Unravelling cognitive processing of in-game brands using eye tracking and electroencephalography: incongruence fosters it

Abstract

Videogames have become the world’s favorite pastime, which is why brands integrate their logos on them, a technique called product placement. While most research has focused on analyzing whether brands are memorized based on their presentation within the videogame, little is known about how they are perceived and cognitively processed. This article analyzes whether attention and cognitive load from the placement and the videogame mediate the relationship between prominence, congruence, and familiarity of the brands and their memorization. A preliminary study made it possible to find the brands to be placed (n = 180), while the main study was experimental (n = 160), with prominence and congruence as between-subject factors and familiarity as a within-subject factor. Applying eye tracking and electroencephalogram, the results indicate that when the brand inserted via product placement is incongruent with the videogame genre, it will draw attention, demand cognitive resources, and will be more likely to be remembered and recognized. This would happen with both familiar and unfamiliar brands, and all of this without prominence influencing the process. These findings suggest that incongruent in-game brands would be the first game elements to be cognitively processed, even when they are irrelevant to game achievement.