Advertising at the threshold: paratextual promotion in the era of media convergence

In the media convergence era, brands are embracing hybrid forms of advertising communication such as branded content, product placement and sponsored TV ‘pods’, brand blogs, shareable video, programmatic advertising, ‘native’ advertising and more, as alternatives to, and extensions of, traditional mass media advertising campaigns. In this article, we draw on Genette’s theory of transtextuality to reframe this phenomenon from a paratextual purview. We suggest that the analogy of the paratext articulates the iterative, ambiguous, participative and intertextual character of much contemporary brand communication. We describe extended examples of paratextual advertising and promotion that illustrate the fluid and mutually contingent relation of advertising text to paratext, and we outline an analytical framework for future research and practice

Television Product Placement Strategy in Thailand and the UK

Abstract This paper discusses the implications for international brand communications management of a qualitative cross-national research study on television product placement in the United Kingdom and Thailand. The study involved secondary research into the respective media environments and depth interviews with leading agency practitioners in each country. The research suggests that, while television product placement practice may be superficially similar in Asia and the UK, there are important differences arising from the very different regulatory, media and consumer environments. As a consequence, detailed local knowledge is essential for successful product placement strategy which crosses cultural borders. The paper explains key differences in regulation and practice and explores implications for brand communications practice and research

Implications of the selfie for marketing management practice in the era of celebrity

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of the selfie for marketing management in the era of celebrity. The purpose is to show that the facilitation of the creative performance of consumer identity is a key element of the marketing management task for the media convergence era. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses the selfie, the picture of oneself taken by oneself, as a metaphor to develop a conceptual exploration of the nature of marketing in the light of the dominance of celebrity and entertainment in contemporary media and entertainment. Findings: The paper suggests that marketing management in the era of convergence should facilitate consumers’ identity projects through participatory and engaging social media initiatives. Marketers must furnish and facilitate not only the props for consumers mediated identity performances, but also the scripts, sets and scenes, plot devices, cinematographic and other visual techniques, costumes, looks, movements, characterizations and narratives. Research limitations/implications: This is a conceptual paper that sketches out the beginning of a re-framed, communication-focussed vision of marketing management in the era of media convergence. Practical implications: Marketing managers can benefit from thinking about consumer marketing as the stage management of consumer visual, physical, virtual, sensory and psychic environments that enable consumers to actively participate in celebrity culture. Originality/value: This paper suggests ways in which marketing practice can emerge from its pre-digital frame to embrace the new digital cultures of consumption

Television Product Placement Strategy in Thailand and the UK

Abstract This paper discusses the implications for international brand communications management of a qualitative cross-national research study on television product placement in the United Kingdom and Thailand. The study involved secondary research into the respective media environments and depth interviews with leading agency practitioners in each country. The research suggests that, while television product placement practice may be superficially similar in Asia and the UK, there are important differences arising from the very different regulatory, media and consumer environments. As a consequence, detailed local knowledge is essential for successful product placement strategy which crosses cultural borders. The paper explains key differences in regulation and practice and explores implications for brand communications practice and research

The iconicity of celebrity and the spiritual impulse

Celebrity has a powerful material presence in contemporary consumer culture but its surface aesthetic resonates with the promise of deeper meanings. This Marketplace Icon contribution speculates on the iconicity of celebrity from a spiritual perspective. The social value or authenticity of contemporary celebrity, and the social processes through which it emerges, are matters of debate amongst researchers and competing approaches include field theory, functionalism, and anthropologically inflected accounts of the latent need for ritual, myth and spiritual fulfillment evinced by celebrity “worship.” We focus on the latter area as a partial explanation of the phenomenon whereby so many consumers seem so enchanted by images of, and stories about, individuals with whom they, or we, often have little in common. We speculate that the powerful presence of celebrity in Western consumer culture to some extent reflects and exploits a latent need for myths of redemption through the iconic character of many, though by no means all, manifestations of celebrity consumption

Marketing and the cultural production of celebrity in the era of media convergence

Celebrity endorsement research in the marketing literature has been over-reliant on an exogenous notion of celebrity as something produced outside of the marketing system, from which meanings can be transferred to brands within the marketing system. In fact, marketing has been deeply implicated in the constitution of celebrity since the dawn of Western consumer culture in the early part of the twentieth century. In the era of media convergence, there is a pressing need for researchers in marketing to re-evaluate the meta-assumptions around celebrity and its relation to marketing in the light of marketing’s culturally constitutive role

Transgressive drinking practices and the subversion of proscriptive alcohol policy messages

This research makes a new contribution to alcohol policy practice and theory by demonstrating that transgression of officially sanctioned norms and values is a key component of the sub- and counter cultural drinking practices of some groups of young consumers. Therefore, policy messages that proscribe these drinking practices with moral force are likely to be subverted and rendered counter-productive. The qualitative analysis draws on critical geography and literary theories of the carnivalesque to delineate three categories of transgression: transgressions of space and place, transgressions of the body, and transgressions of the social order. Implications for alcohol policy are discussed

The work of culture in Thai Theravāda Buddhist death rituals

Thai Theravāda Buddhist death rituals are explored in this book chapter as vivid examples of how rituals around death can offer rich potential sources for consumer cultural insight. The chapter explores Ricoeur’s and Obeyesekere’s ‘cultural hermeneutics’ (1965) and ‘the work of culture’ (1990) within the context of Thai death rituals and death consumption to extend CCT research into these under-explored areas. The death rituals reflect a sense of immortality, identity, and continuity as part of collective cultural identities that link the living with the dead. The chapter uses an autoethnographic practice theory perspective to demonstrate how Theravāda Buddhist death rituals entail the symbolic exchange between the living and the dead within the liminal spaces of a selection of death rituals and festivals. Death can be seen as a culturally defined concept given the ontological finality of the Western notion of death. The roles of Thai death rituals and the language related to death and death rituals contribute to the living’s sense of self-consciousness and identity, and connect to consumer culture. By engaging with death through death rituals, the cultural identity of the dead can be continued

Advertising and promotion

Book synopsis: Using a wide range of visual examples and case studies, Advertising and Promotion 4th edition introduces the reader to the key concepts, methods and issues and illustrates these with first-hand examples gathered from leading international advertising agencies and brand campaigns. Told from the perspective of the agency, it gives a fun and creative insider view helping the reader to think beyond the client position and understand what it might be like working within an ad agency. Drawing not only from management and marketing research but also from other disciplines such as cultural/media studies and sociology, the authors offer a rounded and critical perspective on the subject to those looking to understand advertising as social phenomenon in addition to its business function and purpose. The new edition has in-depth coverage of online advertising and the role of social media in advertising including metrics and analytics and includes advertising examples by global brands including Adidas, Benetton, BMW, Dove and DeBeers. “Snapshots” bring in aspects of cross-cultural advertising such as Barbie in China. The book is complemented by a companion website featuring a range of tools and resources for lecturers and students, including PowerPoint slides, SAGE journal articles, links to further online resources and author Videos. The textbook is also supported by an author-written blog which keeps readers updated on interesting, topical examples relating to advertising and promotion from current affairs and popular culture: www.hackleyadvertisingandpromotion.blogspot.com. Suitable for Advertising, Marketing and Communications modules at undergraduate or postgraduate level