Although the popularity of smart speakers has skyrocketed in recent years, these IoT devices are often associated with privacy and security concerns, that are hindering their full adoption. Previous literature has established that marketing communications are effective in addressing consumer anxiety and minimizing adoption fears, which has created an interesting research topic on their respective role in the promotion of smart speakers. This study investigates the effectiveness of functional and emotional advertising strategy and dynamic and static media used in the advertising of smart speakers, on influencing consumer privacy concerns and purchase intention. The purpose of the study is to provide valuable insight on how companies can mitigate concerns and drive purchases through marketing communications, as well as, contribute to overall advertising research for high-tech and highly innovative products. The methodological approach of this study involved a 2x2 online experiment with four treatment groups each shown an advertisement of a smart speaker corresponding to one of the levels of the independent factors, advertising strategy and media type. The findings of the study did not show a correlation between marketing communications and privacy concerns, however, this could implicate that such a complex issue could potentially be better addressed from a manufacturing perspective. On the other hand, consumer purchase intentions were also investigated, however, their relationship with the advertisements shown in the study was insignificant, the implications of which are discussed in the final chapter of the thesis. Future research could examine whether marketing communication for smart speaker addressing various proven adoption determinants (e.g., perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived coolness, etc.) will have a stronger impact on the purchase decisions of consumers.

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Dr. Serge Rijsdijk
hdl.handle.net/2105/64967
Media & Business
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication

Stela Georgieva. (2022, June 27). Advertising strategy and media type effectiveness in the marketing of smart speakers. Media & Business. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/64967