A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Character Presence in Advergames and Its Impact on Brand Outcomes

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the cross-cultural impact of character presence in advertising games on brand outcomes. The study was quantitative in nature and selected 500 participants through snow-ball sampling technique. The participants were Saudis and Malaysians. A questionnaire was created to collect data from the survey sample. The data collected was then analyzed using the Social Sciences Statistics Package version 23.0 (SPSS). Descriptive statistical analysis using standard deviation, mean, and frequencies were applied. Pearson Correlation was applied to identify the relation among the variables.The study found no significant correlation between brand outcome and character presence in advergaming where a significant correlation was found in culture and character presence in advergames.The study concluded that humanoid characters in advergames should be operated attentively because interesting or engaging game charcaters affect the player’s attitude in a different way depending upon the classification of the brand and its target market’s ethnic traditions and history.