Kavitha Venkatasubramany Iyer

Reports indicate that 49% of adults in India spend at least 2-3 hours consuming OTT media, rather than watching conventional television. With such changes in the way the general population is exposed to content, brands have also been adapting to the new patterns that this study investigates. This study was conducted to assess consumers’ attitudes and acceptance towards brand placement in the novel media format of web series based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study, based on a survey of 278 individuals from Urban India settings, was conducted using a self-report questionnaire adapted from F Davis’s Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and User Acceptance of TAM questionnaire (1989). The study supports TAM and recognizes that the frequency of viewing Web Series directly relates to brand recall (R = 0.57, p < .001). Product/brand placement yields brand awareness for unknown or unpopular brands and provide evidence for higher engagement with the placement when the audiences have pre-existing positive attitudes towards the brand (t (277) = 27.11, p = .01). This study also confirms that TAM as a relevant model can be applied to understand how regularity and duration of viewing affect attitudes towards brands and their placement in Web Series. Brand placement in Web Series is perceived as useful and largely determines brand name recall. Thus, marketers should strategically consider using brand placement in Web Series as a part of their marketing communication plan, especially as this media with other related forms of advertisement are important for brands to keep up with the industry’s communication challenges.

Self-referential, meta or self-aware advertising uses irony and cynicism to overtly critique and challenge conventional advertising strategies. While increasingly multiple brands are using self-referential advertising campaigns to implement innovative advertising strategies, a limited amount of research has been conducted on the effects of self-referential advertising on consumers’ evaluative responses. This study aimed to identify a link between self-referential ads and the consumers’ sense of self-presentation, mainly the conflict between the ideal self and the real self, and how this, in turn, affects their attitude toward the brand in the subject, further affecting purchase intention and brand perception. A quantitative structured study was conducted in a group of 326 18–35-year-old people, comprising Millennial and Generation Z consumers, using voluntary sampling through links to Google Forms distributed online on various platforms. Findings showed a significant positive correlation between self-referential ads, brand perception, and consumers’ brand attitude (r = 0.777, 0.712). Besides, in the mediation analysis, each of the four regression models establishes a correlation among the three variables. However, significance is not found in the mediating role of consumers’ real selves between self-referential advertising and brand attitude, though consumption patterns mediate consumer acceptance of self-referential advertising. The findings gave product/brand managers and marketing professionals a strategic direction on the importance of using self-referential forms of advertising in congruence with the product life cycle and brand positioning. It also helps to understand the importance of consumption patterns in creating advertising appeals.