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Collins talks about marketing strategy, citing the case of McDonald's. Chasing the mass market is a losing proposition for marketers in a polarized culture. Allying with the subculture that loves the brand is the best way to drive success. The idea of propagation demands that marketers leave behind the conventional approach of targeting the middle, where the majority of the population resides. Besides being of questionable effectiveness, as discussed above, reaching the middle requires costly media spending and places marketing messages in an arena that is noisy and saturated with competing messages. Marketers pay little attention to the fringe, a population that conventional wisdom tells them is too small and too niche. But everything that is now mainstream once started on the fringe: It started within a subculture and propagated out to become popular culture. Unlike traditional marketing communications, the reach and subsequent adoption that is achieved through this kind of propagation does not rely on people hearing a message from a company or brand. Instead, people hear about it from someone they trust which increases their likelihood of adoption.

Marketers strive to create cool brands, but the literature does not offer a blueprint for what “brand coolness” means or what features characterize cool brands. This research uses a mixed-methods approach to conceptualize brand coolness and identify a set of characteristics typically associated with cool brands. Focus groups, depth interviews, and an essay study indicate that cool brands are perceived to be extraordinary, aesthetically appealing, energetic, high status, rebellious, original, authentic, subcultural, iconic, and popular. In nine quantitative studies (surveys and experiments), the authors develop scale items to reliably measure the component characteristics of brand coolness; show that brand coolness influences important outcome variables, including consumers’ attitudes toward, satisfaction with, intentions to talk about, and willingness to pay for the brand; and demonstrate how cool brands change over time. At first, most brands become cool to a small niche, at which point they are perceived to be more subcultural, rebellious, authentic, and original. Over time, some cool brands become adopted by the masses, at which point they are perceived to be more popular and iconic.

The historical background of the rock subculture’s political engagement and cultural relevance in Lithuania, along with photography’s role in shaping and establishing society’s collective identity, suggests that the study of contemporary photography related to this subculture may offer insights into broader societal developments and photography’s function within them. Building on this premise, the article explores Žilvinas Glušinskas’ photography series The Bash at Mekanikas’ Fazenda (orig. in Lithuanian (irregular language use with jargon): Tūsas pas Mekaniką fazendoje, 2019–2024) with the aim of defining how photography represents and shapes a specific rock subculture community and its connection to wider society today. To address this, the study analyses the documentary, artistic and cultural aspects of Glušinskas’ works, as well as the different contexts and media through which they are disseminated. The research is based on sociologist Sarah Thornton’s notion of subcultural capital, which in turn stems from the concept of cultural capital defined by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The article concludes with a statement that creativity in photography, combined with its documentary value and the dissemination of photographs through mass and micro media, becomes a tool for generating communal capital – a symbolic meaning shared by a group of people, binding them into a community in a diverse and fragmented society.

The current paper aims to present the distribution procedures of the dominating social representations specific to the world of surfing and to the role that used to play - and still do - the emblematical characters who were the producers of these representations, at the head of the specialised media. The structure itself of that sub-space - uniform, little competitive, closely linked with the industrial \"surf-wear\" sector and dominated by an \"instigator\" journalist - has as an effect the fact that surfers are essentially considering themselves as \"free\", \"dissenting\", \"without restraints\", etc., that is to say members of an apparently natural \"counterculture\". Capa da Surf Session n° 49, julho 1991 : \"Feed-back' sobre os \"70\" (com o símbolo de \"paz e amor\") e o famoso \"On the road\" do escritor americano Jack Kerouac. 1.2.2.A viagem: a essencia do surfe? A \"viagem\" a regiöes exóticas, onde o surfe é um \"pretexto\"14, e a \"descoberta\" de novos spots sāo também constantes nas revistas francesas (Surf Session, Trip Surf, Surfer's Journal). A relativizaçäo da compet^äo é recorrente nos artigos da Surf Session escritos por Gibus de Soultrait: \"Eu nunca fui um fa do Lacanau Pro, mas evidentemente eu ia a cada ano porque era preciso cobrir essa compet^äo para a Surf Session... mesmo que a gente nao goste particularmente que haja um vencedor etc.\", detalha ele.

Authenticity in the consumption context is an important topic within the marketing literature. This article explores authenticity's multiplicity of meanings within the MG brand subculture of consumption. An ethnographic approach guided data collection, which included participant observation, photo and document reviews, informal conversations, and formal, in-depth interviews with 58 MG owners. The data show that MG owners gain a sense of authenticity in the consumption context via the object and its ownership, consumer experiences, and identity construction and confirmation. As an object, an MG is authentic if it broaches an ideal standard and preserves the brand heritage. An MG experience is authentic when an owner interacts with the car through driving and self-work activities. Finally, an MG owner authenticates his or her identity through role performance and communal commitment. Implications are discussed in light of brand management. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

As the fantastic has gone from subculture to mass culture, it has moved from a counterpublic sphere to the public sphere, forcing us to rethink its political role. In \"post-normal times,\" the structuring role that the fantastic has come to play in the public sphere means that we need to pay attention to its rhetorical uses-the ways in which it sets and transgress political boundaries.

Materials and Methods Bacterial Isolates Fifty isolates of P. aeruginosa obtained from the Children’s Hospital in Mosul, Iraq were studied. Sublethal concentrations range of disinfectants used in the present study Disinfectant Scientific name Commercial concentration Concentration used, mg/mL Manufacturer Hibitane Chlorohexidine 5% 0.4–1,562 ICI (Britain) Cetrimide (Cetavlon) Cetrimide Pure powder 0.4–12,500 Sammarra (Iraq) Dettol (Dena) Chloroxylenol 4.8% 0.4–128 Sammarra (Iraq) ICI (Britain) Savlon Chlorhexidine/Cetrimide 1.5%/15% 1–468.8/0.4–23,438 Determination of Antibiotic Resistance Antibiotic resistance patterns before and after disinfectant exposure were tested by the disc diffusion method on MH agar. Escherichia coli J53.2 (F− pro met rifr) was used as a recipient strain, which was kindly provided by Dr. K.J. Towner (University of Nottingham, UK) and the procedure performed as follows: donors and recipients were grown in 10 mL nutrient broth at 37°C for 6 h. Three ml of the resistant donor broth was then mixed with 3 mL of the recipient broth and the mixtures incubated at 37°C for 18 h. Then, 10−1 and 10−2 dilutions of the mating mixtures were prepared in 1:4 Ringer’s solution, and 0.1 mL of these, together with undiluted mating mixture, were seeded onto selective plates of MH agar containing 100 µg mL−1 rifampicin and 50 µg mL−1 tetracycline. The statistical analyses revealed a high significant difference between disinfectants – nonexposed and disinfectants – exposed isolates to disinfectants and the p value was 0.007 using a paired sample t test.

Purpose This study aims to empirically test a theoretical model by defining customers’ intention to use services of restaurant robots, which are rapidly developing in Korea. The proposed model incorporates three stages: coolness, motivated consumer innovativeness (MCI) and the theory of planned behaviour. Design/methodology/approach A total of 420 questionnaires were issued. The results were analysed to verify the reliability and validity of the measured variables. Structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings The results showed that hedonically motivated consumer innovativeness (hMCI) and socially motivated consumer innovativeness (sMCI) have positive effects on attitude and are enhanced by attractiveness, utility, subcultural appeal and originality. However, the relationship between MCI and attitude differed among age groups. Practical implications The results revealed that sensory elements of robot services improve customer attitudes towards the use of robots in restaurants. This is a key finding that restaurant marketers should consider, because non-face-to-face services are becoming increasingly important in the current COVID-19 context. Originality/value This study analysed the relationship between coolness, MCI and the theory of planned behaviour in the context of robot-serviced restaurants and how the relationship between MCIs and attitude differed among the young and older customers. Practical implications are suggested.

Two important gaps exist in the information systems (IS) alignment research. First, there is scant research on the potential of organizational culture, and specifically subcultures to influence the strategic alignment of IS and organizations. Second, there is a dearth of literature that considers the relationship between alignment and implementation success. In this paper, we address both of these gaps by considering the influence of organizational subcultures on the alignment of a specific IS-a knowledge management system (KMS)-with organizational strategy. Our analysis demonstrates the important roles played by three different subcultures-enhancing, countercultural, and chameleon-in the alignment of the KMS. The analysis also underscores the complementary nature of the alignment and implementation literatures and suggests that they should be used in concert to explain the success of an IS. Drawing on our analysis, we build a subculture model, which depicts the intersection of alignment and implementation. From a managerial perspective, the subculture model highlights three different approaches to managing alignment and implementation. From a theoretical perspective, our paper highlights the need for IS alignment models to be modified, so that subunit-level analyses are incorporated. It also illustrates that organizations confront challenges of alignment and implementation simultaneously rather than sequentially.

Organizational culture is notoriously difficult to change because it reflects people's deeply held beliefs and values. Traditional approaches to assessing culture, such as surveys and interviews, have limitations as they focus on finding commonality and miss insights about where people differ in their values. To drive culture change, leaders should combine survey data with network analysis to gain a deeper understanding of collaboration patterns within the organization. By mapping patterns of collaboration, leaders can identify subcultures within the organization and take targeted action to support or change these subcultures. Additionally, leaders should identify and enlist informal influencers within the organization who have a significant impact on shaping culture. Leaders should also shine a light on hidden tensions and dysfunctional relationships that hinder cultural change. They can address these tensions by appealing to higher shared values and facilitating discussions to resolve disagreements. Furthermore, culture change spreads most effectively through network connections that have an emotional aspect. Leaders should focus on influencers who evoke positive emotions in their colleagues to promote the adoption of desired cultural values. They should recognize that adopting new cultural norms takes time and varies depending on the complexity of the values.