The impact of mobile marketing on consumer decision-making, brand equity and customer relationships: a UKZN student perspective.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The rise of new technology continues to present marketers with new ways of marketing their brands to consumers and mobile marketing has become part of these new advertising mediums. A number of issues continue to rise with regard to the effectiveness of mobile marketing as a means of enhancing communication and customer relationships and its effectiveness as a promotional tool. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the perceptions of UKZN students towards the use of mobile marketing, the impact of mobile marketing on their purchase decisions and also the perceptions of UKZN students in terms of the efficiency of mobile marketing in building brand awareness, brand image and customer loyalty. The other aim of the study was to uncover the perceptions of students regarding the use of mobile marketing and developing a certain understanding of the effectiveness of mobile marketing when targeting young consumers such as students. A sample of 359 students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Westville campus was drawn for data collection using the simple random sampling technique. The data was analysed in order to test the hypotheses of the study and the researcher utilised both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of this study show that there exist significant intercorrelations among the key dimensions (types of mobile marketing, convenience, credibility, informativeness, entertainment, attraction and retention, consumer-decision making, brand equity and customer relationships) of the study relating to UKZN students. It was also revealed that there is no significant difference in the perceptions of UKZN students, varying in biographical profiles (gender, age, race, educational level and college) regarding each dimension of the study (types of mobile marketing, convenience, credibility, informativeness, entertainment, attraction and retention, privacy, consumer-decision making, brand equity and customer relationships). The results also show that students believe that mobile marketing has an impact on their purchase decisions. The recommendations generated from the results of this study provide insight into how marketers can use mobile marketing to successfully target university students

Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and improved complementary feeding, on child stunting and anaemia in rural Zimbabwe: a cluster-randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Child stunting reduces survival and impairs neurodevelopment. We tested the independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on stunting and anaemia in in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We did a cluster-randomised, community-based, 2 × 2 factorial trial in two rural districts in Zimbabwe. Clusters were defined as the catchment area of between one and four village health workers employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care. Women were eligible for inclusion if they permanently lived in clusters and were confirmed pregnant. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to standard of care (52 clusters), IYCF (20 g of a small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement per day from age 6 to 18 months plus complementary feeding counselling; 53 clusters), WASH (construction of a ventilated improved pit latrine, provision of two handwashing stations, liquid soap, chlorine, and play space plus hygiene counselling; 53 clusters), or IYCF plus WASH (53 clusters). A constrained randomisation technique was used to achieve balance across the groups for 14 variables related to geography, demography, water access, and community-level sanitation coverage. Masking of participants and fieldworkers was not possible. The primary outcomes were infant length-for-age Z score and haemoglobin concentrations at 18 months of age among children born to mothers who were HIV negative during pregnancy. These outcomes were analysed in the intention-to-treat population. We estimated the effects of the interventions by comparing the two IYCF groups with the two non-IYCF groups and the two WASH groups with the two non-WASH groups, except for outcomes that had an important statistical interaction between the interventions. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01824940. FINDINGS: Between Nov 22, 2012, and March 27, 2015, 5280 pregnant women were enrolled from 211 clusters. 3686 children born to HIV-negative mothers were assessed at age 18 months (884 in the standard of care group from 52 clusters, 893 in the IYCF group from 53 clusters, 918 in the WASH group from 53 clusters, and 991 in the IYCF plus WASH group from 51 clusters). In the IYCF intervention groups, the mean length-for-age Z score was 0·16 (95% CI 0·08-0·23) higher and the mean haemoglobin concentration was 2·03 g/L (1·28-2·79) higher than those in the non-IYCF intervention groups. The IYCF intervention reduced the number of stunted children from 620 (35%) of 1792 to 514 (27%) of 1879, and the number of children with anaemia from 245 (13·9%) of 1759 to 193 (10·5%) of 1845. The WASH intervention had no effect on either primary outcome. Neither intervention reduced the prevalence of diarrhoea at 12 or 18 months. No trial-related serious adverse events, and only three trial-related adverse events, were reported. INTERPRETATION: Household-level elementary WASH interventions implemented in rural areas in low-income countries are unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia and might not reduce diarrhoea. Implementation of these WASH interventions in combination with IYCF interventions is unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia more than implementation of IYCF alone. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, Wellcome Trust, Swiss Development Cooperation, UNICEF, and US National Institutes of Health.The SHINE trial is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1021542 and OPP113707); UK Department for International Development; Wellcome Trust, UK (093768/Z/10/Z, 108065/Z/15/Z and 203905/Z/16/Z); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; US National Institutes of Health (2R01HD060338-06); and UNICEF (PCA-2017-0002)