Papers by Isabelle Ulrich
The travel influencer construct: An empirical exploration and validation
Tourism Management
Journal of Business Research, Sep 1, 2019
Titre How does access to luxury fashion challenge self-identity? Exploring women's practices of j... more Titre How does access to luxury fashion challenge self-identity? Exploring women's practices of joint and non-ownership Type de publication Article de revue
“Boys and dolls; girls and cars”: Children’s reactions to incongruent images in a retailer’s catalogue
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2016
Purpose French retailer, Systeme U, has triggered controversial debates among professionals and p... more Purpose French retailer, Systeme U, has triggered controversial debates among professionals and parents recently, by inserting images revolutionising gender norms in its Christmas toy catalogue. As children’s perceptions did not feature in these debates, the purpose of this paper is to explore their reactions to this catalogue, its gender-incongruent images and their associated toys. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 27 children aged five to ten, from middle-upper social class. The methodology combined in one session participant observation, interview with visual stimuli and a collage exercise. First, each child was observed as they browsed freely through the catalogue, commenting it. Second, the interview focussed on four gender-incongruent images inside the catalogue to further explore reactions. Finally, they participated to a collage exercise on a mini-questionnaire, aiming at checking their gender-flexibility. Findings First, all children tend to focus on their own-gender pages only, as they have an intuitive understanding of the catalogue’s gendered structure. Second, incongruent images tend not to be noticed, with an exception being girls aged nine to ten. Third, the children’s acceptance of the gender-incongruent images is influenced by the gender-constancy stage, with the rigidity peak about gender norms at five to six; children’s own-gender-flexibility, between eight and ten; and the collective nature of the game. Originality/value This paper reveals children’s reactions to a toy catalogue containing gender-incongruent images. It provides new insights into how children notice, understand and appreciate these images and concludes with practical implications for retailers about how to better adapt catalogues.
Une enseigne at -elle intérêt à bouleverser les codes du genre ? Réactions d'enfants exposés au c... more Une enseigne at -elle intérêt à bouleverser les codes du genre ? Réactions d'enfants exposés au catalogue de jouets de Système U Résumé : L'enseigne Système U a suscité de nombreuses polémiques en insérant dans son catalogue de jouets de Noël des visuels rompant avec les normes sexuées. Cet article explore les réactions d'enfants de 5 à 10 ans confrontés à ce catalogue et à ses visuels incongruents, afin d'apprécier la pertinence de cette initiative. Il montre que les visuels incongruents sont rarement repérés spontanément par les enfants dans le catalogue. Mais, après observation, les enfants de 5-6 ans (en pleine acquisition de la constance de genre) rejettent ces visuels et les jouets associés. Les enfants plus âgés peuvent les accepter, au prix d'une recontextualisation pour rendre les images tolérables. Des voies visant à accentuer la neutralité des jouets, au travers d'une mise en scène des visuels dans les catalogues, sont alors proposées. Mots-clés : enfantcatalogue de jouetsgenreconstance de genre Should retailers break the rules of gender norms? Children's reactions to the toy catalog of Système U retailer
Bouleverser les codes dans les catalogues de jouets : réactions des enfants et légitimité de la démarche
Décisions marketing, Jun 24, 2016
Cet article s’interroge sur la légitimité, du point de vue des enfants, de l’initiative menée par... more Cet article s’interroge sur la légitimité, du point de vue des enfants, de l’initiative menée par Système U dans ses catalogues de jouets depuis 2012, qui consiste à insérer des visuels rompant avec les normes sexuées. Le principal résultat de l’étude empirique souligne que ces visuels sont rarement repérés par les enfants feuilletant librement le support, mais sont rejetés fortement par les plus jeunes d’entre eux, entre 5 et 7 ans, en pleine acquisition de la constance de genre. Des réflexions sur la manière de revisiter la démarche sont alors exposées afin d’atténuer les clivages sexués des jouets, tout en tenant compte de l’enfant et de son développement.
Customer engagement and performance in social media: a managerial perspective
Electronic Markets, Jan 6, 2021
The topic of customer engagement via social media is receiving increasing consideration in the li... more The topic of customer engagement via social media is receiving increasing consideration in the literature. Previously, scholars’ use of the notion and dimensionality of customer engagement has been incomplete and inconsistent – an oversight that has significant theoretical and practical repercussions. This paper examines the managerial perspective on customer engagement and performance metrics in the context of social media. Data is collected from three different sources representing the main categories of social media stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from 41 companies, 23 advertising/communication agencies, and 10 research/consulting firms and cover a range of views on different social media channels platforms. The results illustrate the gaps between customer engagement’s conceptions, the customer engagement dimensionality, and the metrics of social media performance beyond customer engagement. We also derive theoretical and managerial practical implications and suggest an agenda for future research.
Connecting with Fashion Brands on Social Media: An Investigation of Consumers’ Drivers
Global fashion management conference proceeding, Jul 11, 2019
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Sep 1, 2021
Using visual metaphors in ads is one of the communication techniques that brands have adopted to ... more Using visual metaphors in ads is one of the communication techniques that brands have adopted to grab consumers' attention. The phenomenon of using food pictorial metaphors in non-food brand ads has spread in recent years, and given food's sensory nature, using this cue for a non-food brand can affect the way in which consumers interpret such ads. This research seeks to understand whether and how consumers perceive and process such a rhetorical figure. An exploratory qualitative approach is taken in two studies by using semi-structured interviews to explore consumers' reactions to different types of ads with food visual metaphors. The results reveal the predominance of congruency as a key processing mechanism of the ad at three levels: (a) between the food pictorial metaphor and the brand product category, (b) between the food visual metaphor and the brand itself, and (c) between the visual metaphor and the headline. Moreover, the food appetizing dimension, ad creativity, aesthetic appreciation of the ad, and consumers' aesthetic sensitivity are all revealed to play major roles in attitudes toward the ad.
Brand gender-bending
European Journal of Marketing, May 30, 2018
Purpose Mixed-target brands with strong gender identities, whether it be feminine or masculine, a... more Purpose Mixed-target brands with strong gender identities, whether it be feminine or masculine, are not always successful at targeting both men and women, particularly in symbolic product categories. While attempting to maximize their sales for both targets, managers often struggle to capitalize on a single brand, and they hesitate between different naming strategies. This paper aims to build on brand gender literature and understand these brands’ (i.e. brands targeting both men and women) potential to adopt an endorsed brand strategy rather than a branded house strategy. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a before/after experimental design to examine the effect that introducing a gender-incongruent endorsed brand (i.e. feminine endorsed brand name of masculine master brands and masculine endorsed brand name of feminine master brands) can have on consumers’ brand attitude. Findings First, adopting an endorsed brand strategy increases the perceived brand femininity of masculine master brands, but there is no increase in feminine master brands’ perceived brand masculinity. Second, this strategy has a negative impact on consumer attitude toward the master brand, with a stronger negative effect for feminine master brands than for masculine master brands, which is mediated by the brand gender perception change. Third, a negative feedback effect on the brand’s gender-congruent users is revealed. Research limitations/implications One limitation of this work is that the focus is on one sole extrinsic brand characteristic (i.e. brand name) in our experimental design, which artificially influences the relative brand name importance for consumers. Moreover, the studies offered a short text to introduce the renaming. This may have made the respondents focus on the brand more than they would have in real-world conditions. Practical implications This research provides many insights for masculine or feminine mixed-target brands managers in symbolic product categories, as it shows that changing from a branded house strategy to an endorsed brand strategy appears to be unsuccessful in the short run, regardless of master brand’s gender. Moreover, the study reveals negative feedback effects on the attitude toward the initial master brand, following its renaming, in the short run. Originality/value This research provides a warning to managers trying to gender-bend their existing brands because it can lead to brand dilution. It also emphasizes the asymmetrical evaluation of masculine vs feminine master brands, as manipulating a brand’s perceived masculinity appears very difficult to do successfully.
The Effect of Consumer Multifactorial Gender and Biological Sex on the Evaluation of Cross-Gender Brand Extensions
Psychology & Marketing, Jul 23, 2013
Introducing cross-gender brand extensions—masculine or feminine brands that extend to the opposit... more Introducing cross-gender brand extensions—masculine or feminine brands that extend to the opposite gender—is a growing trend on the marketplace, though not always a successful one. This research examines the effect of consumer multifactorial gender and biological sex on consumers’ evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions. The influence of gender role attitudes is demonstrated: consumers with traditional gender attitudes are significantly more reluctant to accept these extensions than consumers with more liberal attitudes. Hence the extensions have a negative impact on the subsequent attitude of the former group toward the parent brand, contrary to their effect on more egalitarian consumers. No significant impact of the consumer's biological sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation is identified. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for the development of cross-gender brand extensions are discussed.
Revolutionizing gender norms in toy catalogues: children’s reactions and legitimacy of the approach
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2016
Food metaphor in advertising of non-food brands: Towards a conceptual model of the impact on consumer affective responses
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), May 23, 2017
International audienc
The Effect of Second-hand Extension on Retailers’ Brand Image: An Omnichannel Perspective: An Abstract
Customer Engagement Measurement in Social Media: From Theory to Practice
Global fashion management conference proceeding, Jul 30, 2018
Brand gender-bending: The impact of an endorsed brand strategy on consumers’ evaluation of gendered mixed-target brands
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2018
Should retailers break the rules of gender norms? Children’s reactions to the toy catalog of Système U retailer
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Oct 14, 2015
Systeme U retailer has triggered controversial debates, by inserting visuals revolutionizing gend... more Systeme U retailer has triggered controversial debates, by inserting visuals revolutionizing gender norms in their Christmas toy catalog. The purpose of this paper is to explore children's reactions at 5-10 years, regarding this catalog and its incongruent visuals, in order to appreciate the pertinence of this initiative. The paper shows that incongruent visuals are rarely noticed by children when flipping through the catalog. But, when observing them, children at 5-6 (at the attainment of genderconstancy) reject these visuals and the associated toys. Older children may accept these visuals but by recontextualizing them to make themtolerable. Further proposals of visuals imagery in toy catalogsare then discussed, aiming at increasing gender neutrality of toys.
Journal of Business Research, Nov 1, 2020
This research builds on similarity theory in order to understand the key success factors of brand... more This research builds on similarity theory in order to understand the key success factors of brand naming strategies for the cross-gender extension of female patronymic brands targeting men. Study 1 demonstrates that the most common naming strategy-adding a "Men" descriptor to the brand name-does not significantly increase brand attitude as the perceived brand masculinity cannot be enhanced for men. Study 2 extends Study 1 by testing two more distant brand naming strategies: (1) dropping the first name and (2) using brand initials. The results show an inverted-U relationship pattern that reveals the key role of similarity: Dropping the first name has the most positive impact on brand extension attitude, purchase intention, and spillover effect. By contrast, the strategy using brand initials is too dissimilar from the initial brand name to be attractive to men. These findings provide managerial implications for practitioners considering a cross-gender brand extension strategy.
Between Frenzy and Collection: Towards a Characterization of Female Accumulative Buying Behavior
Developments in marketing science: proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2016
Consumer markets are increasingly becoming places where consumers develop specific relationships ... more Consumer markets are increasingly becoming places where consumers develop specific relationships with products and expectations of psychological benefits. For example, many women seem to treasure large numbers of shoes and bags without necessarily being compulsive. Drawing on consumer behavior theory, this research examines accumulative buying behavior among women so as to better characterize it and understand its dimensions and antecedents from a different perspective. A broad qualitative exploratory study is conducted and combines focus group technique with in-depth semi-structured interviews in order to revisit accumulative buying behavior, identify consumer motivations, and specify the major product categories related to this phenomenon. Results reveal a new approach of accumulative buying distinct from compulsion and collecting behavior.
“Boys and dolls; girls and cars”
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Oct 10, 2016
Purpose French retailer, Système U, has triggered controversial debates among professionals and p... more Purpose French retailer, Système U, has triggered controversial debates among professionals and parents recently, by inserting images revolutionising gender norms in its Christmas toy catalogue. As children’s perceptions did not feature in these debates, the purpose of this paper is to explore their reactions to this catalogue, its gender-incongruent images and their associated toys. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 27 children aged five to ten, from middle-upper social class. The methodology combined in one session participant observation, interview with visual stimuli and a collage exercise. First, each child was observed as they browsed freely through the catalogue, commenting it. Second, the interview focussed on four gender-incongruent images inside the catalogue to further explore reactions. Finally, they participated to a collage exercise on a mini-questionnaire, aiming at checking their gender-flexibility. Findings First, all children tend to focus on their own-gender pages only, as they have an intuitive understanding of the catalogue’s gendered structure. Second, incongruent images tend not to be noticed, with an exception being girls aged nine to ten. Third, the children’s acceptance of the gender-incongruent images is influenced by the gender-constancy stage, with the rigidity peak about gender norms at five to six; children’s own-gender-flexibility, between eight and ten; and the collective nature of the game. Originality/value This paper reveals children’s reactions to a toy catalogue containing gender-incongruent images. It provides new insights into how children notice, understand and appreciate these images and concludes with practical implications for retailers about how to better adapt catalogues.
What’s the value of a piece of clothing I don’t own? The components of value in sharing and rental practices
Decisions Marketing, 2020
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Papers by Isabelle Ulrich