The persuasive effectiveness of mini‐films: Narrative transportation and fantasy proneness

Abstract Little empirical investigation has been made on mini‐films, an innovative online marketing technique of branded entertainment. This study intends to gain a deeper understanding of the advertising effectiveness of mini‐films. Employing a narrative persuasion research approach, an online survey with hyperlinks to a variety of real mini‐films was conducted to test the aggregate persuasive effectiveness of this marketing innovation. The results demonstrated that narrative transportation has a major influence on the attitude toward the mini‐film; the mini‐film attitude fully mediates the effect of narrative transportation to brand attitude, and subsequently to purchase intention. Furthermore, conceptualized as a normal consumer characteristic, the influence of fantasy proneness on the persuasive mechanism of this online advertising genre has also been under study. Empirical evidence showed that fantasy proneness has a positive influence on narrative transportation. This study has made a contribution to academics and practitioners alike for future research into branded entertainment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.