How Meaningful Stories Enhance the Value of Associated Objects

Stories featuring meaningful thematic content (defined as pertaining to important life themes such as significant human relationships or achievement of mastery) are increasingly prevalent in a marketing context, but have been underexplored in consumer research. We aim to examine whether, how, and when promotional narratives featuring meaningful themes enhance the value of products depicted in the narrative. We will examine whether the influence of meaningful stories in a promotional context on consumers’ valuation of objects or products associated with those stories depends on three features: features of the story itself, the context in which the story is encountered, and the positioning of the target entity within the story.