Exploring the adoption of interactive digital television services as a retail shopping platform

The aim of this research is to consider the possible effect of an emerging technology platform on the uptake of online shopping: interactive (digital) Television (iTV), which enables viewers to select a variety of viewing options, publicity materials, games, entertainment and more recently shopping. An augmented version of the original TAM is applied to this study. Two new constructs are considered namely access and awareness together with perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and security. The results show that indeed the augmented TAM can be used as a predictive model for the adoption of iTV as an online shopping platform. It is concluded that access, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness are significant factors to determine the consumers’behavioural intentions towards the use of digital TV as a new shopping platform. However, awareness and security are considered to be insignificant with no effect on consumers’ behavioural intentions towards the new shopping medium.

the effect of television image degradation on learning

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Image enhancement of real-time television to benefit the visually impaired

Purpose: To examine the use of real-time, generic edge detection, image processing techniques to enhance the television viewing of the visually impaired. Design: Prospective, clinical experimental study. Method: One hundred and two sequential visually impaired (average age 73.8 ± 14.8 years; 59% female) in a single center optimized a dynamic television image with respect to edge detection filter (Prewitt, Sobel, or the two combined), color (red, green, blue, or white), and intensity (one to 15 times) of the overlaid edges. They then rated the original television footage compared with a black-and-white image displaying the edges detected and the original television image with the detected edges overlaid in the chosen color and at the intensity selected. Footage of news, an advertisement, and the end of program credits were subjectively assessed in a random order. Results: A Prewitt filter was preferred (44%) compared with the Sobel filter (27%) or a combination of the two (28%). Green and white were equally popular for displaying the detected edges (32%), with blue (22%) and red (14%) less so. The average preferred edge intensity was 3.5 ± 1.7 times. The image-enhanced television was significantly preferred to the original (P < .001), which in turn was preferred to viewing the detected edges alone (P < .001) for each of the footage clips. Preference was not dependent on the condition causing visual impairment. Seventy percent were definitely willing to buy a set-top box that could achieve these effects for a reasonable price. Conclusions: Simple generic edge detection image enhancement options can be performed on television in real-time and significantly enhance the viewing of the visually impaired. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

Introduction : special issues on key debates in advertising material

Research on advertising has been conducted mainly from within disciplines such as marketing and reception studies. Within translation studies, research has focused more on comparative analysis of language pairs for intersystemic differences, and more recently on intercultural differences in product appeal and cultural values. Advertising as text type was most comprehensively used and developed within Western cultures, then 'exported' to other cultures. Initially the assumption was that the message could be translated and the product would sell on the basis of Western value-based market research, although this is now clearly shown not to be the case, as contributors to this volume all demonstrate through empirical studies. The introduction to this volume offers a comprehensive survey of work done in the field, both within and outside translation studies, outlines the use of semiotics as a suitable framework for research, and summarizes the key issues relating to the global vs. local debate.

Special issue:key debates in the translation of advertising material

Much has been written about the marketing aspects of promotional material in general, and several scholars (particularly in linguistics) have addressed questions relating to the structure and function of advertisements, focusing on images, rhetorical structure, semiotic functions, discourse features and audio-visual media, amongst other aspects of the genre. Not much, on the other hand, has been written within translation studies about the complexities involved in the transfer of an advertising message. Contributors to this volume explore various interdependent aspects of the interlingual and intercultural transfer of an advertising message. They emphasize features of culture specificity, of multi-medial semiotic interaction, of values and stereotypes, and most importantly, they recommend strategies and approaches to assist translators. Topics covered include a critique of the Western-based approach to advertising in the context of the Far East; different perceptions of the concept of cleanliness in advertising texts in Italy, Russia and the UK; the Walls Cornetto strategy of internationalization of product appeal, followed by localization; the role of the translator in recreating appeal in different lingua-cultural contexts; what constitutes 'Italianness' in advertisements for British consumers; and strategies for repackaging France as a tourist destination.

O2 v Hutchison 3G comparative advertising:European trade mark law beyond compare?

Legislation: Directive 89/104 on trade marks art.5 Directive 84/450 on misleading advertising Directive 97/55 amending Directive 84/450 concerning misleading advertising so as to include comparative advertising Case: O2 Holdings Ltd v Hutchison 3G UK Ltd (C-533/06) [2008] E.C.R. I-4231 (ECJ (1st Chamber)) *Comms. L. 155 Long, long ago a trade mark allowed a craftsman to be identified and held accountable for shoddy goods. Today in the era of the ‘Lovemark,’1 due to extensive advertising hopes and aspirations a lifestyle can be purchased with a brand. For many products a trademark is no longer merely a badge of origin but has a commercial value of its own. Through advertising an emotional attachment is created in the heart of the consumer for particular brands. Brand owners are determined that the value of this attachment be preserved and protected against any encroachment into the aura that has been painstakingly created. Comparative advertising, the allusive use of a mark, is seen by the owners of such emotive brands as likely to jeopardise the character of the brand that they have so carefully nurtured. As they have invested so heavily in creating their concept these owners want to control its use by others. There is an issue however as to how far this control ought to extend when the image is used in the marketing of a rival's goods or services.

Mobile Search and Advertising

Mobile advertising is a rapidly growing sector providing brands and marketing agencies the opportunity to connect with consumers beyond traditional and digital media and instead communicate directly on their mobile phones. Mobile advertising will be intrinsically linked with mobile search, which has transported from the internet to the mobile and is identified as an area of potential growth. The result of mobile searching show that as a general rule such search result exceed 160 characters; the dialog is required to deliver the relevant portion of a response to the mobile user. In this paper we focus initially on mobile search and mobile advert creation, and later the mechanism of interaction between the user’s request, the result of searching, advertising and dialog.

Narrative pace control practices in the digital age:how do people consume television (tv) series?

Digital devices are profoundly changing the way individuals consume media entertainment, and in particular television (TV). Our research contributes to prior work on narrative processing by advancing a more comprehensive theorization of narrative pace when control is in the hands of story receivers as opposed to storytellers. Using the empirical context of TV series viewing we draw on in-depth interviews to uncover 1) consumer narrative pace control practices such as multi-episode viewing sometimes colloquially called “binge-watching” or replaying specific scenes, and 2) the factors that drive the adoption of such practices, including the countervailing forces of narrative satiation and need for closure, as well as curiosity and enjoyment of mystery.

Consumers’ biased perceptions of the environmental impact of products, and their influence on advertising efficiency

This paper investigates the main perceptual biases developed by consumers regarding the environmental impact of products. It shows that these biases make consumers unable to distinguish between advertisements for highly versus less sustainable products, but that the inclusion of relevant information can increase the efficiency of arguments for true sustainability.

Optimization of Advertising Resources over Time: A Strategic Analysis

AMS subject classification: 90B60, 90B50, 90A80.

Opportunity Knocks: An Economic Analysis of Television Advertisements

Certain aspects of advertising–especially on television–are not easily explained with conventional economic models. In particular, much of the imagery and repetitive thematic content seen in advertisements suggests it is "psychological" in nature, as opposed to "informative". To understand the economic rationale for incorporating such material, we develop a theory of preferences in which information about threshold payoffs induces sudden shifts in demand. These threshold payoffs are best understood in the context of human evolutionary history. Furthermore, the presence of threshold payoffs in consumer preferences gives firms incentive for providing threshold-type information. To examine the use of threshold-related content in television advertisements, we look for this con- tent in a sample of 370 television advertisements. We find considerable evidence that advertisers make strategic use of threshold-type content in television advertisements. Specifically, threshold-related content occurred in 83% of food and beverage advertisements for children and in 71% of advertisements for general audiences. Furthermore, the threshold-related content in children’s food and beverage advertisements occurred with statistically greater frequency than factual content, which isn’t true for food and beverage advertisements for general audiences.

The economic approach of advertising and the problem of allocating advertising budgets during a recession

The importance of advertising has changed in many aspects in the last decade, and mainly during the last years of the economic crisis. Economics traditionally did not find advertising a valuable factor until empirical studies demonstrated that advertisement affects consumer perception by means of indicating the quality of the underlying product. Consequently, products that are advertised more frequently, are more likely to be associated with a higher quality. Nevertheless, advertising is a strong tool in competition, which statement is confirmed by the recognition that increasing consumer knowledge contributes to the diffusion of innovation and to the reduction of research and development (R&D) costs. This contribution can be achieved nowadays by consumer interactivity, where companies deliberately rely on the involvement of their consumers. Recently, when companies were confronted to the global economic crisis, brand managers realized that allocating advertising budgets in a recession (considering the actual state of the economic conditions) is a highly important decision factor beside competition, consumer behaviour, trends or industrial conditions. Companies have to realize that their communication budgets are planned substantially in a different way in times of crisis than during an upsurge. Moreover, should a company make the best of maintaining their advertising budgets in recession times, it will indicate more trust towards their consumers and show a more favorable image towards their investors. This study assembles different approaches from the economics of advertising to draw conclusions for the subsequent analyses of advertising in times of a crisis. The main objective with the literature review is to show, that pro-cyclical actions (reducing advertising budgets in times of crisis and overspending during upsurge) of companies can lead to problems of profitability, consumer trust and competitiveness in the long run.

The migration crisis: representation of a border conflict in Hungarian, German and Pan-European television new coverage

In this article we review the methods used by television news channels in their reporting of the clashes between the Hungarian police and refugees at the Serbian-Hungarian border on 16th of September 2015. With the help of content analysis we examine the techniques used by each editorial board to portray events differently,resulting in dissimilar effects on recipients. During the analysis we examine news coverage for one specific day as presented by Hungarian, German and pan-European broadcasters. German news programs were chosen for comparison with Hungarian ones due to the fact that most of the refugees were heading towards Germany. We conclude that there are significant differences between the information that was broadcast according to television channels; owner expectations presumably play an important role in this.

How source credibility and message claims interact in determining advertising effectiveness

Credible endorsers are often used in advertisements. However, there is conflicting evidence on the role source credibility plays in persuasion. Early research found that source credibility affects persuasion when subjects pay attention to the communication. Other research indicates that a credible source enhances persuasion when people do not scrutinize the message claims carefully and thoroughly. This effect is opposite to what was indicated by early research. More recent research indicates that source credibility may affect persuasion when people scrutinize the message claims, but limits this effect to advertisements with certain type of claims (i.e., ambiguous or extreme claims). This dissertation proposes that source credibility might play a broader role during persuasion than suggested by the empirical literature. Source credibility may affect persuasion, at low levels of involvement, by serving as a peripheral cue. It may also affect persuasion, at high involvement, by serving as an argument or biasing elaboration. ^ Each of these possibilities was explored in an experiment using a 3 (source credibility) x 2 (type of claim) x 2 (levels of involvement) full factorial design. The sample consisted of 180 undergraduate students from a major southeastern University. ^ Results indicated that, at high levels of involvement, the credibility of the source affected persuasion. This effect was due to source credibility acting as an argument within the advertisement. This study did not find that source credibility affected persuasion by biasing elaboration, at high involvement, or by serving as a peripheral cue, at low involvement. ^