Harlan E. Spotts

Achieving Marketing Curriculum Integration: A Live Case Study Approach.

Movement toward more active, experiential learning pedagogies is a trend that has found increasing interest in the last decade. The reasons for this interest include creating a more involving and interesting experience for the student, creating a more memorable experience, and facilitating more effective and durable learning. This article discusses an innovative, team-based experiential learning project, oriented around a live case study. While live case studies have been used for some time, what is unique about this exercise is the use of a live case as an integrating project for three separate marketing courses. This large, integrative project provided students with real-life interactions between business entities that they would eventually face upon entry into the workforce. Important factors to consider in the design of integrative experiences such as this one are discussed.

Humor in U.S. versus U.K. TV Commercials: A Comparison

Abstract A study of the use of humor in U.S. and U.K. television advertising was developed by surveying ad agency executives in the two countries and then by conducting a content analysis of television commercials. The survey of executives revealed a more accepting attitude toward the use of humor, and a broader view of the potential uses of humor among the British agencies. The content analysis showed a significant increase in the use of humor in the U.S. since the last major benchmark study, but less humor than in the U.K. sample of advertising. An examination of the content analysis data using the Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB) planning matrix revealed a situational use of humor in both countries, with humor most often used with low involvement/ feeling products and least often used with high involvement/feeling and thinking products. For the most part, the views of agency executives reflect the incidence and use of humor in their respective countries.

How Digital Conversations Reinforce Super Bowl Advertising: The Power of Earned Media Drives Television Engagement

ABSTRACT The current study investigated the interactive relationship of social-media conversation and brand television advertising during the 2011 and 2012 U.S. National Football League Super Bowl championship games. The Super Bowl often is the most-watched yearly U.S. television broadcast. Results indicated that pre-game and game-day social-media conversations for advertised brands enhanced audience engagement. Television advertisements played a significant role in amplifying social-media conversations about the advertised brands. Overall, the study found evidence that the relationship between traditional television advertising and online social-media conversations was reciprocal, with both media platforms working in tandem to enhance brand engagement.

Marketplace footprints: connecting marketing communication and corporate brands

Purpose – The goal of this paper is to understand the relationship between advertising spending and the volume and valence of publicity, and assessments of corporate brands (opinion, value and reputation).Design/methodology/approach – Two studies examine major multi‐national companies as brands by bringing together five unique industry datasets to understand the connection between the assessments of the corporate brand and marketing communication activity. Discriminant analysis is used to study the differential impact of advertising and publicity on corporate brand attitude and value.Findings – Publicity and advertising volume are important drivers in differentiating between firms with lower and higher brand evaluations. Overall, publicity valence, in and of itself, had little effect outside of the volume of positive and negative stories. Further, the role of prior corporate reputation works in conjunction and has unique effects that influence the communication activities of firms with high and low brand ...

Publicity and advertising: what matter most for sales?

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to understand the relationship between publicity, advertising activity and corporate sales in the context of a company’s existing reputation. Design/methodology/approach – The study brings together four unique industry datasets and uses discriminant analysis and multiple regression methods to examine the relationship between existing corporate reputation, publicity, advertising activity and sales levels for major multi-national companies in the technology products sector. Findings – Positive publicity is most important in distinguishing between firms with higher and lower sales. The effects of negative publicity and advertising are dependent on a firm’s existing reputation. For companies with weaker reputations, positive publicity in tandem with business-to-consumer (B2C) advertising is most highly associated with higher company sales. Conversely, for firms with stronger existing reputations, advertising has a significantly diminished role; positive and even negat...

Creating and Selling Postcards: An Integrative Project Class

Postcards was an innovate venture that brought together students and faculty from business and graphic arts to design, produce, and sell university postcards. In this experiential course, students learned and applied management skills and worked in cross-functionally integrated teams. More than 34,000 postcards were sold, resulting in a

Special Issue on Health-Care Research

1,700 profit. The students were overwhelmingly positive about the course and its learning opportunities. Suggestions for others who might teach a course like postcards include selecting a challenging project with clear-cut external validation of success or failure, designing early opportunities for team building and shared success, and providing sufficient instruction to allow students to succeed.

A Nationwide Study of Pharmacists' Perception of the Impact of Medicare Part D on the Pharmacist-Patient Relationship

Health-care research, in all its forms, is an important and tool for health-care organizations to improve their contribution to society and better account for the impact of the services necessary undertaking. As medical science advances and technological breakthroughs are made, quality delivered to the community at large. Health-care organizations must not only look outward and of diagnostic measures and treatments will progress. As the population ages and persistent forms of disease remain (and evaluate the market needs, but must also realize that the effectiveness with which their services are delivered depends new strains develop), there will be more work to do. From a business perspective, the health-care environment presents its upon the health-care professionals who work with the organization. One of the fundamental differences between services own unique problems. These have been addressed for the past 17 years at the annual conference of the Association for and tangible goods is the simultaneous production and consumption of the product. This difference is critical for creating Health Care Research (AHCR). Academics and practitioners have joined to sort out some of the macroand microlevel a positive environment in which health-care professionals work so that internal marketing programs can effectively reinissues of the health-care industry; those related to the legal and economic dynamics, the management of health-care orgaforce service delivery. The Cooper and Cronin article presents the results of a program for developing effective internal marnizations, the interaction of patients and providers, the healthketing with nursing assistants in the long-term care industry. seeking behavior of various segments, and the marketing and Health-care organizations must concentrate on developing delivery of services to all types of populations. Many of the effective strategic and marketing plans. This process necessipapers herein were originally presented in their formative tates attending to the financial aspects of service delivery. The stages at the AHCR conference. They have been refined and health-care system fee structures moved from fee-for-service developed to the standards of the Journal of Business Research to capitation in the continued efforts to control health-care and underwent a double-blind review process. The 11 papers costs. Devine, O’Clock, and Lyons address this issue and are divided into four sections pertaining to management ishighlight the importance of health-care organizations implesues, the complexities of reorganizations, measurement chalmenting management accounting systems. Specifically, their lenges, and service delivery. We thank the reviewers for their article discusses how health-care organizations might apply hard work and diligence in the assembly of this issue. Their such practices as activity-based costing, life cycle costing, and expertise and valuable feedback are most appreciated. value chain analysis in their efforts to control costs and imHealth-care delivery has undergone continual change. The prove evaluation systems. increasing move toward managed care plans and government Service delivery is coming under increasing scrutiny in the involvement has stimulated discussion on an individual’s life health-care industry. This is partially caused by an effort to satisfaction (and its relationship to health status) and the evaluate the effectiveness of delivery and partially to measure contribution that health services make to over all quality of customer satisfaction. Both of these measures are important for life. The Rahtz and Sirgy study provides a Quality of Life/ enhancing the effectiveness of service delivery and controlling Needs Assessment model that evaluates the role health-care health-care costs. Mishra’s article highlights the increasing use services play in an individual’s life satisfaction. They advocate of paper and pencil measures for measuring such abstract the use of this model as a strategic planning and measurement concepts as patient satisfaction, health status, and total quality management. As the article demonstrates, these measures are Address correspondence to Dr. A. L. Balazs, Mississippi University for Women, fraught with measurement error that potentially affects meaDivision of Business & Communication, P.O. Box W-940, Columbus, MS 39701, USA. surement accuracy. Mishra asserts that current studies using

Joe Camel: Post-mortem of a brand spokesperson

BACKGROUNDnMedicare Part D was implemented in 2006, introducing change to the community pharmacy marketplace, with profound disruption to independent pharmacy operations across the United States.nnnAIMSnTo understand pharmacist perceptions about Part D and their perceived obligation to address Part D issues on behalf of their beneficiaries.nnnMETHODSnA nationwide, cross-sectional survey of pharmacists was conducted between April and July 2013. The 43-item online survey collected information about demographics, implications of Part D on community pharmacy and patients, and beliefs about ideal pharmacy practice.nnnRESULTSnPharmacists reported more responsibility to address prior authorization issues (55.3% strongly agree or agree) than dispensing preferred medications (43.5%) or addressing patient copayment issues (38.1%). Predictors of the perceived responsibility to assist patients varied and included practice site, pharmacist age, pharmacy prescription volume, and pharmacy financial performance.nnnDISCUSSIONnFinancial concerns continue to be the most significant issue following Part D implementation. The degree to which pharmacists feel responsible for addressing patient Part D concerns is variable and dependent on a variety of factors. Pharmacists who felt a personal responsibility to address patient copayment issues reported a better pharmacy financial performance, a larger increase in prescription volume, and a better pharmacist-patient relationship since Part D implementation.nnnCONCLUSIONnNationwide, Part D financial concerns remain significant. Pharmacists can assist patients with managing cost issues, which can help alleviate pharmacy financial concerns. Many pharmacists practicing at independent locations do not feel responsible for addressing patient cost concerns, which may inadvertently impart a negative financial effect upon their pharmacy.

Regional Variation in Pharmacist Perception of the Financial Impact of Medicare Part D

Dialogue about the use and impact of Joe Camel has dissipated since RJ Reynolds retiredthe advertising campaign in 1997. However, Joe Camel remains important for advertising because of its controversial and prominent use as a worldwide celebrity presenter. Using a historical lens equipped with before, during and after Joe Camel data, we examine Camel print advertising performance, adult brand usage, market share and advertising/promotional spending from 1986 to 2003. Our research suggests that, though Joe was an ideal celebrity endorser who attained excellent print recognition scores, his direct effect on sales in the short and longer term is unclear considering that Camel’s overall market share stayed mostly the same during the Joe Camel campaign. In the end, Joe may have met his demise like any other celebrity endorser whose bad behaviour threatens to cause negative associations that could prove harmful to a brand.