The Influence of Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Factors on Consumers’ Healthy Cereal Food Choices

An increase in the dietary intake of wholegrain cereals can reduce the risk of developing certain non-communicable diseases and can play an important role in a healthy diet. However, consumption of wholegrain cereals across many countries is lower that the recommended guidelines. The main objective of this research was to gather purchase-related information from end users on different types of cereal foods. A mixed research methodology was used to identify key sociodemographic and lifestyle factors that may influence consumer acceptance of new cereal foods. Three distinct clusters were identified based on six identified lifestyle dimensions. This research suggested that the combined use of sociodemographic and lifestyle segmentation variables could help identify specific consumer segments that can be used in the market-oriented development of new cereal foods.     

Demand Shifts and Changes in Competition: Evidence from the Movie Theatre Industry

In this paper, I empirically examine how demand shifts affect firm behaviour. In particular, I study how competitive behaviour between firms changes across different demand states. For this purpose, I use price and concentration data from the Spanish movie theatre industry in 1995 and 2000. The evidence suggests that demand shifts change the competitive nature of the industry under study, and that this change differs across different demand shifts. Firms deviate less from tacit collusive behaviour when gains of deviation are smaller.     

An empirical investigation of director selection in movie preproduction: A two-sided matching approach

This paper examines how movie producers recruit directors in the preproduction phase as mutual choices in a two-sided matching model. It conceptualizes that movie attributes and filmmaker characteristics determine the matching outcomes (“who directed which movie”) and in turn indirectly affect movie box office. We exploit a dataset of 4,807 feature films from 1990 to 2010 to examine empirically the complementarities between the movie/producer side and the director side in terms of movie budget, filmmaker track records and social relations. A series of simulations suggest that social relations facilitate positive assortative matching. Further simulation analyses are conducted to quantify the financial implications of movie–director mismatches, as well as the indirect effects of production budget and producer characteristics. The simulation results show that: a) the financial implications of having a mismatched director can be substantial; and b) the indirect effect of production budget and producer characteristics affect movie box office in an interactive manner. These findings can help filmmakers to better understand the financial impacts of movie–director choices and make more informed decisions at the early phase of preproduction.     

Substitution or Promotion? The Impact of Price Discounts on Cross-Channel Sales of Digital Movies

Technology is transforming the marketing function in many ways, and this transformation is particularly apparent for information goods such as movies where digital technologies provide marketers with new distribution channels, which in turn create new opportunities for cross-channel effects. However, these digital channels also provide researchers with new opportunities to measure micro-level customer behavior to understand the impact of cross-channel effects in real-world settings.In this paper, we study cross-channel effects between movies sold in digital purchase (commonly known as Electronic Sell Through or EST) and digital rental (commonly known as Video-On-Demand or VOD) markets. We do this using a unique sales dataset from a major digital movie retailer provided by a major movie studio. Our analysis takes advantage of a 14-week field experiment that allows us to measure the impact of price discounts on own- and cross-channel sales. We use this experiment to estimate own and cross price elasticities, whether price discounts cannibalize future sales, and most importantly whether price discounts in one channel affect sales for the same product in a presumably competing channel.Our analysis indicates that digital movie consumers are highly sensitive to price promotions. However, we also find that, contrary to expectations, price promotions in a digital sales channel for a movie do not seem to cannibalize digital rentals. Indeed, our results suggest that, if anything, price promotions for digital movie sales can increase digital rentals. We explore a variety of explanations for this counterintuitive result, including the possibility that the ease of information transmission online through third-party websites, blogs, and online discussion areas may create information spillovers such that price discounts in one channel may increase product awareness in other competing sales channels. From a managerial perspective, our results suggest that cross-channel cannibalization can be reduced or even reversed in the presence of information spillovers, and that there are many new opportunities for marketers to directly measure these cross-channel effects using experimental data from online platforms.     

Segments of sustainable food consumers: a literature review

Sustainable food consumption is an important aspect of sustainable development. When adopting a sustainable food lifestyle, consumers are confronted with complex choices. Today's food consumption is too complex to be explained by socio‐demographic factors exclusively. A broader perspective is needed. In order to explain behaviour across different consumer segments better, relatively homogenous segments of food consumers were identified by segmenting food consumers based on a wide range of variables. The current study aims to provide an overview of published studies that have segmented consumers with regard to sustainable food consumption. The literature review has been conducted by searching SciVerse Scopus for all relevant articles available until November 2010. The main criterion for including a specific study was the inclusion of empirical analyses of primary data, resulting in consumer segments with regard to sustainable food consumption. Sixteen articles were incorporated in the final analysis. First, the variables used for segmentation and profiling in the included articles have been categorized into three levels of abstraction: personality characteristics, food‐related lifestyles and behaviour. The three levels of abstraction proved to be helpful in categorizing the segmentation studies. The findings indicate that variables on all three levels were efficient in differentiating consumer segments regarding sustainability. In addition, the importance of price and health differed across the segments, although these variables are only indirectly related to sustainability. Second, the three most frequently identified consumer segments with regard to sustainable food consumption were: ‘greens’, ‘potential greens’ and ‘non‐greens’. These segments differed from one another on all three levels of abstraction. This implies that future segmentation studies should include variables on all levels of abstraction to get a complete picture of existing sustainable consumer segments. Marketers should be aware that targeting specific segments based on socio‐demographic variables exclusively is not sufficient. Personality characteristics, lifestyle and behaviour are all important to take into consideration. Attempts at stimulating sustainable consumption might be most effective when differences across consumer segments are taken into account. Future research is needed to explore the characteristics of different sustainable food consumer segments with respect to their potential contributions in promoting sustainable development.     

Impact of star and movie buzz on motion picture distribution and box office revenue

This study contributes to research on the impact that consumer buzz has on movie distribution and box office success by examining the impact of buzz generated about the individual stars and about the movie itself. The results indicate that movie buzz is instrumental in boosting box office revenue throughout the theatrical release, not just in the later run, as has been suggested in previous studies. Star buzz can enhance box office receipts during the opening week and can contribute to the public's anticipation of the movie pre-release. However, early buzz can have a negative impact on revenue during subsequent weeks if the movie fails to resonate with the audiences. Model simulations reveal that, even for poorly received films, the overall impact of star buzz is positive because the initial revenue boost normally outweighs the later decline. Thus, this study empirically demonstrates the positive impact of star buzz on revenue, which helps shed light on the long-standing debate regarding the importance of star participation in the success of a movie.     

Are movie theaters doomed? Do exhibitors see the big picture as theaters lose their competitive advantage?

After three straight years of decline, movie theaters in the US may have recently ended a period of crisis with an increase in annual admissions (+ 3%) in 2006. This article argues, however, that major problems are not over for the industry. Most movie theaters in the multiplex era have adopted a remarkably similar strategy, one which is also very vulnerable to recent trends such as the explosion of home cinema, pay TV, video-on-demand (VOD), discounting by mass merchandisers of DVDs, computer games, and the collapse of video windows. Just as technological convergence has created a challenge for movie theaters, as it has in the past, so too can new technologies and creative use of assets (combined with multiple target marketing) offer a counter measure for at least some movie theaters; at least, until the next challenge arises. What is unlikely to succeed is the status quo, especially when so many multiplexes offer the same format as their competitors, appear to adopt a narrow definition of what business they are in, and manifest a ‘one-size-should-fit-all’ approach to customers. The industry has employed differentiation and niche marketing much less than other industries. As the extensive variety of necessary strategies cannot comprehensively be explored herein, this article focuses on two new technologies from the IMAX Corporation, DMX and MPX, as an example of how a theater operator might counter audience declines.     

Exploring consumer attitudes to online collaborative consumption: A typology of collaborative consumer profiles

Online collaborative consumption enhances peer networks, members of which communicate, collaborate, and even deliver services to one another via digital sharing platforms. Despite the tremendous increase in collaborative consumption, due in large part to the development of the Internet, the reality of the economic and social movements that underpin this trend is much less visible. Of course, not all consumers seek collaborative consumption or interact through online platforms. Using a qualitative approach, this paper aims to investigate motivational factors and barriers against collaborative consumption and to establish a typology of collaborative consumer profiles, identifying the most suitable type of online sharing platforms for each profile. The findings reveal the following collaborative consumer profiles: committed, pragmatists, intermittent, and skeptical, each demonstrating different preferences for the different type of online sharing platform.     

Leveraging consumer personality and social media marketing to improve a brand's social media equity

Consumer personality traits impact consumer actions, preferences, online behaviour and shopping motives. This study examines personality traits as drivers of social media equity by addressing the mechanisms under which consumer personality traits influence social media equity. We aim to combine consumer-level information with brand-level metrics to advance our understanding of consumers' associations with brands on social media and how specific consumer personality traits can be leveraged to improve a brand's social media equity. Using a self-administered survey, a total of 418 respondents from an online consumer panel participated in this study. The results from structural equation modelling revealed that while extraversion, openness to experience and neuroticism personality traits are positively associated with brand engagement and brand advocacy, agreeableness and conscientiousness are significantly associated with brand advocacy and not with brand engagement. This study advances theory by examining how consumer personality traits influence social media equity via brand engagement and brand advocacy as mediators. The findings provide rich practical insights into underlying mechanisms through which marketers can increase social media equity using consumer personality traits.     

Interdependence between consumption in the North and sustainable communities in the South

The issues we want to address and discuss in this article are related to the interdependence between consumption in households in high‐income countries and life in the low‐income countries, seen in a sustainable perspective. In the consumer society the underlying premise is that ever‐escalating consumption is accepted, even desirable. During the past decade, an increasing critique of consumer lifestyle has come from environmentalists, who argue that the resource use to maintain a consumer lifestyle is putting too hard a burden on the ecosystems. We give examples of the abundant evidence of interdependence between North and South at global levels, such as climate change and appropriation of ecosystem capacities, and related to specific types of consumption such as clothing, flowers, food and cosmetics. We argue that the loss of feedback to individual households in the North is a serious barrier for change towards more sustainable consumption habits, and raise a question about how impacts of production and consumption can be communicated to consumers. On the basis of previous and ongoing research, we highlight some impacts of positive and negative labelling schemes as well as extended environmental information.     

The Case for Compatibility: Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions for Upper versus Lowercase Brand Names

Although retailers know that brand names are important conveyors of product benefits, little is known about how subtle characteristics of brand names affect consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. This research proposes and shows that the letter case of brand names affects product attitudes and purchase intentions but that these effects depend on congruity between brand case and the gender of consumption benefits. Studies 1 and 2 show that lowercase brand names are associated with feminine characteristics while uppercase brand names are associated with masculine characteristics, as measured through judgments of name gender, gendered brand personality traits, and overall brand gender perceptions. Three additional studies demonstrate that greater congruity between brand case and the gender of consumption benefits increases product evaluations and purchase intentions. Study 3 demonstrates that greater congruity between brand case and the gender of a female consumer’s consumption goal leads her to have more favorable product attitudes. Study 4 replicates these effects by manipulating the gender of product benefits, shows that effects on purchase intentions are moderated by the consumer’s biological sex, and identifies processing fluency as the underlying mechanism. Study 5 demonstrates that brand case, rather than letter shape, drives these results. This work advances understanding of how seemingly subtle brand name characteristics affect gender perceptions and consumer behavior, with implications for brand design and positioning in the retailing industry.     

In search of well-being: Factors influencing the movement toward and away from maladaptive consumption

Common consumption behaviors may become harmful to consumers. Maladaptive consumption is the result of an increase in frequency or amount of everyday, normal consumption (adaptive) behaviors, which may cause significant harm to consumers and society. The authors explore maladaptive behavior and investigate how important insights about maladaptive consumption may lie at the intersection of harm. Consequently, the discussion focuses on how marketers and policymakers, through their strategic approach, can both encourage and mitigate maladaptive behavior. Understanding the transition from adaptive to maladaptive behaviors, and the return to adaptive consumption patterns, is critical for marketers, consumer advocates, and policy researchers, focused on dampening overconsumption with its corresponding harm. A discussion of the implications of maladaptive consumption on consumer health and well-being sets the foundation for rethinking marketing practice and public policy. Finally, a set of research propositions are offered for future research.     

Consumers’ green commitment: indication of a postmodern lifestyle?

Green consumer behaviour is one of the key focuses of contemporary research on the sociology of consumption. The constant presence of environmental issues related to consumption and the changes consumer society has faced during the 20th century are presumed to reflect on present consumer behaviour. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, the postmodern elements of consumer society will be discussed; second, the study analyses to what extent these elements of postmodernism fit with the phenomenon of contemporary green consumerism. The empirical part utilizes Finnish consumer behaviour‐related data from 2003, which were analysed by applying various statistical methods. In this part, the study reports of the connection between lifestyle and green commitment. Lifestyle is measured by consumption styles and green commitment by certain environment‐related consumption choices. The results suggest that different lifestyles explain green commitment better than traditional socio‐economic background variables. The effect of postmodernism on green consumer behaviour is, thus, discussed.     

Influences of motivations and lifestyles on intentions to use smartphone applications

Mobile advertising, influenced by the current growth in smartphone applications, creates new opportunities for the advertising industry. This study identified motivations for the use of smartphone applications as well as lifestyle clusters of users and examined their influences on the relationships between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and intentions to use. This research used a face-to-face survey and empirical analyses to investigate key questions about how and why consumers use smartphone applications, illustrating the imperative roles that motivations and lifestyle clusters play in an important advertising context. This study represents a step toward clarifying how different lifestyle clusters influence different relationships between motivations, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and intentions to use applications as advertising media, offering implications for advertising academics and practitioners.     

Customer brand personality perception: A taxonomic analysis

Abstract

The brand personality concept has received considerable attention. However, researchers have paid little attention to how homogeneous consumer brand personality perceptions are. This study attempts to fill this gap by analysing survey data (n?=?603) collected from respondents evaluating seven mass-market consumer brands. Using cluster analysis, it identifies four typical brand personality constellations. The authors find variance among brand personality perceptions across brands, but more interestingly also within perceptions of individual brands. This result points to issues in implementing brand personalities in marketing practice. The article concludes with theoretical and managerial implications.     

中美两国影视产业国际竞争力的比较研究——基于全球价值链视角

本文基于2002-2010年的UNCTAD数据,选取贸易竞争力指数、国际市场占有率指数、显示性比较优势指数、纯出口比较优势指数四个指标,测度中美两国影视产业的国际竞争力状况。结果表明:中国影视产业国际竞争力与美国存在巨大差距,但其差距呈现递减趋势。从全球价值链视角而言,中国影视产业尚处于全球影视产业价值链低端,核心价值链环节自我构建尚未完成;影视产业高端价值链运营能力不足,影视衍生品开发不够。因此,积极嵌入全球价值链,促进影视产业价值链的整合与升级才是提升中国影视产业国际竞争力的根本之道。     

Why do public policy-makers ignore marketing and consumer research? A case study of policy-making for alcohol advertising

Public policy-makers have been noted to sometimes ignore marketing/consumer research, even when the policy issue clearly pertains to consumption markets. We embark to identify factors that may explain policy-makers’ limited attention to marketing/consumer research, especially in cases related to consumer affairs that may have public health implications. Empirically, we focus on policy-making around the advertising of alcohol products. Having been involved in this policy-making process in Finland, we elucidate the case through an introspective narrative. We find that the factors explaining policy-makers’ limited attention to marketing/consumer research range from the decision-making characteristics of policy-makers, through inconsistent definitions for key terminology, to the fear of over-generalizing certain theories of marketing/consumer research. Regarding the latter, a key issue in the present case was that public policy-makers were unconvinced about the generic marketing theory stating that in mature markets, advertising will not increase the total consumption demand of a product category.     

The impact of pronoun choices on consumer engagement actions: Exploring top global brands' social media communications

To enhance the understanding of consumer engagement with brand content on social media, this study examines how pronoun choices affect different types of consumer engagement (e.g., likes, comments, shares) by simultaneously exploring five different pronoun types (first-person singular, first-person plural, second person, third-person singular, and third-person plural). Furthermore, this study explores how the effects of these linguistic (pronoun) choices vary across two brand classifications: characteristics (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and offerings (goods vs. services). The proposed multivariate Poisson regression model, analyzing 15,788 unique brand posts from Facebook over an 8-month period, reveals differences in engagement due to pronoun usage across brand classifications. These results offer a deeper understanding of how the way brands talk to consumers on social media platforms influences consumers' attitudes (likes), propensity to engage with the brand (comments), and willingness to share branded content with their social networks (shares) across different brand classifications.     

Materialism and life satisfaction: The moderating roles of alexithymia and product retention tendency

This research examines how alexithymia and product retention tendency affect the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction. Extant research has established that materialism has a negative effect on personal well‐being and that consumer culture and marketing facilitates this effect by encouraging consumers to focus on material pursuits to satisfy extrinsic goals. However, previous research has not explored how emotional personality traits and lifestyle values influence this “dark side” of materialism. Alexithymia is an emotional personality trait that inhibits an individual's ability to identify, describe and regulate emotions. Results from survey data show that alexithymia moderates the effect of materialism on life satisfaction, such that the effect is negative for individuals without alexithymia, but positive for individuals with alexithymia. Moreover, product retention tendency attenuates the negative effect of materialism for individuals without alexithymia, but strengthens the positive effect of materialism for individuals with alexithymia. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Young adults' perceptions of product placement in films: An exploratory comparison between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

Even though young adults are a major audience of films and the main target group for product placement, very few studies explore how youngsters across cultures perceive and interpret this marketing communication tool. This study explores this issue through thirty-two in-depth interviews conducted in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The comparative analysis focused on four aspects: (1) young consumers' movie consumption habits and their exposure to product placement; (2) their general views towards product placement and advertising; (3) their perception of different execution styles of product placement and its impact and (4) the regulatory and ethical concerns of product placement. Results indicate that the young generation actively engages in interpreting brand integration in films and they were generally positive about it. Although interpretations of product placement are reported on an individual basis, this study suggests that culture may also affect how individuals perceive product placement. This exploratory study raises important issues about cultural differences in the perception of brands placed in films and provides insights for further research in the area of product placement.