‘Brand Placement’ en los videoclips del Billboard Hot 100: ¿integración o imposición de marcas?

Este artículo analiza el brand place­ment del top 30 de la lista de éxitos Billboard Hot 100 de 2016. Para ello se proponen los siguientes objetivos espe­cíficos: conocer qué artistas, marcas y productos aparecen en los hits interna­cionales; observar el tiempo que ocupan las marcas en los videoclips y analizar si las marcas se integran o se imponen forzando la narrativa del videoclip. La metodología —que combina técnicas cualitativas y técnicas cuantitativas— se inicia con un análisis de contenido que pretende medir la frecuencia y el modo en que las marcas son integradas en los videoclips. En segundo lugar, se aplica un análisis cualitativo con pers­pectiva semiótica para observar la in­tegración de las marcas en el discurso audiovisual. La muestra se centra en la lista de éxitos Billboard, la más im­portante de la industria de la música a escala internacional en 2016, un año que destaca por la recuperación del sector discográfico. Los resultados apuntan que el videoclip se convierte en un so­porte promocional de especial interés para las marcas y permiten confirmar que la presencia de las marcas varía desde un emplazamiento impuesto a una integración sutil, pero perfecta­mente reconocibles por la audiencia. Brand Placement in Billboard Hot 100 Music Videos: Brand Integration or Imposition? This paper analyses brand placement in the top 30 music videos on the Bill­board Hot 100 chart in 2016. To that end, three specific objectives are propo­sed. First, the paper will identify the ar­tists, brands and products that appear in these international hits. Second, the paper will focus on the duration of time occupied by the brands in the music videos. Finally, the article will examine whether the brands have been integra­ted into or, on the contrary, imposed on and forced into the narrative of the mu­sic video. The methodology, which com­bines qualitative and quantitative tech­niques, begins with a content analysis intended to measure the frequency and way in which the brands are integrated into the music videos. Then a qualita­tive analysis will be carried out from a semiotic perspective in order to discern the degree of integration or imposition of brands in the audiovisual discourse of the music video. The sample is drawn from the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which was the most important list in the inter­national music industry in 2016, a year that stands out because of the recovery of the record industry. The results indi­cate that music videos have become an advertising format of special interest to brands and confirm that the presence of brands ranges from imposed placement to subtle integration, but that they are perfectly recognisable to the audience in either case.

НАПРЯМИ ПІДВИЩЕННЯ РІВНЯ ІНТЕГРОВАНОСТІ БРЕНДІВ У ПРОЦЕСІ ОБ’ЄДНАННЯ

The article seeks to explore the contemporary issues of promoting brand integration in a merger process. It is suggested to consider the areas for enhancing the degree of brand integration subject to respective brand integration phases of particular business entities (low integration level – a crisis phase; medium level of integration – the phase of stabilization (verified by the presence of complementary effects from internal and external interaction); high level of integration – the growth phase (verified by the presence of synergistic effects from internal and external self-organization). The proposed pathways to foster brand integration within a merger process are sought to contribute to maximizing the degree of consolidation and diversification of available resources in integrated business structures. The use of an integration effectiveness assessment framework allows for zoning of synergetic effect manifestations, identifying the most probable directions for resource diffusion, boosting the territorial clusters complementarity as well as harmonizing the diverse integration and decentralization interests of business entities. Depending on the phases of business units brand integration, the brand integration principles in the context of a merger process have been specified. Apart from that, the relationship between different types of complementary and synergistic effects has been explored subject to a specific brand structure. The study findings have revealed the major barriers to brand integration within business structures which often trigger negative effects from self-organization, in particular. It is argued that to ensure a balance of the organizational and economic premises of integrated business structures, its baseline institutions, mechanisms and technologies should have a vast integration potential that will link individual elements of the system in such a way as to encourage synergistic and complementary effects to form a kind of a helix that attracts and draws individual brands together into innovation processes.

The Influence of Traditional Cultural Resources (TCRs) on the Communication of Clothing Brands

Recently, traditional cultural resources (TCRs) have become a core part of enterprise clothing branding strategies. Such clothes, expressed in traditional culture, are widely accepted and recognized by audiences. Unfortunately, industry has leveraged these brands poorly and created ones that lack sign-cognition of TCRs. This has resulted in products reflecting shallow traditional cultural patterns (sign-form) rather than deeper adapted cultural expressions. The negative association resulting from this shallow and generic patterning in branding can be harmful for TCRs and damage the image of a brand in the minds of the people, thereby threatening the survival and long-term development of the brand. In order to solve this problem, this study divides the solution into three steps: (1) defining and understanding sign-meaning and sign-function in TCRs from the context of existing literature; (2) assessing, evaluating and breaking down sign-meanings, via in-depth interviews, into several sign-production sub-categories: (a) cultural attribution orientation; (b) knowledge perception orientation; and (c) stakeholders orientation; (3) Utilizing a typical brand development case study to demonstrate how these sign-meaning sub-categories can be help a brand better communicate with its audience. Firstly, it is noted that cultural attribution orientation: (a) expands the notion of brand culture; (b) promotes the movement of the design language of a brand from a dependent development into an independent development; and (c) connects the brand with potential audiences through a cultural gene transmission. Secondly, it is noted that knowledge perception orientation not only expands the foundation of expert groups but also provides TCRs-related to platforms of learning for audiences (e.g., to convey the brand’s social reputation of responsibility through educational communication). Thirdly, stakeholder orientations provide a foundation for brand integration with commercial resources and thus transform the brand to combine with social, commercial and industrial forms of collaboration. Beyond these three sub-categorizations, the study shows that sign-functions of TCRs can have an influence on cultural transformation, academic cohesion and social connection for clothing brands. This study provides a new perspective on TCRs with respect to sign-meaning and sign-function. TCRs can help clothing brands expand to reach audiences of traditional communication media, such as fashion shows. They can also help establish a more stable community mode of communication for non-commercial purposes.

Relevance of the Higher-Order Brand Love Prototype in a Service Context

A third-order composite model of brand love prototype is tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) in a service consumption business: branded coffee outlets. Notable differences are found between the brand love prototype for products reported in literature and a service. The differences reside in the self-brand integration dimension, long-term relationship, and attitude valence. The self-brand integration dimension appears to carry little weight, compared to all the other dimensions of the brand love prototype, in the service. Consumers purchase products that self-enhance their own image, but for services, the self-brand integration may be more challenging to be perceived as relevant.

Anthropomorphized vs objectified brands: which brand version is more loved?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deal with the role of the human metaphor (anthropomorphism) and consumers’ liking for the humanized version of the brand as antecedents of three key components of brand love: self-brand integration, positive emotional connection and feelings of anticipated separation distress. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 399 consumers provided information about a brand from a stated list of 16 brands of clothing. Findings Both anthropomorphism and consumers’ liking for the humanized brand have positive effects on specific components of brand love. The results confirm that brand anthropomorphism is only desirable when the humanized version of the brand is attractive for consumers. Research limitations/implications A potential shortcoming is the qualitative technique employed to observe anthropomorphic thought. Collecting ratings of anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic traits could be viewed as a method more easily applied in market research surveys. Practical implications Managers have to control how consumers imagine the brand as a human entity because it affects brand love. For example, by tracking consumers’ opinions and traits of those people associated with the brand and brand user stereotypes can condition consumers’ imagination of the humanized brand. Originality/value Compared to the limited number of studies about the relationship between anthropomorphism and brand love, this study focuses on the effects of anthropomorphism as a process, and not as a personal trait, on brand love. It also relies on consumers’ imagination instead of brand personification strategies to stimulate anthropomorphism.