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The present paper describes a marketing experiment which studied the influence of music on advertising. It was shown that with the help of music, ads can be viewed for longer periods, demonstrating once again that humans are rational beings, as well as emotional and hedonistic, in the sense that they make choices and take decisions according to their feelings. People choose a brand as per the values that the brand represents, if it matches the customer’s personality and based on the experience the brand has to offer. Considering that preferences ease the process that allows the brand to be permanently encrypted in the mind of consumers, the hypothesis of the present research states that the more a person associates the brand with individual preferences, such as musical ones, the more he will watch the ads playing that specific music. The methodology used throughout the experiment sought to observe changes in consumer behavior when they are subjected to different musical genres while watching an ad playlist. The ad playlists were created by the authors of this paper, choosing only ads featuring products from the perfume industry. To simplify the research, there was only one music style investigated, namely alternative rock, and the participants included in the experiment were only people who considered this music genre as their favorite music style. The playlists were used to observe the differences in time spent watching the selected ads with their favorite music playing, in comparison to the ads playing a generic music. There was a particular focus on the behavior of individuals who watched the ads when listening to their favorite music. In this study, the authors demonstrate that music preference directly affects the consumer time investment and attitude towards brands in advertising. With enormous amount of information that the Internet holds about online users, companies can use these results to target customer intentions.

In a world of multiple and diverse sports products (equipment, events, teams, athletes, merchandising, training and coaching services, broadcasting, etc.), the branding process requires a very dedicated approach in terms of product’s characteristics, customer profile and market particularities. This article presents the branding process of an athlete, considering a transition from the classical model to a more sophisticated one, in which the brand dimensions are adapted to the nowadays importance of social media and social interactions. Before presenting the results of a qualitative research on Romanian athletes’ image, the article will highlight the usefulness of measuring athlete brand image both for the athlete and the sponsor/endorser.

Some cognitive abilities exhibit reliable gender differences, with females outperforming males in specific aspects of verbal ability, and males showing an advantage on certain spatial tasks. Among these cognitive gender differences, differences in mental rotation are the most robust, and appear to be present even in infants. A large body of animal research suggests that gonadal hormones, particularly testosterone, during early development could contribute to this gender difference in mental rotation. Also, substantial evidence supports an influence of socialization on mental rotation performance. The present study investigated the relationship of two types of factors, early postnatal testosterone exposure and parental attitudes about gender, to mental rotation performance in 61 healthy infants (29 males, 32 females). We measured salivary testosterone at two time points: 1-2.5 months of age and 5-6 months of age. Infants' mental rotation performance and parents' attitudes about gender were assessed at 5-6 months of age. As predicted, testosterone concentrations were significantly higher in boys than girls in early infancy (d = 0.54), and boys performed significantly better than girls on mental rotation (d = 0.64). A significant positive correlation between testosterone at age 1-2.5 months and mental rotation was found only in boys (r = 0.50, p = 0.01). A significant negative correlation between parents' gender-stereotypical attitudes and mental rotation performance was found only in girls (r = -0.57, p = 0.002). These findings suggest that the early postnatal testosterone surge (also known as "mini-puberty") may have organizational influences on mental rotation performance in boys, and that parents may influence their daughters' mental rotation abilities beginning very early in life.

Theme The strategic marketing phase is one of systematic and continuous analysis of market needs in which the concepts of high performance products or services are developed, further provide the qualitative difference to customer, and which target different categories of consumers, ensuring long-term competitive advantages while increasing their personal welfare and the one society in general. Objectives of the Research The main purpose of our article is to make a documentary study of strategic marketing and quality of life concepts, wanting to emphasize the link between the two, the evolution stages of the concept quality of life and their integration into the concept of quality of life marketing. Research Methodology In order to achieve that goal, a documentary study was conducted, that took into account the conceptualization of the term quality of life marketing. Results The link between quality of life and marketing is even more obviously given by the new paradigm of it - relationship marketing. This focuses on building long term relationships with clients, based on their level of satisfaction felt in relation to company’s products and services. Starting from this philosophy of relationship marketing, we can say that marketers are inclined towards a subjective definition of quality of life, depending on individual needs and their level of satisfaction Implications The term of quality of life has been introduced in the marketing literature in the last decade and is defined as a marketing practice designed to improve the welfare of clients while maintaining the welfare of other stakeholders of the company. This concept comes as a sequel of the concerns of the relational marketing specialists to provide a high quality offer to customers and add value to all other stakeholders interested in the smooth running of the company (suppliers, distributors, shareholders, employees, general public and various public bodies interacting with the company). Authors’ Contribution The documentary study presents the content of strategic marketing and quality of life concepts and their integration in the concept of quality of life marketing.

Strategic marketing planning requires that the marketing objectives strategies for a specific product-market configuration be in full correlation with the directions and the resources allocated at the corporate level or at the strategic business unit one. Such a correlation is more than necessary under the current market conditions, when the economic crisis affects both consumer behavior and corporate decisions. This article focuses on the particularities of strategic marketing planning in sport, given the fact that the vast majority of sports organizations in Romania, although very active on the reference market, do not have a marketing activity correlated with the medium and long term market needs. One of these needs refers to quality of life improvement, knowing that sport activities have positive influence on many dimensions of quality of life, such as health, education, social inclusion, relaxation and leisure. The improvement within the population participation in sport (both as an active participant and as a spectator), the increased duration of leisure and the development of private financing have led to the creation of a large market, where marketing plays a central role. Therefore the marketing management process must also be implemented within the sports organization, in order to make it easier in building and maintaining a relationship with the customer, especially if the organization wants a customer orientation strategy. Such an orientation includes identifying the current needs as well as the future ones in terms of target audience, to offer a series of sports products and services that bring their significant contribution to improving the quality of life. In this paper are highlighted the influences that consumer requirements concerning quality of life have on all components of marketing management process, starting with sports organization mission statement, up to establish strategies for the marketing mix (product, price, distribution and promotion).

The article focuses on identity investment in stand-up comedy and online sketches performed by Romanian (or of Romanian descent) comedians acting abroad (France and United Kingdom). It aims at highlighting various humorous strategies that could be construed around a shared feature: the importance of the performer's stage identity (persona). The analysis is based on a theoretical framework which combines stance(taking) studies and discourse approaches to humour. Immigrant's (as marginal performers) humour reveals subversive humour: a means of coping with reality, aimed to expose and challenge power structures. The comedians explore stereotypes regarding Romanian or Eastern European immigrants in France and the UK. The differences in staging the stereotypes depend on the comedian's identity investment in the persona he creates during the humorous performance, as well as on the degree of marginality he assumes for that persona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]