Examining the role of advertising and sales promotions in brand equity creation

This study explores the relationships between two central elements of marketing communication programs - advertising and sales promotions - and their impact on brand equity creation. In particular, the research focuses on advertising spend and individuals' attitudes toward the advertisements. The study also investigates the effects of two kinds of sales promotions, monetary and non-monetary promotions. Based on a survey of 302 UK consumers, findings show that the individuals' attitudes toward the advertisements play a key role influencing brand equity dimensions, whereas advertising spend for the brands under investigation improves brand awareness but is insufficient to positively influence brand associations and perceived quality. The paper also finds distinctive effects of monetary and non-monetary promotions on brand equity. In addition, the results show that companies can optimize the brand equity management process by considering the relationships existing between the different dimensions of brand equity. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Background synaptic activity in rat entorhinal cortex shows a progressively greater dominance of inhibition over excitation from deep to superficial layers

The entorhinal cortex (EC) controls hippocampal input and output, playing major roles in memory and spatial navigation. Different layers of the EC subserve different functions and a number of studies have compared properties of neurones across layers. We have studied synaptic inhibition and excitation in EC neurones, and we have previously compared spontaneous synaptic release of glutamate and GABA using patch clamp recordings of synaptic currents in principal neurones of layers II (L2) and V (L5). Here, we add comparative studies in layer III (L3). Such studies essentially look at neuronal activity from a presynaptic viewpoint. To correlate this with the postsynaptic consequences of spontaneous transmitter release, we have determined global postsynaptic conductances mediated by the two transmitters, using a method to estimate conductances from membrane potential fluctuations. We have previously presented some of this data for L3 and now extend to L2 and L5. Inhibition dominates excitation in all layers but the ratio follows a clear rank order (highest to lowest) of L2>L3>L5. The variance of the background conductances was markedly higher for excitation and inhibition in L2 compared to L3 or L5. We also show that induction of synchronized network epileptiform activity by blockade of GABA inhibition reveals a relative reluctance of L2 to participate in such activity. This was associated with maintenance of a dominant background inhibition in L2, whereas in L3 and L5 the absolute level of inhibition fell below that of excitation, coincident with the appearance of synchronized discharges. Further experiments identified potential roles for competition for bicuculline by ambient GABA at the GABAA receptor, and strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors in residual inhibition in L2. We discuss our results in terms of control of excitability in neuronal subpopulations of EC neurones and what these may suggest for their functional roles. © 2014 Greenhill et al.

The forgotten brand personality dimension

Aaker's (1997) brand personality framework has become influential across many streams of brand personality research, but it fails to capture an important dimension that reflects consumer's anxious feelings towards brands. Consumers are increasingly evaluating brands through expressions of negative emotive language. For example, the BP oil spillage in the Gulf of Mexico stimulated negative emotions among consumers. This paper is the first to thoroughly incorporate a brand personality dimension reflective of consumer anxious tense and frustrated feelings towards brands. From the extant literature we propose and define negative brand personality. Four adjacent studies were conducted to explore, purify and refine in what form negative brand personality traits exist among consumers. This paper concludes with a conceptual model detailing the antecedent constructs to negative brand personality and behavioral consequences. © 2012.

B2B service brand identity and brand performance:an empirical investigation in the UK’s B2B IT services sector

Purpose – This paper aims to apply the business-to-business (B2B) Service Brand Identity (SBI) scale to empirically assess the influence of service brand identity on brand performance for the first time. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data collected from 421 senior marketing executives, this paper applies the B2B SBI and structural equation modeling to fulfill the above purpose. Findings – Brand personality and human resource initiatives have a positive and significant influence on brand performance. Corporate visual identity, in addition to an employee and client focus, has an insignificant impact on performance. Consistent communications have a negative and significant influence on brand performance. Research limitations/implications – Data were only collected from executives in the UK. This research would benefit from replicative studies. Practical implications – This research empirically establishes the brand management activities that drive brand performance. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study to assess the influence service brand identity has on brand performance.

Ocular dominance and handedness in golf putting

Purpose: In golf, the impact of eye-hand dominance on putting performance has long been debated. Eye-hand dominance is thought to impact how golfers judge the alignment of the ball with the target and the club with the ball, as well as how golfers visualize the line of the putt when making decisions about the force needed to hit the ball. Previous studies have all measured ocular dominance in primary gaze only, despite golfers spending a significant amount of their time in a putting stance (bent at the hips, head tilted down). Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess ocular dominance in both primary gaze (aligning the ball with the target) and putting gaze (addressing the ball and aligning the club). Methods: This study investigatedmeasuring pointing oculardominance in both primary and putting gaze positions on 31 golfers (14 amateur, 7 club professionals, and 10 top professionals). All playerswere right-handed golfers, although one reported having no hand dominance and one reported being strongly left hand dominant. Results: The results showed that (1) primary and putting gaze ocular dominances are not equal, nor are they predictive of each other; (2) themagnitude of putting ocular dominance is significantly less than themagnitude of primary gaze ocular dominance; (3) ocular dominance is not correlated with handedness in either primary or putting gaze; and (4) eye-hand dominance is not associated with increased putting skill, although ocular dominance may be associated with increased putting success. Conclusions: It is important that coaches assess golfers' ocular dominance in both primary and putting gaze positions to ensure they have the most accurate information upon which to base their vision strategy decisions.

State-owned enterprises, exporting and productivity in China:a stochastic dominance approach

A popular explanation for China's rapid economic growth in recent years has been the dramatic increase in the number of private domestic- and foreign-owned firms and a decline in the state-owned sector. However, recent evidence suggests that China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are in fact stronger than ever. In this paper, we examine over 78,000 manufacturing firms between 2002 and 2006 to investigate the relationship between ownership structure and the degree of firm-level exposure to export markets and firm-level productivity. Using a conditional stochastic dominance approach, we reveal that although our results largely adhere to prior expectations, the performance of SOEs differs markedly between those that export and those that supply the domestic market only. It appears that China's internationally focused SOEs have become formidable global competitors. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Brand personality complementatity:its effects on evaluations of extremely incongruent extensions

Prior research on brand extension has provided little evidence on enhancing the evaluation of extremely incongruent extension. Adopting the theoretical framework of schema congruity theory, the author posits that evaluations can be improved if brand personality impressions of both parent brand and extension are complementary. The author coins this as the brand personality complementarity (BPC) principle. Prior to examining BPC effect, cultural-specific brand personality scale was developed to identify universal and indigenous brand personality dimensions. The reason is BPC requires a reliable and valid brand personality scale in order to detect its effect. Following successful identification of the cultural-specific brand personality scale, a total of three experimental studies were done to investigate BPC effect. Specifically, one experimental study identified complementary levels amongst brand personality dimensions, whereas two experimental studies investigated the moderating effect of BPC. Findings from the scale development study reveal that Malaysian brand personality (MBP) scale is a second higher-order factor reflected by first higher-order factors of sophistication, youth, competence, and sincerity. Most importantly, findings from the experimental studies revealed; 1) different BPC levels amongst all possible pairs of MBP dimensions, 2) significant interaction effect of brand extension congruity x BPC, and 3) significant mediation effect of complementarity resolution. Specific findings indicated that when iv text-based stimuli were used to form brand personality impression, even low BPC level improves the evaluations of extremely incongruent extension. However, when visualbased stimuli were used, low BPC level worsen the extension evaluation compared those of the control condition (i.e. without brand personality impression). Implications for both academician and practitioner are discussed.

B2B service brand identity:scale development and validation

Several brand identity frameworks have been published in the B2C and the B2B brand marketing literature. A reliable, valid and parsimonious service brand identity scale that empirically establishes the construct's dimensionality in a B2B market has yet to be developed. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted amongst 421 senior executives working in the UK IT Service sector to develop and validate a B2B Service Brand Identity Scale. Following established scale development procedures support is provided for a B2B Service Brand Identity Scale comprising five dimensions; employee and client focus, visual identity, brand personality, consistent communications and human resource initiatives. Concluding remarks discuss theoretical and managerial implications with limitations and directions for future research. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

More Than Words, Brand Destruction in the Online Sphere

The focus of this paper is brand destruction, however in a slightly different sense than the traditional marketing literature depicts it. The concept of brand destruction basically tends to be discussed either (1) as an accidental, counter-productive event in a campaign which leads to the ruining of the brand, or (2) an intentional act by competitors in the market, which results the same breakdown mentioned above. As this paper shows, there are other ways to consider as well, when speaking about brand destruction. An often overlooked type of brand destruction is a rather new phenomenon: destroying the brand by customers or business partners. The adequate scene for this case is the internet itself, especially different social media platforms, e. g. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. Also popular weblogs can play an important role in brand destruction made by customers or business partners (general cases related to social media are depicted in Lipsman – Mud – Rich – Bruich, 2012). This paper presents a couple of cases in the online field and focuses basically on online communicative activities, in which a brand’s negative properties come to discussion. Both Hungarian and foreign examples are easy to find and they all demonstrate the growing power of consumers. This observation led marketing experts to start talking about the ‘smooth seizure of power by consumers’. Whilst the critic of this concept is considered to be relevant, this paper describes the elements and methods of the ‘seizure’ – from an online social point of view. The key of handling brand destruction cases efficiently lies in the role of social media users. They are not only consumers, but the opportunity for producing online contents is in their hands as well – this fact results in the idea of ‘prosumers’. Thus customers on social media platforms must be handled as a ‘critical mass’: as civic warriors with strong weapons in their armoury. No companies are allowed to feel safe, as the slightest error may well be punished by the crowd.

An investigation into advertising's ability to foster favorable evaluations of brand extensions

Taking a respected brand name and placing it on a new product has become a popular strategy for leveraging the name's equity and goodwill. Current research has indicated that the success of doing so depends in part on the perceived “fit” between the core brand and the extension. When the name is extended to a closely related product category, consumers are very likely to transfer their favorable attitudes toward the core to the extension. However, as the perceived fit declines, this transfer becomes less likely. ^ This dissertation examined whether particular advertising tactics (e.g., using a common endorser or logo for the core and the extension) could enhance perceived fit between the core brand and its extension, thus leading to more favorable attitudes toward the extension than would otherwise occur. The sample was undergraduate students from universities in the southeast. The generating mechanism tested was that the transfer of associations between core brand and extension would enhance the overlap of associations between the core brand and the potential extension. ^ Research questions were analyzed using a 3 (levels of fit) x 3 (treatments) x 2 (replicate) experiment. The data analysis was conducted with repeated measures ANOVA's, UNIVARIATE ANOVA's, UNIVARIATE ANCOVA'S, and planned linear contrasts. ^ The results, except for the hypotheses on fit as a mediator of extension attitude, do not indicate that the presence of an endorser or brand mark closely aligned with the core brand enhanced perceived fit between core brand and extension. ^

Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, and Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) Identity Development

Identity shapes how people make sense of the world. Sexual minorities’ sexual orientations and gender identities fall outside of heteronormative categorizations. Adults engage in diverse relationships: many of them fall outside of heteronormative boundaries. As an instrument of social justice, Adult Education can be a site for BDSM identity development.

Determinants of Mid-scale Hotel Brand Equity

The traditional brand management in the hotel industry is facing a great challenge as numerous brands provide many choices to hotel guests. In such competitive environments, hotel firms realize that capitalizing on one of the most important assests they own- the brand- is critical to achieve a premier growth goal not only rapidly but also in a cost- effective way. THe purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of cutsomer-based hotel brand equity for the mid-priced U.S. lodging segment by assessing the impacts of four-widely accepted brand equity dimensions: brand awareness, brand associations, percieved quality and customer loyalty. 277 travelers participated in this study at the airport in a Midwestern city. Perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand associations were found to be the core components of brand equity, while brand awareness, a seemingly important source of brand equity, did not exert a significant influence on building brand equity of mid-priced hotels. The result of this study sheds insight about how to create, manage, and evaluate a distinctive and successful hotel brand.

Cruise Brand Management

Brands have always been associated with cruise and line voyage operations, but the branding concept has taken on new meaning in the modern cruise industry. In the consolidation of cruise lines under a few major corporate structure today, the acquiring entity has most often chosen to invest in lines acquired under their existing names, retaining separate brand identity. The author summarizes industry experiences with the acquisition and management of multiple brands under a single corporate structure, together with the rationale and advantages, this article is an updated and expanded version of that first given at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention March 11, 1999.