Little empirical investigation has been made on mini-films, an innovative online marketing technique of branded entertainment. This study
intends to gain a deeper understanding of the advertising effectiveness of mini-films. Employing a narrative persuasion research approach,
an online survey with hyperlinks to a variety of real mini-films was conducted to test the aggregate persuasive effectiveness of this marketing
innovation. The results demonstrated that narrative transportation has a major influence on the attitude toward the mini-film; the mini-film
attitude fully mediates the effect of narrative transportation to brand attitude, and subsequently to purchase intention. Furthermore,
conceptualized as a normal consumer characteristic, the influence of fantasy proneness on the persuasive mechanism of this online
advertising genre has also been under study. Empirical evidence showed that fantasy proneness has a positive influence on narrative
transportation. This study has made a contribution to academics and practitioners alike for future research into branded entertainment.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.