An empirical study of the effect of brand personality and consistency between marketing channels on performance within the UK higher education sector

2/316 Abstract Over the past decade, increased pressure on Higher Education Institutions (“HEIs”) has contributed to additional national and international competition for students and funding. This has been compounded by policy decisions on the part of government. Such increasing competition has led to an increase in managerialism, with tools and practices traditionally associated with the corporate sector now being adopted and utilised by HEIs. Marketing and brand management has received special attention from such institutions, particularly in order to attract students and build reputation. Some authors argue that the concept of branding transfers directly to the education sector, whilst others argue that HEIs are more complex with more specialist approaches required. Research suggests UK universities do not consistently communicate across all audiences, whilst previous literature recognises brand consistency as important. However, this literature is based predominantly on anecdote, or on evidence from single cases. In this study, sixty HEIs were selected to represent the full range of UK universities. For each HEI, a prospectus was obtained, and the websites and Twitter feeds of the institutions were downloaded. This provided 18,956,366 words to analyse. Brand personality was measured using Aaker’s brand personality scale and Opoku’s dictionary of synonyms. The frequency of words was used to assess brand personality across Aaker’s five dimensions for each marketing channel. The data was then analysed to test the research hypotheses, using statistical analysis techniques. These looked for relationships between brand personality, strength, consistency, and performance. Results highlighted a positive correlation between brand personality consistency relating to the prospectus and website, and HEI research and recruitment performance. Those HEIs with a consistent brand personality between these two marketing channels performed better on RAE, UCAS Demand and points. This agrees with the existing literature, which suggests that brands represent crucial aspects of success in mature markets, and that consistency can be a key driver in creating strong brands. This research shows that these findings extend into the HE context. Our findings provide empirical support to anecdotal literature which has stated that brands are important differential tools within higher education, and that an online brand’s synonymity and consistency with its offline brand is crucial to performance. Social media participation and validation was also positively related to RAE and UCAS Points performance on all measures of Twitter and Facebook. Lastly, brand personality strength communicated via the prospectus was significantly and positively related to performance in the dimension of Sophistication, but was significantly and negatively related to performance upon the dimensions of Competence, Excitement, Ruggedness and Sincerity

Effects of conformation on the electronic and optical properties of aryleneethynylenes

Materials based upon the aryleneethynylene skeleton are currently of great interest. The fluorescent and electroluminescent properties of both molecular and polymeric systems has prompted speculation about the suitability of these materials as the emitting layer in electroluminescent devices, while the conjugated π-system has led to the development of molecular wire-like architectures, and materials which display negative differential resistance. The degree of conjugation in the π-system is dependent on the relative orientation of the aromatic rings. The barrier to rotation about the aryl-alkynyl single bond for phenyleneethynylenes is very low, leading to a continuum of rotational isomers when in solution. Engineering physical control over the conformation of aryleneethynylenes therefore presents a significant challenge. In this work, a review is presented on the uses, behaviour and synthesis of aryleneethynylenes, followed by an account of the practical work carried out. Initially various series of 1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene (BPEB) analogues containing naphthalene and thiophene moieties were produced. Study of the photophysical behaviour and molecular modelling of these systems suggests that the choice of central ring in a three ring aryleneethynylene system has the greatest effect on the compounds’ characteristics. This can be attributed to the π-electrons of the central aromatic ring giving the largest contribution to the frontier orbitais of these compounds. Conformational control of aryleneethynylenes is then examined. Derivatives of BPEB and 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene (BPEA) with bulky alkyl substituents have been synthesised, with the aim of using steric bulk to restrict rotation about the acetylenie bond. Initial attempts at this approach resulted in the additional steric bulk only giving slight conformational restriction in the solid state as well as only having a small effect on the observed photophysics. Subsequently, compounds were successfully synthesised where, in the ground state, the two outer rings were orthogonal to the central ring system, switching off their contribution to the frontier orbitais, and thus leading to significant changes in photophysical behaviour being observed relative to BPEB and BPEA

Supporting the emotional needs of young people in care: a qualitative study of foster carer perspectives

Young people who have been removed from their family home and placed in care have often experienced maltreatment and there is well-developed evidence of poor psychological outcomes. Once in care, foster carers often become the adult who provides day-to-day support, yet we know little about how they provide this support or the challenges to and facilitators of promoting better quality carer-child relationships. The aim of this study was to understand how carers support the emotional needs of the young people in their care and their views on barriers and opportunities for support. Participants were 21 UK foster carers, recruited from a local authority in England. They were predominantly female (86%), aged 42-65 years old and ranged from those who were relatively new to the profession (<12 months' experience) to those with over 30 years of experience as a carer. We ran three qualitative focus groups to gather in-depth information about their views on supporting their foster children's emotional well-being. Participants also completed short questionnaires about their training experiences and sense of competence. Only half of the sample strongly endorsed feeling competent in managing the emotional needs of their foster children. While all had completed extensive training, especially on attachment, diagnosis-specific training for mental health problems (eg, trauma-related distress, depression) was less common. Thematic analysis showed consistent themes around the significant barriers carers faced navigating social care and mental health systems, and mixed views around the best way to support young people, particularly those with complex mental health needs and in relation to reminders of their early experiences. Findings have important implications for practice and policy around carer training and support, as well as for how services support the mental health needs of young people in care

Spatio-temporal influence of tundra snow properties on Ku-band (17.2 GHz) backscatter

During the 2010/11 boreal winter, a distributed set of backscatter measurements was collected using a ground-based Ku-band (17.2 GHz) scatterometer system at 26 open tundra sites. A standard snow-sampling procedure was completed after each scan to evaluate local variability in snow layering, depth, density and water equivalent (SWE) within the scatterometer field of view. The shallow depths and large basal depth hoar encountered presented an opportunity to evaluate backscatter under a set of previously untested conditions. Strong Ku-band response was found with increasing snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE). In particular, co-polarized vertical backscatter increased by 0.82 dB for every 1 cm increase in SWE (R2 = 0.62). While the result indicated strong potential for Ku-band retrieval of shallow snow properties, it did not characterize the influence of sub-scan variability. An enhanced snow-sampling procedure was introduced to generate detailed characterizations of stratigraphy within the scatterometer field of view using near-infrared photography along the length of a 5m trench. Changes in snow properties along the trench were used to discuss variations in the collocated backscatter response. A pair of contrasting observation sites was used to highlight uncertainties in backscatter response related to short length scale spatial variability in the observed tundra environment

The Olympic Games and associative sponsorship: Brand personality identity creation, communication and congruence

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the brand relationships between a mega-sports event, the Olympic Games, and its branded main sponsors, using the lens of brand personality. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses the internet-based website communications of the sponsor and event brands to assess congruence in brand personality identity exhibited in the communications of sponsors and how these relate to the event brand itself. A lexical analysis of the website text identifies and graphically represents the dominant brand personality traits of the brands relative to each other. Findings: The results show the Olympic Games is communicating excitement as a leading brand personality dimension. Sponsors of the Olympics largely take on its dominant brand dimension, but do not adapt their whole brand personality to that of the Olympics and benefit by adding excitement without losing their individual character. The transference is more pronounced for long-running sponsors. Practical implications: Sponsorship of the Olympic Games does give brands the opportunity to capture or borrow the excitement dimension alongside building or reinforcing their own dominant brand personality trait or to begin to subtly alter their brand positioning. Originality/value: This study is the first to examine how the sponsor’s brand aligns with the event being sponsored as a basis for developing a strong shared image and associative dimensions complimentary to the positioning of the brand itself

Derivation and evaluation of a new extinction coefficient for use with the n-HUT snow emission model

In this study, snow slab data collected from the Arctic Snow Microstructure Experiment were used in conjunction with a six-directional flux coefficient model to calculate individual slab absorption and scattering coefficients. These coefficients formed the basis for a new semiempirical extinction coefficient model, using both frequency and optical diameter as input parameters, along with the complex dielectric constant of snow. Radiometric observations, at 18.7, 21.0, and 36.5 GHz at both horizontal polarization (H-Pol) and vertical polarization (V-Pol), and snowpit data collected as part of the Sodankylä Radiometer Experiment were used to compare and contrast the simulated brightness temperatures produced by the multi-layer Helsinki University of Technology snow emission model, utilizing both the original empirical model and the new semiempirical extinction coefficient model described here. The results show that the V-Pol RMSE and bias values decreased when using the semiempirical extinction coefficient; however, the H-Pol RMSE and bias values increased on two of the lower microwave bands tested. The unbiased RMSE was shown to decrease across all frequencies and polarizations when using the semiempirical extinction coefficient

Gene Ontology (GO)-driven inference of candidate proteomic markers associated with muscle atrophy conditions

This research was funded by a grant from Highlands & Islands Enterprise, UK (AS and HH).Skeletal muscle homeostasis is essential for the maintenance of a healthy and active lifestyle. Imbalance in muscle homeostasis has significant consequences such as atrophy, loss of muscle mass, and progressive loss of functions. Aging-related muscle wasting, sarcopenia, and atrophy as a consequence of disease, such as cachexia, reduce the quality of life, increase morbidity and result in an overall poor prognosis. Investigating the muscle proteome related to muscle atrophy diseases has a great potential for diagnostic medicine to identify (i) potential protein biomarkers, and (ii) biological processes and functions common or unique to muscle wasting, cachexia, sarcopenia, and aging alone. We conducted a meta-analysis using gene ontology (GO) analysis of 24 human proteomic studies using tissue samples (skeletal muscle and adipose biopsies) and/or biofluids (serum, plasma, urine). Whilst there were few similarities in protein directionality across studies, biological processes common to conditions were identified. Here we demonstrate that the GO analysis of published human proteomics data can identify processes not revealed by single studies. We recommend the integration of proteomics data from tissue samples and biofluids to yield a comprehensive overview of the human skeletal muscle proteome. This will facilitate the identification of biomarkers and potential pathways of muscle-wasting conditions for use in clinics.Peer reviewe

Political brands: can parties be distinguished by their online brand personality?

This paper investigates whether or not five English political parties are differentiating themselves based on the brand personality they are communicating through their websites. The relative brand positions of five English political parties are analysed using Aaker’s brand personality scale. The text from each party website is analysed using content analysis and a dictionary-based tool. The results are plotted in relation to one another on a correspondence analysis map. We find that the two main dimensions on which parties' brand personalities differ relate to the trade-offs between communicating Competence and communicating Sincerity, and between communicating Sophistication and communicating Ruggedness. We find that parties' brand personalities are distinctive, with the exception of the Green party, and that the position of one party, the United Kingdom Independence Party, is particularly distinctive. Our research uses Aaker’s existing framework for thinking about brand personalities, rather than creating a new framework for politics. By using an existing framework, we are able to use tools developed in other disciplines, and show their usefulness for the study of political marketing