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DFG Research Group: How social media is changing marketing

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Project C.1

Second funding period (2018-2021)

Gamified market research in digital social media as a tool for management decisions

Franziska Völckner, Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, Henrik Sattler

Digitalization involves all areas of everyday life and produces large amounts of data (“datafication“).  This development makes it essential to find means which make people engage in complex or monotonous tasks related to data collection or analysis, which pose special requirements to the motivation of individuals. In this context, the use of game elements (i.e., points, rankings, or levels) is considered as a promising tool. Against this background, the main objective of this project is to analyze the effectiveness of gamification techniques in digital social media (with a focus on market research applications).

The research approach combines field studies with experimental designs and aims at a better understanding of (1) how game elements influence user behavior within a (mobile) market research app, (2) the conditions under which gamification enhances user motivation, and (3) the underlying (psychological) processes that eexplain these effects

First funding period (2015-2018)

Valuation of branding strategies for hedonic media products (HMP) based on virtual stock markets

Franziska Völckner, Henrik Sattler, Thorsten Hennig-Thurau

In project C.1, we develop a new approach to the valuation of brand investment decisions for hedonic media products (HMP) with a special focus on brand extension rights. We illustrate the approach using book adaptation rights in the motion picture industry and take several steps to validate the results. 

The approach allows for (1) incorporating new information over time (i.e., takes the option-like characteristics of marketing/brand investment decisions into account), (2) assessing forward spillover effects (e.g., from a book to the book-based movie), and (3) assessing backward spillover effects (e.g., from the book-based movie to the book). The results have important implications for sellers and buyers of extension rights, for example regarding price negotiations, as well as for the management of brand portfolios in the entertainment industry and beyond.