Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising

Many brands have launched pandemic-themed advertising campaigns, aiming to build rapport with their customers in this unprecedented moment. Yet it is challenging for brands to know how to communicate efficiently. To fill this gap, the current research aims to provide a systematic framework that coul...

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Main Authors: Lou, Chen, Zhou, Xuan, Huang, Irene Xun, Qiu, Chen, Yuan, Mingquan
Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/170368
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1703682023-09-11T01:04:40Z Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising Lou, Chen Zhou, Xuan Huang, Irene Xun Qiu, Chen Yuan, Mingquan Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Nanyang Business School Social sciences::Communication Pandemic-themed Advertising COVID-19 Many brands have launched pandemic-themed advertising campaigns, aiming to build rapport with their customers in this unprecedented moment. Yet it is challenging for brands to know how to communicate efficiently. To fill this gap, the current research aims to provide a systematic framework that could guide advertisers in designing pandemic-themed advertisements to stimulate consumer engagement on social media by examining the role of values in context-specific brand communications. In particular, we analyze a large corpus of 286 brand YouTube videos posted between the onset of the COVID-19 and the fall of 2020 through a combination of qualitative induction, coding, and big data analytics. The results demonstrate that brands can incorporate various values in their brand communications when the world is combating a victim crisis like the current pandemic. Our findings reveal that hedonism, universalism, conformity, security, and tradition values positively predict consumer engagement (i.e., commenting), whereas stimulation value negatively predicts consumer commenting. We develop a new type of victim crisis–omnipresent victim crisis–and offer a theorization of this sub-type of victim crisis to delineate the pandemic or crises alike (e.g., environmental issues) for future research. We further highlight the role of value embodiment in crisis communication and advertising literature and offer rich theoretical and practical implications. Ministry of Education (MOE) This study is supported by the first author's Tier 1 grant from the Ministry of Education, Singapore (number: M4012201.060). 2023-09-11T01:04:40Z 2023-09-11T01:04:40Z 2023 Journal Article Lou, C., Zhou, X., Huang, I. X., Qiu, C. & Yuan, M. (2023). Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 42(5), 890-915. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2111830 0265-0487 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/170368 10.1080/02650487.2022.2111830 2-s2.0-85136185380 5 42 890 915 en M4012201.060 International Journal of Advertising © 2022 Advertising Association. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Communication
Pandemic-themed Advertising
COVID-19
spellingShingle Social sciences::Communication
Pandemic-themed Advertising
COVID-19
Lou, Chen
Zhou, Xuan
Huang, Irene Xun
Qiu, Chen
Yuan, Mingquan
Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
description Many brands have launched pandemic-themed advertising campaigns, aiming to build rapport with their customers in this unprecedented moment. Yet it is challenging for brands to know how to communicate efficiently. To fill this gap, the current research aims to provide a systematic framework that could guide advertisers in designing pandemic-themed advertisements to stimulate consumer engagement on social media by examining the role of values in context-specific brand communications. In particular, we analyze a large corpus of 286 brand YouTube videos posted between the onset of the COVID-19 and the fall of 2020 through a combination of qualitative induction, coding, and big data analytics. The results demonstrate that brands can incorporate various values in their brand communications when the world is combating a victim crisis like the current pandemic. Our findings reveal that hedonism, universalism, conformity, security, and tradition values positively predict consumer engagement (i.e., commenting), whereas stimulation value negatively predicts consumer commenting. We develop a new type of victim crisis–omnipresent victim crisis–and offer a theorization of this sub-type of victim crisis to delineate the pandemic or crises alike (e.g., environmental issues) for future research. We further highlight the role of value embodiment in crisis communication and advertising literature and offer rich theoretical and practical implications.
author2 Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
author_facet Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Lou, Chen
Zhou, Xuan
Huang, Irene Xun
Qiu, Chen
Yuan, Mingquan
format Article
author Lou, Chen
Zhou, Xuan
Huang, Irene Xun
Qiu, Chen
Yuan, Mingquan
author_sort Lou, Chen
title Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
title_short Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
title_full Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
title_fullStr Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
title_full_unstemmed Fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
title_sort fostering consumer engagement during an omnipresent victim crisis: understanding the role of values in pandemic-themed advertising
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/170368
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