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The objective of this research is to understand and compare the perceived brand positioning of two football megabrands (Adidas and Nike) for a specific social group, the registered amateur football players in France, using the social representation theory (SRT) as the theoretical framework and the free word associations as the main method.

A survey was conducted through face-to-face questionnaire among a convenience sample of registered amateur football players in France (n = 362) and for which 52 percent chose Adidas and 48 percent Nike.

Findings demonstrated that Adidas and Nike have a different perceived brand positioning for the registered amateur football players in France. Adidas is perceived as more typical and positioned “inside the football ground” through main characteristics of its football goods for training and competition. Nike is more positioned “outside the football ground” through their sportswear goods for daily life and fashion.

The interest of this research is to be primarily inductive and focus on a specific group (membership of registered amateur football players) to understand the perceived brand positioning in the football market. The method allows activating the belonging with this group (higher level of practice with these brands) by using the SRT method of free word associations. Thanks to this original approach, results could help managers of Nike and Adidas reinforce their brand positioning and gain market share, as well as build their specific brand community like both megabrands did for the runners in France.

This chapter compares two protected natural parks as specific experiential contexts providing two different experiences for visitors: extraordinary and memorable versus ordinary and mundane (Carù & Cova, 2006, 2007). Each experiential context enables the distinction of actual visitors’ experiences (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) inside each park. A qualitative study collected information to differentiate each protected natural park based on three dimensions: the geophysical environment, the recreational practices, and product and service offer management. A quantitative study analyzed the effect of a specific experiential context through a comparison of actual visitors’ experiences on four dimensions (esthetics, escapism, education, and entertainment) in both countries (500 in each country). Results of the qualitative study show that the Taiwanese park provides an experiential context with more extraordinary and memorable experiences while the French park provides an experiential context with more ordinary and mundane experiences. The results of the quantitative study show the distinction of actual visitors’ experiences inside each park: more immersion through esthetics and escapism in Taiwan and more absorption through education and entertainment in France. Each park manager has to build one’s own positioning and should offer a unique experiential context based on the three dimensions to provide more extraordinary and memorable or more ordinary and mundane experiences. this study highlights the interest of an analysis framework of experiences adapted from Carù and Cova (2006, 2007) and Pine and Gilmore (1999) underlining the link between experiential context and actual experiences.

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of atmosphere on consumer emotions and wine purchasing behaviours to assist winery management in the development and communication of a strong positioning strategy. Studies in retail have indicated the importance of atmosphere in relation to consumer emotions and behaviours. Until now, limited evidence has existed on how the three dimensions of atmosphere may influence consumers visiting wineries.

The study consisted of surveys conducted in two stages. The first survey (n = 170) explored the factors applied in this study, and the second survey (n = 377) analysed the relationship between the atmosphere, emotions and consumer purchasing behaviours at wineries.

Findings indicated that atmosphere at a winery has the potential to positively influence consumer emotions and wine purchasing behaviours. Live music and the natural environment were particularly formative of atmosphere and consumer emotions and their subsequent wine purchasing while visiting the winery. The distinction allowed this study to analyse factors important for consumers to increase the time they spent at the winery.

The geographical location of the study is limited to one state in Australia.

In distinguishing between different consumer wine purchasing behaviours, drinking wine and buying wine, this paper contributed to three important intersectoral fields: wine tourism, atmosphere and consumer behaviour. Additional factors that contributed to consumer emotions and wine purchasing behaviours included live music and the natural environment at wineries.