Fashion brands strategies and contemporaneous consumer behavior on social media in Portugal

This study presents two main analysis focused on Portuguese fashion brands strategies and contemporaneous consumer behavior. The first analysis consisted on the case studied and observation of three Portuguese brands (Patrick de Pádua, Luís Carvalho and Nair Xavier) aiming to understand their behavior on social media. During 4 months, Facebook and Instagram were monitored aiming to understand the strategy of each brand and the consequent results. The second analysis was a online survey with 436 valid answers focused on the understanding of Portuguese fashion consumer behavior. The case studies analysis allowed to understand that to have more followers and thus produce more interactivity on a continuous basis with their public, the brands have to create contents consistent with their markets and publics, with the brand language and also with the brand image. The results obtained on the survey allow to conclude that the number participants that share opinions about fashion products and services are still limited. It was also possible to conclude that the majority of the survey participants know several Portuguese brands, but usually don’t buy their products.“This work is financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Denial at the top table: status attributions and implications for marketing

Senior marketing management is seldom represented on the Board of Directors nowadays, reflecting a deteriorating status of the marketing profession. We examine some of the key reasons for marketing’s demise, and discuss how the status of marketing may be restored by demonstrating the value of marketing to the business community. We attribute marketing’s demise to several related key factors: narrow typecasting, marginalisation and limited involvement in product development, questionable marketing curricula, insensitivity toward environmental change, questionable professional standards and roles, and marketing’s apparent lack of accountability to CEOs. Each of these leads to failure to communicate, create, or deliver value within marketing. We argue that a continued inability to deal with marketing’s crisis of representation will further erode the status of the discipline both academically and professionally

Albumin concentrations are primarily determined by the body cell mass and the systemic inflammatory response in cancer patients with weight loss

The association between hypoalbuminemia and poor prognosis in patients with cancer is well recognized. However, the factors that contribute to the fall in albumin concentrations are not well understood. In the present study, we examined the relationship between circulating albumin concentrations, weight loss, the body cell mass (measured using total body potassium), and the presence of an inflammatory response (measured using C- reactive protein) in male patients (n=40) with advanced lung or gastrointestinal cancer. Albumin concentrations were significantly correlated with the percent ideal body weight (r=0.390, p lt 0.05), extent of reported weight loss (r=-0.492, p lt 0.01), percent predicted total body potassium (adjusted for age, height, and weight, r=0.686, p lt 0.001), and logo C-reactive protein concentrations (r=-0.545, p lt 0.001). On multiple regression analysis, the percent predicted total body potassium and log(10) C-reactive protein concentrations accounted for 63% of the variation in albumin concentrations (r(2) = 0.626, p lt 0.001). The interrelationship between albumin, body cell mass, and the inflammatory response is consistent with the concept that the presence of an ongoing inflammatory response contributes to the progressive loss of these vital protein components of the body and the subsequent death of patients with advanced cancer

‘1L=10L for Africa’: Corporate social responsibility and the transformation of bottled water into a ‘consumer activist’ commodity

In recent years, it has become an increasingly common marketing practice to connect the sale of consumer products to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, such as aid and development projects in so-called ‘developing’ countries. One example is Volvic’s pioneering ‘1L=10L for Africa’ campaign (2005–2010), which linked the sale of each liter of bottled water in ‘developed’ countries with the promise by Danone, Volvic’s owner, to provide 10 liters of drinking water in Africa. In this article, we engage with this ‘cause-related marketing’ campaign, using critical discourse analysis (CDA) to uncover its mechanisms and ideological functioning. We show how Volvic was able to transform an ordinary commodity, bottled water, into a consumer activist brand through which consumers could take part in solving global social problems, such as the access to safe drinking water in ‘developing’ countries. Our analysis of this exemplary case shows the ways that CSR often operates to deflect ethical critiques, consolidate brand loyalty and corporate profits, and defuse political struggles around consumption. By doing so, we suggest that CSR forms part of a complex strategy deployed to legitimize particular brands and commodities. In this way CSR can be seen as playing an important role in the ideological makeup of contemporary consumer capitalism. </jats:p

A tri-dimensional approach for auditing brand loyalty

Over the past twenty years brand loyalty has been an important topic for both marketing practitioners and academics. While practitioners have produced proprietary brand loyalty audit models, there has been little academic research to make transparent the methodology that underpins these audits and to enable practitioners to understand, develop and conduct their own audits. In this paper, we propose a framework for a brand loyalty audit that uses a tri-dimensional approach to brand loyalty, which includes behavioural loyalty and the two components of attitudinal loyalty: emotional and cognitive loyalty. In allowing for different levels and intensity of brand loyalty, this tri-dimensional approach is important from a managerial perspective. It means that loyalty strategies that arise from a brand audit can be made more effective by targeting the market segments that demonstrate the most appropriate combination of brand loyalty components. We propose a matrix with three dimensions (emotional, cognitive and behavioural loyalty) and two levels (high and low loyalty) to facilitate a brand loyalty audit. To demonstrate this matrix, we use the example of financial services, in particular a rewards-based credit card

Practitioner accounts and knowledge production: an analysis of three marketing discourses

Responding to repeated calls for marketing academicians to connect with marketing actors, we offer an empirically-sourced discourse analysis of the ways in which managers portray their practices. Focusing on the micro-discourses and narratives that marketing actors draw upon to represent their work we argue that dominant representations of marketing knowledge production present a number of critical concerns for marketing theory and marketing education. We also evidence that the often promoted idea of a need to close the gap between theory - as a dominant discourse - and practice, as a way of doing marketing, is problematic to pursue. We suggest that a more fruitful agenda resides in the development of a range of polyphonic and creative micro-discourses of management, promoting context, difference and individual meaning in marketing knowledge production

Sceptical Employees as CSR Ambassadors in Times of Financial Uncertainty

This chapter offers new insights into the understanding of internal (employee) perceptions of organizational corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and strategies. This study explores the significance of employees’ involvement and scepticism upon CSR initiatives and focuses on the effects it may have upon word of mouth (WOM) and the development of employee–organisation relationships. Desk research introduces the research questions. Data for the research questions were gathered through a self-completion questionnaire distributed in a hardcopy form to the sample. An individual’s level of scepticism and involvement appears to affect the development of a positive effect on employees’ WOM. Involvement with the domain of the investment may be a central factor affecting relationship building within the organization, and upon generation of positive WOM. The chapter offers a conceptual framework to public relations (PR) and corporate communications practitioners, which may enrich their views and understanding of the use and value of CSR for communication strategies and practices. For-profit organisations are major institutions in today’s society. CSR is proffered as presenting advantages for (at macro level) society and (micro level) the organization and its employees. Concepts, such as involvement and scepticism, which have not been rigorously examined in PR and corporate communication literature, are addressed. By examining employee perceptions, managers and academic researchers gain insights into the acceptance, appreciation and effectiveness of CSR policies and activities upon the employee stakeholder group. This will affect current and future CSR communication strategies. The knowledge acquired from this chapter may be transferable outside the for-profit sector

Prosumer and Product Design Through Digital Tools

Currently, the growing interest of users and consumers in the participation of the creative process has led to the typical “maker culture” practices. Consequently, there is an increasing number of prosumers - users who produce what they consume - who want to be part of the design and transformation process of the products. In order to achieve it, prosumers have begun to use digital tools that greatly facilitate this task. These tools could vary depending on the number of users involved in the process and the freedom of participation that they have on the product. It has been presented a number of qualitative classification of cases involving the end user, individually or collectively, that has influenced as a prosumer in the product design process. The objective is to study the use of digital tools in the creative phase within the design process according to their different levels of participation with respect to the final product. The cases are shown in four tables according to the number of users involved in the process and their level of participation. In these tables, other important aspects related to the study of digital tools such as the type of contribution of the prosumer to the product or the design phase in which he participates will be identified. In conclusion, this work will show if there is a pattern in the use of digital tools according to the number of users involved in the process and the freedom of participation that they have and which are the reasons for their use

‘Brands in Higher Education ; Challenges and Potential Strategies’

This study explores the challenges of university branding and the qualities that make university branding different from commercial branding in terms of cultural issues, branding concepts and frameworks and brands architecture. The literature about branding in the university sector is described and viewed in the context of exploratory interviews with fifty five university managers. The results present the differences between university and commercial brandings as well as culture, brand concepts and brand architecture,. The study was conducted in UK universities, but similar issues in many other countries means that the results are comparable internationally. Overall, the findings presented in this research offer a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complexities of higher education branding