Catching COBRAs

With social media usage increasingly widespread and influential, companies face the challenge of inspiring and cultivating Consumers’ Online Brand-Related Activities (COBRAs). This dissertation argues that they can do so effectively only when they have a good understanding of consumers’ willingness to engage with brands on social media. Academic research on this matter, however, is scarce. Instead of adding to the already substantial body of effect-oriented studies, this research therefore considers more deeply the question of what determines and motivates COBRAs. In doing so, it provides practical insights into how to inspire consumers’ engagement with brands on social media and fills an important hiatus in the academic literature on marketing, branding, and consumer behavior

Introducing COBRAs: exploring motivations for brand-related social media use

The article examines the use of social media by Internet users related to advertising and marketing, called "consumers' online brand-related activities (COBRA)." Interviews are conducted with such Internet users through instant messaging as to their motivations for engaging with brands and brand name products through social media. It was found that a desire for information, a desire for entertainment and the possibility of reward were the primary motivations for COBRA activity by Internet users, with entertainment being the primary motivation for the generation of brand-related social media content

Introducing COBRAs: a holistic exploration of motivations for brand-related social media use

Propelled by highly interactive technologies, internet users are increasingly becoming active consumers, contributors and producers of content on brands. Consumer’s Online Brand-Related Activities ("COBRAs") have significant consequences for firms and brands. To effectively respond to and steer these consequences, a holistic and empirical understanding of the motivational sources driving brand-related social media use is imperative. However, such understanding to date remains absent. We therefore make a significant and unique contribution to the field by conducting 20 in-depth interviews with people engaged in COBRAs about their motivations to do so. In developing a classification of motivations for a continuum of three COBRA usage types (consuming, contributing, and creating), we provide marketers and brand managers with valuable and practical insights into consumer behavior in a social media dominated era

Increasing sponsorship effectiveness through brand experience.

This quasi-experimental field study examines whether companies can improve the effectiveness of their sponsorship investments by creating a brand experience. Data were collected among participants of a sponsored marathon. During this event participants had the opportunity to engage in an experience orchestrated by one of the main sponsors of the event. We compare the data of participants who ran the marathon and also engaged in the experience with those who solely ran the marathon. The results reveal that participating in the experience increases top of mind awareness, brand recall and attitudes towards the sponsoring brand, compared to just running the marathon. Additionally, within the experience condition, brand experience and flow predict brand attitudes