Successful Collaboration Between Marketers and Agencies: Towards a Client perspective on Advertising Development

The relationship between clients and agencies involved in developing quality advertising campaigns has long been an area of interest for researchers. Much of the early research focussed on the factors which contributed to the origins, functioning and dissolution of client agency relationships in advertising. In addition much of this early research had considered these relationships from the point of view of the agency. In comparison this research considers the importance of collaboration in the development of quality advertising campaigns. The research considers the contribution of process and outcome factors in the development of advertising campaigns. To understand how these two groups of factors contribute to the development of quality advertising campaigns it was decided to use a mixed methods approach to conduct the research. Initially a series of exploratory in-depth interviews were undertaken with senior personnel from a range of major Auckland client companies and agencies. These interviews provided a range of rich qualitative data which was the basis for developing the quantitative questionnaire. This was followed by a comprehensive quantitative questionnaire that surveyed a range of people working at major New Zealand and Australian advertisers. The data collected in the quantitative segment of the research was then analysed. The analysis identified four factors likely to influence the quality of advertising campaigns produced. These were relationship stability, agency flexibility, agency competency and expertise and client involvement. The quantitative research showed clients who were involved in the development of campaigns were more likely to produce original campaigns that were also more creative, and as a result more effective. Clients and agencies that were in stable relationships were likely to produce campaigns which were both original and effective. Agencies that had high levels of competency and expertise were likely to produce campaigns which were more strategic and original. There was an inverse U relationship between competency and expertise and the effectiveness of campaigns produced. That is those with high and low levels of competency and expertise were likely to produce less effective campaigns than those with moderate levels of competency and expertise. Those clients and agencies that are in stable relationships and agencies that had high levels of competency and expertise were also likely to produce more creative campaigns. Agencies that were either inflexible or highly flexible are likely to produce the most original campaigns. Situations where the client was not involved nor were they in a stable relationship were likely to result in campaigns with less strategic focus. The results overall suggest that the process factors make a contribution throughout the process of developing a campaign and that the outcome factors are those which help the client to judge whether a campaign is high quality. Those who consider process factors such as trust to be contributors to the development of quality advertising campaigns, may really only “hope” that quality campaigns will result. This research has presented a clients’ view on the factors which are important to quality campaign development. This is in contrast to much of the earlier work developed which considered the agencies’ viewpoint. For agency managers who seek to develop quality campaigns it is important that they involve the client. They should also ensure that their relationship is stable, that they are flexible in their work with the client and they assign personnel who are competent and have the expertise necessary to develop quality advertising campaigns

Personal financial literacy among high school students in New Zealand, Japan and the United States

Personal financial literacy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, especially for young people. In this paper we compare financial literacy of high school students in Hamilton, New Zealand, with samples from Japan and the United States. We compare not only overall financial literacy, but also literacy across five dimensions (or ‘themes’) of financial literacy, and across three cognitive levels. We find that financial literacy is poor overall in all three countries, but is substantially worse in New Zealand and the United States than in Japan. The performance is similar across themes and cognitive levels for U.S. and New Zealand students, but Japanese students perform better mostly in terms of their greater knowledge of terminology and definitions, rather than better comprehension and ability to apply their knowledge. This suggests that all three countries should work harder to develop the financial literacy of their high school students

Studies on Fagara rhoifolia Lam. and Diplorrpynchus condylocarpon Pichon

Part I of this work presents a review of the tertiary and quaternary alkaloids of the genus Fagara, family Rutaceae, comprising a detailed account of the physical data of the alkaloids and a survey of the pharmacological actions of these and related alkaloids. Methods are discussed for the extraction, separation and purification of tertiary and quaternary alkaloids, with particular reference to the screening for alkaloids in plant material. The alkaloidal compositions of three fractions obtained from the bark of Fagara rhoifolia Lam. were studied; fractions I and II were shown to contain similar quaternary alkaloids whilst fraction III was shown to consist of a mixture of one quaternary and five tertiary alkaloids. The two major quaternary alkaloids of fractions I and II were isolated and shown to be 5-hydroxy-2,3,6-trimethoxy-alpha,beta-dimethyl-aporphinim chloride and (-)-methylcanadine chloride. The remaining minor quaternary alkaloids were not isolated as pure compounds. (-)-Methylcanadine chloride was identified as the major alkaloid, and the only quaternary base, of fraction III which also contained allocryptopine, as the principal tertiary base, together with other minor, uncharacterised, tertiary alkaloids. The stem and root barks of four African Fagara species, Fagara leprieurii Engl., F. macrophylla Engl., F. viridis A. Chev. and F. xanthoxyloides Lam., were examined for the presence of tertiary and quaternary bases. A suitable method was devised for the separation of these two groups of bases. The mixtures of tertiary and quaternary alkaloids of the four African Fagara species were compared by means of suitable thin-layer chromatographic systems. The results showed sufficient valuation in the constituent alkaloids to differentiate the four species, but the similarities showed that the four had a close chemical relationship, Although several authors have reported tertiary alkaloids in these African Fagara species, the present work is the first to report the presence of quaternary alkaloids. Part II comprises the results of an alkaloidal screening of some Apocynaceous plant materials and a review of the alkaloidal constituents previously reported in other species of the genera involved in this survey. The presence of alkaloids was demonstrated in extracts from plant material of Ambelania acida Aubl., Diplorrhynchus condylocarpon Pichon, Mandevilla hirsuta Malme, Ochrosia elliptica Labill, Odontadenia nitida Muell., Prostonia quinquangularis Spreng, Tabemaemontana angolensis Stapf and T. pachysiphon Stapf. This is the first report of alkaloidal material in Ambelania acida, Mandevilla hirsuta, Odontadenia nitida and Tabernaemontana angolensis, though alkaloids have previously been reported in the genera Macoubea (in which Pichon includes the genus Ambelania), Mandevilla, Odontadenia and Tabernaemontana. Extracts from Cameraria belizensis Standley and Carissa edulis Vahl were devoid of alkaloid. The alkaloids of the stem berk of Diplorrhynchus condylocarpon Pichon were isolated and three pure alkaloids were identified as the known bases normacusine B, condylocarpine and mossarabine

Synthetic Studies Directed Towards the Sesquiterpenoid Grimaldone

An advanced intermediate in a route to the odoriferous sesquiterpenoid grimaldone has been synthesised using a formal [3+2] cycloaddition reaction as the key step. Subsequent transformation of the intermediate using ring-contraction methodology developed by House failed. Therefore, a new route to grimaldone was devised involving a modified Sharpless oxidative cleavage reaction. Again, an advanced intermediate was attained and model studies on that compound have indicated that a very late-stage precursor to grimaldone can be accessed relatively easily

From Management to Prevention: the New Cure for Sports Concussion

A case for directing attention away from concussion management and towards the prevention of concussions in sport

Proteins other than the locus of enterocyte effacement-encoded proteins contribute to Escherichia coli O157:H7 adherence to bovine rectoanal junction stratified squamous epithelial cells

Background: In this study, we present evidence that proteins encoded by the Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE), considered critical for Escherichia coli O157 (O157) adherence to follicle-associated epithelial (FAE) cells at the bovine recto-anal junction (RAJ), do not appear to contribute to O157 adherence to squamous epithelial (RSE) cells also constituting this primary site of O157 colonization in cattle. Results: Antisera targeting intimin-γ, the primary O157 adhesin, and other essential LEE proteins failed to block O157 adherence to RSE cells, when this pathogen was grown in DMEM, a culture medium that enhances expression of LEE proteins. In addition, RSE adherence of a DMEM-grown-O157 mutant lacking the intimin protein was comparable to that seen with its wild-type parent O157 strain grown in the same media. These adherence patterns were in complete contrast to that observed with HEp-2 cells (the adherence to which is mediated by intimin-γ), assayed under same conditions. This suggested that proteins other than intimin-γ that contribute to adherence to RSE cells are expressed by this pathogen during growth in DMEM. To identify such proteins, we defined the proteome of DMEM-grown-O157 (DMEM-proteome). GeLC-MS/MS revealed that the O157 DMEM-proteome comprised 684 proteins including several components of the cattle and human O157 immunome, orthologs of adhesins, hypothetical secreted and outer membrane proteins, in addition to the known virulence and LEE proteins. Bioinformatics-based analysis of the components of the O157 DMEM proteome revealed several new O157-specific proteins with adhesin potential. Conclusion: Proteins other than LEE and intimin-γ proteins are involved in O157 adherence to RSE cells at the bovine RAJ. Such proteins, with adhesin potential, are expressed by this human pathogen during growth in DMEM. Ongoing experiments to evaluate their role in RSE adherence should provide both valuable insights into the O157-RSE interactions and new targets for more efficacious anti-adhesion O157 vaccines

Phase Variable O Antigen Biosynthetic Genes Control Expression of the Major Protective Antigen and Bacteriophage Receptor in Vibrio cholerae O1

The Vibrio cholerae lipopolysaccharide O1 antigen is a major target of bacteriophages and the human immune system and is of critical importance for vaccine design. We used an O1-specific lytic bacteriophage as a tool to probe the capacity of V. cholerae to alter its O1 antigen and identified a novel mechanism by which this organism can modulate O antigen expression and exhibit intra-strain heterogeneity. We identified two phase variable genes required for O1 antigen biosynthesis, manA and wbeL. manA resides outside of the previously recognized O1 antigen biosynthetic locus, and encodes for a phosphomannose isomerase critical for the initial step in O1 antigen biosynthesis. We determined that manA and wbeL phase variants are attenuated for virulence, providing functional evidence to further support the critical role of the O1 antigen for infectivity. We provide the first report of phase variation modulating O1 antigen expression in V. cholerae, and show that the maintenance of these phase variable loci is an important means by which this facultative pathogen can generate the diverse subpopulations of cells needed for infecting the host intestinal tract and for escaping predation by an O1-specific phage

Polymorphic Amplified Typing Sequences (PATS) Strain Typing System Accurately Discriminates a Set of Temporally and Spatially Disparate Escherichia coli O157 Isolates Associated with Human Infection

Polymorphic Amplified Typing Sequences (PATS) is a PCR-based Escherichia coli O157 (O157) strain typing system. Here, we show that PATS compares excellently with Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) in that both methods cluster geographically diverse O157 isolates similarly. Comparative analysis of the results obtained in this simulated “blind” study attests to the discriminating power and applicability of PATS to epidemiological/nosocomial situations

Ocean Bottom Seismometer Augmentation of the Philippine Sea Experiment (OBSAPS) cruise report

The Ocean Bottom Seismometer Augmentation to the Philippine Sea Experiment (OBSAPS, April-May, 2011, R/V Revelle) addresses the coherence and depth dependence of deep-water ambient noise and signals. During the 2004 NPAL Experiment in the North Pacific Ocean, in addition to predicted ocean acoustic arrivals and deep shadow zone arrivals, we observed "deep seafloor arrivals" that were dominant on the seafloor Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) (at about 5000m depth) but were absent or very weak on the Distributed Vertical Line Array (DVLA) (above 4250m depth). These "deep seafloor arrivals" (DSFA) are a new class of arrivals in ocean acoustics possibly associated with seafloor interface waves. The OBSAPS cruise had three major research goals: a) identification and analysis of DSFAs occurring at short (1/2CZ) ranges in the 50 to 400Hz band, b) analysis of deep sea ambient noise in the band 0.03 to 80Hz, and c) analysis of the frequency dependence of BR and SRBR paths as a function of frequency. On OBSAPS we deployed a fifteen element VLA from 12 to 852m above the seafloor, four short-period OBSs and two long-period OBSs and carried out an 11.5day transmission program using a J15-3 acoustic source.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under Contract Nos. N00014-10-1-0994 and N00014-10-1-0987