Improving the media mix: how promotional products enhance advertising impact

Many traditional forms of advertising are losing ground to alternative media. Such a trend represents opportunities for the promotional products medium. However, the effectiveness of promotional products in comparison to other advertising alternatives has not been widely empirically tested. This experiment examines responses to advertising media by employing two sets of seven randomly assigned conditions at two major U.S. universities. The findings revealed statistically significant effective improvements in contrast to television advertising when promotional products were used in credibility perceptions, attitudes towards the advertisement and the product, and behavioural intents such as purchasing intent and referral intent. Additionally, positive effects were observed when promotional products were used in conjunction with television and print advertising compared with television and print advertising alone. Future directions for research are recommended.