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Many traditional forms of advertising are losing ground to alternative media. Such a trend represents opportunities for the promotional products medium. However, the effectiveness of promotional products in comparison to other advertising alternatives has not been widely empirically tested. This experiment examines responses to advertising media by employing two sets of seven randomly assigned conditions at two major U.S. universities. The findings revealed statistically significant effective improvements in contrast to television advertising when promotional products were used in credibility perceptions, attitudes towards the advertisement and the product, and behavioural intents such as purchasing intent and referral intent. Additionally, positive effects were observed when promotional products were used in conjunction with television and print advertising compared with television and print advertising alone. Future directions for research are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill, is considered the largest marine accident in the history of the industry. The 2010 incident in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the killing of 11 crew members, posing serious health risks to thousands of people and creating massive damages to wildlife habitats and fishing and tourism industries. This case study investigates how British Petroleum dealt with the crisis that left lasting serious negative impacts on its brand and reputation. The investigation reveals that BP used a wide range of public relations activities to rebuild its reputation, but the company was not well prepared to handle such a disaster. The authors report that BP also originally made grave mistakes in: (1) trying to spin its way of the crisis rather than tackling the challenges head on and (2) focusing heavily on advertising during the clean-up operation. The authors conclude that BP's corporate brand continues to lag behind that of competitors such as Shell and Exxon, but that a change in company leadership has undertaken a more ethical communication strategy that is showing signs of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverting standardization has been widely discussed since 1990s. Recently, this discussion has been extended to mobile advertising. When it comes to adopt a standardization or localization strategy, it is important that marketers understand how mobile advertising is perceived in different markets. This study examines the impacts of four perceived values of mobile advertising on young Australian and Chinese consumers' acceptance of mobile advertising. The findings suggest that perceived functional value have the most positive effect on mobile advertising acceptance, followed by credibility and interactivity value. Further analyses reveal that culture moderates the relationships between perceived values and advertising acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines how online advertisers are taking advantage of the potential benefits of webpages. It also analyzes the extent of integration between websites and print advertisements in six major U.S. magazines. The findings suggest that marketers are not using all possible benefits of their websites. Furthermore, the study reveals a lack of integration between print and online advertising. Many of the identified weaknesses seem to be influenced by applying traditional advertising strategies to the dynamic web environment, while ignoring the unique features of the medium's interactive nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a public relations/marketing communication plan to reestablish Lebanon as a premier tourism destination. For years, tourism was a major component of Lebanon's economic growth. However, the Lebanese civil war (1975-1991) and Israel's occupation of the security zone in South Lebanon (1978-2000) destroyed the image of a country that was often described as the "Switzer- land of the Middle East." The plan draws on findings of five focus group sessions that examined tourists' perceptions of travel to Lebanon and ways to restore tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promotional products (also known as specialty advertising products) are now an essential part of integrated marketing communication efforts. Their usage as a promotional business medium involves the conceptual packaging and distribution to targeted audiences of useful articles of merchandise imprinted with a sponsor's message. The industry's sales volume now tops $15 billion annually with one of the fastest growth rates among all advertising media. Though the increased application of promotional products has been remarkable, the industry's history has been neglected. This article traces the medium's development from its primitive beginnings on metal buttons to advances that encompass almost every product or service. Along with historical analysis, the article assesses the strengths and limitations of promotional products for today's marketing decision makers. Information clutter, audience segmentation, increased competition for share-of-market, rising costs of mass advertising, and a proven record in solving many communication problems continue to make use of specialty promotional products a viable alternative to mainstream media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An analysis of research articles published in major journals for a 36-year period reveals that follow-ups, pre-notification by letters, monetary incentives, stamped return postage, and university sponsorship produce the largest increase in mail survey response rates. Future research should be guided by social psychological theories such as attribution, self-perception as well as the equity/exchange model. Subsequent studies should also examine whether or not the effects of certain techniques are the same on different groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]