By using signaling theory, we shed light on how international entrepreneurial ventures co-brand with international players by leveraging multichannel approaches involving social media platforms. The contribution to signaling theory within international marketing literature is multi-fold.

This study answers an important question for university social media advertising. Does processing fluency of the brand and brand identity (e.g., name, logo, symbol etc.) of the university affect the behavior intention of target customers for the university? The results show that name processing fluency (especially pronunciation), advertising processing fluency, brand awareness, brand value, and brand ranking significantly impact behavior intention. In addition, target audience’s individual social media behavior (e.g., general attitude toward the social media, frequency of social media use and involvement) explains the attitude toward the university advertising in social media.

For the many companies that operate internationally, the challenge of translating brand typography into different writing systems is a crucial and complex one. To address this issue, specialized type designers developed "bilingual typography": localized brand typography meant to preserve the original visual identity. They assume that by mimicking the appearance of the original typography, the newly created non-Latin typography will maintain brand consistency. However, no research investigated whether such approach is efficient.

본 연구는 러시아의 수도이자 메가시티인 모스크바의 도시 브랜드의 지 속가능성을 모스크바 관련 유튜브 동영상에서 비춰지는 도시 이미지를 중 심으로 탐구하고자 한다. 현재 모스크바는 메가시티의 지위를 가짐에도 불 구하고 적절한 브랜드 전략이 부재한 상태이며 보완이 시급한 상황이다. 관련 선행연구도 적은 관계로 연구를 수행하는 것이 필요하다. 방법론으로 는 도시 브랜드 연구에서 주로 사용하지 않은 정량적 접근법인 사회·의미 연결망 분석법을 채택하였다. 본 방법론을 통해 모스크바 도시 브랜드는 주로 관광지의 이미지와 호전적인 러시아의 수도로서의 이미지로 주로 구 성되어 있음을 발견할 수 있었다. 현 상황으로 보았을 때 도시 이미지 및 브랜드 재생을 위한 온·오프라인 커뮤니케이션 전략을 수립하는 것이 그 무엇 보다 시급하다. 이러한 특성을 근거로 다음 사안을 제안하고자 한다. 첫째, 모스크바의 가시성을 끌어올려 줄 수 있는 브랜드와 로고 개발이 시 급하다. 둘째, 모스크바 시청이나 관련 기관에서 온라인 커뮤니케이션 전 략을 수립해야 한다. 셋째, 부정적인 이미지에 대처할 수 있는 전략이 아 울러 중요하다. 넷째, 다각적으로 그리고 지속적으로 모스크바의 이미지나 브랜드를 관찰하고 유용한 방안을 도출하는 것이 필요하다.

The importance of branding strategies, either in terms of brand architecture or the role of brand heritage, has often been put in the scope for the case of larger businesses. Yet, neither aspect has been explicitly investigated in terms of its role and contribution for smaller wine businesses. Focusing on the case of local family wineries in Crete, Greece, helps us identify links with and applications of both brand architecture and brand heritage literature. Findings suggest that most wineries do not use an umbrella brand to create relevant sub-brands but tend to build upon the house of brands or endorsed brands approach. Furthermore, wineries often refer to place brand heritage but family heritage is usually the cornerstone of their branding efforts. Our conclusions confirm the need to re-develop this body of literature in a way more adequate for small, family-owned wine businesses and enrich family wine businessmen’s understanding on the branding strategies.

This study considers the process of regional Re-Birth against the depopulation of Teshima, located in the Seto Inland Sea (Tonosho-town, Shodo-district, Kagawa Prefecture). The island was the subject of a scandal with largest illegal industrial waste since the 1970s. Now, the industrial waste issue on the island is mainly removed the ART SETOUCHI, art festival, attracted 150,000 visitors in 2016, and is held once every three years. The study focuses on the effects of ART SETOUCHI (Contemporary art festival) and the regional characteristics (especially focusing on local foods). Based on these two key characteristics, the structure model of Re-Birth aimed CSV, that is, balancing economic value and social value by Value Co-Creation among various actors centered on Local residents and New residents. In this study, Value Co-Creation defines value recognition by Local residents and New residents, based on the concept of value co-creation (4C's approach) by Muramatsu (2015) , S-D-Logic by Vargo and Lush (2004) and S-Logic by Grönroos (2006). This study explores not only the structure model of Re-Birth, but also how to adapt the model even in such harsh environmental areas, like Fukushima, suffering with depopulation, aging, and reputational damage. We see that, Regional Re-Birth means, the story that Local residents and New residents aim to establish the self-government system to have initiatives against the negative state refined as polluted land. At such time, independent, self-reliance, and self-consideration are important factors as condition of Value Co-Creation.

In Korea, where the residential environment of well-being has been especially developed, marketing using well-being brands has been actively carried out, and more recently, there has been a growing interest in the well-being brand experience and the correct understanding of consumers' perceptions and attitudes. This study was intended to reveal that the experience of well-being brands increases the attitude and confidence of brands, and consequently positively acts on the intention and loyalty of purchasing them. First of all, the well-being brand experience not only works positively on brand trust and attitude, but also raises the intention of buying again. Second, well-being brand trust is showing a positive effect on brand attitudes and intent to buy back. Third, the well-being brand attitude turned out to have a positive effect on the intention of repurchase. Unlike conventional well-being brand-related research, this study focuses on brand experience, so it provides a new understanding of well-being brand experience and consumer psychology and behavior in well-being brand marketing. Thus, adding a new perspective to existing well-being brand research, the company's perspective provides practical implications that should be considered for successful well-being marketing.

Using Service Dominant Logic (SDL) to place marketing research, this paper conceptualizes and empirically tests the triadic relationship of place branding, souvenir branding, and consumers‟ perceptions of souvenir brands. We propose place branding to be the dominant strategy that encompasses destination product branding and brand personalities of such brands.

Introduction A private label (PL) is defined as a brand owned, sold and distinguished by retailers (Lincoln & Thomassen, 2009). Therefore, most PLs display only their brand name on their product labels or packages. However, in the Japanese consumer goods market, an increasing number of manufacturers’ names are now being displayed on PL product packages. For example, the “Seven Premium” PL, by Seven & I Holdings, displays the manufacturer’s name on its product labels using the phrase “This product is a joint development product with manufacturer X.” This indicates that retailers are utilizing the brand of the national brand (NB). This type of branding strategy can be classified as co-branding or a brand alliance. In Japan, expansion of PL co-branding may have improved consumers’ attitudes toward PLs and contributed to their development. Theoretical Background Most prior research on co-branding has focused on brand alliances between two NBs. Therefore, studies on alliances between PLs and NBs are very limited. Vaidyanathan and Aggarwal (2000) focused on ingredient branding, which merged elements of PLs with NB ingredients. Based on the combination theory (Park, Jun, & Shocker 1996), attitude accessibility theory (Fazio, 1986), and attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Kelly, 1973), they found that the association of brand name ingredients with private brand products could positively impact consumers’ evaluations of unfamiliar products. Also, the use of a brand name ingredient in a PL did not negatively affect consumers’ evaluations of this product. Arnett, Laverie, and Wilcox (2010) focused on brand alliances of retailers and manufacturers in the clothing category. Based on the attitude accessibility theory and the information integration theory (Anderson, 1971; Smith, 1993), they found that consumers’ attitudes toward alliances can influence retailer equity, manufacturer brand equity, and shopping intentions. They also found that pre-alliance retailer equity significantly affects attitudes toward alliances. Except for post-alliance retailer equity, perceived fit moderates all relationships between consumers’ attitudes toward the outcome of an alliance. Prior research on co-branding indicates that the attitudes and attributes of co-brands are influenced by the attitudes and attributes of constituent brands. In addition, a constituent brand’s familiarity moderates the effect (Park et al., 1996; Simonin & Ruth, 1998). As another notable finding, attitudes about co-brands influence constituent brand attitudes, with the effect being moderated by brand familiarity (Simonin & Ruth, 1998). Based on prior findings, this study examines whether co-branded PLs are influenced by their constituent NBs and by the familiarity of constituent brands in the case of Japanese co-branded PLs. This study also examines whether a spillover effect exists for constituent brands. Methodology An Internet survey of 798 women living in the Greater Tokyo area was conducted in August 2017. Subjects were assigned to one of four groups, grouped by PL and NB brand familiarity (Figure 1). The familiar “salad dressing” category was selected. While this category includes several large and popular manufacturers, many small, unknown manufacturers also exist within it, a fact that is relevant to the purpose of this study. High-familiarity PLs and NBs were selected based on their market shares in the category. However, Seven Premium, the most popular PL in Japan, was not selected as it had already adopted a co-branding strategy. Aeon’s Topvalu was chosen as a high-familiarity PL. While Topvalu is one of the most popular PLs in Japan, it has not yet taken a co-branding strategy. All measures were assessed through a seven-point, semantic, differential scale. Attitudes toward constituent brands (PLs and NBs), co-brands, perceived quality of constituent brands, and brand familiarity of constituent brands were measured. Using covariance structure analysis, we examined factors influencing attitudes about co-branding and the spillover to constituent brands after considering co-branded formations. Regarding familiarity, a multi-group analysis was conducted. Results Attitudes toward constituent brands (PLs and NBs) positively influenced attitude toward co-branded PLs. In addition, the influence on the co-branded PLs was greater for PLs (Table 1). From the multi-group analysis, the influence of familiarity on the attitude toward co-branded PLs can be found in some cases (Table 2). In the case of high-familiarity PLs with high-familiarity NBs (Group 1), the attitudes about co-branding by NBs were not significant. On the other hand, a positive co-branding attitude by NB was found in other cases. In cases of low-familiarity PLs with low-familiarity NBs (Group 4), the co-brand’s influence was greater for NBs. Moreover, since the attitude toward co-branding positively influenced differences of attitude between post-alliance and pre-alliance toward PLs and NBs, the spillover effect is confirmed (Table 3). Discussion Our results, which suggest that co-branding with NBs can be an effective strategy if PLs have low familiarity, are consistent with prior research. PLs in Japan, which have a lower penetration ratio than those in Europe and the United States, are still in a developmental stage (Kumar & Steenkamp, 2007). Since PLs in Japan are less familiar than leading NBs, co-branding with an NB can be an effective strategy for a PL. On the other hand, when a PL is already established as a brand and has high familiarity, co-branding with a NB might have little effect. In this case, it might be necessary to devise a different strategy, such as changing a PL’s brand name. Seven Premium, the most popular PL in Japan, was introduced in 2007. From the beginning, when its brand had low familiarity, it opted for a co-branding strategy, and our findings suggest that this decision significantly improved overall attitudes toward PLs.

Introduction Brand equity has been receiving utmost attention in academia and practice over the past decades and continues to be of significant interest. Brands have been identified as one of the most valuable assets and firms try to leverage brands in increasingly complex brand portfolios. A large body of literature exists on spillover effects with regard to brand extensions. However, little is known about how corporate branding within product brand communication impacts brand equity. Therefore, this study examines to what extent product brand attitudes spill over to corporate brands. Furthermore, it investigates how corporate branding affects corporate brand attitude. Finally, the role of product brand familiarity, corporate brand familiarity and involvement in brand leverage and dilution is assessed. Method and data Answers to these questions are provided with a sample of 407 subjects that participated in an online experiment and were presented with a print ad either for brands in the FMCG or pharmaceutical category. The experiment included a 2 (corporate brand familiarity: high or low) x 2 (product brand familiarity: high or low) x 2 (category involvement: high or low) x 2 (corporate brand presence: yes or no) factorial design. Measures included brand attitude, attitude towards the ad, brand familiarity and category involvement. Analysis of covariance is employed to test for main effects and interaction effects, pairwise comparisons to test for group differences and multigroup analysis by means of structural equation modelling and path analysis to test for differences in effect sizes for the spillover between product brands and corporate brands. Summary of findings The study provides evidence that corporate brand presence in product brand communication affects corporate brand attitude and that a significant effect is observed for the affective component of corporate brand attitude. No significant effect is found for the cognitive component. Other than expected, the findings demonstrate that corporate brand presence of familiar corporate brands in the high-involvement category (FMCGs) leads to affective corporate brand dilution. Consistently and irrespective of category, the results indicate that corporate brand presence leads to affective corporate brand dilution when corporate brand familiarity and product brand familiarity are low or when product brand familiarity and corporate brand familiarity are high. A tendency for affective brand leverage is indicated for unfamiliar corporate brands when product brands are familiar, which however requires further investigation. Moreover, the findings indicate that the degree of spillover effects differs for the two categories as hypothesized. Stronger positive effects occur in the high-involvement category of FMCGs. Key contributions The findings reveal that corporate brand presence affects corporate brand attitude while differentiating between an affective and cognitive component. Such a differentiation is indispensable as affective effects prevail. Furthermore, this study sheds light on category-specific effects. While corporate brands in the FMCG category evoke stronger positive spillover, the negativity effect of corporate brand presence supersedes and results in brand dilution irrespective of product brand familiarity. Independent of category, when product brands and corporate brands are either low in familiarity or high in familiarity, corporate brands suffer from brand dilution. However, brand dilution is not observed when unfamiliar corporate brands appear with familiar product brands indicating potential for brand leverage. The findings of this study provide new insights into the interplay between product brands and corporate brands and offer valuable guidance for brand communication in both categories. Although corporate branding within product brand communication is increasingly being practiced, these results should encourage brand managers to carefully consider whether corporate brand presence enhances brand equity or presents a liability.

For brands operating retail stores to stay competitive in the context of the rise of ecommerce, globalization and consumer’s quest for experiences, the design of store environments is one key element to deliver memorable, tangible brand experiences to customers. Architectural branding is an emerging literature stream at the intersection of consumer behavior, marketing management, and design (Raffelt, 2012), based on the assumption that a store concept should make effective use of materials and space to optimize the brand experience in a holistic manner (Quartier, 2017). However, factors such as globalization and increasingly international audiences challenge brands in conveying a consistent core brand identity across all touchpoints (Özsomer & Prussia, 2000). Thus, the question arises to what extent retailers should opt for “prototype designs”, which rigidly follow guidelines or to opt for a decentralized approach with potentially diverse brand image perceptions (Turley & Chebat, 2002). This paper gives first insights on how global retail brands can holistically configure their architectural branding in retail in order to reflect their brand identity in different target markets. From 23 in-depth expert interviews and 30 observations of five fashion and accessories brands across three geographic locations propositions emerged on how to achieve a compelling and target-group specific architectural branding in a glocal context. The studies have shown that to what extent a localization strategy is necessary depends on products/services sold, the brand positioning, the heritage of the brand and the local country culture of the subsidiary’s location. However, order not to overshadow and dilute the brand’s global core values, the extent of regional adaptation should be carefully considered.

Introduction Marketing research frequently highlights the role of branding in customer’s decision making in a variety of sectors (Khan et al., 2015). Especially in cases where brands are related to the provision of services, creating competitive experiences seems to be an aspect of paramount importance for marketers (Hartman, et al., 2009). For this reason branding could be regarded as a means to improve a business’s performance (Hsu et al., 2011). Gilmore and Pine (2002) confirm the necessity for a brand to be associated with competitive characteristics, since it is widely acceptable that just selling a product is not enough, thus, the customer should go through a memorable experience in order to support, and, even more, to stay loyal to a brand. According to Liu et al. (2017) in the hotel industry visitors’ brand attitude and brand performance could mediate or moderate loyalty. Although the tourism and hospitality industry heavily relates on experience (Yuan & Wu, 2008), literature does not adequately examine the respective field (Ritchie & Hudson, 2009). This drawback combined with the new tendencies generated by the globalisation (Khan et al., 2015) lead to the need of further research which this study contributes to. The study focuses on hotel branding and existing literature in order to examine the way that brand influences tourists’ purchasing intentions and loyalty. In order to achieve this aim, the role of income and age on brand identification, the study examines the impact of brand identification, image and awareness in visitor satisfaction and price and quality issues, resulting to the formulation of loyalty. The theoretical contribution of the study concerns the examination of the influence of branding on visitors’ loyalty in accommodation establishments, something that is under-researched from previous studies, especially when dealing with destinations heavily affected by an economic crisis. Proposed Model The proposed model is based on the combination of two theories, which are the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Following Ajzen (1991) TPB focuses on three determinants of the human behaviour: (i) reactions towards a basic behaviour (ii) attitude towards others’ approval or disapproval of a behaviour, and (iii) perceptions of the degree of difficulty in performing a behaviour. Furthermore, TRA is used in order to predict an individual’s behaviour based on their existing attitudes and intentions, defined by the expectations of the individual in terms of its attitudinal outcomes (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Untaru et al., 2016). Based on TPB and TRA, the study structures a linear model, formulating its constructs with the use of previous studies of Davvetas and Diamantopoulos (2017), Escalas and Bettman (2003; 2005), Kim and Kim (2005), Liu et al. (2017), Nam et al. (2011), Popp and Woratschek (2017), Sanchez et.al. (2006), Sincovics et al. (2010), Tarnanidis et al. (2015), Tsiros and Mittal (2000), and Yoo, et al. (2000). The model suggests that loyalty is influenced by visitor satisfaction and price quality issues, whilst the latter two constructs are impacted by brand aspects (identification; name; awareness). The following hypotheses were formulated: H1. Brand identification has a direct positive influence on satisfaction. H2. Brand identification has a direct positive influence on price and quality. H3. Satisfaction is positively affected by brand image. H4. Price-quality nexus is positively affected by brand image. H5. Brand awareness positively influences satisfaction. H6. Brand awareness has a direct impact on price-quality nexus. H7. Loyalty is positively affected by satisfaction. H8. Price-quality nexus exert direct influence on loyalty. Methodology The research was held at the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” from June till August 2017. The respondents were adult tourists visiting Athens for holidays. The study was based on structured questionnaires, which are deemed suitable in cases when quantitative data are required, especially in public spaces and wherever the sample is self-selecting (e.g. tourist destinations, airports etc.) (Brotherton, 2015). Following Akis et al. (1996), for the study 95% minimum level of confidence, and 5% statistical error was selected. While the analogy 50/50 between positive and negative views applies, with N>20 and cumulative probability (Z) is 1.96 the sample size is calculated as follows: Out of 400 respondents 328 completed their questionnaires successfully. The response rate was 82 per cent. The questionnaire is based on previous research and consists of 57 Likert scale statements (1 strongly disagree; 5 strongly agree), also examining the socio-demographics of age and income. Results Structural Equation Model (SEM) was employed for the analysis of linear relations. Figure 1 illustrates the generated standardised coefficients of the model. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied for testing the compatibility of the data with the proposed model that was generated from respective previous research. Following Kline’s (2010) selection of indices’ importance, the study has generated the following indices: χ2=327.206, df=172, χ2/df=1.902 [acceptable value: 0≤χ2/df≤2; Schermelleh-Engel, Moosbrugger & Müller (2003)], CFI=.907, [acceptable value is when CFI is close to 1.0; Weston & Gore (2006)], SRMR=.769 [acceptable value is when SRMR<.8; Hu & Bentler (1999)], and RMSEA=.487 [acceptable value is when RMSEA<.5; Browne & Cudeck (1993)]. In factor analysis (Table 1) all values less than .4 were suppressed in an effort to evaluate higher coefficients (Norman & Streiner, 2008). The overall Cronbach A was .904, whilst in all constructs it has exceeded the minimum limit of .7. In addition, the Average Variance Explained (AVE) was higher than .5 [minimum acceptable .5; Kim (2014)]. Managerial Implications Several managerial implications could be generated from this study. First, the research can provide useful guidance to tourism and hospitality stakeholders, on reforming brand strategies accordingly in terms of achieving higher customer satisfaction and optimal outputs from price-quality nexus. Through these aspects the accommodation establishments and destinations can become more competitive and competent to pull prospective visitors. The study also constitutes a useful guide for market segmentation in terms of the influence of income and age in brand aspects. As the results indicate, the substantial influence of socio-demographics on the formulation of brand aspects can significantly influence targeted marketing and promotional activities for both, hotels and destinations. Limitations Despite the research’s theoretical contribution, several limitations need to be highlighted. Since the survey was conducted in a destination heavily affected by the current economic crisis (Athens) the influence of brand and loyalty aspects may differ in other metropolitan destinations having other characteristics. Therefore, any generalization should be made with caution. Moreover, the examination of different groups (i.e.: accommodation managers/owners; destination authorities) may generate different outcomes in terms of branding focus and loyalty formulation. Thus, the evaluation of perspectives of tourism and hospitality stakeholders is essential for the holistic approach of these matters. Finally, since perceptions may change over time, the repetition of this research may contribute to the understanding of the evolution of perspectives and their extent of alteration.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social media and user-generated content (UGC) foster consumer engagement through the development of a good city image. Special emphasis is placed on the attitudes of potential visitors, how these attitudes affect a city’s image, and the perceived social distance between users and the authors of social media content. The study adopts a 2 x 2 experimental design in which high/low green image and high/low social distance are examined. The results suggest that a green city image has a significant effect on potential visitors’ attitude towards cities. Moreover, this study found that the effects of social media content varies according to the perceived social distance between the author of the post and potential visitors.

본 연구는 국내 수출중소기업의 시장지향성, 브랜딩역량, 신제품개발역량 및 경쟁우위 간의 관계를 살펴보고 이들의 관계가 수출하는 제품유형에 따라 상이하게 나타나는지 살펴보고자 하였다. 이를 위해 대한상공회의소의 DB를 바탕으로 수출중소기업을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였으며 총 407부가 실증분석에 이용되었다. 경로분 석을 실시한 결과, 시장지향성은 신제품개발역량 및 수출경쟁우위를 제고하였으며, 신제품개발역량은 경쟁우위에 긍정적인 영향력을 미쳤으나 브랜딩역량은 유의한 영향력을 미치지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 제품유형에 따른 변수 간 관계의 차이를 검증하기 위해 다중집단 경로분석을 실시한 결과, 신제품개발역량, 브랜딩역량 그리고 경쟁우 위에 대한 시장지향성의 긍정적 영향력은 산업재 수출기업보다 소비재 수출기업에 대해 더 높은 것으로 나타났으 나, 경쟁우위에 대한 브랜딩역량의 영향력은 소비재 보다 산업재 수출중소기업에게 더 높은 것으로 드러났다. 또 한 산업재와 소비재 기업 모두에 신제품개발역량은 수출경쟁우위를 차지하기 위한 중요 요인으로 밝혀졌다. 본 연구결과는 수출중소기업의 해외시장 경쟁력 제고를 위한 시사점을 제언한다는 점에서 의의가 있다.