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- All Subjects: Marketing
- Creators: Department of Information Systems
- Creators: Lisjak, Monika
- Resource Type: Text
This thesis research aims to define, identify, and promote community theatre as a “third space” for disadvantaged youth. A third space is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “...the in-between, or hybrid, spaces, where the first and second spaces work together to generate a new third space. First and second spaces are two different, and possibly conflicting, spatial groupings where people interact physically and socially: such as home (everyday knowledge) and school (academic knowledge)” (Oxford Dictionary, 2021). For disadvantaged youth, the creation of a third space in the theatre can give them a safe environment away from issues they may have at home or at school, it can further their learning about themselves and others, and it can also help those youth feel a sense of belonging to a community larger than themselves. Because of these benefits, it is clear that performing arts programs can offer a great impact on disadvantaged youth; however, many theatre companies struggle to market their programming to said communities. This may be in part, due to low marketing budgets, no specificity in labor resources dedicated to youth programming, or ineffective marketing strategies and tactics.<br/>In order to ideate marketing recommendations for these organizations, primary research was conducted to determine the attitudes and beliefs revolving around youth participation in community theatre, as well as the current marketing strategies and tactics being utilized by programmers. Participants included program managers of youth theatre programs, as well as youth participants from several major cities in the U. S. The secondary research aims to better understand the target demographic (disadvantaged youth), the benefits derived from participation in arts programming, and marketing strategies for the performing arts. Following data analysis are several recommendations for the learning, planning, and implementation of marketing strategies for theatre programmers.
Micro influencers have become extremely powerful in terms of swaying buying patterns among consumers. This thesis examines the greater impact that micro influencers have on brand marketing. This was completed through a literature review that highlights the evolution of marketing, influencer marketing, discussing reach, relevance, and resonance, and Generation Z’s purchasing decisions. In addition, we conducted an online survey through Qualtrics that allowed us to analyze the impact social media influencers have. The results of our research indicate that TikTok is used most frequently, but Instagram is where social media influencers are followed most. From our data, we concluded that Generation Z is most influenced by authentic, genuine content created by influencers regardless of follower count. We recommend that a brand interested in reaching Generation Z (we refer to the brand as “Brand X”) use micro influencers, as our research shows that genuine relationships are valued among this generation. We believe that micro influencers are the most valuable to use as they are able to create meaningful relationships with consumers due to their reach, relevance, and resonance with the individuals their content reaches.
think about how big of an impact just one of those pieces made in the world before it ended up
in my possession. A tiny spaghetti-strap tank top – bought from my local Goodwill for two dollars, originally purchased at H&M for eight – reminds me that although this square foot of
material might seem minute, it and the thousands of replicas manufactured along with it still
add to the carbon footprint of the fashion industry. Plain and simple – fashion comes at a cost,
whether fashionistas like to be privy to that truth or not. This truth launched an exploration of
my own fashion sense and work to uncover ways to make a difference, birthing ‘K’.
My intention stemmed from my love for clothes, a love rooted in some of my earliest
memories of my mothers’ fashion sense. I found it interesting that for her, and for myself, every
occasion seemed to call for a certain type of dress; occasions like school, church, vacations,
musicals, and nights out on the town to name a few. Not everyone abided by the rules of fashion
that seemed to be so important to me at a young age - no white pants after Labor Day kinds of
things – but, for me, these unspoken rules of dress carried true. Now, as an adult balancing
school, work, and social activity, I like to observe how my peers, coworkers, and friends present
their own sense of style.
After getting a job at a local resale store called Buffalo Exchange, the concept of fast
fashion and the ensuing lack of sustainability fueling it became a concern of interest. Thinking
about the styles of those around me, each completely unique to the wearer but similar in regard
to the individual pieces, struck me that people today are uninformed about the consequences of
their shopping habits. In reality, every consumer partakes in the fashion market in some sense,
meaning that every person feeds into the growing issues associated with fast fashion and similar
business, or join the conversation about sustainable fashion.
Taking my love for resale, a love birthed from ethical sourcing and the giddiness of
finding a good treasure after a big hunt, and partnering my creative skillset for fashion design, I
took on a big project to see for myself what people’s perceptions about resale are and how I
could be a part of the conversation. I began this line thinking about how my unique style always
seems to amass compliments from people liking just how different my items are. I figured that
taking my keen eye for aesthetics and using that to make resale items more desirable, I’d be able
to tap into a market that hardly acknowledges its own existence.
Through research from case studies and professional interviews, it can be shown that those who fail and become victim to the e-commerce giants are those who do not allocate enough budget and resources to allow e-commerce to succeed; they do not correctly utilize data throughout the creation of their e-commerce site nor their marketing, have a vast lack of knowledge, and ultimately do not adapt to trends in e-commerce.
E-commerce giants are those who lead in the world-wide e-commerce revolution. They have entered a market and have caused/are continuing to cause instability for those who have not adapted or changed. These e-commerce giants do not have to be “giant” in size; rather, they are making giant changes that allow them to be successful within the industry. They are the prime examples of how e-commerce and data-driven marketing can be successful.
My research shows in order to successfully practice e-commerce, companies must adapt the best practices shown by these giants: owning your data, developing a strong budget for data-driven marketing, investing in the technology and people needed to implement a sound strategy, training employees in basic data, utilizing data in all aspects of marketing, creating an easy online experience that using AB Testing, hosting post mortem meetings to identify successes and failures, understanding your customers, creating the appropriate customer segmentation, nixing the “one fits all” strategy, and never getting too comfortable. If a company is stagnant, they are behind.
We conducted a survey to test consumer's perception and understanding of advertisements promoting financial instruments to see if advertisements that have run without contest from the Federal Trade Commission still have the ability to be deceptive or lack disclosure. We provided a variety of advertisements for markets such as automobiles and rent-to-own businesses. Each one of these advertisements dealt with a different financial instrument so that we could accurately test the knowledge of respondents. We collected 95 complete responses and 23 partial responses from our distribution of this survey.
Advertisements for financial instruments such as car loans, title loans, and rental agreements create the complex problem of presenting substantial loan agreement terms while also keeping an advertisement light and inviting. There are two main types of rules concerning how these advertisers can promote their products: regulation and guidance. Regulation is the official set of laws governing what can or must be said in an advertisement. Guidance is official suggestions of proper advertising practices that is not tied to written laws. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) controls regulation for the required disclosure in these advertisements and requires all material loan terms to be stated “clearly and conspicuously; however, advertisers still put important loan information in hard to see fine print, making it difficult for the consumer to understand the advertisement. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in charge of creating guidance, enforcing advertising regulation and preventing advertisements from becoming deceptive, but, due to the ambiguous nature of disclosure formatting requirements, many transgressions go uninhibited.
We conducted a survey to test consumer's perception and understanding of advertisements promoting financial instruments to see if advertisements that have run without contest from the Federal Trade Commission still have the ability to be deceptive or lack disclosure. We provided a variety of advertisements for markets such as automobiles and rent-to-own businesses. Each one of these advertisements dealt with a different financial instrument so that we could accurately test the knowledge of respondents. We collected 95 complete responses and 23 partial responses from our distribution of this survey.
The results show that the average consumer does not have a complete understanding of financial instruments in the context of these advertisements. These results also demonstrated that consumers are not completely comprehending the information provided to them by these advertisements. We found that in some cases, it was the way that information was provided to the consumer that was causing them to have misconceptions about the information presented. We concluded that there were enough respondents that did not correctly interpret these advertisements to support that there is some misleading and deception by these advertisements despite the lack of context by the FTC. As such, we suggest that current federal guidance be made into official regulation to further prevent these transgressions and further attempts be made to locate and prevent deceptive advertisements.
As I researched and conducted initial analysis for this project, I quickly ran into a few roadblocks that lead to me needing to pivot off of certain ideas and adapt my initial plans to fit what was actually being done in the current marketing environment. In reality, most businesses are not up for taking the risk of explicitly giving real metrics of their products and services to customers. Due to this, my thesis evolved into finding other ways that companies would use logical appeals to represent their products and comparatively analyze how these companies choose to represent themselves on a social media platform.