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Introduction
Interactive marketing is in a state of both evolution and revolution, offering marketers several digital platforms for leveraging participatory culture and engaging consumers (Wang, 2021). Digital technologies enable a plethora of opportunities for consumers to engage with advertising, with the degree of engagement dependent on the type of branded content presented (Barger et al., 2016; Rodgers and Thorson, 2018). In the digital world, video content has gained considerable traction among consumers and marketers alike, outshining other types of branded content. Compared to photos, links and text, video tops the list of favorite branded content among consumers (Animoto, 2018). Marketers have taken note, with 70% of businesses sharing video in 2018 and identifying video as their preferred type of branded content (Buffer and Social Media Week, 2018). In 2019, digital video was advertisers' top pick to extend the reach of TV campaigns (FreeWheel, 2019).
Consumer engagement on social media has traditionally been difficult to attain (Barger et al., 2016), posing challenges for a digital video advertising strategy. For example, consumers now have the option to skip ads and control exposure to digital advertising using tools (e.g. YouTube's “Skip” button) and paid subscription services (e.g. YouTube Premium). Such practices suggest that consumers intentionally interact with digital video advertising in an environment where attention, interest and engagement are essentially optional. In such an environment, “ads need to be crafted to promote engagement, regardless of what else they attempt” (Phillips and McQuarrie, 2010, p. 372). Interestingly, consumers view YouTube advertising in the most negative light but see it more positively when they are more engaged with digital advertising (Voorveld et al., 2018). Thus, marketers face the challenge of creating video advertising that truly engages customers in the digital environment.
Storytelling emerges as an alternative to other ad formats to overcome challenges of capturing attention and generating digital engagement with video advertising. Digital storytelling emanates from platform revolutions in interactive marketing, allowing for interactions between marketers and even net celebrities and consumers (Wang, 2021). Video storytelling ads generate more favorable affective responses and behavioral intentions than straight-sell (feature-based) video ads on social media (Coker et al., 2017). However, the exact process behind such effects is mostly unexplored in the digital advertising literature. Research on narrative...