The pitfalls of publicizing ethics research

What happens to our research once it hits the popular media? Do marketers know how to promote our research in a way that is understandable and complete, while still capturing an audience? This case study follows the dissemination of the results of a consumer ethics study via a single press release, along with the resulting media coverage, interviews and audience comments. Perhaps in their quest for a touch of controversy, the story picked up by the popular press was not the one intended by the authors. If getting the public story right is important, marketing academics need to spend as much time carefully crafting their press releases as they do writing journal manuscripts – they may not be able to rely on the ethics of media sub-editors who choose controversial headlines.

Advertising & Promotion : An Integrated Marketing Communications Approach, 2nd Edition [Book Review]

Advertising & Promotion’s second edition maintains a sharp and updated focus on the advertising industry, providing interesting ideas for both students and advertising professionals. Not only does the author demonstrate how agencies, businesses and organisations research, create and monitor particular campaigns, but also the extent to which advertising texts are themselves embedded in everyday contemporary culture. For me one of the strengths of the book is how the research brings together the managerial side of the industry, its sociology and political dynamics, with the cultural and ethical implications of advertising consumption.

An application of the CBBE model to assess brand loyalty for a long haul travel destination

In the past two decades there has been increasing interest in branding tourism destinations in an effort to meaningfully differentiate against a myriad of competing places that offer similar attractions and facilities. The academic literature relating to destination branding commenced only as recently as 1998, and there remains a dearth of empirical data that tests the effectiveness of brand campaigns, particularly in terms of enhancing destination loyalty. This paper reports the results of an investigation into destination brand loyalty for Australia as a long haul destination in a South American market. In spite of the high level of academic interest in the measurement of perceptions of destinations since the 1970s, few previous studies have examined perceptions held by South American consumers. Drawing on a model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), antecedents of destination brand loyalty was tested with data from a large Chilean sample of travelers, comprising a mix of previous visitors and non-visitors to Australia. Findings suggest that destination brand awareness, brand image, and brand value are positively related to brand loyalty for a long-haul destination. However, destination brand quality was not significantly related. The results also indicate that Australia is a more compelling destination brand for previous visitors compared to non-visitors.

The social media (r)evolution : Obama's political campaign

This paper addresses how social media was used to leverage votes in new media environments. Barack Obama’s social media campaign is analysed and illustrates how the Obama brand benefited from integrating social media into the campaign. Voting behaviour has changed; politicians are continually seeking new ways to communicate with their constituents. Voting on political ‘brands’ is based on an identity or image, rather than central issues. While political parties rely upon an integrated marketing communication (IMC) approach, with a focus on building the (political) brand of the party and brand relationships, communication is no longer fully controlled by the marketers.

The Blair Witch Project : a marketing case study

The Blair Witch Project was a low budget movie made by student filmmakers that become an international box office hit in 1999. Blair Witch was a landmark in movie marketing and distribution because it was the first time that any movie had successfully leveraged the Internet as a marketing platform to reach a wide audience. The marketing team employed a range of innovative strategies and tactics to stimulate audience demand. This case study describes and analyses the success of the marketing launch of The Blair Witch Project.It also provides an Instructors booklet comprising seven questions and answers related to the marketing success of the movie.

The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and trust

A growing reliance on the Internet as an information source when making choices about tourism products raises the need for more research into electronic word of mouth. Within a hotel context, this study explores the role of four key factors that influence perceptions of trust and consumer choice. An experimental design is used to investigate four independent variables: the target of the review (core or interpersonal); overall valence of a set of reviews (positive or negative); framing of reviews (what comes first: negative or positive information); and whether or not a consumer generated numerical rating is provided together with the written text. Consumers seem to be more influenced by early negative information, especially when the overall set of reviews is negative. However, positively framed information together with numerical rating details increases both booking intentions and consumer trust. The results suggest that consumers tend to rely on easy-to-process information, when evaluating a hotel based upon reviews. Higher levels of trust are also evident when a positively framed set of reviews focused on interpersonal service.

Visitor relationship orientation of destination marketing organisations

The proposition underpinning this study is engaging in meaningful dialogue with previous visitors represents an efficient and effective use of resources for a destination marketing organization (DMO), compared to above the line advertising in broadcast media. However there has been a lack of attention in the tourism literature relating to destination switching, loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) to test such a proposition. This paper reports an investigation of visitor relationship marketing (VRM) orientation among DMOs. A model of CRM orientation, which was developed from the wider marketing literature and a prior qualitative study, was used to develop a scale to operationalise DMO visitor relationship orientation. Due to a small sample, the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method of structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Although the sample limits the ability to generalise, the results indicated the DMOs’ visitor orientation is generally responsive and reactive rather than proactive.

Sponsorship-linked marketing: The role of articulation in memory

Corporate sponsorship of events contributes significantly to marketing aims, including brand awareness as measured by recall and recognition of sponsor‐event pairings. Unfortunately, resultant advantages accrue disproportionately to brands having a natural or congruent fit with the available sponsorship properties. In three cued‐recall experiments, the effect of articulation of sponsorship fit on memory for sponsor‐event pairings is examined. While congruent sponsors have a natural memory advantage, results demonstrate that memory improvements via articulation are possible for incongruent sponsor‐event pairings. These improvements are, however, affected by the presence of competitor brands and the way in which memory is accessed.

A social marketing approach to value creation in a Well-Women’s health service

Understanding consumer value is imperative in health care as the receipt of value drives the demand for health care services. While there is increasing research into health-care that adopts an economic approach to value, this paper investigates a non-financial exchange context and uses an experiential approach to value, guided by a social marketing approach to behaviour change. An experiential approach is deemed more appropriate for government health-care services that are free and for preventative rather than treatment purposes. Thus instead of using an illness-paradigm to view health services outcomes, we adopt a wellness paradigm. Using qualitative data gathered during 25 depth interviews the authors demonstrate how social marketing thinking has guided the identification of six themes that represent four dimensions of value (functional, emotional, social and altruistic) evident during the health care consumption process of a free government service.

Pegasus Town : innovative marketing of a new property venture

Purpose – This paper aims to outline the challenges and tasks involved in a organising and marketing a new venture from conception to sales. It presents an interesting situation with which readers can identify and apply knowledge and skills associated with entrepreneurship and marketing and link this with the key learning objectives of a new venture marketing study unit. Design/methodology/approach – The case is constructed around key principles of marketing and entrepreneurship linked to a description of a contemporary venture written from a participant observer perspective supplemented with knowledge from interviews and archival research. Findings – The case shows how effective a diligent, creative approach to developing and selling a new venture can be. It demonstrates that effective marketing requires more than rote adoption of basic principles – it requires creative thinking and enterprising adaption of relevant principles to address the specific and well defined objectives of the venture. Research limitations/implications – The case is not intended to prescribe a particular marketing method or process; rather it is meant to stimulate creativity in the use of marketing knowledge and skills. Practical implications – The case represents an effective resource for both formal and informal teaching and learning. It demonstrates the requirement for innovative and creative adoption of marketing concepts to fit the demands of a new venture. Originality/value – The case specifically addresses an identified need for learning resources and information tailored to the area of entrepreneurial new venture marketing.

Marketing charitable bequests to lawyers

There is scant literature about the role of the lawyer in influencing the likelihood of a charitable bequest being made in a will. Charities regularly advertise in legal journals and supply bequest materials to lawyers, but the effectiveness of these strategies for influencing lawyers appears not to have been measured in the literature or in practice. Our exploratory research indicates that specialist estate lawyers report that they pay little or no attention to traditional marketing of charitable bequests to them and that lawyers’ specific information needs from charities about bequests are not being satisfied appropriately. Our study reveals that lawyers do seek information from charities in order to write a will’s bequest clause, once a bequest has been considered by the client. Lawyers indicated frustration with obtaining this information from charities, and we recommend some actions for charities to rectify this situation. Recommendations for enhanced bequest solicitation are made together with suggestions for pathways for future bequest research involving lawyers.