Wired editor Chris Anderson coined the term “the long tail” in his 2004 book of the same name. Anderson hit upon one of the best reasons you should be publishing a business blog: the long tail. In the book, Anderson talks about the way information is sought on the Internet. The “long tail” refers to […]
Wired editor Chris Anderson coined the term “the long tail” in his 2004 book of the same name. Anderson hit upon one of the best reasons you should be publishing a business blog: the long tail. In the book, Anderson talks about the way information is sought on the Internet. The “long tail” refers to […]
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Abstract:
Purpose – This paper aims to consider the role of demarketing in the specific context of the marketing of places, and to introduce a typology of place demarketing and related place marketing activity. Design/methodology/approach – Following a review of the extant literature on place marketing and branding, place image and demarketing, the paper outlines a number of different types of place demarketing and more unusual place marketing strategies, with examples of each. Findings – The marketing of places has grown in scale and importance, both as a practice and as an area of academic research, as places have had to become more entrepreneurial in an ever-increasing competitive environment. Places are increasingly conceptualised as brands to be marketed, and a key emphasis of such activity is the creation of an attractive place image and/or the dilution of negative place images. This is reinforced in the academic literature. Counter to this “conventional wisdom”, this article conceptualises various types of place demarketing activity and related place marketing activities; namely “passive place demarketing”, “informational place demarketing”, “crisis place demarketing”, and also “perverse place marketing” and “dark place marketing”. Originality/value – This paper provides a unique counter to the “conventional wisdom” of place marketing by introducing the concept of place demarketing and perverse and dark place marketing which more explicitly accentuate the negative, rather than accentuating the positive which is the norm in this marketing context. A typology of such activities is introduced and the implications for place brands are considered.
Abstract:
Purpose – The paper seeks to offer a critique of the Piagetian developmental cognitive psychology model which dominates research into children and brand symbolism, and to propose consumer culture theory as an alternative approach. The paper also aims to present the design and interpretation of an empirical study into the roles brands play in the everyday lives of junior school children, which demonstrates the richness of this alternative framework. Design/methodology/approach – The key literature on children and brand symbolism is reviewed and the main concepts from consumer culture theory are introduced. A two-stage qualitative study involving 148 children aged 7-11 is designed using group discussions and a novel cork-board sorting exercise. Findings from group discussions with 56 children in stage 2 of the study are analysed from a consumer culture theory perspective. Findings – The analysis focuses on two aspects of the ways in which children use brand symbols in their everyday lives: their fluid interpretations of “cool” in relation to brand symbols, and the constitution of gender in children’s talk about iconic brands, notably on “torturing Barbie”. Research limitations/implications – A key aim of this paper is to critique an existing framework and introduce an alternative perspective, so the analysis offered is necessarily partial at this stage. Future research could also use a consumer culture approach to investigate the role of brands in the everyday lives of children with differential access to financial resources, children from different ethnic groups, and children from different parts of the world. Originality/value – The introduction of a new framework for researching children and brands offers a host of possibilities for academics and practitioners to understand the effects of brand symbols on the lives of today’s children, including a more informed approach to socially responsible marketing. This is also the first study to apply consumer culture theory to children’s consumption behaviour. Studying consumption practice from the child’s viewpoint offers exciting new angles for the development of this theoretical perspective.
Abstract:
Purpose – The paper seeks to investigate the incremental value of a construct termed “undesired self-image congruence”, and capture consumers’ perceived closeness to negatively valenced brand-related attributes over and above established self-image congruence factors known to affect consumption-related attitudes and intentions. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire-based study was used to assess consumers’ attitudes and intentions to consume a low-involvement product (Marlboro cigarettes; n=211). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were employed to determine the incremental predictive value of the newly introduced undesired congruity component over and above established self-image congruence facets. Findings – Undesired congruity proved its substantial and incremental value in predicting consumption-related attitudes, but did not directly influence purchasing intentions. Research limitations/implications – Avoidance motives related to undesired brand images appear to influence purchase decisions at early stages of the decision-making process, namely in attitude formation and evaluative responding. Controlled experimental approaches with a broader set of products should be used to corroborate this potential research implication. Practical implications – Because negative stereotypical images appear to feed into purchase-related decision processes at early stages, due caution should be exerted in primary data collection and brand positioning. Primary data collection should capture both positive and negative brand-related meanings attributed by consumers. Because the results show that undesired congruity has an incremental explanatory effect, positive versus negative symbolic meanings are clearly not just “two sides of the same coin”. Consequently, brand positioning should define its strategy by simultaneously maximizing both the closeness to desired symbolic meanings and the distance to undesired symbolic associations. Originality/value – The value of the paper lies in testing the operation of undesired congruity and in quantifying its incremental contribution in the symbolic consumption context.
Abstract:
Purpose – The paper seeks to explore the role of the employer brand in influencing employees’ perceived differentiation, affinity, satisfaction and loyalty – four outcomes chosen as relevant to the employer brand. Design/methodology/approach – A multidimensional measure of corporate brand personality is used to measure employer brand associations in a survey of 854 commercial managers working in 17 organisations. Structural equation modelling is used to identify which dimensions influence the four outcomes. Models are built and tested using a calibration sample and tested on two validation samples, one equivalent to the calibration sample and another drawn from a single company. Findings – Satisfaction was predicted by agreeableness (supportive, trustworthy); affinity by a combination of agreeableness and (surprisingly) ruthlessness (aggressive, controlling); and perceived differentiation and loyalty by a combination of both enterprise (exciting, daring) and chic (stylish, prestigious). Competence (reliable, leading) was not retained in any model. Research limitations/implications – Further work is required to identify how appropriate improvements in employee associations can be managed. Practical implications – The findings emphasise the importance of an employer brand but the results also highlight the complexity in its management, as no one aspect has a dominant influence on outcomes relevant to the employer. At issue is which function within an organisation should be tasked with managing the employer brand. Originality/value – Employer branding is relatively new as a topic but is attracting the attention of both marketing and HR academics and practitioners. Prior work is predominantly conceptual and this paper is novel in demonstrating empirically its role in promoting satisfaction, affinity, differentiation and loyalty.
Abstract:
Purpose – The paper seeks to examine the role of corporate identity in UK clothing retail organisations, focusing on the “fast fashion” sector. The aim is to analyse the “gap” between desired identity and perceived identity within the sector. Design/methodology/approach – An instrumental case study approach was adopted for this research. Companies’ web sites and press releases were reviewed to find out the desired identity of organisations, while semi-structured interviews were carried out with customers to elicit the perceived corporate identity. Themes developed from the cases will form the basis of further research. Findings – This study has shown that although there are similarities, considerable “gaps” are present between the desired and perceived corporate identity of organisations, the latter being more important in understanding the research questions addressed which relate to corporate identity and the gap between desired and perceived identities. A number of propositions have emerged from the findings, which when investigated empirically will be useful for forming corporate identity constructs in the fashion retail sector. Research limitations/implications – This research provides some useful insights into the role of corporate identity within the fast fashion retail sector; however, it is not sufficient to make generalisable claims outside the cases examined. Further research is required to test some of the conceptual issues and propositions raised by this work. Practical implications – The paper gives practitioners better insights into the gap between desired and perceived identity with a view to improving strategic interventions to close the gap. Originality/value – The research makes a contribution to retail identity literature by emphasising the importance of perceived identity. The work is unique in being the first research to explore further the relationship between desired and perceived identity from a fashion retailing perspective. As a consequence the strategic implications from this work for desired identity are highlighted.
Abstract:
Purpose – The paper seeks to discuss and analyse the nature of place umbrella brands and the role such brands play in promotion of a country, a region, or a city. The purpose is also to identify some salient success criteria of provenance associations as core values of place umbrella brands. Design/methodology/approach – The study delineates a conceptual framework, which illustrates important components in place umbrella branding. It also highlights a set of criteria to aid prioritisations among prospective provenance associations that have a potential to be used as brand values of place umbrella brands. Practical implications – The paper identifies some characteristics of provenance associations, which make them more transferable across a bundle of umbrella brand partners. The generation of better marketing theory in the field of place branding will make it easier for practitioners to reach the right decisions in choice of provenance associations. Findings – It is claimed that transcendence is related to the transferability of provenance associations across a bundle of brands. Because transferability strongly depends on perceptions of similarity, the starting point is to identify matches between the partner brands based on their shared provenance. Originality/value – The article ends with a recommendation that researchers in place branding should carefully analyze provenance associations according to the suggested criteria.