Ecological Evaluation of Persuasive Messages Using Google AdWords

In recent years there has been a growing interest in crowdsourcing methodologies to be used in experimental research for NLP tasks. In particular, evaluation of systems and theories about persuasion is difficult to accommodate within existing frameworks. In this paper we present a new cheap and fast methodology that allows fast experiment building and evaluation with fully-automated analysis at a low cost. The central idea is exploiting existing commercial tools for advertising on the web, such as Google AdWords, to measure message impact in an ecological setting. The paper includes a description of the approach, tips for how to use AdWords for scientific research, and results of pilot experiments on the impact of affective text variations which confirm the effectiveness of the approach.Comment: To appear at ACL 2012. 9 pages, 2 figure

Innovative business plan: dez melhores opiniões online review platform

The objective of this master thesis - "Dez melhores opiniões" - is to develop an innovative business plan to study the viability and development of an online comparison platform in Portugal to enable consumers to inform themselves before buying a product. We want to establish a loyal community of participative users in order to create accurate, reliable and objective information, in an era where Internet is the main transmitter of fake and biased information. The idea of this project comes from Joaquin Texeira and Arturo Carpio, colleagues from University Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, where they studied the degree in Business Management together. Both aware of the digital environment, the motivation of the project arose from the concern of the ethical lack existent in the online surroundings and the mass media. For this purpose, the project reviews, through the literature review, the academic concept deriving from online reviews and their influence: Electronic Word of Mouth - eWOM. Afterwards, the project focus on the study of the environment where the activity would be developed, with the evaluation of competitors, consumers, marketing mix strategies and different determinant factors of its viability. Once developed and presented the competitive advantage of the project, the conclusion is that the project is viable with a forecast of 4 years, where the investment of resources and capabilities in the company will allow it to define the second phase of the project. The Technological, Human Resources, Fiscal and Juridical plans have been carried out to enable the company to compete and survive in the market. Finally, the Financial-Economical plan reflects the monetary flux and viability of the project in its first phase.O objetivo desta dissertação de mestrado - 'Dez melhores opiniões' - é desenvolver um plano de negócios inovador para estudar a viabilidade e desenvolvimento de uma plataforma de comparação online em Portugal que permita ao consumidor informar-se antes de adquirir um produto / serviço. Queremos estabelecer uma comunidade leal de usuários participativos, a fim de criar informações precisas, confiáveis e objetivas, numa era em que a Internet é o principal transmissor de informações falsas e tendenciosas. A ideia deste projeto vêm de Joaquin Texeira e Arturo Carpio, colegas da Universidade Francisco de Vitoria de Madrid, onde estudaram juntos a licenciatura em Gestão de Empresas. Ambos atentos ao ambiente digital, a motivação do projeto surgiu da preocupação com a falta de ética existente no meio online e nos mass media. Para isso, o projeto investiga, por meio da revisão da literatura, o conceito acadêmico decorrente das revisões online e sua influência: Electronic Word of Mouth - eWOM. Posteriormente, o projeto foca-se no estudo do ambiente onde a atividade seria desenvolvida, com a avaliação de concorrentes, consumidores, estratégias de mix de marketing e diferentes fatores determinantes de sua viabilidade. Uma vez desenvolvida e apresentada a vantagem competitiva do projeto, a conclusão é que o projeto é viável com uma previsão de 4 anos, onde o investimento de recursos e capacidades na empresa permitirá definir a segunda fase do projeto. Os planos Tecnológico, de Recursos Humanos, Fiscal e Jurídico foram executados de forma a permitir à empresa competir e sobreviver no mercado. Por fim, o plano económico-financeiro reflete o fluxo monetário e a viabilidade do projeto na sua primeira fase

Selling Beauty : A Linguistic-Communicational Investigation of the Female Beauty Ideal in Advertising in an International Comparison

The advertising campaigns of large international beauty companies greatly influence the perception of beauty. They promote beauty ideals in their campaigns - which easily spread worldwide thanks to the mass media - and offer solutions on how to achieve them. The use of language and persuasive communication is a crucial tool in this process. By using language and communication strategies, marketers actively manage the perceptions of their target groups. In my work, I examine 493 advertisements as well as 153 international and 711 country-specific websites of international beauty companies to find out what the beauty ideal they promote worldwide looks like. In particular, the Western world's idea of female beauty influences global perceptions. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Western or the global beauty ideal. I examine what is meant by the term Western in this context and whether beauty companies tend to show the global, Western or a local ideal in their advertising. I also look for answers to the questions: how do the companies use communication measures and language to promote the beauty ideal? Do they design individual campaigns for their target markets with different local ideals, or do they apply the same approach globally? Is English the lingua franca for the campaigns or are local languages used? The results of my research show that the characteristics which attractiveness research and social science refer to as the global ideal of beauty are identical to the ideal of beauty promoted primarily in the United States and Northern Europe. The Western ideal thus includes the beauty characteristics of a few countries in the world. The global promotion of this ideal leads to the spread of North American and Northern European beauty standards throughout the world. The principles of persuasive communication, rhetoric, and advertising language are used in the design of marketing campaigns. In my study, I first analyze the advertising material from different regions to determine how the companies interpret the respective local beauty ideal. Based on this analysis, I then examine the dominant beauty ideal in all advertising materials belonging to the object of study and assess which linguistic concepts and communicative appeals are used to convey it. In doing so, I analyze, among other things, the rhetorical figures used - the communicative appeals of ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), or logos (logic) - the use of English as a lingua franca, the differences in the beauty ideal and language use between print and online, or the interplay of text and image. The scope of 493 ads as well as 153 global websites and 711 country-specific websites is necessary for representative results, as I conduct a majority analysis based on percentages. The results of my study show that overall, the Western ideal is predominantly promoted. Online, this is done through the use of English as the lingua franca on the international websites and through the use of local languages on the country-specific websites. In the ads, English is also the language of choice to promote the Western ideal. The exception is the ads from countries that historically have a very strong national identity; here, the local beauty ideal is predominant. For this reason, it is also not possible to determine an exclusive marketing of the Western ideal for the advertisements, as is the case with the websites, but rather a distinction must be made based on the regions. For both the printed ads and the websites evaluated, the most common communicative appeal is the emotional one (pathos), followed on the websites by the one to logic (logos) and the one to the credibility of the sender (ethos). The communicative appeals and linguistic features used in both the ads evaluated and on the websites are not country-specific, but are used worldwide. The ideal of beauty is promoted through a sophisticated interplay of text and image, with targeted use of rhetorical figures and linguistic patterns to convey the intended message. The language and communicative appeals used to promote the ideal and the products are the same worldwide. Of course, my study only provides a snapshot. In the fast-changing advertising business, where new campaigns are reworked within a very short time and current as well as future megatrends always have a strong influence, a follow-up study will provide interesting insights into further developments. In my study, I already touch on the topic of the body positivity movement and diversity, which will play an important role in the representation of beauty in advertising in the future

Commercial communication in the digital age : information or disinformation?

In today’s digital age, online and mobile advertising are of growing importance, with advertising no longer bound to the traditional media industry. Although the advertising industry still has broader access to the different measures and channels, users and consumers today have more possibilities topublish, get informed or communicate – to “co-create” –, and toreach a bigger audience. There is a good chance thus that users and consumers are better informed about the objectives and persuasive tricks of the advertising industry than ever before. At the same time, advertisers can inform about products and services without the limitations of time and place faced by traditional mass media. But will there really be a time when advertisers and consumers have equal power, or does tracking users online and offline lead to a situation where advertisers have more information about the consumers than ever before? The volume discusses these questionsand related issues

A Sustainability planning guide for healthy communities

"The Sustainability Planning Guide is a synthesis of science- and practice-based evidence designed to help coalitions, public-health professionals, and other community stakeholders develop, implement, and evaluate a successful sustainability plan. The Guide provides a process for sustaining policy strategies and related activities, introduces various approaches to sustainability, and demonstrates sustainability planning in action with real-life examples." - p. 7Section 1: Sustaining coalition efforts -- Section 2: Sustainability approaches (Summaries) -- Section 3: Sustainability approaches (Modules) -- Section 4: AppendixDate from document properties.CDC's Healthy Communities Program maintained by the Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion."In October 2003, as part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Steps to a HealthierUS initiative (Steps), the CDC began funding communities nationwide through 5-year cooperative agreements, with YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) as a national partner. Building on successes and lessons learned from Steps, CDC broadened its investment in communities through the creation of CDC's Healthy Communities Program in January 2009. To date, more than 300 communities nationwide have been selected by CDC to implement policy, systems, and environmental change (PSE) strategies. CDC's Healthy Communities Program works with these communities, as well as with state and local health departments and national partners, to help create a culture of healthy living while building national networks for sustainable change." - 6Mode of access: Internet from the CDC web site as an Acrobat .pdf file (1.17 MB, 112 p.).Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-112)

Launch of the new Brand on the International Market

Diplomová práce se zabývá uvedením nové značky na mezinárodní trh, díky čemuž by již existující společnost mohla zacílit na nový segment a snáze prolomit na zahraniční trhy.The Diploma thesis deals with the launch of the new brand on the international market, thereby an already existing company could target a new segment and easier enter foreign markets.

Kuluttaja-asiakashankinnan tehostaminen hakukonemarkkinoinnin avulla – Case yritys X

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia hakukonemarkkinoinnin hyödyntämisen vaikutuksia kohdeyrityksen asiakashankintaan. Tutkielman teoreettinen osuus käsittelee vain tutkimuksen kannalta oleellisia asioita, joita ovat asiakashankinta ja hakukonemarkkinointi. Hakukonemarkkinoinnin tekninen toteutus on rajattu tutkielman ulkopuolelle. Tutkimus on pitkittäistutkimuus ja tarkastelualueena toimii vuodet 2015-2017, jolloin tutkija on työskennellyt kohdeyrityksessä. Tutkimuksen havainnointiin, tarkasteltuun teoriaan ja aineiston analyysiin perustuen tavoitteena on luoda kehitysehdotuksia kohdeyrityksen asiakashankinnan toiminnan kehittämiseen. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on evaluaatiotutkimus eli tutkimuksessa pyritään arvioimaan jonkin toiminnan vaikutuksia. Tutkimusfilosofiana tutkimuksessa sovelletaan pragmatismia eli tutkimuksessa lähdetään liikkeelle ongelmasta ja yritetään luoda käytännöllisiä ratkaisuja tulevaisuuden käytäntöä ajatellen. Teorian kehittämisen kannalta sovelletaan induktiivista lähestymistapaa eli aineistosta pyritään tutkimaan ilmiöitä ja tämän perusteella rakennetaan teoriaa. Tutkimuksen metodologisena valintana toimii kvantitatiivinen eli määrällinen tutkimus ja tutkimustavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi käytetään apuna tilastollisia menetelmiä. Tutkimusstrategiana toimii tapaustutkimus ja kohdeyrityksenä toimii LVI-alalla toimiva pk-yritys. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kohdeyrityksen tuottamaa valmista sekundaarista aineistoa ja aineistoa käsitellään tilastollisin menetelmin IBM SPSS Statistics 24 ja Microsoft Excel -ohjelmien avulla. Tutkimuksen teoreettisen osan perusteella hakukonemarkkinoinnilla ja hakukonenäkyvyydellä voi olla suuri merkitys yritysten toimintaan ja sen käytöllä nähdään olevan posivitiivisia vaikutuksia yritysten toimintoihin. Kohdeyrityksen asiakashankinnan tavoitteena on hankkia asiakastapaamisia yrityksen myyntiedustajille ja aineiston analysoinnin perusteella huomattiin, että asiakastapaamisten määrää voidaan lisätä kasvattamalla tehtyjä asiakaskontakteja tai vaihtoehtoisesti hakukonemarkkinoinnin avulla. Hakukonemarkkinoinnin käytöllä oli selkeä vaikutus toteutuneiden asiakastapaamisten määrissä ja sen avulla ollaan pystytty tehostamaan asiakashankinnan toimintaa. Kohdeyrityksen muuhun asiakashankinnan toimintaan verrattuna hakukonemarkkinoinnin avulla toteutuneet asiakastapaamiset kuitenkin olivat kuluiltaan suurempia. Kehitysehdotuksien puolesta tutkija ehdottaa, että hakukonemarkkinointia kannattaa käyttää jatkossa erityisesti asiakashankinnan toiminnan tehokkuuden laskiessa. Hakukonemarkkinoinnin käytön tulisi olla jatkuvaa, käyttöä pitäisi mitata tarkemmin ja sen avulla saatuja tietoja tulisi hyödyntää kasvavissa määrin.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Communication for development. Towards effective communication

The purpose of this study is to understand and identify the success factors of Communication for Development endeavors. By understanding the past efforts and studying the current methodologies used in the different phases of campaigns this study aims to conceptualize the most effective ways to generate Communication for Development products. Through the examination of foreign and local case studies in this research paper, it is anticipated to have a clear conceptualization of what makes some development campaigns succeed, in terms of message design and outreach rather than others. Meanwhile, through the expert interviews, this study aims to understand the process that marketing professionals take in order to design messages for Communication for Development. Finally, this paper strives to have a better understanding of how marketing professionals plan, design, execute and evaluate Communication for Development campaigns