Brand personality in a membership‐based organisation

• This study employed Aaker's (6) brand personality framework to assess the brand characteristics of a membership based sport organisation in Australia (N=413). Factor analysis suggested that Aaker's framework did not fully capture variations in responses within the Australia sample, and that a modified version incorporating an additional dimension of Innovation was required. This modified factor structure may reflect characteristics of netball as a sport, specific sample attributes or cross‐cultural variations in the brand personality concept. Results indicate that the Netball Victoria brand is strongly associated with Competence, Sincerity and Innovation, is moderately linked with Excitement and Sophistication, and has a low connection with Ruggedness. These qualities are perceived with a high level of consistency by different respondents. The organisation's brand personality as perceived by its members provides a diagnostic which may be used to guide re‐branding, positioning and other marketing strategies. Additional research is required to assess the role and function of cultural variations in measuring brand personality.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An investigation into the values dimensions of branding: implications for the charity sector

• Branding is being adopted by charities and written about in academic and practitioner charity literature with increasing frequency. There is also growing concern, however, about the over-commercialistion of the sector and the misappropriation of techniques developed specifically for the commercial environment. Literature supporting the claim that charities are values-based organisations is reviewed and the proposition is made that it is in fact the non-negotiability of charity values that differentiate them from commercial organisations. Given the significance of values in the charity sector, the paper argues that a clearer understanding of how values are conceptualised in branding is necessary in order to establish whether branding is an appropriate and effective tool in the charity context. To achieve this, the paper reviews relevant branding literature focusing in particular upon the delineation of the values dimensions identified in for-profit branding models. To aid further understanding of these values dimensions in the non-profit context and their applicability (or otherwise) to it, the metaphors of brand as ‘mirror’, ‘lamp’ and ‘lens’ are introduced.
• It is argued that in the corporate sector the brand concept has been utilised to ‘mirror’ those values that underpin the needs and desires of consumers. In contrast to the passive mirror, when operationalised as ‘lamp’, it is claimed that the brand aims to influence both the values of the organisation and the values of its target audience. It is postulated that neither of these approaches is appropriate for values-led organisations and that it is only as a metaphorical ‘lens’, projecting the values of the organisation itself that branding offers an applicable and effective model in the charity context.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluations of branding alliances between non‐profit and commercial brand partners: the transfer of affect

• There is growing interest in the trend towards co‐branding alliances between non‐profit and commercial entities,which are undertaken by these organisations to transfer associations and affect between each brand partner. Certainly, it makes sense that commercial entities want to gain more from their brands and that non‐profits want secured funding, however, in the same way that the joining of two brands can be beneficial, it can also bring with it major risks when the brand alliance is not well received and evaluations of the alliance are not favourable.
• This research supports the notion that both commercial entities and non‐profit organisations can benefit from a branding alliance, however, an understanding of how these brand alliances are evaluated is important. This research investigates evaluations of brand alliances and the resulting spillover effects for original brand partners that result from brand alliances.
• This research provides empirical support relating to reactions to brand alliances between a non‐profit organisation and a commercial business in terms of how original brand attitudes, familiarity of original brands and perceived brand fit impact on evaluations. While collaboration is important and has potential benefits for each partner—they rest on partner selection and fit between alliance partners. Managerial implications and future research directions are also provided.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of branding on adolescent smoking behaviour: exploring the mediating role of image and attitudes

• This study investigates the continuing effects of tobacco marketing communications in a post advertising era, focusing on the constructs of brand awareness, brand image, attitude formation and intention to smoke by adolescents.
• A conceptual model is presented, based on 926 respondents from a UK wide study, to assess brand‐related interrelationships and influences of peers on adolescents' attitudes toward smoking and intention to smoke.
• Results show the strong influence of branding on both attitude and intention, and have implications for government anti‐smoking policies specifically in regard to generic packaging and point of sale displays.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consumer perceptions of compatibility in cause-related marketing messages

• Consumers respond more positively to marketing efforts, like celebrity endorsements and sponsorships, when the image of the sponsoring company or brand is compatible with the celebrity or sponsored event.
• The authors explore the concept of compatibility within a cause-related marketing context. The results of an experiment confirm the role of sponsor/cause compatibility for the creation of positive consumer perceptions of the donor, and highlight the importance of individual characteristics that affect perceptions of the cause and its compatibility with a donor. Theoretical and strategic implications and future research directions are discussed.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The international volunteering market: market segments and competitive relations

• The number of nonprofit and social agencies relying on the help of volunteers has grown enormously in recent decades. This has lead to increased competition between these organisations for the limited resources available, and the growing adoption of what have traditionally been considered ‘commercial’ business techniques such as marketing. There have been calls for greater and more sophisticated use of ‘tried and tested’ marketing concepts such as competition, segmentation and positioning to help volunteering organisations manage this pressure effectively. This study shines the spotlight on individuals who volunteer for multiple types of organisations in an effort to determine which organisations are competing for the same volunteers. More specifically:
• Factor analyses are computed and four segments of volunteers are identified: ‘altruists’, ‘leisure volunteers’, ‘political volunteers’ and ‘church volunteers’;
• Positioning maps are constructed to illustrate the proximity of each organisation type in relation to key competitors; and
• Detailed profiles are provided for each segment to provide insight into the nature of the groupings.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of nonprofit brand equity on individual giving intention: mediating by the self‐concept of individual donor

• Currently nonprofit organizations have to rely more on individual donors and less on the government for funding. Therefore, understanding the individual donor from the perspective of nonprofit has been of increasing interest to nonprofit marketers. In this research, the effects of nonprofit organizational brand equity and individual self‐concept on individual giving intention were studied by using survey to selected 393 valid respondents in China. The empirical results indicated that, (1) the three dimensions brand personality, brand image, and brand awareness of the nonprofit organization has positive direct impact on individual giving intention; (2) brand personality and brand awareness of the nonprofit organization has positive direct impact on the self‐concept of individual donor; (3) the self‐concept of individual donor has positive direct impact on individual giving intention; and (4) the self‐concept of individual donor mediates significantly the relationships between brand personality, brand awareness, and individual giving intention, while not significantly between brand image and individual giving intention.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Positively negative: the impact of negativity upon the political consumer

• For years there has been an ongoing debate as to the role and impact that ‘marketing’ has had on politics. Yet, it is the case that many of the concepts associated with the field of marketing have real relevance and have, in fact, been employed within the field of political campaigning for many decades. This is an empirical paper that focuses upon the concept of political brands and the impact that current trends in campaign strategy, and in particular the growth and continued use of negative campaigning, have upon them. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the implications associated with such activity are examined and, in particular, its effect upon the consumer/brand relationship.
• Within the consideration of the results, it becomes clear that political brands' use of negative campaigning is somewhat shortsighted; offering short‐term gains but at the cost of long‐term damage not only to their brand image but also to the wider democratic system as it stands. In a search for political ‘brands’ that more effectively meet their needs, there appears a tendency for political consumers to now look outside of the conventional political sector. The emergent concept of the ‘negative brand’ is explored together with the implications for political consumers, political brands and the wider field of conventional party politics.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The California State University: a case on branding the largest public university system in the US

• Branding of universities is an area that is growing in importance as competition between universities increases and creates an imperative for strong brand positioning and visual identity as the basis for differentiation. In this context, this paper describes the process by which the California State University (CSU), a major, multi‐campus public university system developed a corporate visual identity system and analyzes the key issues in developing this system, as well as the key challenges ahead.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determinants of charitable donation intentions: a structural equation model

• Currently charities have to depend more on individual donors and less on the government for funding. Hence, understanding the individual donor and what motivates them to contribute to charities is something, which has been of increasing interest to nonprofit marketers. In this article, a path model for the charitable donation process of a religious individual is developed and tested. The variables that are used in the model are religiosity, attitude towards helping others (AHO), attitude towards charitable organizations (ACO), attitude towards the advertisement (Attad) and behavioral intentions (BI). The results suggest that AHO by itself does not cause BI. Altruistic people need to be targeted with an appropriate advertisement message. Since religiosity is an important causal variable for AHO, segmenting and targeting individuals who are religious would be pertinent. Attempts to build favorable ACO would also be worthwhile.
• Religiosity
• Charitable donation intentions
• Charity advertisements.
• Path model for predicting intentions to donate.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model of antecedents of consumers' post brand attitude upon exposure to a cause–brand alliance

• A cause–brand alliance is a type of cause‐related marketing campaign in which the brand supports a cause in response to a consumer purchasing a product associated with the brand. Using the meaning transfer, attribution, and schema theories, the researchers developed a model and hypotheses addressing structural relationships among key antecedents of brand attitude change upon encountering a cause–brand alliance. The model and the hypotheses were tested in the context of hypothetical cause–brand alliance scenarios. Findings indicate cause–brand alliance attitude as a strong direct predictor of post brand attitude, whereas cause involvement, perceived brand motivations, and prior brand attitude indirectly predict post brand attitude through their effects on cause–brand alliance attitude. Cause–brand fit also indirectly predicts cause–brand alliance attitude via perceived brand motivations. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

浅析中小企业的品牌定位

品牌定位就是建立一个与目标市场有关的品牌形象的过程和结果,企业准确进行品牌定位有利于企业产品的市场推广,快速树立企业品牌形象。文章主要针对我国中小企业品牌定位存在的问题,提出了一些建议措施。     

How international nonprofits build brand equity

This paper describes an empirical model of brand equity for international nonprofit organizations and offers nonprofit managers suggestions for the management of their brands. The main areas of interest include:

• A review of the importance of branding for nonprofits, the lack of a brand equity models specifically for nonprofits, and the key differences between for‐profits and nonprofits.
• A proposed nonprofit brand equity model, based on a grounded theory and system dynamics approach.
• A series of specific managerial recommendations, for building nonprofit brand equity.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of cause marketing associations on product and cause brand value

• The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to add to our understanding of the added value, both monetary and non‐monetary, to a brand when supporting a cause in a cause marketing ad. The findings show that consumers do not perceive the brand to be worth more if it was shown to be supporting a cause. The study also failed to show a significant improvement in consumer brand attitudes for brands featured in cause marketing ads. However, there was an attitude improvement for the cause. Product type and consumer dispositional variables were also examined.
• In summary, this study calls into question the value brands derive from being paired with a cause. This study discusses productive areas of future research and managerial implications.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strategy matters: strategic positioning and performance in the education services sector

• The present study explored the strategic positioning behaviour of Australian educational services institutions to see whether their choice of strategy impacted their competitiveness in international markets. A sample of schools, colleges and universities, were asked which of Porter's generic positioning strategies they used. Correspondence and cluster analysis were used to examine these relationships and discriminant analysis was used to see whether there was a relationship between strategy choice and performance. The results showed institutions that lacked a coherent strategy did not perform well, highlighting the importance of educational administrators to develop clear and coherent strategies that position their offerings effectively to targeted market segments. Indeed, a failure to apply strategic principles may risk the long term sustainability of the institution.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Indigenous innovators: the role of web marketing for cultural micro-enterprises

• The Indigenous cultural sector is a dynamic and highly valuable to the Australian economy, returning an estimated $100 million annually. The majority of Indigenous cultural producers are micro-enterprises—businesses consisting of fewer than five employees. Many of these struggle to market their products, some from extremely remote and isolated locations; others with few resources in urban areas.
• This paper initially approaches a conceptual orientation to Web marketing as a potential signifier of innovation and entrepreneurship. The paper draws on previous literature and a current exploratory study of Indigenous Cultural Micro-Enterprises (ICMEs), focussing on two case studies for deeper analysis. The two exemplary cases outlined are Maningrida Arts Centre, and the performing arts organisation Kooemba Jdarra. Specifically, their innovative use of recent technology (multimedia websites) will be assessed to answer the question: What are the attributes of effective ICME Web marketing?

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of brand orientation on managerial practice: a quantitative study of the UK's top 500 fundraising managers

This paper explores the impact of brand orientation on the managerial practices of fundraising managers in the top 500 UK charities and, in particular, on their ability to attract voluntary income. A series of hypotheses was tested including whether level of brand orientation is associated with different patterns of influence within charities, with the range and type of brand communicators used and with the extent to which organisational objectives are fulfilled. A key finding of the research was that high brand‐oriented fundraising managers attract significantly more voluntary income than low brand‐oriented fundraisers, but that level of brand orientation was not related to statutory income. Such findings are consistent with current theory and practice of branding in which a brand is perceived as a product or organisation plus, where the plus indicates a unique set of values which allows differentiation and hence, donor choice, within competitive environments. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

NPO branding: preliminary lessons from major players

• Are nonprofits (NPOs) exhibiting the brand orientation believed to be critical to successful outcomes? To answer this question, we investigate the brand orientation and brand management of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), American Red Cross (ARC), and The Salvation Army to assess the implementation of brand concepts in two different locations within the USA compared to each agency's central body. Despite the support of some propositions, there exists inconsistent evidence of strong brand management in the organizations studied. The variation of brand visuals, missions, and taglines indicates that good structure, policy, and guidelines are not enough. There must be true brand orientation, which includes oversight of consistent application of all brand constructs to achieve organizational goals. This study provides a framework upon which future in‐depth empirical research may be based. The authors outline these next steps as a foundation for enhancing the study and practice of brand management in NPOs.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The eventization of faith as a marketing strategy: World Youth Day as an innovative response of the Catholic Church to pluralization

• The declared objective of World Youth Day (WYD), a Catholic Church event staged in a major world city every 2–3 years, is to evangelize youth – including those on the fringes of, and outside, the Church. The 20th WYD, which was held in Cologne, Germany in 2005, was the subject of a project conducted by a research consortium funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The preliminary hypothesis that WYD combines elements of traditionalistic festivals and modernistic events and that this combination yields a new event form – the “hybrid event” – was confirmed.
• This paper presents some of the findings gained from an ethnographic investigation of the organization of WYD that was informed by an action-theory perspective in the tradition of Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann's sociology of knowledge. From this perspective, which focuses on the goals, strategies, and personal relevancies of the organizing team (German) WYD can be unequivocally reconstructed as a Catholic Church marketing event. The “product” – the Catholic faith, uniquely personified by the Pope – is presented by an elite organizing team in an atmosphere of fun and mystery that especially appeals to young people. Hence, the Catholic Church succeeds in shedding its sometimes fuddy-duddy image and in bringing young people to perceive it as a vibrant, modern religious institution. This should prove to be a competitive advantage in an age of religious pluralism.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of entrant brand's ownership on national brands' positioning strategies

National brand manufacturers face the threat of new product entry from not only their traditional competitors (other national brand manufacturers) but also from their own customers (the retailer). We compare how national brands can limit the loss due to entry of these two types of entrants by positioning of their brands. Our results show that national brands position farther from one another when the new entrant is a store brand than when the entrant is another national brand. We also find that due to different positioning strategies of these two types of entrant brands—the entrant store brand positioning “in‐between” incumbent national brands whereas the entrant national brand positioning “away” from incumbent national brands—incumbent national brands may lose more from the entry of a weaker store brand than from the entry of a stronger national brand. Finally, we find that taking into consideration both pricing and product positioning decisions, consumer and social welfare are generally higher from store brand entry than from national brand entry.