Search

In this study, we investigated the combined effects of MoS2 QDs' catalytic properties and the colorimetric responses of organic reagents to create a sniffing device based on the sensor array concept of the mammalian olfactory system. The aim was to differentiate the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in cigarette smoke. The designed optical nose device was utilized for the classification of various cigarette VOCs. Unsupervised Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and supervised Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) methods were employed for data analysis. The LDA analysis showed promising results, with 100% accuracy in both training and cross-validation. To validate the sensor's performance, we assessed its ability to discriminate between five cigarette brands, achieving 100% accuracy in the training set and 82% in the cross-validation set. Additionally, we focused on studying four popular Iranian cigarette brands (Bahman Kootah, Omega, Montana Gold, and Williams), including fraudulent samples. Impressively, the developed sensor array achieved a perfect 100% accuracy in distinguishing these brands and detecting fraud. We further analyzed a total of 126 cigarette samples, including both original and fraudulent ones, using LDA with a matrix size of (126 × 27). The resulting LDA model demonstrated an accuracy of 98%. Our proposed analytical procedure is characterized by its efficiency, affordability, user-friendliness, and reliability. The selectivity exhibited by the developed sensor array positions it as a valuable tool for differentiating between original and counterfeit cigarettes, thus aiding in border control efforts worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To influence consumer pre-purchase decision-making processes, such as brand selection and perceived brand experience, brands are interested in adopting hyperconnected technological stimuli, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality, social media and tech devices. However, the understanding of different hyperconnected touchpoints remained shallow and results mixed in previous literature, despite the fact that these touchpoints span different technological interfaces/devices and may influence consumer brand selection. This paper aims to solidify the conceptual underpinnings of the role of online hyperconnected stimuli, which may influence consumer psychological reactions in terms of brand selection and experience. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is conceptual and presents a discussion based on extant literature from various international publishers. Findings: The authors revealed different technological stimuli in the online hyperconnected environment that may influence consumer online hyperconnected brand selection (OHBS), perceived online hyperconnected brand experience (OHBE), perceived well-being and behavioral intention. Originality/value: The conceptual understanding of OHBS and perceived OHBE was mixed and inconsistent in previous studies. This paper brings together extant literature to establish the conceptual understanding of antecedents and outcomes of OHBS, i.e. perceived OHBE, perceived well-being and behavioral intention, and presents a cohesive conceptual framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the influential aspects of industrial branding in building customer brand engagement from the buyer's and the seller's points of view. Collecting buyer and seller information is essential to understand business-to-business interaction better. Buyer's and seller's perspective integration is significant for stakeholders to develop proper strategies to achieve customer brand engagement. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a structural equation model to examine the antecedents of customer brand engagement from the buyer's perspective; then, the result is compared with the seller's view by conducting an analytical hierarchy process. The authors exercise 140 valid data from the buyer's industry and 9 experts from the seller's industry. Findings: This study finds that in developing customer brand engagement, rational brand quality is the most influential from the buyer's view and top priority from the seller's view. Surprisingly, both parties have different perspectives about the second and third priorities. The buyers put emotional brand associations as a second priority; perceived value is meaningless and insignificant. On the contrary, the sellers set the perceived value as the second priority and emotional brand associations as the last. Research limitations/implications: The respondents from the buyer industry cover various industries, and the research is limited to the buyer and the seller in the chemical polymer emulsion market, a market where product quality and application quality on the buyers' side are essential and where the buyer–seller interaction is intense. Replicating the study in other industries and cultural backgrounds is recommended for generalization. Originality/value: The paper's novelty is that there are different priorities and perspectives from the buyer's and the seller's views. This study contributes to industrial brand engagement research studies. Investigation of the buyer's and the seller's perspectives in industrial brand engagement research studies is still limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competition between enterprises has become more fiercely as they have the possibility to easily move across national boundaries to exploit opportunities in other countries or markets. The turbulent market environment imposes enterprises, irrespective of their size, industry and geographical region, to permanently adapt to its everchanging conditions. This is why they have tried to identify and implement various techniques and methods in their activities and processes in order to attain high levels of competitiveness. One of them is branding, a powerful marketing tool and an important aspect of any business. The paper aims to briefly define the brand concept and present the evolution of ten world's most valuable brands in the period 2018-2023. In this respect, the author used a qualitative research method. The results of the paper concludes that the American brands have dominated the hierarchy. Amazon and Apple were the two main competitors for the global supremacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Studies have shown that within-domain compensatory consumption can successfully repair the damaged self, but other research indicates that it can undermine self-control because such consumption causes self-threat rumination that impairs self-regulatory resources. This paper aims to identify a boundary condition that reconciles and explains these contradictory findings. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted three experiments to show that within-domain compensatory consumption undermines self-control, but only in some situations. They test a boundary condition (i.e. type of connections between within-domain products and self-threat domain) for the effects of such consumption on self-threat rumination and self-control. Findings: This paper demonstrates that within-domain (but not across-domain) compensatory consumption induces rumination and reduces subsequent self-control, but only when the product's connection to the self-threat domain is made explicit through brand names or slogans. When the connection is merely implicit, rumination and self-control deficits are not observed. Practical implications: Consumers may seek certain products to bolster threatened aspects of their self-concept. Marketing tactics that explicitly highlight connections to such self-aspects can lower a consumer's self-control resulting in stronger purchase intent, while at the same time hindering the possibility of self-concept repair. Managers need to be wary of ethical concerns. Originality/value: This research qualifies the existing findings by presenting "type of product connection" as a key determinant of within-domain compensatory consumption's impact on self-control. Researchers need to be conscious of the type of products (explicitly vs implicitly connected to the self-threat domain) they use in compensatory consumption studies, because this may influence their findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As brands progressively become instruments for consumers to advocate for social change, many feel pressure to engage in social purpose branding (SPB) through addressing social issues. In a rush to remain socially relevant, brands have approached SPB differently; some genuinely intend to advance the social issue, while some intend to capitalise on social movements to mobilise the brand. This paper aims to explain these differences by theoretically outlining various approaches to SPB. Design/methodology/approach: This mixed method paper draws on theory, interviews with marketing practitioners, and practical exemplars to present a typology of SPB approaches. Findings: Using institutional logics theory, SPB is categorised into four approaches: social purpose-driving, social purpose-driven, social purpose-aligning and social purpose-washing. Research limitations/implications: The typological framework for SPB advances this domain to outline effective and ineffective ways for brands to engage with social issues. A detailed agenda for further research is provided to guide ongoing SPB research. Practical implications: The typology presented reduces complexity and helps marketers understand the different approaches to engaging with a social issue. Given the growing intertwinement of brands and social issues, this research is essential for brands seeking to advance a social issue and remain relevant. Originality/value: This paper offers a novel conceptualisation of SPB by defining it, identifying a framework of its characteristics, and detailing four SPB approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) left behind a vast selection of artist materials. This paper presents an overview of this reference collection, now located in a brand-new building in Oslo (Munch museum, MUNCH). The variety and the significant number of items in this unique collection represent an asset that is useful for advancing knowledge of Munch's art, in addition to historic paint and drawing materials. This paper focuses on historical artists' materials, discussing the challenges, the opportunities, and the impact of scientific study. Preliminary investigations indicate that the production of the paint tubes span pre1890s through to at least the 1920s and could stem from the whole period of Munch's career. This collection consists of 956 paint tubes from 20 different manufacturers. Most of them are labelled as oil colours but some as watercolour and tempera paint. Preliminary investigations of a selection of paint samples show that there is a discrepancy between the chemical composition and the brand specification on the labels. In addition to these paint tubes, there are watercolours in the form of dry cakes, and approximately 300 pastels and crayons in all colours from at least seven different brands. This collection provides a unique and important source for future research in modern artists materials from the turn of centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating novel collaboration modes is imperative for enhancing the cooperative ties between brand retailers and anchors as live streaming commerce moves progressively towards standardization. In this paper, we study a live streaming commerce supply chain system composed of a brand retailer and an Internet celebrity anchor. We also develop the pricing and live streaming service effort decision models under the equal proportion settlement mode of pit fee for the brand retailer and anchor. The research results show that under certain conditions, there is an optimal joint decision on price discount and live streaming service effort. In addition, the equal proportion settlement mode provides security for brand retailers but tends to expose the anchor's capabilities of live streaming sales. Consequently, anchors can only obtain a higher proportion of the pit fee by putting in more effort. Finally, through numerical analysis, we presented the impact of key parameters on the optimal decisions, demand, and profits of brand retailers and anchors. Based on these findings, we provided relevant managerial insights, offering valuable guidance and reference for the live streaming commerce industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the way to designing customized products as one of the core activities of Industry 4.0, the strategy of computational design emerges as a unique design process due to its flexibility and simplicity. More specifically, the aforementioned strategy is concerned with the study of brand identity and its description in the development of commercial industrial products. The proposed design approach is focused on the study of branded product forms following computational design methodologies, i.e., employing textual or/and visual programming languages. The paper presents an overview of in-depth research studies which deal with the systematic way of creation, evolution, and transformation of industrial products with modern digital tools. Through the review, 100 studies have been analyzed over the last 15 years. The background of this research includes definitions from the specific four pillars of the modern theory of industrial design, e.g., product design, digital design, visual representation, and product identity. Furthermore, the current paper combines the use of computational design with specific parameters of visual brand elements in order to develop a methodological tool for the mass customization of industrial products. Moreover, the proposed framework offers a great deal of flexibility in both design and manufacturing, while many design alternatives could become available in a very short time. Finally, the impact of this paper is the correlation between computational design techniques and the theoretical background of brand identity principles (i.e., shapes, geometries, styles, textures, colors, and materials) for inspiring novel ideas among engineers, designers, and marketers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to critically evaluate the definition of the brand concept, support the critique with an empirical study and provide a definition to resolve the problems that have been identified. Design/methodology/approach: This paper combines a conceptual critique with empirical research using a sample of 730 journal papers to analyse the scope and number of brand-related concepts in extant literature. Findings: The brand concept has evolved to become problematic with no clarity of definition. There has been an explosion in the number of brand-related concepts that make the brand concept opaque and unwieldy. Based upon the findings, the authors argue that it is necessary to return to a "label and associations model" of the brand concept to ameliorate these issues. Research limitations/implications: The empirical research presented examines only 730 papers from a much wider body of brand literature. Nonetheless, it illustrates the fact that researchers and theorists are not talking about the same concept when using the term "brand". Practical implications: Practitioners are not being served by academic branding literature because no two researchers appear to be studying the same entity. This prevents a body of research from being built to guide practitioners. Originality/value: This paper makes an original contribution by combining a conceptual critique and empirical study to examine the problems arising from the absence of an agreed definition of the brand concept and uses this as a foundation for creating a resolution to the problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of innovations can be more successful when launched under an established brand name, e.g. as a brand extension. However, the role of the appearance of the design is often underexposed, whereas the visual appearance of products is known as a critical determinant of consumer response and product success. Based on current literature, designers and design managers only know what to design, but suffer from a lack of knowledge how to design more successful brand extensions. When designing the visual appearance of these extensions we can rely on the strong and recognizable identity of the brand (typicality), but also have to create a completely new product (novelty) referring to the much-debated MAYA Principle (Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable). In this paper we recognize the limitations of the MAYA principle and claim that the success of brand extensions cannot be explained by a simple negative linear equation of opposites as typicality versus novelty. The results of two design case studies about speakers and headphones show that at least three determinants play an important role when designing the appearance of brand extensions; product typicality (does the design look like the archetype product), novelty (how novel is the design) and brand fit (does the design refer to the brand characteristics). Besides that we argue that the optimal balance between those three actors will also be determined by the type of product (archetype or multitype). The results indicate a higher importance of a novel visual styling for speakers and a stronger connection between typicality and brand fit for headphones. To support the design process even further, we will present our findings with the aid of the Triangular Designers space that helps designers and design managers to strategically make decisions to launch successful brand extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper challenges two common views of brand dilution: first, that it is exclusively the unintended consequence of a poorly executed strategy of brand extension and, second, that its likelihood is heightened by brand licensing. Using a new theoretical model, we show that brand dilution can be seen not just as an unfortunate development to be avoided, but as an opportunity to monetize the brand. We further show that, at the relevant margin, switching from in-house development to licensing reduces the risk of brand dilution. The model offers a novel perspective on some important managerial choices and generates a series of empirically testable hypotheses. This paper was accepted by Dmitri Kuksov, marketing. Funding: Financial support from PRIN 20157NHSTP004 is gratefully acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.00852. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative media advertising is a specific type of unconventional advertising in which a regular physical object serves as a medium to carry an advertising message. To better understand the workings of this type of advertising, we conducted a meta-analysis. In this study, we explore the direct effects of creative media advertising, several moderators, and the possible underlying mechanisms. The results show that exposure to creative (versus traditional) media advertising has an overall positive effect on brand association strength and persuasion (i.e., ad attitude, brand attitude, purchase intentions, and electronic word of mouth [eWOM]). Both these effects are moderated by metaphor use, meaning that the effects are stronger when the physical object is a good metaphor for the message it carries. Furthermore, indirect (e.g., social media, printed picture) exposure to the message positively moderates the effect of creative media advertising on brand association strength but not on persuasion. Brand familiarity does not play a moderating role. Finally, a meta-analytic structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure was used to show that the main underlying mechanism of creative media advertising persuasiveness is surprise—and not perceived persuasive intent. For practitioners, this study shows that creative media ads are more effective when leveraging surprise and metaphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Product counterfeiting has been ubiquitously observed in various segments of the supply chain. The intrinsic values of brands create more opportunities for counterfeiting. The damaging reputation of such brands leaves them to deal with the fallouts of counterfeits. Hence, such companies address them mainly through legal action, price and quality strategy. However, consumer characteristics and the random distribution of counterfeit products to the consumer types affect the effectiveness of a counter strategy. This paper aims to generate insights on how to leverage digital technology to curb counterfeit entities with consideration of consumer characteristics and the random distribution of counterfeits to them. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used game theory and vertical differentiation model to understand and encounter deceptive counterfeiting of brand products. The study understands the economic relationship between a brand product manufacturer and consumer types based on their awareness. Further, the authors have considered different cases in the model to gain useful insights. Findings: The results reveal that when the consumers are proactive, informed and value-conscious brand product manufacturers take digital technology counterstrategy to earn the maximum revenue. Hence, this analysis highlights that the effectiveness of a counterstrategy critically depends on the consumer characteristics, whether they are proactive, informed or unaware. Practical implications: The study outlines that brand product manufacturers must emphasize on the digital supply chain, product redesign and product tracking facility to empower informed and value-conscious and proactive consumers. Moreover, the government should take steps to create awareness among uninformed consumers via information campaigns. Originality/value: This paper incorporates the role of consumers and brand product manufacturers to understand and address the deceptive counterfeiting issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the effects of buzz about the focal brand on competing brands' attitudes. Design/methodology/approach: Brand-related buzz can be defined as "a general sense of [positive or negative] excitement about or interest in [a brand], as reflected in or generated by word of mouth" (Oxford dictionary). The authors investigate the spillover effects of such positive and negative buzz on brand attitudes of 648 brands in 43 categories over five years. Findings: The authors find that spillover effects are widespread across product categories and affect competing brands through (negative) halo effect and (unfavorable) preference substitution. The authors do not find evidence of positive spillover effects for non-focal brands. Research limitations/implications: The authors provide generalizable evidence that positive and negative buzz spills over competing brands' attitudes for hundreds of brands across the largest sectors of the US economy. Interestingly, positive and negative buzz have asymmetric effects on consumer attitudes. These effects vary by consumer attitude metric and are moderated by brand news intensity, strength and similarity. Practical implications: First, marketing managers should monitor the buzz of competing brands. Second, if managers are concerned with impressions, they should intervene when there is a negative buzz about competitors (halo effect). Third, managers should stimulate positive buzz to negatively affect their competitors' purchases. Fourth, managing a smaller brand has advantages regarding impressions and recommendations, while news intensity can shield from negative spillover effects for impressions. Finally, brand similarity amplifies the spillover effects across the board. Originality/value: This paper provides evidence that spillover effects are pervasive and urges marketing managers and academics to incorporate competing buzz in their frameworks and strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the e-commerce supply chain of agricultural products, there are three parties: farmer cooperative organizations, e-commerce platforms, and consumers. This study aims to investigate how to coordinate farmer cooperative organizations and e-commerce platforms to maximize the overall profits of the supply chains of agricultural products. Based on the Stackelberg game theory, this paper constructs a two-level supply chain decision-making model led by farmers' cooperatives and followed by e-commerce platforms. It discusses two supply chain decision-making models (decentralized and centralized) with decision variables (selling price and promotion effort). The results show that the overall profit of the supply chain under centralized decision making is higher than the overall profit under decentralized decision making. In order to achieve the coordination of agricultural product sales price and brand promotion efforts and achieve win-win cooperation, this paper puts forward two coordination schemes: (1) coordinating revenue sharing, cost sharing, and wholesale price discounts and (2) coordinating the wholesale price. These two contract coordination schemes are verified by example analysis. Finally, the following strategies are recommended, including strengthening the investment in brand promotion and contract management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Capturing consumers' notice by differentiating a product from competing brands in attaching an affixed label featuring product claims, as an alternative front-of-package (FOP) cue, has been widely used in fast-moving consumer goods retailing. This paper aims to apply perceived product newness as the basis for examining how affixed labeling, manipulated in terms of design features and message claims, can impact consumer evaluation. Design/methodology/approach: Four between-subjects experiments examined the persuasive impact of the use of affixed labels. In particular, how product evaluation, in response to affixed labeling, varied as a function of its shape (Study 1a), location (Study 1b), the combination of shape and location cues (Study 1c) and the strength of message claims conveyed by such labels (Study 2). Perceived product newness is assessed as a mediator for all studies. Findings: The results show the power of affixed labels in persuasion. Specifically, consumers tend to perceive the item as newer, achieving persuasion, when the affixed label has a distinctive shape or location. Yet, incorporating several unusual design components fails to trigger an elevated result if a singular visual stimulus serves as a cue for an item's newness. Further, the strength of claims highlighted in an affixed label correlates to positive impact on evaluations. Research limitations/implications: This study offers an empirically based examination of consumers' responses to affixed labeling and identifies perceived product newness as a mediator of the observed effect. Practical implications: A salient, affixed label enables a credible cue for product newness, therefore, driving evaluation. Originality/value: This paper contributes to understanding the influence on the persuasion of FOP labeling, with salience to retail promotional and sales messaging tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the sake of better achieving the productivity of leather damage detection in industrial production, this paper proposes a Robust Breakage Detection Network (RBD-Net) model for leather breakage detection. The model is an optimized model of You Only Look Once (YOLO) v5 to identify and detect the degrees of damage in leather and the type of damage in leather without any damage from the image. Firstly, the backbone network is replaced by Cross Stage Partial Densely Connected Networks (CSP-DenseNet), which can better achieve the reuse of features and prevent the loss of excessive gradient flow information; secondly, Bi-directional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN) is added in the feature refinement stage, which can better balance the feature information at different scales; finally, the addition of the Decision Network allows for capturing not only local shapes, but also global shapes spanning a large area of the image to better identify leather breakage in the image. By conducting experiments and making comparisons, it concludes that the method performs better than existing detection models in both breakage detection, and the accuracy of cutting, etched surface, brand stigma, hole and bleaching of five types of leather is 83.9%, 80.4%, 82.4%, 95.5%, and 89.4%, respectively, which satisfies the requirement for the balance of accuracy and robustness in industrial production, and also provides some ideas for other breakage detection research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advergames are generally believed to be an effective advertising format due to their gamified and engaging nature. The empirical evidence for this, however, is inconclusive, with several studies reporting nonsignificant or contradicting results. The current study aimed to address this research gap by providing a meta-analysis of five advergame effects (i.e., ad attitude, memory, persuasion, choice behavior, persuasion knowledge). A systematic search procedure was used and 38 relevant data sets were identified. The results indicate that, generally, (1) consumers have a more positive attitude toward advergames than other types of advertising; (2) brand and product information seems less likely to be remembered by consumers when it is communicated via an advergame versus different types of advertising; (3) advergames seem to be persuasive and (4) drivers of choice behavior; and (5) compared to other types of advertising, advergames are less likely to be recognized as advertising; finally, a metaregression model showed that (6) consumers' age mitigates the persuasiveness of advergames, meaning that younger consumers seem more susceptible to the persuasive effect of advergames than older consumers are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which author discusses articles on topics including focuses on six papers in various areas of finance, economics and management as there are five empirical papers and one in-depth bibliometric literature review.

This correction notice is regarding a published paper titled "Probiotic-Based Intervention in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: Conventional and New Approaches." The authors clarify that the clinical trials mentioned in the paper evaluated a probiotic formulation previously known as VSL#3. They explain that the formulation of the probiotic product VSL#3, currently marketed under this brand name, is not identical to the original product, which has been known as the 'De Simone Formulation' since 2016 and is available under the brand names Visbiome (USA) and Vivomixx (Europe). The authors state that this clarification does not affect the scientific conclusions of the paper. [Extracted from the article]

Based on the trust/commitment theory and the customer-based brand equity theory, this study aims to ascertain which of the brand equity drivers of A. Le Coq beer have an impact on attachment and its overall brand equity in the Estonian brewery market. In order to achieve this goal, an empirical study was conducted based on the 17 customer-based/consumer-based brand equity models: the 15 brand equity models, including the beer/beverage brand equity models, the 2 internal brand equity models, as well as 3 other related models. The study utilised a sample of convenience of 120 University of Tartu students. The questionnaire was placed on Google's online survey administration service. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) through AMOS29 was used for testing the fit of the model and covariances (through AMOS29) were used for testing the hypotheses. Additionally, t-test analysis was used for the differences in the means between the demographic characteristics and the items of the model. The results show that brand meaning has a strong positive effect on attachment strength, which significantly influences relationship factors—commitment, trust, and satisfaction. Another major finding is that the relationship factors—commitment, trust, and satisfaction—play a significant role in the development of the brand equity of A. Le Coq beer. This study provides useful insights for brewery marketing managers by exploiting the strong positive relationships found between beer brand equity drivers, such as the strong positive relationships found within consumers of beer, i.e., the relationships between brand reputation and brand image, brand meaning and attachment strength, attachment strength and commitment, attachment strength and satisfaction, attachment strength and trust, satisfaction and brand equity, commitment and brand equity, and trust and brand equity. This finding contributes to the literature on brand equity related to the Estonian environment. Five differences in demographic characteristics seem to play a role in designing strategies by the management teams of different brands for increasing the consumption of their competing brands of beer. A replication of a model previously used for a non-product is part of the novelty of this paper. In addition, all the examined relationships are found to be positive and significant, which provides a contribution to the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of gamification as a means to engage and retain customers has garnered significant attention in marketing. Despite its widespread usage, little is known about its impact on consumer behavior within online contexts. This paper aims to investigate the influence of gamification on brand equity and desirable consumer behaviors by examining the mediating role of brand engagement. An analytical survey study was conducted, with the statistical population consisting of all customers of Digikala, the most prominent online retail store in Iran. The G-power software was employed to determine the sample size for the partial least square test. Standard questionnaires were employed for data collection, and structural equation modeling (SEM) using Smart PLS software was utilized for data analysis. The findings reveal that gamification significantly impacts brand equity, including brand awareness and loyalty, and desirable consumer behaviors such as word of mouth and resistance to negative information. Moreover, gamification enhanced brand engagement, which mediates its effects on brand equity and desirable consumer behaviors. The incorporation of gamification dimensions, including immersion, achievement, and social interaction, is identified as a promising marketing strategy, and online business managers and marketers should focus on enhancing these dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global business today is driven by brands, each with a unique story, but rarely of a product that is a public good. Building a brand requires careful planning, creativity, and an understanding of the target market. Borrowing from various brand concepts and frameworks, this paper explores how a government-bred common bean cultivar., NUA 45, defied the odds to create a new identity and association in Zimbabwe. Firstly, the cultivar overcame the general lack of promotion investment in government-bred (public) common bean cultivars. Secondly, being a red mottle-colored cultivar in a red-speckled (sugar type) bean-predominated country, NUA 45 had to break the preference typecasts. Thirdly, NUA 45 was among the first generation of biofortified bean cultivars enriched with iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), some of the most sought-after micronutrients in a world ridden with hidden hunger. Overcoming these market barriers required a systematic approach to awareness creation, collaboration, and commercialization, avoiding the tragedy of the commons, and instead, achieving a win-win situation for all stakeholders. This entailed understanding the needs and preferences of different value chain actors, developing messages, and engaging local farmers, retailers, aggregators, and private and public sector partners to promote NUA 45. Lastly, developing compelling stories and leveraging digital channels to reach new customers that sought personal experiences, moved the cultivar name from a mere label to a spontaneously endorsed lifestyle and a brand that ‘spread like wildfire’ across the country and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. The NUA 45 brand broke new ground for other biofortified bean cultivars and non-sugar bean cultivars. Following its release in seven other countries, NUA 45 pioneered listing on the SADC regional variety catalog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research question: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that influence consumers' intentions when buying foreign brands, and then the purchase itself. Motivation: The business environment is experiencing an extensive change and it has become very demanding for companies to retain customers as well as market share. Companies must learn to adapt to changes in order to survive in the market, and therefore need to be aware of the needs of their customers and their purchasing decisions. The rise in consumer awareness has led consumers to opt for well-known and high-quality foreign brands. Hence, if companies hope to outperform their competitors, they need to persuade consumers to purchase their products and brands. Idea: The main objective of the research is to be based on previous research in this field to find out whether perceived quality, prestige, perceived value and environmental impact affect the intention of domestic consumers to buy foreign brands, and consequently the purchase of these foreign brands. Data: The survey was conducted on the territory of the Republic of Serbia by means of a questionnaire and included 158 respondents. Data were collected from the respondents electronically during a period of about one month. Tools: Statistical analyses of all collected data (utilizing linear correlation, multiple regression analysis, t-test of sample independence and ANOVA) were used to draw conclusions about the relationships between the observed variables and to determine differences in the mean values between individual categories of respondents in terms of buying foreign brands. Findings: Multiple regression analysis confirmed the statistically significant influence of perceived quality and perceived value on the intention of consumers in Serbia to buy foreign brands. Other factors do not have a statistically significant effect on consumer intention. Also, a simple regression analysis revealed a statistically significant influence of consumer intention on the act of purchase. At the very end of the paper, it was determined that statistically significant differences regarding the purchase of foreign brands existed when respondents were observed by gender and education levels, while age did not have a statistical significance. Contribution: This research has a scientific and practical contribution in terms of collecting information about the factors that influence the consumers' intension to buy foreign brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper investigates consumer engagement, evaluation and beliefs of domestic products and the influence of such associated attributes communicated via domestic COO labelling within the United Kingdom. Design/methodology/approach: A visual ethnographic approach utilising the methods of autophotography and photo elicitation interviews was conducted to explore consumers' interaction with the domestic COO label and provenance advertising. Findings: The results of photo elicitation interviews revealed both positive and negative cognitive, affective and normative implications of domestic provenance labelling of influence emerging within consumers. Research limitations/implications: The findings are applied to the context of the United Kingdom, with contextual limitations acknowledged of doing so. Convenience sampling limitations are also acknowledged. Practical implications: The findings provide UK-based FMCG manufacturers and retailers insight into the associated attributes of domestic brand and products interpreted by consumers, communicated via a COO label, to assist in their purchasing strategies. Originality/value: This paper seeks to contribute towards the understanding of provenance labelling influence on consumers for products within the FMCGs sector, whilst specifically commenting upon attributes of reliance and influence that may assist navigation of changing priorities and national sentiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute knowledge regarding the nature of successful and unsuccessful value co-creation processes between firms and brand communities and the strategies used to address the latter. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on a netnographic study of the online collaborative platform known as Alfisti.com, which carmaker Alfa Romeo launched to enhance co-creation with its most devoted consumers, the "Alfisti". Findings - The findings identify three groups of collaborative practices: interacting, identity and organizing practices. The paper details how firm and brand community members enact the elements - procedures, understandings and engagements - of collaborative practices and how the alignment of these enactments impacts value co-creation. Research limitations/implications - The paper suggests that co-creation of value succeeds when the enactment of collaborative practices aligns, i.e. when firm and brand community members enact practices in a similar way, and that co-creation fails when the enactment of practices misaligns. Firms and brand communities use three realignment strategies - compliance, interpretation and orientation - to address the misalignment and failure of co-creation. The fact that the research draws on a single qualitative case study is a limitation. Practical implications - Managerial implications include using realignment strategies to manage firm-brand community co-creation. Originality/value - Creating an empirical-based framework regarding successful and failing co-creation and how the latter is addressed in the context of brand community makes the paper original. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of the study is to identify both reasons for ignoring and for paying attention to the country of origin (COO) by consumers when choosing brands of durable goods. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper a qualitative approach was applied, i.e. 25 in-depth semistructured interviews with Polish consumers of durable goods purposively selected out of those who had previously participated in a quantitative survey conducted by the authors. Findings: Among the reasons for paying attention to the COO when choosing brands of durable goods, cognitive (rational), affective (emotional) and normative factors have been identified, while among the reasons for ignoring the COO by consumers, the authors identified only cognitive (rational) and affective (emotional) factors. Research limitations/implications: The conclusions can be applied by brand managers, e.g. when making decisions whether and why to communicate COO dimensions. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the international marketing literature as it develops a deeper insight into consumer behavior with reference to the consumers' reasons for paying attention to and ignoring the COO, with very little published on the latter in particular. Furthermore, it is one of still relatively few qualitative studies conducted so far on COO taking a perspective of a consumer, especially the one from an emerging market from the European Union (EU). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Marketing (0354-3471) is the property of SEMA - Srpsko udruzenje za Marketing i Ekonomski fakultet Beograd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This paper aims to conceptualise and characterise brand systems and outline propositions and research avenues to advance the systems' view of branding. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual synthesis approach is adopted to integrate the extant branding research perspectives. The conceptual framework is grounded in the theoretical foundation of marketing systems theory. Findings: The conceptual framework delineates brand inputs, throughputs, outcomes and feedback effects within a brand system. It configures the complexity and dynamics of brand value formation among brand actors within the branding environment. Research limitations/implications: This paper contributes to systems thinking in branding and brand value co-creation research. It extends marketing systems theory into the branding context and provides research directions for exploring the structural and functional configurations, cause–consequence processes and outcome concerns of brand value formation. Practical implications: This conceptual framework informs brand development, management and regulation at a macro level. Managers can apply the brand system concept to identify and manage conflicting expectations of brand actors and alleviate adverse brand outcomes such as negative brand externalities, enhancing overall brand system health and societal value. Originality/value: This research expands the scope of brand actor agency and identifies the likelihood of disproportionate brand outcomes. It provides methodological guidelines for analysis and intervention in brand systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Healthcare branding is a recent concept, and its theoretical modeling is still somewhat inadequate. This paper examines how perceived service quality affects healthcare brand performance, brand image, and behavioral intention. METHODS: The present study uses survey responses from 678 patients who have taken treatment in multi -specialty medical institutes. Standard scales were used from the literature to measure the variables used. The conceptual model was validated using structural equation modeling using AMOS. SPSS was used to determine the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. RESULTS: The theoretical model has a relatively high and significant coefficient path for each of the hypotheses. The R2 value for satisfaction was 0.70 or 70 percent. The R2 value for the trust was 0.78. For Brand performance, Brand image and behavioral intentions were 81, 82.5, and 74%, respectively. Overall, the scores suggest an acceptable level of measure score and predictive ability of the relevant constructs. The results disclose the dimensions of service quality in the circumstances of healthcare. The patients place relatively more importance on healthcare service quality than any other attributes of healthcare institutions. Service quality has a high beta value of 0.98 and p p-value of 0.000. CONCLUSION: The study makes an innovative theoretical contribution by establishing a relationship between experience-centric healthcare brand performance and brand image. Patient satisfaction and trust were demonstrated to mediate the relationship between perceived service quality, brand performance, brand image, and behavioral intention in a healthcare context. The study established the novel finding that trust and satisfaction play a significant role in service quality, brand performance, and brand image of healthcare institutions. This study also shows that brand performance has a positive and significant direct effect on brand performance. This shows the dependency of brand image on brand performance in the healthcare institution context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To further improve the branding strategies between single-brand-retailers and multi-brand-retailers, the paper investigates the influence of multiple manufacturer brand images on retailer brand image. It considers the moderating role of the number of offered manufacturer brands. Design/methodology/approach: The research is conducted in the automotive retail context. Based on an online survey (383 respondents), a Partial-Least Squares Modeling, estimated using SmartPLS 3 and a classic partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) algorithm, is used to validate the hypotheses. Findings: The results reveal that manufacturer brands did not influence the retailer's brand image in all cases since it is only influenced by the manufacturer brand when the retailer offers only one manufacturer brand. Practical implications: For retailers offering only one manufacturer brand, the most extensive possible adoption of the corporate identity (CI) specifications prescribed by the manufacturer brands is the prerequisite for a positive image effect. Retailers offering more than one manufacturer brand should create their image based on the retailer's identity. In this context, it is essential to position the retailer brand independently in the market. Originality/value: This is the first study focuses on retailers with a small or limited number of offered manufacturer brands to answer the question of whether the number of provided manufacturer brands moderates the impact of manufacturer brand images on the retailer's brand image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine whether counterfeit luxury buyers' tendency to impress others overrides their anticipation of embarrassment or whether the anticipation of embarrassment delimits their self-presentational goals. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on three studies – a survey and two experiments that test the predictions. This study adopts a mix of moderation and mediation analyses to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings: The findings reveal a greater counterfeit purchase likelihood and embarrassment aversion among publicly (vs privately) self-conscious consumers. Furthermore, a higher (vs a lower) audience class and a conspicuous (vs an inconspicuous) brand lead to lower counterfeit purchase intention, and anticipated embarrassment mediates both these effects. To mitigate the threat of embarrassment, publicly self-conscious consumers are more likely to buy counterfeits among a higher-class audience when the brand is inconspicuous (vs conspicuous). They, however, are indifferent to brand conspicuousness among a lower-class audience. Practical implications: To deter counterfeit consumption, anti-counterfeiting campaigns must invoke consumers' tendency to overestimate the degree of public attention. Ad appeals must accentuate the anticipation of embarrassment by enhancing self-consciousness through a higher-class audience involving a conspicuous brand. Originality/value: This paper makes a novel contribution to counterfeiting literature by demonstrating that counterfeit luxury consumption is driven by countervailing motives of gaining approval and avoiding disapproval. The paper departs from mainstream theorizing by demonstrating that counterfeit luxury buyers engage in a protective self-presentation style by choosing inconspicuous counterfeits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite increased emphasis on diversity marketing, much remains unknown about how brands should approach diversity. This paper aims to understand what constitutes a brand's approach to diversity (BATD), establish a categorisation of such approaches, outline the effects on audience connectedness and establish a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper draws on critical theory and practical exemplars to present a conceptualisation of BATD. Findings: Using two determinants, depth of diversity integration and order of entry, it is possible to categorise BATD into four types: transformative, adaptive, passive and performative. Early adoption and greater depth of diversity approaches (i.e. multidimensional to an intersectional representation of identities) provide optimal opportunities for evoking connectedness. Research limitations/implications: The conceptual typological framework for BATD helps delineate how varying levels of diversity depth and order of entry influence audience connectedness. A detailed agenda for further research can guide ongoing diversity research. Practical implications: Creating a typology reduces complexity and helps marketers recognise the differing components, manifestations and effects of their diversity approach. To increase connectedness and reduce audience scepticism, marketers must seek deeper-level diversity integrations and adopt approaches earlier. Originality/value: This study offers a novel conceptualisation of BATD by defining it, distinguishing it from related research themes and moving beyond single diversity dimensions and marketing mix elements. Further, audience connectedness is positioned as a critical consequence as it can instigate desirable brand outcomes, benefit those identities represented and promote a more inclusive society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]