Getting Through the Prospect's Door with Tele/Mail

No abstract available for this article.     

Service Quality of Advertising and Promotions Agencies in South Africa

Service quality is important to firms that use advertising and communication agencies and these agencies in turn need to make sure that their service quality is what clients expect. The purpose of this research is to assess perceptions of the service quality offered by agencies in South Africa and to identify the most important service attributes of the agency offerings. Agencies were also divided into three types: mass communication agencies, or above the line agencies (ATL), sales promotion agencies, or below the line agencies (BTL), and integrated marketing communication agencies, or full service agencies (FS). A total of 105 responses were received and results were reported for each agency type and in total. The results show some serious differences between what clients are looking for and agency strategies. These are discussed in detail. Recommendations are made which will help agencies in the development of strategic partnerships with clients.     

Chinese relationship management: a qualitative study of banking in New Zealand

This study investigates the relational factors and motivations of Chinese migrant consumers towards financial service providers in New Zealand. Using convergent interviews, a deeper understanding is developed of immigrants’ relational behaviour with service providers. These relationships with service providers are significantly influenced by traditional Chinese values and guanxi and relational embeddedness plays an important role in how they are developed. The research contributes a better understanding of the interplay between Eastern and Western cultures in service relationships among immigrant groups. A general theory of the Chinese perspective of customer relationship management is developed. The implications for how marketing practitioners manage their relationships with migrant customers are explored.     

中国广告产业集群化发展的战略选择与制度审视

本文运用产业集群理论,阐述了中国广告产业集群化发展的现实必需及其战略意义。文章在审视中国广告产业现状的基础上,指出中国广告公司要实现对广告业发达国家的超越,必须创新广告产业发展路径,走专业化-专门化-集群化-规模化的产业发展之路,专业化和专门化是集群化发展的基础和保障,规模化是集群化发展的必然走向,而公共政策的制度供给则是广告产业集群化发展的迫切需求。     

Substance in Business-to-Business Relationships

ABSTRACT

The research explores the substance of business relationships within a technical consultancy industry–engineering. Relationships in the engineering industry are project based resulting in close and intense relationships during the project life but with low involvement relationships (if at all) between projects. A model of relationship substance was developed using SEM techniques. The results highlight the actor dimension of the relationships as being essential to overall project performance. Resources, such as knowledge, also played an important role in the relationship model.     

Mediated communication of ‘sustainable consumption’ in the alternative media: a case study exploring a message framing strategy

In view of previous effects of mediated communication on public knowledge, perceptions and concern about sustainability problems, this case study explores a message framing strategy for improving the effectiveness of mediated communication of the somewhat neglected topic of sustainable consumption. It describes how an information campaign on sustainable consumption was strategically framed, employing theories on effective and persuasive communication, and implemented through a community news medium in Christchurch, New Zealand. The resultant impacts of the campaign (significant increases in understanding of sustainable consumption and in the number of parents expressing concern over advertising effects on their children's material desires) were indicative of the potentials of employing strategic message framing for improving mediated communication about sustainability. The study also illustrates the potentials for engaging alternative media in such communication. This paper argues that further steps to develop message framing strategies for mediated communication of sustainable consumption is necessary, as this appears to be a largely neglected area in communication and consumer studies, and concludes with an overview of aspects that may be considered in future communication and other initiatives promoting sustainable consumption as a means for achieving sustainability.     

中国广告产业的战略转型与产业核心竞争力的提升

本文运用核心竞争力理论,具体阐述了广告产业核心竞争力的内涵,通过对当前中国广告产业转型问题的深入剖析,提出广告公司经营的“泛专业化”和主营业务的“模糊化”,正严重消解中国广告产业的核心竞争力。作者在比照全球广告产业两次重大升级的基础上,指出中国广告产业的转型是广告产业可持续发展的战略必需,转型的核心和目标就是以广告产业为主导整合营销传播的相关领域,转型的实现途径是通过广告公司价值链的集聚和张大,提升广告产业的核心竞争力。     

Development of a Yellow Pages Media Unit for a Promotion/Advertising Course

Abstract

The Yellow Pages are relegated to the “other media” discussion sections of traditional advertising and promotion management textbooks. The medium in total now represents approximately $10.5 billion in total sales through more than 6,000 directories which are published annually. Yellow Pages now meets the total volume of radio as a medium.

This paper develops an outline for suggested topics for either a promotion management or advertising course to investigate the Yellow Pages as a vital and necessary medium. Topics include background of the Yellow Pages, advantages and disadvantages of the medium, creative work, placement, research and future trends.

Students are generally not being exposed to the Yellow Pages in an effective manner either in textbooks or in the classroom. There exist manifold career opportunities in the field, for employment after graduation. Further, since most Yellow Pages advertising is local in scope, many graduates may find the need to work with the medium in their marketing careers.

The teaching unit, as presented, can be utilized in a skeleton format for a single class period. At the instructor's choice, the unit can also be presented in enough depth for a week of class sessions. The goal is to provide students with a working familiarity with the Yellow Pages, for career growth and educational development.     

Advertising and Children

Abstract

This article reviews the debate regarding the issue of growing obesity in society in terms of issues and possible policy options. The issue is most focused on children though having obvious ramifications for adults in many economies around the world. Policy solutions such as advertising bans or taxes that have been proposed in several countries seem to be based on insufficient evidence—i.e., there is no empirical evidence to substantiate the claimed causal effect between marketing communication practices directed at children and nutrition. These solutions, if enacted in policy, could be both inequitable and ineffective. While the study is couched and framed from a New Zealand context, nonetheless it serves to illuminate issues and policies of wider relevance.     

Identifying the Communication,Behaviors, and Interaction Patterns of Agency-Client Relationships in Development and Decline

Abstract

Leichty and Springston (1993) suggest that “if the relationship management metaphor is to be taken seriously, we need to develop a theory of how relationships between organizations and publics develop, change, and are maintained” (p. 334). The current investigation is a response to that challenge by suggesting a theoretical grounding, drawn from Knapp and Vangelisti's (1996) interaction stages research, for describing how agency-client relationships are initiated, developed, maintained, and deteriorate. The research was conducted with 25 account executives of a medium-sized mid-western public relations agency. The participants provided examples of communication, behaviors, and interaction patterns that are experienced when agencies and clients initiate, develop, maintain, deteriorate, and terminate relationships. A total of five phases of organization-public relationship development and five phases of organization-public relationship decline are reported. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role that relationship management should play in the study and practice of public relations.     

Workplace Union–Management Partnership: Prospects for Diffusion of Contemporary British Approaches in New Zealand

The level of interest in workplace union–management partnership (WUMP) in Britain in recent years contrasts markedly with New Zealand experience. The characteristics of contemporary notions of WUMP are discussed before considering how it has developed in the UK and examining the historical New Zealand experience with more co-operative models of union–management engagement. With this backdrop, we consider the factors that may explain why there are differences between NZ and Britain in this style of industrial relations. The small scale of New Zealand enterprise (and of unions) and the absence in New Zealand of EU politics and regulation are seen as the major factors in any explanation.     

基于项目关系和项目管理的营销战略研究

基于关系管理和项目管理,结合项目型企业的特征,提出适合项目型企业的营销战略模型,即基于顾客关系组合、网络关系组合、销售和交付项目组合、以及产品开发项目组合的营销战略,并在此基础上分别对四种组合的目标、主要管理活动以及组合的协同效应进行了详细的分析,为项目型企业管理者进行更为有效的战略管理提供参考。     

Performance of China’s advertising agencies: a time series cross-sectional analysis

Although China has been the world’s second largest advertising market after the United States in terms of advertising spending since 2006, the performance of advertising agencies in China and the factors that contribute to this performance have been understudied. However, by incorporating the structure-conduct-performance model and agency theory into the integrative framework and conducting a time series cross-sectional analysis, we determine that the degree of concentration in the advertising agency industry and number of regulations in the advertising industry have had significant negative effects on the financial performance of agencies. In addition, agencies with mainly foreign capital have performed better than those with only Chinese capital. Agencies adopting strategies of initial public offering (IPOs) or engaging in name changes and mergers have performed better than those that have done nothing. Implications are also discussed.     

The Impacts of Affective and Cognitive Social Conflict in Business-to-Business Buyer-Seller Relationships: A Comparison of New versus Ongoing Buyer-Seller Relationships

ABSTRACT

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to report empirical research that examined the impact of conflict in two different buyer-seller situations, an ongoing relationship and a choice situation where the buyer had to choose between two or more alternative suppliers. Conflict was defined as social conflict and has two distinct types, affective and cognitive.

Methodology/Approach. The methodology used was two mail surveys to a random sample of purchasing association members who had buying responsibilities in their firms. In one survey respondents were asked to self-select a current buyer-seller relationship they had for a period of at least one year and to indicate the degree of perceived conflict they had with the key supplier representative as well as the amount of relationship loyalty they perceived they had with that supplier. The second survey randomly assigned respondents to evaluate either a supplier whom they gave business to in a choice situation or one they did not, thus establishing as the dependent variable the actual choice of whom they gave business to.

Findings. The findings are clear for affective types of conflict. When affective conflict is perceived as higher the chance of getting an order in a choice situation as well as the magnitude of the relationship loyalty perception is negatively related. Cognitive conflict is not as clear. In choice situations conflict was negatively related to choice, whereas in on going relationships there was no impact. There was no indication of cognitive conflict having a positive relationship.

Originality/Value/Contribution of the paper. This study is the first to examine perceptions of conflict with a significant other in a buyer-seller relationship to try to determine how those perceptions might relate to either buyer choice or loyalty. While the findings support the expected relationship between affective conflict and outcomes, the findings with regards to cognitive conflict suggest that this may be more complex then originally thought and further points out the difficulty in managing conflict across organizational boundaries.     

Internet Marketing Communications in the Selling Process

Abstract

The internet represents an opportunity for sellers to communicate easily with potential and existing customers across the world. To what extent are websites and e-mail used in the selling process for complex services? A sample of advertising agency affiliates found some differences in the frequency of e-mail and website use for different selling tasks. In addition agencies in high-income regions used website communication more frequently than those in low-income regions, but no significant differences were discerned in e-mail use between the two groups.     

The return to advertising expenditure

Every year companies spend billions of dollars on advertising in an effort to induce consumers to purchase their goods. Yet, unlike almost any other investment that a company makes, management's advertising allocation decision is made with little, if any, substantive information on the return received from that investment. This research presents a methodology for determining the monetary gains from advertising and provides an estimate of the return to advertising investment for a sample of firms. Substantial gains exist for firms from advertising. This effect is seen to vary by type of industry and is strongly related to other positive strategic decisions of the firm.The authors would like to thank Deborah Heisley, two anonymous referees, and the participants at the 1991 Marketing Science Conference for their comments and suggestions. We thank Sylvia Graham, Camilo Riano, Patrick Grant, Patricia James, and Cordy Cates for assistance in gathering the information for this paper.     

中国广告创意发展的新趋势

随着市场经济的迅速发展,互联网等新媒体的兴起,我国消费者不断成熟。广告不再能完全依靠广告创意取胜,传统意义上的广告正在受到挑战。广告创意未来的发展也将面临更多的机遇与挑战。本文则认为,广告创意的娱乐化、互动化和整合化将引领广告走向另一个高峰。随之而来的是广告创意方式、产业关系和广告人才选择的新变化。     

繁华光环下的隐患——我国新媒体广告发展的冷思考

新媒体广告近些年发展迅速,改变了整个媒体市场的格局。越来越多的资金流入新媒体平台,创造了一个又一个广告业神话。然而,在新媒体广告发展如此欣欣向荣的同时,我们也应该认识到其中隐藏着的危机。本文试总结近些年来我国新媒体广告中存在的问题,分析其产生的原因,并给出解决的几点建议。     

Cause-Related Marketing: Keys to Successful Relationships with Corporate Sponsors and Their Customers

SUMMARY

An increasingly popular method for nonprofits to raise awareness, educate the public, and receive financial support from corporations is through cause-related marketing. The distinctive feature of cause-related marketing is the corporate sponsor's contribution to a designated cause being tied to customers' participating in revenue-producing transactions with the sponsor. The sponsor benefits from favorable publicity and increased sales. This article discusses factors contributing to the potential success of a cause-related marketing campaign: the sponsor's product quality, fair pricing, and customer traits; the nonprofit's and the sponsor's reputation, shared values, good communication, and commitment; a well-planned and executed campaign, and specific terms that protect both party's assets and clearly outline each party's responsibilities.