E' di Stefania Borghini il miglior articolo JoR dell'anno
Stefania Borghini, ricercatrice del Dipartimento di marketing, grazie a Why Are Themed Brandstores So Powerful? Retail Brand Ideology at American Girl Place (Journal of Retailing, Vol. 85, 3, 363-375) si è aggiudicata il 2011 Davidson Honorable Mention Award per il miglior articolo pubblicato nel 2009 dal Journal of Retailing.
Scritto insieme a Nina Diamond (Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, DePaul University, Chicago), Robert Kozinets (Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto), Mary Ann McGrath (School of Business Administration, Loyola University, Chicago), Albert Muñiz (Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, DePaul University, Chicago) e John Sherry (Mendoza College, University of Notre Dame), l'articolo aveva già raccolto un importante riconoscimento lo scorso maggio, quando era entrato nella lista dei 50 Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence, riservata ai migliori 50 articoli di management pubblicati, in tutto il mondo, nel corso del 2009.
Il premio del Journal of Retailing verrà consegnato nel corso dell'American Marketing Association Winter Educators' Conference, che si terrà tra il 18 e il 20 febbraio 2011 a Austin, Texas. In quell'occasione Borghini è invitata a presentare l'articolo agli studiosi partecipanti.
Questo l'abstract dell'articolo:
Although there is growing interest in themed brandstores, we still know very little about the source of these retail environments' power to affect consumers profoundly. Utilizing an ethnographic study of American Girl Place, a culturally rich and highly successful retail environment, we find that effective retailing in these contexts is an intensely ideological affair. In our participant-observation of, and on-site interviews with, consumers at American Girl Place we find that the ideology of the brand manifests powerfully through a variety of different and distinct areas within the store: the Museum, the Library, the Café, the Salon, the Theater, and the Photo Studio. Ideological expression is central to each of these places. Tracking the influence of brand ideology through consumers' retail experiences, we theorize about the centrality of retail place in ideological branding. Although the confluence of ideology and retailing has been referenced in prior research, this paper focuses on and systematically develops the theoretical interconnection between the two. The physical immediacy of themed brandstore experience acts as a quilting point that links together related cultural concepts into a strong retail brand ideology. The implications of this theory draw our attention to ideological and morally-bound retail brand expressions, emphasize the importance of a variety of retail formats within a single store, and provide practical guidelines for retailers eager to build successful brands of their own.