the song’s chorus are recalled more often than brands placed in the song’s verses, and that congruent (i.e., a brand perceived as relevant to customers’ expected culture of the music genre) and blatant placements lead to more positive brand attitude than congruent but subtle placements (Ferguson and Burkhalter, 2015). On the other hand, Gillespie, Joireman and Muehling (2012) studied the effect of ego depletion in the television programs media comparing subtle and blatant placements, showing that customers generally recognize blatant placements easier than subtle ones and that those blatant placements lead to higher favourable attitude towards the brand when people are not depleted, while the opposite happens in a situation of ego depletion. The previous findings have crucial importance in the research conducted in this paper. The primary purpose is, indeed, to study how persuasive messages such as brand placements in music influence mindlessness people, focusing on brands included only in the verses of the song (i.e., subtle placements) forasmuch as those placements are the most relevant and present in this media, as proved by de Gregorio and Sung (2009).
Thus, the following hypotheses were formed (see figure 1 for conceptual model):
- H1: A condition of ego depletion moderates the impact of subtle brand placements on brand recognition, such that the recognition will be lower when people are in a state of low self-control.
- H2: A condition of ego depletion moderates the impact of subtle brand placements on attitude towards the placed brand, such that the attitude will be higher when people are in a stare of low self-control.
FIGURE 1 Conceptual Model
METHOD Design and Sample
A total of 116 participants participated in a 2 (exposure to subtle brand placements: no versus yes) × 2 (ego depletion: no versus yes) between-subjects factorial design in exchange for the opportunity to win a 20€ Amazon gift card. From the total of respondents, 11 were removed from the analysis because of a misunderstanding of the first task (N = 3), for having extreme values in the brand attitude task (i.e., rating all the questions with 1; N = 2) or for being outliners in the condition of ego depletion while comparing the “white bear counter” with the manipulation check (N = 6). A sample of 105 participants consisting of 42 males (40%), 62 females (59%) and 1 who selected the “I prefer not to answer” choice (1%), with an average age of 25 years (Mage = 25.35, SD = 8.04) was therefore used during the analysis of the data
Procedure
The online experiment (see Appendix), created with Qualtrics, was spread through social media using the personal profile of the experimenter in three Facebook groups (one of the University of Groningen and two of the University of Verona) and via WhatsApp through anonymous link, in order to have a heterogeneous sample with a different academic background, ages and nationalities.
The first page of the survey had the function of introducing the experiment to the participants, explaining that it is part of a thesis for the Marketing Department of the University of Groningen and that it consists of two parts: one about creativity and music taste, and one regarding the evaluation of car brands. Furthermore, it was told to the participants that all the information collected would have been completely anonymous, used solely for educational purposes and that they could have withdrawn from it at any time merely closing the tab in their web browser. After the introduction page, they were assigned to one of the two ego depletion conditions.
Thought suppression task. In the first part of the study, ego depletion was manipulated using a revised version of the “white bear” task, which was proved to reduce self-control through thought suppression (Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White, 1987). Specifically, in the mindlessness condition, participants were asked:
“The first task of this first part of the survey is about your creativity. For the next 5 minutes please write down all the things that come to your mind, but DO NOT THINK ABOUT A WHITE BEAR. Every time that "white bear" comes to your mind, please add one point in the "white bear" counter situated under the time.”
Immediately following this task aimed to reduce their mental resources, participants were randomly assigned to the subtle brand placement exposure group or the control group.
Brand placement. In this second task of the first part of the experiment, participants in the subtle brand placement condition were asked to listen to a fragment of 1.41 minutes taken from the song of 2003 “Slow Wind”, which was produced by R. Kelly featuring Sean Paul and Akon. It was chosen to let participants listen to only a fragment of the song in order to not allow them to restore their energies, which was a plausible scenario in case of a 4 minutes song. Furthermore, this track was chosen because it contains two subtle brand placements in its verse, precisely the brand “BMW” and the brand “Range Rover”, and by virtue of the fact that it is classified as an R&B/Soul song, one of the genres suggested by de Gregorio and Sung (2009) for a brand placement. By contrast, in the control group, participants listened to a censored version of the fragment in which the previously mentioned brands were cut from the lyrics. This choice permitted to control other possible variables that could have influenced the participants in the case of using a different song, such as the different rhythm of the song, lyrics, or attitude towards the singer. While listening to the audio track, participants rated their liking towards the song (M = 3.97, SD = 1.78), the artist (M = 3.95, SD = 1.39) and the music genre of the song (M = 3.94, SD = 1.77) on three single item seven-point Likert scales (from strongly disagree = 1 to strongly agree = 7).
Brand recognition. After the brand evaluation, participants were asked to select any and all of the brands placed in the song they previously listened, this from a list containing the same brands as the brand attitude task in order to measure the explicit memory of the participants (Gillespie, Joireman and Muehling, 2012).
After the measurements of the dependent variables, they were asked to evaluate with two 7-point Likert scales (from strongly disagree to strongly agree) their attitude towards brand placement in songs, that is, if they perceive it as a less intrusive way of advertisement and if they like if an artist uses brands in his/her songs (α = .697, M = 3.91, SD = 1.39). Then, they were asked to rate if they found the “white bear” task effortful with a single item 7-point Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree; M = 3.52, SD = 1.69) in order to check if the mindlessness manipulation was successful.
Finally, participants were asked to answer two demographic questions about their age and gender. Participants were then dismissed and debriefed, and they had the choice to participate in the Amazon gift card lottery. In case of a positive answer, they were redirected to a second survey where they filled a form with name and email. This anonymized raffle was implemented in order to not link their identities with the answers in the principal survey.
RESULTS Manipulation Check
Brand Recognition
A regression analysis using Model 1 of PROCESS 3.3 by Andrew F. Hayes (Hayes & Little, 2018) was performed in order to test H1, employing brand recognition as the dependent variable and estimating the main effects of the exposure to subtle brand placements, ego depletion condition and their interaction.
Results using the recognition for the brand BMW showed no significant main effect of exposure to the placement (β = .74, z(104) = 1.03, p = .31 95% CI [-.67, 2.15]), ego depletion condition (β = -.74, z(104) = 1.03, p = .31, 95% CI [-2.15, .67]) and their interaction (β = .38, z(104) = .26, p = .79, 95% CI [-2.45, 3.21]). Same results were found using the recognition for the brand Range Rover, a significant main effect of exposure to the placement (β = .92, z(104) = 1.57, p = .12, 95% CI [-.23, 2.07]), ego depletion condition (β = -.33, z(104) = .57, p = .57, 95% CI [-1.48, .82]) and their interaction (β = -.28, z(104) = .24, p = .81, 95% CI [-2.58, 2.03]) was not found. Thus, H1 was rejected. However, when comparing the probability of recognition, results coherent with the literature were found. Indeed, when participants were exposed to the placement, they reported a lower probability to recall it when being in the ego depletion condition (BMW = 10,34%; Range Rover = 17,24%) than the participants in the control group (BMW = 16,67%; Range Rover = 25,00%).
Brand Attitude
The second hypothesis was tested by conducting a regression analysis using Model 1 of PROCESS 3.3 by Andrew F. Hayes (Hayes & Little, 2018) on participants’ brand attitude towards the two mentioned brands, using first the brand “BMW” and subsequently the brand “Range Rover”. Moreover, exposure to subtle brand placements was used as the independent variable, and ego depletion was used as the moderator variable.
Results using the attitude towards the brand “BMW” showed that the variables accounted for a significant amount of variance on the attitude towards the brand (R2 = .07, F(3, 101) = 2.66, p =
However, a significant interaction effect between them was discovered (β = -1.01, t(104) = 2.06, p = .04, 95% CI [-1.99, -.04]).
In order to take into account potential confounds, age and gender of participants, their attitude towards the song, the artist, the genre of music and the brand placement as a form of persuasive message were employed as covariates. The new regression model showed that the variables accounted for a higher significant amount of variance on the brand attitude (R2 = .20, F(9, 95) =
2.60, p = .01). The examination of the main variables showed, in line with the previous results, a non-significant main effect of ego depletion condition (β = .23, t(104) = .91, p = .37, 95% CI [-.26, .72]) on the attitude towards the placed brand, a main effect of exposure to brand placement approaching the significance (β = -.47, t(104) = 1.98, p > .05, 95% CI [-.94, .00]), and a significant interaction effect between them (β = 1.29, t(104) = 2.63, p = .01, 95% CI [2.26, -.31]). Precisely, the interaction effect was significant only for participants in the ego depletion condition (β = -1.12, t(104) = 3.30, p < .001, 95% CI [-1.79, -.44]) and not for participants in the control group (β = .17, t(104) = .49, p = .62, 95% CI [-.51, .85]). Moving on the covariates, age and gender of participants, and their attitude towards the singer and the genre of music showed no significant main effects (p > .05), indeed, the only significant effect was found for their attitude towards the song (β = .24, t(104) = 2.15, p = .03, 95% CI [.02, .46]) and participants’ attitude towards brand placement as a form of persuasive message (β = .20, t(104) = 2.14, p = .04, 95% CI [.01, .38]) showing that they had a positive impact on the attitude towards the placed brand.
On the other hand, while using the brand “Range Rover” as the dependent variable, the regression analysis showed that the variables accounted for a non-significant amount of variance on the brand attitude (R2 = .05, F(3, 101) = 1.78, p = .16). No significant main effect was found
for both brand placement condition (β = -.15, t(104) = .54, p = .59, 95% CI [-.71, .41]) and ego depletion condition (β = .44, t(104) = 1.58, p = .12, 95% CI [-.11, 1.00]), However, contrary to the previous model, their interaction was only approaching the significance (β = -.92, t(104) = 1.65, p = .10, 95% CI [-2.03, .19]). As before, the potential confounds were taken into account but, in this case, the inclusion of the covariates did not change the main results.
FIGURE 2
Attitude Towards the Brand "BMW" as Function of Exposure to Placements and Ego-Depletion Condition
FIGURE 3
Attitude Towards the Brand "Range Rover" as Function of Exposure to Placements and Ego-Depletion Condition 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 No Exposure Exposure Br an d At tit ud e
Brand Placement Condition
Control Ego Depletion 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 5.2 5.4 5.6 No Exposure Exposure Br an d At tit ud e
Brand Placement Condition
GENERAL DISCUSSION
The adoption of brand placements in songs is not something new for the market; there are precedents of this tendency since 1986 when the band Run-D.M.C. released their track “My Adidas”, which mentioned the sneakers’ brand 22 times in its lyrics. However, over the last decades, the probability of hearing a brand name while listening to music increased dramatically, and not only for personal or artistic motivation, but rather as a marketing strategy pursued by managers in order to maximize the exposure of their brand on customers. As a result, listeners that are interested in the new album of the American rapper Eminem can be entertained by his track “Venom”, produced in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment in order to promote the homonymous movie released in 2018.
While the placement can be in the title and/or in the chorus of a song (i.e., blatant placements), the most common practice is to promote a brand more subtly, mentioning it in the verses of the song (i.e., subtle placements). This study aims to address if this strategy adopted by marketers is useful and under which conditions. To address those questions, a study that integrated subtle brand placements, persuasion, and ego depletion was established. Precisely, it was tested if subtle brand placements have a different impact on customers in mindlessness or non-mindlessness condition. Confirmed by past researches, customers are easily depleted during their daily routine, and this condition of low mental resources have an impact on the way they process information. It was then argued that people in an ego depletion status might have a lower probability to recognize a subtle placement than non-depleted people and that their attitude towards the placed brand can unconsciously increase while lacking resources to resist to those persuasive messages. Those hypotheses were tested using a fragment of a song containing two brand placements (i.e., BMW and Range Rover) and using a task aimed to reduce the self-control of participants. Nevertheless, results did not support the previous hypotheses.
subtle placements. Interestingly, the same analysis demonstrated that, when not exposed to the placement, customers had a significantly more positive attitude towards the brands when being in a state of ego depletion, showing that the exposure to the placement nullifies the positive impact of the low self-control. Furthermore, it was proven that the liking of the song and what customers think about the usage of brand placements as a marketing strategy could influence the brand attitude, giving valuable insights about this persuasive message.
The current research rises, as a matter of fact, novel important implications into the fields of brand placement and the psychology of depletion. First, the majority of researches about brand placements focus on media such as television programs, literature, movies, and videogames, while only a few of them aim to prove how this marketing strategy works in the music media. Specifically, the current work highlights how subtle brand placements included in the verses of a song did not have an impact on customers’ brand attitude. Complementing this, new insights on the ego depletion condition become apparent. Indeed, it was proven that this temporary quality of the customers could lead to a higher brand attitude, but not in all cases. The findings of this research showed that, generally, people have a more positive attitude towards a brand when depleted, however, when exposed to a subtle brand placement, the effect disappeared, showing no differences with people in a non-depletion condition, without distinction among people exposed to the placement or not. Besides, those implications can have a meaningful impact for marketers. As proved, subtle brand placements do not have an impact on customers brand attitude, while the condition of ego depletion has. The suggestion, in this case, is to continue to follow other brand placement strategies in order to persuade in a more efficient and efficacy way people that lack of self-control.
adoption of only car brands and the use of an R&B/Soul song can also be considered as limitations. Follow up researches may study if there are differences in the previous findings when using other types of brands, such as personal brands or shoes and clothing brands, as they are the most mentioned ones in music (Craig, Flynn & Holody, 2017).
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APPENDIX Online Experiment
Dear participant,
The following survey is being administered as a part of my master thesis in Marketing
Management at the University of Groningen. It takes about 7 minutes and includes two parts, one about creativity and music taste, and one about brand evaluation.
At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to participate in a lottery in exchange for a 20€ Amazon gift card. The email address you will provide will not be linked to your previous answers in order to keep the participants fully anonymous and the data you provide will be used solely for educational purposes. Since your participation in this study is entirely voluntary, you may withdraw at any time by simply closing the survey platform on your web browser. Please read all the instructions carefully before answering the questions.
Thank you for participating, Alberto Cappellari
(Condition: Ego depletion = yes)
The first task of this first part of the survey is about your creativity.
For the next 5 minutes please write down all the things that come to your mind, but DO NOT THINK ABOUT A WHITE BEAR. Every time that "white bear" comes to your mind, please add one point in the "white bear" counter.
"White bear" counter
(Condition: Ego Depletion = no)
The first task of this first part of the survey is about your creativity.
For the next 5 minutes please write down all the things that come to your mind. You can also think about a white bear.
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ (Condition: Brand Placement = yes)
For the second task of this first part of the study, please listen to the following song and indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements. Remember that there are no correct answers, so be as honest as possible.
(Condition: Brand Placement = yes)
For the second task of this first part of the study, please listen to the following song and indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements. Remember that there are no correct answers, so be as honest as possible.
The "next" button will appear as soon as you listen to the audio track.
Second Part of the Experiment
We will move now to the second part of the study, in which I will ask you to evaluate some car brands.
(Brand Randomization – All Participants)
Please rate the brand "BMW" based on the following statements
Please rate the brand "Audi" based on the following statements
Please rate the "Toyota" based on the following statements
In the song you previously listened to, some brands were named, do you remember which ones?
Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statement. Remember that there are no correct answers, so be as honest as possible.
What is your gender?
What is your age?
(End of Survey)
You have reached the end of the survey. Thank you very much for your time and participation. In this social experiment, the main goal was to study if, in a state of ego-depletion or low self-control, people are more persuaded by brand placements included in songs.
In order to participate in the lottery, please answer the following question and click the "next" button.
HEAR ME OR NOT
SUBTLE BRAND PLACEMENTS IN EGO
DEPLETION CONDITION
Alberto Cappellari – s3796302
• Brand Placement
• Ego Depletion
• Hypotheses
• Results
→ Streaming services count only for 18% of consumers’ weekly time spent listening to licensed music sources
Why is this information academically relevant for Marketing?
• Paid inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers through audio and/or visual
means, within mass media programming (Karrh, 1998)
• Seen as less aggressive tool compared with other types of advertisements (Karrh,
1998)
• Positive effects on brand recognition and brand attitude (Fennis and Stroebe, 2016)
In music
:
• Blatant Vs. Subtle
→ Mental resources are likely to be depleted throughout the day
(Baumeister, 2002)
Implications for marketing:
• Increases the likelihood of dismissing information perceived
as irrelevant (Fischer, Greitemeyer, & Frey, 2008)
recognition, such that the recognition will be lower when people are in a state of low self-control.
▪ H2: A condition of ego depletion moderates the impact of subtle brand placements on attitude
towards the placed brand, such that the attitude will be higher when people are in a stare of low
self-control.
• 2 (exposure to subtle brand placements: no vs yes) × 2 (ego depletion: no vs yes) between-subjects
factorial design
• 105 participants (M
age
= 25; 59% females)
Online experiment
:
• Ego depletion → thought suppression task (Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White, 1987)
• IV → exposure to the brands “BMW” and “Range Rover” using a fragment of the song “Slow wind”
(2003) produced by R. Kelly featuring Sean Paul and Akon
• DVs → brand recognition and brand attitude
• Regression analysis using Model 1 of PROCESS
3.3 by Andrew F. Hayes
➢ Non-significant interaction effect (ps > .05) for
both the brands
➢ H1 is rejected
• Probability of recognition when exposed to the
placements:
• Independent sample t-test (t(103) = 2.08, p = .04)
➢ Control group (M = 3.19, SD = 1.64) perceived the
task as less difficult than people in ego depletion
condition (M = 3.87, SD = 1.69)
➢ The manipulation was successful
BMW
Range Rover
Control
16.67%
25%
• Regression analysis using Model 1 of PROCESS 3.3 by Andrew F. Hayes:
➢ BMW
• Significant negative interaction effect (β = -1.29, t(104) = 2.63, p = .01)
➢Range Rover
• Negative interaction effect approaching significance (β = -.92, t(104) = 1.65, p = .10)
➢H2 is rejected
➢Positive impact of the attitude towards the song and brand placement as form of persuasive
communication (ps < .05)
5.21 5.25 4.92 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 No Exposure Exposure Bra n d A tt itu d e
Brand Placement Condition
Control Ego Depletion 4.57 4.88 5.48 4.87 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 5.2 5.4 No Exposure Exposure Bra n d A tt itu d e
Brand Placement Condition
