Sporting celebrities have come to hold an increasingly vaunted position within contemporary society and as such, receive ever-increasing media attention. Within Canadian culture, where the sport of hockey is largely considered a mythologized component of identity, hockey players such as the National Hockey Leagues Sidney Crosby are not only frequently represented in the daily media, but are also utilized in promotional and advertising campaigns. In this thesis, I qualitatively analyze media representations and the production of advertising featuring Sidney Crosby. Specifically, I examine the specific case of producing televised advertising campaigns featuring Crosby for sports drink manufacturer Gatorade. I also interrogate the tensions and ambiguities of contemporary conceptualizations of masculinity evidenced in media discourse surrounding Crosby. Ultimately, this study examines how sporting celebrities and discourses of corporate nationalism are produced within contemporary advertising campaigns and the role that cultural intermediaries play in the promotion of particular values and perceptions.

Undoubtedly one of the most significant developments to affect marketing worldwide in the 21st century has been the development of the Internet. As a communication tool the Internet is emerging as a new challenge to mass media advertising. As a result advertising agencies need to readdress their techniques, services and agency structure. Additionally, the shape and form of the traditional advertising agency will need to change along with the adoption and usage of this new interactive media channel. Agencies are now being forced to consider broadening their service offerings to clients. Apart from widening their service offerings, advertising agencies are being driven to invest in building and sustaining valuable client relationships to establish client loyalty, with profit and a healthy bottom-line being the ultimate objectives. Bush, Bush and Harris (1998) point out however, that whilst a growing number of companies are interested in developing an online presence, significant confusion remains about what this new medium will offer stakeholders in the advertising industry. The study undertaken in this thesis explores the relationship between two influential stakeholders in the advertising industry - advertising agencies and their clients. To explore this relationship, the study modified Parasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry's (1988) SERVQUAL model to explore whether gaps exist between agency-client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The SERVQUAL model, which was designed for measuring gaps between service expectations and perceptions, was adapted for use in the business-to-business environment (B2B). In the marketing literature there is little evidence of B2B research in relation to agency-client relationships, nor has there been significant scholarly work exploring the effect of the introduction of the Internet as a promotional tool on the agency-client relationship. The research undertaken in this study aims to respond to this gap in the marketing literature by addressing the broad research question: &quotHow will the introduction of the Internet as a promotional tool impact agency-client relationships?" Undertaking a review of agency-client expectations of the value of the Internet will ascertain whether gaps exist between agency and client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The discovery of gaps in the agency-client relationship in relation to Internet perceptions will indicate potential opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed by advertising agencies interested in extending their advertising services to embrace the Internet as a promotional tool. A major assumption in this inquiry was that gaps would exist between agency and client perceptions of Internet value. In particular, that advertising agencies would perceive the Internet to be a more valuable promotional tool than their clients. This assumption was informed from mass media and industry press, which indicated that advertising agencies were embracing new advertising creative in website design and strategic marketing activities using interactive media such as newsgroups and email to reach customers. However, the research of Bush et al. (1998) and Ducoffe (1996) suggests that little is known about the value of these Internet-based activities. Such thinking raises questions, such as: are advertisers feeling compelled to jump on the Internet bandwagon because of its popularity, or are businesses' desires to use Internet advertising a manifestation of Internet hype? To begin to answer these questions advertising industry stakeholders need to identify whether gaps do exist between agency and client perceptions of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The existence of such gaps could lead to tension in the agency-client relationship, which may ultimately mean a loss of client accounts for the advertising agency. Identifying and remedying such gaps could therefore aid in ensuring long-term and profitable working relationships with the agency's clients. To undertake this advertising industry research and respond to the research questions in this study an international advertising agency network, made up of 206 offices in 90 countries and a selection of their clients, were recruited to participate in the study. A two stage survey method approach was adopted because it was a time-efficient and affordable method for collecting detailed information from a dispersed network of professionals. The survey tool was a web-based questionnaire which was firstly submitted to a selection of advertising agencies within the international agency network. On completion of the questionnaire, agencies were asked to provide contact details for their top three billing clients. The second stage of the survey research involved the submission of a client questionnaire to the client contacts provided by the advertising agency. Both questionnaires used a modified SERVQUAL multi-item scale to measure service expectations. Discrete agency and client questions were also included in the respective questionnaires to situate the SERVQUAL analysis within the context of Internet usage, value perceptions and organisational characteristics (e.g. agency size, advertising spend, experience in using interactive media). The major finding of this study is that within the international advertising agency network there were no significant gaps in agency-client expectations concerning the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. Whilst several statistical analyses were undertaken, including bivariate and multivariate techniques such as Pearson's Chi-Square cross-tabulations, independent t-tests and ANOVAs, no statistically significant results are reported. In fact, it was found that advertising agencies and clients have similar expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. Gaps actually exist in relation to the clients who use the Internet as a promotional tool and agencies who supply Internet advertising services. Many agencies within this international agency network were found to be actively using the Internet, but their Internet advertising functions were not being provided by their traditional advertising agency. Descriptive analyses reported in the findings from this research study indicate that advertising agencies in this international network need to better understand their clients' Internet promotion needs. This will ensure the establishment of healthy, profitable and long-term agency-client relationships in the future. The research findings from this study offer advertising agencies worldwide insight into client expectations of the Internet, as well as other agency services. Furthermore, the findings reported contribute to the current small body of research in relation to B2B relationships in the advertising industry. The groundwork is set for future analysis of agency-client relationships in the advertising industry. In summary, while gaps between agency and client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool were expected, this research study found that agency and client expectations are quite similar. Analysis did reveal that one important factor, which influences the agency-client relationship, relates to the provision of Internet advertising services. Specifically, when an agency is not responsible for developing and maintaining clients' Internet advertising, these clients are utilising services from external providers of Internet services. These new stakeholders, who provide specialist services (i.e. graphic design houses, Internet advertising specialists and client's in-house Internet services), are changing the competitive environment of advertising services in the industry. Another interesting discovery, specific to the sample population, was that one third of agencies within the study did not provide Internet advertising services to current clients. However, these agencies have clients that use Internet advertising. On the one hand, this finding indicates that opportunities exist for these agencies to extend their service portfolio to embrace Internet advertising. However, it also raises an important question: that is, have these agencies created greater competition by not providing a full service communication portfolio for clients? These factors, and other methodological issues will inform directions for future research to explain the influential role of the Internet within the agency-client relationship in the advertising industry.

The main goal of this thesis was to analyze the gifts, promotional items and representation expenses of the accounting and tax perspective. Further to address the accounting and tax cases to specific cases of practice and finally the evaluation of the legislative action in this area.

The problem of this investigation was to make an exploratory examination of attorney attitudes concerning legal service marketing. The study was confined to attorneys licensed to practice law in the State of Texas. Items of specific interest were the implicit and explicit marketing management philosophies of attorneys, attitudes toward various promotional and media issues with respect to legal marketing, and attitudes toward serving the interest of various publics in the practice of law.

This paper deals with theory of cultural differences, specifically cultural differences in web design. This paper aims at websites of investment promotional agencies (IPAs) and its target is to find out whether IPA's websites reflect national culture of representing country, so there is a kind of cultural divergence, or if cultural convergence prevails. The research is based on assumptions and theories of Dutch scientist Geert Hofstede and content analysis is used as a research method. The results imply cultural convergence among websites of IPAs and at the same time influence of Western countries is noticeable. Cultural differences, websites, design, investment promotional agencies, Geert Hofstede.

The tourism industry is one of the most thriving industries in the world and nature-based tourism is one of the most expanding sectors in the European tourism industry. However, destinations today have global substitutes which means a destination can easily be exchanged for another destination. Thus, destination market organizations have become a critical component in the tourism industry. While there is a growing interest for nature-based destinations due to international tourism and a growing awareness of environmental issues there is still a need to create a differentiation from the global competition. By setting up strategic plans and continuously market a destination, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) can attract tourist from distant markets. Therefore, the purpose with this report is to examine strategies that DMOs use when it comes to attract tourists to nature-based destinations. With the aim to fulfill the purpose of this study one research question of descriptive and exploratory kind were stated: “What strategies are DMOs using to attract tourists to nature-based destinations?”.   A theoretical framework was conducted by reviewing scholarly journals which generated potential answers for the stated research question. Furthermore, the frame of reference provided the study with a theoretical foundation which was applied during the data collection as well as the data analysis. Methodologically, this study had a qualitative approach and was therefore collecting data through semi-structured and in-depth interviews with employees of different DMOs. The findings and conclusions show that the practical work done by a nature-based DMOs in a high degree follows existing previous research. Where the importance of having a clear market position, being able to segment an audience, as well as promote an appropriate message is of high concern for a DMO. Hence, it helps them to attract tourist to a nature-based destination.

The goal of this Master Thesis is to analyse current marketing situation within SYSTRA JM s.r.o. While this paper is aimed at conducting marketing analysis to find irregularities and failures, special attention is drawn, mainly, to suggesting remedial action directed at reducing or outright eliminating potential negative aspects. The final part of the analytical section is devoted to examination of results obtained from conducted interview survey as well as important facts supporting the proposal of SYSTRA JM s.r.o. Communication Strategy.

The thesis focuses on the developement and role of Czechoslovak advertising and promotional agency Merkur, which was the main organization for the management of the commercial and promotional activities of socialist Czechoslovakia. The aim of thesis is description of its origins, development as well as the concrete advertising campaigns to give a comprehensive picture of its existence and production. The work is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter is focused on the political and historical background of the agency's establishment. It brings important milestones in the media development and the overall social-political climate in the socialist promotion area not only during the establishment period but also throughout her existence. The second chapter is devoted to the position and characteristic of advertising in the Czechoslovak period. It describes the origin of television and radio advertising as well as the advertising agencies in Czechoslovakia, with an emphasis on foreign trade agency Rapid, which played an important role in Merkur's work. The penultimate part of the thesis deals with the origins and development of Merkur itself, the subject of its activity, its employment base and its structure. The final chapter describes the promotional tools used by the company and analyzes...

La presente investigación es un estudio cuantitativo relacionado con las estrategias promocionales (promoción de venta) y la intención de compra de personas. El objetivo general para esta investigación es determinar la relación de la promoción de venta en la decisión de compra de productos de belleza en tiendas de retail, el cual conlleva a analizar y entender la importancia de la promoción hoy en día. La metodología utilizada está basada en la investigación – acción, el cual permite la observación directa del investigador hacia los resultados obtenidos, estos serán analizados desde un enfoque cuantitativo. La muestra utilizada para esta investigación depende del público objetivo, pero debido a que es no probabilístico, será una muestra de 250 personas, el cual son mujeres de 20 a 49 años de edad, las cuales fueron encuestadas en el centro comercial Jockey Plaza. La conclusión más significativa de este trabajo es que las promociones son importantes y sí son consideradas al momento previo de la compra. / The present investigation is a quantitative study related to the degree of influence that promotional strategies (sales promotion) can have on the decision to purchase people. The general objective for this research is to determine the relationship of the sales promotion in the decision to buy beauty products in retail stores, which leads to analyze and understand the importance of the promotion today. The methodology used is based on research - action, which allows the direct observation of the researcher towards the results obtained, these will be analyzed from a quantitative approach. The sample used for this research depends on the target audience, but because it is not probabilistic, it will be a sample of 250 people, who are women from 20 to 49 years old who were surveyed at the Jockey Plaza shopping center. The most significant conclusion obtained in this study was that for people promotional strategies are important and it´s considered in their decision when buying. / Tesis

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