Hide and uncover: the use of secrets in marketing

ABSTRACT

Amidst the forceful public demand for organisational transparency, there is an ambition to explore the limits of openness. What kind of information could and should firms keep secret and under which conditions? In this paper, we explore the limits of transparency in the marketing domain and develop a conceptual model of secrecy in marketing. We describe three modes of ‘secretive’ relations: between the brand and customers who know the brand secret (insiders), between the brand and customers from whom the secret is hidden (outsiders), and between insiders and outsiders. The effects of secrecy in marketing extend along with these three modes. First, secrecy creates value for insiders by reinforcing their connection to the brand. Second, it provokes outsiders’ curiosity, especially when the secret is related to a prominent brand. Finally, secrecy establishes insiders as an aspirational reference group for outsiders.     

Personal constructs: Their use in the marketing of intangible services

Marketing services requires identification of consumer's perceptions of salient attributes for positioning. Personal constructs (Kelly 1963) are at the core of consumers' determination of the degree to which attributes exist within phenomenon. Using Kelly's notion of personal constructs, this paper proposes a conceptual framework from which intangible attributes can be “tagged” to tangible signs.     

Organizational characteristics and the CRM adoption process

The purpose of this study is to identify the status of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) adoption and explore the influence of organizational characteristics on the CRM adoption process in the Korean fashion industry. Using Rogers' [Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovation. New York: Free Press; 1995] innovation decision process model as the conceptual basis, this study surveyed 94 Korean fashion companies to investigate the persuasion, decision, and implementation stages of CRM adoption. Organizational variables included firm characteristics (size, strategy, maturity of information system), product characteristics (category, fashion position, seasonality), and CEO characteristics (age, education). The most frequently used CRM technology is the development of a customer database, whereas the mostly frequently mentioned benefits of CRM are encouraging repurchase. Moreover, respondents' perceptions of CRM benefits affect CRM adoption, influencing the use of various CRM technologies. Organizational strategy, maturity of information system, and product category all significantly influence the adoption process. Empirical findings provide further support for the innovation decision process model developed by Rogers [Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovation. New York: Free Press; 1995] and the CRM adoption model can be used when fashion companies do strategic planning and evaluate the possibility of adopting CRM strategies.     

Engaging and marketing to stakeholders in World Heritage Site management: a United Kingdom multiple case study perspective

ABSTRACT

This research addresses the limited studies which apply stakeholder theory to World Heritage Site (WHS) management and managerial theory to heritage management. WHS management highlights a context where sites rely on numerous interests uniting through goodwill. This is intensified by the multiple-ownership patterns which characterise many WHSs, necessitating a need for collective action. This study aims to explore how managers attempt to manage stakeholders and generate involvement and support. This study adopts a multiple case study approach, exploring three United Kingdom WHSs. Data were collected through interviews, documentation and physical artefacts. The analysis found that through representation, raising awareness and support, managers were able to generate stakeholder patronage. However, this required managers to look beyond informative engagement toward participatory means. Furthermore, the findings highlight the importance of the facilitators, time and money in successful stakeholder engagement. Lastly, conclusions, limitations and future research are offered. Underpinned by stakeholder theory, this paper contributes to the understanding of stakeholder engagement within WHS management and adds to limited empirical studies on multiple sites. This investigation found that engagement is constrained by managers’ limited time and resources. Furthermore, participatory engagement is essential in fostering stakeholders’ responsibility for site management and developing relationships with managers.     

An examination of the use of legitimate power in marketing channels

The importance of understanding and managing the channel conflict process has been well discussed, however little research has been conducted to examine the relationship between channel conflict and channel structure. In order to provide the focus for an in-depth research effort, this investigation was restricted to one type of channel structure, a retailer-owned co-operative wholesaling-retailing system, and to an examination of the role and importance of legitimate power as it contributes to channel conflict. A cross-sectional study was conducted of management and boards of directors of the wholesaler and 165 member-retailers of the Co-operative Retailing System. Results from correlational analysis of the aggregated data from sixty-four retail outlets indicated that a co-operative retailing-wholesaling system offers a model of distribution where the benefits of independence and co-ordination have been melded. From the retailers' perspective, autonomy for the independent retailers and a degree of control over channel decisions is offered. For the wholesaler, the decision-making structure provides a model for managing relations between large and small organizations which incorporates a mechanism for conflict resolution, while maintaining standardized delivery of products and services.     

The use of visual warnings in social marketing: The case of tobacco

Despite strong interest on the part of tobacco health practitioners, the effect of graphic warnings inserted on cigarette packs is unclear on several levels. First, the most effective themes for such messages have not been clearly identified by researchers. Second, no research has identified the ideal combination of self-efficacy and fear appeal warnings that should be inserted on cigarette packs, according to Protection Motivation Model principles. The exploratory study we conducted with French consumers to test the effectiveness of new graphic warnings proposed by the European Union in 2004 clearly demonstrates that visual messages, as opposed to text warnings, are more effective. This study also enabled us to identify the most effective themes of the European set: health warnings and social messages. Regarding future public health applications, if fear appeals are used, they need to be combined with self-efficacy and cessation support messages since they provoke avoidance reactions.     

NFT marketing: How marketers can use nonfungible tokens in their campaigns

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are a record of ownership of primarily digital media, where the NFT is stored on a blockchain. According to the 2021 Gartner Hype Cycle for Key Technologies, NFTs may significantly transform marketing functions. Marketing managers wishing to adopt NFTs therefore need to know something about the marketing implications. This article explains NFTs in broad terms and discusses the marketing implications using a modified AIDA hierarchy. These implications can give marketing managers and executives guidelines on how to persuade consumers to purchase NFTs owing to their unique characteristics, such as scarcity, nonfungibility, proven authenticity, proof of ownership, royalties, and direct distribution infrastructure.     

Commentary: advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond

ABSTRACT

Shelby Hunt provides an insightful, precise essay on the nature and contribution of the field of marketing across five distinct periods and concludes with a discussion of the potential for the field of marketing, both within marketing and across allied fields of management. This ‘promise’ of marketing’s academic future is followed by a discussion of the key factors likely to play a significant role in lessening the contribution of the field. The purpose of this commentary is to focus on Hunt’s key question regarding Era V: Is the future of the marketing discipline promising or problematic? As such, this commentary addresses four issues: (1) the ‘promising’ assets that the discipline has in play; (2) the slide towards academic irrelevance and, thus, the ‘problem’; (3) Hunt’s observations on how the slide might be reversed; and (4) my viewpoint on what can be done to reverse the slide.     

Information for decision making in marketing: the use of Group Support Systems (GSS)

Group Support Systems (GSS) Technology is an information technology which seeks to support collaborative work. Extensively used to support organisational activities, it has not yet been tested to the full within the market research setting. The paper reports on a GSS focus group meeting to determine key questions of concern about the National Training Reform Agenda. Participants were leaders in a primary industry in Australia and the questions would be related to a public relations exercise. GSS provided the opportunity to deal with complex issues efficiently and yet preserve the conversational characteristics of the focus group meeting.     

Group process and decision performance in a simulated marketing environment

This article presents an exploratory study designed to investigate which factors in a group process relate to effective marketing decision making. The study was conducted with 20 teams playing Markstrat, a marketing-simulation game. Results indicate that decision performance is positively related to the attitudes of the group members toward their task, the level of effort they exert, and the degree to which the more effective decision makers emerge from the group process.     

Avoiding academic irrelevance in the marketing discipline: the promise of the history of marketing thought

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a commentary on Hunt’s ‘Advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond: From promise, to neglect, to prominence, to fragment, (to promise?)’. We focus on three issues: (1) the historical origins of marketing strategy, (2) resource-advantage theory as a general theory of competition and/or a general theory of marketing and (3) the current state and future promise of doctoral training in the history of marketing thought.     

Advances in strategic marketing and the advancement of the marketing discipline: the promise of theory

ABSTRACT

Hunt (2018, Advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond: From promise, to neglect, to prominence, to fragment, (to promise?). Journal of Marketing Management, 34, 16–51. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2017.1326973) provides a synthesis and critical review of over 100 years of marketing literature organised into four eras. In his prognosis of the outlook for Era V, Hunt notes that there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for both the marketing discipline, broadly, and the field of strategic marketing, specifically. However, he also draws attention to the concerns voiced by a number of marketing scholars regarding the current state of the field and the future outlook for the field. Hunt argues that the prospects for the marketing discipline and the field of strategic marketing are closely intertwined, and that the health of the latter contributes significantly to that of the former. Against this backdrop, this commentary focuses on the promise of theory for advances in strategic marketing and the advancement of the marketing discipline.     

Consumer decision making and the nature of the product: A comparison of husband and wife adoption process location

Many studies investigating consumer decision making have implicitly assumed that one individual in a family (most often the wife) makes all of the consumption choices for the family. This study investigated and compared the independent responses of husbands and wives concerning their adoption process location for a series of products. Significant response discrepancies were observed, primarily for products for which the adoption decision likely involves lower levels of involvement. Relatively little agreement was observed between husbands and wives on whether a product was adopted. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

In-store location-based marketing with beacons: from inflated expectations to smart use in retailing

ABSTRACT

The announcement of beacon technology in 2013 created a wave of excitement among pioneering retailers and marketing leaders, allowing them to send location-based messages to customers in-store. However, until present, the technology has not yet established a strong foothold in retailing. The present paper adopts a multi-method approach with the objective to 1) detail its main challenges in the market and 2) enlighten scholars and practitioners on smart use cases for in-store location-based marketing. The findings of the multiple data sources (i.e. review of academic and practitioner literature, in-depth interviews with retail technology experts and focus groups with consumers) allowed the authors to infer valid conclusions, along with recommendations for future research and actionable managerial advice.     

A prototyping analysis of relationship marketing constructs: what constructs to use when

As relationship marketing research evolved, a number of key constructs emerged. Some scholars have argued that these constructs are not conceptually or empirically distinct. We investigate this phenomenon based on the premise that sustained research effort towards studying conceptually overlapping/redundant constructs, while treating them as independent, can hamper the development of the field. We use prototyping, a method adopted from psychology, to examine consumers’ views of these constructs, and then identify relationship contexts where constructs are distinct or redundant.     

市场营销新理念:绿色营销

<正> 自20世纪70年代以来,全球掀起了一场绿色浪潮,人们开始关注消费中的环境代价,呼吁既无污染又有利于健康的绿色产品。中国加入WTO,企业要参与国际竞争,要开拓市场,就必须顺应环保消费的新潮流,实施绿色营销。绿色营销是一种新的营销方式:企业在营销活动中谋求消费者利益、企业利益和环境利益的统一协调,既充分满足消费者的需求,获取企业利润,又充分注意自然生态平衡和社会效益。其对产品的设计、制造、定价、促销都要以保护环境和人类长远利益,实现可持续发展为目的。