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This study investigates the impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes, as mediated by brand warmth and brand competence, and moderated by power distance belief.

This study employs two one-factor (brand strategy: open branding vs closed branding) between-subject experimental designs and a 2 × 2, namely (open branding vs closed branding) × (power distance belief: high vs low) between-subject experimental design to test the hypotheses.

The study indicates that open branding can enhance consumer brand attitudes, and that brand warmth and brand competence mediate the impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes. Furthermore, power distance beliefs (PDB) moderated these relationships. Specifically, the impact of open branding on consumers brand attitudes is stronger for consumers with low PDB than for those with high PDB.

Brand managers should consider adopting an open branding strategy to enhance consumers brand attitudes when encountering consumers’ unauthorized use of brand-related intellectual property. Additionally, when implementing an open-branding strategy, brand managers should use appropriate language to enhance consumers’ perceptions of brand warmth and brand competence.

This study contributes to the interactive marketing literature by empirically examining the impact of open branding on consumer brand attitudes. Furthermore, it investigates the underlying mechanism of how and the boundary conditions when open branding increases consumer brand attitudes, enriching the current knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to add new insights into the discussion of how a city’s destination marketing organization (DMO) can apply operand resources to act upon its operant resources to create, market and manage a unique brand over time.

This study uses an abductive approach to advance understanding of how to execute a branding strategy that evolves over time while strategically curating its unique and valued resources. This understanding is based on an in-depth review of Louisville’s branding journey, including written documents and interviews with people involved in building the branding strategy.

This paper presents a model to help destinations focus on how to create, market and manage the delivery of a branded ecosystem that capitalizes on its resources. This study adds new insights into how DMOs can curate a destination’s resources into an ecosystem that delivers its brand promise over time.

This study introduces the idea of ecotopes to expand an understanding of tourism ecosystems, presents the concept of a customer journey to depict a destination’s branding strategy, incorporates Barney's resource based theory (Barney and Clark, 2007) into the process of creating a destination’s brand and applies Barnard’s (1938) classic acceptance theory of authority to explain how DMOs can execute a destination’s branding strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the differences in employer branding between the companies that participate and those that do not participate in employer ranking.

Quantitative data were collected through a survey from 188 companies operating on the Russian labour market. Descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the collected data.

The findings revealed specific profiles of the companies that participated and did not participate in employer ranking. Companies differed in their employer branding orientation, internal branding, employer branding strategy, employer branding programmes and employer branding communications tasks. At the same time, brand orientation did not differ between participants and non-participants of employer ranking.

This study integrates the employer brand equity theory and the signalling theory to better explain the differences between participants and non-participants of employer ranking.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between being an inclusive city and branding oneself as such, as more cities adopt the inclusive city concept as part of their brand identity.

This paper builds theory by introducing a typology that categorizes cities based on their level of inclusion and degree of branding, supplemented by an analysis of the branding practices and identities. Integrating the literature on inclusive city and city branding, with a specific focus on the inherent conflict between their sharing and competing attributes, this research postulates that a city may choose to engage in being inclusive and branding itself as such in various ways depending on its dominant motivations of altruism or entrepreneurialism.

Four distinct types of inclusive city branding are identified: inclusion ambassadors (high inclusion and high branding); innate champions (high inclusion and low branding); façade marketers (low inclusion and high branding); and silent segregators (low inclusion and low branding). Furthermore, it underscores that inclusive city branding is shaped by the interplay of entrepreneurialism and altruism, not just a city’s inclusion. Different branding practices, such as media-generated images, narratives and events, are emphasized when entrepreneurialism is the primary motivation, whereas iconic architecture buildings, flagship projects and long-term policies are more associated with altruism.

This study develops a typology to unravel the paradoxical aspects of inclusive city branding. Examining the intersection of city branding motivations and practices enriches existing literature. Moreover, its findings offer valuable insights for cities grappling with the implementation of contentious inclusive branding strategies, thereby bridging theory with practical applications.

While brand purpose has gained traction in academia and industry, it overlaps with other socially-oriented branding concepts, generating confusion and criticism around what brand purpose is and how it should be implemented. This study aims to clarify conceptualisations of brand purpose and related concepts, developing a managerial framework for effective implementation and contributing a future research agenda for scholars.

The paper presents the results of a systematic literature review on brand purpose, exploring the current knowledge. A total of 202 studies from 75 journals were drawn from a wide range of databases and met the identified criteria relevant to brand purpose, published up to and including 2023. Full papers were empirically analysed using qualitative iterative thematic analysis to identify common and emerging themes and synthesise this into a framework.

Beyond identifying the diverse applications of brand purpose, the BEING framework is proposed. This acronym captures five principles of brand purpose: beyond profit, enduring commitment, integrated values, nurturing stakeholders and genuine action.

The BEING framework provides clear managerial guidance for implementing brand purpose, urging brand leaders to enact meaningful brand purpose and champion purpose within organisations.

As more brands pursue a higher purpose, this research elucidates the meaning of brand purpose and offers an actionable framework for brands to contribute to a better world.

This work examines the related branding concepts, clarifying the brand purpose concept and offering the BEING framework to articulate essential components of effective brand purpose.

This study aims to provide nuanced insights into the effectiveness of digital outdoor advertising in redefining urban tourism appeal. Amidst a transformative era for urban tourism and city branding strategies, this study evaluates Tecoration’s influence on city branding and tourism promotion frameworks. Using the “Wave” digital outdoor advertising campaign in Seoul as a focal point, this analysis explores how such innovative marketing efforts reshape potential tourists’ perceptions and intentions toward visiting Seoul.

The study uses a bifurcated methodological framework. The initial phase undertakes a granular topical analysis, decoding keyword patterns from YouTube video commentaries, offering an unmediated insight into viewer sentiment. This is juxtaposed with a structural equation modeling technique in the subsequent phase, which serves to validate and triangulate the findings of the primary analysis.

The study reveals that viewer reactions, imbued with a sense of surprise attributable to both the content’s novelty and the technological innovation, exhibit a strong correlation with increased media engagement. This enhanced engagement significantly influences the viewers’ overall perception of the city, culminating in a marked increase in their intentions to visit Seoul.

The findings have transformative implications for city branding strategies, accentuating the potential of digital outdoor mediums. The study advocates for a paradigm shift that underscores the indispensability of Tecoration in elevating urban brand imagery and catalyzing the broader objectives of smart city metamorphosis, urban tourism rejuvenation and commercial growth trajectories.

The results of this research highlight the transformative potential of digital outdoor media in city branding. The findings suggest a shift in strategy, emphasizing the critical role of Tecoration in enhancing urban brand imagery, driving smart city development, revitalizing urban tourism and fostering commercial growth. This study underscores the strategic importance of integrating Tecoration into the urban branding framework, showcasing its vital contribution to the growth and dynamism of modern cities.

The findings of this study highlight the social implications of integrating Tecoration media in urban environments. By enhancing city branding and tourism through innovative digital signage, cities can foster a more vibrant and attractive urban atmosphere, promoting community pride and engagement. Additionally, the increased visitor traffic can boost local economies and support cultural exchange, contributing to the overall social and economic well-being of urban areas. Strategic use of digital outdoor advertising can also bridge the gap between technological advancements and public spaces, creating more interactive and inclusive urban experiences for residents and tourists alike.

This study embraces a viewer-centric perspective, delving into the relatively uncharted realms of surprise and media engagement within the digital consumption landscape. By adopting this innovative angle, the research significantly deepens the comprehension of viewer experiences and broadens the academic boundaries concerning city branding and media effect frameworks in management literature.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gaining recognition and value among researchers, academicians and business professionals. Drawing on theories of social identity and person–organisation fit, the present research propounds a model that investigates the role of CSR branding in influencing employee retention.

The paper is based on primary survey data from 348 employees working in organisations in the Indian industrial hubs. The study uses the regression and PROCESS macro model to analyse relationship among study variables.

The study indicated how CSR initiatives could help organisations handle the threat of high turnover storm all over the world, thereby retaining the employees with a high set of skills. Moreover, the paper connotes that employee retention is influenced directly by CSR branding as well as indirectly under the presence of organisational identification and person–organisation fit (mediators).

Results suggest the role of a positive identity and a mutual fit as significant predictors of employee retention. The implications for future research on CSR, employees' stay intentions, employees' identification and value congruence are further discussed in light of the findings.

The novelty of this research insists on shedding light on the indirect mechanisms linking CSR to employee retention that has been overlooked so far, particularly in the Indian setting; studies on an integrated model of organisational identification and person–organisation fit are limited.

This paper aims to provide conceptual clarity on the different approaches of place branding in the literature. It discusses three main approaches and provides a new definition of place brands that acknowledges the full multi-sensory experience of place brands. This paper also elaborates brand management within the three approaches.

Conceptual paper

This study identifies three co-existing approaches of place branding and provides a definition of place brands for each of them. The first approach conceptualises place brands as symbolic constructs that identify and differentiate places from others. Brand symbols such as logos and slogans are central, assuming that brand meaning resides in them. The second approach views place brands as images and associations in the minds of target groups, whereby brands reside in individuals’ minds (the cognitive). This paper aligns with a third approach that views place brands as experiential, multi-sensory constructs. Brands invite not only mental representations in people’s minds but especially also multi-sensory embodied experiences. The authors thus define place brands as marketing systems that consist of dynamic performative assemblages of symbolic, discursive, institutional and material elements that selectively invite certain multi-sensory and embodied experiences of place by stakeholders and target groups.

This paper contributes to conceptual clarity by providing an analytical framework identifying three main approaches to place branding. The authors further reflect on the implications of each approach for brand management. This paper also builds on recent literatures to provide a new and contemporary definition of place brands as multi-sensory experiences that encompasses embodiment.

This study aims to examine the effect of Muslim consumers’ religiosity on their brand verdict regarding clothing brands, through the mediating role of decision-making style, brand status and brand attitude.

Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected from 200 clothing buyers in Mashhad, one of Iran’s religious cities.

The results indicate that intrapersonal religiosity, compared to interpersonal religiosity, has a more significant effect on Muslim consumers’ decision-making styles, and different decision-making styles of Muslim consumers affect their brand verdict through brand status and brand attitude.

The research sample consists solely of respondents from the Islamic religion. Therefore, the impact of religiosity might differ among individuals from other religions, such as Christianity and Judaism.

This study’s findings are crucial for clothing brands, both national and international, that cater to the Muslim customers’ market. They need to consider the degree of religiosity when segmenting and targeting their market. This study shows that clothing brand marketers can best influence the brand verdict of Muslim consumers by targeting those with a brand-loyal decision-making style, focusing on their religious beliefs.

To achieve success in Iran’s Muslim market, marketers must consider their consumers’ religious beliefs and tailor their marketing plans accordingly. This study aims to investigate the impact of religiosity on consumer behavior toward brands in Iran’s Muslim market.

While the value of stakeholder involvement in destination marketing and branding has been emphasized, little research has been conducted on the inner workings of collaborative initiatives. Based on the case of the Athens Tourism Partnership, Greece, this study aims to map the value co-creation process as it unfolds in joint destination marketing and branding initiatives.

To capture the way partners collaborated to create the brand of the city, this study collected data through participant observation and analyzed it using Classical Grounded Theory principles.

The study reveals the different types of relationships and their characteristics that develop when an airline-airport-destination authority partnership is established to enhance destination brand and the potential dynamics of the collaborative initiatives.

The FiNE framework has been developed and can guide stakeholders who wish to collaborate to co-create the destination brand. This study offers theoretical and practical implications for destination authorities and tourism stakeholders to initiate, manage and implement collaborative initiatives that may empower the destination brand and deliver win-win outcomes.