Don’t Lose Your Product in Story Translation: How Product–Story Link in Narrative Advertisements Increases Persuasion

Story advertisements combine entertainment and persuasion. To persuade effectively these ads must meaningfully link the story with the product. A disconnect between story and product has a negative effect on persuasion. The link between product and story is essential because it helps viewers comprehend meaning, which is embedded in the story. In story ads subjective comprehension of meaning is necessary for an unhindered immersion in the story ad, which in turn drives persuasion. Thus, we extend the transportation-imagery model in a narrative ad context. We outline a taxonomy of types of product–story link and, based on it, create an index to make the link measurable and test the hypotheses. Study 1 empirically validates the index and Study 2 applies the index to test the model empirically. Study 3 employs an experimental design that manipulates strength of product–story link while keeping the ad’s story structure stable. We find evidence that the positive effect of product–story link on brand attitude is mediated by subjective comprehension and narrative transportation. This finding indicates the importance of linking the story with the product to obtain maximum impact and discourages the advertising practice of loose links. Further theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.