Inthis thesis, I develop empirical models to measure the impact of launching new products in the marketplace.

De nombreux travaux marketing décryptent l’effet des marques sur le consommateur, mais rares sont ceux qui étudient leur rôle à l’interne des organisations. Cette recherche-insider s’appuie de façon originale sur les travaux en théorie des organisations, et précisément sur ceux du courant des « Brands at Work » qui aborde la marque comme une nouvelle forme de contrôle au sein des organisations, pouvant affecter l’identité des employés. Cette recherche qualitative (59 entretiens longs) étudie empiriquement le rôle de la marque dans les processus de régulation identitaire (RI) des managers, à la fois producteurs et récepteurs de son discours, dans le cas spécifique de l’industrie du luxe. Nos résultats montrent l’existence d’un langage-type managérial inspiré du discours marketing, visant à masquer des pratiques de management et de production, le luxe pouvant être théorisé comme une « storytelling industry ». Nous caractérisons comment le management utilise la marque comme outil de RI ; la marque pouvant soutenir les pratiques de RI - cas que nous labellisons « la marque fait management » - ou cristalliser les tensions, brouiller les pratiques; « défaire management ». / While brands are traditional topics for the marketing research, they do not retain much attention from organization studies. This thesis originally draws upon the recent « Brand at Work » trend that considers brands as an internal organizational resource affecting identity, a tool for organizational control. Drawing on an insider-research in the luxury industry and on rich empirical material (59 interviews), we show the existence of an archetypal managerial discourse, deeply infused by the marketing discourse, brand being both used as a management tool, and a way to disguise the reality of practices; turning the luxury into a “storytelling industry”. Looking at managers, both producers and receivers of the brand message, we reveal the role of the brand in their identity regulation (IR) processes. We found that the brand can either support their IR practices, managers willingly buying into the brand, or crystallize tensions, corrode IR and act as a dis-connecting mechanism between identity (re)formation and regulation processes. We show the centrality of brand in managers’ identity regulation processes.

La recherche en marketing commence à tracer les contours d’un concept de marque humaine. Les parcours professionnels de certains de ces individus appréhendés tels des marques, comme ceux des réalisateurs de films, nous conduisent à soulever la question de l’extension de la marque humaine. Sachant que l’existence sociale de l’individu marqué dépend de la légitimité détenue auprès de publics clés (les membres internes de l’industrie, les critiques et le grand public), la question se pose alors de l’extension incongruente et du risque que représente cette extension spécifique pour les multiples légitimités de la marque humaine. Face à cette problématique, nous proposons d’étudier les mécanismes de perte et de gain de légitimités du réalisateur de film déclenchés par la sortie d’un film incongruent. En adoptant un design mixte, cette recherche montre que l’extension incongruente représente un risque de perte de légitimité moins élevé pour la marque humaine que l’extension modérément incongruente ou l’extension congruente. Et elle montre également que l’extension incongruente représente une opportunité de gain de légitimité plus élevé que les deux autres formes d’extensions. Cette thèse se conclut en soulignant que les processus de gain et de perte de légitimités constituent les dynamiques sous-jacentes des parcours professionnels des marques humaines et que suivant les mécanismes révélés, ces parcours professionnels peuvent être stratégiquement élaborés. / Marketing research has begun tracing the contours of a human brand concept. The subsequent issue of human brand extension arises as branded individuals (such as movie directors) can be seen moving forward in their careers. The question of incongruent human brand extension is particularly important because the social existences of these branded individuals depend on the legitimacy they hold in regards to various key constituencies (internal members of the industry, critics, the general public). And incongruent human brand extensions can represent a threat for these various legitimacies. We choose to look into this question by studying the mecanisms of movie director legitimation which are unleashed by incongruent film extensions. We use a mixed design method. And we demonstrate that human brands risk loosing less legitimacy with an incongruent extension than with a moderately incongruent extension or with a congruent extension. We also find that human brands can earn more legitimacy with an incongruent extension than with a moderately incongruent extension or with a congruent extension. This doctoral research highlights that the mecanisms by which branded individuals gain or loose legitimacy are the underlying dynamics of their career paths. And by providing insight into these mecanisms, this work shows that these career paths can be undertaken strategically.

Le contenu de marque désigne des contenus éditoriaux qui sont produits par les marques. Ce format de communication va à l’encontre des codes habituels : le produit n’est pas mis en avant et la marque se montre désintéressée pour mieux séduire son audience. Notre recherche vise à comprendre la nature de la pratique (ses motivations, ses effets, ses acteurs), le processus de formation de la stratégie et les logiques animant ses parties prenantes. Vingt entretiens individuels (annonceurs et publicitaires) et deux études de cas (voyage-sncf.com et Louis Vuitton) ont été menés. Nous proposons une conceptualisation du contenu de marque, ainsi qu’une typologie des pratiques existantes. Nous expliquons le caractère hybride de la stratégie ainsi que sa formation. Nous montrons qu’il existe des stratégies de contenu de marque planifiées (ou délibérées) et des stratégies émergeant d’initiatives non planifiées (émergentes). Nous relevons les tensions survenues au cours de la formation de la stratégie et nous expliquons leur résolution. Nous contribuons ainsi à la fois aux travaux relatifs à la marque et à son management, ainsi qu’au champ de la strategy as practice. / Brand content refers to editorial contents that are produced by the brand itself. This form of communication appears to be disruptive compared to traditional advertising as it does never mention the product and thus does not appear to intend to sell anything to the consumer. The objective is more to seduce the audience with an interesting and entertaining content. Our research aims at understanding brand content strategies, as well as its actors and logics.Twenty individual interviews with communication experts and two brand case studies have been implemented.We propose a conceptualization of brand content, as well as a typology of existing practices. We explain the formation of the strategy and the logics of actors participating to the formation. We illustrate the fact that strategy can be formalized (deliberate) or that it can also arise from non-planned initiatives. We finally present the tensions emerging from the strategy formation.Our research contributes to both brand management and strategy as practice literatures.

Thesis. (M. Tech. (Dept. Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences))--Vaal University of Technology, 2011. / The phenomenal growth of special events sponsorship as a promotional tool is evident in the increase in the number of companies and their expenditure on sponsoring events. Currently, football (for the purpose of this study, the term football and soccer are used interchangeably) has become the most heavily sponsored sport in terms of value and number of sponsorship deals. International events such as the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup™ and the Olympic Games are the biggest sporting events staged globally which makes them particularly lucrative for sponsor investment. The high media coverage and duration offers an ideal platform to create high brand awareness, consumer’s recall and recognition for the participating sponsors. The FIFA Soccer World Cup™ tournament with its huge audience is perhaps the premier place for companies to display their brands on an international stage. Millions of rands are spent on sponsorship in general every year and on sports sponsorship in particular. Yet little is known about the effectiveness of this expenditure. Sponsors are often unsure whether only their brands benefit from a sponsorship or whether competing brands in the same product category also benefit from their efforts. The primary objective of this study was to determine sponsorship effectiveness through consumers recall and recognition. In addition, the study sought to determine the perception of official sponsorship and ambush marketing during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The event attracts billions of viewers and a huge number of companies associate their products with this event. A quantitative approach was adopted for the study. The data was collected using a convenience sample of 462 fans, supporters and followers of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup™ in Gauteng, South Africa. To determine sponsorship effectiveness, consumer-aided and unaided recall tests were conducted after the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in an attempt to quantify sponsorship recall of official and non-official responses In addition, the study sought to establish consumers’ perceptions of official sponsors and the purchase intentions of their products and brands. Finally, consumers perceptions towards unofficial (ambush marketers) sponsors were ascertained. The high frequency of inaccurate responses through unaided recall suggests that there was confusion in the minds of respondents regarding those who were official sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. This has serious implications for both marketers and sponsors as the effectiveness of sponsorship as a marketing communication tool comes into question. This may work to the advantage of ambush marketers who could effectively use the confusion in consumers’ minds to market their products and brands. Possible reasons for the inaccurate responses could be attributed to the fact that the World Cup™ is a once-off event that attracts individuals because of the novelty of the event and the multiple distractions that are associated with the event. The inaccurate responses may also have implications for future purchase intentions of the product since a recall level of awareness could be a determining factor in the purchase decision. This study revealed that sponsorship recall is enhanced by aided recall and prior knowledge of the sponsor. The responses with regard to aided recall suggest that consumers were able to recognise brands that were housed and marketed in South Africa. Brands such as Seara, Yingu Solar, Satyam, NeoAfrica, Aggreko and Prasa are relatively unknown brands in South Africa – therefore they were not easily recognised by the respondents. From a marketing perspective, the question arises whether it is feasible for foreign-based companies such as Emirates and Mahindra Satyam to invest in sponsorship ventures that are unlikely to achieve the desired results. These companies did not widely advertise in the local South African market. However, because the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ had a worldwide impact, this does not mean that global brands failed to achieve their objectives elsewhere in the world. In other words, they could have been playing to a much wider audience, in much stronger markets than that of the host country. An interesting revelation was that most consumers were able to recall brands that were global, mass-marketed and consumer-oriented such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds. This may partially be because during the event they were intensively engaged in advertising their sponsorship in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. / Central Research Committee, Vaal University of Technology.

Ce travail doctoral se situe dans le courant des approches comportementales en promotion des ventes. Les recherches antérieures ont omis de prendre en compte l’effet d’une variable importante, l’usage effectif des produits et des marques sur le comportement des consommateurs en matière de satisfaction et de fidélité. Dans cette thèse, nous analysons, dans le domaine de l’habillement, l’impact des dispositifs promotionnels et des soldes sur la satisfaction et la fidélité du consommateur, ainsi que le rôle médiateur de l’usage effectif des produits et des marques acquis par les consommateurs. En particulier, nous étudions l’effet direct du contexte d’acquisition, notamment en promotion, en soldes ou en outlet, sur la satisfaction du consommateur envers la transaction. De plus l’effet indirect de la fréquence d’usage des produits de la marque sur lien entre satisfaction et fidélité du consommateur est étudié. Afin de répondre à ces questions, un panel d’inventaire et d’usage, appartenant aux méthodes du journal personnel, a été mis en place afin de suivre les acquisitions et les usages des marques par des consommateurs. Nous mettons en évidence que si la satisfaction envers les transactions au bénéfice d’une marque influence négativement la fidélité, cet effet est compensé par la fréquence d’usage de la marque. Plus le consommateur est satisfait d’une transaction plus il utilise le produit et est enclin à être fidèle à la marque. En conclusion, certaines modalités du contexte d’acquisition dont les soldes et les ventes outlet présentent ainsi un potentiel de fidélisation du consommateur par la fréquence d’usage plus importante qui résulte de la satisfaction plus élevée dans ces contextes. / Within the behavioral research in sales promotion, the product and brand usage is almost never taken into account by researchers, in spite of its relevance as a mediating variable between sales promotion and satisfaction or loyalty. This research, applied to clothing, aims at studying the direct effect of the product acquisition context; and more specially the effect of a price discount, seasonal and outlet sales; on consumer transaction-Specific satisfaction. Moreover, the indirect effect of brand usage frequency on the link between satisfaction and customer loyalty is studied. To address these research questions we used a diary method study. This study aims to monitoring every week consumer’s purchases and clothing usage. Our results indicate that if the transaction-Specific satisfaction with a brand is negatively linked to consumer loyalty, it is compensated by increased brand usage frequency. The more a consumer is satisfied with the transaction, the more he uses the product and is likely to be loyal to the brand. Thus, as consumer transaction-Specific satisfaction is higher for purchases during seasonal sales or outlet sales than without these offers, it allows indirectly brands to build consumer loyalty.