Communicating Co-Created Products: New Is Not Always Better

Abstract: Co-creating products with customers is a growing trend, especially among businesses within consumer goods. Social networking sites have shown to be commonly used in this process. What is uncertain is whether this media choice is the best option for the final communication phase of these products. The purpose of this paper is thus to examine whether social networking sites can provide a higher ad value compared to traditional media when communicating co-created products. To fulfill this purpose, an ad value framework was used and a quantitative experiment was conducted, exposing respondents to different stimuli with different combinations of products and media contexts. The findings contribute to the research field of co-creation by concluding that the media does matter and that co- created products have a higher perceived ad value when communicated in a traditional media context, not a social media context. The ad value of such ads can be further enhanced by focusing on the right characteristics depending on the media choice.