TY - CHAP TI - Silent Persuaders: Can Promotional Merchandise Incidentally Affect Reactions to a Brand? AB - Consumers often use promotional merchandise without noticing. We investigate whether such incidental encounters affect consumer response, whether brand familiarity moderates the type of response, and whether incidental exposure to billboards is similarly effective. Manipulating incidental exposure, we find that promotional merchandise (a branded pen) affects brands even if unnoticed. However, the type of response depends on prior familiarity. In case of familiar brands promotional merchandise increases brand awareness and spontaneous brand choice. Low familiarity brands benefit from a boost in brand attitude. Moreover, incidental brand exposure through merchandise tends to be more effective than exposure through billboards. AF - Society for Consumer Psychology Conference (SCP) PP - San Francisco PY - 2017-01-01 AU - Marckhgott, Eva AU - Kamleitner, Bernadette ER -