Prominence Paradox in Pop-up Store: When high brand prominence reduces brand attitude in store but increases brand attitude in social media
(A2026-134265)

AUTHORS

Nayoung Yoon, Department of Marketing, Aalto University; Anastasia Nanni, Aalto Business School

ABSTRACT

Adopting an empirics-first approach and a multi-method design, we investigate the effect of Brand Presence (BP) in experiential pop-up stores on physical pop-up store visitors’ brand attitude and online users’ brand attitude towards social media content. We find a critical divergence and evidence of full mediation across both contexts. High BP negatively affects visitors' brand attitude, mediated by perceived intrusiveness overwhelming positive paths (perceived diagnosticity and uniqueness). Conversely, high BP positively affects brand attitude in social media, mediated by informational and trust constructs (trustworthiness and perceived diagnosticity). This reveals a strategic trade-off: BP activates positive informational paths crucial for generating online buzz but simultaneously triggers the strong, detrimental path of intrusiveness, which must be carefully managed. This research guides managing this conflict in experiential marketing.