'I love PEMCO' : Creating conversation worthy buzz in the insurance industry with word of mouth marketing

Surveys by PR-COM, a communications agency, indicate that leading German companies (1) have not recognized the relevance of social media yet or (2) have difficulties with implementing the concept (Meiners et al. 2010). For example, a survey among DAX-companies indicates that their social media activities are “lückenhaft und halbherzig” (PR-COM 2009). Another survey in the German IT industry shows that less than a third had a German and/or English blog (PR-COM 2010), even though blogging is considered a key tool for marketing communications. However, firms “that are not present on social media run the risk of not being in the position to build a positive reputation or to correct negative comments” (Meiners et al. 2010).

A game of balance and disguise: Examining experiential value and game attributes in social marketing m-games

Experiential value is an important driver of customer repeat behaviour and is necessary for achieving sustained behaviour. Understanding the value gained by consumers is particularly important when adopting innovative techniques, such as new technology. Social marketing (behaviour change) practice is increasingly using the technology of mobile games (m-games), yet there is little scholarly research to explain how these games can create experiential value for the user, or which game attributes influence this value. A key finding of this thesis is the importance of achieving a balance between entertainment value and behaviour value through the use of key game attributes relating to disguise and performance. The research offers a contribution to address current managerial problems faced by social marketing practitioners looking to employ m-games to achieve behavioural outcomes.

Fresh thinking in services marketing: Contemporary, cutting-edge and creative thoughts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight and promote fresh thinking in services marketing research. Design/methodology/approach The topic of the special issue was deliberately chosen to encourage fresh ideas and concepts that will move the discipline forward. The accepted papers have been categorised for ease and convenience of reading by scholars and practitioners, with a short commentary on each category. Findings There is a wealth of forward-thinking by service(s) marketing researchers that bodes well for the future of the sub-discipline. Research limitations/implications The special issue does not address fresh thinking in all areas of services marketing research. Other potential areas for fresh thinking are identified. Originality/value New thinking in a scholarly field is necessary to propel the discipline forward.

Digital innovation in social marketing: A systematic literature of interventions using digital channels for engagement

Social marketing uses commercial marketing techniques to deliver interventions for social benefit in order to improve quality of life for individuals and communities. Behaviour change is the primary objective of social marketing interventions (Andreasen 2002). The aim of this systematic review is to provide insight into social marketing interventions and their evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals so as to identify the key elements of social marketing employed by these interventions. as well as understand the use of digital channels for engagement.

Community-based social marketing: Effects on social norms

Purpose This research investigates whether application of a community-based social marketing principle, namely increasing the visibility of a target behaviour in the community, can change social norms surrounding the behaviour. Design/methodology/approach A repeated measures quasi-experimental design was employed to evaluate the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation’s Walk to School 2013 programme, which increases the visibility of walking to and from school through programme participation to promote active transportation for primary school children. The target population for the survey were caregivers of primary school children aged between 5-12 years old. The final sample size across the three online surveys administered was 102 respondents. Findings The results suggest that the programme increased caregivers’ perceptions that children in their community walked to and from school and that walking to and from school is socially acceptable. Originality/value The study contributes to addressing the recent call for research examining the relationship between community-based social marketing principles and programme outcomes. Further, the results provide insight for enhancing the social norms approach, which has traditionally relied on changing social norms exclusively through media campaigns.

Co-designing social marketing programs

Most alcohol education programs are designed by experts, with the target audience largely excluded from this process. Theoretically, application of co-creation which comprises co-design and co- production offers an opportunity to better orient programs to meet audience needs and wants and thereby enhance program outcomes. To date, research focus has centred on value co-creation with content co-design receiving limited research attention. The current study seeks to understand how young people would design an intervention and continues by contrasting an audience designed program with the earlier implemented expert designed program.

The role of engagement on stakeholder's satisfaction with the destination marketing organisation's performance

In the tourism literature there has been a lack of research related to stakeholders' satisfaction with destination marketing organisations (DMO). This study addresses this research gap, in the context of the national tourism office of Oman, by investigating the relationship between stakeholder's perceptions of DMO performance and their overall satisfaction with the DMO. Conceptually the study found DMO engagement with stakeholders to partially mediate satisfaction, a finding of relevance to destination marketers in other parts of the world. From a practical perspective the research was supported by the Oman national tourism office, which has only been in operation for 10 years.

Developing Strategic Marketing Plan

This publication is first in a series targeted for Coordinators and Managers within Benefits Planning, Assistance and Outreach Programs concerned with developing continuous quality improvement approaches. This early publication focuses on understanding strategies for market position, strategic planning and provides a tool for conducting an organizational self-assessment along with a stakeholder analysis

The Google Online Marketing Challenge: A Transnational Comparison of Classroom Learning with Real Clients, Real Money, and Real Advertising Campaigns

In 2008, a collaborative partnership between Google and academia launched the Google Online Marketing Challenge (hereinafter Google Challenge), perhaps the world’s largest in-class competition for higher education students. In just two years, almost 20,000 students from 58 countries participated in the Google Challenge. The Challenge gives undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience with the world’s fastest growing advertising mechanism, search engine advertising. Funded by Google, students develop an advertising campaign for a small to medium sized enterprise and manage the campaign over three consecutive weeks using the Google AdWords platform. This article explores the Challenge as an innovative pedagogical tool for marketing educators. Based on the experiences of three instructors in Australia, Canada and the United States, this case study discusses the opportunities and challenges of integrating this dynamic problem-based learning approach into the classroom.

Productivity and marketing enhancement for peanut in Papua New Guinea and Australia

Enhance productivity of peanuts in Papua New Guinea and Australia. Also the application of remote sensing technologies to enhance profitability in peanut systems.

Rice flower integrating production and marketing

This book contains guidelines on market-driven production for export markets, with information on how the marketing chain operates and what risks are involved. Using rice flower as an example, the book gives growers strategies to enhance their market performance and improve the profitability of their enterprises. It outlines some practical suggestions for marketing rice flower in Japan, the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as in Australia, and also provides a draft standard for rice flower for export markets.

Internet marketing capabilities and international market growth

The Internet has been shown to facilitate elements of internationalisation such as information accumulation and network opportunities. However, there is limited understanding of how the Internet combined with marketing capabilities drives international market growth. This study, based on a sample of 224 Australian firms, develops and tests, using structural equation modelling (SEM), a conceptual model of Internet marketing capabilities and international market growth. Results indicate that firms deploying Internet marketing capabilities will benefit due to the reduction of information uncertainty and increased capacity to develop international network capabilities. Moreover, Internet marketing capabilities indirectly lead to international market growth when the firm has a high level of international strategic orientation and international network capabilities. Overall, Internet marketing capabilities enhance the firm's ability to generate other internal capabilities within the firm, which in turn have a positive impact on the international market growth of the firm.

Balancing entertainment and behaviour value: M-games as a social marketing agent of change

In a marketplace where millions of dollars are spent on the design of mobile games (m-games), social marketers are now using this technology as a tool for behaviour change. Despite high expenditure by governments and non-profits on social marketing m-games, little is known about their effectiveness in terms of creating value. Value creation has been demonstrated to have an important impact on satisfaction and behaviour. This paper reports the results of a qualitative study involving four focus groups with 23 participants to reveal two categories of experiential value, entertainment and behaviour. Additionally, it was discovered that entertainment could be characterised by amusement and social value dimensions. Whereas, behaviour could be made up of information, simulation and distraction value dimensions. The categories of value, as well as the dimensions of information, simulation and distraction are entirely new to the social marketing literature and thus represents a unique contribution to social marketing.