Branding Campaigns Research Articles

Amsterdam – New York: Transnational photographic exchange in the era of globalization

This article examines the impact of globalization on the urban imaginary in relation to two recent photography exhibitions – one held in Amsterdam and the other in New York City – which were designed as transatlantic mirror events to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of the Dutch ‘discovery’ of Manhattan. Registering a long history of transnational exchange between the two cities, the exhibitions invited a group of New York artists to photograph Amsterdam and a group of Dutch artists to photograph New York. Both exhibitions claimed that seeing the city from these outsider perspectives enabled new and surprising photographs capable of challenging established images of both cities. Interrogating this claim, the article analyses individual artworks and artists, the marketing and staging strategies of the exhibitions, and the urban branding campaigns with which the events were associated.

Changing Dynamics of Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity endorsements are always considered as one of the effective tool in creating marketing communication. This strategy has been continuing almost in every brand campaigns. The communication power of a celebrity is massive and it can make astonishing results. But it is losing its attraction just by too many endorsements on different brands and thus lesser credibility among consumers. This can be rectified through deliberative efforts like understanding each and every significant moment in celebrity’s life and that can be connected with the Brand personality. This paper reflects on such recent meaningful transitions in celebrity’s life and analyses the possibility of incorporating in brands communication campaigns.

Nation Branding

India is a vast, diverse country, which attracts much attention as a political and economic entity as well as a major tourism destination. This commentary explores the Incredible India Campaign, a Nation Branding campaign which has been running in India for approximately ten years. In doing so, we consider nation branding as a mechanism for communicating between a nation and the rest of the world. We draw on a published account of the campaign by one of its architects, a series of images utilized in the campaign as well as a series of interviews with members of the pubic regarding their reaction to the images used. We argue that national branding campaigns can tell us much about imagined identities of those “being branded.” In doing so, we illustrate the difficultly of representing a vast and diverse population within a fast developing economy as well as the benefits of placing the target of the campaign among “the other” rather than orientalizing the citizen at the heart of the nation branding campaign.

Nation's Two Bodies: rethinking the idea of ‘new' India and its other

The idea of a post-1990s re-formed India is shaped by an imaginary of a fractured body of the nation—a ‘new’ nation in tune with the neoliberal desires of a structurally adjusted world and the ‘old’ nation constitutive of superfluous matter in excess of that seductive world. This imaginary is not only etched in popular discourses but also in the policy-making apparatus engaged in the task of creating a global identity for India. Taking the Brand India initiative—promoted by the Indian state to produce positive images of the nation for global publicity—as a case study, this article argues that in this shift from nation building to nation branding, the very idea of prosperity and equity has now become first and foremost a matter of image. In this world of images, one can also witness how a competitive strategy to seek more corporate investments through concerted brand campaigns has redefined the relationship between the nation and corporations. While earlier it was the corporations which sought the endorsement and patronage of the sovereign, now it is sovereign nations which are seeking to become the most ‘favoured investment destinations’ that purvey global capital.

Fashioning a New Brand of "Germanness": The 2006 World Cup and Beyond

Fashioning a New Brand of "Germanness":The 2006 World Cup and Beyond Katrina Sark Since reunification, and particularly since the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006, Berlin city marketing, museum exhibitions, and displays of public art have all reflected a discourse on new national identity formations that previously could only be found in political media or academic discourses. Berlin's numerous marketing campaigns have restructured its image as an open city. Messages such as "be open, be free, be Berlin!" circulate throughout the city, encouraging its inhabitants and visitors to see Berlin in a new, creative, entrepreneurial, and liberal light. Leaving behind the negative stereotypes of its historical past, Berlin has been reinvented by politicians (Mayor Klaus Wowereit and the Berlin Senate), city planners, marketing strategists, filmmakers, and curators. Urban culture is in many ways propelled by public events and celebrations, like the 2006 FIFA World Cup or the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (the Mauerfall) in November 2009. Not only high culture was given a boost: in the months leading up to the Mauerfall anniversary, most museums, galleries, and exhibition facilities offered some kind of display or presentation on the theme of the Wall. At the same time, pop culture, music, film, and fashion also played an active role in the international spotlight. Berlin city planners and marketers know how to navigate and steer public consciousness. Personal histories of the Wall were collected and retold. Collective, self-reflexive, and cultural contemplations took place on widely engaging public levels - artists, writers, politicians, and regular people became involved in public debates and contributed their points of view on reunification. This article will examine this path of collective national and civic identity construction in different cultural and medial spheres by looking at exhibition practices and urban branding campaigns. During the 2006 World Cup, the question of what and who constituted the new (reunited) Germany had been posed to an unprecedented degree (since reunification) across all spectrums of discourses. An exhibition at the German Historical Museum displayed artefacts from 1,000 years of German history - similar to the "What Is German" exhibition at the German National Museum in Nürnberg. A display of public art dedicated to German achievements in the arts and science guided the tourists along the "Walk of Ideas" past all the main tourist sites in Berlin. All these exhibitions and practices addressing "Germanness" placed the question of national identity on display. A similar spur to public contemplation of national identity swirled around the [End Page 254] celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2009. Events such as the U2 band's free concert at the Brandenburg Gate, various Wall-oriented exhibitions at almost all Berlin museums, film screenings, gallery exhibitions, art installations such as the Temporary Art Gallery at Schlossplatz in the shape of the former Palace of the Republic, and finally the spectacular fall of 1,000 domino pieces along the stretch of the former Wall from Potsdamer Platz to the Reichstag, all commemorated the beginning of a new chapter in German history. As studies on national identity and patriotism have shown, "the reunification of the two German States and the process of European integration into the European Union have given a new dimension to public discussions of German national identity" (Blank and Schmidt 289). Examining a variety of media discourses: authoritative and institutional, as well as journalistic discourses in the popular press, this article places the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a pivotal time in renegotiating Germany's public image. A first step is to differentiate between conceptions of national, social, and cultural identity. While national identity is usually tied to symbols of a particular nation that has been identified as an imagined community (Anderson 1991), social identity is a collective identity that can be tied to various societal subgroups within a national or transnational milieu. In the German context, the concept of cultural identity (tied to the term Kulturnation) is often prevalent because it allows for a collective identity to be based on shared values such as cultural heritage, language, and the literary, artistic, and scientific achievements of a nation (rather than militaristic nationalism). This...

“I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I do not know which half (J. Wannamaker)”: Semiotic answers to perennial branding troubles

Marketing maverick J. Wannamaker's famous dictum has been hovering over marketing effectiveness ever since the late nineteenth century. Providing tentative answers to such a tantalizing question does not rest solely with the media-mix of a brand campaign. As argued in this paper, even more fundamentally than budget allocation lie issues about the semiotic structure of an intended brand positioning. By drawing on structuralist semiotics and particularly by focusing on the operations of structuration, homologation, isotopy, reduction, redundancy, recurrence, it will be demonstrated that what is dominantly conceived as “waste” does not concern merely media integration, but equally importantly message integration. Furthermore, communicative waste as aberrant positioning is not only the outcome of aberrant decoding, but also aberrant destructuration, both posing considerable threats to brand coherence and communicative consistency.

Talking about art(s)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework to describe possible key features in the relationship between culture and place branding. The inspiration to redact this paper was drawn from the inadequacy of literature and attempts to introduce the theoretical framework linking these two fields by asking: how do we define culture within the context of place branding? How do decision makers distinguish whether culture should be at the forefront of a place branding strategy? On one hand, the paper points out the powerful advantages while using art(s) and culture‐based activities to promote a place. On the other hand, the paper highlights the layered dilemmas for practitioners concerning the amalgamation of such a practice on a branding campaign.Design/methodology/approachThose questions' clarification is achieved by means of a literature review that examines this relationship from a wide range of disciplines: sociology, marketing, place branding, cultural management, urban studies, etc.FindingsThe paper's findings can be summarized in three points: first, culture plays a critical role on a place branding campaign, as long as the authentic cultural elements are produced by the residents. This practice helps to avoid the mass reproduction of “borrowed” cultural elements, i.e. the investment in cultural and leisure consumption industries. Second, the cultural field has already deployed practices used by local authorities in urban regeneration, such as cultural planning. Thus, converged objectives link cultural managers to place branding experts, refining multi‐dimensional policy thinking towards a more integrated image. Finally, the cultural aspect is related with the pre‐existing reputation of a place. Further, it is connected with the minds of people, fostering the contentions of common essence between culture and branding.Social implicationsThis paper intends to contribute and enhance inter‐professional thinking, by approaching the cultural sector with the appropriate sensitivity.Originality/valueThe paper provides deeper understanding of culture, bordering the gap between technocrats and cultural‐oriented professionals by contributing to the creation of a coherent communication system for the study of place branding theory. The cultural dimension of a place is very spacious and further research needs to be made, approaching the subject from new perspectives, such as people's perception of the brand while using art(s) as a branding tool.

The Evolution of Religious Branding

Religious marketing has risen substantially over the past two decades due to a confluence of societal changes, notably the freedom to determine one’s faith and the ubiquity of mass media with its concomitant advertising. Specifically, branding—a marketing tool whereby a product is given an identity beyond its physical attributes or services—is now being employed by an increasing number of Churches. Two recent branding campaigns—one by the Church of Scientology, the other by the United Methodist Church—provide case studies of how Churches are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their use of marketing. Beyond simply promoting their products, these campaigns use branding to solve multiple marketing issues, from improving a sagging public reputation to re-positioning traditional denominations.

A song and dance: Branded entertainment and mobile promotion

This article considers the rise of branded entertainment within the contemporary marketing and media environment. Specifically, it examines how mobile phone marketing in the UK has sought to engage consumers and perform the social use of mobile technology through multimedia ad campaigns with an inscribed entertainment value. Focusing on brand campaigns for 3G mobile services that borrow explicitly from reality television (T-Mobile) and Hollywood film (Orange), the article explores the concept of branded entertainment in relation to the ‘popular imagination’ of mobile communication in the late 2000s. In doing so, it examines the particular relation of flash mobs to the production of brand community.

A “Norwegian Riviera” in the making: the development of coastal tourism and recreation in southern Norway in the interwar period

This article focuses on the growth of domestic tourism to the coast of southern Norway in the interwar period. While the archipelago of Sørlandet was a “terra incognita” before this, it became widely known as a holiday region among Norwegians during the 1920s and 1930s. The most important sources for the article are local and regional newspapers from the period. In this article, different causes for the tourist boom are discussed. Local initiatives played an important part, and improved economic conditions and communications made a democratisation of coastal holidays possible. More profound reasons were found in the increased focus on coastal leisure in arts and fashion. However, a regional branding campaign appears to have been the trigger for the construction of “the Riviera of Norway.” At the end of this article, the different elements of the coastal recreational culture are discussed, such as cottage life, leisure boats and beach life. While the coastal cottages and boat life partly were rooted in older recreational practices, beach life introduced new and more controversial elements.

Place branding's role in sustainable development

PurposeThe aim of this research is to examine the place brand construct and to establish its role in the sustainable development of a place. This research reviews the evolution, development and effectiveness of the place branding concept from the perspectives of regeneration, growth and sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThe main research focus is on establishing key facets responsible for driving the brand of a place and examining the relationship between them in terms of achieving sustainability. A place‐specific branding campaign (using the Liverpool '08, European Capital of Culture status) was considered and data collected from the key stakeholders in Liverpool.FindingsThe findings suggest that place branding plays an important role in the sustainable development of a place, provided that the momentum of progress is maintained. In turn, these sustainable developments help promote the place and thereby create stronger place brands.Research limitations/implicationsWhilst some of the facets identified in this study are place‐specific (Liverpool is a port, for example), there is much of a generic nature here and the facets identified in this research could provide useful practical constructs for place branding practices and may therefore become the basis of a formal place brand framework which has a more generic application in terms of sustainable development.Originality/valueThis research paper provides better understanding of place branding and further explores its role into sustainable development through relationship framework.

Building country image through corporate image: exploring the factors that influence the image transfer

Place branding scholars and practitioners increasingly highlight the influence that corporate image can exert on country image. Yet, there is remarkably little academic research on this image transfer. In this qualitative study, we identify factors that influence the transfer of associations from corporate images to country images through 13 in-depth interviews with place branding experts. Findings reveal six consumer-related (awareness of the corporate brand's country of origin; power of the corporate image; strength of the corporate brand–country association; brand image fit; brand image misfit; strength of industry–country association) and four company-related (extent to which the company plays up or down its country of origin; the company's international and market visibility; number of corporate brands operating in the market) factors that influence this image transfer. Our contribution to the place branding literature is 10 research propositions on the influence that these factors pose in the transfer of associations from corporate brands to countries. We provide country branding managers with guidelines in selecting corporate brands for country branding campaigns and discuss suggestions for future research.

Turkayfe.org: share your Türksperience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the conceptualization of nation/place branding campaigns based on storytelling and the role of Web 2.0 as facilitator in these endeavors.Design/methodology/approach – The authors share their experiences with Turkayfe.org – a social networking web site that aims to promote Turkey – and re‐evaluate the project through a political communication understanding and theoretical framework. The in‐depth single case analysis enables the authors to demonstrate how presented theories are put into action. The case is selected due to special peculiarities of Turkey and the availability of data, information, and resources about the project. Turkayfe.org was started by four entrepreneurs as a reaction to the country's negative portrayal in American mass media. In this project, branding is defined from a communication point of view. The authors' personal experiences make it possible to trace the conceptualization of brand image and execution phases of the project.Findings ...

National identity lite

This article examines the efforts of post-communist Romania and Bulgaria to reinvent their national images through the use of nation branding. After the collapse of communism in 1989, former communist nations experienced significant political, economic and cultural turmoil, accompanied by a deeply felt need for national self-redefinition. Nation branding programs were intended to articulate a new image for external consumption and, at the same time, to revive national pride at home. Adopting a critical interpretive approach, this article analyses comparatively the symbolism in two branding campaigns in Romania and Bulgaria. The analysis teases out tensions and contradictions in the advertising texts to generate insights about the politics of image creation and symbolic commodification in the post-communist context. The authors find that the campaigns appropriate national identity for the purposes of neoliberal globalization. This appropriation constrains national imaginaries within an ahistorical, depoliticized frame, resulting in a form of national identity lite. In this way, nation branding also serves to foreclose democratic avenues for national redefinition. •

Toponymic dependence research and its possible contribution to the field of place branding

The researcher set out to investigate whether people form dependencies with toponyms (place names) in similar ways to which dependencies can be formed with places. It has been found that while people are dependent on a place to provide particular facilities, people and governments are also dependent on toponyms to provide particular branding requirements. The theory of toponymic dependence has been developed and this article outlines how toponymic dependence is determined by the ability of a toponym to provide a unique representation, or branding opportunity, of a place. This article provides the framework for future publications, which assess the adequacy of past government place branding proposals, and discusses the importance of considering the construct of place dependence when developing place branding campaigns.

New Steps to “Move Forward™”

In 2009, APTA launched a brand campaign (http://www.moveforwardpt.com/) to help consumers, other health care professionals, and referral sources understand what physical therapists do. The motto “physical therapy brings motion to life” was adopted to capture the breadth of physical therapist practice. This issue of PTJ contains a number of exciting articles that provide insight into the scope of our practice. Two themes deserve special attention: variability in human motor development and regenerative medicine . The Pediatrics Special Issue papers on variability in childhood development1–6 challenge us to reconsider assumptions that guide examination and intervention in children with disabilities—and perhaps to “move forward” differently. The Perspective shared by Ambrosio and colleagues7 on the relationship between regenerative medicine and physical therapeutics encourages us to …

“Diversity” on Main Street? Branding Race and Place in the New “Majority-Minority” Suburbs

The emergence in the United States of an increasing number of spaces across the socioeconomic spectrum with majority nonwhite populations merits close attention because of these spaces' potential in reconfiguring historical and contemporary claims to place. In an era in which the neoliberalization of urban development has spurred local governments toward more active involvement in defining relationships between race, ethnicity, consumption, and space, “majority-minority” suburbs are particularly important sites of study. In the late 2000s, two branding campaigns in majority-Asian American and Latina/o municipalities in Los Angeles's San Gabriel Valley—a densely populated region popularly known as a “suburban Chinatown”—put forth specific discourses of race, ethnicity, and culture in attempts to actualize specific visions and claims to place, identity, and history. In doing so, these campaigns illuminated and reinforced larger racial, geographic, and ideological divides. “Diversity” on Main Street embraced pluralist multicultural discourses of the nation, while the “Golden Mile” proposal sought to showcase the transformation of a central thoroughfare by ethnic Chinese capital and immigration. A close examination and comparison of these two campaigns shows how struggles over race, geography, and history are intertwined in the contemporary identities of places and integral to the shaping of civic landscapes.

A study of the impact of package changes on orange juice demand

In January 2009, Tropicana introduced a new package design as part of its advertising and branding campaign, with the theme “Squeeze it’s a Natural”. Sales of the Tropicana Pure Premium line plummeted 20% between the end of December and February from the same period a year ago. By the end of February, Tropicana had changed its mind and went back to the earlier packaging. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Tropicana’s package redesign on the sales of Tropicana orange and on the sales of all orange juice in grocery stores. Study results show that the package redesign cost Tropicana an estimated $27 million.

Consumer‐based brand equity for Australia as a long‐haul tourism destination in an emerging market

PurposeAlthough the branding literature emerged during the 1940s, research relating to tourism destination branding has only gained momentum since the late 1990s. There remains a lack of theory in particular that addresses the measurement of the effectiveness of destination branding over time. The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of a model of consumer‐based brand equity (CBBE) for a country destination.Design/methodology/approachA model of CBBE was adapted from the marketing literature and applied to a nation context. The model was tested by using structural equation modelling with data from a large Chilean sample (n=845) comprising a mix of previous visitors and non‐visitors. The model fits the data well.FindingsThe paper reports the results of an investigation into brand equity for Australia as a long‐haul destination in an emerging market. The research took place just before the launch of the nation's fourth new brand campaign in six years. The results indicate Australia is a well‐known but not compelling destination brand for tourists in Chile, which reflects the lower priority the South American market has been given by the national tourism office.Practical implicationsThe paper suggested that CBBE measures could be analysed at various points in time to track any strengthening or weakening of market perceptions in relation to brand objectives. A standard CBBE instrument could provide long‐term effectiveness performance measures regardless of changes in destination marketing organisation staff, advertising agency, other stakeholders and budget.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the nation‐branding literature by being one of the first to test the efficacy of a model of CBBE for a tourism destination brand.

A Crowd of Watchdogs: Toward a System Dynamics Model of Media Response to Corporate Social Responsibility and Irresponsibility Initiatives

This article applies system dynamics analysis to understand the interaction of actors whose opinions and activities impacted on corporate initiatives in the Danone boycott of 2001 (Hunter et al. 2008) and the “Beyond Petroleum” branding campaign of BP P.L.C. in 2001-2005 (Hunter et al. 2010). The analysis shows a complex interaction of 59 feedback loops in the two cases, demonstrating how at different moments, different stakeholders play a highly visible watchdog function in defence of their own interests. Over time, the delayed responses of stakeholders combine into new vectors of influence, stabilising or disequilibrating different points of the overall system. In one of our cases, these dynamics partially explain the paradox of how “doing well by doing good” may be transformed into “looking bad by doing good.” In the other case, these dynamics indicate why management efforts to frame divisive issues in a positive manner for the firm failed. Both cases suggest how factors identified in previous research, such as attributions of motive to actors in a crisis, may be amplified as correlations between distinct objectives are established by stakeholders occupying positions in various sectors of the organisational environment. We conclude that initiatives aimed at reinforcing organisational image or reputation may be less dependent on the responses of individual actors than on the effects generated by feedback loops within the overall system within which such initiatives occur. Thus attempts to disrupt the system may increase the risks for an organisation, by increasing its isolation relative to other actors.