Unconventional Methods of Marketing Communication

In the era of an information revolution customers come in contact with huge numbers of marketing messages in their everyday lives. This leads to so called, information noise, which may result in many messages going unnoticed. Thus marketing managers are forced to search for more effectively ways of getting customers’ attention and are more willingly to use unconventional promotional methods based on using original forms or places in an effort to create the element of surprise and make their message more eye-catching for the targeted audience. This kind of move tends to evoke strong emotions, motiving readers to pass the message on. Creating such a buzz around brand name would also enhance the campaign’s effect. Unfortunately, this form of communication also brings with it some negative effects due to controversial or taboo topics connected with sensitive social issues. An analysis of the advertising methods used by the owners of the most powerful Polish brands shows that there is some evidence of the use of such methods in Poland. Nevertheless unconventional advertising methods are not a commonly used practice.

Gender-dependent language anxiety in Polish communication apprehensives

This paper analyzes the relationship between communication apprehension and language anxiety from the perspective of gender. As virtually no empirical studies have addressed the explicit influence of gender on language anxiety in communication apprehensives, this paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, as reflected in various spheres of communication. For this reason, language anxiety levels in communication apprehensive females should be higher, unlike those of communication apprehensive males. Comparisons between them were made using a student t test, two-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey test. The results revealed that Polish communication apprehensive secondary grammar school males and females do not differ in their levels of language anxiety, although nonapprehensive males experience significantly lower language anxiety than their female peers. It is argued that the finding can be attributed to developmental patterns, gender socialization processes, classroom practices, and the uniqueness of the FL learning process, which is a stereotypically female domain.