Comparación de la veza cultivada en dos escalas experimentales distintas

There are a significant number of studies of advertisements that utilise content analysis and there is a recent increase in the understanding of brand as a narrative and the role that storytelling plays in relation to brand. However there appears to be no similar study that analyses brand, as a text, to explore storytelling s role in relation to brand construction and projection. This study also positions itself in the contemporary context of globalisation, specifically considering global brands and the challenge of such brands in appealing across markets in distinct cultural realities. Therefore, it is important to ascertain the role a brand s storytelling plays in countering this challenge.

A defined sample is a requirement of content analysis. Krippendorff (2004) describes sampling units as units that are distinguishable for selective inclusion in an analysis (p. 98). The sampling process reduces the data to a more manageable size. Cathay Pacific is the global brand to be analysed and the sample will be contained to the airline s brand communications campaign People. They make an airline, which includes 96 employee stories and six accompanying television commercials all located on a campaign-specific website (http://www.cathaypacific-campaign.com/people/en/home, n.d.).

Coding units are also required for the analysis. They can be understood as units that are distinguished for separate description, transcription, recoding, or coding (Krippendorff, 2004, p.

99). Coding units should be small as possible to the point that they can still provide meaningful analysis. The focus of this study is to determine the role of storytelling in the construction and projection of brand. As a result this involves determining how Cathay Pacific s storytelling is constructed and structured. The literature review indicated that brands can be understood as narratives and that there are many components of a brand s storytelling, including narrative (Fog et al., 2005; Grow, 2008; Hearn, 2008; Smith, 2011), brand personalities (Aaker, 1996), values (Aaker, 1996), visual identities (Wheeler, 2012), images (Hearn, 2008; Wheeler, 2009), symbols (Aaker, 1996; Wheeler, 2012), amongst other aspects.

Beginning with a trial period with 20 codes, the trial presented that 6 of these created overlaps with other codes so these codes were removed and merged with existing codes. The 14 codes that were used reflect the intention to firstly determine the predominant subthemes of Cathay Pacific s storytelling and secondly to obtain an indication of projected personality traits, cultural values, and psychological characteristics as components of brand, as suggested by De

responsive to customer needs; generous treatment of customers, exemplifying thoughtfulness, gentleness, compassion, sensitivity and being considerate towards customers, making customers feel comfortable both emotionally (e.g. at ease) and physically (e.g. with pillows, blankets, a hot drink to calm nerves)

Familiarity Recognising repeat customers and knowing

their preferences; acting as if passengers/customers are close acquaintances; rapport or close (professional) relationship with customers (not necessarily friendly/friendliness (See: Hospitality)

Challenges Facing adversity and challenges and then

overcoming these; being placed in a difficult, stressful, problematic situation then presenting solutions and solving the issue;

being put outside of one’s comfort zone and facing new experiences that are challenging;

experiencing culture shock

Excitement Feelings of excitement and anticipation;

feelings of eagerness and enthusiasm;

significant amount of energy and anticipation to experience something

Sharing Sharing an experience with others and being

part of a larger social group; sharing one’s achieving, doing or experiencing something;

fulfilling one’s personal desires and needs Encountering Encountering foreign or distinct cultures to

one’s own; overseas trips and stories of immigration/emigration

Self improvement Instances of improving both personally and professionally, learning and education

Customer input Customers influence to change processes, behaviour, service; customer opinions and preferences

Culture Mention one’s own culture, cultural

background, upbringing, ethnicity or nationality, particularly, but not necessarily, in relating it to one’s professional life

Ambition Discusses their future plans with the company

like career progression; discusses past plans or desires for what they wanted in the future (e.g. I always wanted to be a pilot);

individualistic not collective ambition

Teamwork Group action or effort; working as/in a team;

Safety Issues of safety, protection and

prevention/minimisation of risk, harm, damage and/or injuries; technology, processes and instruments that ensure the minimisation of risk, harm, damage and injuries

Dedication [Collective] Collective/corporate desire, intention and/or procedures to improve service, quality and performance; not an individualistic dedication to one’s tasks (See: Ambition); a collective dedication to continually improving the customer experience

This study progresses with the understanding that storytelling is made up of many components and therefore the analysis will occur in two parts. The first will focus on the general overarching subthemes of the storytelling, examining the data from the quantitative content analysis closely to identify trends in the predominance or absence or particular subthemes. It will also look into the personality traits, psychological characteristics and cultural values projected through such subthemes. The data will present the dominant subthemes which will then be analysed in terms of what meaning is communicated through these subthemes and how they construct and what they project about Cathay Pacific s brand. The second part will focus on the specific components of the storytelling, namely, the narrative devices, characters and representative techniques. Textual analysis and semiotics will be used to analyse the specific meaning, influence and consequences of the different storytelling components to analyse the meaning of these subthemes to ascertain what they communicate about the brand and how they serve, if they do at all, to glocalise the brand to distinct audiences. The three components of the storytelling focused on in this study will be analysed in turn: narrative devices (Chapter 6), characters (Chapter 7) and representative techniques (Chapter 8).