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Consumers send billions of messages with high ephemerality each day, yet the effects of this type of communication are relatively unknown. Online ephemeral communication refers to sending and receiving information with a predetermined, finite lifespan in computer-mediated environments. The purpose of this paper is to conceptually understand online marketing communications with high ephemerality relative to messages with low ephemerality within a consumer’s goal system.

This paper is an attempt to conceptually understand how high ephemerality differs from low ephemerality, particularly as online ephemeral communication has emerged and is widely used by consumers and firms. Goal systems theory is applied to understand how ephemerality is a means for consumers to reach their communication goals.

Consumers are more likely to use messages with high ephemerality to impress with narrowly relevant content, regulate emotions, build social relationships, persuade others through peripheral cues and protect privacy, but messages with high ephemerality are less likely to help consumers manage their impression, acquire or share useful information or present strong arguments. It is also proposed that messages with high ephemerality can help marketers increase interest through frequent peripheral cues, including fun and friendly content, drive sales by creating a sense of urgency and increase loyalty, but are less likely to increase awareness, build interest through flattering or informative content or drive sales through transactional messages.

This study primarily advances the goal systems literature by introducing ephemerality. The defining feature of ephemerality, lifespan, also has research implications for studies of word-of-mouth marketing. The propositions in this study are ready for empirical investigation as to when consumers and firms choose to send messages with low or high ephemerality.

Firms need to understand how consumers are using messages sent with low and high ephemerality in order for firms to best move consumers through the sales funnel.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to differentiate messages with low and high ephemerality, identify the presence and effects of ephemerality in offline and online communication and explain how and why sending messages with low or high ephemerality can help consumers and firms reach their communication goals. There is only one other paper in marketing on ephemerality in online marketing communications and no other conceptual work.

This study aims to examine consumers’ responses to crowdsourcing campaigns in the request initiation stage using the signaling theory from economics. The purpose of the research is threefold. First, it provides a comprehensive classification of various task types within crowdsourcing. Second, it conceptualizes crowdsourcing announcements as signals of customer orientation and empirically tests the differential effects of the two most common crowdsourcing task types (product- and communication-related) on customer orientation perceptions. Third, it illuminates the downstream behavioral consequences of crowdsourcing campaign announcements.

The authors conducted secondary data analysis of 883 crowdsourcing campaigns (pilot study) to provide evidence on the differential effects of crowdsourcing task types. In addition, four laboratory experiments were conducted to test the theoretical arguments. To test the main effect of crowdsourcing task types, Study 1A (N = 252 MTurk workers) used a one-factor (product- vs communication-related crowdsourcing vs control) between-subject design, whereas Study 1B (N = 171 undergraduate students) used a 2 (task type: product- vs communication-related) by 2 (product category: restaurant vs fashion) between-subject design. Study 2 (N = 93 MTurk workers) explored the underlying mechanism using a one-factor (product- vs communication-related) between-subject design. Study 3 (N = 375 MTurk workers) investigated the boundary condition for the effect of task type with a 2 (task type: product- vs communication-related) by 3 (company credibility: low vs neutral vs high) between-subject design.

The pilot study provides evidence for the conceptualized typology and the differential effects of crowdsourcing task types. Study 1A reveals that product-related crowdsourcing tends to have a more substantial impact than communication-related crowdsourcing on how customer-oriented consumers perceive a company. Study 1B validates the results of Study 1A in a different product category and population sample. Study 2 shows that the differential customer-orientation effect is mediated by the perceived cost of implementing the crowdsourcing outcome and unravels the differences in consumers’ purchase and campaign participation intentions depending on task type. Study 3 highlights that the customer-orientation effect attenuates as company credibility increases.

This research contributes to the crowdsourcing literature by categorizing the various types of crowdsourcing campaigns companies undertake and revealing the differential impact of the different types of crowdsourcing campaigns on consumers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions. In doing so, this research converges two lines of consumer research on crowdsourcing, i.e. product- and communication-related crowdsourcing. The findings add to the debate over the returns from research and development (R&D) versus advertising and extend it from marketing strategy to crowdsourcing literature.

The findings highlight the importance of choosing specific task types for crowdsourcing and lead to practical recommendations on designing crowdsourcing campaigns to maximize their benefits to crowdsourcing brands.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that differentiates crowdsourcing task types and compares their effectiveness from a consumer perspective.

Brands are investing heavily in content marketing within digital communication channels, yet there is limited understanding of the effectiveness of this content on consumer engagement. This paper aims to examine how consumer engagement with branded content is created through consumer-initiated online brand communities (OBCs) and brand-initiated digital content marketing (DCM) communications. Self-brand connections are examined as an important antecedent to the cognitive, affective, behavioural and social dimensions of consumer engagement and the subsequent impact of engagement on loyalty is explored across these two channels.

A survey approach was used with two consumer samples for one focal retail brand, namely, a consumer-initiated OBC (Facebook) and email subscribers of the retail brand’s DCM communications. A multi-group analysis of structural invariance procedure was used to comparatively examine the formation of engagement for consumers within the OBC and DCM channels.

This study demonstrates the different ways in which engagement forms across different digital communication channels. Self-brand connection (SBC) was found to strongly drive behavioural, cognitive, affective and social engagement. The cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement was found to mediate the self-brand connection and consumer loyalty relationship. Overall, this relationship was most strongly and significantly mediated by affective and cognitive engagement within the OBC channel when compared to the DCM channel.

The findings of this study should be interpreted with several limitations in mind. First, the research was conducted within the confines of one OBC, within one social networking site platform characterised by self-selected membership based on a passion and immersion with the brand. This means that consumers within the OBC were highly connected to one another and the retail brand and highly socialised in-group norms and mores. This type and intensity of connection may not be the case for all forms of OBCs. Second, this study was limited to one retail brand, from one brand category. Future research should examine OBCs across a range of utilitarian and hedonic brands to comprehensively contextualise the dimensions of engagement. Third, the data for this study was cross-sectional. The use of netnographic analysis and qualitative interviews across a range of OBCs would support the triangulation of the findings of this research, especially with regard to the narrative that consumers’ express when discussing how their SBC manifests through the dimensions of engagement. Fourth, this study explored a single antecedent of engagement, namely, self-brand connections. Future research may consider how SBC operates in conjunction with other complementary factors to enhance consumers’ affective, cognitive, social and behavioural engagement such as brand awareness, satisfaction and participation/interactivity. In addition, future research could examine an expanded array of engagement outcomes such as purchase intention, the share of wallet and reputation. Finally, future research should examine the operationalisation and validation of the dimensions of engagement using multiple competing scales to assess the suitability of these engagement scales across multiple brand categories and contexts.

Given the increasing investment in branding within social media and the fragmentation of brand communications across multiple communications platforms, the management of effective brand communications remains a significant challenge. This study found that the relationship between self-brand connections, affective, social, behavioural and cognitive engagement and loyalty was context-specific and moderated by a digital communication channel (OBC vs DCM email marketing), thus providing insights as to the effectiveness of OBCs and DCMs as two tools for enhancing consumer loyalty.

This study makes a novel contribution to the engagement literature by examining the antecedent role of self-brand connections in predicting consumers’ engagement; the moderating role of digital communication platforms (OBC vs DCM) on the formation of cognitive, affective, behavioural and social engagement; and the mediating effect of these dimensions on loyalty.

This article aims to investigate young people's opinions and attitudes towards companies' engagement and communication about corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The study employs a survey designed to uncover the underlying attitudes and values guiding young consumers' perception and evaluation of companies' engagement in and communication about CSR. The respondents are Danish students enrolled in eight different types of further or higher education.

The survey shows that consumers are interested in and expect more explicit CSR communication than currently assumed by corporations and academics alike. They favour communication that is personally relevant and factually based, and consumer scepticism is not as high as suggested by current literature. The findings reflect that the value system guiding CSR evaluation and perception is not based on moral aspects and social, society‐centred values. On the contrary, consumers' focus tends to be on competence and personal, self‐centred values, which has implications for the challenge of communicating CSR.

The findings provide new insights that can inform corporations in their planning and execution of CSR communication aimed at young consumers.

This paper provides empirical evidence that corporations communicating CSR should have a much more externally oriented and explicit approach focusing on competence and self‐centred values instead of on morality and society‐centred values. This will allow them to create a healthy balance between what they can offer and what consumers demand.

Corporations communicate CSR policies through a variety of methods, and the goal of the study is to explore young adult consumers’ communication preferences and the implications for managers to effectively communicate CSR to boost their corporate brand image and reputation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Set within the context of the UK supermarket industry, the study adopts a qualitative research approach and a purposeful sampling method, collecting data from 30 young adult consumers in the south-east of the UK. The data collection method used was online bulletin board focus groups, face-to-face focus groups, face-to-face interviews and an online questionnaire. Research propositions are developed, evaluated and synthesized into a conceptual framework.

The findings show that interactive CSR communication functions as an effective method of improving consumers’ emotional brand value, knowledge and memory of supermarket CSR. The findings have the potential to induce a more positive perception by young adults of supermarket CSR corporate brand image and reputation.

The implications for theory development are in the under-researched area of interactive CSR communication.

The research provides practical strategic recommendations regarding effective communications to help guide managers in their planning and execution of their CSR endeavours.

The research provides new empirical insights into theory and knowledge of interactive CSR communication and how supermarkets can communicate CSR in a manner, which is appealing and engaging for young adult consumers, therefore more likely to strengthen their perception of a supermarket corporate brand image and reputation.

The paper seeks to examine the role of consumer representation in communications policymaking with a focus on the UK. It aims to review the role of the Communications Consumer Panel and to argue that there is an important role to play for a consumer advocate due to behavioural biases, information overload, and market failure.

The paper is based on analysis of all relevant reports and documentation published by the Ofcom Consumer Panel, as well as participant observation carried out by the author as a member of the panel. It also analyses switching data to make the case that the communications sector may be unique in terms of the low levels of switching between suppliers.

The paper finds that there is an ongoing role for a consumer advocate in media and communications and that this body should be independent of government and the regulatory agency.

The limitation of this research is that it focuses principally on only one sector, though it does reference a literature that covers other sectors, and in a paper of this length full comparison of other sectors would be impossible.

The paper suggests that the communications sector would be well served by its own separate consumer representation body and that this should have close links to, but be independent of, Ofcom.

This paper has relevance to consumer representation in communications regulation and policy in countries beyond the UK. It examines the peculiarity of the communications market and the particular difficulties consumers face in fast moving technically challenging markets.

The paper examines a particularly important sector of consumer representation at a time when policy on a new regulatory structure is being set. It offers the perspective of a researcher who has also been a member of the Consumer panel, and, as such, it provides valuable insight at a crucial time.

To explain and empirically test how different marketing communication channels interact with each other and contribute to brands’ diverging marketplace performance.

With a unique data set combining key variables of major passenger car brands, the paper takes a source-based perspective to investigate how firm-based communications, expert opinions and online consumer reviews interact and affect brands’ marketplace performance. Then the paper studies the three special boundary conditions under which online consumer reviews’ influence varies in competition with the other two established information sources. Lastly, a study was done to demonstrate the financial significance of investing in different information sources.

The results show that online consumer reviews mitigate the effectiveness of the other two information sources in driving brand sales. This mitigation effect is also magnified when the brand is weak, firm-based communications are modest and expert opinions are less favorable. The findings further suggest that in the emerging communication enterprise, firm-based and expert-based communications remain the core while user-based communication plays an indispensable competing and complementary role.

In the new digital era, firms are facing the daunting task of understanding and integrating multiple communication channels. The study provides important implications for both researchers and practitioners with respect to brand management and integrated communications.

Existing studies have demonstrated that each of the three communication efforts (by firms, experts and consumers) exerts a significant influence on product sales, but few studies have been conducted in settings marked by the coexistence of these efforts. In addition, the three communication efforts are likely to have different effects on brands with different market positions. The current study is contributing to the literature by filling the above gaps.

Purpose: This study examines sustainability communication’s direct and indirect effects on consumer loyalty and brand reputation. It also aims to identify sustainable practices that enhance consumer behaviour and brand reputation.

Methodology: The study used a cross-sectional survey design and collected data from 500 participants through an online survey. The survey included measures of sustainability communication, consumer loyalty, brand reputation, and demographic variables. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesised relationships between the variables.

Findings: The results of the SEM analysis suggest that sustainability communication has a direct and positive effect on consumer loyalty, which in turn positively impacts reputation. Furthermore, the study identifies specific sustainability practices, such as reducing the carbon footprint and promoting ethical sourcing, that can positively influence consumer behaviour and brand reputation.

Implications: The study underscores the significance of adept sustainability communication for fostering consumer loyalty and boosting brand reputation. Focusing on initiatives like loyalty programs and personalised offers can harness this connection. Additionally, the research identifies critical sustainable practices – carbon reduction, ethical sourcing, and renewable energy investment – that foster positive consumer behaviour and brand reputation.

Originality/value: This study provides new insights into the mechanisms by which sustainability communication can influence consumer behaviour and brand reputation. The study identifies the importance of consumer loyalty as a mediator between sustainability communication and brand reputation. It recommends companies seeking to enhance their brand reputation through sustainability practices.

The clean beauty phenomenon is gaining momentum and beauty brands are getting creative with on-pack sustainability claims. With the increasing focus on sustainability from both brands and consumers, sustainability communication has the potential to raise the profile of sustainable production and consumption. Further attention is needed on the creative approach behind on-pack sustainability marketing communications as companies no longer focus on single eco labels but instead use a bundle of claims to advertise their commitment to sustainability which finds consumers confused and brands open to accusations of greenwashing. This chapter explores on-pack sustainability communications in the beauty industry through the lenses of creative marketing communications which need to be both original and appropriate. This study contributes to the longstanding debate on the role of sustainability claims in marketing communications and addresses the role of on-pack sustainability claims design and creativity.

Furniture is among the important personal consumption expenditures for durable goods in the USA. Retailers and manufacturers offer different communication channels to assist consumers all through the process of acquiring furniture. The objective of the present study is to evaluate US consumers' channel use at different steps of the residential furniture‐buying process.

A cross‐section study was conducted by taking advantage of the structured nature of quantitative methods using a questionnaire for data collection and a socio‐demographic representative sample of US citizens. Consumers' use of six communication channels through five buying decision steps was assessed.

Results showed that the furniture retail store is the most important communication channel at each of the five considered buying process stages. Overall score of that channel was higher for females than males, indicating that women care more about communication when buying furniture. The internet was not of significant importance when buying furniture. Advertising was perceived as a significant means to gather information.

The study will help to orient companies' marketing strategies by making proper use of communication channels. It also shows marketing students the present state of consumers' communication channel preferences.

This paper gives unique insights into consumers' buying behavior that will help to design communication channels properly.