The success of Marvel movies attracts more companies to place their brands in this series of movies, apparel brand like Under Armour or car manufacturer like BMW has largely used the movie as medium of product placement to increase brand equity. To understand how the product placement in the movie affect consumer attitude and purchase intention is in needed. Neer (2004) states that product placement is a type of marketing by creating impression for consumers unconsciously through incorporation into the plot of TV programs, movies and other media. The conceptual model was built based on the Russell’s (2002) tripartite typology of product placement and social comparison theory. We presume brand-self congruity, placement explicitness, plot connection, and attitude toward the plot and role are positively related to brand attitude and purchase intention. The research employed experiment with a 2 (placement explicitness: prominent/subtle) x 2 (plot connection: main character/supporting role) between subject design. The research theme is under the Under Armour because the brand used product placement as the company’s major marketing communication process of move placement. The research result shows that the more the product placement is identifiable in the movies, with frequent usage or appearance in main plot, the better the placement effect is; the preference of consumers on movies, including plot and role attitude, explicitly influences placement effect. If the real self or ideal self of consumers are consistent with brand image, a higher brand attitude and purchase intention will occur. To best of our knowledge, our paper is first one using self-congruity and attitude toward the plot to investigate the outcome of product placement in the movies. The research concludes with implications for promotion strategy to advance brand image and purchase intention by increasing the effectiveness of product placement. Future research suggestions relevant to the product placement issues, marketing communication and brand management are also provided.

• George C. Shen(National Chiayi University, Taiwan)
• Cia-Han Tsai(National Chiayi University, Taiwan)
• Rick Lee(New Jersey City University, USA)
• Chia Ann Lai(National Chiayi University, Taiwan)