Information Contents in Japanese OTC Drug Advertising from Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective: Content Analysis of TV Commercials and OTC Drug Websites

Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the current study investigates information types that are cross-promoted in Japanese pharmaceutical advertising. The results from a quantitative content analysis of OTC drug brands' TV commercials broadcasted in Japan between 2014 and 2015 and their corresponding product websites (n = 150) show that Japanese OTC drug promotions feature more informational cues in the latter; cues such as price, safety, quality, components, and guarantees/warranties are particularly prominent. Furthermore, product websites tend to focus more on rational appeals, whereas TV commercials emphasize emotional appeals. No difference is found between these media types regarding celebrity and noncelebrity endorser usage.     

Home-related injuries among under-five-year children and mothers' care regarding injury prevention in rural areas

This cross-sectional study was conducted in rural areas of Twiserkan (Toyserkan) County, in Iran, to assess factors associated with home-related injuries among under-five-year children and their mothers’ care regarding injury prevention. Mothers who had their under-five-year-old children injured within a 12-month period were identified from recorded information in Twiserkan Health Center. Then, data were gathered using pre-tested questionnaire and through interview with injured children's mothers. The questions were about characteristics of the children's injuries and their mothers’ care regarding injury prevention, using PRECEDE (Predisposing, Reinforcing, and Enabling Constructs in Educational/Environmental Diagnosis and Evaluation) model with focus on knowledge and attitude; enabling and reinforcing factors; and mothers' preventive behaviours. The study results showed that 197 out of 210 total identified mothers took part in the study. The reported injuries were 11.68%, 39.09%, and 49.24%, respectively, for severe, moderate, and mild cases. Fall was the most frequent injury with 35%. Among PRECEDE model constructs, there was a statistically significant correlation between mothers' knowledge and injury severity among children. Home-related injuries are an important health problem among study population and their prediction and prevention are necessary. Enhancement of mothers’ knowledge can be helpful to improve child injury prevention.     

Product differentiation under imperfect information: When does offering a lower quality pay?

In this paper, we extend the Varian (1980) model to examine endogenous quality differentiation by firms, with a particular emphasis on the interplay between the firms’ product quality decisions and the ensuing price rivalry. Specifically, we assume that the price-sensitive (or informed) consumers hold a lower valuation for product quality than the brand-loyal (or uninformed) consumers. It is shown that the firms will choose differentiated qualities for a broad class of consumer utility functions and production technologies. We obtain two results. First, the equilibrium quality choices are efficient as they are also the welfare-maximizing qualities chosen by a social planner. The equilibrium qualities are as if one firm serves only its loyal consumers and the other serves only the price-sensitive consumers, even though they each serve both types of consumers (at least for some fraction of time). Second, the firm choosing the lower quality makes greater profits and also prices more aggressively, in the sense that it maintains a lower maximum price and offers discounts more often. The lower-quality product is more profitable because it yields higher social surplus when consumed by the price-sensitive consumers.

An Examination of Sales Promotion Programs in Hong Kong: What the Retailers Offer and What the Consumers Prefer

This study gives an insight into the retailer's capability of managing sales promotion by examining the sales promotion programs offered by Hong Kong cosmetic and toiletry retailers and the consumers’ preferences. The results indicate that instant-reward programs are popular among retailers and preferred by consumers. The results also show that the preferences for sales promotion programs are dependent upon consumers’ demographic and sociocultural characteristics. Implications for advertisers designing and communicating sales promotions are offered.     

A promotion mix budgeting model for retailing

Our two-equation model of retail promotion provides a well-balanced explanation of both retailers' perceptions of promotion tools and their budget allocation across the promotion mix. While previous studies have examined each of these two components separately, few have integrated both in the one study. Factor analysis was used to simplify the choices of promotion tools. This reduced the number of promotion tools to four, namely mass media, in-store promotion, sales promotion/direct mail and personal selling. We support earlier studies which link budget promotion mix spending (behaviour) to perceptions about the effectiveness of each medium (attitude). The range of determinants of perceptions has been extended by incorporating the roles of retail strategy, store ownership, culture and promotion intensity. We have estimated the budget promotion mix equation using a production function theoretical framework. Although this makes little difference to the strong relationship between retailers' perceptions of promotion tools and budget allocations, the theoretical framework does enable formal estimation of cross-media substitution. We find that the two short-term oriented promotion media are substitutes. Our model has been applied to apparel retailing in Australia, with considerable scope for applications to other retail categories and to other countries.     

Sponsorship leveraged packaging: An exploratory study in FMCG

The concept of 'internal marketing' has received considerable coverage in the literature, but even its most ardent supporters have noted problems in translating the concept into reality. This paper discusses the findings of an exploratory case study carried out within 35 UK high street retail banks. Internal marketing is an initiative adopted by the organizations studied in order to nourish a marketing orientation.The implementation approach shapes the nature and form of the internal marketing communications that organizations adopt. Even though UK retail banks intend to implement internal marketing effectively, in reality the current implementation approach appears to be counter-productive to the achievement of the core aims of the initiative. The core finding from this exploratory research suggests that there are substantial barriers to the successful implementation of internal marketing within the banks studied, barriers such as the focus on short-term sales goals, the lack of a formal and 'holistic' implementation approach and the creation of 'personnel discrimination' and negative internal competition.     

The Response to the Commitment with Block-Leader Recycling Promotion Technique: A Longitudinal Approach

SUMMARY

This article focuses on the study of the changes in consumers' recycling beliefs, attitudes, and behavior due to the application of one promotion technique: a commitment by block leader technique characterized by the agreeing participant signing a request or statement in which s/he makes a commitment to recycle as a result of the encouragement of a person who belongs to the same social circle. We therefore carried out a quasi-experimental work whose results enable us to explain the response to this recycling promotion technique. It makes a contribution to existing environmental literature by (1) systemizing the set of existing doctrines in order to explain the response to this recycling promotion technique, and (2) revealing the effects of this technique on people's beliefs and attitudes. The practical implications that may stem from these contributions are of an educational nature and should be of use to the public management of promotion campaigns.     

The Corporate Annual Report

This article develops the concept of customer com- mitment, and then deals with the frequency with which CEOs of publicly-held companies express commitment to customers in the president's letter section in their corporate annual reports. The au- thors' research findings show that only a small percentage of compa- nies take this opportunity to communicate customer commitment to customers and employees. While other CEOs thank customers or make incidental mention of customers, nearly one third fail to refer- ence the "customer(s)" at all. In addition to the benefit of promoting customer commitment to customers and prospects, the authors dis- cuss the opportunity for a company to promote customer commit- ment to its own employees in the context of internal marketing.     

Trust Promoting Seals in Electronic Markets

Abstract

In order to promote web sales, companies conducting electronic commerce are constantly seeking viable and efficient ways to increase web traffic. One approach is to build consumers' trust, and ultimately to increase web sales. Many business-to-consumer online merchants follow this approach and display trust-promoting seals on their websites. However, whether these seals really fulfill the tasks they have promised has remained unexplored. This study empirically examines the influence of trust-promoting seals on consumers' online purchasing decisions. The results show that the trust-promoting seals are generally effective in promoting web sales, and some seals enhance promotion better than others.