Thematic Congruency in the Context of Brand Placements: Tests of Memory and Attitude Measures

The role of thematic congruency has been extensively researched in traditional advertising formats. However, despite these efforts, little is known about the impact of thematic congruency on the effectiveness of brand placements. The current research reports findings of two experiments designed to compare memory and attitudinal effects of thematically congruent and incongruent brand placements. The results show that while incongruent brand placements can better enhance consumers’ brand memory, congruent placements are more conducive to creating positive brand attitudes. However, the frequency of brand placement repetition moderates these relationships in an unexpected manner. Specifically, at high level of repetitions, incongruent brand placements can have similar effects on brand attitudes as congruent brand placements. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.