Winning Hearts and Minds: Business-to-Business Branding and the Role of the Salesperson

Many business-to-business firms recognise that strong brands can be a valuable resource in today's competitive business environment. To realise the potential of B2B brands, effective communication of brand values is essential. In most B2B markets, the primary form of brand communication is through the sales force and their ability to adapt sales strategies and messages to accommodate customer interactions. There are gaps in the literature regarding the brand value communication process in the customer-salesperson dyad. We argue that successful B2B brand communication requires sales strategies that incorporate brand values appealing to the emotional and the rational concerns of organisational buyers. This paper examines the brand communication process in the salesperson-customer dyad and the extent to which adaptive selling based on a brand platform of rational and emotional brand values could better respond to buying centre members.     

No Logo? No Way. Branding in the Non-Profit Sector.

Ten thousand new organisations are joining the charity sector each year (Hankinson 2000). One of the ways in which charities are responding to this increased competition is to adopt commercial branding techniques (Tapp 1996; Ritchie, Swami et al. 1998). It has been suggested that brand orientation can help to raise awareness amongst target audiences (Hankinson 2000), build loyalty within donor and supporter groups (Ritchie, Swami et al. 1998) and facilitate donor choice (Hankinson 2000). This paper investigates what is understood by the term brand, what constitutes a brand in the charity environment and what organisational objectives a brand strategy seeks to achieve. It also explores the role played by values in developing charity brands. The research is primarily exploratory in nature, drawing on existing branding theory. The findings of the research are reviewed within the context of for-profit and not-for-profit branding literature. Recommendations for further research are also made.     

Co-operation and Collusion: Making the Distinction in Marketing Relationships

Co-operative relationships between organisations may create added value for the partners involved, but they can also pose a threat to the competitiveness of markets. This paper reviews the economic and legal frameworks of co-operative marketing relationships and seeks to distinguish these from collusive relationships. A model of development from competition to co-operation to collusion is proposed, in which definitions of collusion are continually evolving in response to environmental change. This paper seeks to reconcile the benefits accruing to businesses involved in co-operative relationships, with the possible welfare loss resulting from restrictive relationships. Conceptual frameworks underlying buyer-seller relationships are evaluated from the perspective of models of economic efficiency and legal frameworks. A number of recent cases are evaluated in the context of this discussion.     

The emergence and development of place marketing's confused identity

This paper draws parallels between the emergence and development of place marketing research with the emergence of service marketing as a distinct subject area within marketing. However, the topic area itself remains confused, terms used to describe its various associated phenomena have not been clearly defined, there is little consensus what type of marketing or branding applies to places, and the literature has not resolved the differences in marketing / branding individual places and whole nations, thus leading to confusion for academics and practitioners alike. A thematic review of the literature is presented in order to reflect on the way various aspects of the literature have developed, and how this has impacted on the current debate. The confusion over the use of terms originates from the way the literature developed over time in different subject areas, but also appears to be linked to the way authors successfully target articles for publication, using terms that better align with a journal's focus rather than necessarily using the most appropriate term for the specific construct under investigation.     

The Methuselah market

In this paper the authors focus on the Methuselah Market, defined as those people within five years of retirement age. Demographic change over the last 100 years has led to a substantial increase in the proportion of the population in the older, near retirement age group. Yet as consumers the needs of this sector of the population have been neglected by marketers. The size, characteristics and potential of the Methuselah Market are discussed, and specific product areas of particular interest to this market are identified. A further paper will be published in the November issue reviewing the decision‐making process of the older consumer and indicating specific marketing strategies relevant to the Methuselah Market.     

Branding and design management: a brand design management model

As brands have become one of firms' most valuable assets, the search for new ways to build brands that achieve a differentiated status in the minds of customers has become of central importance for companies. If design is guided by the brand, it can serve as the cohesive factor for all elements that configure a brand experience and represent an unequivocal source of differentiation. 37 owners and/or top managers of 28 Spanish companies acclaimed for their design were interviewed in order to build a model that integrates branding and design management. The resulting model integrates the innovation process with different kinds of design, in order to build consistent brand experiences.     

Commodities Must Begin to Act Like Branded Companies: Some Perspectives from the United States

The agricultural commodity industry needs to focus more on profits, less on value, and must change with the consumer. In short, a branded approach is needed. Households today are comprised of time-starved persons working outside of the home who have less experience shopping for and distinguishing between ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables and ones that may be overripe. Consumers want to place their trust in branded companies to give an official endorsement that the product is indeed good and worthy of purchase (e.g., Dole Brands, Sun-Maid Raisins). This change in the mindset of today's food shopper has provided an unprecedented opportunity for marketers of commodities to begin to act like branded companies by stamping the name of a well-known brand onto a commodity thereby guaranteeing its goodness and freshness. A profitable opportunity exists on the horizon for commodity marketers to behave in a manner that is more consistent with branded companies and today's consumer. A case history of Ocean Spray, which has recently faced a decision to protect the brand or sell off and take the risk of being a non-branded commodity in an extremely competitive market, is also discussed.     

Power Imbalance in UK Agri-Food Supply Channels: Learning to Live with the Supermarkets?

This study investigates the issue of power in the context of UK agri-food industry vertical business-to-business relationships, where the majority of control lies in the hands of large multiple retailers. Predominant in agri-food channels is the reduced supplier sourcing model; featured is the widespread application of Category Management (CM) and network supply co-ordination, through a new breed of super middlemen. The received view from the Relationship Marketing (RM) literature with its emphasis on trust, dyadic symmetry and mutuality is questioned. It is contended, alternatively that other types of relationships, for example, those based on selfishness are equally relevant; and that power imbalanced business relationships are just as important to the understanding of business exchange. Further, power should be a central consideration when concerned with business relationships and imbalance in power is no specific barrier to parties entering into collaborative relationships or to their success. This article contends that acceptance of power-imbalance is a key first-step to successful relationship building in agri-food channels and although collaborative chain activity is endorsed, suppliers are advised that this still means operating within conditions of imbalanced power and reward.     

Managing destination brands: establishing a theoretical foundation

There is general agreement in the literature that the marketing of places as brands requires “a special type of marketing” (Ashworth 1993, p. 648). But while the problems inherent in place marketing are well documented (see for example Karavatzis and Ashworth 2005) very little attention has been given to the development of a theory of destination branding which can be used to guide destination brand managers and form the basis of future research. The conclusions from a review of the literature are tested against the experiences of practitioners (Churchill 1979) by means of 25 depth interviews with Senior Managers in 20 Destination Marketing Organisations. Five critical antecedents of successful destination branding are identified: stakeholder partnerships, brand leadership, departmental coordination, brand communications and brand culture. Two key mediating factors are also identified: brand reality and brand architecture. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Cultural Brands/Branding Cultures

This conceptual paper examines the interface between culture and business, with specific reference to branding. It argues that, while considerable strides have been made in recent years to develop Arts Marketing theory, the subject now needs to take account of wider social and cultural issues. The paper explores the way in which processes of meaning-making have been theorised in consumption and cultural studies. It argues for a view of the symbolic dimensions of branding practices that positions them within the circuit of culture, as a cultural phenomenon. It is argued that brands are symbolic articulators of production and consumption. In this sense, all brands are representational texts, and are socially, not merely managerially, constructed. Different kinds of cultural brands are identified, including cultrepreneurs, cultural corporates and commercial corporates, and their practices in relation to business and culture are discussed. It is suggested that marketing (including branding) is not a neutral analytical repertoire for the study of exchange relationships, but is itself a particular kind of cultural brand, namely an ideological myopia which operates in the service of capital. It is suggested that Arts Marketing practitioners and scholars consider these wider issues in formulating their marketing practices and research strategies.