Wokebranding: social causes as branding strategies. State of the art in Chile

Brands have chosen different ways of generating value; from models based on attributes, benefits and value, to taking critical political positions and embracing social causes, known as Wokebranding. Based on the collection of primary data and from a qualitative and exploratory perspective, this research helps to understand the state of the art of this trend in Chile. The case study shows the difficulties for a rapid adoption of this type of tendency in the context of a weakened industry. This study tries to contribute to the scarce academic attention that has been put to these topics in Latin America.

Athlete-Centric Employer Branding During Rival Leagues’ Market Entry

New sports leagues use employer branding to promote themselves as distinctive and desirable employers so they can attract talented athletes. A multiple case analysis was used to examine the employer branding strategies of four leagues that entered markets with incumbents: the National Women’s Hockey League, BIG3, Alliance of American Football, and Premier Lacrosse League. All four leagues used athlete-centric employer branding, which uses symbolic and instrumental employment information to signal commitment and involvement to athletes. Leagues also directed their employer branding to consumers. The findings suggest adding an employment dimension to theories of league brand architecture as well as reconsidering the audience for employer branding. Athlete-centric employer branding is a strategy for entering markets from a rival position and is likely to become more popular as public pressure on leagues increases.

Explicating Brand Equity in the Information Technology Sector in Vietnam

Vietnamese IT businesses have expanded internationally and have reached a turning point with opportunities and challenges typical when establishing a global brand. To assist Vietnamese IT firms in the development of branding strategies, this study investigated the direct influences of various firm competencies, such as innovation, marketing, networking, and dynamic capabilities, on brand equity in the business-to-business (B2B) information technology (IT) industry. In addition, the study examined whether the enterprise’s capabilities indirectly affected B2B brand equity via value co-creation and customer value. By employing PLS-SEM to analyze a sample of 182 questionnaire responses from IT firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the study found that innovative, networking, and dynamic capabilities had a direct, positive effect on brand equity. The mediating effect of value co-creation and customer value on the association between marketing capability and brand equity was also reported. The research also recommended branding strategies for enterprises that seek to improve their internal competencies and abilities to innovate and respond swiftly to market dynamics. In a successful marketing strategy, all stakeholders must be involved in the value co-creation and brand equity building process, and this is particularly critical in a knowledge-intensive industry such as IT.

Designing a branding model for providing healthcare services in Iran

Background: Branding in the field of healthcare services leads to transparency and utility in the type of services, differentiation of services in the minds of patients, and their trust in health centers. Therefore, the present study aimed to provide a branding model in the field of healthcare services. Methods: A mixed-method approach was utilized to develop a branding model for providing healthcare services. The study population for the qualitative phase included 20 academic and organizational experts using snowball sampling and the Delphi technique. For the quantitative phase, 830 people who were referred to health centers were selected as service recipients, and 415 medical staff were selected as health care providers. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face, content, and structural validity; moreover, its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha of 0.96. Quantitative data were presented by EQS software (version 6.1) with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations. Results: According to the results of factor structure and measurement equivalence, the branding of healthcare services had six main themes of competitive position, brand equity, brand accessibility, brand consolidation in the minds of clients and the market, branding strategies, and consumer-brand relationship with 19 sub-themes for clients and providers (Comparative fit index=0.9, Tucker Lewis index=0.8, Root mean square error of approximation=0.085, Root mean square error=0.049). Moreover, the items had a good fit and internal consistency at significant levels (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results, six main themes of competitive position, brand equity, brand accessibility, brand consolidation in the minds of clients and the market, branding strategies, and consumer-brand relationship with 19 sub-themes can be used in the field of health services branding.