Branding Practices Research Articles

Country reputation and performance: The role of public relations and news media

Using agenda-building and agenda-setting as theoretical framework, this study examined the relationship that international public relations and US news media coverage have with public opinion of foreign countries and their economic performance. The study analyzed 598 press releases from 30 countries, 488 news media articles and public opinion data from the 2009 Anholt's Nation Brands Index (NBI). In addition, foreign trade and tourism figures from the US Department of Commerce were examined. The findings supported both first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting effects. Further, the study identified effective areas for public relations to highlight in press releases about a country to help inform the practice of country reputation management and nation branding.

Revisiting the complexities of corporate branding: Issues, paradoxes, solutions

The evolution of corporate branding literature since the seminal paper by Balmer is evaluated. The literature exhibits signs of maturing, which is evidenced by multiple theoretical underpinnings and a widening scope. Four themes are identified: (i) corporate brand as differentiation; (ii) corporate brand as corporate communication; (iii) corporate brand as a values-based approach; and (iv) corporate brand as internal branding approaches. We give special attention to issues of corporate communication, corporate identity, corporate vision, multiple stakeholders, alignment, multiple voices, corporate values and organisational culture. The themes are examined through a ‘paradox’ lens. Each theme is discussed in terms of the theoretical challenges arising from complexities in that aspect of corporate branding, ensuing apparent paradoxes and possible solutions for each paradox. The paradoxes are not treated as an aberration, but rather are useful as a foundation for developing theory in corporate branding. We believe that these are natural conditions in a complex area involving multiple external and internal stakeholders. The aim is to reconstruct corporate branding theory through greater sensitivity to complex nuances. The four areas of solutions to specific paradoxes assist both theory development and corporate branding practice.

Crescent marketing, Muslim geographies and brand Islam

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to bring together the thoughts and opinions of key members of theJournal of Islamic Marketing's(JIMA) Editorial Team, regarding the recently branded phenomenon of Islamic marketing – in the interests of stimulating further erudition.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted an “eagle eye” method to investigate this phenomenon: Where attempts were made to frame general principles and observations; alongside a swooping view of key anecdotal observations – in order to ground and enrich the study. The authors participated in an iterative process when analysing longitudinal and contemporary phenomenological data, in order to arrive at a consensus. This was grounded in: triangulating individual and collective researcher findings; critiquing relevant published material; and reflecting upon known reviewed manuscripts submitted to marketing publications – both successful and unsuccessful.FindingsThe authors assert that a key milestone in the study and practice of marketing, branding, consumer behaviour and consumption in connection with Islam and Muslims is the emergence of research wherein the terms “Islamic marketing” and “Islamic branding” have evolved – of whichJIMAis also a by‐product. Some have construed Islam marketing/branding as merely a niche area. Given the size of Muslim populations globally and the critical importance of understanding Islam in the context of business and practices with local, regional and international ramifications, scholarship on Islamic marketing has become essential. Western commerce and scholarship has been conducted to a limited extent, and some evidence exists that research is occurring globally. The authors believe it is vital for “Islamic marketing” scholarship to move beyond simply raising the flag of “Brand Islam” and the consideration of Muslim geographies to a point where Islam – as a way of life, a system of beliefs and practices, and religious and social imperatives – is amply explored.Research limitations/implicationsAn “eagle eye” view has been taken, which balances big picture and grassroots conceptual findings. The topic is complex – and so while diverse expert opinions are cited, coverage of many issues is necessarily brief, due to space constraints.Practical implicationsScholars and practitioners alike should find the thoughts contained in the paper of significant interest. Ultimately, scholarship of Islam's influences on marketing theory and practice should lead to results which have pragmatic implications, just as research on Islamic banking and finance has.Originality/valueThe paper appears to be the first to bring together such a diverse set of expert opinions within one body of work, and one that provides a forum for experts to reflect and comment on peers' views, through iteration. Also the termCrescent marketingis introduced to highlight how critical cultural factors are, which shape perceptions and Islamic practises.

“A raw, emotional thing”

In this paper we contend neo-liberal education policy which supports the creation of schooling choices in public education systems is reshaping, conflating and branding ethnicity. We make these points in reference to school choice in Toronto, Canada, and the establishment of an Africentric ethno-centric school. We argue that one of the registers within which education and ethnicity in Toronto operates relates to the conflation of commodification, ethnicity and geography, and that this conflation indicates one of the limits of school choice as a possible way to redress Black student disadvantage. We suggest education policy, which enables the establishment of ethno-centric schools, enters the realm of other debates about race, equity and difference that include the practices of marketing and branding.

The Brand Likeability Effect: Can Firms make Themselves more Likeable?

In 2011, Lincoln Automobiles, part of the Ford Motor Company and named after President Lincoln, was voted as the most liked company in America. Lincoln's customer satisfaction ratings were the highest they had been in the past 15 years. Although brand managers implicitly emphasise the importance of likeability in branding strategies, brand likeability is a concept that is little researched, particularly at the firm level. The question of ‘what is likeable?’ has not yet been answered thoroughly and few studies have to date examined what causes a firm or brand to be perceived as liked or disliked. This paper aims to provide an understanding of the theories and concepts that explain brand likeability. The comprehensive literature review identifies two dimensions: source stimuli and psychological evaluations. Additionally, the authors propose several outcomes of brand likeability, extending existing knowledge on brand love and attitude research, offering managers defining principles of the Brand Likeability Effect. The proposed implications for managers are in four phases; implementing these into the firm's branding practices increases the likelihood that customers will perceive the firm as being more likeable.

My city – my brand: the different roles of residents in place branding

PurposeThis paper deals with the importance of residents within place branding. The aim of this paper is to examine the different roles that residents play in the formation and communication of place brands and explores the implications for place brand management.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on theoretical insights drawn from the combination of the distinct literatures on place branding, general marketing, tourism, human geography, and collaborative governance. To support its arguments, the paper discusses the participation of citizens in governance processes as highlighted in the urban governance literature as well as the debate among marketing scholars over participatory marketing and branding.FindingsThe paper arrive at three different roles played by the residents: as an integral part of the place brand through their characteristics and behavior; as ambassadors for their place brand who grant credibility to any communicated message; and as citizens and voters who are vital for the political legitimization of place branding. These three roles make the residents a very significant target group of place branding.Originality/valueResidents are largely neglected by place branding practice and their priorities are often misunderstood, even though they are not passive beneficiaries but are active partners and co‐producers of public goods, services and policies. This paper highlights that only meaningful participation and consultation can produce a more effective and sustainable place branding strengthening the brand communication and avoiding the pitfall of developing “artificial” place brands.

Brand ‘infrastructure’ in nonprofit organizations: Challenges to successful brand building?

The particular purpose of this study was to examine and explore the factors necessary within nonprofit organizations (NPOs) for successful branding, and challenges in their implementation. The approach was an appropriate inductive qualitative one, conducted through depth interviews with opinion formers. Although there has been some research into the variables necessary to successfully build brands, only limited work considers anything other than commercial branding contexts. The originality is that through this work both theory and practice of branding in NPOs will be better informed so that structures to support branding can be better managed. Factors considered important to branding were identified, particularly leadership, employee understanding and clear vision. It was interesting that respondents generally agreed that limited marketing budgets were not necessarily a major problem. The research also identified variables that contribute to a conceptual model of nonprofit brand management, experiential and emotional branding in particular being notable as offering possible platforms for differentiation. The work is exploratory in nature and therefore informs understanding of brand management in a nonprofit context and forms a basis for wider empirical testing.

Transforming and contesting nation branding strategies: Denmark at the Expo 2010

The article presents and discusses the contemporary transformation in nation branding practices, noting the shift from streamlined uniqueness narratives to pluralist and performative events of endorsement. This shift highlights the need for developing a culturally sensitive relation to the audience. Using the case of Welfairytales, The Danish pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, we argue that cultural sensitivity and a higher level of reflection are needed when nation branding events seek to include the audience. The dilemma of including the audience versus managing coherence is presented and the implications of performative branding practices are elaborated upon.

The dynamics of place brands

This article introduces a novel approach towards place branding theory, adopting a view based on the relationship between the place brand and place identity. The article first evaluates the dominant conceptualization of identity within place branding. It is argued that better understanding of the relationship between place identity and place brands might advance the theory of place branding. In its current state, place branding practice and, to a great extent, place branding literature adopt a rather static view on place identity as something that can easily be articulated and communicated for the purposes of branding the place. This approach is limited as it does not reveal the full complexity of place identity and limits the role and potential of place branding. The article, drawing on a combination of the literatures on place identity and organisational identity, proposes a more dynamic view of place identity that considers identity a constant dialogue between the internal and the external. The role of branding within the identity dialogue is then clarified leading to an appreciation of the full dynamics of place brands. The true nature of place branding is revealed as one of interaction and dialogue between stakeholders.

Branding strategies for service firms- a study on the selected Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Bangladesh

Research work has been done on how to create a brand supporting behaviour but most of the time the existing insights have generally stemmed from research with management, brand practitioner’s and even consumers’ perspectives. Very little has been done to research the employees’ perception towards internal branding and to compare the view of the management and employees’ on internal communication. The existing researches are also done on mostly in the context of the businesses in industrialize countries whereas this research would be an intent to find the internal branding practice in a service firm in a country of developing economy. This would able to identify the gap in the practice of internal branding in different socio-economical context. This research is dedicated to find out both back end and front end skilled employees’ view towards internal communication in a service firm and based on the findings attempt would be done to see whether the staffs perceive their role differently towards the brand. For conducting the research qualitative data were gathered from the qualitative survey by questioning different employee and management about the internal brand communication and the analysis was done on that. With the respondents view on the internal marketing process, the management do not have fully structured plan to implement a sound internal branding strategy. With a given economical constraint it is not always possible to practice all the aspect of management science, but from the study of the company we can see that service firms such as ISP (internet service provider) companies in weaker economical countries could increase the internal communication practice by just altering the existing inter-departmental communication monitored by innovative senior management, co-ordination of HRM and Marketing with input from engineers.

The agency of branding and the location of value. Hallmarks and monograms in early modern tableware industries

This article addresses early modern guild-based hallmarks from the perspective of modern branding. Although guilds could have firm-like functions and create ‘brand names’, collective marks at least in ‘strong guilds’ (on the continent) served a primarily socio-political function for small manufacturing masters who controlled and sanctioned branding practices themselves. While helping to solve problems of information asymmetry, the collective marks objectified product quality by locating it in the political standing and ‘quality’ of guild-based masters. The crucial shift at the end of the Ancien Régime involved the disappearance of this link between the status of urban ‘freemen’ and the cultural identity of their products.

Gender and nation branding in ‘The True North Strong and Free’

To date, gender analysis has been absent from the literature on nation branding even though marketing research and the scholarship on nationalism incorporate questions of gender into their theoretical frameworks. This article offers a gender analysis of the Canadian federal government's nation branding strategy. The research reveals that there are multiple gendered elements of the branding approach that have been deployed effectively to sell a new vision of the national brand both to Canadian citizens as well as to global audiences. The article calls for further research on the intersection between gender and nation branding as a useful lens through which to expand our understanding of nation branding practices.

Protected Area branding strategies to increase stewardship among park constituencies

With the complexity and resource intensity needed to manage parks, protected area managers increasingly rely on their constituencies to assume stewardship responsibilities. To meet the intentions of the Convention on Biodiversity Target 11, thousands of new protected areas will need to be gazetted. This dramatic increase in the number of global protected areas will significantly add to the dependence of managers on their constituencies to be actively engaged in park protection and management. One underutilized management tool to connect people to parks sustainably is branding. Protected area brands can engage emotions, evoke personal beliefs and prompt the behaviours managers prefer when the brand’s core values are appropriately expressed. Yet, management often does not wield these brands to their maximum potential, thus limiting the tangible and intangible benefits they could bestow if simple marketing practices were followed. This paper outlines three fundamental branding practices – building brand awareness, teaching brand meaning and growing positive brand equity over time – that are applicable to the goals of every protected area manager. Strategically deployed, branding plays an essential role in the sustainability of parks and protected areas.

The new PR of states: How nation branding practices affect the security function of public diplomacy

This paper investigates how the role of public relations practice in public diplomacy is undergoing a transformation as a consequence of the influence from nation branding. A case study of the Danish government's response to the so-called Cartoon Crisis illustrates how the threat from international terrorism to national security initially served as a catalyst for new public diplomacy initiatives. But as the initiatives were implemented within a framework of nation branding the focus on risk reduction became subjected to a marketing logic and a new focus on economic objectives took over. The paper points to a possible future status of public diplomacy under the influence of nation branding: Public diplomacy may maintain a function pertinent to national security but as this function is incapable of managing real risks it will only serve as auto-communication that legitimizes security policy towards a domestic audience. In the public diplomacy efforts towards transnational publics the link to national security will completely disappear whereby the public relations of states is transformed to the marketing of states.

Promotional Prime Time: “Advertainment,” Internal Network Promotion, and the Future of Canadian Television

ABSTRACT Drawing on critical cultural theory, the industry trade press, and an exploratory content analysis of prime-time television, this article examines the under-researched phenomenon of “internal network promotions.” The authors argue that internal promotions constitute a central component of the growing promotional orientation of Canadian prime-time television. They provide a theoretical overview of the practices of branding and a general description of the rise of “advertainment” on Canadian television. They then focus on the ways in which internal network promotions comprise a taken-for-granted “branded” backdrop against which television content, already heavily infiltrated by promotional interests, is mounted. The article concludes with a call for more research into the promotional nature of Canadian prime-time television and its social, political, and cultural implications.

Creating Digital Fashion Brands: The Effect of Emerging Entrepreneurial Practice

New disruptive Internet technologies create a profound change in the cultural practice of branding. To incumbent brands in some creative industries where the physical component plays significant ro...

Place Branding and the Imaginary: The Politics of Re-imagining a Garden City

This article discusses contemporary practices of place branding through the concept of the imaginary. Specifically, the aim is to interrogate place branding as a politically constituted process which unfolds in relation to dominant discourses and symbols that are in circulation; how existing material structures inform the process; and what material consequences occur as a result. The process is empirically illustrated by drawing on a qualitative study conducted within a municipal project organisation charged with organising the 50th anniversary of Tapiola Garden City in Finland. The anniversary provided the decision-makers with an opportunity for re-imagining the Garden City, which in the course of time was seen to have become outdated and in need of symbolic and material rejuvenation. In the light of the study, the article examines how place branding contributes to producing discursive privileging and marginalisation of particular values and social groups.

The politics of meaning and the city brand: The controversy over the branding of Ankara

This article presents analysis of a period of public argumentation over the city logo of Ankara, the capital of Turkey. These arguments comprise a 17-year episode of controversy that reveals insights into the politics of meaning behind city ' s brand. Ankara ' s logo functions as a contested ' collective representation ' of the city ' s brand identity, and paved the way to further discussions on its history, cultural identity and politics by various internal stakeholders. The signifi cance of this research is two-fold. First, the Ankara case contributes to existing studies of place branding and semiotics, by examining the contending positions that complicate Ankara ' s historical identity and the range of stakeholders that make up the ' managerial apparatus ' of brand meaning. Drawing on communication studies, ' controversy ' provides an analytical vehicle to consider claims to brand ownership, legitimacy and authority by various stakeholders, as well as to demonstrate the potential of public argumentation to transform and shape the practice of place branding. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy (2012) 8, 133 - 146. doi: 10.1057/pb.2012.8

Imagining India: The nation as a brand

This article critically analyses the phenomenon of nation branding as a technique of neocolonial governmentality. I focus on the ‘India Everywhere’ campaign that launched Brand India at the 2006 World Economic Forum to highlight postcolonial India’s attempt to imagine the nation and its people through the discourse of branding. I argue that India’s nation branding exercise hollows out the postcolonial imagination so that the nation can now only be imagined through a language and within a framework ‘always-already’ constituted for the postcolony. This article builds on Michel Foucault’s analysis of governmentality and utilizes a postcolonial framework to show that when the practice of nation branding is applied to a postcolonial nation it works to reinscribe the colonial legacy and reaffirm colonial power relations.

Assessing the revival potential of brands from the past: How relevant is nostalgia in retro branding strategies?

This study focuses on retro branding practices, that is, the revival of brands belonging to a prior historical period. We verified empirically the relationship between a retro branding strategy leveraging nostalgic brand associations and consumer preferences for retro brands, relative to newer options. We found that consumers appear to prefer updated brands with nostalgic associations to pure retro brands. More tangible and updated product features clearly communicated in the retro branding strategy will drive preferences, confirming that nostalgic brand associations alone cannot be the ‘hub’ of a retro branding strategy.