Ett oväntat samarbete - Effekter av tematisk inkongruenta sponsorsamarbeten mellan bloggare och välkända varumärken
As a great deal of people spend more time with their cell phones and computers than with magazines and TV, markets have begun to explore marketing possibilities in digital media. A common form of marketing in digital media is sponsorship of the cyber stars of the Internet - the bloggers. Sponsorship of bloggers has proven to be a highly efficient method for brands to gain attention and positive attitudes, as bloggers are regarded as fashion icons as well as reliable friends. Another up-to-date marketing strategy that has proved successful in gaining consumer attention is the use of incongruent elements in ads. Incongruence challenges consumer expectations and thereby demands attention. The purpose of this study was to examine consumer responses to sponsorship between a blogger and a brand that is thematically incongruent with the image of a blogger, through a sponsored blog post. By conducting two experiments, where 308 respondents were exposed to a blog post featuring a picture and a text concerning a brand incongruent with the image of a blogger, we found preferences for a post featuring a congruent brand. Attitudes towards the blog post and the featured brand were significantly higher when using a congruent brand than an incongruent brand. Further it was found that the blogger was negatively affected as reader attitude towards the blogger, para-social interaction towards the blogger and the credibility of the blogger, drastically fell after publishing an incongruent post.