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MASTER THESIS

A Journey on the value of Promotional and Experiential Marketing

regarding Intention of Sport Participation within different Market Segments.

University of Amsterdam

Faculty of Economics and Business

Master of Science in Business Administration

Track: Marketing

First supervisor: Drs. Ing. Antoon Meulemans

Second reader: Drs. FR. Slisser

By:

Student: Brenda Hernández Fernández

Student number: 11086106

24th of June, 2016

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Statement of Originality

This document is written by Student Brenda Hernández Fernández who declares to take full

responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources

other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion

of the work, not for the contents.

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ABSTRACT

Sport participants are influenced by numerous factors affecting the decision of which sport to

practice. In this study, the aim is to understand the influence of brands on consumers’ decision

making. Specifically, the point of the conversation focuses on the different impact that marketing

approaches, Promotional and Experiential, have across marketing segments using the US VALS as

tool of measurement.

An online experimental survey was designed in order to present different videos, regarding

Promotional or Experiential Marketing to participants. After being exposed to six different videos,

respondents were asked to answer specific questions related with their videos preference and

intention to practice sport. In order to know their values and lifestyles, respondents were asked to

answer an external survey already available on Internet.

Using data from international participants (N=114, SD=.499), it was found that there is no

difference in Marketing stimuli on intention to practice sports. However, either Promotional or

Experiential Marketing encourages people to have stronger intentions to participate in sports.

According to their Values and Lifestyles, it was found that Primary Motivations do not influence

intention to practice sport after being exposed to marketing stimuli p>.05. However, Resources do

affect p<.05, showing that for people with low resources Promotional Marketing is more effective in

increasing intention to practice sports while for high Resources, Experiential Marketing works better

to achieve this same goal. The study represents a footstep ahead on current theoretical framework.

Despite the fact that major limitations constrained the results of the test, it still exposes the reader to

an insightful journey across the topic by identifying the best practices for consumers with low and

high Resources.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my infinite gratitude to the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam

Merit Scholarship committee that have made possible to attain my Masters Degree in Business

Administration: Marketing. I would also like to thank Drs. Ing. Antoon Meulemans for being my

supervisor and taking me through the learning process of this master thesis, for his useful feedbacks

and remarks.

Furthermore, I would like to thank my family because they have always helped me to achieve and

pursuit all my goals and dreams. I am completely grateful with Paolo, my life companion, who has

been by my side every day of this journey and lastly, to my friends who have been supporting me all

the time.

I will be grateful forever,

Brenda Hernández Fernández

24th of June, 2016 University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 8

2. LITERATULRE REVIEW .................................................................................................................. 11

2.1 Marketing Stimuli-Brand Stimuli .................................................................................................. 11

2.1.1. From Promotion to Information .................................................................................... 11

2.1.2. Promotional Marketing .................................................................................................. 13

2.1.3. Holistic Marketing ......................................................................................................... 14

2.1.4. Interactive and Experiential Marketing ......................................................................... 16

2.2. Consumer Stimuli ......................................................................................................................... 18

2.2.1. Consumer characteristics ............................................................................................... 19

2.2.1.1. Cultural ........................................................................................................... 19

2.2.1.2. Social .............................................................................................................. 19

2.2.1.3. Personal .......................................................................................................... 20

2.3. Consumer Psychology .................................................................................................................. 22

2.3.1. Motivation ..................................................................................................................... 22

2.3.2. Perception ...................................................................................................................... 23

2.3.3. Learning ........................................................................................................................ 24

2.3.4. Memory ......................................................................................................................... 24

2.3.5. Attitudes ........................................................................................................................ 25

2.4. Consumer Psychographic: VALS ................................................................................................ 26

2.5. Consumer Intention ...................................................................................................................... 29

2.6. Research Question ........................................................................................................................ 30

2.7. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses ...................................................................................... 32

3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 34

3.1. Sample ......................................................................................................................................... 34

3.2. Research Design ........................................................................................................................... 34

3.2.1 Measures ......................................................................................................................... 35

3.3. The Procedure ............................................................................................................................... 37

3.3.1. Pre-test ........................................................................................................................... 37

3.3.2. Main Study .................................................................................................................... 37

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4. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................... 39

4.1. Preliminary Analysis .................................................................................................................... 39

4.2. Reliability of Scales ..................................................................................................................... 39

4.3. Descriptives ................................................................................................................................. 40

4.4. Analysis Results .......................................................................................................................... 41

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 46

5.1. Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 46

5.2. Overall conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 50

5.3. Academic Implications ................................................................................................................. 52

5.4. Managerial Implications ............................................................................................................... 52

5.5. Limitations and future research .................................................................................................... 54

REFERENCE ............................................................................................................................................ 57

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................................ 62

I Online Survey .......................................................................................................................................... 62

II VALS ...................................................................................................................................................... 68

III Pre-test (1) Videos vs Printed ads ......................................................................................................... 73

IV Pre-test (2) Time length ......................................................................................................................... 75

V Marketing Stimuli Preference and Motivations ...................................................................................... 76

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INDEX OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1 Holistic Marketing ................................................................................................................ 14

Figure 2. Three Hierarchy of Effects Models Marketing .................................................................... 25

Figure 3. US VALS Framework .......................................................................................................... 27

Figure 4. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................ 32

Figure 5. Marketing Stimuli Preference and Resources ..................................................................... 44

Table 1. Motivational Factor for evaluating Sport Spectator and Participant Markets ....................... 23

Table 2. Level of Intention to practice sport by group ....................................................................... 42

Table 3. ANOVA between Subjects effect- Resources Main effects and Interaction effects ............ 43

Table 4. ANOVA between Subjects effect- Motivations Main effects and Interaction effects ......... 45

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1. INTRODUCTION

Exchange of information, emotional attachment, identification and feeling of belonging, this is the

relationship between brands and consumers in the third millennium; a relationship as if your favorite

brand was your lifetime friend.

Contrary to traditional research, interactive marketing and, with that, experiential marketing,

has allowed brands to get closer to consumers by building strong relationships, providing solutions

and experiencing those together. Innovative researchers have caught up on analyzing these trends

that have driven change in the mindset of brands given the increased expertise of their consumers.

Still, traditional practices remain in place in certain, if not all, markets.

The sport environment has seen a greater application of both promotional and experiential

concepts, but little is known on the influence that marketing stimuli have towards the intention to

participate in sports. Forget, for one moment, product attributes, and look into the deepest

understanding of what triggers consumers participation from an inspirational and experiential point

of view. By not neglecting consumer’s lifestyle and values, the research provides a unique profile on

how and which marketing approach offers greater influence in sport participation by linking together

promotional theory of McCarthy (1960), and its evolution to the SIVA marketing mix (Chekitan &

Schultz, 2012), more inspirational driven compared to the past, with the five modules of experiential

marketing exhibited by Schmitt (1999) and consumers distinctiveness offered by the VALS

methodology (Strategic Business Insights, 2016). It also provides pragmatic insights coming from

consumers on which approach they believe it works the best. In that sense, it will be an explicit

request to brands on how to wisely activate a specific response.

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With that said, the research question of this exciting topic is the following: To what extent

Promotional is different from Experiential marketing on intention to practice sports? How does this

relationship differ by taking into consideration consumer Values and Lifestyles?”

To answer the above interrogation, an online experiment was run to expose interviewees to

specific videos by testing their preference towards inspirational and promotional communication

versus pragmatic experiences. On top of that, they were divided in market cluster, segments,

according to the VALS, so their value and lifestyle as moderator effect, between marketing stimuli

and intention to practice sport, was assessed. The sample consisted of 114 individuals coming from

various nationalities, ages, incomes, and education.

Theoretical and managerial relevance

The uniqueness of this angle of study provides both managerial and theoretical contribution;

mainly in the understanding of the different impact of marketing approaches, thanks to an

observation of traditional and new techniques. As a matter of fact brands are currently facing a

market that, recently, sought inspirational and experiential marketing as a point of difference to

strengthen the relationship between brand and consumer; as well as a market that regards the

distinctive individuality of affect, behavior and belief of each consumer.

There is evidence of previous researches showcasing the influence of marketing actions on

intention to purchase certain products. Still, this research adds academic relevance from three points

of view. Firstly, the analysis digs deeper into marketing stimuli as it starts to identify the value of

certain approaches across segments. Secondly, it investigates an industry, the sporting goods

industry that to our knowledge is overdrawn by such research. Lastly, the intention to practice sport

clearly states the need to focus on the solution of consumers’ needs rather than the means.

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The clear and confined boundaries allow addressing the results of the study particularly to

those brands living within the sporting goods environment. Sporting goods brands know that market

segmentation through values and lifestyles is key to delivering a successful marketing campaign;

perhaps this could be the main outcome to suggest to brands that outbound the field of study.

Moving on from this, the takeaways for marketing managers are dual: on one hand the aim is to give

guidance on the optimal allocation of the marketing resources by studying the value of each

approach. On the other, this research aims to force brand leaders to evolve their strategic thinking

towards the solution of the problem rather than the purchase action. By focusing on the final desired

outcome by consumers, brands are able to provide meaningful interactive responses, which do not

only increase the emotional attachment, but also thrive to accomplish repeated purchases through

brand loyalty.

Thesis Overview

The research begins showcasing the evolution of marketing communicational beliefs,

highlighted as brand stimuli, from the 60s to recent times. An extensive discussion of current

understandings of consumers’ stimuli, psychology and psychographic is argued as a complement to

the brand stimuli towards the achievement of the consumer’s final intention. It follows the

conceptual framework that poses the bases for hypotheses questioned in the experiment. The

research design and methodology go into the details of test before showcasing the analysis,

quantitative results to set ground to sizable discussion and conclusion. Finally, the academic and

managerial implications as well as limitations and future research are presented.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Marketing Stimuli - Brand Stimuli

2.1.1. From Promotion to Information.

It has all started with the introduction, more than fifty years ago, of the concept of promotion. As

McCarthy (1960) discussed in his “Basic Marketing; A managerial Approach” book, promotion is

the method that firms use to interact with their consumers (p.480). Effective promotion is achieved

through the information, persuasion and reminder of the marketing mix - product, price and place.

Those three undertakings can also be described through the AIDA model - acronym of

Attention, Interest, Desire and Action - (Tyagi, C. & Kumar, A., 2004, p.251) with the former two

symbolizing information and reminding, whilst desire and action are embraced by persuasion.

Besides the fact that this theoretical framework has diligently served for decades, in recent years,

some criticism has arisen. The first most emblematic and contrasting evolution of the 4Ps model was

proposed by Lauterborn (1990). Indeed, right after the Second World War, when McCarthy

developed his managerial approach, firms were predominantly interacting with their consumers

through a single touchpoint, mass advertising, and the conversation between the firm and its

consumers, was wholly one directional. There are several reasons why this has been the case: the

limitation of channels to go-to-market presented a few alternatives to speak with consumers or the

common practice to promote the brand primarily from a product or price standpoint are just a couple

of examples (Lauterborn, 1990). Product and price differentiation were the typical tactics to win the

competition. This primitive marketing approach was validated until consumer orientation, and

sophistication, became to a reality in late 80s (White, 2010). It was on this occasion that Lauterborn

(1990) developed a new classification of the 4 Ps in 4 Cs: consumer needs and wants, cost,

convenience and communication. This classification follows a more consumer-oriented approach by

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acknowledging consumer dissimilarities into segments. The talk is not anymore around mass

marketing, principally mass media advertising to whole market, but nice marketing; in other words,

marketing of segments. Before continuing to discuss the evolution of the marketing principle into

today’s customer experience, it is important to further analyze the Latin etymology of promotion and

communication to reinforce their differences. While the former can be translated in today’s terms as

“the act of persuading someone to do something” (Dizzionario Etimologico Online, 2016),

communication embodied the sense community and interchange as the “act to share something with

someone” (Dizzionario Etimologico Online, 2016).

Perhaps even more revolutionary, was the new marketing mix developed by Chekitan &

Schultz (2012). In 2005, the authors contrasted the McCarthy's 4Ps in the acronyms SIVA, Solution

instead of Product, Information instead of Promotion, Value instead of Price, and, ultimately, Access

instead of Place (Chekitan & Schultz, 2012). The SIVA marketing mix is opposed to the 4 Ps, and 4

Cs, as it flips the point of view, from the brands to the consumers. Indeed, consumers do not need

price but value as well as they do not look for needs or wants, but solutions. Specifically,

information is doubtfully seen as the flow of information coming from brands, rather the way

consumers decide to pull the information from, such as direct, retail, traditional media or online. As

the authors reminded us, Steve Jobs once said: “People don’t just want to buy personal computers

anymore; they want to know what they can do with them.” (Chekitan & Schultz, 2012, p. 46). The

SIVA marketing mix describes how brands have been seeking to win competition, increase

consumer loyalty and deliver the maximum brand experience in a continuing changing marketing

with more brands, more channels, more source of information, where complexity has not been

greater than now. On top of this, brands no longer have the luxury to share ideas with consumers and

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remain sat behind a desk. Knowing the market, by putting themselves in the consumer's shoes, has

become key to boost brand attachment, and in turn gain loyalty.

As a matter of fact, this is the reality where we find ourselves now; a market where product

and price differentiation are obsolete practices, if not integrated by other marketing approaches; a

market where consumers are exposed to a vast number and ways to pull the most trustable

information, useful to compare not only products (solutions) but also values and accesses. For this

reason, brand experience has become one of the most used ways to inform, interact and recruit loyal

consumers in the sport industry and beyond.

2.1.2 Promotional Marketing.

McCarthy (1960) defines types of promotion: Mass Selling, Personal Selling and Sales Promotion.

According to him, mass selling is planned, implemented and executed by the marketing department

(p.482). Mass selling refers to advertising, which means making someone aware of something

(Cambridge Online Dictionaries, 2016), such as television, radio, outdoor, newspaper, magazines

and online advertising, nowadays including both mobile and desktop. There are different ways

brands can advertise; from the most traditional ones, such as the classic mainstream TV ad, to the

most recent, as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Generally speaking, promotion follows

consumers’ buying decision process, where consumers begin with a problem recognition, then

search for the information, evaluate the alternatives and finally, make the purchase decision (Kotler

& Keller, 2012, p.166). Particularly through advertisement, brands leverage their communication at

the information search to persuade consumers with the objective to guide them to purchase own

products. Buying decision process can be accompanied with the traditional funnel metaphor that

exhibits the different stages of consumer’s acquaintance with a brand. It starts with awareness, where

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mass selling/advertising play a key role, then familiarity, consideration, before taking into account

the purchase (Court, D., Elzinga, D., Mulder, S. & Jørgen, O, 2016).

To conclude, Personal Selling and Sales Promotion are two promotional practices still in

place in various industries - even in the sport industry Sales Promotion can still be found. However,

for the scope of this research, it is believed that they go out of boundaries; hence, they will be left

aside to focus only on Mass Selling.

2.1.3 Holistic Marketing.

When it comes to talk about consumer’s information; companies and marketers, have developed a

wider marketing approach that embraces all the stakeholders, internal and external, to create

experience, build and maintain relationships, emotional attachment, through the internal

coordination towards a common objective in profitable, ethical and sustainable way (Hyeonyoung,

C., Eunju, K., Young, K., & Pekka, M, 2015). The developed framework (Figure 1), represents the

four diverse branches of Holistic Marketing.

Figure 1. Holistic Marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.19)

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Relationship Marketing signifies all the interactions with the stakeholders, such as customers,

partners, suppliers and so forth; interactions that are able to strengthen the position of the brand in

the market (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.20). Understanding customer, or consumer, relationship is

particular important as it is directly related with the satisfaction that the consumer might have with

the brand at different touchpoints. This is something that will be discussed in detail in the next

paragraphs. Internal Marketing refers to all those activities that allow a smooth flow of information

with the organization and also those that raise the level of satisfaction of employees according to

business directors (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.21). Besides looking just at the balance sheet,

Performance Marketing, explains the sustainable and ethical practices, from the respect of the

workers’ conditions to the minimum impact on the environment (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.22).

Finally, Integrated Marketing applies to all those things attached to the creation, communication and

delivery of value (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.20). To what concerns the scope of the research, it is

believed beneficial to restrict the analysis by looking at the Integrated Marketing Communication

with a particular focus on the newly defined approach named Experiential Marketing. It will become

clearer in the conversation below, how brands are not sellers of not only products, but also

experience creators and subsequently, how the three different tools of the Integrated Marketing -

Product, Communication and Channel (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.20) - sometimes appear blurry as a

unique entity.

Before jumping into the discussion of Experiential Marketing, it is also relevant to spend a

few words on the understanding of consumers’ response from brands that stimulate the on-going

conversation with their consumers through experiences. The present-day terminology “Customer

Experience Management”, or CEM, precisely describes this behavior of tactics put in practice to

respond to market stimuli and to provide those solutions that go beyond the fulfillment of needs and,

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that enable satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy (Gartner, Inc. 2016). To be precise, CEM is the

discipline that improves the Customer Experience Factor (Dandridge, 2010), literally like if the

consumers were rating in a scorecard their experience with the brand in a scale from 1 to 10, for

instance. To relink with the above explained holistic marketing approach, CEM is part of the

Integrated Marketing Communication together with brand awareness and direct marketing (Sevier,

2007). While there is always detailed attention on the generation awareness and responses - direct

marketing -, the potential of CEM is often underestimated as it can determine whether customer

satisfaction, and subsequently loyalty and advocacy, have been accomplished (Sevier, 2007). In

truth, CEM allows brands to establish a connection with consumers on all the customer life cycle,

pick the right message at the right time, as well as offer personalized memorable experiences - with

the increase of loyalty and advocacy in return (SAS Institute Inc., 2016).

2.1.4 Interactive and Experiential Marketing.

Back in 1998, the fathers of the Journal of Interactive Marketing - IM , define the same as “the

strategic use of information and information technology as corporate assets, network-based

communication, customer and managerial behavior in interactive environments, the evolution of

interactive institutions and the design and testing of interactive marketing decisions” (Deighton &

Rashi, 1998, pp.3). IM is, therefore, the newly marketing branch that derives from the evolution of

touchpoints with consumers.

Internet platforms, but also the birth of communities, are assets that brands have recently

started to leverage in order to establish new means of communication or interactions. Today, the

notion of IM does not go too far away from this early definition, if not by stressing even further that

Interactive Marketing enables a conversation between the brand and consumers through marketing

practices of the former. Elements of IM are the connecting platforms, communities, personalization,

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E-WOM, word of mouth, etc (Malthouse, E. & Hofacker, C., 2010). With the development of the IT,

IM has evolved and is in continuous transformation. IM does not need to be confused as synonym of

Digital Marketing as its range of action is wider than the latter. Due to technological advancements,

it is true that nowadays brands use IT to establish a remote and personalized conversation with

consumers, but this is not the only way that can be conducted within IM to interact with consumers.

Together with the raise of importance of IM, brands began to understand the relevancy and

potential of giving to them a memorable experience of the interaction they had. As stated above, the

recognition of the obsolescence of traditional promotional tool only through product features, forced

brands to generate a holistic marketing mindset, integrated communication that would trigger

memorable reminiscences. As a matter of fact, Experiential Marketing (EM), is the most recent

evolution of Integrated Marketing standing for a brand experience-based orientation, rather than the

traditional product-based one (Kirezli, 2011).

The notion of Experiential Marketing was brought alive by Schmitt (1999) whose theory was

founded upon the belief that consumer’s response was part of a socio-cultural context rather than just

competitive offering and consumer’s attachment to emotional feelings triggered by experiences. He

proposes a conceptual framework for managing experiences that is based on modules, which are:

● Sense - creation of sensory experiences

● Feel - creation of emotional experiences

● Think - creation of cognitive and problem-solving experiences

● Act - creation of physical experiences

● Relate - creation of self-improvement experiences as a feel of belonging to a community

(Schmitt, 1999)

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Marketers can either choose one or create a combination of those modules to stimulate the desired

experience and consumers’ outcome (Schmitt, 1999). This modular design is very useful when

analyzing the type of actions taken by brands towards their influence on consumers’ behavior and

their responses. A state of art example that Schmitt (1999) ultimately brings on his study is Nike’s

eternal campaign “Just Do It”, that represents the symbol of EM according to the Act module. On

top of that, it can be seen how sporting goods companies have used, in addition to Act, also other

module, such as Feel, impactful emotional content; Think, campaign against health related issues

from a sedentary life and Relate, strategies that surround the sense of belonging to a particular

community as Nike+, for instance.

On one hand, through the establishment of a holistic marketing approach that generates

experiential responses, IM and EM support brands in developing brand attachments, hence loyalty.

In addition, there is also the formation of one-to-one interactions and experiences that, on the other,

support the customization of each consumer's solution. Consumers have also the option to select

those brands that, do not only fulfill their solving need, but those that offer the best emotional,

provocative and communitarian experience.

With IM and EM, it has been touched a complete overview of brand power to affect

consumer’s behavior, thus intention. The next section will then move on describing those

influencing factors that immediately surrounds consumer’s sphere.

2.2 Consumers’ Stimuli

Brands do have influence on consumers. They can also put in motion certain consumers behaviors.

Still, consumers do have a lot to say and to process, resulting in a good chunk of unpredictability

when responding. The environment in which the consumers live and the uniqueness of the individual

compose this fragmented unpredictability, which is by nature impossible to precisely forecast by

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brands. This section covers both aspects of consumers’ stimuli, external and internal, by arguing

consumer’s characteristics, psychology and psychographic. Together with the brand stimuli, these

factors will then lead to the intention to participate in a certain physical activity.

2.2.1 Consumer Characteristics.

Consumers’ behavior is primarily shaped by its cultural, social and personal factors, whose strength

and duration vary from one to another. In the followings paragraphs, a good explanation of those

will be given before moving on to the consumer psychology.

2.2.1.1 Cultural.

As reported by Kotler & Keller (2012), cultural factors significantly drive consumers’ decision in

shaping the need for solutions (p.151). Specifically, in the sport market, it would be a mistake to

assume that every culture favors physical activities in the same way. However, it can be easily

understood how sport practices change between countries as well as the frequency of practicing

them. For example, weather and residency are determinants of the frequency of sport activity. By

taking the USA for instance, sport practitioners are segmented according to the subculture they

belong: White, Latino, Asian or Afro-American, but also where they live, States facing the oceans or

in a mountainous area have lower obesity rate as result of practicing more physical activity than

those living in the flat Midwest (The State of Obesity, 2014). Social class is another cultural

dimension. In this specific case, several studies have reported that the increase of physical activity in

leisure time is higher for those belonging to higher social classes (Hillsdon, Marshall SJ., Jones, D.,

Ainsworth, B., Reis, J., Levy, S., Macera, C., 2011).

2.2.1.2. Social.

The second consumer’s characteristic that influences attitudes and behavior is Social. That is to say,

social characteristics enclose reference groups, roles and status (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.153).

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Reference group means to the primary groups, with family being recognized as the most powerful

one, and secondary groups, such religious and professional associations. Within each reference

group, it can be then identified an opinion leader that is the most influencing actor within it. Besides

the family, other influencing groups in the sport market are sport associations, for example. Over the

last decades, brands have recognized the power of opinion leaders, through the endorsement of top

sport athletes. These practices still favor the idea that consumers will follow the example of their

idols, from a product to a physical motion perspective. However, this is starting to lose consensus

giving the poor ROI, brand exposure on the behavior of sponsored athletes (Carrilat, 2014).

Ultimately, the role, activities expected to perform and the status, position within a hierarchy (Kotler

& Keller, 2012, p.154) are also components that determine a certain behavior in the selection of a

physical activity. Typically, sports like golf, polo, tennis, are practiced, not only by a higher social

class, but also to witness the role and the status of a consumer.

2.2.1.3. Personal.

Personal factors are those intrinsically in each one of us, that form the way we are and the way we

act. Brands who tend to perform Experiential Marketing, hence one-to-one connection, should pay

greater attention to these factors as they are expected to vary even within the same-targeted group.

According to Kotler & Keller (2012), they can be categorized in: age and stage of the life cycle,

occupation and economic circumstances, personality and self-concept and lifestyle and values

(p.154)

Different ages shape different responses. Normally, young adults are more open to

innovation and accept changes more readily than the elderly do. At different ages, responses to

marketing stimuli may vary as part of the acquired experience encountered during the life cycle.

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Consumer's income, debt and saving highly affect spending decisions. Engel’s law usefully

explains how spending patterns varies at different level of disposal income (Kotler & Keller, p.156).

Without the required income, consumers may not be able to respond to brand stimuli accordingly

and, therefore, the effort would have been useless. For this reason, it is utterly important that

marketing researches are conducted to tune those activities addressed to a specific target.

Highly connected with the age and life cycle, personality and self concept describes

respectively the human psychological traits and responses to stimuli and the way consumers’ view

themselves and how they would like to view themselves in the future (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.156).

Like consumers, brands have their own personalities, called brand personality (Kotler & Keller,

2012, p.156). In the effort to build a stronger relationship, brands use these traits to allow consumers

to pick the one that connects greater with their own, but also to remove the institutional mindset of

the brand, thus becoming more “human”.

Lastly, lifestyle and core values identify the way of living and strong and durable beliefs of a

consumer (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.157). Lifestyle has become a major focal point for many brands

due to the fact that lifestyles are visually identifiable with trends and opinion leaders. As a

consequence, lifestyles are subjected to transformation according to their duration, as creating

continuous business opportunities for brands. For example, a part of the LOHAS trend , Lifestyle of

Health and Sustainability, (Kotler and Keller, 2012, p.158) outdoor lifestyle has intensified and

created the opportunity for sporting good brands, such as Adidas (Adidas, 2016) and Vans (Vans,

2016) to enter in the outdoor segment.

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2.3 Consumer Psychology

2.3.1 Motivation.

Motivation is the factor that shapes consumers’ behaving in a particular way. Despite the fact that

Sigmund Freud stated the difficulty in understanding the motivation of people, Abraham Maslow

proposed a widely recognized framework that described consumer’s motivation towards needs and

wants (as cited in Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.160). This pyramidal framework begin at the lowest layer

with the psychological needs, hence survival needs like water and food, to safety and protection,

social needs, esteem needs and, finally, self-actualization needs (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.161).

In order to understand which motive, or motives, triggers the need of a consumer to practice

a sport, McDonald, M., Milne, G, Hong, J. (2002) carefully gathered and categorized previous

studies and flows of thoughts according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. According to them, the

categorization on motivators of sport participation are: physical fitness, desire to feel better; risk

taking, desire to undertake extreme sports; stress reduction, desire to reduce the stress; aggression,

desire to provoke harm to another person; affiliation, being part of a group; social facilitation,

gratification to enjoy with others the same sport; self esteem, desire to hold oneself in regard;

competition, desire to compete; achievement, desire to be successful; skill mastery, desire to develop

skills; aesthetics, desire to look physically better; value development, desire to develop skills and

self actualization, desire to self-fulfill (McDonald et al., 2002). Table 1, Motivational Factors for

evaluating Sport Spectator and Participant Markets, shows the visually recap what is discussed by

McDonald et al. (2002) according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

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Table 1. Motivational Factors for evaluating Sport Spectator and Participant Markets (McDonald et. al., 2002)

The research then continues by understanding the importance of each motivator on nine different

sports on both participants and spectators (McDonald et al., 2002).

2.3.2. Perception.

Kotler & Keller (2012) define perception as the “process by which we select, organize, and interpret

information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world” (p. 161 -162). Perception is

subjective, and change from one person to another, according to the modality of how the information

is given by the donor and captured by the receiver. The moment when consumers form their

perception can be split into three processes: selective attention, the process in which individuals

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store meaningful information that stimulates their pleasure or needs; selective distortion, the process

where information is transformed according to previous beliefs or expectations and selective

retention, the process where individuals forget sorrows or dislikes and remember positive emotions

or what they like (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.162).

2.3.3. Learning.

Learning is the aspect of the human behavior that is directly related with the experience. Indeed, a

great chunk on the way people behave is due to the lifetime learning. Theories tell that to provoke a

positive behavioral response as forecasted, brands should use drivers, strong internal stimulus setting

action, with cues, stimuli managing how response is conceived and where and when is initiated, and

make sure expectations are satisfactory, thus leading to the reinforcement of the belief (Kotler &

Keller, 2012, p.163). Experiential Marketing plays a crucial role through the perception, especially

in generating attitudes as described few paragraphs below, but also during the learning process,

when consumers utilize the promised experience and connected emotions attach to the activity.

Perception and learning are also highly influenced by the emotions that an individual feels regarding

current status and past experiences (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.163).

Brands do recognize that consumers are not completely, rational and cognitive, but do vary

based on the same learning as well as the current point in time; for this reason, marketing effort is

build around the creation of these emotions to trigger expected behaviors.

2.3.4. Memory.

Memory is the mental faculty that allows for storage of information. The aim of every marketing

department is to make sure their brand name is stored in the long-term compartment, the more

permanent area of the brain, of each of their audience (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.163). One of the

objectives of Inspirational (promotional) and Experiential Marketing is to produce those unique

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emotions that will be so appealing to people to be remembered for a very long time. According to

the perception selective processes (attention, distortion and retention), memories are encoded into

our brain; however without a continuous reiteration, through learning, that information will be

retrieved. Kotler & Keller (2012) describe that memory retrieval occurs due to the storage of other

information that will replace, even partially, old ones; the effect of time, that gradually fade out

information or lose the link with those if not systematically solicited (p.163)

2.3.5. Attitudes.

Solomon, M. & Askegaard, G. (2006) say that an attitude is a “lasting, general evaluation of people,

objects, advertisements or issues” (p.138) which has three components: affect, consumer feel of an

object; behavior, consumer intention to act towards and attitude; object and cognition, consumer

belief of the attitude object. They continue by stating that attitude theorists have developed the

concept of the hierarchy of effects that consists in a three linear sequence of the components towards

the attitude (Solomon, M. & Askegaard, G., 2006, p.140-143).

Figure 2. Three Hierarchy of Effects Models (Solomon, M. & Askegaard, G. 2006, p.141)

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The Standard Learning hierarchy is the first one, which defines consumers as problem-

solvers, high involvement, where they collect the knowledge about a product attributes to develop

beliefs, then evaluate them to establish an affection before taking on with a behavior (Solomon, M.

& Askegaard, G., 2006, p 140-141). In this scenario, they describe the attitude as “based on

cognitive information processing” (Solomon, M. & Askegaard, G., 2006, p.141)

The second sequence is the Low Involvement hierarchy that portrays the circumstance when

consumers do not have a particular preference over a brand, but behave based on the limited

knowledge available and ultimately build their belief once the product has been consumed

(Solomon, M. & Askegaard, G., 2006, p.141-142). In this case, the consumers’ attitude is based on

behavioral learning processes (Solomon, M. & Askegaard, G., 2006, p.141).

The last linear sequence, and what it is believed to be the most meaningful in this research, is

the Experiential hierarchy that depicts consumers attitude “based on hedonic consumption”, which

means that they react based on emotional feelings and, ultimately, generates the beliefs (Solomon,

M. & Askegaard, G., 2006, p.141-143). Mittal (1988) defines that Experiential hierarchy occurs on

products that are on the top of the Maslow Hierarchy, hence those that are less functional and more

attached to the brand personality and communicational message.

2.4 Consumer Psychographic: VALS.

In order to estimate consumer’s behavior, SRI International (2016) developed the so-called VALS

program, which stands for Values and Lifestyle. VALS is a response on consumers’ fragmentation to

partially predict their response through the analysis of the psychological traits and demographics

opposed societal trends, which are explained as more exposed to fluctuation (SRI International,

2016). More specifically, VALS is a psychometric method that assesses attitudes in order to forecast

behaviors, such a brand preference among others (Strategic Business Insights, 2016). For instance,

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US VALS methodology is based on eight idiosyncratic consumer groups along with the concept of

Primary Motivation and Resources, respectively on the horizontal and vertical axis (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. US VALS™ Framework (Strategic Business Insights, 2016)

US VALS™ Framework

Primary Motivation refers to ideal, achievement and self-expression motivations that allow to

define attitudes and predict behaviors. Ideal highlights knowledge and principles, Achievement

refers to willingness to show success to others, and Self-expression stands for social and physical

activity and, variety and risk (Strategic Business Insights, 2016). Resources refers to the degree of

innovation of an individual together with the traits like energy, self-confidence, intellectualism,

novelty seeking, innovativeness, impulsiveness, leadership, and vanity (Strategic Business Insights,

2016). To complete the explanation of the model, the eight consumers’ groups are listed as follows

(Strategic Business Insights, 2016):

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● Innovators present high Resources and all the three Primary Motivations to a certain extent.

Innovators can be confident enough to experiment. In addition, they are future oriented,

skeptical about advertising, international mindset, innovation believers, problem-solvers and

can have various interests.

● Thinkers, those who are analytical, structured, wealthy, detach to trends, analyze before

deciding, are motivated by ideals and exhibit high Resources.

● Achievers, on the other hand, are motivated by achievement and exhibit high Resources.

Achievers are goal-oriented, hardworking, family oriented, believers in the status quo and in

the money as tool of power.

● Experiences have the same range of Resources of the last two groups, but motivation comes

from self-expression. Their personality is built on welcoming trends as early adopters and

against what is mainstream, love physical activity, friends, spontaneous and stimulated by

visuals.

● Believers are motivated as thinkers by ideals, but show low Resources. They put faith on

spiritual inspiration, open to advertising, modest, watch movie to escape from real life and

loyal.

● Strivers have also low Resources and motivated by achievement with personal

characteristics, such as funny, unstable job condition and low class mainstream oriented.

● Makers is the last group exhibiting low Resources and their motivation comes from self-

expression. Pragmatic traits of Markers are ownership protection, straightforward, invest in

estates and distrust public institutions.

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● Survivors is the last of the eight groups and to this belong who do not have a Primary

Motivation and have low Resources. Old consumers, risk aversion, conservative, remaining

in the comfort zone are a few examples describing Survivors.

Even if the Strategic Business Insights (2016), SRI’s spin-off, has recently developed VALS for

other countries, such as the UK. In this study, it will be used the US VALS for being the most used

so far, but also as it is the only one available for free usage for non-clients.

2.5. Consumer Intention.

The consideration of alternatives is the step where consumers display the array of brands that have

interacted with and forms their preference, intention, towards a particular brand before moving on

the purchasing action.

Intention is the end point that encompasses all the consumers’ stimuli, psychology and

psychographic discussed above together with the initial brand stimuli. According to the Cambridge

Online Dictionary, Intention is “something that you plan and want to do” (2016). Indeed, this

reference does not mention the triggers of their desire, but it is clear that for this research, the study

will be confined on the inputs coming from marketing, both promotional and experiential. The

outcome of this mix of stimuli, particularly motivation, resulting in a consumer response to follow or

not follow the subliminal communicational message exchanged with the brand and, concurrently,

processed by each consumer. Intention can be collective or individual, can result in an action or goal

as well as have an immediate or delayed response (Bagozzi, 2016). These types of intentional

responses can be predicted, or even triggered, by brands to a certain extent.

It is important to understand the frequency of sport participation as it varies between

individuals. According to Swayne, L and Dodds, M. (2011), there are different types of participants:

those who are professionals and get paid for playing a sport and amateurs who do not receive any

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remuneration to play and just do it for fun or health concerns (p.189). Obviously, within the vast

majority of amateurs, falls on many different sport participants who do it for unique motives, as

described above from the research of McDonald et al. (2002) and frequency, from intensive activity

to sporadic training per year.

Engagement is also another critical element that increases as sport participants become more

committed to what they are doing. From a marketing perspective, having consumers’ engaged,

improve brand knowledge, brand loyalty and Word-of-mouth (Correia, S., Pires, A., and Ruedlger,

H.,2015).

Real life and precedent research seen above tell us that marketing plays a critical role in

shaping intention and triggering sport participation along with other stakeholders. Marketing

channels and techniques can be refined, replaced or updated, but ultimately the common line is the

importance of the influence of brands through marketing practices. Esomba, S. (n.d.) states that

marketing techniques in the sport industry increase both the promotion of products and promotion of

sports, which in turn, boost sports participation (p.17). As explained below, today’s brands in the

sport industry played a more complex marketing strategy compared to the only promotion of

product. Still, Esomba (n.d) proved the true impact of marketing as well as the needs of product

placement within different communication channels (p.17). Another piece of research conducted by

Wang, Y., Ho, C., Chen, T. (2015) reported Experiential Marketing activities increase purchase

intention in cultural and creative products, such a paintings.

2.6. Research Question

Constant transformation occurs in the world that we all live into. Brands, consumers, competition,

government are all in a frenetic movement to meet each one’s objectives and everyone is influenced

by everyone to a certain extent. In this research it is called stimuli and, in the specific, it has been

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discussed the stimuli that brands, through their marketing department, have towards consumers. As a

result of changes, this research has partially moved away from McCarthy’s (1960) definition of

promotion in a way as it was conceived. Personal selling and mass advertising are still in place, even

if their dominance has been replaced by other tactics, or the same have been refined. More

sophisticated and “grown up” consumers forced brands to establish an interaction with them, instead

of a persuasion; with the tendency of having a one-to-one interaction in order to meet different

requests on issues with customized solutions. Experiential Marketing is in one way a response to

closely interact with consumers, who do not ultimately search for only product attributes anymore,

but a sense of belonging, friends and identification in the brands. Still, the refinement of traditional

practices, through the use of inspirational connection, has been able to revive in today’s market.

Having said that, the focal point of this study, is not to look at consumers’ fulfillment through

satisfactory or loyalty metrics. Instead, it is through the analysis of the response by the fulfillment of

the solution. Limited research has been conducted on the analysis of the impact of specific marketing

stimuli and the solution fulfillment. In this research, the range of study is around sporting goods and

services brands that through Promotional (inspirational) and Experiential Marketing have a say in

driving sport participation, which is considered as the solution. The reason lies in making a step

forward towards the understanding of which marketing activities works the best according to

specific market segments. To reiterate what seen above, the importance of marketing activities

cannot be challenged nowadays, where consumers ask for a continuous interaction with brands.

Specifically, the aim is to give a clear answer to the marketing team, within a specific industry, that

in recent years have been exposed to the opening of channels, thus the multiplication of touchpoints

with their consumers resulting in new opportunities.

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In order to fully understand the impact of these marketing activities, all the other non-brand

stimuli will be left aside to leave marketing stimuli and sport participation in complete isolation. The

only variable that is taken into account, resulting in amplification or reduction of the marketing

effort in sport participation, is consumer Values and Lifestyles.

To sum up what discussed, the research question is: “To what extent Promotional is different

from Experiential Marketing on intention to practice sports? How does this relationship differ by

taking into consideration consumer Values and Lifestyles?”

2.7. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses

Figure 4. Conceptual Framework

Figure 4, provides a general overview of the conceptual framework of this study. This framework

has been developed to answer the research question mentioned in the previous subchapter. In order

to understand if there is a difference between both types of marketing stimuli on intention to practice

sport, the first hypothesis is tested:

H1. Promotional Marketing increases intention to practice sports more than Experiential

Marketing.

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To have a better comprehension of how the relationship between marketing stimuli and

intention to practice sports differs according to Primary Motivations (Ideals, Achievement and Self

Expressions), the following hypotheses are tested:

H2a. Consumers with Ideals as Primary Motivation express more intention to practice sports

after being exposed to Promotional Marketing rather than Experiential Marketing.

H2b. Consumers with Achievement as Primary Motivation express more intention to practice

sports after being exposed to Promotional Marketing rather than Experiential Marketing.

H2c. Consumers with Self Expression as Primary Motivation express more intention to

practice sports after being exposed to Experiential Marketing rather than Promotional

Marketing.

Lastly, the second part of the moderator, Resources (high and low), is also tested with the

hypotheses presented below:

H3a. Consumers with high Resources express more intention to practice sports after being

exposed to Experiential Marketing rather than Promotional Marketing.

H3b. Consumers with low Resources express more intention to practice sports after being

exposed to Promotional Marketing rather than Experiential Marketing.

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3. Research Design and Methodology

The comprehension of the relationship between the two different marketing approaches, Promotional

and Experiential, moderated by Consumer’s Values and Lifestyle - VALS - compel data collection

to study the effect on intention to practice sport on the single individual. The sample description

covers the first part of this chapter, before moving on to actual research design and the measurement

of the items and variables presented in the conceptual framework. Lastly, the final section touches

on the explanation of the procedure on how data were collected.

3.1. Sample

The population of this study consisted in participants from 21 to 63 years old with Internet access,

primarily due to the necessity of exposing them, during the test, to video content available in

Youtube. To increase the breadth of understanding of topic of this study, it was chosen to not restrict

the research on a particular gender, ethnicity, nor consumers living in a specific country. Moreover,

due to the limitation of time and economic resources as well the size of the population, a snowball

sampling, where participants could share the survey within their own network, was believed to be

the most efficient.

3.2. Research design

Quantitative research is thought to be the most appropriate for the test and analysis of the two

variables and the moderation effect. The type of topic of this research, the relationship between

variables and items listed in the conceptual framework, and the width of samples needed to provide

significance to the results impacted on this decision. The test and analysis were done entirely

through an online experiment survey (see Appendix I) given numerous advantages; on top of

anything else is the ease of access to groups and individuals of different gender, ethnicity and

residency, that through other means may have been difficult to reach (Garton, Haythornthwaite, &

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Wellman, 1999; Wellman, 1997). A second significant reason, for favoring the online experiment, is

the simplicity of contacting many individuals in a very short amount of time and in a very

inexpensive manner (Bachmann & Elfrink, 1996).

3.2.1 Measures

Questions about marketing preference and intention to participate in sports were asked in the online

survey. In order to know which Values and Lifestyle (VALS) each participant belonged to,

respondents were asked to answer directly the VALS survey already available on

http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/surveynew.shtml. (see Appendix II)

The survey was divided in three different sections. In the first section, respondents were

asked to indicate through a multiple option question, their primary and secondary type (VALS)

gotten directly through the external survey. The second section and the heart of the survey was

composed by three cases made to truly test the preference on Promotional or Experiential, hence to

test the marketing stimuli, and the intention on sport practicing. On each case one different brand

(Nike, The North Face and Reebok) was selected according to the availability of marketing

campaign resources at disposal; moreover, every case was composed of the same seven questions,

which were repeated each time. The first question directly aimed at the understanding of the

preference of one of the two videos played on each case, one Promotional and one Experiential. The

second question was useful to get some extra information as it addressed to the actively participation

of interviewee in the event shown in the experiential video. Finally, the last five questions were

asked to assess the intention to practice sport of the interviewee, based on their preference of that

case. All these questions were asked for the other two cases as well. Lastly, the third section

included demographic questions.

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In order to measure which marketing stimulus had a stronger impact on people’s intention to

practice sports, one single categorical item was asked for the independent variable. Participants were

forced to respond which video they preferred after watching both videos. Regarding the dependent

variable, intention to practice sport was measured on a constructed scale consisting of six items

based on existing scale of Liñán and Chen (2006). These items were developed to measure

entrepreneurial intention with a Cronbach’s α =.96. The items were modified from entrepreneurial

intention (I’ve got the firm intention to start a firm someday) to intention to practice sports (I’ve got

the firm intention to practice sport someday) for instance, and one item was removed (My

professional goal is becoming an entrepreneur) because of the lack of consistency with sport

participation. Participants had to indicate to what extent they agreed to the items presented in a 5-

point Likert Scale being 1 (Definitely not) to 5 (Definitely yes). Examples of items are: “I am ready

to make anything to practice sports”, “I will make every effort to practice sports”, “I am determine to

practice sports”, “I have very seriously thought in practicing sport” and the last one “I have got the

firm intention to practice sports some day”.

Despite the fact demographic data do not have a direct impact on the relation that this study

is analyzing, it was decided to run several questions that would have given a better understanding of

the sample. As a matter of fact, gender, age, level of education and average annual gross income

were asked. Gender was reported through a multiple option with two categorical answers (Female or

male). Age was in an open question. The highest achieved level of education was asked through a

multiple choice questions giving the following alternatives: No education, High School, University

Bachelor Degree, University Master Degree and Other type of education. Finally, average annual

gross income was input through a three multiple question, participants had to select one of the

following options: less than €25,000, from €25,001 to €75,000 and more than €75,001.

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3.3. The procedure

3.3.1. Pre-test

Two different pre-tests were done before launching the real survey. In both cases, online surveys

were executed to collect all the required data. These pre-tests were developed in order to know 1) if

videos were more effective than printed ads with regard to promotional stimuli to attract more

people's attention (see Appendix III) and 2) if the difference in length among Promotional and

Experiential videos had an impact on people’s decision making (see Appendix IV). Ten respondents

participated online in each pre-test. With these pre-tests we could confirm that videos were more

preferred over printed ads and the length difference of videos did not affect respondents’ choice.

Therefore, Promotional videos were compared against Experiential videos and as the video length

did not affect people’s decision making, videos were used in the survey without any restriction.

3.3.2. Main study

As mentioned above, data were collected through an online survey, hosted in www.qualtrics.com,

software that allows you to create surveys, collect data and export these to the well-known predictive

analysis software called SPSS. IBM SPSS Statistics 22 for Mac, was used to analyze the data. Data

collection was carried out using a snowball technique. The researcher made use first of her own

social network to spread out the survey but participants were also asked to spread the survey within

their group of friends.

For this online survey, three sporting good brand were selected as previously mentioned:

Nike, The North Face and Reebok. For each brand, one promotional and one experiential video were

assigned, hence, six videos were given within the survey.

As previously stated, the survey was divided then in three different parts. The first section,

respondents were asked to answer the VALS Survey (Strategic Business Insights, 2016), which is an

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external survey already available on Internet. Once they finished answering that survey and results

were retrieved, they were asked to attach a screenshot of their results besides indicating in multiple

option questions, their primary and secondary type already gotten from the VALS survey. The

second part of the survey was divided in three different cases. The first case was presented with Nike

videos, the second one with The North Face videos, and the third one with Reebok videos. The order

of the brands was randomly selected. All surveys presented the same order of brands but in order to

avoid bias on the responses, half of the participants were asked to watch first Promotional videos and

then the Experiential videos, while the other half was asked to watch the Experiential videos

followed by Promotional ones. Then, the last section, including general demographic information,

was asked.

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4. Results and Analysis

In this chapter, preliminary analysis, reliability of scales and descriptive analysis were performed in

SPSS. Further analyses on how the hypotheses were tested are also described at the end of this

chapter.

4.1. Preliminary analysis

The experimental survey was disseminated via Internet, reaching out to participants through

personal email or Facebook with the intention to gather as many surveys as possible to increase the

probability of significance. From the 24th of April to 8th of May, questionnaires were active. As a

consequence, 235 surveys were filled in but 121 respondents dropped out answering less than half of

the survey, causing too many missing data. For this reason, these surveys were deleted and only 114

surveys were useful to do the analysis. After omitting these participants, there were no more missing

data in the dataset and recoding counter indicatives items was not necessary. In total, 74% of the

respondents were women and 26% were men, with the youngest participant with the age of 21 and

the oldest of 63 years old.

It was necessary to create a new variable for the Independent variable as well as for the

Moderator variable (further information is given in the “Descriptives” section of this chapter).

Normality was assessed in order to know if the distribution of scores on the dependent variable -

Intention - was “normal” (Pallant, 2010, p. 59). Kolmogrov-Smirnov statistics were analyzed with a

value <.05 and with a negative skewness between 0 and -1. Therefore, it can be said that items of

Intention and Marketing Stimuli had no normal distribution.

4.2. Reliability of scales

In order to obtain meaningful answers, it was necessary to compute a Reliability test that helps to

understand the internal consistency among multiple items measuring the same construct. Cronbach’s

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alpha, which is the most common measure to test the internal consistency, must be greater than .7 to

show significant results (Pallant, 2010, p.97).

It is important to know that for single-items, Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency reliability

cannot be computed (Gliem, J., Gliem, R., 2003) For this reason, it should be highlighted that for the

independent variable, the single-item marketing stimuli, reliability could not be tested.

Regarding the dependent variable, the reliability analysis could be run for this scale, pointing

out a high internal consistency with a Cronbach’s α =.91 and without any requirement of deleting

items. For the moderating variable, Values and Lifestyles, no Cronbach’s alpha is available to gauge

the reliability of the test because VALS survey is available online and the results are given straight

forward after the completion of it. Moreover, there is no available information that explains which

constructs it measures for each of the items presented in the survey.

4.3 Descriptives

As explained in chapter four, respondent were asked to answer the same questions in three different

scenarios after being exposed to six different videos. It was necessary to compute modes and

medians in order to create new variables and be able to summarize all the answers gotten for each

participant. Therefore, new variables were created and were used to perform the whole analysis. On

one hand, it was necessary to understand which marketing stimulus was preferred for each

participant. Analyzing the mode for the item “Which video do you prefer?” (measuring independent

variable) which was asked three times, it helped to perceive which of the two marketing stimuli was

preferred for every respondent. For the whole population (N=114, SD=.499) 55% chose Promotional

videos and the other 45% preferred Experiential videos. On the other hand, all the answers

regarding intention for each respondent were also summarized. In this case the total intention for

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each participant was required. For this reason, the mean of the five items, measuring intention asked

three times, was analyzed and a new variable was also created.

Concerning the moderator, eight different options respecting the Values and Lifestyles type

were given in the survey, however, these eight personalities were regrouped, into Primary

Motivation and Resources, as follows: Ideals (Thinkers and Believers), Achievement (Achievers and

Strivers), Self-Expression (Experiencers and Makers), High Resources (Thinkers, Achievers and

Experiencers) and Low Resources (Believers, Strivers and Makers). It is important to point that for

all those respondents who got Innovators or Survivors as a first type, their second type was instead,

taken into account because of the complexity of the model. The Resources classification was also

done to identify those participants who belonged either to high or low resources to be able to carry

out the moderator analysis.

4.4. Analysis results

Different statistical analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. On one hand, to define which

type of marketing stimulus influences more the intention to practice sport, an Independent T-test was

developed. On the other hand, in order to test how the relationship between marketing stimuli and

intention to practice sports differs by primary motivations and resources (VALS), a two-way

analysis of variance was performed. In order to know if these tests were appropriate for the data, all

assumptions such as level of measurement, random sampling, independence of observation, normal

distribution and homogeneity of variance were checked (Pallant, 2010, p.205). The only assumption

violated was normality, however, both T-Test and ANOVA are quite tolerant for violation of this

assumption especially with large sample size (e.g. 30+) (Pallant, 2010, p.205).

First, an Independent T-test was conducted to compare the intention to practice sports for

Promotional Marketing and Experiential Marketing. There was no significant difference in scores for

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Promotional Marketing stimuli (N=63, M=3.92, SD=1.02) and Experiential Marketing stimuli

(N=51, M=3.90, SD=.94; t (112) = .10, p=.92, two-tailed). Therefore, H1 should be rejected, since

Promotional Marketing does not increase intention to practice sport more than Experiential

Marketing.

Even though no differences in the groups were found with this test, frequencies were

analyzed to have a better understanding of the level of intention participant’s had after being

exposed with different videos. Table 2, Level of intention to practice sport by group, exhibits that

76% of people preferring Promotional stimuli claimed “probably yes” and “definitely yes”. Exactly

the same percentage as promotional group, 76%, was reported for those choosing Experiential

stimuli. On the contrary, Promotional stimuli show one-point difference over experiential stimuli on

low levels of intention. Moreover, it is important to denote that, for both cases, less than 5% of total

respondents stated no having intention at all in practicing sports.

Baron & Kenny (1986) established that a moderator M is a third variable that works as an

independent variable affecting the correlation between an independent variable X and a dependent

variable Y (as cited in Etchebarne, I., O’Connel, M. & Roussos, A., 2008). For purpose of this

research, the moderator variable was divided in two: 1) Primary Motivations (Ideals, Achievement

and Self Expression) and 2) Resources (high and low resources)

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First, as exhibit in table 3, ANOVA between Subjects effect- Resources Main effects and

Interaction effects, a two-way between-groups ANOVA was conducted to explore the impact of high

and low Resources on people’s intention to practice sports as a function of the marketing stimuli

(promotional versus experiential). There was significant interaction effect, F (1, 110) =4.42, p=.038,

however, the effect size was small (partial η2 =.039), indicating that the effect between marketing

stimuli and intention to practice sport differs by high and low resources.

To understand better the previous data, Figure 5, Marketing stimuli preferences and

Resources, explains the performance of both types of resources. It exhibits that consumers with low

Resources expressed higher levels of intention to practice sports when watching Promotional videos

rather than being exposed to Experiential stimuli. On the contrary, consumers with high Resources

stated having more intention to practice sports after being exposed to Experiential stimuli rather than

Promotional stimuli. Therefore, H3a and H3b are supported.

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Figure 5. Marketing stimuli preferences and Resources.

It is also important to point out that the differences between marketing stimuli on intention to

practice sports are more prominent for people with low Resources than high Resources, as shown in

Figure 5. In other words, when these consumers got Promotional stimuli, their intention to practice

sports was much higher in comparison when exposed to Experiential Marketing. Instead, consumers

with high Resources did not display greater difference between marketing stimuli.

Table 4, ANOVA between Subjects effect - Motivation main effects and Interaction effects,

shows that for the moderation role of motivation on the relation between marketing stimuli and

intention to practice sports, there was not a significant interaction effect F (2, 108) = .518, p=5.97

and the effect size was small (partial η2 =.01). These results revealed that in this case, this part of the

VALS (Primary Motivation) did not play the role as moderator. So it can be said that no matter the

motivation type people have, neither Promotional Marketing nor Experiential Marketing, will not

have an impact on people’s intention to practice sport. Therefore, H2a-H2c are also rejected.

Nevertheless, even if the results did not show statistical significance, more analysis has been

45

developed in the discussion section to have a better understanding how people with different Primary

Motivations (Ideals, Achievement and Self-expression) reacted to the different stimuli.

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5. Discussion and Conclusion

5.1. Discussion

The findings gave an introspective overview of marketing stimuli and intention to practice sport.

Now it is time to give sense to the data collection and analysis before providing a general conclusion

with the final managerial and academic implications and, lastly, the limitations and future research.

Actually, in this section an explanation of how both, Promotional Marketing and Experiential

Marketing, are able to encourage new sport practitioners is given. A deeper analysis about the results

previously shown is as well given in more details in this part of the research and complemented with

some extra illustrative data that do not prove any point rather than give an holistic overview.

Esomba, S. (n.d.) states that marketing techniques in sports increase both, promotion of

products and promotion of sports, which in turn, boost sports participation. Knowing that marketing

activities are effective to increase sport participation, it can be said that the results of this study

affirm that marketing stimuli help to increase intention since the percentage of people proclaiming

having the intention to do sports was greater rather than not having it. In this sense, it is certain that

marketing activities drive people to be more active no matter which type of stimuli participants are

previously exposed to. To illustrate this, it is interesting to note that only 2% of participants declared

not having intention at all to perform any physical activity while around 70% of participants

proclaimed having high intentions towards sports participation.

On the other hand the results also exhibit that Mromotional marketing did not have a

statistically significant advantage over Experiential Marketing when it comes to people´s intention to

practice sport. Even though Experiential Marketing activates emotions through experiences to

generate attitudes during the learning process when consumers are exposed to certain situation and

47

emotions (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p.153), Promotional Marketing began to play a determinant role by

adding inspirational features in advertising campaigns, generating feelings and emotions as well.

Having said this, the five modules of managing experience (Schmitt, 1999), cannot be only

narrowed to Experiential Marketing, since Promotional Marketing is able to touch most of the

described modules, e.g. feel, think, relate. As Schmitt (1999) proposes with his framework,

marketers can use one module or mix all of them, either with experiential or promotional campaigns.

Nevertheless, the ways these feelings or emotions are evoked are completely different. Whereas

Promotional Marketing drives emotions through visual campaigns, like motivation or inspiration

advertisements, on the other side, Experiential Marketing triggers emotions through kinesthetic

campaigns where people are asked to actively participate on an activity.

It is important to bear in mind that according to Kotler and Keller (2012) people react to the

same marketing stimuli differently depending on their age (p.155). For instance, young people are

more open to innovation and face changes more easily than elderly people. It was believed that

young people would have preferred Experiential Marketing rather than promotional marketing.

However, looking at the demographics of this study, it can be noticed that most of the respondents

(89%) were between 18 and 30 years old. Linking this to marketing preferences, it can be said that in

this study, age was not a motive to change choices.

When looking at VALS as the moderating effect, it is essential to remember that VALS

methodology makes combinations between Primary Motivation and resources, for instance, Ideals

with high Resources or Ideals with low Resources. In this circumstance, as Primary Motivation did

not play the role of moderator, it was not advisable to analyze both factors (Primary Motivations and

Resources) at the same time. The decision of splitting the VALS moderator into these two elements,

allowed for a wider perspective on which factor had a greater influence on the relationship between

48

marketing stimuli and the intention to practice sports. Regarding high and low resources, there is a

more remarkable difference between types of marketing on consumers with low Resources. They

tend to prefer Promotional stimuli rather than Experiential, since they are defined by characteristics

such as people who spend time watching TV, having no tolerance for ambiguity or using

videogames as a form of fantasy (Business Insights, 2016). For this reason, it is believed that these

results are consistent with VALS theory, because people with low Resources are not highly attracted

by being active or being open to try new and different things, as experiential campaigns might

encourage.

When it comes to studying those who are classified as high Resources, the outcome exhibits

having almost the same intention to practice sports regardless the marketing stimuli they were

exposed to. However, a small difference could be noticed, with Experiential Marketing being more

effective than Promotional Marketing as shown in figure 5. According to VALS (2016), high

Resources are described as people who are first in of trend adoption, love physical activity and are

goal oriented, hence, Experiential Marketing appears to fit well. However, there are some other

characteristics such as fully scheduled people and heightened sense of visual stimulation (Business

Insights, 2016) that makes Promotional Marketing working well too. Therefore, results are

consistent when looking at VALS characteristics.

When studying Primary Motivation as moderating effect, results showed no statistical

evidence of how the relationship between marketing stimuli and intention to practice sport differs

according to consumer’s motivation. This means that whether people were classified as Ideals,

Achievement or Self Expression, any type of stimuli affects their intention to practice sports. These

results are quite surprising because if resources affected this relationship, it was expected that

different type of personalities would have affected as well. The three types of primary motivations

49

differs among each other, and marketing activities should not have the same effect on Ideals that are

known as being open to advertising, structured and analytical than Achievements that are goals

oriented and believe in the money as tool of power (Business Insights, 2016). Experiential Marketing

should have worked better for Self Expression consumers while promotional marketing for Ideals

and Achievements, as stated in H2a-H2c.

Having no moderation effect (Primary Motivation), restricts, if not entirely erases, our ability

to statistically conclude. However, it is interesting to examine the results and see the differences

between types of motivations. As illustrated in Appendix V, Marketing stimuli Preference and

Primary Motivations, Ideals had higher intentions to practice sports after being exposed to

Promotional Marketing as well as those with Self-Expression as Primary Motivation. Nevertheless,

the difference between marketing stimuli was greater for Ideals than Self-Expression consumers. On

the other hand, Achievements demonstrated a higher preference for Experiential rather than

Promotional stimuli. In this case, it can be concluded, that according to Ideals characteristics, being

open to advertising and being more analytical helped results to be consistent with theory.

Descriptions about Achievement consumers, made harder to previously identify which marketing

stimuli would be more preferred by them. However, an illustration of it can be found in Appendix V.

Consumers with Self-Expression motivation are defined as people who are more

spontaneous, straightforward and welcome trends (Business Insights, 2016). For this reason,

Experiential Marketing was expected to have higher impact on intention to practice sport. However,

findings demonstrated totally the opposite. It is of high importance to remark that these results did

not allow for any definitive conclusions, making this explanation merely informative.

50

5.2. Overall conclusion

The purpose of this study was to deepen a current theoretical set of studies and understand how

marketing stimuli can play an important role regarding sport participation. This is the first study, to

our knowledge, to examine which type of marketing approach is the most responsible for making

consumers more physically active. Additionally, this research aims to close the gaps in the literature

by providing a very specific research question: “To what extent Promotional is different from

Experiential Marketing on intention to practice sport? How does this relationships differ by taking

into consideration consumer Values and Lifestyles? It is the first time, Promotional Marketing is

compared to Experiential Marketing when measuring intention to practice sport. Specifically,

depending on consumers’ values and lifestyle. As previously explained, other researchers such as

Hillsdon et al. (2011) state that consumers belonging to higher social class are more likely to

practice sports in comparison with those belonging to lower social class.

This research adds some information to these theories, disclosing that people, with

differences in level of Resources, must be targeted with different approaches. Results show that in

order to get the right response for these two different target groups, it is necessary to know that

Experiential Marketing is more effective for high Resources and Promotional Marketing for those

who have low Resources.

Although it is known that differences in culture and lifestyles create different consumer

behavior responses, this study could not support this. It is believed that these results are due to the

fact of time and resources constraints in the sample collection. It is highly recommended for future

researches to use the proper VALS survey according to the country where they intend to apply the

survey. Nevertheless, it is worth saying that regardless of the marketing stimuli and lifestyle,

51

respondents demonstrated to have high intention to practice sports after being exposed to marketing

stimuli.

Even though, these two strategies have different approach regarding the communication

between consumer and brand, it is interesting to say that still one-way communication, promotional

marketing, is a good tool to target some consumers. This results exhibits that this is due to the fact

that is not about how consumers interact with brands but how the latters can trigger certain emotions

to make people feel more connected with them, thus ensuing brand knowledge, brand awareness,

brand performance and, finally, the purchase. This research broke out the idea that Experiential

Marketing is the only strategy able to trigger emotions or feelings. It has been shown that

Promotional Marketing is able to do it as well as far as the campaigns include inspirational features.

Targeting people by arousing emotions is definitely one of the best approaches to get the desired

response because it makes consumers able to identify themselves with the brand.

Moreover, either Promotional or Experiential Marketing affects intention to practice sport

regardless of each consumer motivation. This means that each consumer will be driven by different

motives to be physically active, but no matter what drives them to do so, marketing stimuli certainly

help to boost intention to practice sport.

To sum up, marketers should be conscious of the selection of marketing approaches

according to how and what consumers demand. It is not only about standing out from competition

through different products or price reduction strategies, but thinking “outside the box” to stimulate

those feelings and connections, that raise brand loyalty, and ultimately convert consumers into

purchasers.

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5.3. Academic Implications

Despite the outcome that only confirmed some of our predictions, the study still proves to be at the

forefront as it shows pragmatic results that were previously untested. The similarity of responses

followed by different marketing stimuli poses the bases for advancement on the research as well as

the need of other, more complex studies, which will either confirm or deny what has been found

here. Market segments have responded similarly no matter their Primary type of Motivation based

on Values and Lifestyle. Still, the research has been able to give guidance on resources. This

provides a significant input for future research that can dig into the matter even further.

As stated earlier in the paper, the research also adds to the table a study of an industry that, to

our knowledge, had not been analyzed earlier on this field as well as brought a more detailed look of

today’s marketing actions. Integrated Marketing Communications does nicely apply in today’s

world, however it is relevant to make theoretical distinction on approaches of the same marketing

campaign to prove their value and, at the same time, discuss the new techniques.

Even from a research point of view, the intention has been frequently seen as single purchase

intention. As recent studies depict the need to focus on the solution side, intention researchers should

not only address those managers, but also boost academics to look and readdress their intention

analysis on the solution-driven examination rather than only purchase-driven.

5.4. Managerial Implications

Marketing departments dedicate a lot of resources to advertising campaigns, endorsing famous

athletes, sponsoring well-recognized events and so forth. It is known that marketing techniques can

boost brand awareness, brand knowledge, sales, and word of mouth besides sport participation.

However, there is not research analyzing this effect from one initial step: triggering intention from

two different marketing strategies in order to get to the point of increasing sport participation. This

53

research has shed light on how marketers can increase intention to practice sports by picking out the

right strategy. Global participation and interest on working out is growing (“Consumer Fitness

Trends,” 2013) . Moreover, Internet and social media have helped to spread out the popularity of this

tendency and as Anthony di Moro (2015) states “The way that Social Media has impacted the sports

industry has been profound”. Consumers can look easily at online sport’s information, share content

while working out or belong to brand communities such as Nike+. It all seems that sporting goods

companies are following these trends and adapting their marketing strategies to attract consumers.

Nevertheless, it can be said that is not always necessary to adapt or to invest in only one strategy but

to know which strategy fits better depending the target audience.

It is common to define the target audience according to their age or culture, noticing that

each country might have their own marketing campaign because of the latter. This research shows

another angle on succeeding with the target consumers, through the segmentation by values, lifestyle

and resources. The aim was to show that not always the same marketing approach works properly

for all consumers. One of the main reasons for marketers to be aware of this is due to the fact that

they should be able to reallocate better financial resources to target the right consumer with the right

marketing tool. Even though this analysis showed only differences in marketing stimuli regarding

resources, it is believed that managers in the future can complement this study with different factors.

Marketing managers working in the sport industry can be sure that either promotional or

experiential marketing are effective in increasing intention and that Promotional Marketing must still

be used even if other strategies seem to flourish or gain popularity. With the constant evolution of

the market, industries and also theoretical approaches should be refined, adapted or even replaced to

meet new needs. For instance, the five modules of managing experiences suggested by Schmitt

54

(1999) can also be adapted in this case to Promotional Marketing, when looking at the same by using

emotional attachment techniques.

It is important to point out that consumers are more exigent and seek more value when

buying products. Having said this, companies must be one step ahead and surprise consumers by

triggering emotions and feelings, for the sake of driving brand loyalty. In that moment, marketers

will be able to identify those potential consumers that are already engaged with the brand, and turn

them into repeated purchasing actors. As phrased earlier, the mindset is solution drive for a long-

term survival of brands.

5.5. Limitations and future research

This research presented several limitations. Firstly, circumstances and resources have constrained

the reach of the sample. The only mean of communicating the survey was made on Internet using

Facebook social platform. Hence, time and financial resources were two of the main obstacles on

obtaining a more sophisticated sample.

Linked to the former, Internet, as only mean to host the survey, did not support any further

development of the marketing stimuli elsewhere. As a matter of fact, it has been perceived tricky for

interviewees to identify themselves as participants of the experiential activation, lack of emotions

derived from the real experience. Perhaps, an assessment after an experiential marketing

“experience” could have been more beneficial. However, this would have increased the complication

of the survey, for instance, making sure that the same sampling population was also watching and

feedback promotional videos afterwards. On top of this, the lack of network on sporting good brands

by the author, that could have developed such activation in the thesis timeframe, did not favor this

option.

55

Furthermore, the fact videos were not the same length might be also another limitation. Even

though a pre-test was done to clarify this and results did not show any negative effect, still the

differences on time might affect people’s attention towards the videos, resulting in different

responses. Another limitation relies on the length of the survey. The survey of this research lasted

between 15 and 20 minutes, resulting in a reduction of concentration, despite the simplicity of the

questions, and in a high level of unfinished surveys.

In addition, results were only obtained in one period of time through a cross-sectional design,

which did not allow to consider any change and development of the study over time. The three

different scenarios (cases) previously explained, were presented within the same survey at the same

period of time. Another important limitation is that VALS survey does not provide further

information, therefore, it was difficult to understand which kind of constructs are measured. It is not

easy to know if motivations are associated with the relationship between marketing stimuli and

consumers’ intention to practice sports or if other factors should be better associated with this

relationship.

Moreover, using a snowball sampling is always a restriction since it is susceptible to biased

selection. On top of that, this research measured only the intention to practice sports rather than

measuring the actual behavior of being physical active. Executing a longitudinal research in the

future would be interesting in order to know if these respondents ended up practicing some sports or

being more physically active.

Last but not least, people with different nationalities such as Germans (9%), Mexicans

(42%), Dutch (5%) and many more, participated in this survey using the US VALS. As this is

designed for US citizen, it did not fully translate into the construct of our countries. However, the US

56

VALS was the only one available for free and for this reason it was chosen despite the notion of

nationalities participating in the survey.

Despite the fact these limitations were presented while doing this research, the study is a

viable starting point for future research. Marketing stimuli are not only limited to Experiential and

Promotional. Indeed, there are many marketing initiatives that could be taken into account as retail

marketing, PR, digital marketing to mention a few. For this reason, it might be important how these

other factors impact directly people’s intention to practice sports, which can be then translated into

purchase actions. Additionally, another area of research, beyond the segments and stimuli, can be the

analysis of the role of external factors such as Internet, social media and online communities that

certainly affect consumer’s intention when it comes to practice sports. Exploring the real intention

by carrying out a longitudinal research and examine how this intention is translated into actual

purchasing behavior, is another approach researchers might consider. Finally, analysts might also

take into account how intention can be studied and analyzed in different circumstances and

industries where consumers are able to change behaviors.

57

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APPENDIX

I Online Survey

Dear participant, I am conducting this research as part of my master thesis at the University of

Amsterdam. I kindly ask you to help me out answering this survey. My research is studying the

relationship between marketing and sports. It consists in 2 different surveys and it will not take more

than 15 min. The first part is to understand your personality meanwhile in the second part you will

be exposed to interesting videos that aim to comprehend your preference. You can take as much time

as you need and remember, there are not wrong or right answers. All your answers will be kept

strictly confidentially. Please remember to finalize the survey until the end otherwise it will be

useless for the research. In case you have any question, feel free to contact me at:

brenda.hernandezfernandez@student.uva.nl Thanks for participating

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SECTION 1 Q1 Please, go to the following link http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/surveynew.shtml and answer the survey. After you have finished, please attach a screenshot of your result Q2 Select here your PRIMARY Type. m Thinkers m Believers m Innovators m Achievers m Strivers m Survivors m Experiencers m Makers Q2.1 Select here your SECONDARY Type. m Thinkers m Believers m Innovators m Achievers m Strivers m Survivors m Experiencers m Makers SECTION 2 Case 1:Nike. Watch the following videos and then answer the questions below. Video "Just do it" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcq_jvmXDo Video "Catch the flash" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g98nDUg7yxU (For this video, please imagine you are the person who is taking part of the event, do not take into consideration the quality of the video -good or bad) Q3 Please indicate which video do you prefer? m "Just do it" video m "Catch the flash" event

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Q4 Would you actively participate in the "Catch the Flash" event? m Yes m Maybe m No Q5 After watching the video of your preference, indicate the level of agreement with the following statement

Definitely not Probably not Might or might not

Probably yes Definitely yes

I am ready to make

anything to practice sports

m m m m m

I will make every effort to practice

sports

m m m m m

I am determine to

practice sports

m m m m m

I have very seriously thought in practicing

sport

m m m m m

I have got the firm intention

to practice sports some

day

m m m m m

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Instruction Case 2: The North Face Watch the following videos and then answer the questions below. Video "Never Stop Exploring" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z-36uCr9XI Video "See for yourself" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUo6GwEw_Bw (For this video, please imagine you are the person who is taking part of the event, do not take into consideration the quality of the video -good or bad) Q6 Please indicate which video do you prefer? m "Never stop exploring" video m "See for yourself" event

Q7 Would you actively participate in the "See for yourself" event? m Yes m Maybe m No

Q8 After watching the video of your preference, indicate the level of agreement with the following statement

Definitely not

Probably not Might or might not

Probably yes Definitely yes

I am ready to make anything

to practice sports

m m m m m

I will make every effort to practice sports

m m m m m

I am determine to practice

sports m m m m m

I have very seriously thought in

practicing sport

m m m m m

I have got the firm intention

to practice sports some

day

m m m m m

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Instruction Case 3: Reebok Watch the following videos and then answer the questions below. Video "Be more human” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDb-7DY3CjUVideo "Pump battle" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNSaAp_U0R0 (For this video, please imagine you are the person who is taking part of the game, do not take into consideration the quality of the video -good or bad) Q9 Please indicate which video do you prefer? m "Be more human" video m "Pump battle" game

Q10 Would you actively participate in "Pump battle" game? m Yes m Maybe m No

Q11 After watching the video of your preference, indicate the level of agreement with the following statement

Definitely not

Probably not Might or might not

Probably yes Definitely yes

I am ready to make anything

to practice sports

m m m m m

I will make every effort to practice sports

m m m m m

I am determine to practice

sports m m m m m

I have very seriously thought in

practicing sport

m m m m m

I have got the firm intention

to practice sports some

day

m m m m m

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SECTION 3 Almost there! Few questions about yourself and that's it. Q12 Gender m Male m Female Q13 What is your age? Q14 What is your nationality? Q15 What is your highest achieved level of education? m No education m High School m University Bachelor Degree m University Master Degree m Other type of education Q16 What is your average annual gross income (euros)? m 0-25,000 m 25,001-75,000 m >75,001 End of survey

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II VALS Survey

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70

71

72

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III Pre-test (1) Videos vs Printed ads

Dear participant. Thank you for helping me out answering this survey. Remember, there are not right or wrong answers. Your opinion counts a lot. Watch at the following set of commercials, you can watch them as many time as you need. Please, do not skip any of them. Video 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z-36uCr9XI&nohtml5=False Video 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDb-7DY3CjU Video 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPIouAf8NtU&nohtml5=False Video 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcq_jvmXDo Video 5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KPPtmE079M&nohtml5=False Video 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikmd-vtRCqo&nohtml5=False Video 7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8BqJkwEZDs&index=2&list=PLBy5TsxuUnfbZOMyi2UJIfw7OEeLGBV0o&nohtml5=False Look carefully at the following printed ads.

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Please, answer the following questions according to what you just have seen. Ingeneral... Videos Printedads

Ilikedmore... m m Ifeltmoreinspiredwith... m m

Theyweremoreinteresting... m m Ifeltmoreattractedby... m m Iwasmoreexcitedwith... m m

Itwaseasiertounderstand... m m Ifeltmoreengagedwith.. m m

IV Pre-test (2) Time length

Pre-test time Q1 Watch the following set of videos and then answer the questions Set 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcq_jvmXDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z-36uCr9XI&nohtml5=False https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDb-7DY3CjU Set 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g98nDUg7yxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUo6GwEw_Bw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNSaAp_U0R0 Q2 Compare both set of videos and answer the questions below. (Set 1 vs Set 2)

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Q3 Do you think that the difference on time (length) between both sets of videos influenced your previous answers?

Totallyagree Agree Undecided Disagree Totallydisagree

1 m m m m m

V Marketing Stimuli Preference and Motivations