The interacting role of media sequence and product involvement in cross-media campaigns

The aim of the study is to investigate the role of media sequence on consumers' responses to cross-media campaigns. To do so, we conducted an experiment in which we studied the effects of a combination of TV commercials and websites (TV commercial-website vs. website-TV commercial) for two different product categories. The results indicated a consistent interaction effect of media sequence and product involvement regarding two campaign targets: attitudes toward the ads and message evaluation. These interaction effects showed that while a TV commercial-website sequence was effective for informing consumers about both high- and low-involvement products, the website-TV commercial sequence was only suitable for informing consumers about high involvement products. The main conclusion is that the sequence of exposure is vital in cross-media campaigns. The study also demonstrates under which conditions this is particularly important.