The impact of airline internal branding on work outcomes using job satisfaction as a mediator

Within the context of the airline industry, this study offers an integrated approach measuring the effects of internal brand communication, brand-centered training, transformational leadership, brand ideology, and internal brand communities on job satisfaction and work outcomes. It further explores the role of job satisfaction as a mediator between internal branding and work outcomes. Following an analysis of 485 responses, we find that leadership, ideology, and communities positively influence job satisfaction, which in turn affects intention-to-stay, team performance, and brand commitment. Job satisfaction is also found to mediate the relationships between internal branding (i.e., transformational leadership, brand ideology, and internal brand communities) and work outcomes. These findings highlight that appropriate branding strategies can enhance airline development through employee satisfaction.     

Branding strategies,marketing communication,and perceived brand meaning: The transfer of purposive,goal-oriented brand meaning to brand extensions

This article develops and tests a conceptual model of the transfer process whereby perceived similarity organized around shared goals facilitates the transfer of knowledge and affect from a parent brand to an extension of that brand. Empirical results, based on two well-known brands and two hypothetical product extensions for each brand, demonstrate that the availability of well-formed, goal-derived categories associated with a parent brand establishes an organizing framework for consumers' assessments of similarity thatfacilitates the transfer of consumer knowledge and attitude from the parent brand to a brand extension in another product category. This facilitating effect of similarity does not occur in the absence of goal-derived categories. The results also reveal how marketing communication can be used to facilitate the transfer process by framing similarity in terms of common goals. Implications are discussed for the organization of consumer knowledge and affect across product categories and for understanding prior research findings on brand extension. Ingrid M. Martin (imartin@csulb.edu) is an associate professor of marketing at California State University at Long Beach. Her research has examined issues in the area of consumer goals as they guide structuring and processing marketing information, product choice and usage. Her research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Public Policy & Research, and five book chapters. David W. Stewart (david.stewart@marshall.usc.edu) is the Robert E. Brooker Professor of Marketing in the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He is the immediate past editor of theJournal of Marketing. Dr. Stewart has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and seven books. Shashi Matta (matta@marshall.usc.edu) is a doctoral candidate in marketing at the Marshal School of Business, University of Southern California. His research interests include branding, and services marketing. Shashi’s research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research.     

An Empirical Investigation of Composite Product Choice

Prior ingredient branding research has examined the influence of “stated” factors such as fit between partner brands on composite product (e.g., Tide with Downy fabric softener) attitudes. This research focuses on choice of composite products, and addresses three managerially relevant questions: Which consumer segments are more likely to adopt the composite product? Will the choice of the composite product have positive or negative reciprocal effects on partner brands? Will the introduction of the composite product benefit the primary or the secondary brand more? The authors use a brand choice model to investigate the “revealed” choice of complements-based composite products. Study results indicate that (i) despite high fit between the composite product and the primary brand, consumer segments may have different choice likelihoods for these products, whereas prior research suggests equal likelihood; (ii) the choice of a composite product may not provide a positive reciprocal effect to the secondary brand; and (iii) the introduction of a composite product may benefit the primary brand more than the secondary brand, whereas prior research suggests a symmetrical benefit for the partner brands. Finally, the finding that introducing a composite product may not cannibalize the sale of the primary brand extends the ingredient branding literature, which has been silent on this issue.     

Pinning and Promotion: How Local Television Stations Are Using Pinterest for Branding and Audience Connectivity

Over the past decade, social media have become an increasingly important component in the ways broadcasters communicate with their audiences. A relative newcomer to that mix is the social network Pinterest, which enables followers to post photos and other types of visuals based on topics of interest. A content analysis examined how 85 local television stations are using that social network for promotion and branding. Results showed that, rather than promotion, use of Pinterest primarily revolves around lifestyle content, including postings by stations and interactivity by followers.     

Brand value: how affective labour helps create brands

One way brands create value is by engaging the capacity of cultural labourers to animate affective connections with consumers. Brands assemble social spaces that harness the communicative capacities of cultural actors. A mode of branding that works by managing an open-ended social process depends on affective labour. Affective labour involves not only the capacity of individuals to produce specific meanings and feelings, but also the open-endedly social capacity to stimulate and channel attention and recognition. This affective labour does not always depend on making particular “authentic” representations, but on facilitating a general circulation of meaning. By investing in social spaces and relations corporate brands engage popular musicians in new forms of labour. This article examines the participation of popular musicians in branding programmes run in Australia by corporate brands between 2005 and 2010. I examine the accounts of musicians and managers who participate in these programmes to consider how they make their participation in social relations that create brand value meaningful. They employ a variety of practices: identifying with brands, endorsing brands' claims of socially responsible investment in culture, and distancing themselves from their own participation in branded space.     

The role of destination personality fit in destination branding: Antecedents and outcomes

Drawing from fit research in strategic management, this study develops and investigates a model predicting destination attitude and (re)visit intention. The study introduces the concept of destination personality fit on the basis of how well consumer perceptions of a tourist destination's brand personality fits that of what the destination brand manager wishes to convey. A model incorporating destination advertising awareness as an antecedent of destination personality and consumer‐manager destination personality fit is tested on international consumers with the destination personality of Switzerland as the study setting. Structural equation modeling results reveal that destination advertising awareness does indeed relate positively to both stronger perceived destination personality and destination personality fit in consumers’ minds. Interestingly, the subsequent destination personality–destination attitude relationship is moderated by consumer–manager destination personality fit in such a way that the link grows stronger in cases where fit is high. The results have important implications for destination brand managers in that they reinforce the importance of strong and distinct destination personalities. The findings also show the importance of actively communicating the destination brand to consumers since the positive outcomes of a strong destination personality increase in magnitude when successfully communicated, and the vision of the destination brand manager has been adopted by the consumer.     

Coloring the destination: The role of color psychology on Instagram

Color psychology plays important roles in product packaging, the retail environment, and online marketing. This study analyzed current practices related to color composition in tourism-related photographs on Instagram. Data mining and pictorial content analysis were adopted to investigate how lightness, chroma, and hue may influence Instagram posts' popularity. Generally, individuals appeared more likely to respond to brighter and more saturated destination pictures. Orange, yellow, blue, and violet contributed significantly to post popularity based on different photographic typologies. Overall, color is a complex construct that functions within diverse dimensions and can enrich tourists’ destination-related perceptions. Based on brand post popularity and color theories, the study findings provide valuable implications for effective and efficient destination promotion via Instagram. Relevant limitations and future directions are also discussed.     

Brand Management as an Internationalization Strategy for SME: A Multiple Case Study

ABSTRACT

This research examines the role of branding in the Portuguese SME internationalization process and how the internationalization and brand strategies are articulated in the search for a better business performance within a competitive framework and increasing competitiveness environment. The article aims specifically at: (a) the strategy of creation and brand management; (b) the relevance given to the brand; (c) the importance of brand creation and management in the internationalization strategy. We chose a qualitative methodology, based on four cases studies. Our results suggest that branding strategies of SME cannot be compared with the strategies of multinationals. Budgetary constraints and human resources lead companies to invest in low-cost strategies. The importance of the brand lies in the distinction that allows competition with similar products within the sectors. Management of the brand does not come up as an essential strategy for the internationalization of a Portuguese SME.     

Region brand legitimacy: towards a participatory approach involving residents of a place

Places have started to adapt commercial branding tactics. But how do stakeholders perceive such practices? Drawing on survey data from French residents, we analyse the advertising legitimacy of a place brand and its influence on the effectiveness of marketing communications in the context of region branding. The results confirm that advertising legitimacy mediates the relationship between exposure to an advertisement and its efficiency. The place brand is more legitimate when advertisements target firms, residents or tourists than when they promote local products through co-branding. We highlight a new expression of democratic legitimacy: a process adapted to hybrid (public–private) organizations.     

Leading national brands facing store brands competition: Is price competitiveness the only thing that matters?

Store Brands (SBs) have experienced a strong increase in both value and unit sales internationally during the last decades; thus their market share has been constantly growing. Starting from these considerations, the present work aims at deepening the topic of inter-brand competition within the FMCG market and, in particular, the market share trade-off between Leading National Brands (LNBs) and Store Brands. Our empirical analysis is based on panel data about 322 product categories sold within the Modern Grocery Distribution stores in the 2010–2013 period. Results obtained show: (i) the existence of a relationship between the increase in the LNB-SB price gap and the switching of market share from the former towards the latter; (ii) the consolidation of a change in consumers' purchasing preference in favor of SBs; (iii) the existence of an inverse relationship between the inter-brand competition intensity and the retail branding life cycle evolutionary stage, which is different for each product category.