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The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between the attributes of Olympic mascots and their impact on sponsorship effectiveness. Based on a multiattribute model and the introduction of engagement theory and the meaning transfer model, this article uses the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics mascot “Bing Dwen Dwen” as the research object to empirically analyze the effects and mechanisms of the mascot's attributes on preference, event engagement, sponsorship enterprise trust and sponsorship enterprise attitude, ultimately constructing a sponsorship effectiveness model.

The survey method was used to examine 238 respondents' emotions and attitudes towards companies participating in sponsoring Olympic mascots.

The study found that the main attributes of the mascot include visual and emotional factors, both of which have a positive impact on preference, with emotional factors having a greater influence than visual factors. Visual and emotional factors indirectly affect engagement through preference. Preference and engagement play a completely mediating role in the effect of mascot attributes on sponsorship enterprise trust and sponsorship enterprise attitude.

This study provides practical recommendations for managers to achieve marketing success in sports sponsorship through mascots.

This paper provides a measurement tool for the study of mascot attributes and important support for subsequent research in sponsorship marketing.

This study aims to investigate what the crucial elements are when it comes to using a mascot to brand a destination. This study applies the proposed framework of “mascot usage for destination branding” to two mascot cases, namely, Kumamon and Sukjai. In particular, the Kumamon mascot is first investigated, looking at how it is used to promote Kumamoto, one of the key cities in Kyushu, Japan. Sukjai, another mascot, is then analysed in a similar light. The dominant factors that lead to the success of Kumamon mascot are analysed on the case of Sukjai mascot. The disparity between the two mascot cases allows for a better understanding of the dimensions and practices or lack thereof, that can occur in mascot creation and implementation.

A qualitative methodology is applied, and thematic and content analyses are applied to the three data sources, namely, secondary data collection from different data sources in the English and Japanese languages; researcher onsite observation in Kumamoto; and an in-depth interview with purposive sampling experts.

The findings indicate that according to the proposed framework, Kumamon has shown all three elements of the framework, namely, promoting destination identity and personality, creating differentiation for the location and having strong stakeholder involvement. On the other hand, these elements were found not to be as strong in the Sukjai case. The findings from the case comparison determine several underlining factors, including the national culture, which can help or hinder in laying the groundwork for the successful application of a mascot in destination branding.

This study complements the previous literature on mascot branding and elaborates on the framework of mascot usage for destination branding based on a combination of the three proposed elements.

The purpose of this paper is to review Olympic mascots in the electronic and traditional communications environments.

Olympic mascots from 2006 to 2012 are analyzed using a descriptive semiotic analysis technique.

Results found that none of the 2006-2012 mascots clearly represented the two most recognizable icons of the Olympic movement, the Olympic Rings and the Olympic Flame. The association of the London 2012 mascots with the Olympic Games are found to be limited.

This research sets the stage for a number of future studies to further assess the management issues, social benefits, and potential missteps regarding mascots at the Olympic Games and other mega-events.

The practitioner of today working for a mega-event like the Olympic Games needs to be aware of the potential benefits and inherent risks of developing and implementing a mascot.

This research is the first to look specifically at Olympic mascots in the electronic age and contrast their use to traditional communications.

This study aims to investigate the impact of both physical and personality-related anthropomorphic features of an artificial intelligence service robot on the cognitive and affective appraisals and acceptance of consumers during service delivery.

The proposed hypotheses that investigate the effects of service robots’ physical appearance on the emphasis consumers place on each evaluation criteria they use in determining their willingness to accept the use of service robots in service delivery and the moderating role of sense of humor are tested by conducting two studies using scenario-based experiments.

The results show that humanlike appearance leads to higher performance expectancy, mascot-like appearance generates higher positive emotions and machine-like appearance results in higher effort expectancy. The effects of humanlike and mascot-like appearances on consumer acceptance are moderated by the sense of humor of service robots. However, the sense of humor effect is attenuated with a machine-like appearance owing to the lack of anthropomorphism.

This study provides crucial insights for hospitality managers who plan to use service robots in service delivery. The findings highlight the key roles of appearance type and sense of humor of service robots in influencing the appraisals and acceptance of consumers regarding the use of service robots in service delivery.

This study focuses on comparing the effects of traditional and mascot-like appearances of service robots on consumer appraisals and identifies sense of humor as a cute anthropomorphized personality trait of service robots.

This paper aims to describe the University of Idaho Library's efforts to develop instructional videos starring the school mascot, Joe Vandal, and integrate these videos across the curriculum using the university's course management system. Video development, implementation in library instruction courses, and student and faculty assessment are discussed.

The video creation process is described thoroughly, with an eye towards best practices, for those libraries that may wish to develop their own videos. Applications for implementation outside library instruction are also discussed.

Although costly, professional‐quality videos are an engaging and effective way to reach students. Students at the University of Idaho found the library's instructional videos, starring the school mascot, to be entertaining, informative, and easy to understand.

The longitudinal effect of the videos on information literacy instruction has yet to be determined. Future research should study the efficacy of the videos by evaluating the book‐finding ability of control groups of students who have viewed the video and those who have not.

The increasing ubiquity of film‐making software and of video‐hosting sites makes video a more attractive vehicle for information literacy concepts than ever before. Instructional videos are especially relevant when used by those libraries which wish to integrate materials into a course management system.

Although using video for library instruction is not a new concept, creating instructional videos starring the school mascot in the role of the information‐seeker is unique.

The intent of this article is to show why the use of Native American mascots, logos, and nicknames by sports teams perpetuates depictions that are perceived as harmful and racist by Native Americans.

This article examines data from published research, personal correspondence, and essays by Native Americans so that non‐natives can understand the issue from the native perspective. It also calls into question previous communication efforts that may have limited the voices of Native Americans.

By examining the meaning of warriors and other cultural symbols for Native Americans and by exploring the different views of sports between natives and non‐natives, the article shows why it is unacceptable to ignore the native voice. It also demonstrates that it is possible for a sports team with a native identity to successfully change its brand image.

Marketers, consumers, owners of sports teams, universities, and members of outside organizations can be better informed as to why Native Americans have asked for an end to this practice. Marketers can also understand why the objections go far beyond political correctness and are part of a human rights issue.

The article helps stakeholders understand why privileging a revenue stream over the impact on human rights is an example of misplaced marketing.

Front-of-packaging (FOP) is a critical branding tool that uses “cues” to communicate product attributes and establish distinct brand images. This paper aims to understand how food brands utilize cues and their relative proportions to hierarchically communicate brand image and belonging to particular subcategories.

A content analysis is used for analysing 543 food FOPs sold in Australia (breakfast cereals, chips, snack bars). Samples are collected and classified into product sub-categories defined by ingredients, consumer-audience and retail placement. A novel 10 × 10 coding grid is applied to each FOP to objectively analyse cue proportion, with statistical comparison undertaken between sub-categories.

Results reveal intrinsic cues are favoured over extrinsic cues, except for those in the eatertainment sub-category. Hierarchies are evidenced that treat product and branding cues as primary, with health cues secondary. Statistically significant differences in cue proportions are consistently evident across breakfast cereals, chips and snack-bar FOPs. Clear differentiation is evidenced through cue proportions on FOP for health/nutrition focused sub-categories and eatertainment foods.

“Cue utilization theory” research is extended to an evaluation of brand encoding (not consumer decoding). Design conventions reveal how cue proportions establish a dialogue of communicating brand/product image hierarchically, the trade-offs that occur, a “meso-level” to Gestalt theory, and achieving categorization through FOP cue proportions. Deeper understanding of packaging design techniques provides inter-disciplinary insights that extend consumer behaviour, retailing and design scholarship.

The purpose of this paper is to present the theoretical conceptualisation that led to the communication improvements needed for water polo in Greece. The paper also studies the implementation process. The proposed improvements were: (a) arrangement of symbols on the Players' caps; (b) addition of team logo and name on players' caps; (c) redesign of players' caps; (d) addition of colour to players' caps; and (e) introduction of a full-body swimsuit. The result was that all but one (e) of the proposed modifications was implemented and adopted during the 1996-2000 National League periods of the Greek men's water polo Division A1.

Disputes are now considered endemic in the construction industry. They often arise from the poor resolution of claims in the course of construction projects. Efforts have been geared towards reducing the incidence of claims. These efforts are of two kinds: those that seek answers from basic principles and legal issues at the pre‐construction phase and those that attempt to solve the problems through claims management procedures at the construction phase. This paper reviews the developments in claims management and highlights the deficiencies in current claims management approaches. It focuses on the need for improvement of the efficiency of claims negotiation and suggests the use of multiagent systems as an approach to achieve it. The potential benefits of the suggested approach are discussed in the concluding section of the paper.

Reports on the background to research into the use of structured methods in the manufacturing domain. Discusses the systems techniques available – SSADM, LBMS, CCTA – and methods such as MASCOT, YSM, and IDEF. Surmises that while use of the above techniques is profitable a number of criticisms can be made: jargon, over‐rigourousness, and neglect of the factory environment the system will become a part of.