Tourist in dangerous places Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tourist in dangerous places - Research Paper Example Traveling in dangerous places has been a historically relevant activity to discovery and adventure and current tourists engage in travels that have risk, adventure, and discovery of new cultures which are not always taken with precautions to limit the risk in which they have immersed themselves. There has emerged a method of travel that provides for the same risk fulfillment that was once a part of the nature of Western civilization as they expanded their influence and territories into ’exotic’ locations. Exotic and dangerous places in the world still exist, creating levels of excitement and risk that can provide the adventurer with a great deal of elevated experience. In addition, travel to some locations are such that it is so dangerous as to be outside of the hope of experience for pleasure and would only be considered for its relevant edification. There are many forms of risky travel that can be considered, and a traveler should evaluate his or her need for the expe rience and skills required for the journey before attempting to visit some places within the world. Some of these types of dangerous travels can be seen through physically challenging venues. Mountains, the ocean, caves, and the arctic can all be considered for the potential risks involved in traveling to these locales. Skill sets are required for an individual to participate in the physically demanding nature of engaging the natural world through these types of places, thus eliminating the potential for these locations for a great number of people. However, this type of travel appeals to some risk takers, thus it is a popular form of tourism. Eco-tourism is involved in the development of this type of travel, engaging the tourist in designed experiences that provide context in which nature is confronted. Other venues, such as Mount Everest and cave diving, are done through self designed programs that require research and self confidence in developed required skills. Another form of dangerous travel can be seen through entry into countries that are not friendly or are experiencing internal conflict. Some nations in Africa, some parts of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East may have political environments that do not lead the individual towards a safe and secure environment. In addition, some countries have a lack of control on crime, thus creating a more dangerous region and putting a tourist who is not prepared at risk. Therefore, whenever engaging in travel that includes another country, it is wise to know what risks are involved and how to best avert the potential of bad experiences. A simple example is the myth of not drinking the water in Mexico because there is bacteria that is untenable for the stomach unless one has grown up drinking it. This small risk can change the nature of travel if not prepared and educated on its potential effects. Travel to Third World Environments Travel, according to Mowforth and Munt, is a means of shaping world views, of understanding the ways in which different cultures and environments fit inot the global perspective (6). One of the ways in which travel impacts one’s experience is through the development of geographical imaginations. Through developments that provide context for understanding the world, through age, gender, nation of origin, and through factors that are representations of the identity, the geographical imag

Why women were constantly reminded of the need to maintain their Essay

Why women were constantly reminded of the need to maintain their femininity even as they deviated from traditional gender roles in the Second World War (UK) - Essay Example hild-bearing, about motherhood, home keeping, sex life, inner and outer beauty. Many Writers construed feminism to mean differently. There are those who said it is a term that belongs to a specific movement in US and Europe and is linked to activism, and there are those who refer to the term as injustices to women. But did these things mattered to women as they deviated from their traditional roles in the Second World War, particularly in UK? Our goal here is to sketch feminisms as they deviated from their traditional roles during WWII. Femininity classification and definition Before 1800s feminism refers to the qualities of women. The term begins to take new meaning with the beginning of feminist’s movement who asked for equal rights, so it was called the first wave of feminism. The movement was briefly forgotten during the war upon which, feminism took a new meaning for them, that of leaving the patriarchal society to become members of the men’s world. ... They can learn to protect themselves by learning techniques for fighting .Feminity is also defined by Brownmiller, Susan, as â€Å"making oneself as harmless, and that the feminine principle is composed of compliance and conflict†. Brownmiller argues that femininity merges female weaknesses with conflict avoidance and good will. Brownmiller is a controversial writer because of her assertion that â€Å"rape is a process of intimidation in which all men keep women in a state of fear† She said rape is a tool used by men ever since as a form of oppression to women. She said that femininity pleases men because it makes them appear to be more masculine, and by behavior, female expresses femininity by tearful expression of sentiments and fear as one way of establishing route to success. Femininity did not vanish when women became workers. It is alive and well in the workplace. The Second World War changed everything in the British way of life. Their work, family, governmentâ⠂¬â„¢s policies all changed because of war. It practically altered the roles of women and almost challenged the roles of gender relations as women were called on to work on men’s field. The war had changed the contours of society, erased the division of class, had challenged the existence of gender (Swanson, Gillian and Gledhill, Christine, 28 February 2012). .In all of these work changes, their femininity allows them to move in the work places away from their traditional roles. In a way, women used femininity as a competitive edge in getting and keeping their jobs. In a sense, this also pleased businessmen and even the government because women were paid less for the same man’s work In Chapter 10 â€Å"Mothers as wives in an individualistic society†, â€Å"feminity†

The Process of Phonation

The Process of Phonation Gabrielle Glodich    The evolution of human phonation is thought to have contributed to the rise of our species within the food chain. The ability to produce sound created more complex forms of communication, such as language. Language is thought to be the key component to enhance our survival skills by increased depth of understanding within our peer groups. To understand the foundational element in what perhaps gave us an edge to survival, besides the acquisition and utilization of metacarpal 1, the process of phonation must be analyzed. Phonation is defined as a laryngeal motor behavior used for speech production, which involves a specialized coordination of laryngeal and respiratory neuromuscular control. To analyze the process of phonation, the anatomic structures and physiology must be considered. (Loucks et al, 2007).      Ã‚   The larynx, also colloquially known as the voice box, is the main passageway to the lungs for functional aspects such as respiration, deglutination, and phonation. Our larynx is known to be a unique human specialization for speech because it is not present in non-human primates (Meshcheryakov, 2012). As seen in figure 1, the location of the anatomic structure is within the pharynx, behind the Adams apple and on top of the trachea. Figure 1. The location and anatomy of the larynx is shown above within the mid sagittal view on the left hand side of the photograph. The laryngoscopic view of the larynx is shown on the right hand side. Retrieved from http://cvsurgicalgroup.com/general-ent/voice-swallowing-disorders/. Copyright 2017 by C/V ENT Surgical Group. Three unpaired and paired cartilages compose the larynx. These cartilages envelop the vocal cords responsible for the main production of sound through vibrational movements. Vocal cords (folds) are mucous membrane foldings that stretch horizontally across the middle laryngeal cavity. There are four layers to the folds along with a vocal ligament. The vocal ligament allows the folds to change shape when the deepest layer of the fold, which would be the muscle, contracts. The two types of vocal cords within our larynx are the vestibular folds (otherwise known as false vocal cords) and the vocal folds (true vocal folds). These two types abduct during inhalation and adduct during deglutination and phonation processes. Ventricular folds are termed as false because they are not involved in voice production. Referring to figure two, the identification of the two differentiated types within the image helps to obtain an understanding of location on the structures within the laryngeal cavity. (Vashishta, 2016) Figure 2. Figure (a) shows the closed positioning of the vocal folds and glottis within the larynx. Figure (b) shows the open positioning of the vocal folds and open glottis. The location of the vestibular folds (false vocal cords) are identified within the image, though they do not contribute to voice production. However, vocal folds do contribute to voice production, hence their termed name of true vocal cords. Retrieved from http://howardyoung.info/lsitvkey-vestibular-folds.html. Copyright 2013 by Pearson Education Inc. When closed, the vocal folds vibrate and modulate the forced expelled airflow from the lungs during expiration to produce speech and singing. Specific vibrational patterns and movements produce different sounds through the positioning of the rima glottidis (glottis), the opening between the vocal cords. The length of the vocal cords result in differences in pitch and tone of the voice. Women and children often have shorter vocal cords, resulting in higher pitches and tones of voice. Men typically have longer vocal cords, resulting in lower pitches and tones of voice. Figure 3 shows the vocal cords and arytenoid cartilages partially adducted during phonation. The air is produced once it is forced through the small slit like appearance of the rima glottidis and vibrational movements begin from the vocal cord structures. The opening and closing positions of the vocal folds to produce onsets and offsets are voluntarily controlled from the nervous system, even though vocal fold vibration is mechanically induced by airflow during exhalation. Resting position results in more a neutral positioning of the vocal folds and rima glottidis, where normal respiration can occur. (Titze, 1994) Figure 3. The positioning of the vocal cords and rima glottidis is shown above during the common phases of respiration (normal and forced), phonation, and whispering. Retrieved from http://ueu.co/ovid-clinically-oriented-anatomy-8/. Copyright 2012 by Universities Education of Ukraine. Typically, the vocal folds within the larynx are open to allow air to pass freely in and out of the lungs during normal respiration. However, the signal to speak from the brain signals the muscles of the larynx to contract and close the vocal folds. Air during expiration is expelled from the lungs and the resistance overcomes the folds. The force initiates the folds to begin patterns of the vibrations. The rate in which the vocal folds open and close are different for the genders. The rate is another factor besides the length of the folds in which why the tones of the voices between genders are different. For women, the rate is typically between 100-120 times per second vs. in a man it would typically be 200-220 times per second. The patterns of vibrations of the vocal folds, in turn, produces sound waves from the voice box and projects them outwards towards another human. The sound waves from the larynx are amplified by traveling upwards through the anatomical structures of the thro at, mouth, and nose. Depending on genetics of the shape, size, and muscle tension, everyones structures are built differently and usually affect the resulting sound another peer will hear from the human producing the sound. Other factors that play a role in the process of phonation would include the posture of the person and the relaxation of the muscles within the pharynx. (Bailly et al, 2014). References Bailly, L., Henrich Bernardoni, N., Mà ¼ller, F., Rohlfs, A., Hess, M. (2014). Ventricular-Fold Dynamics in Human Phonation. Journal Of Speech, Language Hearing Research, 57(4), 1219-1242. doi:10.1044/2014_JSLHR-S-12-0418 Loucks, T. M. J., Poletto, C. J., Simonyan, K., Reynolds, C. L., Ludlow, C. L. (2007). Human brain activation during phonation and exhalation: Common volitional control for two upper airway functions. NeuroImage, 36(1), 131-143. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.01.049 Meshcheryakov, R. V. (2012). Mathematical model of the human lungs during phonation. Russian Physics Journal, 55(3), 317-322. doi:10.1007/s11182-012-9814-5 Rishi Vashishta, R. (2016, November 03). Vocal Cord and Voice Box Anatomy. Retrieved March 06, 2017, from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1948995-overview#a2 Titze IR. Principles of Voice Production. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall; 1994.

American Politics Essay -- Government Politics

Due to the economic strife the American public knows all too well what a recession is. It is economic hardship that has led to the loss of thousands of jobs and businesses. This economic hardship has led to many people losing their homes, cars and other valuables. Why is it that when the Obama administration talks about the recession they refer to it as â€Å"The Bank Stabilization Plan.† (Stewart) Something that has caused the total meltdown of the American Economy being referred to as â€Å"The Bank Stabilization Plan† (Stewart) seems outright ludicrous. Even if they are in the process of fixing the problem, the government insists on using modest language to confuse the public into believing that the issue is not a huge problem; Just a minor inconvenience that is in the process of being â€Å"stabilized.† In his essay â€Å"Politics and the English Language,† George Orwell says that a â€Å"mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing† (515). Politicians are always attempting to make the problems they have created seem like trivial or easily fixed when in fact they are intricate and intense, through the use of â€Å"pretentious diction† (516) and â€Å"meaningless words† (517). The quote says a lot about political writing when Orwell’s essay was written in 1946 and we are now in the year 2010 and â€Å"pretentious diction and meaningless words,† (516,517) as Orwell describes them, are still being used. Through careful analysis of recent important speeches, I have found that â€Å"pretentious diction and meaningless words† (Orwell) are still commonly used to mislead the public into believing that things are in the public’s best interest, when they clearly are ... ...government is telling us that they are fixing it and have it under control when in fact they truly do not? They are handing out money they do not have and putting the country into trillions of dollars of dept; that is not a solution. I agree with Orwell a million percent when he states that a â€Å"mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence† (515) shapes the way that the government reports new findings and important information. Work Cited Mariner, Joanne. â€Å"Obama’s New Euphemism.† FindLaw’s Writ | Legal Commentary. 30 June June 2009. Web. 08 November 2010. Orwell, George. â€Å"Politics and the English Language† Occasions for Writing: Evidence, Idea, Essay. Ed. Robert DiYanni and Pat C. Hoy II, Boston, MA 2008. 514 - 522 Stewart, Jon. â€Å"New Euphemisms- Obama Re-branding† The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 31 March 2009. Video Clip. 08 November 2010.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Analysis

To some extent, the characters in both stories seem to be ruled by fixed ideas, prejudices and limited social values and attitudes. Explain and compare how each writer deals with this aspect. You might like to consider social context and values, time, plot, style and language, as well as the characters themselves. TKAMB and An Imaginative Woman are stories whose plot revolves around the idea of prejudices, social status and the attitudes of the era in which they are based. Both texts deal with these issues but in slightly different ways, because An Imaginative Woman is a short story, there isn't enough space to cover prejudices of all the characters in detail but because TKAMB is a novel, over the story although maybe not directly, the characters, personalities and viewpoints are developed until you can form an fairly solid idea of what they believed in and what they were like. For example, TKAMB is set in the 1920's and 30's at which time the prejudice of whites against blacks was very apparent even though slavery had been abolished years before the blacks we're treated as second class citizens. This is a main factor of the plot and as Scout (Jean Louise Finch) is growing up it started to become apparent to her at an early age when she, Jem and Calpurnia visited Calpurnia's church ‘Lula stopped but she said â€Å"You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here – they got their own church, we got our'n†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Then later in the story of the trial of Tom Robinson Vs Mr. Ewell ‘†Lemme tell you somethin' now, Billy† a third said, â€Å"You know the court appointed him to defend this nigger. â€Å"‘, ‘†Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That's what I don't like about it†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Also the use of the offensive term nigger (deriving from Spanish word negro meaning black), which today is politically incorrect, is a sign of the prejudice and social split between blacks and whites at that time. Atticus is an exception to this prejudice as are his children as Aunt Alexandra puts it: – â€Å"I mean this town. They're perfectly prepared to let him do what they are too afraid to do themselves. † In reference to Atticus defending Tom Robinson, a black person. In An Imaginative Woman there isn't such prejudices as between blacks and whites but seeing as it is set in the 1800's there is an element of prejudices as between males and females: – â€Å"†¦ She had never antecedently regarded this occupation of his as any objection to having him for a husband. Indeed, the necessity of getting life-leased at all cost, a cardinal virtue which all good mothers teach† This means, she does not see her husbands job as a reason not to marrying him, after all she needs someone to bring in some money, the idea that women themselves cannot do so because they are not allowed to work. This explains why Ella Marchmill is at home most of the time and has the time to write all the poetry. The fact that she had to pretend to be a man is also a sign of prejudice against women at that time as perhaps because nobody would believe such poetry could come from a woman's hand. In TKAMB Harper Lee deals with social etiquette and ideals and makes them very apparent and openly deals with them as it is the main theme of the plot, in An Imaginative Woman Thomas Hardy does not openly express the social ideas as prejudice, even thought this may be because they were openly and socially acceptable at the time and unlike TKAMB, An Imaginative Woman is not set in a time of change, such as black rights movements and female liberation movements where people became widely familiar with, and accepted prejudice was happening. In TKAMB many people who are examples of different castes in society, Aunt Alexandra being one of them â€Å"†¦ Aunt Alexandra was one of the last of her kind; she had a river boat, boarding school manners; let any moral come along and she would uphold it†¦. † Aunt Alexandra is fixed into society by morals and personal standards that she considers to be very high and this makes herself seem to be upper class society, but she will still gossip She was and incurable gossip† and will still dabble in what would seem to be a lower class of society. You also have examples of people who in contrast are of a lower caste of society for example, the Cunninghams who appear to have no money because they are farmers and when the economic crash happened in America it hit them the hardest â€Å"The Cunningham's never took anything off of anybody, they get along on what they have, they don't have much but they get along on it. † When Jem tries to describe the caste system of Maycomb towards the end of the book the social attitudes of the time are very apparent â€Å"There's four kinds of folk in the world. There's the ordinary folks like us and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes† This puts richer white people above poor white people, above white trash and finally above black people. In An Imaginative Woman the idea of social caste is perhaps not so apparent. The main theme of the text is the ideas of marriage, as it was in the 1800's divorce was unthinkable otherwise Ella would have left her husband â€Å"She came to some vague conclusions, and since then had kept her heart alive by pitying her proprietor's obtuseness and want of refinement† Also affairs in marriage was not common place and illegitimate children were prejudiced against, it was a widely conceived thought that if a child was not born to a married couple they were rejects and should be treated thusly. At the end of the book Will Marchmill's imagination leads him to believe that he and Ella's youngest son was actually the son of Robert Trewe's despite the fact that they never met, his final line and the final line in the book sums up the ideas of the time about illegitimate children â€Å"Get away, you poor little brat! You are nothing to me! † The idea that you are rejected from society regardless of class of family if you are illegitimate is perhaps the main issue to do with social class in the text, linking although not completely with the idea of class in TKAMB. I have dealt with some ideas of prejudice and class, prejudice against blacks and women, the social status of people in Maycomb and of the Marchmills and other families like them in the 1800's. I have identified that the authors deal with it in different ways, Harper Lee is more direct and to the point with describing racism and social etiquette whereas Thomas Hardy suggests it but does not openly say that such things are wrong. The reason for this could be because TKAMB is written from the first person viewpoint and individual beliefs and reasons feature much more in the story line, An Imaginative Woman is written from the third person viewpoint and is as such an account rather than a personal experience, you are distanced from the plot and personal beliefs are left for you to decide. The stories differ again, TKAMB is a novel and therefore has more room to describe and show the ideas of the time, whereas An Imaginative Woman is a short story and does not develop as much. The language differs as TKAMB is set in 1920's/30's America and the â€Å"Deep Southern† American colloquial style of speech the text is perhaps more easily interpreted as it is not complex language, the terms used are more up to date and understood today. An Imaginative Woman is written in early modern English and some of the terms are very outdated and hard to comprehend without further help from dictionaries or thesauruses this makes it harder to pick points from it and to see the prejudice or social attitudes. I have explained about the social attitudes and how they govern people within the stories and I think that this is very important to both stories plots, it helps shape the people and gives you a good idea of what life was like at the time, both stories end tragically in someway or another and I believe this is a deliberate move by both authors to suggest that prejudice and ism's (sexism, racism etc) are in the end tragic.

Brand Management Summary Essay

Constructs: * Consumer based brand equity: The differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. It involves consumers’ reactions to an element of the marketing mix for the brand in comparison with their reactions to the same marketing mix element attributed to a fictitiously named/unnamed version of the product or service. * Brand knowledge: a brand node in memory to which a variety of associations are linked: * Brand image: set of brand associations in a consumers’ memory. It are perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory. Brand image is defined by: * Type of Brand associations: * Attributes: Non-product related or product related. * Benefits: Functional, experiential or symbolic. * Attitudes * Favorability, Strength and Uniqueness of Brand associations * Brand awareness: recall and recognition by consumers. It is about the strength of the brand node or trace in memory. Findings: * A brand is said to have a positive (negative) customer-based brand equity if consumers react more (less) favorably to the product, price, promotion, or distribution of the brand than they do to the same marketing mix element when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the product or service. * Favorable CBBE can lead to enhanced revenue, lower costs, greater profits, larger margins, less elasticity, increased marketing communication effectiveness and licensing opportunities. * Pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion strategies stimulate CBBE. * Building CBBE requires creating a familiar brand name and a positive brand image. * Measuring CBBE can be done (1) indirectly by measuring sources of brand knowledge or (2) directly by measuring the effects of brand knowledge on consumer response to elements of the marketing  mix. * Managing CBBE: (1) take a broad and long-term view of marketing a brand (2) specify the desired consumer knowledge structures and core benefits for a brand (3) consider a wide range of traditional and nontraditional advertising, promotion and marketing options (4) coordinate the marketing options that are chosen (5) conducting tracking studies and controlled experiments (6) evaluate potential extension candidates. Implications: * Marketing activity can potentially enhance or maintain consumers’ awareness of the brand or the favorability, strength or uniqueness of certain associations. * This enables making short- and long-term decisions better and more insightful. Article 2: Esch, Franz-Rudolf, Tobias Langer, Bernd H. Schmitt and Patrick Geus (2006), â€Å"Are Brands Forever? How Brand Knowledge and Relationships Affect Current and Future Purchases,† Journal of Product & Brand Management, 15, 2, 98-105 Constructs: * Brand attributes: awareness, image, perceived quality, perceived value, personality, and organizational associations. * Brand knowledge attributes: awareness and image, where awareness is a necessary condition to build brand image. * Brand relationships: * Satisfaction: the exchange aspects of a relationship. It’s about giving vs. receiving. * Trust: the feeling that is the outcome of a communal relationship with a brand. * Attachment: a longer-lasting, commitment-inducing bond between the brand and the consumer. Satisfaction and Trust lead to brand Attachment. * Behavioral outcomes: Current purchase behavior and future purchase behavior. Findings: * Current purchases are affected by brand image directly and by brand awareness indirectly. * Future purchases are not affected by either dimension of brand knowledge directly, but brand knowledge does affect future purchases via a brand relationship path that includes brand satisfaction, brand trust and attachment to the brand. Concluding, brand knowledge is not sufficient to build long-term brand relationships. However,  relationship variables are critical for predicting future purchases as well as current purchases. * Brand awareness does not significantly affect brand satisfaction and brand trust. * Brand awareness affects brand image and both are direct determinants of current consumer purchase behavior. Implications: * Currently, brand managers measure brand awareness and brand image. They should also consider brand relationship measures and develop strategic and tactical initiatives that ensure that consumers are satisfied with the brand, trust it and feel attached to it if they wish to achieve long-term success. Lecture notes (27-08-2012): Introduction to Brand Management Once, products were un-differentiable, often sold loose, the quality varied significantly and many people made the same thing. To make buyers prefer your ‘commodity’, brands were introduced: * A name, sign or symbol intended to identify the goods & services of one (group of) sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. It creates reputation, awareness and prominence. Organizations perceive brands as physical products, where customers perceive it as psychological products, since they want to buy brands and not simply products. A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. It consists of 4 levels: Core benefit, tangible product, augmented product and total product. * A brand is a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. It makes products different in a rational, tangible, symbolic, emotional and intangible way. In reality, the most valuable assets are intangible ones. A brand is important for * Customers because: it’s an identification of a production source, it assigns responsibility to the maker, it reduces risk, it reduces search cost, it forms a bond / pact with the maker of the product, it is a symbolic device, and a sign of quality. * Manufacturers because: it allows identification to simplify handling or tracing, it allows legal protection of unique features, it’s a signal of quality level, it endows unique associations to products, it’s a source of competitive advantage and a source of financial returns. As long is something is perceived as different, from the product category, it is branded. It should be given a label and provided a meaning. Types of things that can be branded: 1) Physical goods 2) Services 3) Retailers & Distributors 4) Online products and Services 5) People and Organizations 6) Sports, Arts and Entertainment (experience goods like Walt Disney and Pixar) 7) Geographic Locations 8) Ideas and Causes. Brands Fail because market conditions change, where some companies fail to adapt (inertia). Business Challenges & Opportunities: * Savvy customers: More experienced customers demand more than respect. * Brand proliferation: few products are ‘mono’ branded nowadays. Often, complex brand families and portfolios are required. * Media fragmentation: New methods of communication arise (internet) and expenditures appear to shift from advertising to promotion. * Increased costs: Developing new products is costly so team up with other brands. * Increased competition: Differentiation becomes more difficult, markets start to be more mature and low-priced competitors arise. Consider brand extensions. * Greater accountability: Engage short-term performance orientation, make sure you have your figures right. Customer Based Brand Equity: (1) Differential effect that (2) brand knowledge has on (3) consumer response to the marketing of that brand. Marketing a product should make the consumers’ response more favorable compared to not branding the product. Types are: * Consumer brand equity: A positive, strong, active and unique meaning of the brand. * Financial brand equity: enables earning more in  the short and long run. The Strategic Brand Management Process (to build, measure and manage brand equity): 1. Identify and Establish brand positioning and values: It is your attempt to get in the mind of the consumer in a distinct and valued place. This includes mental maps, a competitive frame of reference, points of parity & difference, core brand values and brand mantra. It is also about who is in your market. 2. Plan and implement brand marketing programs: The mixing and matching of brand elements (visual or verbal?), integrating brand marketing activities and leverage of secondary associations that convey meaning to consumers. 3. Measure and interpret brand performance: Use brand value chains (how will our activities influence what customers think, feel and do), audits, tracking, and equity management systems. What is a Business Value Chain: a. Customer brand equity management goal: build, sustain, and leverage a strong, active and unique meaning of the brand. b. Financial brand equity goal: to enable more earnings in the short and long run. 4. Grow & Sustain brand equity (how to improve things): concepts that are used are brand-product matrixes (shows all brands and products sold by one firm), brand portfolios and hierarchies, brand expansion strategies and brand reinforcement and revitalization. The 6 deadly sins of branding: 1. Brand Memory loss: don’t forget what a brand stands for, don’t change identity. 2. Brand Egoism: overestimating your (supplying) capabilities and importance. 3. Brand Deception: Don’t include fictional ingredients that appear healthy or try to cover the reality of your product. 4. Brand fatigue: Companies are bored with their brands, causing a lack of creativity. 5. Brand paranoia: Too much focus on competition instead of product quality. 6. Brand irrelevance: Not staying ahead of the product category’s market. Lecture notes WC week 1 (29-08-012 / Red Bull Case): Sources of brand equity for Red bull: * First mover advantage, premium pricing, and special ingredients  (taurine). * New market creation (energy drink), and an all round occasion product. * Sampling often, source efficacy, cool image, limited availability, and specific associations such as sports and athletes. Their strategy is a global approach. Tactics are always similar, and sports are always important. How does the marketing program contribute to the brand equity: * They have a broad positioning, aiming for high quality and high price, being a premium product and being exclusive. Some terminology: * Disruptive products are those that break the rules, the normal way of doing business. * They do so ‘below the line’ by using exceptional promotion activities. * They do so ‘above the line’ by using out of the box marketing. * Share of voice: Share of expenditures on advertising, as a share of the product category. * Share of belly: Share in all types of drinks consumption. * The most important things for branded products are involvement and interest. * ‘Jump on the bandwagon’ means following the mainstream (Bullit vs. Red Bull). Why are Red bull’s advertisements so successful and how do they maintain their marketing monumentum? * High integration and a consistent program. * Limited availability, which causes buzz marketing. * Their ads use a specific humorous tone of voice, which builds awareness. Findings of the energy drink experiment: * All energy drinks increase blood pressure. Placebos only do so under high motivation. Red bull and brand extensions (the key to success is a ‘fit’ with your brand): * What did they do already? Shots, different tastes, Red Bull cola, Premix with alcoholics, refrigerators, and using different sizes. * Which ones were successful? Different sizes, sports events, magazines, shows, and the flagship store that sells a lot of merchandise. * Which ones were unsuccessful? Different tastes, Cola, and energy shots. Week 2: Branding Objectives: Values, Identity and Positioning Article 1: Brown, Tom J., Peter A. Dacin, Michael G. Pratt and David A. Whetten (2006) â€Å"Identity, Intended Image, Construed Image, and Reputation: An Interdisciplinary Framework and Suggested Terminology,† Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34, 2, 99-106 Constructs according to CED (Central, enduring, and distinctive organizational level of analysis): * Identity: An individual’s self-difinition / who are we as an organization. * Organizational identity: the property of a social group rather than an individual. * Intended Image: mental associations about the organization that organization leaders want important audiences / stakeholders to hold. * Construed image: Mental associations that organization members believe individuals or multiple people outside the organization hold about the organization. * Reputation: mental associations about the organization actually held by others outside the organization. Findings: * Image concerns what an organizational member wants others to know about the organization, while reputation is a perception of the organization actually held by an external stakeholder. * Corporate associations belong with the stakeholder, not to the organization. They may be influenced by a variety of outside sources: competitors, industry analysts, consumer activists and the media in addition to communications from the company. Implications: * Not mentioned Article 2: Coleman, Darren, Leslie de Chernatory and George Christodoulides (2011) â€Å"B2B Service Brand Identity: Scale Development and Validation,† Industrial Marketing Management, 40, 1063-1071 Constructs: * B2B service brand identity: the strategist’s vision of how a B2B service brand should be perceived by its stakeholders. It consists of the following scale dimensions: * Marketing Culture: unwritten policies and guidelines which provide employees with behavioral norms. It’s also about the importance an organization places on the marketing function. * Client relationship management: relationships with customers are the  cornerstone of industrial marketing. Therefore, the quality of CRM is very important. * Corporate Visual identity: logos can simplify the process of communicating brand benefit by being visual metaphors. They also help distinguishing a brand. * Integrated marketing communications: they help an organization’s brand identity manifest. For B2B, communications focus on organization rather than products. * Brand personality: The strength, favorability and uniqueness of the brand personality association. It should be easy to describe by clients, and f avourable. Findings: * After two factor analyses, the paper chose to rename some dimensions: * Employee & client focus: The organization treats employees & clients as an essential part of the organization, will help them in a responsive manner, will discover and respond to their needs, and top management is committed to providing quality service. * Corporate visual identity: Our font and logo is an important part of our visual identity, which makes us recognizable. * Brand personality: Associations are extremely positive and favorable, and clients have no difficulty describing them. * Consistent communications: There’s a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of all communication tools. Furthermore, Advertising, PR and Sales are providing consistent messages. * Human resource initiatives: There are employee-training programs designed to develop skills required for acquiring and deepening client relationships. Moreover, the organization regularly monitors employees’ performance. * The model is now empirical instead of conceptual. In addition, it is a synergistic network since all dimensions are highly correlated. Implications: * When managers want to asses the effectiveness of B2B service brand identity efforts, they should focus on either one or multiple of the above mentioned dimensions and measure them over time. Article 3: Chernev, Alexander, Ryan Hamilton and David Gal (2011) â€Å"Competing for Consumer Identity: Limits to Self-Expression and the Perils of Lifestyle  Branding,† Journal of Marketing, 75, May, 66-82 Constructs: * Self-expression of lifestyle and social identity: this is enabled by a huge degree of customization for certain products and also by social media. Findings (keep in mind that all findings discuss short-term effects): * Consumer brand preferences are a function of the activities they were involved in prior to evaluating a given brand. This finding holds because the need for self-expression is finite and ultimately can be satiated. This means that the need for self-expressive brands decreases as the number of alternative means of self-expression increases. * The extent to which consumers use brands to express their identities is not limited to self-expressive brands in the same category but it is also a function of the availability of alternative means of expressing identity. Satiation is caused by: * Personal brand relevance: how close is the brand related to your identity. Brands evaluated later in a set were more likely to be rated lower or equivalent in terms of personal relevance. * Perceived brand uniqueness: How brands are perceived to be different. * Consumers’ willingness to pay. * Increasing the prominence of self-expressive brands that are already a part of a consumer’s identity is likely to weaken future brand preferences. This holds between and across product categories. This effect is more pronounced for symbolic than functional brands: * Brand associations should be distinguished: Functional and symbolic associations. * Increasing the need for self-expression (e.g. by threatening identity) has the effect of strengthening brand preferences. * Self-expressive behavioral acts such as product customization can lead to identity saturation, weakening consumers’ brand preferences. Implications: * Brands might possibly compete across categories and become a part of a person’s identity. * Lifestyle branding has proven to be successful for many brands. However, managers may be trading fierce within-category  functional competition for fierce across-category symbolic competition when doing so. All self-expressive brands could end up competing with one another, and possibly even non-brand self-expressive items and social media. * More practical: It might be unattractive to have a shop with self-expressive products next to another shop selling such (Apple Store). Article 4: Naresh, Sheena G. (2012) â€Å"Do Brand Personalities Make a Difference to Consumers?,† , Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 37, 31-37 Constructs: * When associated to image, brand uniqueness or identity is the arrangement of words, ideas and associations that structure the total perception of the brand. * Brand personality: the set of human characteristics associated with the brand. It makes brands more interesting, memorable, and it makes people more aware. The Big 5: * Sincerity: Down to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful (Douwe Egberts). * Excitement: Daring, spirited, imaginative, up to date (Porsche). * Competence: reliable, intelligent, successful (ABN AMRO). * Sophistication: Upper class, Charming (Mercedes). * Ruggedness: Outdoorsy, Tough (Levis, Nike, Marlboro). * Brand personality statement: what personality managers want their consumers to perceive. * Brand personality profile: what the consumers are thinking and feeling about the brand. Findings: * Sentimental brand personalities are common for all fast moving consumer goods. Secondly, most FMCGs are characterized as young, successful and inspiring. Finally, success, friendliness, trendiness, uniqueness, modernization and glamour are often found. Implications: * Marketers should focus on strengthening their strategies by emphasizing personality traits of their brands. This can cause strategic changes in brand positioning or communications. Lecture notes Week 2 (03-09-2012): If your customers don’t know who you are, they won’t buy. You have to show who you are in order to do business. The circle of brand management: * Strategists propose an identity by using a certain strategy marketers and PR build on this strategy by choosing a position and messaging this position (potential) customers generate a brand image based on these messages strategists can again build a strategy to reposition the image of the consumers.  §1: Brand Identity: How strategists want the brand to be perceived: * It explains whether an ad suits the brand, whether new products should be launched inside or outside the brand boundaries, how far can we change our communication style regionally and internationally, or whether sponsorship would ‘fit’ the brand. * Definition: the unique composition of physical, social and psychological components of a brand as far as they are crucial, lasting and remarkable. * What’s the vision & aim of a company, what makes it different, what are its values, what need is the brand fulfilling, what is its permanent nature, and what signs make it recognizable. * Aspects: CED: Central, Enduring (whether it’s consistent over time) & Distinctive. * Components: Physical (external characteristics, logo), Psychological (experiences, character, point of view), Social (spokesperson, category, relationship, users).  §1.1 Heritage, consisting of history, consistency, passion and leadership. Effects are: * (1) Authentic real (2) trustworthy safe (3) intimate warm (4) expert excellence in performance and experience. * Sources are people, the firm itself, and region & nation; human capital, social capital, cultural capital & natural capital. * Country of origin is very important, and countlessly many papers have covered it.  §1.2 Personality & Values: * For the Big Five personality indicators/dimensions, see page 9 article 4. * Prototypical cues help distinguishing things between product categories. It also helps in creating expectance. * Values are stable,  desirable modes of conduct or abstract end-states that direct behavior. Milton R. defined 18 instrumental & 18 terminal values that can be used to find identity. * Core brand values: abstract associations that characterize the 5 to 10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand. These serve the foundation of a brand strategy, and in particular the POPs and PODs (see page 11). For BMW this would be stylish driving, for Marlboro the cowboy life. * Brand Mantras: the ‘heart and soul’ of a brand: a 3-to-5 word phrase that captures the essence or spirit of the brand positioning and values. Malibu: seriously easy going. Here, campaigns are more about context rather than content; the expression of the brand is more important than the brand itself. Brand mantra’s consist of: * (1) Brand function (Authenticity for NIKE), (2) Descriptive modifier (Athletic for NIKE), (3) Emotional modifier (Performance for NIKE). * Implementing a mantra requires: communication simplification inspiration.  §1.3 Vision: The brand’s dream about the future. It is about shaping the category and improving customers’ welfare. Visions are provocative and can guide short-term behavior by communicating direction. The Brand Identity Prism to the left discusses (1) physique (features, symbols, attributes), (2) Personality, (3) Culture (set of values), (4) Relationship (beliefs and associations), (5) Reflection (consumers’ perception) and (6) Self-image (What the consumer thinks of himself).  §1.4 Brand Image: How the brand is actually perceived: * Identification: Brand awareness & category structure. * Qualification: Brand associations & meaning structure.  §2 Brand Positioning: The part of the brand identity and value proposition to be actively communicated to a target audience. It is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s minds. The following paragraphs represent the steps that should be taken when positioning a brand.  §2.1 (step A) Frame of Reference: Who is the target customer and who are the main competitors? Here, we define category membership: * Target markets can be defined by  segmentation. Segmentation can be done on the basis of consumers (descriptive, behavioral, psychographic or geographic) or B2B (nature of the goods, buying conditions, demographics). Combinations are also possible. Criteria: * Identifiability, size, accessibility, responsiveness. * Take into account that there are different types of competition, namely on product type, category or class. In addition, competition may occur at benefit level rather than attribute level (see paper 3 page 8). * When comparing at category level, 1 brand is the reference brand and several others are compared to that. If you’re the reference brand, consider improvements on prices and quality. Be aware that decreases in attributes hurt more than for non-reference brands. When you’re not a reference brand, any POD from the reference brand is a loss. Therefore, reference brand have competitive advantages. * Prospect theory: Extra value diminishes as available gains increase. * When you’re launching a new brand, all ‘usual’ category characteristics will first have to be transferred. ‘Creating’ a category is not advised and very expensive (Subway food). Copying prototypical cues can be used by the follower brand to be accepted in the category (e.g. fast food using Red & Yellow / McDo).  §2.2 (step B) POPs & PODs are chosen after defining the frame of reference: * Points of Parity: How is the brand similar to others in the category, how can they be associated and compared. Moreover, which associations are shared? Category POPs are necessary to be a legitimate and credible product offering within a category. Competitive POPs negate PODs of competitors. * Points of Difference: How is the brand different to others in the category? It’s about brand associations that are unique to the brand and favorably evaluated by consumers. They can be functional (performance related) or abstract (imagery-related). They’re also closely related to unique selling propositions, competitive advantages and distinctive competences. They’re more difficult to obtain than POPs. PODs and POPs can be defined using the following typology: Intrinsic product differentiation, Design/Style differentiation, Symbolic Differentiation, Channel Differentiation, Price Differentiation, Customer Service differentiation, Customer intimacy differentiation. Choosing PODS and POPs  is based on: * Desirability: Relevance, distinctiveness and believability. * Deliverability: Feasibility, communicability and sustainability.  §2.3 (Step C) Establishing POPs and PODs: This can be difficult since many POPs and PODs are negatively correlated (e.g. High quality and low price). Methods that can solve this problem are (1) separation of attributes (2) Leveraging equity of another entity (3) redefining the relationship.  §2.4 Use and usage situation: What is the brand promise and consumer benefit? And what is the occasion when the product will be consumed? The best moment to confront customers with product (advertisements) is when they really need it (e.g. In India, detergent ads are place on top of buses, since everyone does their laundry on the balcony where they see these tops).  §2.5 Statement and tags Are the current looks and ingredients compatible with its positioning? There are multiple elements that will evaluate and choose a brand positioning: 1. The Target audience 2. The compelling benefit 3. The reason why customers should believe the PODs 4. Product Name 5. Product Category Week 3: Special Branding Strategies Article 1: Keller, Kevin Lane and Philip Kotler (2012) â€Å"Branding in B2B firms† in: Handbook of Business-to-Business Marketing, edited by Gary l. Lilien and Rajdeep Grewal, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK. Constructs: * B2B branding: might not be needed because buyers are experienced and fully informed, it’s more about the buying experience, it involves  unnecessary costs, effects are only short-term, calculating ROI is difficult, brand building is complex and because it doesn’t significantly influence the buyers’ final decision. Findings: * The Brand Management Scorecard: a. Managers understand what the brand means to customers. b. The brand is properly positioned.  c. Customers receive superior delivery of the benefits they value most. d. The brand takes advantage of the full repertoire of branding and marketing activities available to build brand equity. e. Marketing and communications efforts are seamlessly integrated. The brand communicates with one voice. f. The brand’s pricing strategy is based on customer perceptions of value. g. The brand uses appropriate imagery to support its personality. h. The brand is innovative and relevant. i. For a multiproduct, multi-brand firm, the brand hierarchy and brand portfolio are strategically sound. j. The firm has in place a system to monitor brand equity and performance. * Steps to build and manage a strong brand: a. Ensure the organization understands and supports branding and the role of brand management. Moreover, internal branding is important (next two steps): b. Horizontal and vertical alignment: branding efforts should be understood by all. c. Brand mantras: (see p10  §1.2) will consistently reinforce and support the brand. a. A General Electric application: for this firm, more then a brand mantra was integrated successfully through 11 different businesses. d. Adopt a corporate brand strategy if possibly and create a well-defined brand hierarchy: (Carefully) decide on brand architecture (distinctive brand elements applied to the different products sold by the firm). Corporate branding is preferred. e. Corporate credibility: competence in delivery and satisfaction for the client. It depends on expertise, trustworthiness and likability. f. Brand hierarchy: Significantly different sub-businesses require sub-brands. g. Frame Value Perceptions: Strive for differentiation and value rather than  commoditization. Framing is about how clients currently think and choose among products and services, and then determining how this ideally should be. h. Link non-product-related imagery associations: Apple is perceived as an innovative brand, where Microsoft is more of an aggressive firm. Consider how dimensions of corporate credibility affect decisions of the B2B customer. i. Uncover relevant emotional associations for the brand: Security, social approval and self-respect definitely play a role. In addition, how do risk and feelings influence a customers decision making? j. Emotions and decision-making: Ultimately, individuals rather than organizations make purchasing decisions. These people are influenced by emotions & ratio. k. Segment Customers carefully and develop tailored branding and marketing programs. Should there be a uniform image within and across firms? l. Segmentation within organizations: the ‘buying center’ brings together initiators, users, influencers, deciders, approvers, buyers and gatekeepers. People fulfill multiple of these tasks, but all should be approached with identical messages. m. Segmentation across organizations: careful customer analysis is required for successful segmentation. Implications: Not mentioned. Article 2: Desai, Kalpesh Kaushik and Kevin Lane Keller (2002) â€Å"The Effects of Ingredient branding Strategies on Host Brand Extendibility,† Journal of Marketing, vol. 66, (January), 73- 93. Constructs: * Line extensions: minor product changes in the host brand, possibly already introduced by others in the category. When these changes are branded, they’re further defined as: * Slot-filler brand expansions: the level of one existing product attribute changes. * New attribute expansion: an entirely new attribute or characteristic is added to the product. * Self-branded ingredient: the host brand includes and creates a new self-brand. * Co-branded ingredient branding: using associated brands as ingredients (Dell & Intel) that are supplied by another firm. Findings: * For Slot-filler expansions, a cobranded ingredient facilitates initial expansion acceptance, but a self-branded ingredient leads to more favorable subsequent category extension evaluations. Subjects appeared not to credit the host brand for the cobrand association in evaluating subsequent extensions, and if anything, they held it against the host brand. * For new attribute expansions, a co-branded ingredient leads to more favorable evaluations of both the initial expansion and the subsequent category extension. Because a self-branded ingredient did not help ‘broaden’ the equity of the host brand, and because the host brand may have lacked credibility, an extension involving a self-branded ingredient was less favorably evaluated. * Should ingredients be branded? Yes, it improves the competitiveness of the host brand and it’s a signal of quality when combining high quality brands. Implications: * Besides helping improve the competitiveness of the host brand, the new attribute can, in some cases, expand the usage of the host brand. * Co-branding might enhance short-term equity of a host and its value, even under low fit. However, in the long-term co-branding will require more fit to the category. After all, they’re borrowing and not generating equity themselves. * Evaluations of slot-filler extensions suffer after the cobrand that was originally used in the expansion is dropped from the extension. Article 3: Gussoni, Manuela and Andrea Mangani (2012) â€Å"Corporate branding strategies in mergers and acquisitions,† Journal of Brand Management, I 350-213IX, 1-16 Constructs: * Corporate name is a strategic marketing asset and carries the corporation’s reputation. * Mergers & Acquisitions: can be classified as: * Conservative: the new entity adopts the acquirer’s or the target’s corporate name. * Innovative: the new entity uses a mixed or new name. * Horizontal: if the combining entities are active in the same  industry and produce similar goods & services. * Vertical: if the combining entities are active in the same industry but at separate production stages (buying buyers or suppliers). * Divisional acquisition: acquiring /merging only some divisions of companies. * Diversification: if the combining entities are active in separate industries * Financial investments: if a financial investor, typically a private equity investment firm, acquires a manufacturing or service company. Findings: * Divisional acquisition, vertical integrations, diversifications and the sectors involved do not affect the probability of the strategy being innovative. * Inventing a new name for a target is unusual. * Innovative brand strategies are more probably in the case of mergers (as opposed to acquisitions), horizontal M&As and financial investments. More specifically, a mixed name is the preferred option since value and reputation of both names will be involved. * When doing a financial investment, the acquirer doesn’t transfer it’s name, but chooses between keeping the acquired name or changing it in case of bad reputation. * Horizontal M&As tend to extend the name of the acquirer to the target. Implications: * Management and chanting of brands and corporate names may have a profound impact within organizations. Therefore we recommend carefully interpreting our and other studies regarding naming strategies. * Marketing during a M&A process is often underestimated. Article 4: Ilicic, Jasmina and Cynthia M. Webster (2012) â€Å"Celebrity co-branding partners as irrelevant brand information in advertisements,† Journal of Business Research Constructs: * Celebrities are identified as co-branding partners, where two brands (one being the celebrity) are paired with one another in a marketing context such as an advertisement. * Their should be a match between the  celebrity and brand image to achieve positive effects on consumer attitudes. * A celebrity not only provides consumers with relevant brand information when they convey characteristics pertinent to the brand but also when they mention information relevant to the endorsed brand. * Irrelevant information provided by a celebrity endorser also aids in making a judgment about whether the brand is able to deliver the benefit according to the consumer. This holds regardless of whether relevant brand information is also present. * Dilution effect in marketing: Dilution of consumers’ beliefs might occur when a celebrity provides both irrelevant and relevant brand information. This effect is present regardless of whether consumers perceive the celebrity to match or mismatch th e brand. Findings: * When a celebrity co-branding partner does not provide information about the partner brand nor brand benefits but plays a peripheral role, consumer judgments in the ability of the partner brand to deliver benefits, their purchase intent and their match-up perceptions become less positive. * Consumer brand benefit beliefs and purchase intentions show evidence of a dilution effect only when consumers perceive a mismatch between the celebrity and brand and when presented with irrelevant information supplied by a celebrity in addition to relevant brand information. When purely relevant information is presented, dilution does not occur. * Dilution occurs on perceived brand benefits, purchase intentions and match-up perception between the celebrity and the brand. Implications: * Ensure that a celebrity co-partner does not provide irrelevant brand information within advertisements to avoid brand benefit belief, purchase intent and match-up dilution. * Advertisements should feature an irrelevant and incongruent celebrity in combination with relevant brand information.