Investigating the role of brand equity in mediating the relationship between message exposure and parent support for their child's physical activity

Brand equity (BE) is the degree to which individuals characterize and identify with a brand, which can add or detract from the brand’s value. Social marketing researchers have identified BE as a potential mediator of the relationship between exposure to campaign advertisements and resulting behaviour. This study examined whether BE accounts for the covariance between parents’ exposure to ParticipACTION campaign advertisements and parental support (PS) for their child’s physical activity. Data were drawn from ParticipACTION’s “Think Again” campaign evaluations that targeted parents, specifically moms, with children between the ages of 5 and 11 years (September 2011, moms=619, dads=37; March 2012, moms=650, dads=101). Structural equation modeling was used to test the predicted mediation relationship. In both models, 2 factors loaded on to advertisement exposure, 6 factors loaded on to BE, and 1 factor loaded on to PS. Model fit statistics (comparative fit index) for both models revealed good fit (September 2011 = 0.92, March 2012 = 0.94). Results demonstrated that “Think Again” advertisement exposure was related to BE (standardized effects .11-.15) and that BE was related to PS (standardized effects .33-.46) in both models ( ps < .01). Importantly, an indirect effect of advertisement exposure on PS through BE (standardized effects .04-.07) emerged in both models ( ps < .05). Parents with greater exposure to the advertisements reported greater BE and in turn greater PS than parents with less exposure. This study demonstrates the utility of branding social marketing campaigns to increase campaign effectiveness.  Acknowledgments: We would like to thank the Canadian Institute of Health Research, ParticipACTION Canada, and Queen's University.