Research in marketing includes many examples of consumers helping other consumers. However, most research has studied helping behavior from the recipients’ perspective by examining the use of personal sources of information. Consequently, very little is known about the prevalence of market helping or why market helpers provide assistance. The authors examine the incidence of a variety of everyday market helping activities and identify a few key antecedents of market helping behavior. The results of a study of 302 heads of household confirm significant relationships between market helping and two hypothesized predictors: general altruism and marketplace involvement. The market maven construct is shown to mediate completely the relationship of these predictors with market helping behavior. The authors discuss the implications of the results for public policymakers and consumer welfare.

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Introduces the concept of comprehensive brand presentation (CBP), a formalized approach to align manufacturing and communications functions in the business firm. The linchpins of CBP are total quality management (TQM) principles and integrated marketing communications. The CBP enhances success through synergistic execution of the manufacturing and marketing processes via increased focus on measuring customer response to both manufactured product and promotional efforts supporting that product. CBP defines the TQM principle of “out of control” as the variance between actual brand image and customer specifications as rated by the target customers. CBP’s operational objective is to minimize that variance and, thereby, maximize the expected probability of product acceptance and subsequent target market brand loyalty.

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In September 2006, five key Duquesne University basketball players were shot on the campus by an outside visitor after a school dance. This case explores how students learned firsthand Crisis Management 101-how to survive and thrive during a crisis. Student learning activities included writing journals, discussions of the university's strategies, and interaction with university administrators. This case examines how the university handled the crisis by implementing a strategic marketing plan. Duquesne's strategies included setting goals, adding new safety measures, increasing advertising, stressing the importance of the mission statement, and managing the media. The involvement of the student body in remarketing its university is highlighted.