Journal of Marketing

Consumers have given many brands nicknames, such as "Beemer" for BMW or "Wally World" for Walmart. Given the popularity of these nicknames, marketers may be tempted to adopt them into their branding—but should they? A new Journal of Marketing study finds that nickname branding is actually detrimental to brand performance. The authors find that when a brand accepts and even adopts a nickname given by consumers via nickname branding, it makes the brand seem less powerful from the consumer's perspective. Marketers should recognize that there is a difference between a consumer using a nickname and companies using that nickname for branding. While one may want to avoid adopting a consumer nickname into marketing efforts, nickname use within the consumer community can be beneficial for brands and should not necessarily be discouraged. Check out the full Scholarly Insight for more details: https://lnkd.in/eZCS79fw Study authors: Zhe Zhang, Ning Ye, and Matthew Thomson #branding #brandnicknames #marketing #marketingresearch

? John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Award With origins beginning in the 1960s, the John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Dissertation Award is a decades-old honor that recognizes excellent doctoral dissertations. Students completing the requirements for a doctoral degree in marketing and consumer behavior–related topics between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024, are invited to enter the annual John A. Howard/AMA Doctoral Award Competition. ?? Nomination Deadline: October 25, 2024 ?? Eligibility/Nomination Submissions: https://bit.ly/3TuVDi4 ?AMA-Irwin-McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award The AMA-Irwin-McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award honors living marketing educators for distinguished service and outstanding contributions in marketing education. All marketing educators who have made sustained contributions to marketing over an extended period of time are eligible. ?? Nomination Deadline: October 25, 2024 ?? Eligibility/Nomination Submissions: https://bit.ly/3zkBKDv ? AMA Fellows The distinction of “AMA Fellow” is given to members in good standing with the American Marketing Association who have made significant contributions to the research, theory, and practice of marketing, and/or to the service and activities of the AMA over a prolonged period of time. The AMA Fellow designation recognizes marketing academics’ achievement and is designed to create a space for fellowship, discussion, collaboration, and continued contributions to the discipline. ?? Nomination Deadline: October 25, 2024 ?? Eligibility/Nomination Submissions: https://bit.ly/4gq3cQY ? William L. Wilkie “Marketing for a Better World” Award The William L. Wilkie “Marketing for a Better World” honors marketing thinkers who have significantly contributed to our understanding and appreciation for marketing’s potential to improve our world, and from whose work notable advances have ensued—in the mold of Bill Wilkie of the University of Notre Dame. ?? Nomination Deadline: October 31, 2024 ?? Eligibility/Nomination Submissions: https://bit.ly/3ZnkQ1L

Time to rethink your influencer marketing? This Journal of Marketing study shows that firms are better off targeting followers of followers rather than cherry-picking remote influencers ?? While existing research has largely focused on the follower base of the influencers, this new study considers how a firm may capitalize on natural network formation to find surprisingly valuable influencers when applying the follow-for-follow approach. The research shows that the way networks are naturally built—via the closing of triangles—is incredibly effective. In the study, exclusively targeting nearby (low-status) influencers—namely followers of followers—outperformed targeting remote (high-status) influencers by 2,300% within two years. Study by Jacob (Yanco) Goldenberg, Andreas Lanz, Dr. Danny Shapira, and Florian Stahl #influencermarketing #networks #socialmedia #followers #follow4follow #marketingresearch #socialnetworking #marketingstrategy

?? People recall your benefits better When your name suggests them ?? ?? Fun fact: this is the 1st insight I’m covering under our new brand name of Science Says (formerly known as Ariyh). And this is one of the key insights we used to choose the new name! ?? Researchers ran 2 lab experiments and found that people: - Rated a brand with a suggestive name 55% more likely to possess the mentioned benefit. - Recalled the benefit 2.2 times more when a suggestive brand name was used ?? Why? - Suggestive names create an association with a core benefit of the brand - This makes it easier for us to remember - So we form a product-benefit link in our minds ?? So if you have a core feature you want to highlight, incorporate a suggestion of that benefit in your product or brand name. ?? Want more science-based practical insights? - Follow me - Hit the bell icon ?? - Subscribe to Science Says, my newsletter

Companies and organizations committed to #sustainability should consider a simple and cost-effective strategy examined in a new Journal of Marketing study: ambassador programs. What is a "prosocial ambassador?" ?? Consumers take on an ambassador role when they: (a) personally commit to a prosocial behavior (for example, using a reusable shopping bag) and (b) interpersonally promote that behavior (for example, encouraging another person to also use a reusable shopping bag). The study finds that consumers are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors after taking on a prosocial ambassador role. For instance, grocery customers who adopted the ambassador role were more likely to use a reusable shopping bag than those who only personally committed to the prosocial behavior. An organization only needs to encourage the ambassador to involve one other person to have this effect. The ambassador effect seems to be versatile for small and large organizations and for-profit and not-for-profit/consumer advocacy organizations. Moreover, ambassadorship programs can be implemented in a variety of ways and do not incur much cost. Finally, this work suggests that ambassadorship behaviors have the potential to impact consumers over extended periods of time. By Corinne Michele Kelley Hassler, Martin Mende, Maura L. Scott, and Lisa Bolton #ambassadorprograms #prosocial #consumerbehavior #marketingforabetterworld

A Journal of Marketing study in Harvard Business Review shows that a common response to social media negativity—turning off comments—can undermine influencers' key assets: persuasiveness, likability and perceived sincerity. This occurs because influencers are perceived as less receptive to consumer feedback and therefore less sincere when they turn off comments. In fact, the study finds that turning off comments is more reputationally costly than leaving them on, even when the displayed comments are mostly negative. The full study by Michelle Daniels and Freeman Wu is available here: https://lnkd.in/gEPeJWgZ #influencermarketing #socialmedia #socialmediacomments #marketingresearch

In a Journal of Marketing study featured in Harvard Business Review, researchers analyzed nearly 2 million purchases, discovering that influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers delivered far better returns ?? The study demonstrates that the closer connection "nano-influencers" have with their audience leads to more effective marketing impacts, an insight that underscores the value of authenticity and engagement over sheer audience size. The study's findings encourage direct-to-consumer firms and marketers to adopt a more sophisticated perspective on influencer impact, highlighting the promising yet underutilized capacity of nano-influencers for generating revenue in a cost-effective manner. The full study by Dr. Maximilian Beichert, Andreas Bayerl, Dr., Jacob (Yanco) Goldenberg, and Andreas Lanz is available here: https://lnkd.in/ebX7itfd #influencermarketing #directtoconsumer #marketingresearch #influencersize #followers #socialmediamarketing #marketingresearch

AI is typically used in customer care to provide routine responses to common issues, with the assumption that empathy and feeling intelligence must be left to humans.?But could AI provide value in this way too? ?? A new Journal of Marketing study shows how generative AI can be used to build "feeling AI" (AI for feeling intelligence) that can provide empathetic customer care to strengthen customer relationships and increase customer lifetime value. Bridging practice and academic literature in marketing and computer science, the authors develop an AI-enabled customer care journey along the following steps: Accurate emotion recognition ? empathetic response ? helpful emotional management ? establishment of an emotional connection. Compared to the traditional customer journey, this sequence focuses on the "feeling" aspect, such as customer engagement, experience, and emotion, rather than the more typical?"thinking" aspect, such as customer utility, choice consideration, or consumption decisions. Whether it is possible or desirable to fully automate the customer care journey is an ongoing debate, but this study offers exciting new approaches for marketers to consider when implementing AI in customer care. By Ming-Hui Huang and Roland Rust #GenAI #customerservice #customercare #marektingresearch #CLV #customerrelationships #customerengagement

?? Research: Time your promotions to big events They’ll be more effective and drive more sales ?? ?? Researchers analyzed 242 brands from 30 categories (e.g. food and beverage) and found that during major events (vs weeks without events) sales were: - On average 13% higher during an event week (e.g. 2014 Germany World Cup) - 48% higher during the 2010 Winter Olympics - 31% higher during the European & World Speed skating events in February 2007-2011 ?? Why? - Our awareness and interest are heightened during events - So we become more likely to notice and engage with promotions - Especially, but not only, if the promotion is themed to the event, or the brand is a sponsor ?? So match your promotions to upcoming major events to increase their effectiveness. ? Important: the positive effect on sales is strongest when the product or brand: - Has a high event-product fit (e.g. beer during a football championship) - Has a very low event-product fit, as it creates a surprise effect (e.g. fashion ads during F1 championships) ?? Note: although the researchers tested for many variables, this study was a correlation. This makes it ‘weaker’ than other insights I usually cover that have a proven causation. ?? Want more science-based practical insights? - Follow me - Hit the bell icon ?? - Subscribe to Ariyh, my newsletter

U.S. firms spend an estimated $3.6 billion annually on sales performance management tools, often using them to publish rankings of salespeople on key performance metrics. But does this actually motivate sales staff? ?? For a new Journal of Marketing article, researchers studied over 27,000 salespeople from more than 170 firms across 83 countries, finding that the type of information disclosed in sales performance rankings significantly impacts salesperson outcomes. The findings reveal that anonymized performance rankings, while improving quota attainment, lead to higher turnover due to their lack of transparency. Identifiable performance rankings, however, significantly enhance quota attainment and reduce turnover by motivating salespeople through social comparisons and a desire for self-improvement. Interestingly, including quotas alongside identities in performance rankings do not enhance quota attainment but do reduce turnover. This suggests that while transparency is beneficial, the type of information shared must be balanced to avoid diminishing motivational benefits. Read more findings from this research here: https://lnkd.in/gmd2ERWw By Molly Ahearne, Mohsen Pourmasoudi, Yashar Atefi, and Son Lam #sales #salesforce #salesstaff #salespeople #motivation #marketingresearch #salesperformance #turnover #salesmanagement