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Full-Text Articles in Business

Branding Small Businesses In Small Communities, Lacey Jenkins Jan 2021

Branding Small Businesses In Small Communities, Lacey Jenkins

Masters Theses

Branding has grown into a vital part of communicating a brand to its audience members. Unfortunately, large portions of branding tactics are geared towards large corporations in large communities. Small and mid-sized businesses require different tactics in order to create a brand that effectively communicates its purpose and values to its consumers. Because of this, this thesis is looking at the branding tactics of a small business in Charleston, Illinois. This business, Phoenix Elite, showed weaknesses in multiple areas of its branding package. Using a literature review, the goal is to create a better understanding of what branding is, as …


Building A Blog/Building A Brand: Public Relations Campaign For "Goodwill Hunting" Fashion Blog, Yanik Gene Flowers Jan 2018

Building A Blog/Building A Brand: Public Relations Campaign For "Goodwill Hunting" Fashion Blog, Yanik Gene Flowers

Masters Theses

The ability to consistently and cohesively communicate a brand's identity is the central focus of a public relations campaign. This project chronicled the creative and promotional efforts put forward to effectively communicate the brand of Goodwill Hunting - a fashion blog based on the thrift adventures of a 21-year-old college student. Exploring concepts embedded in branding, authenticity, blogging and social media; this campaign was able to establish and maintain a brand identity for Goodwill Hunting through the intentionality of content creation and promotional activity. Goodwill Hunting's blog site and Instagram account was ran for four months and the efforts of …


Of Music And Media: A Producer Study Of Promotional Encoding On Social Media Through The Lenses Of Paratext And Medium Theory, Connor D. Wilcox Jan 2017

Of Music And Media: A Producer Study Of Promotional Encoding On Social Media Through The Lenses Of Paratext And Medium Theory, Connor D. Wilcox

Masters Theses

While music promotion has been important aspect for musicians, bands, and musical organizations for well over a century, the rise of social media in the digital era has profoundly changed the way these promoters perceived of and practice their commercial task of selling music. Paratexts (Gray, 2010a) offer an effective lens for focusing on these promotions while encoding/decoding (Hall, 1980) justifies producer studies to examine and uncover vital aspects of production shape the text and medium theory adds further focus by recentering the medium as being distinctly influential. Existing research on music promotion highlights the uniqueness and evocativeness of the …


Stepping Out From The Crowd: (Re)Branding Jamaica's Tourism Product Through Sports And Culture, Thelca Patrice White Jan 2015

Stepping Out From The Crowd: (Re)Branding Jamaica's Tourism Product Through Sports And Culture, Thelca Patrice White

Masters Theses

Branding and marketing, in a world where much emphasis is placed on commercialism, are inextricably linked, and carry significant weight. Brands, as we have come to know them, are seemingly ubiquitous, and represent an omnipresent way for many businesses to communicate vital information about their products to existing, as well as, prospective customers. However, while many persons consider branding to be directly related to huge corporations, branding has expanded its repertoire to include nations. While many scholars of marketing and branding have placed keen attention on the branding of corporations, very little attention has been placed on the branding of …


Pygmalion Music Festival As Alternative Media? A Critical Analysis Of The Intersection Of Independence And Corporatization, Patrick R. Singer Jan 2013

Pygmalion Music Festival As Alternative Media? A Critical Analysis Of The Intersection Of Independence And Corporatization, Patrick R. Singer

Masters Theses

This study of Pygmalion Music Festival utilizes a theoretical framework of alternative media theory to analyze the festival's position in independent and corporate music festival and concert production. Pygmalion Music Festival is a mid-sized independently owned and operated music festival held annually in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. This research investigates the progression of independent ( or "indie") music culture, how the industry has gradually become co-opted by the corporate music industry, and how Pygmalion Music Festival is situated within the indie/corporate binary. This binary is not black and white, rather an intersection that creates a blurred area between the two. "Indie" artists …


Corporate Social Responsibility And Team Identification In Professional Sports, Lisa Schleef Jan 2013

Corporate Social Responsibility And Team Identification In Professional Sports, Lisa Schleef

Masters Theses

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs are becoming more relevant, especially in professional sports. Community members have begun to expect sport organizations to have charitable foundations, given that they are in a perfect position to have successful CSR programs. Explained through team identification and social identity theory, CSR programs provide a great opportunity to bring fans together and foster team identification. CSR programs should help fans develop a positive social identity, by allowing them to become part of a group and interact with other fans. If a person is a fan of a team that helps its community and does good …


Dynamic Crisis Modifiers: Bp's Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Catherine G. Bocke Jan 2012

Dynamic Crisis Modifiers: Bp's Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Catherine G. Bocke

Masters Theses

When an organizational crisis emerges, crisis communicators must craft specific messages for their stakeholders and the public. While an organization is attempting to shape how the public perceives it during a crisis, the media work to frame the public's perception of the crisis through news coverage. Situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is a prescriptive theory that assesses a crisis situation to determine which crisis response will best protect the organization's reputation. Two factors, crisis history and severity, serve as modifiers that can affect the crisis situation, and ultimately influence the best response. BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill serves as …


Connecting People: An Exploration Of Building An Intranet Through Autoethnography, Christopher J. Martinez Jan 2002

Connecting People: An Exploration Of Building An Intranet Through Autoethnography, Christopher J. Martinez

Masters Theses

This study examines the development and failure of an Intranet at a small company in Southern Illinois. Using autoethnographic methods, I analyzed the events surrounding the development and rejection of the Intranet by the organization's president. Using Burke's concepts of identification and mystery, I analyzed the relationship between the failure of the Intranet and the president's reasoning for not supporting its development. Throughout this study I evaluate the lntranet's development, the impact of other's involvement, as well as the impact that the design of the layout could have on communication at the Company. I find that the failure to develop …


Customer Satisfaction Among Cable Tv Subscribers: A Case Study Of Tci Of Illinois, Inc., Gail M. Gilliland Jan 1993

Customer Satisfaction Among Cable Tv Subscribers: A Case Study Of Tci Of Illinois, Inc., Gail M. Gilliland

Masters Theses

This study gauges customer satisfaction among subscribers of TCI of Illinois, Inc., cable company. Two research questions were formulated in order to determine the customer satisfaction levels: "Can a satisfaction instrument be generated to measure customer satisfaction among cable subscribers?" and "What are the levels of customer satisfaction among TCI of Illinois, Inc., subscribers?" Data was obtained from personal, mail and telephone surveying of a 10% random sample of Charleston cable television subscribers. The results indicate that a reliable and valid measuring device was generated and 39.5% of the respondents were satisfied with TCI overall.