Towards developing high brand equity for Sustainable Archaelogical Tourism Industry

Heritage tourism is a very big industry in the United States and worldwide. It is taking diverse and highly original directions. Heritage tourism as well was identified for further investigation because it offers such a significant public outreach opportunity to archaeology (Hoffman, Kwas & Silverman, 2002). In this research the scope that will be explored is how to developed high brand equity for sustainable archaeological tourism industry in Malaysia by referring to the case of the Lenggong Valley archaeological area. Currently, the UNESCO is reviewing the Department of National Heritage Malaysia’s proposal to declare the Lenggong Valley as a World Heritage Site for its archaeological heritage. Associate Professor Mokhtar Saidin (Director of the Centre for Global Archaeological Research) who had played an instrumental role in preparing the proposal is optimist that the Lenggong Valley will be declared a World Heritage site by Feb 2011

The intersection of self and social identity in heritage brand destination

The recognition from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on heritage tourism draws destination tourists both international and local. Lenggong Valley (LV) is well-known with the Perak Man and archaeological sites. Since its discovery and inscription as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites in 2012, relevant planning has been established to develop the area as part of tourism destinations in Malaysia. Developing a brand destination is intricate in view of its multifaceted structure and multiple stakeholders with different interests that a destination possessed. The early stage for the identification of destination-brand identity is crucial in ensuring the involvement of its stakeholders, particularly the residents. The key reason offered by most of the literature reviews for destination branding is, this group plays an important role in providing destination experiences to the tourists. The focus of this research is to give an overview and discuss how the self and social identity that underlie the resident’s evaluation are intersected, which affects their interpretation of destination-brand identity. Adopting a qualitative method and guided by the stakeholder and social identity theories, the data collection was conducted in two phases – (i) in-depth interviews; and (ii) focus group interview (FGI). The participants were purposively selected consisting of the headmen and some representatives of the female residents to represent the residents’ perspectives. Data were analysed using the 6-step thematic analysis. The findings revealed that residents’ conceptualization of the Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site’s identity revolves around the intersection between their self and social identities

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) As A Model And Its Application: An Exploratory Study In Malaysia.

A topic of growing interest in marketing communications is Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). It is the philosophy and practice of systematically coordinating a brand's marketing communications elements, both through planned and unplanned messages. IMC is believed to be able to provide a better management of the traditional promotional mix as well as an improved management of customer contact points, thus bringing greater return on investment for a company's marketing communications activities

The influence of destination personality on brand image evaluation among archaeological tourists

Archaeological tourism is becoming increasingly important to the Malaysian tourism industry with the recognition of the Lenggong Valley as UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. This research focuses on the use of the Aaker’s (1997) brand personality concept, or in this context destination personality, in branding archaeological tourism destinations. Specifically, the objectives of this research are to identify the underlying personality dimensions that are applicable to an archaeological tourism destination such as the Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site and to determine the contribution of the brand personality dimensions towards the evaluation of the Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site’s brand image among tourists in Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site. A purposive sample of 320 tourists to the Archaeological Gallery of the Lenggong Valley was approached, and 300 usable questionnaires were analysed. The findings of the study indicate that there are six underlying personality dimensions held by the Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site, namely competence, sophistication, sincerity, ruggedness, demonstrative, and emotional. In addition, of the six dimensions, four dimensions namely sincerity, ruggedness, sophistication, and demonstrative have positive influence on brand image. The two newly emerged dimensions, demonstrative and emotional are considered a major contribution of the present research to the tourism marketing literature

Developing Destination Brand Identity : Towards Sustainability of Tourism Destination from the Perspective of Stakeholders and Theory of Social Identity (Abstract only)

This is a conceptual paper on the concept of destination brand identity from the perspective of stakeholders. In planning and strategising for sustainable tourism destination, destination branding is a critical issue that needs to be explored. The nature of a destination domain is one where there exists an “open-system” of interdependent, multidimensional and multiple stakeholders where the actions of one stakeholder will impact the rest of the actors in the destination, thus making the process of developing destination identity very complex. The difficulties in dealing with different interests amongst the stakeholders make the process of developing destination identity more complicated, resulting in difficulties in achieving unity and understanding about the "shared image" for a destination brand. Moreover, to produce a sustainable tourism destination, the supports offered by stakeholders to the planning and development process is a key element for the successful operation, management and sustainability of the destination. The destination branding literature shows consistency in the consideration of the power of stakeholders for branding destination. Therefore, based on the theory of stakeholders and the theory of social identity that underlies this paper, the study will identify the relationship between the stakeholders and brand development for a destination domain. This paper introduces a framework designed to study the implications of stakeholders towards the destination brand. (Abstract by authors

Exploring Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site’s Brand Equity Dimensions

This study explores the brand equity dimensions of a world heritage destination brand, namely the Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site. The study adopted a survey-based brand equity metrics from a previous study that features 27 brand equity dimensions for products. The 27 dimensions were used as the start-off point in exploring the brand equity dimensions for the focal destination brand. The questions were modified to reflect features of heritage destinations. Principal factor analyses were run on data collected from 100 local tourists. The factor analyses yielded 10 factors, namely Trust, Bonding, Service, Acceptability, Value, Heritage, Ambiance, Knowledge, Persistence and Relevance. A new dimension that emerged from the data was value that encompasses both non-financial and financial dimensions

Developing Destination Brand Identity: Towards sustainability of tourism destination from the perspective of stakeholders and theory of social identity

This is a conceptual paper on the concept of destination brand identity from the perspective of stakeholders. In planning and strategising for sustainable tourism destination, destination branding is a critical issue that needs to be explored. The nature of a destination domain is one where there exists an “open-system” of interdependent, multidimensional and multiple stakeholders where the actions of one stakeholder will impact the rest of the actors in the destination, thus making the process of developing destination identity very complex. The difficulties in dealing with different interests amongst the stakeholders make the process of developing destination identity more complicated, resulting in difficulties in achieving unity and understanding about the "shared image" for a destination brand. Moreover, to produce a sustainable tourism destination, the supports offered by stakeholders to the planning and development process is a key element for the successful operation, management and sustainibility of the destination. The destination branding literature shows consistency in the consideration of the power of stakeholders for branding destination. Therefore, based on the theory of stakeholders and the theory of social identity that underlies this paper, the study will identify the relationship between the stakeholders and brand development for a destination domain. This paper introduces a framework designed to study the implications of stakeholders towards the destination brand

The Implementation of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Principles in Branding and Advertising: A Conceptual Exploration

Theorists and advocates of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) behold that IMC was an innovation to rescue the downward of advertisement industry and to strengthen the strategic and tactical power of branding. IMC offer the option of integrating several marketing communication approaches in one message content for the purpose of developing effective brand equity. However, IMC is a theoretically celebrated panacea that has experienced a longstanding conceptual and practical muddling, which includes the practicality, definitions, implementations and measurement of its effectiveness. Pertinently, an explicit strategy and tactics of implementing the principles of IMC in advertisement still remain obscure. In a quest to quench the conceptual haziness of IMC and its implementation in advertisement-being one of the very crucial tool in marketing communications, this paper presents the review of the implementation process of IMC in the general marketing communication fields, advertisement and branding in particular. Relevant theoretical and practical gaps were deduced from past studies to inform future studies of possible ways to resolve the theoretical and practical inconsistencies in implementing the principles of IMC in an effective advertisement and brand equity. Keywords: Integrated Marketing Communication; Brand Equity; Advertisement Effectiveness; Message Strategy

The Portrayal Of Masculinity/ Feminity Between Malaysian And Australian University Websites

This paper analyzed web features which were applicable to a cultural dimension namely masculinity/feminity which contributed to cultural understanding and assisted web designers in customizing the websites to a specific culture. Quantitative content analysis was utilized through a t-test and discriminant analysis. 60 samples of websites were selected from Malaysian and Australian universities. Predictor variables were “Use a fluid layout”, “Pop-ups”, “Homepage length”, “Use site map”, “Use simple background image”, “Use of flash” and “Highlight critical data”.The findings yielded that there was a relationship between the masculinity/feminity cultural dimension and features of website usability of different countries. Malaysian university websites tend to have lower masculinity index. The results of Discriminant analysis also confirmed that Malaysian university websites and Australian university websites differed significantly on a linear combination of seven variables of masculinity/feminity. Hence, the masculinity/feminity dimension is a factor to consider in ensuring the usability of websites of different countries. This research also suggests that localisation is still important in terms of university web marketing. Hence, the web is not a culturally neutral medium, but they reflect the cultural environment that surrounds the developers. This study is beneficial for web policy makers and web designers of universities in providing a guide in terms of integrating cultural values for specific cultures. Future research should examine other cultural dimension in universities of other countries to gain more insights into the relationship of culture and university web usabilit

LEVERAGING USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC) IN ENHANCING OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING INSITUTION: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON STUDENT FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION

User-generated content (UGC) refers to any form of content created and shared by users or consumers through various online platforms and social media channels, rather than by the brand or organisation itself. The advent of the internet and social media platforms has greatly facilitated the generation and dissemination of user-generated content. UGC has become a powerful tool for consumers to engage with brands, influence others, and shape brand perceptions which directly or indirectly impact the image of the organisations. Unlike conversations or interactions initiated by brands or organisations, UGC offers more spontaneous, authentic and truthful feedback compared to other forms of feedback mechanism. While not all feedback or interactions may be positive, paying attention to UGC will allow brands or organisations to monitor the situation on the ground, address issues immediately, and strategize effectively for improvements. Open and distance learning (ODL) institution is one of the organisations that can be affected by UGC related to their products or services. With stiff competition among higher education providers, both public and private universities, ODL institutions play a crucial role in providing accessible and flexible educational opportunities for distance learners. To be on par with other established universities, ODL institutions must ensure continuous improvement and effectiveness of their ODL programmes. Therefore, these institutions need to gather and analyse the information shared regarding the products and services offered to them. This research aims to investigate the application of UGC in collecting, analysing and utilising student feedback to enhance the quality of open and distance learning programmes. The research will explore the utilisation of UGC in collecting student feedback and evaluations in an ODL institution to understand student experiences, engagement levels, interaction patterns, and content creation practices through the analysis of UGC. It will identify strengths and weaknesses revealed or shared in the UGC related to open and distance learning programmes offered and recommend ways for continuous enhancement of open and distance learning experiences based on the analysis of UGC. The research will apply mixed-methods, combining qualitative and quantitative techniques to gather and analyse data. In the first phase of the study, qualitative method will be employed to identify the collection of related UGC using Octoparse software to extract data related to the ODL institution from any public website. The data will be analysed thematically to gain insight into students’ experiences, challenges and preferences. In the second phase, a survey will investigate key variables that emerge from the first phase. The survey will focus on verifying issues raised by the students, factors influencing the OUM students’ perceptions of OUM services and products, their satisfaction, and their suggestions for improvements. This research is expected to provide valuable insights to improve program quality, meet the specific needs of distance learners, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. The research outcomes will contribute to advancing open and distance learning practices and enhancing the quality of educational experiences