Today's dynamic market necessitates the need for the marketing communication stimuli, which engages with the audience as consumers have become less attentive to traditional advertising. It is imperative to gain deeper understanding of how brand evaluations and subsequently brand relationships are created to allow for a successful marketing strategy. Within that context, the role of characters becomes important in placing brands in TV programmes as results of this study indicate that only character interacting with the placed brands were significant for the audience's likelihood to talk about the brands shown in a given placement sequence. Thus, industry practitioners may need to identify clear outcomes for the placed brand (generate awareness, enduring attitude/likability) before adopting the placement modality and media vehicle for its execution. The findings from this study provide promising results to strengthen the growing evidence of the importance engaging consumer experiences for effective buzz-marketing.

• Anvita Kumar(BES, Coventry University)
• George Balabanis(Cass Business School, City University)