We invite you to the presentations of Valentyna Melnyk, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Research at the Massey University, New Zealand, and Harald van Heerde, Professor of Marketing at the Massey University, New Zealand.

Prof. Valentyna Melnyk (9:30am – 11:00am)
“Fantastic Beasts and When to Present Them:
The Effect of Fantasy Labels on Product Evaluation and Purchase Intentions”

Abstract:
Companies spend billions annually on packaging and labeling. While the use of fantasy themes is increasing in many product categories, it is unclear whether fantasy labels help or hurt consumer perceptions and under what conditions. To address this question, we investigate whether, when and why fantasy labels affect purchase intentions. Across a lab experiment, a field experiment and a study based on empirical sales data, we find that fantasy labels enhance purchase intentions and sales, but the effect is strongly moderated by product quality levels. That is, fantasy labels only work for products with higher product quality cues. Moreover, this effect is mediated, sequentially, by the evocation of the imaginary and positive affect. Our findings have clear managerial implications for brand managers and practitioners dealing with package designs.

Prof. Harald van Heerde (11:00am – 12:45pm)
“Delusion in Attribution: Caveats in Using Attribution for Multimedia Allocation”

Abstract:
Media attribution is the assignment of a percentage weight to each media touchpoint a consumer is exposed to prior to purchasing. Many firms consider using attribution to allocate media budgets, particularly for digital media, but an important question is whether this is appropriate. An initial hurdle when answering this question is that, despite the surge in interest for media attribution in marketing academia and practice, attribution does not have an agreed formal definition. Therefore, this paper proposes an attribution formulation based on the relative incremental contribution that each medium makes to a purchase, taking into account advertising carryover and interaction effects. The formulation shows that attribution is proportional to the marginal effectiveness of a medium times its number of exposures. This means that often-used media will have high attribution weights. However, optimal allocation decisions are a function of advertising effectiveness, but not a function of past exposure levels. By offering analytical derivations and studying simulated and empirical data, the paper shows how attribution can offer misleading insights on how to allocate resources across media. Moreover, the empirical example demonstrates that substantial gains in purchase probability can be made using optimal allocation compared with attribution allocation.