Making the brand appealing: advertising strategies and consumers’ attitude towards UK retail bank brands

Purpose: The present state of the financial services industry suggests the need for banks to appeal to consumers’ emotions with the aim of improving their reputation; this study aims to explore how UK banks are using emotional appeals in their advertisements and how this shapes consumers’ attitudes towards their brands. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis in a two-stage study – Study 1 analysed the content of 1,274 UK bank advertisements to understand how the banks convey emotional appeals, whereas Study 2 elicited consumers’ perceptions of these advertising appeals and how they influenced their attitudes through semi-structured interview with 33 UK retail bank customers in London and Luton. Findings: UK banks are using emotional appeals in their marketing communication strategies. The qualitative findings highlight the bi-dimensional nature of feelings towards the advertisements and how this relates to the brand. There is a lacklustre attitude towards the brands; there was no sense of pride in associating with any bank, even with though there are possibilities of switching; and consumers feel there is no better offer elsewhere as all banks are the same. Practical implications: Bank brands should present distinct values about their services to the target audience, endeavour to build relationships with existing customers and reward loyalty. Importantly, financial brands need to engage in and highlight charitable activities and any corporate social responsibility as this can help to improve consumers’ attitudes as they often consider bank brands greedy and selfish. Originality/value: Qualitative research methodology was adopted to better understand consumers’ attitudes towards UK retail bank brands

<i>Pac1</i> Signals of Human Herpesviruses Contain a Highly Conserved G‑Quadruplex Motif

Packaging signals (<i>pac1</i> and <i>pac2</i>) of human herpesviruses (HHVs) that contain GC-rich elements are essential for cleavage and packaging of the virus. Here, we report the presence of putative G-quadruplex sequences (PQSs) in the packaging signal (<i>pac1</i>) of all HHVs. Importantly, the residues critical for the formation of G-quadruplex structures were highly conserved as compared to those not critical for the formation of this DNA secondary structure, indicating that G-quadruplexes are positively selected within <i>pac1</i> in the evolution of herpesviruses. CD spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, native/denaturing gel, and DMS footprinting confirmed the formation of G-quadruplex structures in all <i>pac1</i> PQS oligonucleotides analyzed; the majority of the PQS had the propensity to form intermolecular structures. The presence of highly conserved G-quadruplex motifs at genomic locations critical for virus packaging has not been previously recognized. Our findings provide a new perspective on the putative functions of G-quadruplexes in virus genomes

Additional file 7: Table S5. of Genome-wide analysis of G-quadruplexes in herpesvirus genomes

Promoter PQS oligonucleotides. Sequence of PQS oligonucleotides from the promoter region of UL24, UL2, and K15. (PDF 82 kb