Influencer’s Presence in the Ad: Does It Really Work?

Even though it is known that advertising effectiveness is growing with celebrity presence in the ads, there is still a lack of analysis on how influencer presence in brand advertising on social media affects the audience’s attention compared to other types of ads. Therefore, a conceptual model was designed to analyse how influencer presence in ads affects attention factors: fixation count, fixation duration, time to first fixation and implicit memory - as well as how source factors affect these relationships. Experimental design using a neuromarketing tool of eye-tracking and implicit memory complemented with survey questions was performed with 67 international participants. The sample size meets the requirements of the scope of the designed experiment. This research extended the current literature with suggestions that influencer presence in ads could have an impact on ad effectiveness, including fixation count and fixation duration on the ad, as well as audience ability to remember the ad. However, influencer presence in ads did not show to have an impact on time to first fixation. Also, source factors have not been shown to have a moderating effect on a relationship between influencer presence in the ads and attention.

Keywords:Influencer marketing; Social media advertising; Neuromarketing; Eye tracking; Implicit memory; Source factors