An application of brand personality to advergames: The effect of company attributes on advergame personality

The purpose of this study is to explore the advergame personality (AP) dimensions and to explicate the underlying relationships of the AP dimensions with company attributes, product categories, and consumers' behavioral intentions. A series of surveys with convenience samples indicates that consumers ascribe personality characteristics to advergames and that the perceived AP is five-dimensional, specifically: vibrancy, competence, intelligence, activeness, and excitement. A path model shows that company attributes (i.e., size, reputation, relevance) influenced each AP dimension in various ways, depending on product category (i.e., hedonic vs. utilitarian), which in turn affected consumers' intentions to play an advergame and to purchase a product. This study produces valuable insights into the effectiveness of advergames and into ways to strategically lead to behavioral intentions to play an advergame and purchase a product.