Brand Community Research Articles

Impact of brand communication on brand personality: Moderating mechanisms of brand equity in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan

The utmost aim of this paper is to examine the impact of brand communication on brand personality and the moderating mechanisms of brand equity in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. The phenomenon was examined by applying a well-known theory of self-congruity to explain the moderating function performed by brand equity between the two variables, brand communication, and brand personality. A questionnaire was distributed and collected from 1536 customers in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan, using Telenor, Ufone, Zong and Jazz networks. The data was examined by IBM AMOS to examine the proposed relationships. The study's results suggest a strong moderating effect of brand equity on the relationship between brand communication and brand personality. In this sense, it not only contributes to the body of literature but also aids professionals and marketing managers in creating branding strategies that take into account the idea of brand personality.

Investigation of tourism brand design and communication strategy integrating multimedia technology

Investigation of tourism brand design and communication strategy integrating multimedia technology

Customer Engagement in Utilitarian vs. Hedonic Service Contexts

In the last decade, customer engagement has become a key concept in service research. While the customer engagement literature has gained significant traction and is maturing, studies have predominantly focused on hedonic consumption contexts, such as social media platforms or brand communities. We argue that hedonic and utilitarian service services are fundamentally different. Therefore, existing research knowledge on customer engagement does not necessarily hold in more utilitarian contexts, such as healthcare or financial services, where greater customer engagement could increase societal and individual well-being. By synthesizing insights from the customer engagement literature and the literature on hedonic versus utilitarian consumption, we identify assumptions in customer engagement research that need revising. We extract five fundamental features that differ between hedonic and utilitarian services (affectivity, motivational focus, perception of necessity, role of risk, and relational focus). Based on these features, we derive propositions that describe the role of context for the drivers and outcomes of customer engagement, as well as their interrelationships, and provide guidelines for future research to augment the scope of customer engagement research. As its main contribution, this article problematizes the current premises of customer engagement research and demonstrates that assumptions held about customer engagement are not necessarily generalizable across contexts.

Building employee commitment through internal branding – a meta-analytic study

PurposeThis study aims to quantitatively consolidate the research conducted over the past four decades on how internal branding activities drive employee commitment. It summarizes several operationalizations of internal branding and tests the moderating effect of employee’s personal characteristics and job characteristics on the relationship between internal branding and employee commitment.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses meta-analysis as the research methodology. The analysis includes a sample of 65 studies (from 62 published works), yielding 226 effect sizes (coded into 82 composite effect sizes) over an aggregated sample of 21,706 respondents.FindingsThis study finds that brand communication, brand-centered human resource management (HRM), training and development, organizational support and culture, brand-centered leadership and an excellent reward system are the key operationalizations of internal branding. Furthermore, employee’s personal (education, age and gender) and job (tenure, work status and level of customer orientation) characteristics significantly moderate the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.Research limitations/implicationsLimited empirical literature on some of the internal branding operationalizations such as brand-centered HRM and rewards has curbed the scope of moderator analysis.Practical implicationsThis paper proposes some effective ways of implementing internal branding strategies and provides support for boundary conditions that brand managers should consider to strengthen the impact of internal branding activities on employee commitment.Originality/valueAs per the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the few quantitative consolidations of four decades of research on the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.

Virtual community engagement: Engaging virtual communities for nation branding through sports

Major sporting events bring a range of social, economic, and reputational benefits for hosting nations and serve as a vehicle to showcase the nation brand. Social media engagement during sport events provides opportunities for community members to cocreate, curate and communicate their nation brand’s attributes. While research in nation branding and community engagement has examined the ways place-based communities contribute to nation branding, little is known about how and in what ways virtual communities contribute to their nation brand. This study addresses this gap by examining the virtual brand community (VBC) surrounding the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Using social network analysis and content analysis, the findings suggest that VBC contributions is dependent on the composition, participation, and cultivation of conversations focusing on the personality traits of a nation brand. Theoretically, the outcomes from this study advance understanding of leveraging the properties of VBCs in making contribution to the production and maintenance of an authentic nation brand, that values community perspectives facilitated through community engagement. For public relations, it extends the current research in digital social-level engagement in virtual settings and outlines future research in participatory approaches to nation branding. The growing use of major sporting events in supporting nation branding goals, particularly in Asian and African continents, suggests the outcome of this study has implications at regional and international levels to guide public relations managers in major events to facilitate sustainable VBCs for authentic place branding outcomes.

Specifics of the Chinese National Brand as a Tool of Cultural Diplomacy: structure and functions

The article analyzes the specifics of the Chinese national brand as a tool of cultural diplomacy. The concept of “soft power” is considered, which is part of the narrative about the cumulative power of states and the revival of the Chinese nation and occupies one of the significant places in modern Chinese politics. One of the tools of “soft power” is cultural diplomacy – a branch of public diplomacy based on the exchange of ideas, information, systems, values, beliefs, traditions and other aspects of culture to promote mutual understanding between people. The activities that are used to implement cultural diplomacy are given. The main goal of China’s “soft power” concept is to achieve the correct perception of national ideals by the world community. It is noted that Chinese “soft power” differs from the classical Western concept and is purely culture-centric, interpreted as a combination of Confucian political and social values, Chinese art and language, folk customs and traditions. China is working to globally scale its nation brand, which is based on the concept of nationalism, drawing on the country’s cultural capital. The specifics of the national brand from the perspective of macroeconomics and its structural elements are considered: exports, domestic and foreign government policies, population, culture and heritage, tourism and investment. It is noted that when developing a brand and international communications, the Chinese government actively uses the historical context as a tool of cultural propaganda. The features of the national image are identified, designed to form a positive attitude of society towards the country, contributing to increased trust in it. The objectives and instruments of China’s policy to form and maintain its own image in the international arena are given.

Gamification as an Aesthetic Trend in Communication of Russian Brands

The article is devoted to the issues of communication of brands with the audience and identifies the trends in technologies for creating communication messages. The empirical data is received based on the review of 71 advertising projects – winners of ADCR Awards 2023 – Russian professional competition in the field of creativity, design, and advertising, established in 2004. Of these, 26 communication solutions are labeled as created on the basis of gamification – an approach characteristic of computer games used in software tools and non-game content to attract audiences and increase their involvement. The author makes an attempt to classify gamified solutions based on technological solutions in order to identify the main trends in the organization of communication messages in the advertising industry. The review showed that advertising practitioners are adopting different techniques: AR technology, MR reality technology, modeling a special event as a format for creating a viral environment, and the active introduction of artificial intelligence into advertising practice. It is concluded that gamification techniques are aimed at generating creative solutions that are similar in values to target audiences of brands.

Customer eWOM Engagement in Online Brand Communities: A Systematic Literature Review

Customer eWOM Engagement in Online Brand Communities: A Systematic Literature Review

Categorizing engagement behavior in sport brand communities – an empirical study informed by social practice theory

ABSTRACT This study ventures into uncharted territory by focusing exclusively on digital platforms to scrutinize engagement practices within sport clubs and their pivotal role in nurturing vibrant brand communities. By employing a multifaceted methodological framework that blends netnography, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews, it delves into the nuanced ways clubs employ digital strategies to foster active participation and cultivate a sense of belonging among community members. A novel aspect of this research is its consideration of digital engagement platforms as the social context, analyzing how the surrounding social environment influences and enhances digital engagement practices. Furthermore, the study breaks new ground by extending its analysis beyond dyadic relationships to explore the network effects on engagement practices. Therefore, it offers a comprehensive understanding of how these dynamics contribute to the development and sustainability of sport brand communities. The findings reveal the critical importance of diverse engagement practices in fostering meaningful interactions that strengthen a sport brand community fabric. This research enriches the field by presenting actionable insights for sport clubs to refine their digital engagement strategies in the context of broader social networks and effects. This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature by illuminating the complex interplay between digital engagement, social context, and network dynamics in the cultivation of sport brand communities.

Finding the Right Voice: How CEO Communication on the Russia–Ukraine War Drives Public Engagement and Digital Activism

This research examines the influence of CEO versus brand communication on public engagement and digital activism during the Russia–Ukraine war. Brand communication refers to messages sent out through an organization's social media accounts, whereas CEO communication comes from the executive's personal account. The authors depart from an analysis of 236,119 tweets investigating the effects of message sender (CEO vs. brand), message framing (self vs. other), and message appeal (informational vs. emotional) on engagement (i.e., likes, retweets, and replies). To further understand, they subsequently deploy a 2 × 2 between-subjects design (N = 608) that introduces scenarios where either a CEO or brand proposes a public policy campaign, advocating support for U.S. citizens (self framing) or Ukrainian civilians (other framing). Key findings reveal that CEO communications foster greater engagement and digital activism than brand messages. CEO communication that merges self framed with informational appeals or other framed with emotional appeals outperforms brand messages regarding public engagement. In addition, CEO campaigns centered on Ukrainian civilians amplify digital activism, mirroring findings when brands approach the war's implications for U.S. citizens. Together, these insights unveil the intricate dance of message sender, framing, and appeal during global geopolitical events, providing vital knowledge for organizations and policy makers aiming to optimize public backing in times of war.

How brand live streaming affects brand attachment in social commerce: from the perspective of IT affordances

ABSTRACT While promoting the prosperity of China’s social commerce in recent years, celebrity live streaming has been criticized for not being conducive to establishing a strong emotional relationship between brands and consumers. Our study focuses on the non-celebrity live streaming held by brands, called brand live streaming. Our research regards brand live streaming as a new form of brand community. According to IT affordances, We construct a structural model to examine whether and how brand live streaming affects Chinese consumers’ brand attachment. We empirically test the model through the questionnaire distributed to brand live streaming viewers. Our results show that metavoicing affordance, guidance shopping affordance, and trading affordance positively affect consumers’ brand attachment, while visibility affordance does not affect consumers’ brand attachment. In addition, this paper also reveals that symbolic value and sense of community mediate the relationship between IT affordances and brand attachment in brand live streaming. Our study validates the importance of brand live streaming as a viable social commerce form and provides marketers with ways to build brand attachment.

МАЛА АЙДЕНТИКА ВУЛИЦЬ ЯК ІНСТРУМЕНТ УПРАВЛІННЯ БРЕНДОМ МІСТ ТА ТЕРИТОРІЙ

Formulation of the problem. This has already become the norm for Ukraine, when the city takes an active position in the competition for tourist and/or investment attractiveness with other cities. A necessary component of this struggle is the city brand. The city brand is the result of – impressions received, whether from communication, from one's own experience, or from a combination of the first and second. One of the tools for strengthening and influencing the impression of being in the city is the small identity of the streets. The aim of the research determining the small identity of streets as one of the tools of brand management of cities and territories. The оbject of the research was the identity of the streets. By the small identity of the streets, we understand the system of symbols, designations, names, objects that a person meets while moving through the streets of the city. The methods of the research. Among the methods we used in the research, we can single out the method of scientific abstraction in the construction of the research concept and the formation of a model of the relationship between the design process of the graphic part of the city brand, the small identity of the city streets and the perception of the target audience of the city brand communication and urban space. They also used the method of office research, the method of analysis and synthesis when studying the theoretical developments of researchers in the field of city and territory branding. The hypothesis of the research. The lack of a small identity of the city's streets makes the city's branding ineffective. The management of the city's brand should be strengthened by measures to form an appropriate system of small identity of the city's streets. The statement of basic materials. A city working on its brand must have material confirmation of what the brand is talking about. The visualization of the city brand should reflect the identity of the city, embodied in various artifacts that can be found physically in the city – from souvenir products to architecture, events and selfie songs. If they are missing – they must be created according to the concept of the city brand. If they are –, they must be adapted to the concept of the city brand to create the prerequisites for effective branding. The originality and practical significance of the research lies in proving the need for active use of a small street identity in city brand management. The originality and practical significance of the research. The small identity of the streets has high potential as a tool for managing the city's brand. The method of its use in city branding, in our opinion, is the subject of separate studies.

Influence Mechanism of Content Marketing for Fashion Brand Culture on Consumers’ Purchase Intention Based on Information Adoption Theory

This research aims to explore the influencing mechanism of fashion brand cultural content marketing on consumers’ willingness to buy. The concept of content marketing for fashion brand culture was analyzed from the four dimensions of functional content, entertainment content, emotional content, and interactive content according to content marketing theory, and the influencing mechanism was studied based on the information adoption theory. Furthermore, it is verified for the mediating role of information content quality perception, information utility quality perception, information expression quality perception, information carrier quality perception, information adoption, and the moderating role of information involvement and brand trust. The structural equation model was developed and empirically tested the hypothesis. The results show that fashion brand culture content marketing can promote consumers’ willingness to buy. Consumers generate purchase intention by perceiving information content quality, information utility quality, information expression quality, information carrier quality, and information adoption. It was found that consumers with high involvement degrees are more likely to perceive information. Moreover, consumers with high brand trust will promote the effect of information adoption on consumers’ purchase intention. This research provides new ideas and references for the content marketing of fashion brand culture. It provides quantitative scientific data for fashion enterprises to grasp the direction of fashion brand culture content marketing and implement brand culture shaping and communication strategies.

Strategi Komunikasi Branding Dalam Upaya Peningkatan Jumlah Peserta Didik Baru di SMA IT Ash-Shiddiiqi Jambi

Schools are producers providing educational services. The products offered by schools must be able to attract the interest of consumers, namely parents and students, so that they can attend school there. Schools need to determine strategies to increase their competitiveness through institutional branding or imaging. One branding strategy that can be used is brand communication. This research aims to describe brand communication strategies in an effort to increase the number of new students at Ash-Shiddiiqi Jambi IT High School. This research is qualitative research with a descriptive approach. The data collection technique is through observation, interviews and documentation taken directly from informants, namely the principal, teachers, administration department, employees, students, parents and supervisors of Ash-Shiddiiqi Jambi IT High School. The data analysis technique used is through data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions. The results of research at Ash-Shiddiiqi IT High School show that Ash-Shiddiiqi IT High School uses brand communication internally and externally through school stakeholders, uses communication tools and carries out promotions. This strategy is reflected in the SMA IT Ash-Shiddiiqi brand tagline, namely Today's School, Qur'ani Generation, Achievement Generation.

Beyond the Marketing Hype: Analysis of Communication Campaigns of Electric Vehicles Eco-Friendly Image and Battery Waste Concerns

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are gaining widespread attention for their environmentally friendly nature and potential to reduce air pollution. As non-renewable fossil fuels deplete, the need for sustainable alternatives like EVs becomes imperative. The EV market emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of electric fuel and extended travel range, despite the initial higher cost of purchasing an EV. In Indonesia, the government encourages EV adoption through subsidies and improved electric refuelling infrastructure, including exempting EV users from the odd-even vehicle license plate rule in Jakarta.
 To promote EV adoption, brands employ diverse marketing strategies, urging customers to embrace EVs as agents of environmental change. However, the lack of transparency in how EV brands handle nickel-based battery waste, with a limited lifespan, raises environmental concerns. The accumulation of unusable batteries could pose soil pollution risks as EV usage grows. This research aims to explore the environmental implications of battery waste from EVs in Indonesia and analyze how EV brands address these concerns in their marketing communication campaigns.
 Adopting a cybernetic approach, the study examines the interconnectedness of marketing communication and consumer buying decisions. Qualitative research is utilized, drawing on various EV studies, facts about EV brand communication, and interviews with experts to provide a comprehensive analysis. Although battery waste might not be a pressing issue in Indonesia currently, inadequate waste handling raises potential future concerns about soil and water contamination. Addressing battery waste responsibly is crucial for promoting sustainable EV adoption.

Social Media Marketing at Islamic Higher Education: Reactions, Posts, and Brand Post Contents

Social media have used by Higher Education Institution (HEI) for marketing communication and promotion purpose. Thus, some studies show that social media as a marketing tool in universities has not been widely practiced in predominantly Muslim countries. This paper aims to show Islamic universities in Muslim countries in various regions use social media as marketing tools, with focus on platforms utilization, engagement with users, and content analysis based on brand post categories. The data collected from the number of social media followers, reactions, and posts from top 12 Islamic universities in Muslim countries based on rank released by UniRank in 2021 and analyse with the software FanpageKarma. The time frame (2021) was chosen because the pandemic Covid-19 at that time has risen the social media usage by users. This papers also offers information about content analysis for social media posts on Instagram and Facebook, and describe it based on the experience brand posts, brand community, and brand resonance.

THE ROLE OF GAMIFIED CUSTOMER BENEFITS IN PURSUING CUSTOMERS’ LOYALTY: A MEDIATED ROLE OF CUSTOEMR ENGAGEMENT

The social media platforms have become progressively vital in modern era as a means of interacting with consumers and as a means for marketers to focus on online social networks so as to foster loyalty of brands. Purpose of this study is to analyze the causal relationship among the characteristics of gamified customer benefits (epistemic benefits, social integrative benefits, personal integrative benefits and hedonic benefits), customer engagement and customer loyalty with respect to online brand communities on social media platforms. This study also analyzes the mediating role of customer engagement between gamified customer benefits and customer loyalty. Data is collected from 250 individuals and Smart PLS-4 is used to empirically test the hypothesis. Results reveals that epistemic benefits, social integrative benefits and hedonic benefits has positive & significant impact of customer engagement & customer loyalty while personal integrative benefits shows insignificant impact on customer engagement & loyalty. This study shows mediating role of customer engagement amid gamified customer benefits and customer loyalty. Thus, this study may help brand managers to better understand role of gamified customer benefits with customer engagement and customer loyalty.

Online brand community engagement and brand evangelism: the role of age, gender and membership number

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the critical role of online brand community (OBC) engagement and brand evangelism: the role of age, gender and membership number.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the study’s objective, 303 active Facebook OBC users were surveyed. The AMOS structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to test the hypothesised model.FindingsThe results indicate that OBC engagement improves brand evangelism. Specifically, the results show that age, gender, and OBC membership number moderate the relationship between OBC engagement and brand evangelism. Interestingly, this study found that female, younger and low-OBC follower consumers more significantly contribute to nourishing brand evangelism than male, older and high-OBC follower counterparts.Originality/valueOBC engagement is validated as a key brand evangelism driver, further substantiating its role as a crucial strategic metric. Moreover, age, gender and OBC membership number as moderating factors in the association between OBC engagement and brand evangelism (word of mouth referral, brand defence and future purchases) have been verified. Although the findings suggest that improved OBC engagement contributes to evangelism, this effect transpires more significantly among female, younger and low-OBC followers than male, older and high-OBC followers.

Transforming metaverse marketing into strategic agility in SMEs through mediating roles of IMT and CI: theoretical framework and research propositions

PurposeThis study aims to explore the conversion of metaverse marketing (MVM) into strategic agility among SMEs based on dynamic capabilities (DC) and dynamic management capabilities (DMC) theories. This paper discusses how constructs such as immersive marketing technologies (IMT), customer immersion (CI) and managerial capabilities (MC) play critical role in the transformation of MVM into strategic agility (SA).Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework based on DC and DMC theories, and a comprehensive review of the literature on MVM, IMT, CI, MC and SA, was developed in order to theoretically investigate the relationships between MVM and SA. In this theoretical framework, MVM is the independent variable, while the dependent variable is SA. Also, IMT and CI both mediate the association between MVM and SA, while MC moderate the association between MVM and SA in one stream; and CI and SA in another stream.FindingsThis research study develops a theoretical framework that recommends nine set of important research propositions in MVM. An extensive literature review was conducted to examine the theoretical framework on the effect of MVM on SA. The proposed theoretical framework suggests that brand community development and communication, experiential marketing and personalisation in MVM, once accessed through IMT (i.e. VR, AR, MR) and CI (i.e. customer engagement, customer absorption-customer acquisition and assimilation of knowledge, presence) can produce significant SA through customer experience management, value co-creation and process innovation.Originality/valueThis current study develops a theoretical framework that theorise the relationship between MVM and SA rooted in literature on MVM and SA, and also based on DC and DMC perspective. The moderating effect of MC on the relationship between IMT and SA on one hand, and CI and SA on the other, provides support to IMT and CI as mediators in the transformation of MVM into SA. This study also provides insight into SME adoption of MVM and how it generates SA. Lastly, the current study contributes to the body of knowledge on MVM, IMT, CI, MC and SA.

Alcohol industry-sponsored music festivals, alcohol marketing and drinking practices among young Nigerians: Implications for policy

IntroductionThe global alcohol industry sponsors social/music events targeting young people; however, existing literature focuses on Westernised contexts. Given the decline in young people's drinking in many Western countries, it appears that multinational alcohol companies are importing the strategies they have used in high-income countries to the Global South countries like Nigeria to recoup profits. This study aims to examine the Guinness Show- a free one-month annual music festival, alcohol marketing at the festival and the extent to which the event encourages diverse drinking practices among its attendees. MethodsWe observed the music festival before collecting data through 53 interviews and 3 focus groups (N = 26). Data were analysed to generate themes with the aid of NVivo 12 software. FindingsOver 6000 participants attend the Guinness Show daily, and participants gave detailed descriptions of the music festival, alcohol marketing activities that occur in it and the drinking practices of attendees, indicating that they were highly knowledgeable of the event. The Guinness Show attracts famous music artistes and other entertainers. Therefore, young people attend to see them perform free of charge. However, diverse alcohol promotions (e.g., quantity deals, low prices, giveaways) that happen daily, the strategic use of young women as ‘beer promoters’, and the pleasure the event induces by fusing music/entertainment into alcogenic environments, encourage drinking and drunkenness. All the attendees drank alcohol, and some engaged in impulse buying, while many consumed excessively due to promotions (e.g., buy-two-get-one free), which facilitated intoxication and the loss of control. ConclusionsGuinness Nigeria organises the event for strategic brand communication, generating brand capital, and encouraging alcohol purchases and consumption among young people. Policymakers should reconsider self-regulation and implement national alcohol control policies and other public health interventions to restrain the alcohol industry from sponsoring such events.