scholarly journals How TOMS’ “one day without shoes” campaign brings stakeholders together and co-creates value for the brand using Instagram as a platform

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Roncha ◽  
Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the power of social media networks, namely Instagram, in building brand communities and co-creating value for brands. By analysing the 2015 campaign #withoutshoes by TOMS, the authors intend to demonstrate how the value creation process can be extended to involve all stakeholders and raise the effectiveness of a brand’s communication campaign. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach was taken to enable an understanding of online consumer behaviour. A series of qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with retail and marketing professionals from the TOMS brand to explore brand strategy. The TOMS Instagram account was analysed for a specific marketing communications event and summative content analysis was applied to the brand’s Instagram profile in order to allow for an in-depth exploration of the co-creation process. Triangulation was used for the multiple sources of evidence in order to build the study and to establish the convergence of data results, to diminish bias and to increase accuracy of the research data (Saunders et al., 2009). Findings – Through a detailed overview of the campaign developed by TOMS, this paper explores how TOMS fosters the formation of consumer-brand-relationships as well as maps out the advantages of value co-creation. The research findings support the literature on co-creation, which argues that the way to achieve innovation and value creation in the changing and challenging marketing landscape is through co-creation. This study adds to the findings that co-creation strategies are a privileged manner of nurturing customer relationships and of lowering costs for marketing and research and development (Sawhney et al., 2005; Prandelli et al., 2006). Originality/value – There are a relatively limited number of studies focusing on the Instagram platform, and of those carried out thus far most concentrate on how the platform interprets cultural issues, rather than how it can be used effectively as a marketing strategy and how it can leverage user’s preferences. Also, not a lot of studies have focused on the relationship between value co-creation and its relevance and impact on brands through engagement processes and the role of experience in brand building. Brand value co-creation through human experiences can provide considerable implications for brand management (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004a) as well as be a key component in the building process of customer experiences. This study suggests new approaches to getting useful insights about how brands can use social media to further engage with their target audience though an integrative framework of brand value co-creation with theoretical underpinning.

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Pasternak ◽  
Cleopatra Veloutsou ◽  
Anna Morgan-Thomas

Purpose This study aims to explore the nature of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and the key drivers of this consumer-generated brand communication, focusing on eWOM in the context of social media communications. Design/methodology/approach The study uses inductive qualitative design, and the data have been collected via 22 semi-structured interviews with individuals who follow brands on Facebook. Findings Building on interview data, the paper advances a conception of eWOM in the social media context and highlights that eWOM consists of a broad range of brand-related communications, which include such activities as consuming, commenting, posting and forwarding information. The study also uncovers two major antecedents of eWOM, which are one’s concern for self-presentation and privacy. Research limitations/implications Further research could examine additional drivers of brand-related eWOM in the context of Facebook brand pages, and investigate eWOM in other social media platforms. Practical implications The findings have two important implications for brand management. Firstly, considering the importance of self-presentation, brands are advised to develop an in-depth understanding of the types of self-image pursued by their target audience. Secondly, given the concerns about privacy on social media, brands may carefully consider and manage the levels of privacy that should apply when communicating with their followers. Originality/value The novel insights centre on the individual differences in eWOM activity, and the importance of one’s perceptions of self-image and privacy in explaining these differences. It seems that the propensity to engage in eWOM and the form that this communication takes are the reflections of one’s self-presentation and privacy preferences.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-254
Author(s):  
Caterina Foà

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how online crowdfunding is strategically applied to artistic productions featuring strong social and cultural values, exploring potential and risks of networking value creation and community engagement. Mission-driven initiatives and their crowdfunding campaigns are analyzed through platform society framework (van Dijk, 2019), considering the business models and marketing strategies that support the scope and intentions of a variety of agents involved within the online networks. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative multiple case-study approach is adopted to sample and analyze in depth significant examples from the most representative crowdsponsoring platforms in Portugal. Agents’ perspectives and practices are collected through semi-structured interviews with campaign creators and platform managers, and complemented by the design of specific business model canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010) adapted to crowdfunding projects. Communication strategies and social media marketing are considered, metering agent’s profile and comparing performance and online engagement through profile and official pages observation. Findings Main findings point out that a crowdfunding campaign requires to set up a specific business model and marketing strategy articulation that go beyond the traditional cultural enterprises differentiation criteria, hybridizing them through experience-led marketing logic, extended product conceptualization and a critical cultural entrepreneurship approach. Community engagement operations need to be structured and integrated through online and offline social networks activities, and the value creation is build through shared meaning construction and interpretation between creators and backers, with the support of others agents involved within crowdfunding value network. It also states that the conceptualization of crowdfunding phenomenon as a service ecosystem (Quero and Ventura, 2019) could be extended, to comprehend other actors and power position within intermediation processes, namely, social network and social media platforms corporations, online payments services, online users, legacy media entities and others stakeholders as matchfunding organizations and partners for products’ development and distribution. Research limitations/implications The research design could be improved by adding more quantitative and social analytics data or an international cases comparison to complete these preliminary results. Practical implications The findings could assist arts and media managers as well as cultural agents to adapt their strategies to emergent business and marketing models, strongly influenced by dominant barging positions in the value chain held by new digital intermediaries, and to better explore product levels to strengthen interactions and engagement with communities of interest and supporters for the creation of value. Social implications This paper contributes to elaborate a more accurate scientific knowledge and critical perspective about crowfunding system evolution, concerning both individual and collective agencies, and their implication for different types of agents and networked individuals between institutions (Dutton, 2009). Originality/value This study is unique, as it adopts a multidisciplinary approach and a comprehensive analysis of Portuguese crowdsponsoring phenomenon, and it offers a valid contribution to the analysis of crowdfunding as value-creation network.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-661
Author(s):  
Sena Ozdemir ◽  
Suraksha Gupta ◽  
Pantea Foroudi ◽  
Len Tiu Wright ◽  
Teck-Yong Eng

Purpose This study aims to fill a gap in branding literature concerning the effect of corporate brand relationships on brand value through the case study method in a business-to-business (B2B) context. The objectives of this study can be framed in the following three questions: what are the main constituents of a corporate brand; how does a corporate brand generate tangible and intangible brand value for their business customers; and how do tangible and intangible brand benefits influence relationship initiation and management practices of the case companies? Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative multiple cases study design by using archival data and both in-depth telephone and online interviews with senior representatives of the case study companies to investigate corporate branding and associated issues in a B2B context. Findings From a managerial perspective, this study reveals that corporate business culture, brand relationships, products and corporate identity and personality as the main constituents of a corporate brand in a B2B context. The results show that a corporate brand can generate intangible and tangible brand value benefits for business customers. The findings also note the importance of brand value in enhancing relationship initiation. Originality/value The study contributes to the branding literature by developing a conceptual model that explains the development and role of the corporate brand in a B2B context with its associated value creation and brand management outcomes. The findings advance brand management literature on business relationships, which addresses a gap in B2B contexts rather than mainly about product brand management and value creation in business-to-consumer contexts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 754-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Cawsey ◽  
Jennifer Rowley

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique overview of business-to-business (B2B) companies engagement with and strategic approach to use of social media in brand building. This research complements the much more extensive knowledge base regarding social media use in business-to-consumer (B2C) contexts. Design/methodology/approach Since social media marketing is a relatively new activity for B2B companies an interpretivist stance that is inductive in nature is adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with marketing professionals involved in managing social media programmes in France, Ireland, the UK and the USA. Findings The study found that the level of enagement with social media marketing varied, as summarised in the B2B Social Media Engagement Taxonomy. Enhancing brand image, extending brand awareness and facilitating customer engagement were the most common social media objectives. There was no evidence to suggest that companies saw social media as heralding a paradigm shift in brand management and control of the kind discussed and experienced in B2C social media contexts. The B2B social media strategy framework is proposed; this identifies the following six components of a social media strategy: monitoring and listening, empowering and enagaging employees, creating compelling content, stimulating electronic word of mouth, evaluating and selecting channels, and enhacning brand presence through integrating social media. Originality/value The research contributes to the knowledge base associated with social media marketing by offering insights into and a framework summarising B2B social media strategy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 1476-1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Biraghi ◽  
Rossella Chiara Gambetti

Purpose Extant branding literature is dominated by a metaphorical view of value co-creation in which the roles of brand actors remain unspecified. To help provide clarity, the purpose of this paper is to critically appraise how brand professionals understand brand value co-creation and perceive their role in facilitating it, with the aim of questioning its viability in day-to-day brand management practices. Design/methodology/approach Building on brand professionals’ reflexivity, the study develops a qualitative methodological glance via semi-structured interviews based on confrontational techniques with a purposive sample of 28 experienced brand decision-makers. Findings Brand professionals perceive accessibility, reciprocity and citizenship as the gateways provided by the firm for value co-creation to happen. Despite their enthusiastic rhetorical afflatus in making explicit their viewpoints about how firms can facilitate value co-creation, the current translation into practice of the role of the firm does not seem to be able to overcome the sender-biased approach that still resides in brand management. Practical implications To go beyond the limits of rhetorical representations and make brand value facilitation more actionable, the authors provide guidelines on how firms can create and enhance the circumstances for the co-creation of brand value to occur in interactions with consumers and stakeholders. Originality/value This study contributes to the critical actionability of the brand value co-creation by elucidating how firms currently perceive their facilitation role. The paper provides strategic recommendations to put co-creation rhetoric into practice by reframing and expanding the scope and the significance of brand management.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-82
Author(s):  
Soumi Paul ◽  
Paola Peretti ◽  
Saroj Kumar Datta

Building customer relationships and customer equity is the prime concern in today’s business decisions. The emergence of internet, especially social media like Facebook and Twitter, changed traditional marketing thought to a great extent. The importance of customer orientation is reflected in the axiom, “The customer is the king”. A good number of organizations are engaging customers in their new product development activities via social media platforms. Co-creation, a new perspective in which customers are active co-creators of the products they buy and use, is currently challenging the traditional paradigm. The concept of co-creation involving the customer’s knowledge, creativity and judgment to generate value is considered not only an upcoming trend that introduces new products or services but also fitting their need and increasing value for money. Knowledge and innovation are inseparable. Knowledge management competencies and capacities are essential to any organization that aspires to be distinguished and innovative. The present work is an attempt to identify the change in value creation procedure along with one area of business, where co-creation can return significant dividends. It is on extending the brand or brand category through brand extension or line extension. This article, through an in depth literature review analysis, identifies the changes in every perspective of this paradigm shift and it presents a conceptual model of company-customer-brand-based co-creation activity via social media. The main objective is offering an agenda for future research of this emerging trend and ensuring the way to move from theory to practice. The paper acts as a proposal; it allows the organization to go for this change in a large scale and obtain early feedback on the idea presented. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-343
Author(s):  
Aurora Garrido-Moreno ◽  
Víctor García-Morales ◽  
Stephen King ◽  
Nigel Lockett

PurposeAlthough Social Media use has become all-pervasive, previous research has failed to explain how to use Social Media tools strategically to create business value in today's increasingly digital landscapes. Adopting a dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper empirically examines the specific process through which Social Media use translates into better performance and the capabilities involved in this process.Design/methodology/approachA research model is proposed that includes both antecedents and consequences of Social Media use. Existing research was examined to derive the research hypotheses, which were tested using SEM methodology on a sample of 212 hotels.FindingsThe results show that Social Media use does not exert significant direct impact on organizational performance. Rather, the findings confirm the mediating role played by Social CRM and Customer Engagement capabilities in the value creation process.Practical implicationsThe results demonstrate how Social Media tools should be implemented and managed to generate business value in hotels. Implications yield interesting insights for hotel managersOriginality/valueThis study is a first attempt to analyze empirically the real impact of digital media technologies, particularly Social Media use, drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective and focusing on service firms (hotels). Including the variable “Organizational Readiness” as a basic prerequisite to benefit from Social Media use enhances the study's novelty and contribution.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urška Tuškej ◽  
Klement Podnar

Purpose This paper aims to examine relationships between consumer-brand identification (CBI), brand prestige (BP), brand anthropomorphism (BA) and consumers’ active engagement in brand activities on social media in corporate brand settings. Design/methodology/approach Data collected with an online survey on a sample randomly drawn from an online panel of consumers were used to test the proposed theoretical model. Findings Anthropomorphism and prestige of corporate brands were found to positively influence consumer-brand identification. Also, CBI positively affects consumers’ active engagement and fully mediates the effect of BP and BA on consumers-brand engagement (CBE) with corporate brands. Research limitations/implications Further research in other markets and on a broader set of corporate brands would additionally validate results and enable comparisons of impacts among different brand categories. The data were gathered in one country, so further research in other markets would additionally validate results of this study. Practical implications Chief executives responsible for corporate brand management are provided with some insights on how appropriate corporate brand identity management can strengthen CBI and stimulate CBE on social media. Originality/value This paper provides some novel insights into the research on consumer-brand identification. It is the first study (to the authors’ knowledge) that empirically supports the positive influence of brand anthropomorphism on CBI in corporate brand settings. It also contributes to the clarification of previously inconsistent results of the influence of BP on CBI. By showing that consumers’ identification with a corporate brand plays a vital role in increasing consumers’ active engagement on social media, the study contributes to the relatively sparse body of research on CBE.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline S.L. Tan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine psychological ownership (PO) experienced by followers of social media influencers toward both influencer and the product. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 30 respondents and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings The study demonstrated that the PO experienced by the follower changes under different conditions resulting from perceived value, social currency and follower activity. Social currency plays a vital role in determining the target of PO, often affecting the narrative by the follower. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the transference of PO between product and influencer as experienced by the follower. It provides an understanding on PO that is experienced in different levels of intensity and changes depending on the motive of the follower; hence, transference of PO occurs and it is not a static.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin C. Read ◽  
Andrew Carswell

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of real estate executives to assess the extent to which property management is viewed as a commodity or as a value-added professional service contributing positively to investment performance and property value maximization.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative analysis draws on the result of 93 semi-structured interviews conducted with executives employed by some of the largest real estate investment management and service firms across the USA.FindingsThe findings suggest that significant perceptual cleavages exist in the real estate industry, with some executives believing property managers are incredibly important to the value creation process and others believing they play a much more modest role.Practical implicationsThe results highlight the need for the property management industry as whole to continue its efforts to gain recognition as a value-added professional service and for individual property management companies to actively take steps to differentiate themselves from competitors if they hope to avoid commodification and fee compression.Originality/valueThe study is the first to the authors’ knowledge to examine real estate executives’ perspectives about the roles property managers play in the value creation process, as well as their views about whether property managers have the skills and autonomy required to make value accretive decisions.


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