Measuring the Attitude of Individuals Towards Print Media Advertisements

-- Samir Sarkar and M K Chowdhury

India has the largest print market in the world and is growing at a faster rate with the increasing literacy rate. Advertising media spends close to 108 bn on advertising in over 1,000 periodicals published in 18 languages in India. Based on the existing literature about attitudes toward advertising and consumer behavior models, a research framework has been constructed in the present study to illustrate the factors affecting consumer attitudes toward print advertisements (both for magazines and newspapers separately) in Guwahati city. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been used for statistical analysis. Three positive indicators (amusement, informativeness and credibility) and one negative indicator (nuisance) have been taken for measuring the overall attitude of the respondents. Random as well as convenient sampling has been employed in the study. Although newspapers and magazines are two different vehicles for advertisement, yet both are found to have similar impact on individual’s attitude. Perceived amusement, credibility and information are positively related to attitude towards both newspaper and magazine advertisements, while perceived nuisance is not related to individual’s attitude towards both newspaper and magazine advertisements.

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Social Comparison of Luxury Fashion Brands: Impact of Ostentation and Media Habits

-- Preeti Tak, Ashish Pareek and Bikramjit Rishi

The Indian luxury market has evolved in a dynamic manner. Consumers are more and more attracted to luxury fashion brands. The income levels have also risen which has given an opportunity to the consumers as well as the marketers. Luxury fashion brands are not only bought for their functional utility but are also purchased for its social utility as it helps the consumers to raise their social standards. This study attempts to understand the relationship between social comparison, ostentation and media habits. A structured questionnaire is employed to collect the data. Factor analysis and correlation are used to analyze the data. The findings suggest that media habits and ostentation are related to social comparison.

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Social Media Marketing and Brand Equity: A Literature Review

-- Syed Zeeshan Zahoor and Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi

While about one-third of world’s population is currently using social media, it has fundamentally changed the landscape of marketing and the way product and company information is exchanged between company and customers. It has provided extended channels and interaction points among customers and between customers and company, which are beyond the traditional marketing and business models. It is turning out to be more powerful than traditional marketing tools and, therefore, needs special attention from marketers to be competitive in the market. It has in particular affected the way consumers are influenced by the external sources of information, other than company designed, sponsored and controlled. It is greatly influencing the way consumers develop their brand preferences and choices and thus brand loyalty and equity. Therefore, there is a great need for marketers to study and establish the relationship between these concepts in order to be competitive in the future. Against this backdrop, the current paper makes an attempt to study the relationship between the social media marketing and the brand equity and proposes a framework wherein the relationships between the underlying variables of the two constructs are established in the light of available literature.

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

An Analysis of Adoption Pattern of Alternative Banking Channels by Indian Customers

-- Reeti Agarwal and Ankit Mehrotra

With rapid developments in information technology, the way in which the banks are reaching out to customers has changed. Banks all over the world are adopting multiple channel strategies. The right combination of banking channels can be arrived at only with a proper understanding of the preferences and perceptions of the consumers regarding the various channels of banking. The current study is undertaken to investigate the banking channel usage pattern of the Indian customers. The findings of the study show an increasing trend in the usage of mobile banking as a channel of banking, especially by the people in the age group of 46 to 60 years, with balance enquiry being the most common reason for using mobile banking. Accessibility is found to be the most important factor, whereas security is observed to be the least important in affecting customer’s choice of a banking channel.

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles: India Through 50 Years of Advertising

-- Ambi Parameswaran Reviewed by Rachna Sharma

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.