Colin Campbell

Placing a Hand in the Fire: Assessing the Impact of a YouTube Experiential Learning Project on Viral Marketing Knowledge Acquisition

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an experiential learning social media project that was integrated into a graduate marketing class. As part of the semester-long project, students were required to work within a team and create a spoof video, which was posted on YouTube. Students’ success was partially determined by the number of views made of the particular video. After reviewing the results obtained by a semistructured survey, the research indicates that the inclusion of an experiential project into the core curriculum was associated with student motivation, engagement, team management, and communication skills. Furthermore, this integration promoted learning of technical and theoretical knowledge related to consumer-generated advertisements and virtual viral marketing. Results and implications are discussed.

Segmenting consumer reactions to social network marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how consumers may be segmented with respect to their reactions to social network marketing. Design/methodology/approach – Consumers are segmented on the basis of attitudes toward social network marketing and the association among psychological, economic, and socio-demographic covariates are explored using data from 883 consumers and latent-class analysis. Findings – A total of five segments are identified – Passive, Talkers, Hesitant, Active, and Averse – along with significant covariates, such as information search, convenience, entertainment, age and gender that predict membership. Research limitations/implications – Evidence was found of two segments that are highly impacted by social network marketing in terms of brand engagement, purchase intention and WOM referral intention. The most engaged – the Active – representing approximately 10 percent, is most open to interacting with brands in social networks, likely to make a purchase as a result of the...

E‐readiness and trust: macro and micro dualities for e‐commerce in a global environment

Purpose – The papers aim is to create a framework for national readiness and receptivity to e‐commerce at both the business to business (B2B) as well as business to consumer (B2C) levels.Design/methodology/approach – Relevant literature on e‐readiness is discussed in light of research on corruption and national values. A model is formulated at the macro level in which e‐readiness is predicted to be related to national culture values and corruption. Analysis at the micro level rests on existing literature related to trust and web site usability.Findings – At the macro level of analysis, levels of perceived corruption within a country, and overarching national values are identified as significant contributors to e‐readiness especially in the B2B realm. At a more micro level, it is proposed that individual expectations regarding ability to trust an online vendor, and the suitability of usability characteristics of web site design contribute to e‐readiness at the B2C level. Taken together, macro and macro fa...

The impact of loyalty and promotion effects on retention rate

Researching customer retention rates is made difficult because of the lack of suitable systems with which to measure it. From a first-order Markov brand-switching model, serial equations are derived to estimate the retention rate using market share and loyalty. To explore the impact of loyalty and promotion programme on retention rate, data from five leading brands for three product categories were obtained to fit the developed model. Findings suggest that: (1) when the loyalty effect remains unchanged over a period of time, the greater the effect of a promotion programme, the greater the retention rate; (2) when the promotion effects among brands are similar, the retention rate varies depending on level of loyalty; and (3) when the proportion of loyal customers is high, the proportion of potential switchers affected by promotion programmes is low. In this case, the impact of a promotion programme on the retention rate is not significant. This model successfully demonstrates how the Markov brand-switching model can be employed to estimate a measure of retention rate from consumer panel data as well as to better understand how promotion affects loyalty, switching behaviour, and retention rate.

Analysing consumer segments to budget for loyalty and promotion programmes and maximize market share

This paper seeks to provide a framework and benchmark for the allocation of marketing budget between promotion and loyalty programmes using an approach that combines a Markov-type market share model and the Lagrange multiplier method to maximize market share. The Lagrange multiplier method, that takes into account the market share and the loyalty effect observable in preceding periods along with the estimated promotional effects, permits the allocation to be optimized and future market share to be maximized. Then, loyalty-based consumer segment are used to explain why the budgeting exercise can achieve the maximization objective. To this end, the study uses consumer panel data concerning three categories, namely, adult milk powder, shampoo, and detergent. It extends previous research on loyalty-based segmentation by focusing on the budget allocation between the two options of loyalty enhancement and promotion programming. A Budget Allocation Grid for Loyalty-based Segmentation is proposed as an aid to understand budget allocation between loyalty and promotion programmes based on the relative sizes of exclusive-loyalty and variety-seeking segments.

Instant Innovation: From Zero to Full Speed in Fifteen Years

ABSTRACT This paper considers the contributions of the Journal of Advertising Research to online research. The authors first identify those articles that contributed to the cumulative knowledge in this domain. A scoping review of the 1,930 papers published in the Journal yielded 126 papers that dealt with online research. Of these, 14 explicitly addressed issues with (and advantages of) online research. The authors summarize their findings, concluding that the Journals foresight in this field has positioned it well for understanding and exploiting the Internet. The authors further posit that the cumulative tradition built will be pivotal in the fields evolution.

Understanding Why Consumers Don't Skip Pre-Roll Video Ads

Pre-roll advertising is a novel form of online video advertising that provides consumers with an option to skip after viewing a brief forced segment. Pre-roll ads are unique from other forms of online advertising because pre-roll ads play in exactly the space in which consumers are expecting to view their intended content. Such interruption and obstruction not only heightens consumer irritation but also causes attention-getting tactics, which are redundant in a highly attentive state, to backfire. For these reasons, existing ad avoidance literature may not adequately address this unique format. Employing a large industry data set of pre-roll ads representing multiple countries and product categories, we empirically examine skipping behavior using a broader range of ad characteristics than previous research. We propose that less complex affective ad characteristics increase skipping by failing to engage cognitive resources and therefore leaving cognitive resources available to experience irritation. We further posit that, in a pre-roll context, attention-getting ad characteristics are not only superfluous but actually increase the likelihood consumers recognize pre-roll content as advertising and skip. Our empirical findings support these assertions, identifying new factors driving ad avoidance, and calling into question the applicability of attention-getting advertising approaches in the novel pre-roll environment.

Selling the Canadian Forces' brand to Canada's youth

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to facilitate the exploration of marketing strategy in general and branding strategy in particular for a non‐profit, governmental institution.Design/methodology/approach – Students are taken to 2005 when the Canadian Forces needed to increase recruitment. Canadas ageing population and the war in Afghanistan were just two of the many reasons driving an immediate focus on signing up new young Canadians. However, the task was proving more difficult than anticipated.Findings – A particular challenge lay in that the armys brand – always conservatively constructed to reflect the more peaceful side of military life – had served to alienate many would‐be soldiers who interpreted this portrayal as patronizing and boring. However, a new campaign focused on the more militaristic realities of war might have served only to put off the families of potential recruits to whom these youths turned for advice and support. With the face of the military presented largely through its r...

Using Demographics to Predict Smoking Behavior: Large Sample Evidence from an Emerging Market

ABSTRACT Smoking and nicotine addiction are among the major preventable causes of disease and mortality. Being able to target promotional campaigns effectively relies on a good understanding of the demographics of smokers and potential smokers. This study reports on the results of a large sample survey of the demographics of smokers and non-smokers in South African townships. Using logistical regression, it finds that smokers tend to be significantly, older males who are less educated, and somewhat surprisingly, with no religious affiliation. Implications for public health policy are identified, and avenues for future research recognized.

Toward a Unified Brand Engagement Construct Definition

We offer a theoretically grounded operational definition of the brand engagement construct, an area of demonstrated importance to practitioners and of growing interest amongst academics. We construct our definition following a grounded theory approach. Our investigation comprised a review of the relevant literature along with an associated multi-stage qualitative data collection employing both young adults and academic experts. Research on construct development best practices informed the development of our conceptualization so as to maximize its future potential. Our proposed definition of brand engagement not only provides a missing link between academic and practitioner understanding of the subject, but brings reconciliation to questions concerning brand engagement’s meaning. This provides direction to future research in this area. While our brand engagement definition provides clarity in understanding this important new construct, it also raises important areas for future research. One clear next step is the development of a brand engagement measurement scale.