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This article is the first generalizable empirical analysis of dual branding, that is, the supply of private labels (PLs) by national brand (NB) manufacturers. The authors compile a unique data set combining the identity of PL suppliers in over 260 packaged goods categories with multiple years of scanner data in the Spanish grocery market to offer several contributions. First, they provide new descriptive insights on the prevalence of dual branding in categories where the manufacturer does and does not have NBs, the longevity of PL supply arrangements, and the differences in PL sourcing across retailers. Second, they integrate the literature on motivators and dissuaders of dual branding and test the impact of relevant manufacturer, retailer, and dyad characteristics on PL supply in NB and non-NB categories. The results reveal a more nuanced empirical reality than is evident from prior research regarding the role of multicategory scope, fighter brands, NB differentiation, and size and positioning of the retailer's PL. Third, they examine the outcomes of PL supply for the NBs of dual branders and find that starting (terminating) PL supply to a retailer significantly benefits (hurts) the relative distribution depth but not the relative share of the dual brander's NBs at that retailer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brands have been increasingly speaking up on sociopolitical issues (so-called brand activism advertising) to showcase their nonneutrality and drive meaningful societal changes. Yet little is known about how brands can strategize brand activism advertising to effectively engage consumers and benefit companies. Drawing upon the frameworks of transcendent media experiences, color, and message framing theory, this research examines the interplay between a visual element (i.e., image color: black-and-white [BW] versus color) and a verbal element (i.e., message framing: promotion framed versus prevention framed) in the effectiveness of brand activism advertising. Across two experiments, we found that brand activism ads that use BW (versus color) images, when paired with promotion-framed (versus prevention-framed) messages, led to more favorable attitudes toward the ads and elicited higher purchase intentions. We argue that brand activism ads trigger consumers' transcendent experiences to a varying degree and identify consumers' perceived inspiration upon viewing the ads as an underlying psychological mechanism. These findings advance current literature by examining brand activism advertising from the perspective of transcendent experiences and explicating the key factors and mechanism that affect consumer experiences and advertising effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brand-related content cocreated by consumers can play a crucial role in brand–consumer interactions and provide brands with valuable insights hidden in vast seas of unstructured data. We propose and evaluate a framework integrating a social network approach and scalable automated content analysis of texts and visuals for studying brand-related communication on social media. To illustrate the proposed approach, we use Twitter content related to two brands: Barclays and Sierra Club. By applying network clustering algorithms we identify different types of organically emerging communities around brands. Cluster-specific diffusion leaders are identified using their in-degree centrality values. To examine the unique characteristics of brand-related content within each cluster, we apply and assess the accuracy of popular off-the-shelf solutions for text and image analysis, also known as application programming interfaces (APIs). Of six sentiment analysis solutions, only one shows acceptable reliability levels. For computer vision APIs, we first identify labels that have unclear or imprecise meaning and calculate accuracy levels, resulting in acceptable accuracy levels for four of the five APIs. We discuss conceptual and practical implications of this integrative approach and of the technological hurdles that these popular automated content analysis applications pose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary focus of brand equity research has been on how brand knowledge creates value for firms through customer behavior in product markets. Using archival data and five experiments, this article tests a framework that outlines the unique role brands play in the labor market. The framework distinguishes between vertical and horizontal differentiation and shows that vertical brand differentiation is associated with lower pay, whereas horizontal brand differentiation is associated with higher pay. Employees are also vertically and horizontally differentiated, and firms high in horizontal brand differentiation pay more for employees who match their brands' differentiating characteristics (i.e., brand-relevant complementarities). Results show that these brand–pay relationships have important downstream effects on employee behavior and, consequently, on firm profits. Specifically, leveraging vertical brand differentiation to lower pay represents a false economy because profits are attenuated by negative effects on employee productivity and retention. In contrast, when managers at firms high on horizontal brand differentiation pay more, profits increase via the same mediating employee behaviors. Six firm strategies and investments that influence firm bargaining power in the employee–brand matching process are found to moderate the brand–pay relationship and downstream effects on profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the effectiveness of qualitative projective techniques to explore the corporate political brand image of Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf party [PTI] from a multiple-stakeholder perspective. This study addresses core gaps in projective techniques research of eliciting responses from a large cross-section of multiple stakeholders in varied non-western contexts. A qualitative interpretivist approach was adopted. More specifically, expressive projective techniques were embedded within focus group discussions. Nine focus group discussions (comprising 37 participants) were carried out in Karachi and Lahore (Pakistan) from June to November 2020. Each focus group lasted 60 to 90 minutes. A six-phased contextualist thematic analytical approach was employed to interpret the findings generated from the projective techniques and subsequent discussions. Projective techniques were established as an efficient and effective tool for exploring corporate political brand image research in Pakistan. The leadership element of the corporate political brand trinity was revealed to be larger than policies and party and it had both positive associations as well as being perceived as opportunistic. Policies were associated with dissatisfaction and incompetence whereas, the party element of the brand was viewed as ineffective and a subordinate brand. This study addresses explicit calls for further insights and research on the use of projective techniques in dynamic contexts and settings. In addition, this research adds to the limited understanding of the choice of stimuli and appraisal of projective techniques. Finally, this study provides a systematic ten-step guide entitled the projective techniques toolkit which outlines how to successfully conduct research using projective techniques. This research and developed toolkit will benefit practitioners and academics alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brand relationships influence human attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. While past research has generously explored this idea in the customer context, less research has explored the role brand relationships play in the context of frontline employees or salespeople. While much of the customer literature can be used to inform our understanding of salesperson-brand relationships, there are nuances of being an employee, and specifically a salesperson, that have left many research questions unanswered. Consequently, a state of the literature in this domain is warranted to better understand how future research can grow this critical stream. The current research identifies, reviews, and synthesizes 52 salesperson-brand relationship articles. A comprehensive summary of common brand constructs (e.g. brand identification, brand attachment) is employed and supplemented with a social network analysis. To encourage more research in the salesperson-brand domain, we then summarize common themes that pervade the literature and identify a plethora of future opportunities in both established domains (e.g. brand relationships increase effort) and new frontiers (e.g. exploring the dark side of salespeople-brand relationships). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research shows that AI-based conversational interfaces can have a profound impact on consumer–brand relationships. We develop a conceptual model of verbal embodiment in technology-mediated communication that integrates three key properties of human-to-human dialogue—(1) turn-taking (i.e. alternating contributions by the two parties), (2) turn initiation (i.e. the act of initiating the next turn in a sequence), and (3) grounding between turns (i.e. acknowledging the other party's contribution by restating or rephrasing it). These fundamental conversational properties systematically shape consumers' perception of an AI-based conversational interface, their perception of the brand that the interface represents, and their behavior in connection with that brand. Converging evidence from four studies shows that these dialogue properties enhance the perceived humanness of the interface, which in turn promotes more intimate consumer–brand relationships and more favorable behavioral brand outcomes (greater recommendation acceptance, willingness to pay a price premium, brand advocacy, and brand loyalty). Moreover, we show that these effects are reduced in contexts requiring less mutual understanding between the consumer and the brand. This research highlights how fundamental principles of human-to-human communication can be harnessed to design more intimate consumer–brand interactions in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research provides evidence that globally positioned food brands face an inherent trade-off: the advantages of wide global availability and global sourcing can be outweighed by unfavorable perceptions related to freshness. Through five experiments, with participants from developed and emerging markets, the authors demonstrate that global (vs. local) brand positioning cues dampen product purchase intentions; this happens because globally (vs. locally) positioned brands evoke lower freshness perceptions. This effect is particularly pronounced for minimally or moderately (vs. highly) processed product categories, for which freshness considerations are more important. In addition, the negative effects of globally positioned brands can be reduced with secondary freshness cues, such as freshness seals or guarantees, and such a strategy is particularly effective for individuals high in perceived vulnerability to disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, smart city areas and initiatives are found throughout the world, yet little research has been completed into the processes whereby decisions concerning the initiation, marketing, and branding of smart city projects have been taken. The present study examined these processes via interviews with 18 smart city managers, followed by an online World Café which was convened to discuss emerging issues. Interviewees were asked to relate stories of how decisions had been reached, which stakeholders had been prioritised, the extent of citizen co-creation in project initiation and branding, and the main difficulties involved. An argumentative narrative discourse methodology was employed to analyse the interview transcripts, which revealed a number of disparities between the suggestions of extant place branding literature and current practice where smart city projects were concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the high failure rates of brand extensions, insights into the drivers of brand extension success are critical for marketing practitioners and scholars. Prior research has inferred that parent brand equity and extension fit are the two key success drivers; however, empirical findings are mixed. Drawing on signaling theory, categorization theory, and a large database of 2,134 effect sizes from research spanning 1990–2020, the authors address these mixed findings through a meta-analysis to develop empirical generalizations. The results show that parent brand equity and extension fit positively influence extension success. However, the multifaceted dimensions of these two drivers have differential effects. For example, among the fit dimensions, usage fit has the weakest effect. While the results suggest an overall positive interaction effect between the two drivers, a fine-grained perspective that considers the drivers' various dimensions reveals differences. For example, brand familiarity appears to have a lower interaction effect with extension fit than the other dimensions of parent brand equity. Furthermore, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of five groups of moderators: contextual factors (parent brand, extension, communication, and consumer factors) and research method factors. The authors offer managerial and future research implications for the design of brand extension strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasingly common strategy when naming new brands is to use an unconventional spelling of an otherwise familiar word (e.g., "Lyft" rather than "Lift"). However, little is known about how this brand naming strategy impacts consumers' beliefs about the brand and, ultimately, their willingness to support it. Eight experimental studies demonstrate that, in general, consumers are less likely to support unfamiliar brands whose names are spelled unconventionally compared with brands that use the conventional spelling of the same word. This occurs because consumers perceive the choice of an unconventionally spelled name as an overt persuasion attempt by the marketer and thus view the brand as less sincere. Using mediation and moderation, the authors demonstrate that these effects are driven by persuasion knowledge and show robustness by employing different types of unconventional spellings. The studies suggest that although marketers may choose unconventional spellings for new brands with the goal of positively influencing consumers' perceptions, doing so may backfire. However, unconventionally spelled names do not produce a backfire effect when the motive for selecting the name is seen as sincere. Further, unconventionally spelled brand names may even be desirable when consumers are seeking a memorable experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we understand cities today as commodified spaces which must struggle at the intersection of cultural, ideological and historical tensions. In order to explore and problematise a contested city brand's marketing effort, we engage in multiple rounds of in-situ introspective reflections about a racialised city's place branding material. Based on the two authors' separate analyses of the same marketing material deriving from two separate theoretical starting points, we engage in agonistic conversation about how visible and invisible racialised tensions are represented. We highlight how absences and (in)visibilities can be predominantly understood as either colour-blindness or ideological fantasy. We find, despite our contrasting theoretical orientations, that a city brand is inevitably fractured and ruptured into 'a' non-identity or – to paraphrase Deleuze and Guattari – an empty body. We argue how achieving inclusive branding becomes an oxymoron as narratives surrounding a city are themselves more or less diverse, contested and polarised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authenticity is increasingly seen as a source of competitive advantage in many industries. Accordingly, authenticity work, the organizational efforts to develop and sustain believable authenticity claims, has emerged as an important organizational practice. We examined the interplay of materiality and narratives underpinning producers' authenticity work in the context of incumbent and micro-distilleries operating in the Canadian whisky industry. We found that producers' material endowments, especially central product features, anchored which authenticity claims they could credibly narrate. Other material endowments, such as key people and architectural design, were used to reinforce the integrity of authenticity claims. Our study extends our understanding of authenticity as a valued organizational resource. First, we identify two mechanisms, anchoring and reinforcement, through which materiality both constrains and facilitates organizations' authenticity narratives. Second, our research brings to the fore how audience members' experiential closeness to producers colors their perceptions of authenticity, and we show how material artifacts can enhance such closeness. Third, our findings highlight the competitive value of authenticity by unpacking how producers' material endowments may constitute a resource or a liability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to advance the understanding of audio branding by investigating the effect of an understudied auditory attribute, timbre, in the context of brand audio logos. Specifically, the authors propose, and provide evidence in ten studies, that timbral sound quality in audio logos (i.e., roughness/smoothness) informs abstract judgments of brand personality (i.e., ruggedness/sophistication). Study 1 shows that the industry practice of altering instrumentation, and thus timbre, in audio logos can change personality perceptions of even well-known brands. This effect persists when the sound source is kept constant with various instruments (Studies 2a–2d), with a combination of instruments (Study 3), and in the absence of an identifiable sound source (Study 4). The authors test specific acoustic underpinnings of timbral sound quality perceptions (Study 4) and show that the effect on brand personality judgments is counteracted by incongruent sensory information from another modality (Study 5). The results of Study 6 suggest that the influence of timbral sound quality on brand personality perceptions is nonconscious, as consumers are unaware of the extent to which the stimulus affects their judgments. Study 7 shows downstream consequences for purchase intentions. Practical implications, theoretical contributions, and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased consumer demand for healthier product options and looming regulation have prompted many consumer goods brands to adjust the amount of sugar content in their product lines, including adding products with reduced sugar content or smaller package sizes. Even as brands adopt such practices, little guidance exists for how they should do so to protect or enhance their brand performance. This research studies whether and when sugar reduction strategies affect sales. The analysis of almost 130,000 product additions by nearly 80 brands over 11 years in the U.S. soda category shows that, on average, products with sugar content reductions perform comparably to similar products without reduced sugar content, while smaller package sizes perform better. Importantly, these effects depend substantially on product labeling, branding, and packaging decisions. By accounting for these contingent effects, this study establishes win–win conditions, in which brands realize higher volume sales while category-level sugar sales decrease. In doing so, the study sheds light on how marketing can bridge brands' sales objective with society's health focus, doing well and doing good simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual marketing communications consist of two components: (1) semantic content (e.g., headings, images, copy) that communicates a brand's positioning, benefits, and personality and (2) visual design (e.g., font selection, image size, the organization of the content) that encourages inferences about brand claims. The authors investigate how visual design can be used to encourage inferences that support brand claims and improve brand performance. They find that brands with a utilitarian positioning perform better when the visual design of their marketing communications encourages structured perceptions, whereas brands with a hedonic positioning perform better when the visual design of their marketing communications encourages unstructured perceptions. In both cases, (un)structured perceptions encourage inferences that reinforce brand claims and, consequently, improve brand performance. This research offers actionable insights into how marketing communication specialists can coordinate logo design, product design, package design, visual merchandising, and retail environments to reinforce brand claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media allows sport entities (organizations, athletes, coaches, fans, and partnering companies) to reach audiences across the world and create, extend, maintain, and improve their brand equity through constant communication. Brand management and the strategies employed by entities to create effective content that reinforces brand image and brand equity are a common goal among sport marketers. Over the last 20 years, scholars have investigated a wide range of topics in sport social media and branding, yet there is a need to continue to expand the social media brand management literature to address and reflect rapidly changing industry challenges. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a reflection of past academic literature, while critically examining areas in methodology and theory to guide future research. The recommendations of more sophisticated designs, along with a call for experimental designs, qualitative approaches, and critical communication inquiry, among others, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on brand communities has burgeoned over the past 2 decades. Today many, if not most, sport organizations are entertaining dedicated brand communities. This article traces the development of community thinking in the field of sport management and marketing. Key articles on brand communities in leading journals in the field are identified, reviewed, and their core contributions distilled. By drawing on literature from adjacent fields, seven areas of future research are proposed: make or buy community, getting value from community, building a community capability, solving the community engagement puzzle, focusing on effective community engagement practices, analyzing the full community life cycle, and community for Web 3.0. The article provides a number of recommendations for future research on brand communities in sport management and marketing, enabling scholars to advance knowledge for both research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability is one of the largest minority groups, with a spending power of approximately £273bn every year. Consequently, many advertisers are now weaving people with disabilities into brand narratives. These narratives often evoke feelings of pity or portray people with disabilities as inspiring, solely or in part on the basis of their disability. Meanwhile, social media has emerged as a vessel for social change. Through the netnographic study of twelve influencers with visible impairments, complex personhood is proposed as a social ontology by which disabled lives are acknowledged in less confined terms. Our findings illustrate how social media influencers with disabilities may draw on narratives based on empowerment, playfulness, resistance, and responsibility to present themselves as neither victims nor superhuman agents but as complex human beings. We thus bring forward a complex model in market-mediated representations of disability, beyond the misrepresentational narratives based on pity and 'inspiration porn'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brand heritage has become one of the most important emphases for companies as a response to the need to build a more diverse and multicultural society. Such is the case of Latin-American countries that see the importance of heritage as an important source for the development of the tourism market at the country level, specially making use of new information technologies. This is how this research aims to analyze the emotional factors (nostalgic experience, brand awe) that influence brand heritage and its effect on variables such as brand identity and purchase intention for the tourism sector. To achieve this purpose, the research uses a survey applied to 460 individuals who frequently attend cultural events and who have additionally made use of virtual reality platforms. For information processing, the structural equations technique is used. Among the main findings is that there is a direct and positive relationship between emotional factors and brand heritage. Likewise, it is found that there is a direct relationship between brand heritage and brand identity, however, no significance was found with purchase intention. Finally, it was found that the use of platforms such as virtual reality does have a moderating effect both with emotional factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst radio, podcasts, and music streaming are considered unique audio formats that offer brands different opportunities, limited research has explored this notion. This current study analyses how the brain responds to these formats and suggests that they offer different branding opportunities. Participants' engagement, attitude, attention, memory, and physiological arousal were measured while each audio format was consumed. The results revealed that music streaming elicited more positive attitudes, higher attention, greater levels of memory encoding, and increased physiological arousal compared to either radio or podcasts. This study emphasises the importance for brands of utilising diverse audio channels for unique branding and marketing opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research attempts to develop the reformist dimensions based on the case of successful political outsiders. Literature suggest that reformers are those perceived to be successful in serving the citizens through their capabilities on making changes. To achieve this goal, this study explores the brand images of Indonesia's political outsiders who have strong image of reformers which are Jokowi, Ahok and Risma and investigate how they are being perceived to be successful in serving the citizens. The present research, which consist of three studies, conduct exploratory factor analysis using sequential mixed methods. The first two studies utilize qualitative paradigms with interview and document analysis to determine reformist dimensions using thematic analysis. Following this, a survey was launched (n = 453) for a reliability and validity test. The qualitative studies have delineated the reformist characteristics into three dimensions: perceived qualities (three items), implemented programs (four items) and engagement style with citizens (three items). The dimensions have adequate factor analysis values and high reliability scores. Findings suggest that reformist attributes have several traits such as 'anti-corruption', 'innovativeness' and a high rate and unique voter engagement style. This research contributes to the development of political marketing theories on candidates' reformist branding attributable to the phenomenon of the rise of political outsiders. It explores the interplay of leadership and political brand image from the cases of successful rise of political outsiders. The leadership aspects relevant to shape the brand image of a reformist from voters' perspective are discussed based on findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes Xiaomi's social media posts on Facebook and Weibo, addressing three different audiences: the global audience, the Egyptian audience, and the Chinese audience. Its primary aim is to dissect Xiaomi's strategies in employing local, global, or glocal approaches within its intercultural brand communication. To achieve this, the study employs a multimodal framework that integrates brand communication and linguistics, allowing for a comprehensive examination of Xiaomi's digital marketing strategies through brand personality appeals and the strategic use of linguistic features. The paper finds that Xiaomi displays an exciting personality on its global and Chinese social media pages, while it reflects a competent personality on its Egyptian social media page. The study also finds that Xiaomi employs culture-specific linguistic features in its social media posts, including intimate address forms for its Chinese audience, colloquial expressions for its global audience, and codemixing and dialect for its Egyptian audience. These insights not only affirm the existing literature's observations of cultural disparities in intercultural marketing but also contribute to our understanding of how global brands strategically adapt to diverse cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the relationship between green packaging design and green purchase intention from the perspective of consumers by conducting a bootstrapped mediation effects analysis and a multiple mediation analysis with 513 users of a brand in China that has green packaging. The results revealed that green packaging design had a strong positive impact on green purchase intention, and this relationship was mediated by perceived environmental friendliness, green brand equity, green brand attitudes, and green brand relationships. In addition, green packaging design influenced green purchase intention through the paths from environmental friendliness to green brand equity, and from green brand attitudes to green brand relationships. The findings of this study offer guidelines for green marketing efforts. By adopting green packaging designs and promoting environmental friendliness, companies can enhance their green brand equity, which can, in turn, positively influence consumers' green purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textual social media data have become indispensable to researchers' understanding of message strategies and other marketing practices. In a new departure for the field of brand communication, this study adopts and extends a semi-supervised machine-learning approach, guided latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), which incorporates human insights into the discovery and classification of topics. We used it to analyze tweets from businesses involved with an emerging food technology, cultured meat, and delineated four key message strategies used by these brands: providing functional, educational, corporate social responsibility, and relational content. We further ascertained the relationships between brands and the key topics embedded in their Twitter data. A comparison of model performance suggests that guided LDA can be an advantageous alternative to traditional LDA, which is characterized by high efficiency and immense popularity among researchers, but—because of its unsupervised nature—yields findings that can be difficult to interpret. The present study therefore has critical theoretical and methodological implications for communication and marketing scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a Swedish school company and its operations in India, examining how setting up and operating schools in another national place forge particular spatial imaginaries. It contributes to literature on the Global Education Industry by focusing on international moves of commercial non-Anglo-Saxon actors. Drawing on interviews and extensive fieldwork in India, we show how the 'marriage' between the global (represented by the Swedish company) and local (the 'Indian') are manifested in the spatial imaginary of the 'glocal school', encompassing hierarchical otherings rooted in discourses of both globalisation and colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely noticed as an essential tool for business operation and sustainable development. Meanwhile, the fiercely competitive external environment and unpredictable events prompt enterprises' cooperation to prevent supply chain collapse. We investigate the cooperative strategy in a live-streaming supply chain (LSC) consisting of a dominant brand owner, a retailer, and a live streamer, where the brand owner considers CSR by considering the welfare of stakeholders. We construct one non-cooperative and three cooperative Stackelberg game models to explore the impact of CSR on cooperative strategy and LSC operations. The results show the following. (1) When the brand owner considers CSR, LSC members and systems are more profitable in the four models than when the brand owner does not consider CSR. (2) When the flow effect is small, the brand owner tends to cooperate with the retailer; otherwise, the brand owner prefers to cooperate with the live streamer. (3) The grand coalition C (the brand owner cooperates with the retailer and live streamer) is the consistent strategy for the LSC system, consumers, and society. These findings help enterprises recognize the importance of CSR and collaboration, thus further providing reference opinions on engaging in CSR and how to achieve collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies young foreign female entrepreneurs in China involved in online businesses, focusing on how the intersection of race and gender mediate their business strategies and success stories. Existing literature on foreign migrants in China describes the transnational corporate and entrepreneurial sector as male oriented. While a few studies of foreign women in China examine their experiences as trailing spouses, little attention has been paid to young women, millennials, and Gen Z, pursuing an independent business career in China. This research is based on semi-structured, long-distance interviews with twenty-seven foreign women in their early twenties to early thirties. The article attends to the recent transformations in China's business sector, where the number of young foreign female entrepreneurs is rising. I identified two main themes in my respondents' reflections on their entrepreneurial experiences. First, gender plays a role in how women negotiate doing business in China and escaping the so-called glass ceiling. Second, women strategically perform a racialized white identity, or desirable qualities associated with whiteness, to market their products. Such dynamics must be understood in relation to recent migration flows to China, including the negotiations and challenges that mainly women face to cope with business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linear system known as "Take-Make-Waste'' has positioned fashion and textile industry as the second largest waste contributor in the world after the oil and gas industry. Consequently, the disruptions we currently face have led us to the global textile waste crisis era, including Indonesia. On the other side, Ellen MacArthur Foundation observes an increase in market and business opportunities within the slow/circular fashion industry. This research aims to explore the business strategies of the Indonesian fashion brand, SMM, which has been committed to implementing responsible fashion practices since 2014 and actively addressing environmental impacts. Through value hill analysis as the research framework to identify current circular activities, gaps, and challenges faced by SMM, the analysis focuses on three stages: uphill, tophill, and downhill. This qualitative research employs semi-structured interview techniques, primary and secondary data observation to comprehensively understand the adopted circular business model. The research findings indicate that SMM utilizes Circular Supply Models as its primary business model, Resource & Recovery Models as an effort towards using 100% new materials, and Product Life Extension Models as a form of loyalty to its customers. These circular business model strategies have helped SMM reduce carbon emissions by nearly 20% of the total emitted. This indicates that SMM is a manufacturer promoting responsible consumption and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study searches into the critical aspect of branding and reputation management within the dynamic view of the healthcare industry. This research aims to provide actionable insights for healthcare organizations to navigate the complexities of building and maintaining a strong brand identity by comprehensively analyzing the multifaceted aspects of healthcare branding, including its foundational principles, strategies, challenges, and opportunities. The research problem centers on identifying gaps and challenges in current healthcare branding and reputation management practices, recognizing the pressing need for systematic examination within evolving patient expectations, competitive pressures, and regulatory environments. This study offers a nuanced understanding of these critical areas through a structured exploration of healthcare branding's fundamental significance, strategies employed for reputation management, and identifying existing challenges and opportunities. Drawing upon Brand Equity Theory, which underscores the value of a brand beyond solid assets, the study explains the role of brand equity in shaping patient perceptions, organizational success, and overall health outcomes within the healthcare context. Furthermore, the research outlines future avenues for investigation, including the impact of emerging technologies, longitudinal assessments of branding initiatives, data-driven insights, ethical considerations, and collaborative co-creation strategies. This study aims to advance knowledge and practice in healthcare branding and reputation management by addressing these areas and empowering healthcare organizations to enhance patient experiences, organizational performance, and public health outcomes in an ever-evolving healthcare view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary research on so-called Nordic branding has provided crucial insights into the social power of states and how various actors use and circulate 'progressive' nation brand tropes for political and commercial goals. Hitherto, the literature on Nordic branding has focused on a wide range of substantive issues, among other things, human rights, gender equality, social welfare and foreign aid, but considerably less attention has been paid to the topic of security. The present article adds to a small but established literature on how the security sphere is increasingly entangled with nation branding. In the Nordic region, we argue, the latter is particularly evident in the case of Sweden – one of the world's largest per-capita arms exporters in the post-Cold War era but also a country known and often revered for its peaceful and progressive image. Focusing on the case of Sweden, the article contributes to knowledge of how defence industry-related actors (both public and private) draw on and frame nation branding tropes to sell and legitimise their products and services to both insiders (domestic constituents) and outsiders (the global security market). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The announcement of one's candidacy for the presidency sets the stage for everything that will follow in the campaign. This study analyzes candidate announcements from the 2020 Democratic Party nomination for president and how each of the top six candidates branded themselves. The campaign announcement is the first opportunity to shape the brand of the candidate in a crowded field of candidates. Comparisons will be made between candidates with national name recognition and those who have yet to make a name for themselves on a national stage. For more well-known candidates, this address is meant to energize supporters and build momentum toward the nomination. Well-known candidates may be able to more clearly form a branding around policy positions. For the lesser-known candidates, it is a chance to introduce themselves to the nation and begin to build a following. These speakers may present a more personal narrative to brand themselves as an individual before presenting policy. A comparison will also be made between male and female candidates, including an analysis of gendered language in announcing their candidacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to systematically review the place branding literature and comprehensively synthesize the academic research in this domain. Accordingly, this study examines the development of place branding research over time in terms of years of publication, publication outlets, authorship, countries, methods, and theories adopted. Further, based on the literature synthesis, this review proposes a conceptual framework by integrating the antecedents, mediators and consequences reported in the place branding literature. This study also performs a lexicometric analysis to illustrate different themes of place branding research studied over time. Finally, this study identifies under-researched areas in place branding and provides directions to advance this research in terms of theory development, context, characteristics and methodology. Overall, this review contributes to the place branding literature and provides practical implications for destination marketers and policymakers in successfully implementing place branding strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More companies are engaging with consumers in real-time on digital platforms, which may lead to accidental or unintentional sharing of messages. Accordingly, how to manage online brand crises has become an increasingly important issue for marketing managers. The present research explores how online brand blunders influence consumers' trust and liking toward the blunderer brand, and the role of brand commitment in this relationship. Three studies show that consumers evaluate online brand blunders differently than they do product performance problems. Specifically, upon receiving negative brand blunder information, high (vs. low)-commitment consumers' brand trust and brand liking decrease to a higher extent due to finding the blunder less humorous and more offensive. On the contrary, upon receiving negative product performance information, low (vs. high)-commitment consumers' brand trust and brand liking decrease to a higher extent, which supports previous literature. Our findings suggest that managers should prioritize high and low-commitment consumers differently and tailor blunder communication in handling online brand crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has delineated the use of celebrity endorsements as an effective marketing strategy that bolsters brand image and stimulates purchase intentions. However, there is a paucity of research investigating the role of celebrities in brand transgression contexts. Across two experimental studies, we examine whether and how celebrity endorsers influence consumers' reactions toward an endorsed brand following a transgression. Grounded in parasocial interaction theory, the findings reveal that parasocial relationships bolster brand trust and brand forgiveness through brand self-congruity. Moreover, we identify the impacts of transgression controllability and endorsement timing on brand outcomes (brand trust and brand forgiveness). Specifically, we find that celebrity endorsements can buffer negative impacts of a brand transgression; however, employing celebrity endorsement after a controllable brand transgression may be ineffective and possibly even counterproductive. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many brand collaboration platforms—such as sponsorship, celebrity endorsement, influencer marketing, product placement, cobranding, and human branding—build strong relationships between brands and contribute to the brand equity of two or more brands. Brand equity, since inception, has been concerned with the value of a brand, how this value is built and measured, and how the marketplace responds to it. Based on previous work and in response to current marketing practices, the authors suggest that the concept of shared brand equity, where collaborative efforts result in connectivity between brands, is needed to better explain and guide advertising and marketing communications research and practice. Drawing on developments in cognitive psychology, we explain how shared brand equity is developed and how it persists, the role it plays in semantic/associative neighborhoods, and how it explains research findings. We offer a set of research propositions, as well as concrete examples of the usefulness of the theoretical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of social media is reflective of an individual's culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the cultural context on Australian and Singaporean sportswomen's uses of social media. In-depth interviews with 12 elite sportswomen from both countries combined with supplementary information collected through the participating athletes' Instagram profiles showed that social media uses are influenced by uncertainty avoidance, individualism or collectivism, masculinity or femininity, and long- or short-term orientations. By applying Hofstede and Bond's cultural dimensions framework, the study presents new knowledge on three cultural dimensions (i.e., uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs. femininity, and long-term vs. short-term orientation) and broadens the field of sport and social media by comparing the use of social media between athletes from diverse cultures. The study offers significant insight for designing a branding strategy that encompasses cultural contexts to guide athletes on their use of social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms can leverage social media brand communities (SMBCs) to manage consumer relationships. This study investigated firm engagement tactics using a mixed-methods approach with qualitative (Study one) and quantitative (Study two) analyses. Building on uses and gratifications theory and the qualitative results, we identify brand-specific consumer education, reputation enhancement, incentives provision, interaction support, and entertainment support as firm engagement tactics. Next, we explore the moderating effect of firm engagement tactics on the SMBC identification/SMBC engagement and SMBC engagement/brand loyalty relationships using the partial least squares method. The results confirm that consumer engagement mediates the link between SMBC identification and brand loyalty. In addition, firm engagement tactics positively moderate the aforementioned relationships. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how newly-conceived soft spaces – typically with fuzzy boundaries and less formally organized institutional structures – are 'commodified' through visualizations in promoting practices. By discussing those practices, the article argues that promotion and branding are fundamentally processes where these soft spaces become hardened. This hardening is embedded in branding-related 'speech acts' and visual framings in particular. The article states that although new soft spaces are considered highly useful in competitivity-enhancing spatial policies where flexible spaces and fuzzy boundaries are typically emphasized, paradoxically their 'softness' gradually decreases as a result of branding process consisting of elements of expressing, mirroring, impressing and reflecting. It thus needs to be asked whether soft spaces can be branded without using framings and speech acts that harden them. The soft regions of the Bothnian Arc, a Swedish-Finnish coastal region around the Gulf of Bothnia, and the Region Foodvalley, an agrarian region in the middle of the Netherlands, are used here as examples to discuss how soft spaces transform in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural and tourism organisations have always been characterised by their capacity for innovation (Caves, [8]; Pratt & Jeffcutt, [28]; Wijngaarden et al., [37]). More specifically, the links between the sources of value of the opera streaming consumption experience, loyalty, and intentions to attend an opera in an opera house are analysed. The results advance heritage management discourse by critically assessing HVAs regarding relationship management and innovations with stakeholders driving development processes. [Extracted from the article]

Market structure maps spatially represent competitive relationships among brands and products. In these maps, each product is typically visualized in a single map location. Such visualization, however, does not adequately accommodate multimarket membership products (MMPs), which are products that compete in multiple submarkets that are each characterized by distinct competitors and consumer preferences. The author proposes a novel framework that accommodates MMPs by visualizing products in the local context of each submarket in which they compete. This framework is then used to study market structure in the digital camera market. Competitive relationships are inferred from consumers' online searches using bootstrapped neural product embedding. The research shows that 8% of cameras are MMPs and that 50% of all submarkets are affected by MMPs. The map generated with the proposed framework uncovers mismatches between manufacturer positioning and consumer perception of several cameras. An extensive comparison of the proposed framework with alternative mapping methods reveals that (1) commonly used mapping methods misrepresent MMPs' competitive positions in their maps and (2) ignoring MMPs can lead to distorted visualizations of the underlying market structure. Both problems compromise firms' abilities to accurately assess products' competitive positions and evaluate the effectiveness of their positioning strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]