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BRAND MANAGEMENT
Brand Recall and Recognition: A
Comparison of Television and Sport
Video Games as Presentation Modes
Patrick Walsh, Yongjae Kim, and Stephen D. Ross
Abstract
In addition to league video game licenses, corpo-
In todays cluttered marketplace it is essential that cor- rate marketers are utilizing this new medium by
porations seek new and innovative ways to reach their engaging in brand placement within video games.
target audience. Sport video games represent an
emerging media forum for brand management as cor- to the growth of the industry, video games now seem to
porations are now engaging in brand placement within be a major competitor for traditional forms of enter-
sport video games in an attempt to reach consumers in tainment, discretionary income, and consumer leisure
a non-traditional way. Despite the growth of this prac- time. In fact, 2004 sales of video game items surpassed
tice little research has been conducted to determine its movie theater box office receipts in the US market (e-
effectiveness, particularly as it compares to placement Strategic Research, 2005), and millions of Americans
within more traditional mediums. As such, the pur- own some type of video game system. A large portion
pose of this study is to compare the recall and recogni- of US households (33%) own a console video game sys-
tion rates for brands appearing in a sport video game tem, and 41% of Americans indicated that they planned
and brands appearing in a televised sport contest. The to purchase one or more video games in 2007
results have important implications for corporate mar- (Entertainment Software Association, 2007).
keters and indicate that recall for brands that appeared This growth has also led many professional and colle-
in a televised NASCAR race were higher than those in giate properties to consider sport video games as an
a NASCAR themed video game; however, recognition innovative tool to reach existing sport consumers,
rates were not statistically significant. attract new customers, and access younger market seg-
ments by incorporating their brands into interactive
Introduction games (Arrington, 2003; Lefton, 2005). In addition to
From 1996 to 2006 computer and video game sales in league video game licenses, corporate marketers are uti-
the United States grew from $2.6 billion to $7.4 billion lizing this new medium by engaging in brand place-
(Entertainment Software Association, 2007). Of that ment within video games. The technology research firm
$7.4 billion in sales, sport video games are one of the The Yankee Group estimated that $70 million in adver-
most popular genres, ranking second in total number tising revenue was generated via in-game ads in the US
of units sold in 2006, accounting for 17% of industry in 2003, and that number is predicted to increase to
sales (Entertainment Software Association, 2007). Due more than $700 million by 2010 (Yankee Group, 2006).
Despite this growth little research has been conducted
on the effectiveness of corporations placing their brand
Patrick Walsh, PhD, is a visiting assistant professor of within sport video games, in particular as it compares
sport administration at the University of Miami. His to more traditional brand placement methods utilized
research interests include sport brand management, new during a live sporting event such as venue signage, logo
media marketing, and corporate sponsorship. placement, and sponsored segments.
Yongjae Kim is a doctoral candidate in the School of
Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota. His research Brand Recall and Recognition
interests include consumer psychology and behavior in a When corporations place their brand within sport video
virtual environment and brand management. games their likely end goal is to positively impact brand
Stephen D. Ross, PhD, is an assistant professor of sport equity, and in turn have an effect on some marketplace
management at the University of Minnesota. His outcomes such as image enhancement, product sales,
research interests include sport brand management, sport and brand exposure. In order to have an impact on
consumer psychology, and sport marketing as it relates to brand equity Aaker (1996) suggests that factors such as
the youth segment. brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and
Volume 17 Number 4 2008 Sport Marketing Quarterly 201
brand associations must be impacted in a positive way. exposure to the brand (Aaker, 1992) and is typically
Keller (1993) also proposed that brand equity relies on measured using an aided technique in which many
the knowledge one has for the brand, which consists of brands are listed and the consumer chooses which ones
brand awareness and brand associations. they recognize. A brand is said to be recalled if the
In sport, the study of brand equity has been a focus brand name is able to be correctly retrieved from
in recent literature, primarily due to the shift of many memory without any mention of product class or
professional sport teams and leagues from the realiza- other brand names (Aaker, 1992). A number of vari-
tion of short-term profits to more of a strategic focus ables have been shown to have an impact on brand
on managing a teams brand (Gladden, Irwin, & recall and recognition such as age, consumption levels
Sutton, 2001). Gladden, Milne, and Sutton (1998) were of televised sport, level of identification with sport, and
the first to provide a framework for brand equity in prior attitude toward the event (Gwinner & Swanson,
sport and posited that there are a number of 2003; Meenaghan, 2001; Pham, 1992).
antecedents in collegiate sport that could impact per- However, one area that has not been examined is the
ceived quality, brand awareness, brand associations, presentation mode of the brands. That is, no research
and brand loyalty. Gladden and Milne (1999) also has examined if there are significant differences in the
developed a brand equity framework that was applica- recall and recognition of brands within a televised sports
ble to professional sport and determined that brand contest and a sport video game. As the sport landscape
equity has a positive effect on marketplace outcomes becomes more cluttered organizations are looking
such as merchandise sales. More recently, Ross (2006) toward new forms of media to support their marketing
contended that professional sport is a service-based activities. The relatively new practice of brand place-
brand and Gladden et al.s (1998) and Gladden and ment within sport video games has started to garner
Milnes (1999) models of brand equity were derived some attention by both practitioners and academicians.
from frameworks that were developed with consumer-
based goods in mind (Aaker, 1996; Keller, 1993). However, one area that has not been examined is
Therefore, Ross (2006) developed a spectator-based the presentation mode of the brands. That is, no
brand equity model that included antecedents that research has examined if there are significant differ-
may impact both consumer- and service-based brands ences in the recall and recognition of brands within
such as the actual customer experience. Ultimately in a televised sports contest and a sport video game.
Rosss (2006) model marketplace outcomes such as
loyalty, exposure, sales, and revenue solicitation were Sport Video Game Research
impacted by the teams spectator-based brand equity, Nelson (2002) was the first to examine the effectiveness
which includes brand awareness and brand associa- of brand placement within a sport video game.
tions. Specifically, the research measured recall and recogni-
While there are some conflicting theories as to the tion of brands immediately following participants game
components of brand equity, each framework includes play and then again after a five-month delay. While the
some form of brand awareness (Aaker, 1996; Gladden study did not go into detail on how recognition and
et al., 1998; Gladden & Milne, 1999; Keller, 1993; Ross, recall were assessed, the findings indicated that 25-30%
2006). In addition, while there are many objectives of of brands that appeared in the game were recalled in the
brand building activities, it has been suggested that short term, and 10-15% were recalled after a five-month
none may be more important than creating brand delay (Nelson, 2002). Further research by Nelson,
awareness among consumers, and developing strength Keum, and Yaros (2004) aimed to assess consumer atti-
of brand presence in a consumers memory (Aaker, tudes toward the practice of advertising within video
1992). If consumers are unaware that a brand exists games along with determining purchase intentions
their products will not become part of the individuals toward brands that appeared in the game. The results
consideration set. Brand placement within sport video suggested that most consumers had positive feelings
games provides an opportunity to create this awareness about in-game advertising when it adds realism to the
in order for the organizations product to move into an game, and those that had negative attitudes about in-
evoked set. As creating brand awareness is so funda- game placement were negative about the practice of
mental to impacting brand equity it was the focus of advertising in general (Nelson et al., 2004). Therefore,
the present study. having advertisements around the dasher boards of an
The most common way to measure brand awareness arena in a NHL-themed hockey game would invoke
is to utilize recognition and recall measures (Pitts & positive reactions as these types of advertisements are
Slattery, 2004). Recognition refers to the ability of a very common at an actual hockey arena. However, these
consumer to simply remember that there was past results were examined qualitatively with a small sample
202 Volume 17 Number 4 2008 Sport Marketing Quarterly
size, which suggests that more research should be con- tainment, fantasy, knowledge application, social inter-
ducted in an attempt to quantify this affect. action, competition, and diversion.
While the previous studies attempted to measure a Finally, as corporations begin to target sport fans
game players explicit memory through recall and through brand placement within sport video games it
recognition techniques, Yang, Roskos-Ewoldsen, Dinu, is necessary to understand the characteristics of these
and Arpan (2006) examined in-game advertisings sport video game players. In order to examine the psy-
impact on implicit memory. Using an experimental chological and consumptive behaviors of sport video
design, subjects were placed into one of three groups; gamers, Kim, Walsh, and Ross (2008) surveyed 239
two experimental groups in which subjects either gamers from four popular online video game websites.
played a racing video game or a soccer video game, and The survey included questions designed to measure the
the control group in which no game was played. After sport consumptive behavior of the game players (e.g.,
approximately 30 minutes of game play the partici- how often they watched sports on TV, read the sports
pants implicit and explicit memory of the brands that paper, played sports, visited a sport news website), how
appeared within the game were measured. The results often gamers engaged in game play, and their level of
indicated that both implicit and explicit memory was psychological commitment with sport. The results sug-
impacted by video game play. In particular, participants gest that the majority of heavy gamers are highly iden-
had better performance on an implicit memory task for tified sport fans who engage in more sport
brands that appeared in the game in which they had consumptive behavior than light gamers, who also had
just played, as compared to those that either played a significantly lower levels of identification. These find-
different game in which the brands did not appear, or ings are important as they suggest that those playing
compared to those who did not play the game at all. sport video games are sport fans, and that in-game
Additionally, the results suggested that while explicit brand placement may represent a viable tool to reach
memory was impacted, the recognition rates were rela- the loyal sport fan.
tively low (Yang et al., 2006). These results would sug-
gest that brand placement within a video game is Purpose
impacting the game players memory and ability to rec- While the use of video games and sport video games
ognize brands that appeared in the game. specifically as a marketing tactic is now starting to gar-
ner some attention, surprisingly little empirical
While previous research has focused on recall of research has been conducted to legitimize this practice,
and consumer attitudes towards in-game advertis- particularly as it relates to the effectiveness of in-game
ing, a new line of sport video game research has branding as compared to more traditional mediums.
emerged that attempts to examine the psychological Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the
and consumptive behaviors of sport video gamers. brand awareness (recall and recognition) of brands
within sport video games as compared to the aware-
While previous research has focused on recall of and ness of brands appearing in a televised sports contest.
consumer attitudes toward in-game advertising, a new In particular, this study compared recall and recogni-
line of sport video game research has emerged that tion of the brands within the EA Sports NASCAR Total
attempts to examine the psychological and consump- Team Control video game and the 2006 NASCAR USG
tive behaviors of sport video gamers. This research has Sheetrock 400 race that aired on the FOX television
been developed in an attempt to understand why con- network on July 9, 2006.
sumers play sport video games, game player character-
istics, and to legitimize targeting sport fans through Method
brand placement within sport video games. Kim and
Ross (2006) developed a scale to determine what moti- Participants and Procedures
vated sport video gamers to engage in game play. In a lab setting for a NASCAR-themed video game and
Using a Uses and Gratifications framework, they con- a televised NASCAR race, an experiment was conduct-
ducted focus groups to determine the primary reasons ed with 72 undergraduate students enrolled at a large
why individuals play sport video games and to develop Midwestern university in the United States. Using a
survey items for these primary dimensions. Following convenience sampling technique, subjects were recruit-
the focus groups these motives were then measured in ed through classroom announcements that asked for
a survey of 207 individuals to assess sport video game study volunteers. To promote incidental learning dur-
play motivations. The resulting Sport Video Gamer ing the experiment the intent of the study was con-
Motivation Scale (SVGMS) suggests there are seven cealed from the subjects. Once consent was provided
prevailing motivations; identification with sport, enter- each subject was randomly assigned to one of two
Volume 17 Number 4 2008 Sport Marketing Quarterly 203
experimental groups. In the videogame group (n=34), SPSS 14.0. In preparation for data analysis, the brand
subjects were asked to play a 15-minute segment of a recall and recognition rates were calculated for each
sport video game, which included practice time, quali- respondent by subtracting the number of incorrect
fying, and the race. In similar vein, subjects in the tele- responses from the total number of brands recalled or
vision group (n=38) were asked to watch a 15-minute recognized. To describe the demographic information,
segment of an actual NASCAR race. Following the sub- frequencies and descriptive statistics were used. One-
jects exposure to either the video game or the race they way ANOVA tests were then performed to test the sta-
were asked to complete a survey designed to measure tistical difference of recall/recognition rates of the
brand recall and recognition. It is important to note brands that appeared in the televised race and the
that all members of the video game experimental group video game (presentation modes). Prior to testing the
played with the same car and track during the 15 recall/recognition rates among the presentation modes,
minute time. Similarly, the television experimental ANCOVA tests were performed to examine the effects
group watched an actual race from the same track rep- of the presentation mode on the recall and recognition
resented in the video game experimental setting. rates, with the volume of consumption of televised
sport and the level of identification defined as covari-
Measures ates. For analysis, summated scores were computed for
Brand name recall and recognition measures were the respondents identification level.
adapted from those used in previous studies to assess
consumer awareness of sponsorship and commercials Results
(Cuneen & Hannan, 1993; Miloch & Lambrecht, 2006;
Pitts, 1998; Sandage, 1983). In order to asses recall, Sample Characteristics
subjects were first asked to list as many brands as pos- In terms of the overall sample, the majority of the
sible from memory immediately following video game respondents (79.2%) were between 18 and 24 years of
play or after having watched the televised race through age, while 19.5% of the respondents were between 25
an open-ended question format. The number of and 29 years old. The gender distribution of respon-
brands recalled correctly by any one subject became dents was 23.6% female and 76.4% male, with 91.7%
the measure of unaided recall (recall scores for sub- of the respondents indicating that they were single.
jects). Next, subjects were given a list of 10 brand
names that included five actual brands that appeared
Table 1.
during the televised race or within the video game, as Demographics of subjects
well as five brands not appearing in either setting.
Respondents were then asked to indicate brands to Demographic Information Total(%)
which they had been exposed (Cuneen & Hannan,
1993; Pitts, 1998; Sandage, 1983; Slattery & Pitts, Sex
2002). The number of brand names correctly identified Female 17(23.6)
by a subject became the measure of recognition (recog- Male 55(76.4)
nition scores for subjects). These measures were Age
administered in the order shown above because prior < 20 15(20.8)
exposure to the recognition measures could lead to 20-24 42(58.4)
contamination in the recall data (Singh & Rothschild, 25-29 14(19.5)
1983). In addition to the recall and recognition testing, 30 < 1(1.4)
the participants level of identification and volume of Marital Status
sport consumption (e.g., watching sporting events on Single 66(91.7)
TV) were collected and presumed to be potential Married 5(6.9)
covariates. A four-item identification scale validated in Divorced 1(1.4)
previous research was utilized to measure identifica- Ethnicity
tion (James & Ross, 2002; Trail, Anderson, & Fink, Black/African American 4(5.6)
2005; Trail & James, 2001), while sport consumption Hispanic 1(1.4)
was measured by asking respondents to list how many White/Caucasian 56(81.2)
hours per week they watched NASCAR on TV. Asian or Pacific Islander 6(8.7)
Other 2(2.9)
Data Analysis
The information from the completed surveys was Note: Percentages may not add to 100 % due to
entered into a computer database and analyzed using rounding.
Table 2.
Comparison of Recall across Presentation Modes (Means and SD)
Video Game Setting Television Setting p-value
Table 3.
Comparison of Recognition across Presentation Modes (Means and SD)
Video Game Setting Television Setting p-value