Factors influencing brand equity: Testing Aaker’s brand equity framework in Malaysian toy industry

The reckless pursuit of social, environmental, political and cultural issues and brands may alienate the very customer base, whom they try to impress, especially the millennials. Hence, this study intends to study the perceptions of millennials towards brand activism, so that the findings from the study can help the brand managers to steer their brands into the troubled waters of brand activism. The methodology followed is HTAB (Hypothesize, Test, Action, Business), a popular analysis framework given by Ken Black in his book titled “Business Statistics: Contemporary Decision Making (6th ed.)” A sample comprising of 286 respondents was collected. The final data had 286 observations and 45 features across seven categories.

It was found that millennials prefer to buy a brand if it supports a cause or purpose and they stop buying if brand behaves unethically. It was also observed that there is no gender difference amongst the millennials towards their perceptions concerning brand activism. Moreover, millennials across different income categories have similar perceptions of brand activism. It was also substantiated that the emotional tie of the millennials with the brand existing for a cause goes beyond price shifts and brands taking a political stance, cherry-picking of issues and being disruptive prompts and creates profound backlash for the brands.

The video game and virtual reality became a new way of doing marketing considering their growing popularity and the advances of new technologies in the past few decades. In this paper is presented a research that investigates the impact of product placement in video games on gamers’ decisions on the purchase of goods from advertised. This research is focused on two of the most played games nowadays: FIFA 19 and Final Fantasy XV. A survey with 465 respondents was conducted to understand the antecedents that impact the purchase decision considering the stimulus originated from the product placement. To conduct the survey, a framework was designed based in the extant literature reviewed and finally considering the constructs of product placement, quality of virtual reality, brand recognition, brand familiarity, emotional response and purchase frequency. The results of the study suggest that gamers generally respond positively towards product placement and that product placement can indirectly impact emotional responses that will impact on consumer’s purchase intention. Hence, advertising in the video game enhances brand recognition and the perception of virtual reality. The framework presented in this paper represents the theoretical contribution of this paper, relating different concepts in the theory of product placement to the purchase intention. Therefore, the findings on this paper can help managers to find the best way to reach customers by improving the product placement strategy in the video games.

Generation Z is the future generation with technology familiarity and is a trendsetter in financial technology. This study aimed to compare (similarities and differences) perceptions of Generation Z Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia in paying Zakat, Infaq, and Sadaqah (ZIS). This study uses a qualitative approach with phenomenological methods through focus group discussions. This method was chosen because it allows substantial interaction between participants to compare objects more boldly. Initially, there were 43 Generation Z students from Indonesia and 25 Generation Z students from Malaysia. The total reduction of participants was carried out to find the most relevant and appropriate participants by determining the criteria for having paid ZIS using financial technology (Fintech) at least once. With 10 participants from each country from the final narrowing results, two stages of Focus Group Discussion were carried out. The findings show the similarity of perceptions of awareness of use, including the need and importance of usage benefits. The similarity of perceptions regarding reputation was also found in professionalism and reliability. In contrast, similar perceptions of satisfaction occurred in aspects of multifunction and usability. In addition, differences were found in the perception of data security. There are still suspicions about data security among Indonesian participants. No studies directly compare Generation Z Muslims in the two countries that pay ZIS through Fintech. This study confirms that it is essential to increase the security of personal data when using fintech. Then there is a feeling of security and comfort for Generation Z who donated ZIS.