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This paper aims to identify and compare the graphical shapes and meanings attributed to place/city by the designer/creative/author of a city visual identity (VI) and by the client and designer’s peers.

To identify and compare the graphical shapes and meanings attributed to place/city by the designer/creative/author of a city VI and by the client and designer’s peers.

This paper analysed the way the visual culture of different stakeholders influenced the process and the construction of the iconographic meanings. Secondly, this paper assessed how the design tools impacted the creative process in that specific context.

A demanding involvement of more participants in the design process can be worthy for a VI outcome. Visual identity of a city is both designer’s creative as a political process. The several aesthetical options decisions implied adaptation, trade-offs and negotiations.

This research explains how the design tools and forms were used in the creative process of designers when conceiving the VI of a place. This research also reveals how a design work can have an effective impact on the sensory qualities emanating from city brands which are recognized by tourists and citizens. The consideration of the designer’s tools makes a relevant contribution to understand some underlying procedural issues.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents and consequences of social media fashion influencer's (SMFI) diffusion of fashion information. This study proposes and examines following research questions: What motivates SMFI to share fashion information? In what way shared fashion information impact SMFI?

This study uses semi-structured interviews with SMFI to learn about their relationships with followers. It then conducts a survey of 510 SMFI in Portugal. The data are analyzed by structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that intrinsic motivation can develop a SMFIs' fashion leadership, while the SMFIs' perceived usability of fashion blogs does not. The authors also find a self-serving bias among SMFI.

SMFIs' fashion leadership is associated with the intrinsic motivations of sharing and helping other consumers make fashion decisions, which indicates that marketers can improve their results through using opinion SMFI to assist fashion consumers in purchasing decisions. Further studies should explore the processes adopted by fashion consumers to evaluate SMFI.

This study helps to understand the antecedents and consequences of fashion diffusion by SMFIs. In particular, the research helps the marketers to understand how the bonds between SMFIs and followers are nurtured.

This paper aims to examine the mediating role of brand satisfaction and brand trust in brand equity antecedents and outcomes through an empirical investigation of brand equity elements.

A survey was conducted in Pune and Mumbai, two prominent cities of India. A structured questionnaire focussed on garnering responses on measuring brand equity antecedents and outcomes was circulated to the cell phone users. The questionnaire aimed to assess the role of two additional variables, namely, brand satisfaction and brand trust, in the existing and the conceptual model of brand equity (Keller, 2001). Based on the data analysis, a structural equations path and the mediating model were developed.

The findings of this study show that the new brand equity model is highly relevant in predicting brand equity as compared to the existing brand equity model (Keller, 2001). The brand equity mediation model clearly elucidates the role of brand trust and brand satisfaction.

With reference to a theoretical contribution, the study broadens the existing hypothetical model of brand equity. The findings of this research provide a strategic and analytical model for brand managers to build brand relationships among their consumers.

The present study challenges the existing model of brand equity (Keller, 2001) and further makes an effort to fill in the gaps in the existing theoretical model of brand equity.

Este documento tiene como objetivo examinar el papel mediador de la satisfacción con la marca y la confianza con la marca en los antecedentes y resultados de la equidad de marca a través de una investigación empírica de los elementos de equidad de marca.

Se realizó una encuesta en Pune y Mumbai, dos ciudades prominentes de la India. Se distribuyó a los usuarios de teléfonos móviles un cuestionario estructurado centrado en obtener respuestas para medir los antecedentes y resultados del valor de marca. El objetivo del cuestionario era recoger información para evaluar el papel de dos variables adicionales, la satisfacción con la marca y la confianza en la marca en el modelo existente y conceptual del valor de marca (Keller, 2001). El análisis de datos se llevó a cabo a través de la metodología de ecuaciones estructurales y modelo de mediación.

Los hallazgos de este estudio muestran que el nuevo modelo de equidad de marca es muy relevante para predecir el valor de marca en comparación con el modelo de marca existente (Keller, 2001). El modelo de mediación de la equidad de marca aclara el rol de la confianza y la satisfacción con la marca.

En relación a la contribución teórica, el estudio amplía el modelo existente de valor de marca. Los resultados de esta investigación proporcionan un modelo estratégico y analítico para que los gerentes creen relaciones de marca entre sus consumidores.

El presente estudio desafía el modelo existente de equidad de marca (Keller, 2001) y además hace un esfuerzo por llenar los vacíos en el modelo teórico existente de equidad de marca.

Equidad de marca, Satisfacción con la marca, Confianza en la marca, Análisis de ecuaciones estructurales, Análisis de mediación

Artículo de investigación

This study aims to investigate the reliability of a mystery client (MC) as a service evaluation technique taking into consideration personal differences of the MC agents.

The ratings from 144 MCs from 355 evaluations of computer and electronic stores were cross analyzed with eight psychographic and demographic profile variables.

MCs who were highly involved in the product category were more critical of service responsiveness with respect to product demonstrations and listening to customer requirements. On the other hand, MCs with stronger faith in intuition were more inclined to rate services higher on empathy with respect to employees making a conscientious effort to understand customers’ needs.

Depending on the service marketing goals, managers learn to define which aspects of MC profile they should consider or avoid during the recruitment as well as becoming more critical when they analyze the evaluation reports to avoid an interpretation bias.

The usefulness of the MC tool relies on its reliability and credibility as a marketing research technique. It was identified that the MC personality traits are more likely associated with marketing service evaluation variability.

The purpose of this paper is to study the nature and concept of emoticons/emojis. Instead of taking for granted that these user-generated formats are necessarily emotional, we empirically assessed in what extent are they and the specificity of each one. Drawing on congruent mood state, valence core and emotion appraisal theories we expected a compatible statistical association between positive/negative/neutral emotional valence expressions and emoticons of similar valence. The positive emoticons were consistently associated with positive valence posts. Added to that analysis, 21 emotional categories were identified in posts and correlated with eight emoticons.

Two studies were used to address this question. The first study defined emoticon concept and interpreted their meaning highlighting their communication goals and anticipated effects. The link between emojis and emoticons was also obtained. Some emoticons types present more ambiguity than others. In the second study, three years of real and private (Facebook) posts from 82 adolescents were content analyzed and coded.

Only the neutral emoticons always matched neutral emotional categories found in the written interaction. Although the emoticon valence and emotional category congruence pattern was the rule, we also detected a combination of different valence emoticons types and emotion categories valence expressions. Apparently the connection between emoticon and emotion are not so obviously straightforward as the literature used to assume. The created objects designed to communicate emotions (emoticons) have their specific corresponding logic with the emotional tone of the message.

Theoretically, we discussed the emotional content of emoticons/emojis. Although this king of signals have an Asian origin and later borrowed from the western countries, their ambiguity and differing specificity have never been analyzed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and to what extent the attributes of a new shopping centre entrant evolve during the first seven months of operation, and the implications this has for the incumbents. To capture the strategic relevance of those changes a consumer image tracking analytical tool is developed and applied.

Qualitative research followed by a longitudinal survey. Hypothesis testing approach and descriptive analysis.

The correlates between the magnitudes of shopping centre attribute perception variations, the level of self‐confidence in image evaluation, shopping centre frequency of visits, degree of the “halo effect”, shopping centre and store consumer's preferences are analysed. Only the self‐confidence and store preference did not evolve with the image magnitude changes as hypothesised.

The assessment of shopping centre image changes over time, as well as the factors underlying those changes help managers to plan strategy. Some monitoring procedures are proposed and their implications for both marketing and shopping centre operations are discussed.

By incorporating the time dimension, the true nature of image variation can only be captured if the identification of attributes, and the amount, intensity and direction of changes are obtained, measured and analysed together. The magnitude of image variation is more associated with a shopping centre than with its stores.