Phenolic compounds in Merlot wines from two wine regions of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

In Brazil, the grape and wine production takes place mainly in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and the region "Serra" is known as the traditional wine region. In the last years, new areas have emerged, with emphasis for the Campanha region; the red wines from this region have low acidity, little color intensity, and are wines to drink while young, even when produced from grape varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different maceration types on the phenolic compounds of Merlot wines made with grapes produced in two regions of Rio Grande do Sul, Serra and Campanha, as well as to identify the key differences between the wines produced. The localization of the vineyards seems to have more influence on the wine characteristics than the maceration type. The color due copigmentation was an important aspect in the wines made with short maceration. The effect of extended maceration was different than the expected for the Campanha region wines; the extended maceration increased the extraction of tannins resulting in greater color intensity and a greater amount of anthocyanins. The pH control seems to be a key factor for the Campanha region wines.

Use of simulated annealing in standardization and optimization of the acerola wine production

In this study, seven wine samples were prepared varying the amount of pulp of acerola fruits and the sugar content using the simulated annealing technique to obtain the optimal sensory qualities and cost for the wine produced. S. cerevisiae yeast was used in the fermentation process and the sensory attributes were evaluated using a hedonic scale. Acerola wines were classified as sweet, with 11°GL of alcohol concentration and with aroma, taste, and color characteristics of the acerola fruit. The simulated annealing experiments showed that the best conditions were found at mass ratio between 1/7.5-1/6 and total soluble solids between 28.6-29.0 °Brix, from which the sensory acceptance scores of 6.9, 6.8, and 8.8 were obtained for color, aroma, and flavor, respectively, with a production cost 43-45% lower than the cost of traditional wines commercialized in Brazil.

Content marketing performance measurement system in the context of customer acquisition

This thesis examines how content marketing is used in B2B customer acquisition and how content marketing performance measurement system is built and utilized in this context. Literature related to performance measurement, branding and buyer behavior is examined in the theoretical part in order to identify the elements influence on content marketing performance measurement design and usage. Qualitative case study is chosen in order to gain deep understanding of the phenomenon studied. The case company is a Finnish software vendor, which operates in B2B markets and has practiced content marketing for approximately two years. The in-depth interviews were conducted with three employees from marketing department. According to findings content marketing performance measurement system’s infrastructure is based on target market’s decision making processes, company’s own customer acquisition process, marketing automation tool and analytics solutions. The main roles of content marketing performance measurement system are measuring performance, strategy management and learning and improvement. Content marketing objectives in the context of customer acquisition are enhancing brand awareness, influencing brand attitude and lead generation. Both non-financial and financial outcomes are assessed by single phase specific metrics, phase specific overall KPIs and ratings related to lead’s involvement.

Research on the quality of the wine grapes in corridor area of China

The corridor area of Gansu Province is one of the most important wine grape growing regions in China, and this strip of land results in a significant difference in terms of terroir between its regions. Chemical composition and antioxidant capacity of the main wine grape varieties (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivated in the corridor area of Gansu Province in northwest China were compared. Three regions (Zhangye, Wuwei, and Jiayuguan) were selected to explain the influence of soil and climate conditions on the quality of wine grapes. This study aims to investigate the effect of different regions on berry composition and antioxidant capacity, providing a general evaluation of red and white wine grapes quality in the corridor area of China. The results showed that ‘Merlot’ grapes grown in Zhangye had the best quality among the different varieties in the three regions of Gansu evaluated. The moderate temperature and nitrogen deficiency were associated with improved fruit quality. It was identified that the most suitable grape variety from Zhangye is ‘Merlot’, and that ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Italian Resling’ are the most suitable varieties from Wuwei and Jiayuguan, respectively.

Fresh meat quality of pigs fed diets with different fatty acid profiles and supplemented with red wine solids

Abstract Three groups of pigs were fed three different diets, namely a diet rich in saturated fatty acids (palm oil-based, PO), a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-rich diet (corn oil-based, CO), and a PUFA-rich diet (corn oil-based) supplemented with red wine solids (RWS), which was added to the diet (CO+RWS) in order to assess the protective effect on the oxidative status of the pork meat. The addition of corn oil favourably modulates the FAs profile of the backfat, and to a lesser extent of the intramuscular fat of semimembranosus muscle, without causing adverse effects on the meat quality or on its oxidative stability. Moreover, these parameters were not affected by the addition of the RWS in the CO+RWS diet.

Consumer neuroscience: usability of brain imaging methods in marketing research

Consumer neuroscience (neuromarketing) is an emerging field of marketing research which uses brain imaging techniques to study neural conditions and processes that underlie consumption. The purpose of this study was to map this fairly new and growing field in Finland by studying the opinions of both Finnish consumers and marketing professionals towards it and comparing the opinions to the current consumer neuroscience literature, and based on that evaluate the usability of brain imaging techniques as a marketing research method. Mixed methods research design was chosen for this study. Quantitative data was collected from 232 consumers and 28 marketing professionals by means of online surveys. Both respondent groups had either neutral opinions or lacked knowledge about the four themes chosen for this study: benefits, limitations and challenges, ethical issues and future prospects of consumer neuroscience. Qualitative interview data was collected from 2 individuals from Finnish neuromarketing companies to deepen insights gained from quantitative research. The four interview themes were the same as in the surveys and the interviewees’ answers were mostly in line with the current literature, although more optimistic about the future of the field. The interviews also exposed a gap between academic consumer neuroscience research and practical level applications. The results of this study suggest that there are still many unresolved challenges and relevant populations either have neutral opinions or lack information about consumer neuroscience. The practical level applications are, however, already being successfully used and this new field of marketing research is growing both globally and in Finland.

The Role of Content Marketing in Company Branding

The purpose of this study is to provide a deep understanding of the concept of content marketing in relation to company branding.

The Impact of Event Marketing on Brand Awareness in eSport Industry

The purpose of this qualitative research is to study what is the impact of event marketing on brand awareness in the context of electronic sport industry. Based on the research questions, the theoretical framework will be developed. This research will analyze earlier theories, and also searching more fresh literature to explain the current phenomenon in the eSport industry. In the empirical part, there were total of five case companies interviewed. The context of this research is eSport, which has its own chapter. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on event marketing and brand awareness. In this research, event marketing is analyzed from the event organizers perspective. In some occasions, event exhibitors’ perspective is also analyzed. In brand awareness, the focus is how to create a brand recognizable, recalled and from there top of mind in consumers’ minds. The results of this research revealed that many companies’ struggles on getting their brand recognizable. Some of the case companies lacks a strategy and don’t exactly know the core values of their customers. However some of the case companies were opposite. One reason behind this is that some of them has experience on the field and the companies have resources that covers them. Also the current strong brand has clearly a positive affect on their business.

Marketing a Mobile Application in a Highly Competitive Global Marketplace

The purpose of this research was to study the marketing of mobile applications. The main objective was to find out what are the most efficient ways of marketing to increase the sales for a mobile application within a highly competitive marketplace. The marketplaces, app stores, are studied from the perspective of size, ease of entry, competition and customers and their purchasing process. The study also includes research on what are some of the main marketing methods used in mobile app marketing in general. The study consists of two parts, theoretical and empirical research. Theoretical research was done by studying past scientific research on the chosen subjects. As the subject is very new, the research was also extended to other publications from the field of mobile technology. The empirical part was done through interviews and empirical experiments with a case-company, which were used to answer the main objective of this study. These experiments showed that the chosen methods of mobile app marketing, app store optimization, localization and selected social media marketing activities, created the most sales when used together. Positive results were seen also when the activities were conducted by themselves, but together they were able to push the case company to their all time best results. However the key to succeeding and hitting high positions in the app store rankings would most likely require creating a solid marketing strategy, trying out other marketing activities alongside the ones used here, without forgetting to stay on top of mobile technology trends.

Marketing performance measurement in the marketing-finance interface

Marketing and finance are both facing challenges in the constantly changing business environment. Finance is challenged to change its role from cost control to value-adding business partner while marketing needs to be able to demonstrate its accountability so how it contributes to firm performance. Finance is the key partner for marketing to prove its impact by helping marketing to measure its actions. By doing so, finance can also emphasize its business partner role. There is not a lot of research conducted of the relationship between marketing and finance departments. The aim of this study is to investigate how the professional differences of marketing and finance and their forms of cooperation affect marketing performance measurement. Literature of marketing and finance disciplines, their cooperation, performance implications of their interface as well as the roles of marketing performance measurement, performance measurement system and measures were reviewed. This research was conducted as a qualitative case study among senior management of marketing and finance in the sporting goods company. The data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and secondary data was described and classified and connections were made. The results of the study show that the nature of marketing and finance disciplines has many effects on their cooperation and performance measurement. Due to the ambiguous nature of marketing, measuring its performance is still seen as a challenge but digitalization is helping the measurement. It was indicated that marketing and finance professionals need to have different skillsets in order to perform their roles effectively and thus cooperation is needed. Marketing performance needs to be measured with both financial and nonfinancial measures. Both marketing and finance interviewees highlighted the importance of marketing measures over financial measures. Measuring marketing performance comprehensively is seen as a challenge since marketing and finance cooperation is still shaped by the cost control and budget management roles, rather than performance measurement. We recognized three constraints affecting this cooperation and performance measurement: people, time and software. If marketing and finance would develop deeper cooperation, they could create comprehensive performance measurement system that improves organizational performance.