‘Thinking and feeling’ products and ‘utilitarian and value-expressive’ appeals in contemporary TV advertising: A content analytic test of functional matching and the FCB model

Brand equity is now receiving significant attention, both as a result of changes to international accounting standards relating to intangible assets and as a result of the renewed focus on the impact of marketing communications on brand performance. This paper reports on an investigation of the perceptions of senior marketing and advertising agency personnel regarding (1) the importance of brand equity as a valuation and performance measurement tool and (2) whether financially based brand equity measures and marketing-oriented measures can be translated into a single composite measure of brand equity/value. The findings reported herein indicate that, although financially based brand equity valuations have been a low priority in the past, there is increasing interest in this area and in the evaluation of the long-term impact of promotional activity as part of a wider drive for marketing accountability.     

‘The knowledgeable marketing practitioner’: practice and professional knowing in marketing work

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the knowledge constructs that professionals draw upon when engaging in marketing work. Our conceptual approach stems from a critical analysis of marketing work foregrounding the practitioners’ professional knowledge and practice of marketing work. We identify 13 pertinent knowledge constructs–some of which are illustrated by vignettes–showcasing the shared and multifaceted nature of professional knowledge in a small- and medium-sized enterprise. By exploring how practitioners deploy their knowledge of marketing in practice, we conclude what the marketing discipline can learn from professional knowing. We contribute to the marketing work literature by considering the ontological role of professional knowing in dereifying marketing work from textbook knowledge along with its implications for the critical understanding of the perceived gap between marketing theorising and practice.     

Buyer‐seller relationships: A conceptual model and empirical investigation

Increasing emphasis is being placed by marketing managers on the need to build long‐term relationships between themselves and their customers. Analysis of long‐term buyer‐seller relationships has drawn heavily on the literature of social psychology, especially in making comparisons with family relationships. It has been proposed that buyer‐seller relationships go through some form of life‐cycle, paralleling cyclical relationships in other areas of human activity. However, models of the evolutionary development of buyer‐seller relationships have remained largely theoretical, with little empirical validation of the life cycle concept, or analysis of the changing composition of a relationship as it progresses through a life cycle.

This paper provides cross‐sectional empirical evidence of the existence of a buyer‐seller relationship life cycle within the investment services sector. The elements that buyers perceive as being important in holding a relationship together are dependent on the duration to date of the relationship. In the early stages of development, selling pressure is perceived as being a dominant element in relationship development, giving way to judgements of ethical credibility and empathy as the relationship develops.

From this initial survey of investment services customers, a number of implications for relationship marketing strategies within the services sector are suggested.     

Reading ‘the marketing revolution’ through the prism of the FBI

Abstract

This paper details the rebranding process undertaken by the UK co-operative movement and provides an understanding of the strategic issues involved in maintaining a coherent brand identity across a group of autonomous, independent societies. The methodology uses previously unpublished and archive material from across the movement. This is followed by a series of semi-structured interviews with Board Directors, senior management and individuals responsible for implementing the rebranding strategy. The rebranding exercise took almost ten years and the research identifies nine (non-discrete) overlapping stages. The paper argues that while many parallels can be drawn with the corporate rebranding literature, the need to achieve compromise and consensus combined with the independence of those participating creates issues not detailed in previous academic studies.     

Luxury fashion brand customers’ perceptions of mobile marketing: Evidence of multiple communications and marketing channels

Previous studies have addressed some of the issues of customers' perceptions of mobile marketing, particularly the affordances of multiple communications and channels. Despite a proliferation of studies in this field, the theoretical exploration of luxury fashion customers' perceptions of multiple mobile communications and marketing channels remains at an exploratory stage. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model and a social constructivist perspective, the current study conducted 37 in-depth interviews with Generation Z mobile luxury customers. We specifically examined how customers' emotionally and cognitively based perceptions emerge as they navigate multiple mobile marketing channels and message communications. Our model conceptualizes four elements of customers' perceptions of their mobile marketing journey that can drive mobile customer engagement and acquisition behavior. The integrative model opens up interesting avenues for further research on mobile marketing and luxury fashion consumers’ perceptions of the effects of multiple communications and marketing channels.     

Plural form franchise networks: A test of Bradach’s model

This paper focuses on plural form organizations within franchise networks. Plural form can be defined as the simultaneous presence of both franchised and company-owned outlets in the same network. Bradach (1998) developed a model composed of four challenges that a franchisor should meet in order to benefit from plural form organization. The aim of the present article is to test the predictions of the Bradach’s model of plural form networks. A conceptual model regarding the determinants of the proportion of company-owned outlets (PCO) is estimated with data from French franchise networks. We show that the statutory choices are actually driven by the four challenges highlighted by Bradach, namely the challenges of expansion, concept uniformity, local responsiveness, and network-wide adaptation.     

A brand so bad it’s good: The paradoxical place marketing of Belfast

Abstract

According to O’Driscoll (2008), paradox characterises marketing in the ‘after modern’ epoch. This is certainly true of place marketing, which is often described as a paradox-rich domain (Dinnie, 2011). Drawing upon the results of a novel, culture-based research procedure, this paper describes the paradoxical outcomes of an urban branding exercise in Belfast, one of the world’s most infamous cities. Albeit dismissed by local worthies as a futile attempt to ‘put lipstick on a gorilla’, this paper argues that Belfast’s branding is not only far from futile but a perversely paradoxical form of marketing that’s so bad it’s good.     

Corporate social responsibility as cultural meaning management: a critique of the marketing of ‘ethical’ bottled water

To date, the primary focus of research in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the strategic implications of CSR for corporations and less on an evaluation of CSR from a wider political, economic and social perspective. In this paper, we aim to address this gap by critically engaging with marketing campaigns of so-called ‘ethical’ bottled water. We especially focus on a major CSR strategy of a range of different companies that promise to provide drinking water for (what they name as) ‘poor African people’ by way of Western consumers purchasing bottled water. Following Fairclough's approach, we unfold a three-step critical discourse analysis of the marketing campaigns of 10 such ‘ethical’ brands. Our results show that bottled water companies try to influence consumers' tastes through the management of the cultural meaning of bottled water, producing a more ‘ethical’ and ‘socially responsible’ perception of their products/brands. Theoretically, we base our analysis on McCracken's model of the cultural meaning of consumer goods, which, we argue, offers a critical perspective of the recent emergence of CSR and business ethics initiatives. We discuss how these marketing campaigns can be framed as historical struggles associated with neo-liberal ideology and hegemony. Our analysis demonstrates how such CSR strategies are part of a general process of the reproduction of capitalist modes of accumulation and legitimation through the usage of cultural categories.     

Evaluating social marketing’s upstream metaphor: does it capture the flows of behavioural influence between ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ actors?

ABSTRACT

Metaphors are powerful forms of communication that can both facilitate and constrain disciplinary discourse, so the choice of metaphor used to explain concepts of disciplinary importance should not be undertaken lightly. A single case study methodology involving an ‘upstream’ firm considering whether to manufacture products with environmental attributes was consequently used to test three previously unexamined assumptions associated with the upstream/downstream metaphor, a metaphorical distinction that continues to have sway within the social marketing discipline. Contrary to these assumptions, the flows of behavioural influence between ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ actors were found to be bidirectional (rather than unidirectional), interactive (rather than independent), and distinctive (rather than non-distinctive). These findings suggest the need for alternative models that can better reflect the complex, multidirectional relationships responsible for the emergence of many social issues.     

Expanding Workers’ ‘Moral Space’: A Liberal Critique of Corporate Capitalism

This paper assesses employees’ moral agency within corporate capitalism from a politically liberal standpoint. While political liberalism has spelt out its key institutional implications at state level, it has neglected moral agency at work, assuming that a rights-based state that secures freedom of contract, free choice of occupation and a free labour market within a fair context would protect it sufficiently. Yet two features of corporate capitalism constrain employees’ moral agency: the relation of authority that forms part of the work contract and organisations’ fragmented decision-making processes. Both seem at odds with the liberal ideal of allowing people to live by their own conception of the good. Consequently, this paper examines whether political liberalism should recommend greater safeguards for protecting workers’ moral agency. It proposes a criterion for assessing corporate capitalism: the ‘moral space’ defined as the socially shaped opportunities for action that can be enacted or endorsed from a comprehensive perspective. It argues that liberals should favour arrangements that widen workers’ moral space and suggests institutional designs that may achieve this while remaining within liberal boundaries.     

The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative,consumer, and source variables*

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the product (A_p) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A_ad and A_p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.     

‘A new paradigm of British business history’: A critique of Toms and Wilson

We provide a critical reflection of Toms and Wilson's ‘new paradigm of British business history’ by focusing on the logical consistency of their model, the robustness of its predictive powers, and its explanation of transitional change related to stages of business capitalism. For example, central to the paradigm is the importance of accountability and external economies of scale, assumed as exogenous parameters in the analysis of British business history. This assumption is challenged, as is the predictive powers of the analytical matrix in providing an all-encompassing model for British business evolution. In particular, the transitional processes in British business history are not simply reducible to an assessment of accountability and economies of scale and scope, but rather to enhance our understanding there is a need also to engage with the concept of personal capitalism. While business historians should engage with theoretical frameworks, it must also be recognized that firms are idiosyncratic, a feature of business organizations that should not be lost.     

Relational marketing throughout the history of commercial exchange: Blind spots in marketing’s origin story

Abstract

Although marketing is commonly theorized to have originated at the dawn of exchange itself, few scholarly articles explore the history of marketing beyond this cursory recitation of the commonly accepted origin story of the field. The evolution of complex commercial exchange is presented as a natural outgrowth of the development of human society as opposed to the willful and intentional efforts of early merchants. Using disparate and archaic sources, this article synthesizes historical accounts and archival information to show that entrepreneurs have always practiced relational marketing from prehistoric eras and continued to do so throughout pre-industrial and post-industrial eras when the bulk of the literature claims that the scale of modern production rendered relational marketing ineffective and nearly obsolete. In doing so, we add to the virtually non-existent literature documenting entrepreneurial marketing in the early, pre-industrial history of commerce.     

Shaping e-retailer’s website personality: The importance of experiential marketing

This research investigates how offering experiential values by an online retailer affects the personality of the e-retailer’s website in consumers’ minds. It empirically studies the impacts of four experiential value types – aesthetics, playfulness, customer return on investment (CROI), and service excellence – on each of the five website personality dimensions of enthusiasm, genuineness, solidity, sophistication, and pleasantness. The findings confirm the overall model and the majority of the hypothesized relationships are significant. The findings show that e-retailers should use appropriate combinations of experiential values to portray their desired website personalities.     

‘A highly successful model’? The rail franchising business in Britain

A crucial feature of rail privatisation in Britain was franchising. Passenger services were franchised in competitive bidding processes to train operators which were meant to function with declining subsidy. The article adopts the framework of social cost-benefit analysis to examine rail privatisation’s impact on three key groups; consumers, producers and the government. It establishes that privatisation did not achieve all the supposed benefits. Further, franchising only appears to be profitable through the use of calculative accounting practices, whereby franchised train operators are portrayed as discrete business entities, whereas they are supported by very substantial, ongoing direct and indirect government subsidies.     

User acceptance of ‘near field communication’ mobile phone service: an investigation based on the ‘unified theory of acceptance and use of technology’ model

Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology with service applications that include location-based service, mobile payment, peer gaming, and targeted advertising. Using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, this study explores the factors that affect consumer acceptance of mobile phones with built-in NFC capability. The results indicate that Effort Expectancy has a positive effect on Performance Expectancy. Also, Performance Expectancy and Social Influence have a positive effect on Attitude Toward Use of Technology, but Anxiety has a negative effect on it. Finally, Attitude Toward Use of Technology is more significant than Facilitating Conditions in affecting Behavioral Intention.     

A frontier analysis comparison of banking ‘added value’

Recently, a new added value to inputs (AVI) ratio has been developed for ranking banks by their ‘competitive advantage’. This kind of market-based measure of performance is now being widely developed in banking. The primary aim of this article is to use the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to expose some of the underlying properties of AVI: a comparative simulation exercise is used to perform an exploratory sensitivity and critical variable analysis. It is shown that the AVI scalar ratio embodies inter alia a hidden assumption of constant returns to scale, and it corresponds to the simplest possible form of DEA model. Another aim is to generalise and improve the AVI approach using DEA. More insight is obtained by applying DEA, which allows for explicit assumptions about returns to scale and provides multi-dimensional forms of AVI measures.     

Morals,Markets and Sustainable Investments: A Qualitative Study of ‘Champions’

Sustainable investment (SI), which integrates social, environmental and ethical issues, has grown from a niche market of individual ethical investors to embrace institutional investors (e.g. pension funds) resulting in ￡764 billion in assets under management in the UK alone [Eurosif, 2008: ‘European SRI Study 2008’ (Eurosif, Paris)]. Explaining this growth is complex, involving shifts in personal and collective values, reactions to corporate scandals, scientific and media pronouncements about climate change, Government initiatives, responses from financial markets and the influence of SI innovators in The City of London. The article examines the influence of human agency through interviews with 14 SI champions who have variously been responsible for launching SI funds and changing investment processes and organisational structures in order to enhance SI. Interviewees were asked about their motivations and persuasive strategies, the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them as well as broader implications of SI for financial markets. The following key categories inform the results and the discussion: Values; Conservatism, Antipathy and Incredulity; Optimism and Sympathy from Insiders; The Social and Political Context; The Business Case; Organisational Constraints; Inappropriate forms of Remuneration; Short-termism; The Nature of Capitalism. Three discourses were also identified. The first is the necessity to make a business case for SI; the second is the benefits that SI can bring to the quest of overcoming short-termism; the third is a belief that for SI to have a significant influence, greater government intervention is required.