Browsing by Author "Hirschfelder, Benedikt"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Development and verification of the commercial value added chain of content marketing response
    (2018) Hirschfelder, Benedikt; Chigada, Joel
    The rapid technological progress in the last 10 years and the coherent opportunities for consumers to communicate among each other almost borderless 24/7, also impacted marketing strategies. Whereas accentuation of product values and pricing are still valuable marketing strategies, consumers are due to the 24/7 access to knowledge, information and consumer feedback, desensitized when it comes to advertising. Availability of the internet across borders, all the time is the main driving factor for marketing practitioners to progressively try to build up a non-purchase pushing relationship to the consumer. With the content communicated in the foreground (informative, helpful or entertaining) and the commercial message in the background this marketing strategy is also known as Content Marketing. Whereas the use of Content Marketing in corporate world is relatively popular, academic research is relatively rare. Indeed, some research was conducted on storytelling and signature stories -a tool of Content Marketing-, however, the functionality of the generic term Content Marketing resembles rather a black box. With the aim to illuminate the understanding and functionality of Content Marketing, this study explored the coherences between content communication vehicles and content generating vehicles. In the scope of this thesis, a theoretical framework conceptualizes the commercial value added chain of Content Marketing response was developed and verified in a business to consumer scenario. This theoretical framework was substantiated with a real world application, more precisely the 'Be More human’ video campaign from the sportswear manufacturer Reebok served as a research object. A non-probability sampling frame, using convenience sampling resulted in a total sample size of 750 respondents. Since this study focused on the development and testing of a theory, partial least square - structural equitation modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied using the software package SmartPLS3. Through the development of the commercial value added chain of Content Marketing response this study exemplifies the commercial content generation process and the content value added by the consumer and thus contributes to a better understanding in academia as well as in corporate world of the complex generic term Content Marketing.
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    Effects of content marketing on attitude formation in the South African energy drink market
    (2015) Hirschfelder, Benedikt; Human, Gert
    The rapid technological innovation of the last decade has altered the way people understand and communicate information. The internet specifically has made possible unprecedented access to information which has added another dimension to consumer and marketing practitioner behaviour. The most salient consequence of these developments in the marketing communication arena has been the transition from domination by the marketing practitioner to that of the consumer. More precisely, the huge product variety and the access to non-commercial information in terms of user-generated content gives the consumer incredible autonomy. Facing these circumstances, marketing practitioners are adjusting their strategies in producing informative or entertaining content to surround their product in order to impact the new complex, user-driven market. This specific type of content driven marketing is referred to as content marketing. While the idea of providing useful content around the product/brand is a well-known marketing strategy, consistent technological innovation enables marketers to approach the consumer in a different way. Encouraged by a proliferation of user-generated content, marketing practitioners have already embraced content marketing and established a considerable case series of effective examples. Nevertheless, a scholarly analysis of the impact of content marketing on attitude formation has not yet occurred. Thus the goal of this thesis is to unpack content marketing, and explore its impact on the consumer in order to locate content marketing within Integrated Marketing Communications. Specifically, this study investigates how consumers perceive the sponsor through content marketing, and if emotions triggered by this content influence consumer attitudes towards the sponsor. In order to substantiate the theoretical discourse with practical evidence, a video from the energy drink manufacturer Red Bull serves as a research object and real-world example. By demonstrating the particular strengths of the medium, this thesis aims to establish an academic foundation for the analysis of content marketing, and contribute to the content marketing renaissance.
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    Privacy, Self-Sovereign Identity Technology and the Willingness to Provide Personal Information
    (2021) Hendricks, Matthew; Hirschfelder, Benedikt; Pillay, Pragasen
    The internet has caused an unprecedented increase in the amount of personal information that is available online. This personal information has been harnessed directly by companies, to provide targeted marketing to 3rd parties. It can also be used for a company's own internal marketing communication practices. Further highlighting the importance of personal information, some companies have emerged whose business models depend on the accurate collection, and monetisation of this personal information (Streitfeld, 2018). This has led to interest and concern over the misuse of personal information, and the extent companies should benefit from the acquisition of personal information of consumers and 3rd parties. Technological innovation, specifically Blockchain Technology has created the possibility to eliminate these actual or perceived abuses of consumer data, and allow consumers to exercise greater control over their personal data. Blockchain Technology can be simply understood as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet where hundreds of participants continuously verify each entry in the spreadsheet so that no incorrect or fraudulent inputs are made. Specifically, SelfSovereign Identity Technology, currently in its early stages, may allow consumers to have full control of their consumer data via the Blockchain. This includes, access, distribution and may even allow consumers to monetise their own personal information. If consumers fully embrace Self-Sovereign Identity Technology, businesses will have to rethink and overhaul their data collection, marketing practices and business models. On the other hand, consumers will have to decide what they will do, with the data relating to their digital identity and how they might exchange it for their benefit. Despite its potential to disrupt the collection of personal information by companies, a scholarly analysis of the use Self-Sovereign Identity Technology and its relationship with a consumer's willingness to share personal information has not yet happened. Thus the aim of this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, to understand what drives a consumer to disclose personal information over the internet. Secondly, to understand the connection between this willingness to disclose personal information, and the use of Self-Sovereign Identity Technology. This is investigated using a survey analysis and primary data. This study aspires to create an academic basis for the examination of Self-Sovereign Identity Technology and its relationship with the willingness of consumers to provide personal information. In this study several factors were found to affect a South African consumer's willingness to provide personal information online. Based on the prior work of Schoenbachler and Gordon (2010) and Phelps, Nowak and Ferrel (2000) several perceived risk factors and trust factors were hypothesised to affect this willingness to provide personal information. The trust factors included: past experience with a company, reputation of a company and perception of dependability. The perceived risk factors included: type of personal information requested, consequences and benefits, individual consumer characteristics and consumer control over information. All of these factors were found to be significant except for the perception of dependability, which was not supported. Furthermore, perceived functional value was found to moderate the relationship between individual consumer characteristics and the willingness to provide personal information. Lastly, this study found evidence that a relationship exists between the willingness to provide personal information online and the willingness to use SSI technology. This relationship was found to be strong, and negative.
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    The role of content marketing on the vehicle insurance industry
    (2020) Gcabashe, Thuso; Pillay, Pragasen; Hirschfelder, Benedikt
    Rapid technological progress has transformed the communication process, specifically the consumption and distribution of information. Through technological progress, the world has become a smaller place by bridging the gap between individuals and bringing them together. From a marketing perceptive, this has resulted in the Internet becoming one of the most significant sources of information for both consumers and marketing practitioners. With immeasurable access to information, consumers specifically have been empowered as they can search for the best and lowest products or services. The objective of this study is to analyse Content Marketing, and explore its application in the vehicle insurance industry in South Africa. This study proposes that Content Marketing, as a marketing trend, impacts the vehicle insurance purchase decision-making process. More precisely, in the South African context, vehicle insurers already make use of firm-generated content (FGC), using an emotional trigger to encourage consumers to purchase insurance. Using a questionnaire, data was collected from 192 insurance consumers residing in South Africa. The study tested ten hypotheses using PLS- SEM and the data was analysed using SmartPLS software. The results indicate that eight of the ten hypotheses are supported. The results also demonstrated that FGC, moderated by the emotional trigger ‘fear', has an impact on the vehicle insurance purchase process. Furthermore, consumers are more receptive to marketing communication through storytelling. Due to the shift from traditional marketing, the ability for organisations to communicate something valuable to consumers presents an opportunity to create a strong brand positioning. MiWay's “Your silence is our signal” online video served as the research object and was used as a practical example for the research participants, exposing them to insurance FGC. Therefore, it is imperative for marketing practitioners to adopt a marketing approach that underlines the importance of content generation and communication that is in line with the organisations overall brand positioning. They need to modify their marketing strategies to incorporate online and social media platforms in order to distribute online content that is both beneficial and relevant to consumers. Based on the insights generated from this study, the research aims to amplify existing scientific literature relating to Content Marketing and to contribute knowledge in the clarification of Content Marketing in the body of knowledge.