In this paper, we propose and operationalize a new method for optimizing shelf arrangements. We show that there are important dependencies between the layout of the shelf and stock-keeping unit (SKU) ...sales and marketing effectiveness. The importance of these dependencies is further shown by the substantive profit gains we obtain with our proposed shelf optimization approach. The basis of our model is a standard sales equation that explains sales using item-specific marketing effect parameters and intercepts. In a Hierarchical Bayes (HB) fashion, we augment this model with a second layer that relates the effect parameters to shelf and SKU descriptors. We also take into account potential endogeneity of facings. After estimating the parameters of the two-level model using Bayesian methodology, we carefully investigate the dependencies of SKU sales and SKU marketing effectiveness on the shelf layout. Next, we search for the shelf arrangement that maximizes the expected total profit using simulated annealing (SA). We appear to be able to increase profits for all the stores analyzed, and our approach appears to outperform well-known rules of thumb.
We explored the effect of racing advergames on player perception of brand personality and investigated the roles of flow and self-construal in this effect. Participants were 202 male students at ...colleges in the United States and Taiwan, and they completed pretest and posttest scales
relating to their feeling and attitude toward brands before and after playing the racing advergame. The results showed that, when playing advergames, flow and self-construal interacted to influence perception of brand personality. Gamers experiencing high flow during the game provided positive
feedback on brand personality, whereas gamers experiencing low flow provided negative feedback. Gamers with an interdependent self-construal reported higher scores for evaluation of brand personality after playing advergames than did gamers with an independent self-construal.
This article uses the case of pregnancy testing in Britain to investigate the process whereby new and often controversial reproductive technologies are made visible and normalized in mainstream ...entertainment media. It shows how in the 1980s and 1990s the then nascent product placement industry was instrumental in embedding pregnancy testing in British cinema and television's dramatic productions. In this period, the pregnancy-test close-up became a conventional trope and the thin blue lines associated with Unilever's Clearblue rose to prominence in mainstream consumer culture. This article investigates the aestheticization of pregnancy testing and shows how increasingly visible public concerns about ‘schoolgirl mums’, abortion and the biological clock, dramatized on the big and small screen, propelled the commercial rise of Clearblue. It argues that the Clearblue close-up ambiguously concealed as much as it revealed; abstraction, ambiguity and flexibility were its keys to success.
This article extends the concept of virtual direct experience (VDE) from a product to an attribute as video gamers can virtually experience an attribute within a gaming environment. Using a 2 (VAE: ...present versus absent) x 2 (order of brand presentation: first or second) between subjects experimental design, we find that associating a brand with virtual attribute experience (VAE) by exposing consumers to the brand name and the virtual experience simultaneously has a positive effect on brand recall, brand extension acceptance, overall attitude, and purchase intention. In addition, our results demonstrate a significant interaction between VAE and telepresence on brand recall.
Este trabalho científico tem como objeto de estudo o product e o brand placement nas conferências de imprensa desportivas e a avaliação da sua eficácia comunicativa através da aferição dos seus ...efeitos sobre os telespectadores nos planos cognitivo e afetivo.Foi levada a cabo uma pesquisa bibliográfica abrangente, exploratória e aprofundada de modo a compreender os conceitos do placement, passando pela área do Marketing, da Psicologia Cognitiva, da Metodologia Científica e da Estatística. Procedeu-se, ainda, a uma observação exploratória, que possibilitou a obtenção de um conhecimento mais aprofundado e sobre a implementação da colocação de marcas nas conferências desportivas.Para a observação experimental foi definido um desenho fatorial 2x2 de grupos independentes com aleatorização total, por forma a perceber a influência das variáveis “tempo” e “quantidade” sobre a eficácia comunicativa das marcas colocadas.Para recolha dos dados foi utilizada uma combinação de diversas ferramentas testadas e validadas, nomeadamente a grelha de divisão do ecrã em unidades de superfície, preconizada por Bravo (1995); a tecnologia de eye-tracking como instrumento de reconhecimento dos movimentos oculares dos sujeitos sobre o espaço de observação; inquéritos testados para aferição cognitiva e uma escala de diferencial semântico para avaliar as atitudes em relação à marca.Os resultados obtidos indicam que os sujeitos recordam de forma espontânea e sugerida as marcas colocadas nas conferências de imprensa e desenvolvem atitudes positivas sobre elas. A recordação é influenciada pelo tempo de difusão do estímulo, sendo determinante, acima de tudo, o tipo de colocação no ecrã. Não se verificou que as marcas perante as quais os sujeitos desenvolvem atitudes mais positivas tenham sido as mais recordadas. Por fim, o rosto do treinador de futebol é o principal foco de atenção dos sujeitos, sendo as zonas envolventes deste interlocutor as que mais interesse apresentam na colocação de marcas.
ObjectiveTo assess whether the food and drink retail outlets in two major National Health Service (NHS) district general hospitals in England adhere to quality statements 1–3 of the UK National ...Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard 94.DesignCross-sectional, descriptive study to assess the food and drink options available in vending machines, restaurants, cafes and shops in two secondary care hospitals.Main outcome measuresAdherence to quality statement 1 whereby the food and drink items available in the vending machines were classified as either healthy or less healthy using the Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM). Compliance with quality statements 2 and 3 was assessed through the measurement of how clearly the shops, cafes and restaurants displayed nutrition information on menus, and the availability and prominent display of healthy food and drink options in retail outlets, respectively.ResultsAdherence to quality statement 1 was poor. Of the 18 vending machines assessed, only 7 (39%) served both a healthy food and a healthy drink option. Neither hospital was compliant with quality statement 2 wherein nutritional information was not available on menus of food providers in either hospital. There was inconsistent compliance with quality standard 3 whereby healthy food and drink options were prominently displayed in the two main hospital restaurants, but all shops and cafes prioritised the display of unhealthy items.ConclusionsNeither hospital was consistently compliant with quality statements 1–3 of the NICE quality standard 94. Improving the availability of healthy foods and drinks while reducing the display and accessibility to less healthy options in NHS venues may improve family awareness of healthy alternatives. Making it easier for parents to direct their children to healthier choices is an ostensibly central component of our healthcare system.
The storyline of a recent episode of Comedy Central's 'Futurama' revolved around the "all new eyePhone." It was not difficult to get the allusion. Aside from the name, and accounting for the fact ...that Futurama is an animated show, the eyePhone logo looked vaguely like the Apple logo, the eyePhone product came in a box that looked more than a little bit like the iPhone box, and the eyePhone was sold at a retail store that you could be forgiven for believing resembled an Apple store, complete with computer panels that looked an awful lot like those seen in Apple advertisements. In case that was not enough, one of the characters in the episode responded to a question about how long shoppers would have to wait in line for their new eyePhone by saying "the eyePhone has an app for that."
Since traditional media have become saturated, the technique of product placement has been attracting growing interest. This research explores new insights concerning viewers' reactions during a ...second viewing of a movie. A sample of 3532 French viewers of DVDs has been used to link the way the movie was chosen, viewed and appreciated (or not) with a spontaneous brand placement recall, the day after the film was watched at home. Results make a contribution to strengthening professionals' interest in the technique, and to adding to academic knowledge of the topic. A first viewing of the movie at the cinema improves brand placement recall, as does watching the movie at home on a large home cinema screen. Such an improvement also occurs when a DVD movie is chosen either because of the movie director or when the viewer likes the movie.
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