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Contemporary practitioners of content marketing (CM) often suggest their discipline is an ancient one, yet mainly limit its origins to the custom-published magazines of the late 1800s. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize some of the many definitions of CM and to report the first scholarly history of its development and practice.

This study’s purposes led to the following research questions: To what extent were CM strategies and tactics used before the 20th century? How have the uses and characteristics of CM changed or remained the same over time? Sources included general histories focusing on the earliest uses of advertising and promotions and edited book chapters and journal articles on the histories of branding and early print advertising, marketing and advertising practices in ancient and medieval periods and the development of consumer cultures around the world.

Research findings support three conclusions: CM existed much earlier than often acknowledged; has emerged as a unique marketing discipline, strategically and tactically distinguishable from the others (e.g. advertising and sales promotion); and possesses objectives, strategies and tactics that have remained remarkably consistent in practice across the millennia.

The research supports several insights to the history of marketing and the practice of CM. Some of the CM strategies and tactics identified in this paper, for instance, have previously been concluded to be part of advertising’s history. Findings also reveal that many of advertising’s American pioneers actually used CM to persuade 19th-century businessmen to adopt widespread advertising. In addition, the emphasis on interactive, digital media in CM definitions offers a likely explanation for the recent enthusiasm behind CM as a response to global trends in consumer preferences and global competition, as well as why contemporary CM practitioners have often failed to recognize they are practicing a “new” discipline that has actually been in use for thousands of years.

Burgeoning consumerism in transitional economies has significant implications for both multinational corporations and local companies. Based on a survey of four cities in mainland China, this research examines consumer attitudes toward marketing, and compares the findings with those of previous studies of other economies. The results suggest that consumers in mainland China are less critical of marketing than their counterparts in advanced economies. Furthermore, consumer attitudes toward marketing, beliefs about business, and their interactions have significant effects on consumer satisfaction. The implications for marketing operations in transitional economies and avenues for future research are explored.

Male/female differences in financial media use are discussed. Using proprietary and academic studies, current knowledge about print and electronic sources of information favoured by upscale and downscale segments is summarised. Consumer goods retailers now entering the banking market use segmentation strategies to appeal to different male and female targets, and ways in which financial institutions can adapt retail methods to fit media uses based on segmentation by sex are suggested.

Decline in consumer demand and severe pressure on costs are — not surprisingly — the two aspects of the recession which, according to a survey by Gordon Simmons Research, are hitting retailers most hard. In the immediate future, the overall pattern indicates an increase in store investment and improvement to compensate for the slowing down in recent years. And of course there will be growing emphasis on larger units, and the continued growth of credit. This article is based on personal interviews conducted by GSR executives, during November and December 1980, with top management in 12 major retail organisations (listed at the end of this article). These retailers, although few in number, represent a high proportion of retail turnover because of the concentration of the trade. They cover a wide cross‐section of retailing: supermarkets, department stores, electrical goods outlets, variety stores, men's and women's fashion. The survey examined these retailers' reactions to the recession, the effect of the economic climate on their policies, and likely retail developments in the 1980s.

This paper aims to investigate how the US financial services organizations (FSOs) provided marketing information and the way they strategically used various appeals through their advertising before and during the current financial crisis.

This takes the form of a content analysis examining a total of 2,480 financial services ads (FSA) in print magazines within two periods – the two years before the crisis (2005 to 2006) and the two years during the crisis (2007 to 2008).

This study showed three significant findings: because of the economic struggle, there was a significant decline across the two periods in the total number of yearly FSA; the economic crisis led to a significant increase in the use of informational message strategies across all FSOs; and financial value and atmospherics appeals were predominant after the crisis. However, each FSO used appeals in a different way.

This study focused on only print media. A future research project aimed at other traditional media such as television and new media such as the internet or weblogs could provide additional analysis of financial advertising strategies.

The findings of this study suggest that FSOs may rely much more heavily on informational than on transformational approaches during an economic crisis. The findings may provide further valuable implications for non‐profit institutions and international marketers.

This study contributes in several ways to understanding of the strategic communicative reactions of FSOs during the crisis.

Secret consumption refers to consumption of a product in a private situation, with the intent or behavior of hiding the consumption from others. This study contributes to the secret consumption literature by identifying the antecedents of secret consumption along with the explaining mechanism and boundary condition.

An online study with experiment design was conducted to examine the impact of extroversion/introversion, self-presentation and product scarcity on secrete consumption.

The results show that consumer extraverted disposition and the self-presentation motive negatively influence secret consumption intention and suggest this relationship is explained by the self-presentation need. The findings also revealed that perceived product scarcity attenuated the negative impact of extraversion and self-presentation on secret consumption intention.

The findings provide interesting insights into advertising and retailing. In recognizing that secret consumption is a prevalent phenomenon in consumer behavior that may improve actual consumer product evaluation and preference, retailers or brand managers may encourage consumers to consume secretly.

This empirical study is a first attempt to explore the antecedents, mediating mechanism and boundary condition of consumer intention to engage in secrete consumption. The findings of the study provide important implication to theoretical development and managerial applications in advertising and retailing.

Augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a new interactive technology, swiftly transforming the field of marketing. Driven by its rapid uptake in marketing practices, academic research on AR has proliferated. This study aims to offer a holistic view of the past, present and future of augmented reality marketing (ARM) scholarship by analyzing its current and evolving research profile as well as its social and conceptual structures to inspire further research.

This study enriches the ARM scholarship by integrating a quantitative bibliometric analysis with a chronological-thematic review and a qualitative content analysis to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this novel area and suggest future research courses.

The bibliometric analysis reveals the key performance indicators as well as the social and conceptual structure of the ARM research field. The chronological-thematic review exhibits the advancement of ARM research over time and forecasts the emerging trends for the domain. Finally, the content analysis of recent articles reveals the current research hotspots and provides future research directions.

The database limits the selection of literature, as the information in databases such as Scopus is updated regularly, resulting in alterations in the number of articles and citations.

AR developers and brand managers may use this study’s findings to understand the current ARM landscape better and make strategic decisions based on AR adoption and consumption patterns.

This study is singular in using a mixed methods approach by integrating the findings from bibliometric and content analyses for more reliable results and to offer a holistic perspective of the ARM sector, thereby significantly advancing the field of technology-led marketing.

This study focuses on the marketing strategies of the two most successful discount department store chains in Australia between 1969 and the late 1980s when consumer acceptance of both brand and format were being determined. It examines how they approached marketing a new-format national retail chain to the Big Middle of the market and the ways in which brands were differentiated.

Archival sources and oral histories provide evidence about the marketing strategies of each firm. These are integrated with press coverage, advertising and promotional activity to analyze marketing programs. Consumer research from the time offers insights into the effectiveness of campaigns.

The Coles and Myer retailing firms pursued similar marketing strategies to encourage adoption of their Kmart and Target discount department store chains, educating consumers about the links between their operational efficiencies and lower prices. Both firms not only formulated national standardized marketing strategies but also differentiated their positioning to maximize their appeal to consumers.

This article expands understandings of the ways in which new national retail chains are developed and marketed. It explores the intersection between public relations material and media coverage and the ways in which existing brands can be leveraged to legitimize new formats and encourage adoption. More broadly, it contributes to a literature on the “Big Middle”, a space occupied by dominant, volume-oriented retailers. In doing so, it demonstrates that foreign adopters can draw on Big Middle retail formats to quickly gain access to large population segments in their home markets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of the Conferences on Historical Analysis & Research in Marketing (CHARM) from their inception in 1983 through 2007 focusing on the influence of Stanley C. Hollander, who co‐founded the CHARM conference and whose drive and determination fueled its growth for the first 20 years.

This study uses traditional historical narrative based on personal interviews, archival research, and content analysis of CHARM Proceedings.

The history of CHARM is described and Hollander's role in developing the conference is highlighted.

There is no written history of CHARM. This story is a major part of Hollander's legacy.

Examines issues related to the successes and failures of Internet businesses. Recent literature has stressed the value of microeconomic models of markets to analyze e‐business models and strategy. The concepts of transaction costs, switching costs, network externalities and product versioning are especially useful in understanding business strategy in the new information economy. These concepts are reviewed and analyzed. A deeper assessment of Internet‐based businesses, both successes and failures, reveals a number of other constructs that are relevant for analysis, viz. infrastructure investment models, user experience models and models of revenue generation. These constructs reveal the inherent complexity of the electronic medium for conducting business and point to the subtle issues that determine success or failure. Case studies and examples are used to illustrate the usefulness of these constructs.