Robert Aitken
University of Otago, Marketing, Faculty Member
This empirical paper presents an ethnographic marketing research project that utilizes videography to address the problem of how to represent a sense of place. Using an ethnographic methodology combined with film making, the researchers... more
This empirical paper presents an ethnographic marketing research project that utilizes videography to address the problem of how to represent a sense of place. Using an ethnographic methodology combined with film making, the researchers established a collaborative visual ethnography that we believe has the potential to more genuinely represent what a place means to those who live in it. This paper offers two important contributions for using visual ethnography in marketing research. The first is to demonstrate a method of representation that can lead to a greater sense of empowerment and ownership for participants and to new ways of co-creating for researchers. The second is the development of a Video Analysis Protocol that provides a systematic and cumulative approach to analysing video.
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Research Interests:
Brand personality has become an increasingly important concept within brand theory and factor based research is the method most widely used in the study of brand personality. There have been critiques of some aspects of early factor... more
Brand personality has become an increasingly important concept within brand theory and factor based research is the method most widely used in the study of brand personality. There have been critiques of some aspects of early factor models, leading to an evolution and improvement in the methods used in factor model development. However, several problems remain which have yet to be addressed, and these raise questions about what exactly the factor models are measuring. This paper introduces and explains the problems of category confusions, domain meaning shifts, and the descriptor selection problem. In doing so, the paper extends existing critiques of the methods in brand personality factor research, and raises questions about the validity of current factor based models. The paper concludes with a recommendation that brand personality researchers re-evaluate their models and the brand personality concept, and that brand personality returns to its roots in qualitative projective methods.
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Purpose– The purpose of this paper is an examination of the role of brand personification in the development of the concepts of brand personality and brand relationships.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is a critical evaluation of... more
Purpose– The purpose of this paper is an examination of the role of brand personification in the development of the concepts of brand personality and brand relationships.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is a critical evaluation of literature from the 1950s and onwards, examining the evolution and development of brand personality and brand relationship theory and the role of brand personification.Findings– The major finding is that brand personification was developed as a research “gimmick” and that this “gimmick” provided the foundations for the development of the brand personality and brand relationship concepts. Further, the paper traces the evolution of the brand personality concept and identifies the ways in which it has been adapted from its original meaning.Originality/value– The paper contributes to the branding literature by providing a critical evaluation of the history of marketing concepts and by providing insights into the role that motivation research played in th...
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Brand personality and brand relationship theory are important concepts within branding theory, with a body of research and theory having been developed in support of the concepts. However, the argument of this paper is that there are... more
Brand personality and brand relationship theory are important concepts within branding theory, with a body of research and theory having been developed in support of the concepts. However, the argument of this paper is that there are mutually incompatible foundations that underpin brand personality and brand relationship theory. One foundation is that consumers actually perceive brands as animate humanlike entities, and the other foundations are rooted in metaphor. The authors identify three key points which they believe are problematic in this regard: there is an absence of scholarly debate on the merits of each foundation; some authors combine the two foundations despite their fundamental incompatibility; and overall, there is a lack of clarity in much of the literature as to which foundation might be used as a basis for theory. The paper uses examples from literature to highlight confusion in the brand personality and brand relationship theory, before offering a framework for res...
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The purpose of this article is to discuss the visual rhetoric of advertising in the marketing of destinations and place branding. In particular, it considers the ways in which advertisements create and reinforce meanings. Attention is... more
The purpose of this article is to discuss the visual rhetoric of advertising in the marketing of destinations and place branding. In particular, it considers the ways in which advertisements create and reinforce meanings. Attention is also given to the ethics of representing people and places. The article provides an interdisciplinary conceptual review and uses a mixed methods approach to analyze the 100% Pure New Zealand advertising campaign. The contribution of this article is to enhance the discussion about ethics in representing places, communities, people, and their culture in destination marketing and in place brand communications.
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Research Interests:
Over the past two decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a growth area in managerial practice and academic consideration, as companies pursue the strategy to advance their corporate reputation goals. A popular CSR... more
Over the past two decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a growth area in managerial practice and academic consideration, as companies pursue the strategy to advance their corporate reputation goals. A popular CSR activity for many companies has been to enter into social alliance partnerships with nonprofit organisations [Berger, I., Cunningham, P., Drumwright, M., 2004. Social alliances: company/nonprofit collaboration. California Management Review 47 (1), 58–90]. This has been met by a sceptical yet pragmatic public, willing to support the partnerships so long as corporates are seen to be fair and just in their dealings with the nonprofit partner. Currently, however, there is little ability for stakeholders to know whether the partnerships are fair. This paper considers conflicting conceptions of how justice may be understood in corporate-nonprofit partnerships. It offers a model for how stakeholders may judge justice in CSR partnerships and relate this to corpora...
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Given that brand meanings are socially constructed and culturally dependent, we advocate that a destination branding strategy should begin by understanding what constitutes sense of place as experienced by local residents. The constructs... more
Given that brand meanings are socially constructed and culturally dependent, we advocate that a destination branding strategy should begin by understanding what constitutes sense of place as experienced by local residents. The constructs of time, ancestry, landscape, and community were identified as determinants for the sense of place by inhabitants of the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. These constructs comprise meanings that influence the habitus and define sense of place. This article contributes to our understanding of place by providing a sense of place model to support scholarship in destination and place branding. Destination branding activity ought to be significantly influenced by an in-depth appreciation of the sense of place for those whose place it is. Our emergent model emphasizes the importance of understanding sense of place and positioning the people of the place at the centre of a branding strategy for the development of an effective destination brand.
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Research Interests:
ABSTRACT That our world is complex is no surprise. It takes many forms, of which the global reach of business is a part, likewise the rate of technological change and the everydayhuman response to social, financial, and economic changes.... more
ABSTRACT That our world is complex is no surprise. It takes many forms, of which the global reach of business is a part, likewise the rate of technological change and the everydayhuman response to social, financial, and economic changes. However, there is also an overarching systemic complexity at work, which manifests as a recognition that every business activity is connected with events at other times and places ..... every business activity is interconnected with events at other times and places, in ways that are often invisible to the eye. In short, complex, dynamic systems have emerged, where both beneficial and catastrophic consequences are possible. The financial meltdown of 2008 is a case in point. Conventional analytical research methods at the level of the firm are not suited to capture this networked complexity, except in the short term. Perhaps, due to methodological constraints, it is likely to go unnoticed.
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ABSTRACT That our world is complex is no surprise. It takes many forms, of which the global reach of business is a part, likewise the rate of technological change and the everydayhuman response to social, financial, and economic changes.... more
ABSTRACT That our world is complex is no surprise. It takes many forms, of which the global reach of business is a part, likewise the rate of technological change and the everydayhuman response to social, financial, and economic changes. However, there is also an overarching systemic complexity at work, which manifests as a recognition that every business activity is connected with events at other times and places ..... every business activity is interconnected with events at other times and places, in ways that are often invisible to the eye. In short, complex, dynamic systems have emerged, where both beneficial and catastrophic consequences are possible. The financial meltdown of 2008 is a case in point. Conventional analytical research methods at the level of the firm are not suited to capture this networked complexity, except in the short term. Perhaps, due to methodological constraints, it is likely to go unnoticed.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract The “Service-Dominant Logic ,of Marketing” (S-D logic) introduced by Vargo ,and Lusch (2004) describes recent (and not so recent) attempts to expand ,the prevailing (“dominant”) paradigm ,of marketing ,of being primarily the... more
Abstract The “Service-Dominant Logic ,of Marketing” (S-D logic) introduced by Vargo ,and Lusch (2004) describes recent (and not so recent) attempts to expand ,the prevailing (“dominant”) paradigm ,of marketing ,of being primarily the study of exchange ,of physical goods viewed from the perspective of the seller (firm). It is described by Vargo and Lusch (Vargo 2007; Vargo and Lusch 2008a;
Abstract This paper contributes to the discussion about Corporate social responsibility (CSR), competitiveness and trade policies, and how trade barriers emerge between countries already committed to CSR and those for whom CSR is still... more
Abstract This paper contributes to the discussion about Corporate social responsibility (CSR), competitiveness and trade policies, and how trade barriers emerge between countries already committed to CSR and those for whom CSR is still gaining ground. The authors describe the development of CSR within Europe and explain its role in shaping trade relationships. Gaining access to the European market, and obtaining the 'licence to operate'in light of strengthening commitment to CSR, is an issue for many companies. For ...
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Article usage statistics combine cumulative total PDF downloads and full-text HTML views from publication date (but no earlier than 25 Jun 2011, launch date of this website) to 12 Feb 2013. Article views are only counted from this site.... more
Article usage statistics combine cumulative total PDF downloads and full-text HTML views from publication date (but no earlier than 25 Jun 2011, launch date of this website) to 12 Feb 2013. Article views are only counted from this site. Although these data are updated every 24 hours, there may be a 48-hour delay before the most recent numbers are available.