Jack G. Kaikati and Andrew M. Kaikati
This article explores the rebranding boom in the USA and around the world, citing numerous examples of strategies that worked as well as some famous attempts that missed the mark…
Abstract
This article explores the rebranding boom in the USA and around the world, citing numerous examples of strategies that worked as well as some famous attempts that missed the mark. The authors have two main objectives: to analyze the pitfalls of rebranding campaigns and to present six strategic options for implementing a rebranding campaign that meets expectations.
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To provide a concise briefing on the most topical issues and relevant implications from the top 400 management publications in the world.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a concise briefing on the most topical issues and relevant implications from the top 400 management publications in the world.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the argument in context.
Findings
Stephen Brown reports on how marketers are constantly thinking of new ways to keep one step ahead of customers who have become wise to, and increasingly wary and cynical of, the advertiser's message. His entertaining article pokes fun at the marketing business to underline a serious and well‐constructed message that new approaches have to be adopted to attract marketing‐literate consumers. Typical quote: “The ultimate aim is to get marketing‐savvy consumers talking about the savvy marketing campaign and the marketing‐savvy talking about being talked about by marketing‐savvy media”. Andy Cohen describes how the senior vice‐president of strategic marketing and new media for Samsung Electronics America oversees more than 150 product launches every year and more than 40 new online marketing campaigns each month – and how he uses the internet to “superaccelerate” the company's marketing plans. A perceptive insight into a workaholic boss's vision for delivering a constant stream of information about what the company has on offer. Andrew and Jack Kaikati take a similar theme to Stephen Brown, chronicling the sometimes‐bizarre methods marketers are using to replace more traditional forms of advertising that are losing their effectiveness among consumers. Methods such as paying actors to go into trendy bars, music stores or tourist hot‐spots and convince total strangers that their cell phone CD or video game is a “must have” product. This enjoyable essay considers the pros and cons of such “advertising by stealth” and touches on the ethical, and possibly legal, pitfalls such an increasingly popular phenomenon might hold in store for the future.
Originality/value
Provides implementable strategies and practical thinking that has influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
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Scott A. Thompson, Andrew M. Kaikati and James M. Loveland
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of brand community participation on new product adoption when the new product is the one which clearly under-performed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of brand community participation on new product adoption when the new product is the one which clearly under-performed compared to industry standards.
Design/methodology/approach
The data on participation behavior, membership duration and adoption behavior of 5,893 members of three different online communities (two brand forums, one general product forum) were gathered and assessed using a Cox PH model.
Findings
Results show that higher participation in a brand community leads to a greater likelihood of adopting objectively under-performing products, while also reducing the likelihood of purchasing rivals’ products. This occurs despite the higher levels of product knowledge possessed by these consumers. The findings also identify a key limiting condition for oppositional loyalty, that it is driven by membership duration, rather than by active participation in the brand community.
Originality/value
Prior research on the impact of brand community participation on product adoption has tended to focus on the adoption of products that are objectively superior to competing products. Unfortunately, only one product can be the performance leader in a given market at any time. Thus, managers do not know if brand communities are powerful enough to enhance the likelihood of adopting objectively under-performing products. This manuscript thus provides important insights for managers wishing to launch new products in categories where there are active brand communities.
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Jack G. Kaikati and Andrew M. Kaikati
This paper seeks to provide an overview of the growing popularity of slotting fees and their potential for abuse that led to congressional hearings as well as investigations by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to provide an overview of the growing popularity of slotting fees and their potential for abuse that led to congressional hearings as well as investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and the General Accounting Office, respectively. It also aims to discuss the widespread use of promotional allowances and their potential for abuse, leading to accounting irregularities.
Design/methodology/approach
It focuses on how promotional allowances have been improperly accounted for at Royal Ahold, Fleming Companies and AmerisourceBergen Corp. By reviewing how the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) overhauled the accounting rules, it sheds some light on the magnitude of these practices.
Findings
The FASB failed to go far enough in its crack‐down. It reveals that heavy reliance on these allowances by financially weak retailers can be a red flag to current and potential investors, both professional and individual. However, the post‐Enron accounting rule changes and the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act are forcing CEOs and CFOs of publicly traded companies to rethink how to account for these allowances. Additionally, while the vast majority of grocery chains dabble in the slotting ritual, the world's largest retailer and the world's largest commissary do not demand and do not accept slotting fees.
Originality/value
By reviewing a limited sample of the literature, this study offers some guidelines for conducting future research.
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Dandan Zhu, Nina Michaelidou, Belinda Dewsnap, John W. Cadogan and Michael Christofi
This study aims to follow a rigorous approach to identify, critically analyze and synthesize 75 papers published from 2000 to 2022.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to follow a rigorous approach to identify, critically analyze and synthesize 75 papers published from 2000 to 2022.
Design/methodology/approach
The study presents a systematic literature review on identity expressiveness (IE), clarifying and expanding what is currently known about the concept.
Findings
To synthesize current knowledge on IE, the study uses the overarching framework of antecedents-phenomenon-consequences, using this same framework to identify gaps and future research directions. The findings show individual and brand-related factors such as the need for uniqueness and anthropomorphism as antecedents of IE, and eWOM/WOM, impulse purchases and upgrading to more exclusive lines as consequences of IE.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to theory by synthesizing and mapping current understanding of the state of knowledge on the concept of IE while highlighting gaps in the extant literature and paving future research directions for scholars in the field.
Practical implications
The study offers useful insights for practitioners, broadening marketers’ actionable options in identity-based marketing. Marketers can use insights from this study to inform marketing strategy and communication campaigns for different types of brands.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind and offers an integrative review of the current literature on IE, thus enhancing understanding of the concept, its antecedents and consequences. The study also contributes to knowledge by highlighting future research priorities for researchers in this field of enquiry.
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Michael Frechette, Mark Arnold, Andrew Kaikati and Nitish Singh
This paper aims to look at the exchange context of peer-to-peer (P2P) collaborative consumption (e.g. Uber and Airbnb). Specifically, the paper examines the effect that the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to look at the exchange context of peer-to-peer (P2P) collaborative consumption (e.g. Uber and Airbnb). Specifically, the paper examines the effect that the sharing of a personal possession, such as a car or apartment, may have on the consumer.
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies were conducted via online surveys. The surveys used vignettes that asked participants to imagine service experiences in either a P2P or a business-to-consumer (B2C) context. The participants then answered questions, including their perceptions of social closeness to the service provider, as well as willingness to pay (Study 1) and expectations of satisfaction (Study 2). The analysis used bootstrapping regression models to examine the relationships.
Findings
In both studies, the participants in the P2P conditions reported significantly greater perceived social closeness to the service provider than did those in the B2C condition. The P2P condition also resulted in significant indirect effects (i.e. mediated by social closeness) on willingness to pay (Study 1) and expectations of satisfaction (Study 2).
Originality/value
This paper extends the work on social distance to show that the effects are activated by the P2P exchange context. Also demonstrated here is that social closeness acts as an important mediator in the P2P context, affecting outcomes in the consumption and pre-consumption stages. Finally, construal level effects are extended to show that trend interpretation can be influenced by social distance.
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In light of the increasing acceptance of the concept of brand cocreation this paper aims to develop a model of the process in order to elucidate the roles of the various…
Abstract
Purpose
In light of the increasing acceptance of the concept of brand cocreation this paper aims to develop a model of the process in order to elucidate the roles of the various stakeholders, particularly the company and the brand consumers, in it and the implications of the concept for brand managers.
Design/methodology/approach
The process model of brand cocreation was derived from extant literature covering a wide range of topics related to brands, including: various types of marketing, consumer behaviour, psychology, new product development, and marketing communications.
Findings
A five‐stage process of brand cocreation is developed identifying the various stages in which the firm is in control and those which are controlled by the consumers.
Practical implications
The paper highlights the need to reconsider the role of brand managers in the brand cocreation process and identifies various gaps in the knowledge of brands and their management that have become apparent as a result of the development of the model.
Originality/value
The value of this paper lies in its holistic overview of the complete brand cocreation process and the issues relating to the nature of brand management that it highlights.
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The primary question motivating this study is how message characteristics influence the persuasiveness of celebrity athlete endorsements as used in print advertising for a sports…
Abstract
The primary question motivating this study is how message characteristics influence the persuasiveness of celebrity athlete endorsements as used in print advertising for a sports drink. In particular, this study examines the extent to which celebrity endorsement of a product influences the effectiveness of advertising under varying degrees of perceived fit between the celebrity and the product image. The findings indicate that the process of integrating endorsement strength with given endorsers and products can substantially enhance the effectiveness of celebrity advertising. It is found that the interactive effect of endorsement strength and celebrity-product match is more pronounced among consumers with high product involvement than among those with low involvement.
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This article aims to examine the US history of practices that mask the marketing content of messages to consumers and of the public policy approaches taken towards such practices.
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to examine the US history of practices that mask the marketing content of messages to consumers and of the public policy approaches taken towards such practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This research examines both primary sources such as legal challenges and contemporary writings as well as secondary sources.
Findings
The US legal/regulatory system has been examining practices that mask the marketing content of communications for over 125 years. Fully masked messages were initially regulated under postal service laws and publisher self‐regulatory codes. Partially masked messages, e.g. testimonials, were examined first by courts and later by regulatory and industry self‐regulatory agencies. These diverse sources of regulation led to diverse approaches and in part explain the modern preference for information disclosure over prohibiting the masking of marketing messages.
Originality/value
Modern analysis of these practices ignores their history and the historical evolution of their regulation. This article not only reveals a rich regulatory history, but also suggests that modern policy should treat the broad array of masking practices consistently and correct current policy approaches that are based on historical development rather than modern public policy analysis and concerns.
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Different from general goods, games are intangible. Games of limited-amount version are much more expensive. However, the value of games cannot be actually validated, while buyers…
Abstract
Purpose
Different from general goods, games are intangible. Games of limited-amount version are much more expensive. However, the value of games cannot be actually validated, while buyers purchase the intangible goods. This study, therefore, aims to empirically clarify the impact of product scarcity and uniqueness in buyers' purchase of games of limited-amount version.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on literature review, the survey method was conducted. Data of 204 respondents who recently bought games of limited-amount version were gathered and analyzed with partial least square.
Findings
The results showed that perceived quality and perceived uniqueness, significantly increased by product scarcity, was shown of significant positive impact on perceived value which significantly enhanced purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
The results indicated the importance of high quality and the reflection of uniqueness in buyers' purchase of games of limited-amount version. The results also validated the effect of scarcity on intangible goods. Practically, the results facilitated strategic operation and marketing of game producers and suppliers in designing and marketing game software. The results also facilitated further theoretical development of goods scarcity.
Originality/value
Nowadays, product scarcity has been an important operation and marketing strategy to enterprises. Games are an industry of growing importance. However, the impact of scarcity in buyers' purchase of games of limited-amount version was still limited. The results validated the importance of scarcity and perceived uniqueness in intangible game goods purchase behavior. The validation of this study can provide references for strategic operation and marketing of the game industry.