Viral Promotional Advergames: How Intrinsic Playfulness and the Extrinsic Value of Prizes Elicit Behavioral Responses

When designing a viral promotional advergame (VPA) (which combines a promotional game and an advergame in a viral marketing campaign), marketers focus on game schemes and prizes to trigger players' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and elicit certain behavioral responses, such as sharing personal data and forwarding the game. A field study examines factors that lead to behavioral responses in VPAs. The results show that players who perceive more playfulness tend to increase their game forwarding and personal data sharing behaviors. The perceived value of prizes also relates positively to game forwarding but not to personal data sharing. Finally, the results show that prior brand attitudes moderate the effect of the perceived value of prizes on game forwarding behavior.