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2. Interviews made with the administrators 2.1. Interview made with Selva Food Inc.
The following data has been obtained at the end of the interview made on social media with Ahmet Nurullah Güler, Vice Director of Marketing Department of Selva Food Inc.
What is your brand identity? Is the Social Media a useful method to create a Brand Identity? I consider the social media as a café where numerous people share their ideas and likings among themselves. It is
important to know what the consumers think on an issue or what sort of demands and requirements they have in terms of organizations. In this context, the social media means help in getting these data with the organizations. Thanks to the
communication network linked directly, Selva takes all sorts of demands and needs of the consumers into consideration and gets information about how the consumers perceive the newly offered services.
2.2. Interviews made with Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association The following date is obtained at the end of the interview made with Murat Ayata, the administrator of Homeless
Animal‘s Protection Association.
What is the brand personality that the Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association is trying to establish? According to you, is the social media a good way in creating a brand personality?
I have no idea exactly concerning the brand personality we are trying to create. Our objective is to provide all the animal lovers to gather under a single roof so as to protect the homeless animals and meet their necessities. Hence, all
the animal lovers follow up all the information related to the homeless animals through social media means and get information about how to help them. Furthermore, the animal lovers accept the homeless animals in their own houses
and get the necessary medical information and assistance by making contact with the veterinaries available in the site. 2.3. Interviews made with Selçuk University
The following data is obtained at the end of the interview on the social media made with Ass. Prof. Dr. Mustafa AY. What is your relation with the social media means that Selçuk University uses?
I am the communication administrator of Selçuk University, Entrepreneur Society. We have almost 1.000 members consisted of our students who have graduated and still attending students. We have been furnishing our graduated
students with the information of organizations such as main activities of our university, the entrepreneurship conferences we have been organizing each year, graduation ceremonies, graduate meetings by means of social media.
The traditional communication medias that we used to use were increasing the cost items on the favor of our university. We have had saving in the cost items decreasing brochure, telephone, personnel expenses by using the Social Media.
All sorts of announcements, course notes of the academicians are published in our site for our students who are still attending our university.
3.Opinions of Facebook members 3.1 Opinions of Facebook members of Selva brand
200 subjects who are the members of Selva company Facebook page have stated that they agree with the ruling, Accorcing to Table-
1, ―The group I belong to reflects my character‖ in the one sample T-test which is applied to their answers P=0,017. The subjects have stated an opinion such that they certainly agree with the ruling, ―The group I
belong to is a par t of my image‖ p=0,001. A significant conclusion cannot not be obtained concerning with the ruling,
―I am supplying a major social benefit to this group as member―. According to Table-
4 The participants surely agree that the subjects are of the ―sincerity‖ and ―Competence‖ image of the brand in terms of the image of the Selva brand. They also agree that they are of ―Sophisticate‖ image. They do not
agree that the brand is of a ―Ruggedness‖ image and have no ideas about its being ―exciting‖. According to Table-7, in the independent t-test carried out between the men and women in terms of image, it is determined that the men has
found the brand more sincere that the women. In the specialty, women have statically found the image of the brand significant in comparison to men.
3.2 Opinions of Facebook members of Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association
200 subjects who are the members of Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association Facebook page have stated that they certainly agree with the ruling, ―The group I belong to reflects my character‖ in the one sample T-test according to
Table-2 which is applied to their answers P=0,001. The subjects have stated an opinion such that they certainly agree with the ruling, ―The group I belong to is a part of my image‖ p=0,001. The subjects have stated that they do not
agree with the ruling, ―I am supplying a major social benefit to this group as member― P=0,001. According to Table-5, The participants surely agree that the subjects are of the ―sincerity‖ image of the brand in terms of the image of the
Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association. They also agree that they are of ―Sophisticate‖ image. They do not agree that the brand is of an ―Exciting‖ and ―Specialty‖ image. They do not agree that the brand is of a ―Ruggedness‖ image,
either. They do not agree they have ―Ruggedness‖ image by no means. There is no significant difference between the genders in terms of reasons for the membership to the group.
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3.3 Opinions of Facebook members of Selva brand 200 subjects wh
o are the members of Selçuk University Facebook page have stated that they agree with the ruling, ―The group I belong to reflects my character‖ in the one sample T-test according to Table-3 which is applied to their answers
P=0,001. The subjects have sta ted an opinion such that they certainly agree with the ruling, ―The group I belong to is a
part of my image‖ p=0,001. The subjects have stated that they definitely agree with the ruling, ―I am supplying a major social benefit to this group as member― P=0,001.
According to Table- 6, The participants surely agree that the subjects are of the ―sincerity‖, sophisticate and
―Competence‖ image of the brand in terms of the image of the University. They certainly agree that the brand is of a ―Excitement‖ giving image. They do not agree that the brand is of a ―Ruggedness‖ image. There is no significant
difference between the genders in terms of reasons for the membership to the group. In the independent t-test carried out between the men and women in terms of image of the university, no significant difference is found.
4.CONCLUSION The social media use purposes of the organization administrators are found to be different. The profit making company,
Selva, uses the social media for establishing a brand image, reach their target group using a speedy and sincere language, and support the traditional promotion activities. The non-profit making organization, Homeless Animals Protection
Association, uses the social media to reach their target group speedily and free of charge, and reduce the costs in an unprofessional way. The University, Selçuk University, uses the social media to reach their members in a speedy and
inexpensive way. Furthermore, the efforts of the university to create a brand identity are also realize via social media. 5.TABLE
Table-1 Opinions of Facebook members of Selva Food Inc.
t P
The group I belong to reflects my character 2,4
0,017 The group I belong to is a part of my image
5,212 0,001
I am supplying a major social benefit to this group as member -0,931
0,353 Table-
2 Opinions of Facebook members of Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association
t P
The group I belong to reflects my character 15,707
0,001 The group I belong to is a part of my image
4,365 0,001
I am supplying a major social benefit to this group as member -14,181
0,001 Table-3 Opinions of Facebook members of Selcuk University
t P
The group I belong to reflects my character 6,914
0,001 The group I belong to is a part of my image
8,771 0,001
I am supplying a major social benefit to this group as member 15,596
0,001
Table-4 Facebook Members of Selva Food Inc. Image Perception Selva Food Inc. Image
t P
Sincerity 6,315
0,001 Sophistication
3,388 0,001
Excitement -1,191
0,235 Competence
2,015 0,045
Ruggedness -15,584
0,001
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Table-
5 Facebook Members of Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association Image Perception Homeless Animal‘s Protection Association Image
t P
Sincerity 3,363
0,001 Sophistication
9,312 0,001
Excitement -12,547
0,001 Competence
-8,982 0,001
Ruggedness -76,26
0,001 Table-6 Facebook Members of Selcuk University Image Perception
Selcuk University Image
t P
Sincerity 13,663
0,001 Sophistication
8,667 0,001
Excitement 12,293
0,001 Competence
33,402 0,001
Ruggedness -12,207
0,001 Table-
7 Independent ―t‖ test results that Image Perception According to Gender Variety Selva Food Inc. Image
t P
Sincerity 3,964
0,001 Competence
-6,091 0,001
6.References
1. Borça, Güven, 2002, Bu Topraklardan Dünya Markası Çıkar mı? İstanbul: Kapital Medya.sf.142.
2. Aaker,David,A., 1997, Building Strong Brands. USA: Free pres Business
3. Keller, Kevin Lane 2003, Brand Synthesis: The Multidimensionality of Brand knowledge,
Journal of Consumer Research
, 29 4, 595-600. 4.
Dunn, Heather, M., 2010, Socıal Medıa As A Brandıng Tool In Heterogeneous Organızatıons: A Collectıve Case Study Approach, Master of Art, School of Clemson University
5. Andreas M. Kaplan, Michael Haenlein, 2010 Users of the world unite The challenges and oppurtunities of Social Media, Business Horizons
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6. Jan H., Kietzmann , Kristopher, Hermkens , Ian P., McCarthy , Bruno S., Silvestre., 2011, Social media? Get serious Understanding the
functional building blocks of social media, Business Horizons, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 5 February 2011.
18
The Internet-Based Democratisation of Corporate Brand Management –
An Exploration of Managerial Perspectives
Bjoern Asmussen, Oxford Brookes University, UK Sally Harridge-March, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Nicoletta Occhiocupo, Oxford Brookes University, UK Jillian Farquhar, University of Bedfordshire, UK
The internet-based democratisation of brand management is a widely debated phenomenon in the academic world Berthon et al. 2008; Kozinets et al. 2010; Schau et al. 2009 as well as in marketing practice Edelman 2010;
McConnell Huba 2007; Mooney Rollins 2008; Valos et al. 2010. However, an interdisciplinary review of academic literature has shown that one pivotal stakeholder group has hardly been given a voice within the discourses
that are participating in the debates about the internet-based democratisation of brand management: the professional brand managers themselves Asmussen et al. 2010. It would therefore be useful for future academic research to explore
what the people who are potentially most affected in their everyday working lives, by the radical changes caused by this democratisation, think and feel about this phenomenon. The purpose of this research project is to make a contribution to
this under-investigated area. The research aim is to explore the internet-based democratisation of corporate brand management from the perspectives of corporate brand managers. Corporate brand management has been chosen for
the present research project, since this area is one of those most affected in the context of the democratisation of brand management Greyser 2009;
Laforet Saunders 2005. One of the biggest challenges to achieve the above stated research aim is the high level of complexity when it comes to
brand management research de Chernatony Dall‘Olmo Riley 1998; Heding et al. 2009;
Louro Cunha 2001 or corporate brand management research Balmer 2001;
Schultz et al. 2005. Brodie and de Chernatony 2009 indicate that organisational theory in particular provides useful guidance under these circumstances for brand management
researchers – since organisational theory is ‗concerned with the complexity of organizations and management
processes‘ p. 99. Based on this rationale – a sense making approach was chosen for the present context. The concept of sense making has been developed mainly in the discipline of organisational behaviour
– particularly by Karl Weick see further Weick 1995 2001 to investigate cognitive processes in complex organisational and managerial
scenarios. The concept itself can mean different things to different people Klein et al. 2006a but is quintessentially about ‗the making of sense‘ Weick 1995, p. 4. It is about giving meaning to experience. This includes processes such
as structuring known as well as unknown stimuli by placing them into a mental frame of reference or creating new ones Klein et al. 2006b; Starbuck Milliken 1988; Waterman 1990; Woodside 2001. Such mental frameworks can be
used as a generalised point of view, which directs people‘s interpretations. Based on this sense making approach, the aim of the present research project has therefore been translated into the following research question: How do corporate
brand managers make sense of the internet-based democratisation of corporate brand management?
To answer this exploratory question, in terms of methodology, a social constructivist grounded theory-led approach Charmaz 2006 has been applied. In-depth interviews with 13 UK-based corporate brand managers have been
conducted. The interview participants have been recruited from a broad choice of industries; and large as well as small and medium sized organisations.
The research results indicate that corporate brand managers‘ mental frameworks regarding the internet-based
democratisation of brand management are mainly determined by two parameters. Firstly, their attitude towards the democratisation phenomenon, which can range from positive, i.e. seeing the democratisation as an opportunity, to
negative, i.e. seeing the democratisation as a threat Figure 1. The second parameter appears to be the managers‘ general perspective on brand management, which can range from very company-centric to strongly external
stakeholder-oriented Figure 1. Corporate brand managers with a company-centric perspective and a positive attitude towards the brand democratisation, find the technical opportunities of social media empowering for their organisation.
In terms of new product development they appreciate the possibilities of involving customers more and more in the different stages of the product development process. For them it is a relatively controlled form of outsourcing or
crowdsourcing
Howe 2006. But equally, the availability of additional ‗marketing tools‘ such as a Facebook site, the CEO‘s blog, or a company-controlled online community is appealing to some of them. The company-centric-oriented
managers with a negative attitude towards the democratisation phenomenon, feel that they are losing more and more control over the brand management process. Some of them are experiencing a cognitive dissonance since the ‗old
control logic‘ is not working anymore. Corporate brand managers with a positive attitude towards the internet-based democratisation phenomenon and an external stakeholder orientation, focus less on the technical opportunities of social
media but rather on the positive outcomes of external stakeholders‘ activities on the internet. They feel that customers who, for example, write a positive online review about an organisation‘s products or services become ambassadors of
the brand. These ambassadors essentially promote the organisation to others and therefore ‗do the marketer‘s job‘ to a
certain extent. The generation of electronic word-of-mouth can be interpreted as a relatively uncontrolled form of crowdsourcing
or brand meaning co-creation. Furthermore, these corporate brand managers also feel that they benefit from being able to listen to and learn more about their customers on the internet through monitoring user generated
19
content UGC or even direct interaction with their customers and other stakeholders. Finally, corporate brand managers who have an external stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management and feel rather pessimistic about the
internet-based democratisation phenomenon, are worried about negative and fake user generated content, for example, negative online product reviews written by competitors. Or, in extreme cases, customers apparently demand to be
offered special discounts and threaten otherwise to write a negative review about the organisation online. In terms of limitations, this research is just a first work-in-progress report about the exploration of managerial
perspectives on the internet-based democratisation of corporate brand management. Further investigation is needed. Regarding originality, this research represents one of the first applications of second generation grounded theory
method in marketing management research. Furthermore, the findings are based on interviews with senior corporate brand managers, a group who have hardly been interviewed in the past when it comes to phenomena like the internet-
based democratisation of brand management. And the erosion of control felt by some of the corporate brand managers leads to the conclusion that, at least in some cases, there is a demand for a new brand management paradigm.
Figure 1: Managerial perspectives on the internet-based democratisation of corporate brand management
References
1. Asmussen, B., Harridge-March, S., Occhiocupo, N. and Farquhar, J. 2010: The Internet-Based Democratisation of Brand Management: The Dawn of a
New Paradigm or Dangerous Nonsense? Proceedings of the 39th EMAC European Marketing Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark, June. 2.
Balmer, J.M.T. 2001: Corporate Identity, corporate branding and corporate marketing. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35, 34, pp. 248-291. 3.
Berthon, P., Pitt, L.F. and Campbell, C. 2008: Ad lib: when customers create the ad. California Management Review, Vol. 50, 4, pp. 6-30. 4.
Brodie, R.J. de Chernatony, L. 2009: Towards new conceptualizations of branding: theories of the middle range. Marketing Theory, Vol. 9, 1, pp. 95- 100.
5. Charmaz, K. 2006: Constructing Grounded Theory. A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. London, Sage.
6. de Chernatony, L. Dall‘Olmo Riley, F. 1998: Defining A ‗Brand‘: Beyond The Literature With Experts‘ Interpretations. Journal of Marketing
Management, Vol. 14, 5, pp. 417-443. 7.
Edelman, D.C. 2010: Gaining an edge through digital marketing. McKinsey Quarterly, 3, pp. 129-134. 8.
Greyser, S.A. 2009: Corporate brand reputation and brand crisis management. Management Decision, Vol. 47, 4, pp. 590-602. 9.
Heding, T., Knudtzen, C.F. Bjerre, M. 2009: Brand Management, Research, Theory and Practice. London, Routledge. 10.
Howe, J. 2006: The Rise of Crowdsourcing. Wired, Vol. 14, 6, pp. 176-183. 11.
Klein, G., Moon, B. Hoffman, R.R. 2006a: Making Sense of Sensemaking 1: Alternative Perspectives. IEEE Intelligent Systems, Vol. 21, 4, pp. 70- 73.
12. Klein, G., Moon, B. Hoffman, R.R. 2006b: Making Sense of Sensemaking 2: A Macrocognitive Model. IEEE Intelligent Systems, Vol. 21, 5, pp. 88-
92. 13.
Kozinets, R.V., de Valck, K., Wojnicki, A. Wilner, S.J.S. 2010: Networked narratives: understanding word-of-mouth marketing in online communities. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 74, 2, pp. 71-89.
14. Laforet, S. Saunders, J. 2005: Managing Brand Portfolios: How Strategies Have Changed. Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 45, 3, pp. 314-327.
15. Louro, M.J. Cunha, P.V. 2001: Brand Management Paradigms. Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 17, 78, pp. 849-875.
16. McConnell, B. Huba, J. 2007: Citizen marketers. When people are the message. Chicago, Kaplan.
17. Mooney, K. Rollins, N. 2008: The open brand. When push comes to pull in a web-made world. Berkeley, AIGA New Riders.
18. Schau, J.H., Muniz, A.M. Arnould, E.J. 2009: How brand community practices create value. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73, 5, pp. 30-51.
19. Schultz, M., Antorini, Y.M. Csaba, F.F. 2005: Corporate Branding. Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School Press.
20. Starbuck, W.H. Milliken, F.J. 1988: Executives‘ perceptual filters: What they notice and how they make sense. In: Hambrick, D.C. ed.: The
executive effect: Concepts and methods for studying top managers. Greenwich, JAI, pp. 35-65. 21.
Valos, M.J., Ewing, M.T. Powell, I.H. 2010: Practitioner prognostications on the future of online marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 26, 34, pp. 361-376.
22. Waterman, R.H., Jr. 1990: Adhocracy: The power to change. Memphis, Whittle.
23. Weick, K.E. 1995: Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, Sage.
24. Weick, K.E. 2001: Making Sense of the Organization. Oxford: Blackwell.
25. Woodside, A.G. 2001: Editorial: Sense making in marketing organizations and consumer psychology: Theory and practice. Psychology and Marketing,
Vol. 18, 5, pp. 415-421.
20
Corporate Social Responsibility and Branding with Web Forum Research in the Retail Food and Drinks Sector
Deviraj Gill, De Montfort University, England
Len Tiu Wright and Mark Lemon 1.
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility CSR is an increasingly important concept for companies wishing to be perceived as ―good‖ organisations. The use of CSR by organisations is also attracting interest amongst marketing academics and
practitioners at a time when environmental and ethical issues are progressively gaining a wider public profile. It is also recognised that environmental activities are becoming increasingly important to consumers, as incorporating CSR
messages with company product and corporate brand communications adds to public perception that such companies operate with integrity. A search of the literature has identified an extensive discussion of the benefits organisations
derive by behaving in a socially responsible way. Factors including, improved financial performance Johnson, 2003 building connections with consumers Porter and Kramer, 2002 and internal benefits such as employee commitment
and reduced employee turnover Miao, 2003. In contrast consumer cynicism and lack of trust have also been identified as a current major problem. Therefore the purpose of this article is to examine the areas of corporate social
responsibility and branding from research conducted with a web forum of users in the Midlands area of the UK. Insights into consumer perceptions regarding organisations and their efforts to behave in a socially responsible way are gained
throughout the investigation.
2. Conceptual Development
