Giacomo Gistri

The effects of social media on brand attitude and WOM during a brand crisis: Evidences from the Barilla case

Brand crises endanger companies. Social media are a key platform where stakeholders elaborate and react to crises. This research explores whether social media audience and traditional mass media audience react differently to a brand crisis in terms of their (1) attitude towards the brand and (2) word-of-mouth (WOM). As to the brand attitude, we argue that stakeholders mainly exposed to the brand crisis via social media have a more negative reaction towards the brand compared to those who are principally exposed via traditional media. As to the behaviour, we posit that social media exposure intensifies WOM. By analysing the Barilla crisis, the findings suggest that the social media act as ‘multipliers’ of the reaction of stakeholders to a brand crisis.

Attitudes and related perceptions about product placement: a comparison of Finland, Italy and the United States

The primary goal of our study is to explore cross-national differences in attitudes and perceptions about product placements, after investigating measurement invariance. Our cross-national focus includes three countries that have not been compared previously: Finland, Italy and the USA, which differ significantly in terms of the evolution/maturity of product placement markets, regulatory structures and cultural contexts. Motivated by earlier studies, we investigate the cross-national measurement invariance of scales to measure four research constructs related to the product placement domain (attitude toward credibility of advertising, attitude toward advertising-in-general, attitude toward placement-in-general and attitude toward regulation of placements). Our research also extends earlier work focused on similar constructs from a cross-national perspective. Results from multi-group analyses using a structural equation modeling approach indicate important and statistically significant differences in latent means between the three countries for all four constructs of research interest. Substantive explanations of these differences and their implications for future practice and research are discussed.

Le marche sgradite: l'altra faccia delle preferenze del consumatore. Costruzione e validazione di una scala di misurazione

Introduzione I consumatori amano alcune marche, per altre manifestano una sostanziale indifferenza e per altre ancora esprimono valutazioni, opinioni e – talvolta – veri e propri sentimenti negativi. Un po’ come con le persone, gli individui mostrano simpatia, indifferenza o antipatia verso i beni di consumo e le relative marche. C’e chi disprezza una marca perche rappresenta uno stile di vita o un gruppo sociale sgradito, o chi disapprova le politiche di marketing dei gruppi multinazionali, o chi – piu semplicemente – non ama una marca perche la ritiene di qualita scadente, o anche chi ha avuto una brutta esperienza con un prodotto e non lo ricomprera piu. In alcuni di questi casi, il consumatore si limita a modificare il proprio comportamento d’acquisto, ad esempio comprando meno frequentemente o sostituendo la marca in questione. In altri casi assume un ruolo attivo nella comunicazione interpersonale, trasferendo ad altri le proprie opinioni. Talvolta cio prende la forma di attivita organizzate (ad esempio le comunita del consumo critico), altre volte ci si limita al passaparola.

The interaction effect between brand identification and personal crisis relevance on consumers’ emotional reactions to a fashion brand crisis

ABSTRACT An organizational crisis is an event perceived by managers and stakeholders as highly salient, unexpected, and potentially disruptive; it can also threaten an organization’s goals and have profound implications for its relationships with stakeholders. In this article, we consider an actual crisis that recently struck an important brand in the fashion sector – Moncler. The crisis endured by Moncler was complex, involving several aspects of its activity. Notably, our study was conducted at the beginning of November 2014, in the 2 weeks after the crisis event. In particular, to collect data on consumers’ reactions to Moncler crisis, we created a questionnaire and ran a web survey through Survey Monkey. Then, through a moderated mediation model, we show that the impact of brand identification on the attitude toward the company and purchase intention is significantly mediated by anger for high levels of personal crisis relevance (PCR) and by sympathy for average and low PCR levels. These results are in accordance with some research concerning the role of emotions, which can perform different functions; the function of emotions such as anger and sympathy is to support the individual’s commitment and relate to moral decisions and judgements.

Exploring the palm oil crisis through the lens of different social media: an analysis of facebook, youtube and twitter contents

This article contributes to the current debate about the co-creation of brand meanings through social media. In particular, we focus on the construction and dissemination of negative meanings about brands. Through a content analysis of usergenerated contents published on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, we explore how consumers criticize companies’ use of palm oil. Specifically, we analyze the various topics that the palm oil issue is associated with (e.g., health problems, environmental issues) on the three social media platforms. Moreover, we investigate how the platforms differ in the language style (i.e., level of self-reference, cognitive complexity, detailed information and emotional references) used in the discussion about this topic. Our results have important implications for all companies facing brand crises through social media. Particularly, we show that, depending on the social media platform, companies should emphasize different topics and use diverse communication styles while responding to the crisis.

L’impatto della brand crisis sulla clientela e l’effetto della fedeltà alla marca

La reputazione dell’impresa e un asset competitivo sempre piu importante che incide direttamente sul capitale di fiducia che i consumatori riversano nei confronti dei brand. Una crisi dunque influisce sulla corporate reputation ed e quindi il contesto ideale per indagare le reazioni dei clienti e gli effetti della brand loyalty. I risultati evidenziano che, durante una brand crisis, i clienti piu fedeli mantengono un atteggiamento piu positivo nei confronti dell’azienda rispetto ai clienti meno fedeli e ai non clienti. Il cliente fedele potrebbe quindi essere disposto a difendere il brand dagli attacchi esterni. Una tale evidenza deve indurre le imprese ad investire nella fidelizzazione nonche ad un coinvolgimento piu attivo dei clienti piu fedeli nelle attivita di comunicazione connesse alla crisi.

Gli effetti della contraffazione sui fashion brand originali: un'indagine empirica

Il presente studio cerca di fornire un nuovo contributo preliminare sulla ricerca inerente gli effetti della contraffazione sulle imprese. Per lo svolgimento della ricerca sono state utilizzate 384 studentesse universitarie alle quali e stato chiesto di scegliere una marca di borse all’interno di un set composto da 5 alternative (ordinate in termini di prezzo) tra le quali era presente la versione contraffatta dei brand piu esclusivi. Dopo alcune settimane alle stesse persone e stato chiesto di ripetere la scelta utilizzando lo stesso set con l’esclusione dell’alternativa contraffatto. Dall’analisi dei dati abbiamo cercato di desumere l’influenza della presenza del contraffatto nel set di scelta dei soggetti intervistati.

Consumers’ responses to ethical brand crises on social media platforms

Ethical brand crises are a breach in the core values held by a brand and a violation of the relationship between the brand and its stakeholders, and social networks provide consumers with a platform upon which they can discuss these crises and their meanings in detail. Through a qualitative content analysis and an interpretive approach, here we investigate the reaction of the social media audience to an apology released by a company after an ethical brand crisis. The emerging findings suggest that consumers engage in consumer identity work according to different strategies: they sublimate or minimize the crisis (defence of the brand) or focus on the ideological structure of marketing (criticism). In both cases, consumers offer the company an opportunity to assess and improve the ethical dimension of their marketing practices.

What is the Harm in Fake Luxury Brands? Moving Beyond the Conventional Wisdom

When reading the literature on counterfeit branded luxury goods (henceforth counterfeit BLGs) in both the scientific and popular press, one quickly comes across what we will summarize as the conventional wisdom. We do not mean the phrase “conventional wisdom” to have disparaging connotations. On the contrary, this view is widely popular because it makes sense and fits with common observation.