Exploring the Effect of Synced Brand versus Competitor Brand on Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

With exponential technology advancement and innovation, consumers can now receive synchronized advertising across media simultaneously. However, programmatic advertising technologies allow many brands, including competing brands, to be synchronized across media. Based on the concept of repetition from the multilayered concept of relatedness, this research investigated the effects of synced brand versus competitor brand with an online scenario–based experiment (Study 1; N = 122) and an online task experiment (Study 2; N = 227). The results showed a positive effect of synced brand on brand attitude and purchase intentions but only in the scenario-based studies. This research is, to our knowledge, the first to show empirically that synced advertising with the same brand versus a competitor brand may lead to favorable consumer responses. The findings contribute to academic thinking toward the effects of personalized advertising frameworks and provide insights to advertising practitioners regarding the impact of cross-media personalization strategies.