Activityscape Mapping: Consumer Activity Systems as Service Context

Activity systems are the cognitively linked groups of activities that consumers carry out as a part of their daily life. The aim of this paper is to investigate how consumers experience value through their activities, and how services fit into the context of activity systems. A new technique for illustrating consumers’ activity systems is introduced. The technique consists of identifying a consumer’s activities through an interview, then quantitatively measuring how the consumer evaluates the identified activities on three dimensions: Experienced benefits, sacrifices and frequency. This information is used to create a graphical representation of the consumer’s activity system, an “activityscape map”. Activity systems work as infrastructure for the individual consumer’s value experience. The paper contributes to value and service literature, where there currently are no clearly described standardized techniques for visually mapping out individual consumer activity. Existing approaches are service- or relationship focused, and are mostly used to identify activities, not to understand them. The activityscape representation provides an overview of consumers’ perceptions of their activity patterns and the position of one or several services in this pattern. Comparing different consumers’ activityscapes, it shows the differences between consumers' activity structures, and provides insight into how services are used to create value within them. The paper is conceptual; an empirical illustration is used to indicate the potential in further empirical studies. The technique can be used by businesses to understand contexts for service use, which may uncover potential for business reconfiguration and customer segmentation.

Determinantes de la intención del consumidor de ir a un destino turístico. Aplicación al caso de "Mundo Maya-México"

[ES] Cada destino turístico tiene una marca que puede elegir el consumidor a la hora de viajar. Este trabajo examina, a través de un modelo causal que contrastamos empíricamente para el caso de Mundo Maya-México, el papel que desempeña la reputación, las emociones y la confianza en la intención de compra de los consumidores de un destino turístico.

Measuring the influence of customer-based store brand equity in the purchase intention

[EN] Store brands account for and important market share in the Spain and a further increase in expected in the next years due to the downturn. However, there is lack of research on store brand customer-based Brand Equity. This study attempts to propose an integrated model of Brand Equity in store or retailer brands, based on Aaker s well-known conceptual model. We propose a consumer-based model, including the main sources or dimensions of Brand Equity and considering the intention to purchase as a consequence. Based on a sample of 362 consumers and 5 store brands, structural equation modeling is used to test research hypotheses. The results obtained reveal that store brand awareness, loyalty along with store brand perceived quality have a significant influence on consumers intention to purchase store brands. Our study suggests that marketers and marketing managers from retailing companies should carefully consider the Brand Equity components when designing their brand strategies, and develop marketing activities in order to enhance their brands awareness.

Brand image and lexicographic analysis: an application to shopping malls

[EN] The concept of image in its different aspects is very important in today s society as well as in the business management field. Some authors reports that most of the studies that measure image do not take into account neither previous theoretical and conceptual models nor other possible empirical evidence alternatives. Given this need, a research regarding the concept of brand image applied to shopping malls was conducted based on the conceptual model of the consumer cognitive response in order to empirically explore and contrast it. For this reason, a survey was applied to 420 consumers in five shopping malls in Bogotá, achieving a database of 3.749 cases. The results show attribute-shopping mall associations expressed in unique, differentiated, and notorious vocabulary obtained applying lexicometric and multivariate analysis techniques. Attribute-shopping mall associations such as spacious , good location , good variety of stores , and the existence of movie theaters . Finally, this research aims to potentially improve the management of shopping malls and increase their attractiveness and customer loyalty by applying the development of service quality systems, integral communication, segmentation, and positioning.

Publicidad y cultura : una relación de carácter internacional

En el trabajo que nos ocupa analizaremos la relación entre diversos ámbitos culturales y la publicidad internacional audiovisual. En la publicidad audiovisual, como la televisiva, las imágenes cargadas de valor simbólico son determinantes para el posicionamiento de una marca y para llegar a la mente del consumidor. A lo largo del estudio relacionaremos el simbolismo de estas imágenes con la mitología y la música para acercarnos a emociones universales que faciliten la relación entre la marca y el consumidor, o bien, entre el spot publicitario y el espectador. En el ámbito internacional, donde se encuentran personas con identidades culturales muy diferentes, y desde una perspectiva comunicacional sería de gran utilidad conocer aspectos comunes en la mente de todo ser humano que favoreciesen la estandarización y sus consecuentes sinergias.

品牌属性权重判断的反应时研究

In current days, many companies have carried out their branding strategies, because strong brand usually provides confidence and reduce risks to its consumers. No matter what a brand is based on tangible products or services, it will possess the common attributes of this category, and it also has its unique attributes. Brand attribute is defined as descriptive features, which are intrinsic characteristics, values or benefits endowed by users of the product or service (Keller, 1993; Romaniuk, 2003). The researches on models of brand multi-attributes are one of the most studied areas of consumer psychology (Werbel, 1978), and attribute weight is one of its key pursuits. Marketing practitioners also paid much attention to evaluations of attributes. Because those evaluations are relevant to the competitiveness and the strategies of promotion and new product development of the company (Green & Krieger, 1995). Then, how brand attributes correlate with weight judgments? And what features the attribute judgment reaction? Especially, what will feature the attribute weight judgment process of consumer who is facing the homogeneity of brands? Enlightened by the lexical hypothesis of researches on personality traits of psychology, this study choose search engine brands as the subject and adopt reaction time, which has been introduced into multi-attributes decision making by many researchers. Researches on independence of affect and cognition and on primacy of affect have cued us that we can categorize brand attributes into informative and affective ones. Meanwhile, Park has gone further to differentiate representative and experiential with functional attributes. This classification reflects the trend of emotion-branding and brand-consumer relationship. Three parts compose the research: the survey to collect attribute words, experiment one on affective primacy and experiment two on correlation between weight judgment and reaction. The results are as follow: In experiment one, we found: (1) affect words are not rated significantly from cognitive attributes, but affect words are responded faster than cognitive ones; (2) subjects comprehend and respond in different ways to functional attribute words and to representative and experiential words. In experiment two, we fund: (1) a significant negative correlation between attributes weight judgment and reaction time; (2) affective attributes will cause faster reaction than cognitive ones; (3) the reaction time difference between functional and representative or experiential attribute is significant, but there is no different between representative and experiential. In sum, we conclude that: (1): In word comprehension and weight judgment, we observed the affective primacy, even when the affect stimulus is presented as meaningful words. (2): The negative correlation between weight judgment and reaction time suggest us that the more important of attribute, the quicker of the reaction. (3): The difference on reaction time of functional, representative and experiential reflects the trend of emotional branding.

Customers' responses to retail brand extensions

Alexander, N.; and Colgate, N. (2005). Customers' responses to retail brand extensions. Journal of Marketing Management. 21(3-4), pp.393-419 RAE2008

Exploring the relationship between social network sites and the consumption of cultural goods through the lens of affordances

This thesis presents research theorising the use of social network sites (SNS) for the consumption of cultural goods. SNS are Internet-based applications that enable people to connect, interact, discover, and share user-generated content. They have transformed communication practices and are facilitating users to present their identity online through the disclosure of information on a profile. SNS are especially effective for propagating content far and wide within a network of connections. Cultural goods constitute hedonic experiential goods with cultural, artistic, and entertainment value, such as music, books, films, and fashion. Their consumption is culturally dependant and they have unique characteristics that distinguish them from utilitarian products. The way in which users express their identity on SNS is through the sharing of cultural interests and tastes. This makes cultural good consumption vulnerable to the exchange of content and ideas that occurs across an expansive network of connections within these social systems. This study proposes the lens of affordances to theorise the use of social network sites for the consumption of cultural goods. Qualitative case study research using two phases of data collection is proposed in the application of affordances to the research topic. The interaction between task, technology, and user characteristics is investigated by examining each characteristic in detail, before investigating the actual interaction between the user and the artifact for a particular purpose. The study contributes to knowledge by (i) improving our understanding of the affordances of social network sites for the consumption of cultural goods, (ii) demonstrating the role of task, technology and user characteristics in mediating user behaviour for user-artifact interactions, (iii) explaining the technical features and user activities important to the process of consuming cultural goods using social network sites, and (iv) theorising the consumption of cultural goods using SNS by presenting a theoretical research model which identifies empirical indicators of model constructs and maps out affordance dependencies and hierarchies. The study also provides a systematic research process for applying the concept of affordances to the study of system use.

Does culture affect a brand's personality?

Global branding brings with it exposure to an increasingly culturally-diverse audience. Examples of Islamic finance products being consumed by non-Muslims, and designer labels being adopted, by those outside of their intended target audience; seem to suggest that brands are being shaped more and more by consumers. Within current literature on branding, and cross-cultural consumer behaviour; there appears to have emerged a difference of opinion - as to whether a consumer’s culture has any bearing on their decision making; or subsequent influence brand personalities. The purpose of this paper is to present existing evidence; as a basis for undertaking future research.

Tails of animal attraction: Incorporating the feline into the family

Increased urbanization and female employment have led to the cat overtaking the dog as the companion animal of preference. However, thisarticle looks beyond lifestyle changes as reasons for the popularity of the cat. The article explores the emotional consumer-socialization processinvolving the incorporation of the cat into the family. Subjective personal introspection (SPI) and supporting vignettes of female humans in theirfamilies (all of which were high-involvement owners) explore the hows and whys of feline incorporation. The study identifies several categories ofincorporation. The findings suggest that this complex process involves many factors — namely, consumer socialization, intergenerationalinfluence, brand loyalty, commitment, near-instant loyalty, immediacy, distress, anthropomorphism, and nostalgia. These factors underpin theintimacy and care the human–feline relationship expresses. The ability for humans and cats to bond in a way that fosters emotional intimacy canbe considered one of the purest forms of relationships.© 2007 Published by Elsevier Inc.

From Lydia Pinkham to Queen Levitra:Direct-to-consumer advertising and medicalisation

The medicalisation of life problems has been occurring for well over a century and has increased over the past 30 years, with the engines of medicalisation shifting to biotechnology, managed care, and consumers. This paper examines one strand of medicalisation during the last century: direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceuticals. In particular, it examines the roles that physicians and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have played in regulating DTCA in the US. Two advertising exemplars, the late 19 century Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound (for 'women's complaints') and contemporary Levitra (for erectile dysfunction) are used to examine the parallels between the patent medicine era and the DTCA era. DTCA re-establishes the direct and independent relationship between drug companies and consumers that existed in the late 19 century, encouraging self-diagnosis and requests for specific drugs. The extravagant claims of Lydia Pinkham's day are constrained by laws, but modern-day advertising is more subtle and sophisticated. DTCA has facilitated the impact of the pharmaceutical industry and consumers in becoming more important forces in medicalisation. © 2008 The Authors.

Branding strategies for high technology products: The effects of consumer and product innovativeness

Choice of an appropriate branding strategy is a critical determinant of new product success. Prior work on fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) prescribes that new products carry new (vs. existing) brand names to appeal to earlier adopters - a critical target for new products. However, such a prescription may not be prudent for high-technology (HT) products, as they often involve considerably more consumer perceived risk than FMCG. By drawing on Dowling and Staelin's (1994) framework of perceived-risk handling, we propose that both earlier and later adopters will favor existing brands to cope with the elevated risk associated with an innovative HT product. Two studies - one conducted in an experimental setting and the other in a field setting - support the proposition that both earlier and later adopters respond more favorably to existing (vs. new) brands on innovative HT products.

Psychological determinants of consumer acceptance of personalised nutrition in 9 European countries

OBJECTIVE: To develop a model of the psychological factors which predict people's intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Potential determinants of adoption included perceived risk and benefit, perceived self-efficacy, internal locus of control and health commitment.

METHODS: A questionnaire, developed from exploratory study data and the existing theoretical literature, and including validated psychological scales was administered to N=9381 participants from 9 European countries (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Norway).

RESULTS: Structural equation modelling indicated that the greater participants' perceived benefits to be associated with personalised nutrition, the more positive their attitudes were towards personalised nutrition, and the greater their intention to adopt it. Higher levels of nutrition self-efficacy were related to more positive attitudes towards, and a greater expressed intention to adopt, personalised nutrition. Other constructs positively impacting attitudes towards personalised nutrition included more positive perceptions of the efficacy of regulatory control to protect consumers (e.g. in relation to personal data protection), higher self-reported internal health locus of control, and health commitment. Although higher perceived risk had a negative relationship with attitude and an inverse relationship with perceived benefit, its effects on attitude and intention to adopt personalised nutrition was less influential than perceived benefit. The model was stable across the different European countries, suggesting that psychological factors determining adoption of personalised nutrition have generic applicability across different European countries.

CONCLUSION: The results suggest that transparent provision of information about potential benefits, and protection of consumers' personal data is important for adoption, delivery of public health benefits, and commercialisation of personalised nutrition.

Marcas portuguesas: uma metodologia para a afirmação e avaliação dos seus impactos

O processo de criação de marcas – branding – decorre da intervenção de um diversificado número de especialistas de áreas científicas distintas como são: a da comunicação, da publicidade, do marketing e das relações públicas. O designer, apesar de ser um dos mais significantes actores no processo de construção da marca é, geralmente, relegado para o plano de fazedor das coisas esteticamente úteis. As razões deste facto podem ser encontradas neste estereótipo que constrange o entendimento sobre a vocação do designer, desvalorizando- se o seu papel de conceptualizador e não respeitando os seus argumentos. A flexibilidade do seu pensar analítico, criativo e sistémico associado à acção direccionada para a mudança leva à consideração de que o Designer é um agente multifacetado e, numa equipa, é um membro agregador de diversas sensibilidades. A síntese que opera através do desenho permite ao designer colocar-se numa posição de dinamização e, porventura, de liderança de carácter identitário. Tendo em conta o exposto o designer necessita de metodologias de apoio ao seu desempenho que lhe permitam realizar o trabalho para o qual está vocacionado. Enquadrado pela lógica sistémica da comunicação institucional, essas metodologias potenciam a observação, análise e avaliação da marca, uma vez que está focalizada na recolha das orientações dos destinatários da marca – cidadãos e consumidores. Conhecer como percepcionam a marca, qual a relação que mantêm com ela e como reagem à forma como a marca comunica é o desafio da metodologia criada. Deste modo, o designer poderá contribuir para a desconstrução dos estereótipos referidos, reforçar a sua posição no mercado de trabalho e afirmar a sua diferença face aos especialistas das áreas complementares com quem intervém. A tese que se apresenta tem por finalidade elaborar uma metodologia para a afirmação e avaliação dos impactos da marca, no sentido de conhecer as orientações de quem melhor sabe lidar com a marca - o público-alvo. E, integrar toda a informação no processo decisão que o designer protagoniza.

Antecedents of loyalty to a brand : Apple clients vs. non-clients

Apple is undoubtedly a sui generis and remarkable brand in what concerns to its branding and brand experience, and remains an indisputable reference in the consumer electronics and computer industries. The aim of this study encompasses the development and empirical testing of two conceptual models that evaluate and allow to draw a comparison between Apple clients and non-clients’ perceptions, regarding brand experience, brand perceived value, price perceptions and brand trust; and that determine the antecedents of clients’ loyalty to the brand. Therefore, the contribution of this study to the literature relies on the research of the impact of brand experience on brand perceived value and on price perceptions, as well as the influence of price perceptions (positive and negative) on trust, satisfaction, and commitment to the brand. Two surveys were used to test each conceptual model, through a sample collected across the portuguese academic community. The findings prove the strong influence of the sensory and affective aspects of brand experience on both clients and non-clients. They also reveal that the negative role of price is neutralized in the presence of strong brand experience, and that the fact that Apple is viewed as an “expensive brand” may highlight its association to higher quality and prestige. Also, this study reinforces the important role of satisfaction and commitment in building customer loyalty, corroborating the existent literature. Managerial implications derived from the findings are also discussed.