Effects of in-game brand congruity on esports consumers' implicit and explicit memory

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impacts of brand congruity of in-game brand placement on esports consumers' implicit and explicit memory.Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design (N = 224) was used with an automobile racing game, NASCAR Heat 5. A series of statistical analyses, including MANOVA and logistic regressions, was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results revealed that ads on virtual billboards in the video game primed participants to create an implicit memory. Also, incongruent brands that were not very familiar to gamers provided greater impact than congruent brands.Originality/valueThis research is the first to test both implicit and explicit memory and provide practical evidence for the possibility of implicit memory building in the esports context. In addition, the current study also examined the impact of congruity to answer the previously inconsistent results.