Branding Exercise Research Articles

Neo-Ottoman Turk-Scape: Analyzing the Role of Dizis as Türkiye’s Soft Power

Türkiye has grabbed the world’s attention in the last three decades for its strategic use of soft power as an instrument of cultural diplomacy. Buoyed by relative economic success in the post-Cold War period, the new ruling elites of Türkiye used Islamic practices and value-system, particularly its Ottoman past, as tools of the soft power in cultural diplomacy. Turkish dizis (television series), particularly those based on historical figures, have played a critical role in the nation branding exercise of Türkiye. These dizis have not only created a soft spot for the country, and boosted its tourism, but it also helped the government, particularly President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan project himself as a leader with potentials to lead the Muslim world or Ummah. This article assesses the role of Turkish dizis as a soft power instrument in cultural diplomacy and the nation branding of Türkiye. Interestingly, Turkish dizis were primarily produced for domestic consumption, and were not necessarily targeting foreign audience, at least in the beginning. Thus, they perform the dual function of molding public opinion within the country, while also helping create a positive image about Türkiye and its past among the foreign audience. But nostalgia of the past alone is not sufficient, if not complemented by reciprocal actions on the ground.

Professional athlete responses to new product development: A dialectic

ABSTRACT Research Question Although scholarship focussed upon professional athletes has grown considerably, their perspective remains underrepresented within the sport management literature. Accordingly, this study gives voice to such athletes by exploring their perspectives with regard to the demands, opportunities, and tensions arising from a new sport product innovation that has significantly impacted their profession. Research Methods Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 professional male cricketers competing in two of the world’s most prominent professional T20 cricket leagues. Interviews were thematically coded to reveal central athlete perspectives, and representative quotes were used to support the analysis. Results and Findings Two central insights emerged. First, professional athletes internalised a consumer demand for entertainment arising from the advent of T20 cricket, resulting in modifications to their individual frontstage self-presentation. Whilst not a conscious branding exercise, these modifications demonstrated a tension between pursuing athletic performance on the one hand and entertainment on the other. Second, despite the significant financial opportunities that T20 cricket affords, athletes emphasised the intrinsic interpersonal benefits of the product innovation. This included experiential elements around cultural immersion and personal development as well as newfound opportunities to form relationships within an otherwise fiercely competitive work setting. Implications This study contributes to a small body of work exploring professional athlete perspectives, revealing candid backstage insights surrounding lived experiences within the profession. The findings are particularly significant to athlete branding work in that they illustrate how professional athlete self-presentation can be influenced by performative pressures emerging from consumer-driven product innovation.

To Investigate the Impact of Marketing Strategies on Consumer Purchase Intentions Regarding BOAT Products in Selected Area of Patna City

This study talks about various brands that offer audio devices with a focus on customers preferences, needs, wants and what features and functions provides the most satisfaction to the consumers. The factors that affect their decision while buying such products has also been taken into consideration and promotional strategies have been discussed focusing on those factors. The study aims to determine how a company's efforts should be channeled and how they should formulate their future strategies according to the consumer preferences. The study also shows the impact of how a company's branding exercise and marketing strategies affects a consumer’s purchasing decisions towards a brand, which was witnessed by the brand BoAt lifestyle. BoAt could penetrate into this already clustered market due to its promotion and marketing strategies.

Sounds of Accompaniment

Sounds of Accompaniment

Whose Heritage

Whose Heritage

Hotel brand equity and online reviews on social commerce intention: A cross-level identification process

Customer reviews and brand equity are both key assets that offer hospitality providers competitive advantages over rivalries. However, how they can complement each other is a question that scholars and practitioners continue to seek. This research draws on social identity and social presence theories to synthesize a multilevel model with social identification as a mediator of the relationship between persuasive message compliance and social commerce intention. We take a resource-based view to conceptualize brand equity as a strategic asset and to model it as a moderator. This inquiry contributes to extant literature by illuminating a multilevel paradigm to better understand the strategic imperative of brand equity in fortifying a strong brand, while casting means for weak brands to capitalize on e-WOM to impel favorable guest behaviors. It adds to the literature by acknowledging a dual-identification process in which both customer reviews and branding exercise different roles in customers’ brand identification.

A CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS PAINTS WITH REFERENCE TO ASIAN PAINTS

Earlier when houses were built or renovated, consumers did not give much attention to the paints used. Painting was never given as much importance when decisions were made regarding a house construction, but over the years due to the increase in competition, growth in infrastructure, consumer awareness about beauty, ambience and upkeep of their building, the consumer has become aware about the importance of buying best paints. People have started given a lot of importance to make their homes look beautiful and aesthetic. Initially the decision to buy paints depended up on the contractor or the construction firm but now it has slowly become part of the final user’s decision. With government assistance for the building and infrastructure sector, the industry is expected to grow at a rapid pace over the next five years, with enormous growth potential. This study talks about various paint brands with a focus on customers preferences, needs, wants and the factors that affects their decision while buying paints. This study also proves an already proven fact that Asian paint is the largest and most trusted paint brand in India. The study aims to determine how a company's efforts should be channeled and how they should formulate their future strategies according to the consumer preferences. The study also shows the impact of how a company's branding exercise and marketing strategies affects a consumer’s purchasing decisions towards paints. KEY WORDS-  Consumer buying behaviors.  Factors affecting it.  Indian paints industry.  About Asian paints.  Research conducted and it’s analysis.

Women, uniforms and brand identity in Barclays Bank

The article focuses on the British banking sector in the late twentieth century. It explores the approach of the managers of Barclays Bank, who in contrast to their competitors, decided to use female staff at the forefront of their strategy to increase business and to improve customer perceptions of the bank within its branches. In particular, we explore the decision to place women on the ‘shop floor’, to sell financial services and to dress them in a corporate uniform. Special clothing is often seen as a symbolic representation of an organization’s identity and culture. The article examines the way in which managers used female employees and their femininity as a device to attempt to build stronger customer relationships that eventually became part of a wider branding exercise.

Why Pacific Islanders Stopped Worrying about the Apocalypse and Started Fighting Climate Change

ABSTRACTThis article questions the hierarchical assumptions of theories of “traveling models” by examining how politicians and environmental activists from the three major regions of the Pacific have contributed to global climate change policy regimes. The Marshall Islands successfully lobbied the international climate change community to ensure that the signatories to the Paris Agreement are committed to keeping the global temperature rise during the current century to “well below” 2°C, while “pursuing efforts” to limit the average temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. In its role as the host of the twenty‐third annual Conference of the Parties to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Fiji drew on the self‐scaling Pacific speech genre of talanoa to facilitate dialogue and cooperation between the signatories of the Paris Agreement. The successful institution of Talanoa Dialogues at UN climate change meetings was not just a branding exercise, but an ideological project of encompassment. Although the Solomon Islands has a lower international profile, its responses to climate change suggest new ways of thinking about the relationship between local environmental knowledge and scientific models, and provides valuable feedback on new forms of aid focused on adaptation. [climate change, traveling theory, talanoa, Pacific Islands, United Nations]

DIMENSIONS OF INTERNAL BRANDING -A CONCEPTUAL STUDY

Brands are treated as a critical success factor for generating competitive advantage. Hence brand building efforts are keen to adopt unique ways of value creation process and to deepen the brand-customer relationship. A shift in the focus of organizations to customer- centric perspective from goods-centric perspective recognize brand as an entity of functional and emotional values. This approach to brand management has evolved when the attention of the branding exercise is focused on intangible and internally driven emotional attributes. When brands connect emotionally with the customers, the point of difference is not just in what customers receive but also in how they receive it. The purpose of this research is to provide a conceptual framework of the internal branding process based on the critical review of relevant literature in the domain. The study underpins the rationale behind the relationship between the various dimensions that causes and effects the internal branding mechanism. Some companies whose onus of their overall success of internal branding is added as evidence for the practical implications of internal branding. Since a brand is much more than a “recognition factor” it is more of a “feeling good” factor that builds a strong customer brand relationship. Future research can empirically study the dimensions identified in this conceptual study.

Repackaging national identity: Cool Japan and the resilience of Japanese identity narratives

ABSTRACT‘Cool Japan’ is an instance of Japanese government's nation branding exercise as part of its soft power projection in which the unique selling point is identified as Japanese national identity. In this paper, I examine the relationship between Cool Japan and Japanese national identity and highlight a tension in the construction. Cool Japan is about emphasizing Japan's attractiveness for public diplomacy, while the top-down nature of the branding undermines the imagery that the branding is designed to convey. I show that policy elites resolve this tension by invoking the traditional Japanese identity narratives that construct Japan into both a non-Western and an un-Asian entity, reproducing the myth of Japanese uniqueness. I argue that the elite narratives surrounding Cool Japan readily replicate the language reminiscent of prewar identity construction. Despite the contemporary popularity of manga and anime, the purported ‘coolness’ of these products are framed within older constructions of Japanese Self that can trace their pedigree back to the nineteenth century. Using the minutes of committee meetings, policy documents, as well as media interviews given by policy- and business elites, I show that Cool Japan is effectively a twenty first century rendition of the familiar Japanese identity construction.

Better tracheostomy care through targeted education using social media

The National Tracheostomy Safety Project (NTSP) has published strategies to manage and prevent airway emergencies in patients with tracheostomies and laryngectomies.1,2 However, front-line healthcare professionals most likely to benefit from guidance may not have access to or are unlikely to read publications in traditional medical literature. To improve dissemination of such guidelines, The Health Foundation launched Evidence into Practice in 2017. The NTSP’s aim for this project was to produce assessable, digestible resources, and target and influence relevant front-line staff via social media platforms. The NTSP engaged a social media marketing and production company (FeedFirst Ltd.) to produce short (<2 min) videos around key tracheostomy themes, coupled with a branding exercise. The themes were the following: (i) problems can be prevented by basic care, done well; (ii) emergencies can be managed by following NTSP algorithms; and (iii) vocalisation should be a routine goal of daily care. A marketing campaign was devised to target key staff groups (ICU nurses, ENT nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists, speech therapists, doctors, and hospital managers) identified via social media profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Strategies included themed events, paid advertising, and encouraging peer-to-peer sharing of resources. Engagement metrics were captured using social media listening tools from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2018. A total of 629 270 social media impressions of new NTSP video and infographic resources were captured, including over 267 000 Twitter impressions, 275 430 Facebook impressions, 82 880 YouTube video views (over 80 000 min watched; Fig. 7), and 3960 LinkedIn impressions. Only 85 000 (31.8%) of the Twitter impressions resulted from paid advertising, demonstrating significant social mobilisation around the content, and peer-to-peer sharing. By developing high-quality, professional content to convey key safety messages and targeting front-line staff via native and promoted social media activity, we have demonstrated an effective reach of our resources to target staff. In comparison, the NTSP paper underpinning this project had been cited only 89 times since publication in 2012. We recommend considering a similar social media marketing strategy to target key staff for similar educational projects in the future. The authors would like to thank Health Foundation, an independent UK charity for better health and health care. 1.McGrath BA, Bates L, Atkinson D, et al. Anaesthesia 2012; 67: 1025–412.McGrath BA, Lynch J, Bonvento B. BMJ Qual Improv Rep 2017; 6 (1). bmjqir.u220636.w7996

Redefining the Smart City: Culture, Metabolism and Governance

The Smart City concept is still evolving and can be viewed as a branding exercise by big corporations, which is why the concept is not being used by the United Nations (U.N.). Smart Cities tend to represent the information, communication, and technological (ICT) industry alone without considering the values and cultural and historical profiles that some cities hold as legacies. However, the technology inherent in Smart Cities promises efficiencies and options that could allow cities to be more “inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” as required by the U.N. agenda including cultural heritage. There is a notable lack of Smart City application to cultural and historical urban fabrics. Instead, the modernist new town approach has emerged under this new rubric leading to many problems such as urban decay and unsustainable car dependence. This study therefore presents a review of the literature on the nature, challenges, and opportunities of Smart Cities. A new Smart Cities framework is proposed based on the dimensions of culture, metabolism, and governance. These findings seek to inform policy makers of an alternative viewpoint on the Smart City paradigm, which focuses on urban outcomes rather than technology in isolation.

True Kvlt? The Cultural Capital of “Nordicness” in Extreme Metal

In this article, we respond to the question of, "What is the cultural capital of Nordicness in heavy metal?". Through examining the popularity of Nordic symbolism in metal music, scenes and practices, we argue that the Nordic has been ascribed significant value in metal, wherein it offers a vehicle for narratives of masculinity, nationalism and ideology. Here we contend that the cultural capital given to Nordicness underpins not only the prevalence and market success of metal in Northern Europe, but also the ongoing circulation of narratives about the North in metal scenes across multiple global regions. Through analysing the repeated motifs of Nordic mythology, ecology and imagery as they emerge throughout metal's historic and contemporary manifestations, our article demonstrates the cultural capital with which the North is continually imbued in heavy metal. We call into focus how metal's aesthetic fascination with Nordicness as a site of heathenism, resistance and frontier landscapes is intertwined with a longer thematic history of masculinity, rebellion and affective community. This article therefore interrogates the cultural capital of Nordicness in metal scenes, and how this continues to shape the trajectories for the genre both in Northern Europe and throughout the world.

City re-imagined: Multi-stakeholder study on branding Hong Kong as a city of greenery

This study explores the potential to enhance a city's international position and social development through mainstreaming urban greenery in its city branding exercise. The variety of services by urban greenery are theorised to be compatible with the economic and social purposes of city branding. Despite enjoying exceptional green cityscape with the presence of country parks and other green resources, the comparative strength is under-valued under Hong Kong's current brand. This Hong Kong-based study looks into the crucial linkages between city branding and urban greening by factoring in the perception of local residents, overseas investors/workers and tourists. The results from the questionnaire survey (n = 240) reveal that people generally favour incorporating more green elements into the brand, largely due to the positive relationship between urban greenery provision and quality of living. Together with the supplementary focus groups (n = 10) and email interviews, the findings throw light on the significance of these green resources in both projecting a liveable city image and enhancing the living quality for sustainable city development and management, as well as how adopting such brand can facilitate urban greening. The results offer new insights of city governance by highlighting the idea of branding a city green and the challenges in implementation.

Facets of talent retention: role of employee and employer branding as catalysts

This paper describes and examines a basis for better appreciation of employer branding efforts to attract and retain talent in IT industry. The purpose of the study is to highlight the prominence of employer branding exercise and its relationship with talent acquisition and talent retention in the IT industry. This is a descriptive research based on the survey method. The total numbers of responses obtained were 410. Convenience sampling technique was adopted. Sample unit consisted of employees of various designations working in IT industries. Structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis was used to endorse the research model. It was found that employer branding accentuates talent acquisition, employee engagement, employee branding and talent retention. The empirical results supported the facts that employer branding promotes employer attraction and employee engagement. Likewise, employer attractiveness and employee engagement sustain employee branding. In line with the literature, survey results supported the fact that employee branding encouraged talent retention. The empirical results are useful for companies to acquire a more complete, all-encompassing depiction about the modern concept of employer branding.

Maruti Suzuki: reinventing for the big league

The study discusses the case of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., India's leading passenger car company, which has always maintained a tag of being a warhorse in the mass segment, now wanting to tap its strong base of 15 million customers when they upgrade to the next level. Wary of its failure to foray into premium domains in previous attempts, MSIL is going the extra mile in its branding exercise this time. With the launch of stand-alone showrooms under the NEXA brand name that showcase the new array of premium passenger cars in Maruti's stable, the company is making unprecedented breakthrough into erstwhile unexplored terrains. By extensively funding the bold initiative, the company has put together a portfolio that appeals to customers in a retail packaging that appeals to discerning consumers. Given that Maruti Suzuki has maintained its traditional stronghold image of making affordable, low maintenance, readily serviced cars, the question is whether the car maker best known for its VFM offerings will be able to make the shift to the premium space.

Maruti Suzuki: reinventing for the big league

The study discusses the case of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., India's leading passenger car company, which has always maintained a tag of being a warhorse in the mass segment, now wanting to tap its strong base of 15 million customers when they upgrade to the next level. Wary of its failure to foray into premium domains in previous attempts, MSIL is going the extra mile in its branding exercise this time. With the launch of stand-alone showrooms under the NEXA brand name that showcase the new array of premium passenger cars in Maruti's stable, the company is making unprecedented breakthrough into erstwhile unexplored terrains. By extensively funding the bold initiative, the company has put together a portfolio that appeals to customers in a retail packaging that appeals to discerning consumers. Given that Maruti Suzuki has maintained its traditional stronghold image of making affordable, low maintenance, readily serviced cars, the question is whether the car maker best known for its VFM offerings will be able to make the shift to the premium space.

Monarchical nation branding: Queen Rania’s performance of modernity on YouTube

This article examines Queen Rania’s 2008 YouTube campaign, aimed at Arab and Muslim stereotypes post 9/11, as a political performance that articulates a branding exercise of modernity. Using feminist performance analysis, the article explores how Queen Rania’s activist performance brands monarchical self and country (Jordan) as modern and considers its implications. A focus on three selected YouTube videos by Rania from this campaign provides a careful reading of her body and embodied narratives to consider choreographies of self-authentication and nation branding. I argue that a politics of branding is practised in corporeal and cultural terms by means of a monarchical media spectacle that inadvertently enacts imperialist and orientalist supremacy. Paradoxically, in attempts to break Arab and Muslim stereotypes, Queen Rania’s performance instead reproduces them. This nation-branding practice forwards a modern Jordan and futures monarchical legitimacy on the expense of marking other Arab and Muslim bodies as backward and dangerous.

Da incredibile a credibile: strategie nazionali di promozione turistica in India

Tourism is at the top of Indian current Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda: according to Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto, tourism can play a key role in India’s socio-economic progress. The country had last formulated a tourism policy in 2002, when the multimillion dollar nation branding campaign which received the name “Incredible India” was launched on an international level. The primary objective of this branding exercise was to create a distinctive identity for the country. Through the analysis of the campaign’s themes, the paper discusses its connection with orientalist imagery and colonial meanings as well as its effectiveness in promoting the Indian tourist industry. The article dwells on how the government’s campaign constructs the Indian difference for an imagined global audience. Questions of cultural othering, the role of colonialism, and contemporary neocolonial structures in relation to tourism promotion for India are discussed. In this paper it is argued that, if the government is serious about branding India with Narendra Modi’s much hyped 5 Ts, with tourism as a leading contributor, a new paradigm different from the “Incredible India” one may be necessary.