Research

Research

Research

Research group for Branding and marketing

Head of the research group: Dr. Kovács László

In December 2018, the Research Group for Branding and Marketing Communications was established at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University to promote research on the processes, tools and effectiveness of marketing and brand communication. The group carries out basic and applied research, both in-house and externally funded through grants. Research is carried out involving the members of the research group, associated researchers and students (e.g. thesis topic). In addition to the dissemination of scientific results, the research group aims also at science communication.

Main research topics

– Marketing linguistics

This research area focuses on the application of language and linguistics in marketing. The research is based on linguistic research and on practical problems that could be addressed by linguistic approaches. Topics include brand names, slogans, the language of advertising, or the linguistic landscape.

– Green marketing and green business

Research on green marketing issues and green business solutions is increasing worldwide. We seek to analyze the challenges of a green, sustainable and circular businesses and business activities: we scrutinize aspects of consumer behavior consumer expectations and all sides of green marketing, from the product/service to the communication of green issues.

– Brand name research

Interdisciplinary research on brand names is balancing on the boundaries between applied linguistics and marketing science. It examines the brand name inventory of a given period, branding opportunities and trends, product category-specific characteristics of brand names, brand nomenclature and spelling, and the possibilities for brand name adaptation and translation.

– Brand associations and cognitive brand positioning

Research on cognitive brand positioning aims to investigate the associative structures of brand names in two ways: firstly, by looking at which associations brand names evoke and secondly, by looking at which words evoke brand names as associations.

The aim of the research is to analyse the position of brand names in the mental lexicon - the "dictionary of mind" - and their associative relationships, to identify product category and brand-specific association structures, and to use the results to suggest ways of strengthening the position of a brand, creating strong brands, and optimising marketing communication activities for specific product groups and brands.

– Branding of places

Research on place branding is partly aimed at investigating what branding tools can be used to brand places. Place is understood in a broad sense: it can be a small settlement, part of a town, a town, a region or a country. Place branding also includes destination branding. On the other hand, we also look at how the perception of brands and products is influenced by their country of origin.

Some research objectives

- Research connected to green marketing issues
- Analysis of sustainable/green consumer behavior
- Creation of brand association databases
- Analysis of brand association structures
- Longitudinal analysis of brand associations using currently available databases
- Examination of brand names in selected product categories
- Analysis of brand and marketing communication activities for selected product categories

- Studies in consumer behaviour

- Place branding

- Branding destinations


Research and other grants:

2024 Nemzeti Kulturális Alap: organisation of a conference Marketing Linguistics

2023 NTP-INNOV-22-0036 Marketing going green. Contexts of sustainability and opportunities for sustainability-related awareness-raising in the context of green marketing

2022 Action Austria-Hungary: Brands as culture carriers - The culture-mediating role of Austrian and Hungarian products - a contrastive sprachpragmatische Untersuchung (Innsbruck, in cooperation with the Institute for Linguistics)

2022 NTP-INNOV-21-0049 New Challenges, New Skills, New Strategies - Towards a New Normal as Innovation Project Leader

2022 TINLAB Development of a measurement tool and measurement exercise to measure the receptiveness to smart developments


Events and conferences connected to the research group

7-8 Nov 2024. Marketing Linguistics International Conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences; 42 papers, speakers from five countries, 15 universities)

24 Apr 2024 Towards a green economy: steps for a sustainable future conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

26 Sep 2023 Brands and Culture project, closing event (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

26 Sep 2023 Brands and Culture exhibition (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

26 Jun 2023 Marketing going green project, closing event (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

25 Apr 2023 Greening (?) the economy - Roundtable discussion (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

24 Apr 2023 Sustainability and the Future Conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

24 Apr 2023 Sustainability and the Future through Students' Eyes Conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

27 Oct. 2022 Book presentation of Kovács L. - Szőke V. (eds.) 2022: Two years of a new normality - The economic and social impact of the coronavirus epidemic (Covid19) and Kovács L. (ed.) 2022: New challenges, new skills, new strategies - towards a new normality (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

19 Sep 2022 Brands and Culture - Exhibition and Opening Ceremony (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

19 Sep 2022 Book presentation: Kegyes, Erika - Zipser, Katharina (Hrsg.) 2022: Kontrastive Studien zum Sprachpaar Deutsch-Ungarisch (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

16 Jun 2022 How has the coronavirus epidemic affected the functioning of some organisations? - Roundtable discussion conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

29 Nov 2022 Economy - Interdisciplinary perspectives. Conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences - Vas Megyei Tudwissenschaftetterjesztő Egyesület)

14 Nov. 2019 Borderlands - Conference on Economics (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)

25 Apr. 2019 Societas et Oeconomia - economic conference (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Social Sciences)


Members

Head: Dr. Kovács László

Members:
Horváth Zoltán
Székely Klára
Dr. Szőke Viktória
Dr. Ziegler Zsolt

PhD Students:
Szilvási Tünde

External members:

Dr. Endrődy Orsolya (ELTE PPK)
Dr. Keller Krisztina (Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem)

We also involve doctoral students and students of the Institute of Economics of ELTE TáTK in the activities and work of the research group.


Selected publications connected to the research group (2019-)

2024

Kovács László 2024. Nyelvi kommunikáció a marketingben. Marketingnyelvészet. Budapest: Akadémiai.

https://mersz.hu/kovacs-nyelvi-kommunikacio-a-marketingben

Kovács, László – Zipser, Katharina – Szőke, Viktória – Kegyes, Erika (Hrsg./szerk.) 2024. Marken im Kontext von Sprache und Kultur – Die kulturelle Vermittlungsfunktion österreichischer und ungarischer Marken / Márkák a nyelv és a kultúra kontextusában – Osztrák és magyar márkák kultúraközvetítő szerepe. Hamburg. Dr. Kovač.

Kovács László 2024. „Good” vs. „Bad”: An Empirical Analysis of the Brand Names of Coronavirus Vaccines. HERMES – Journal of Language and Communication in Business / 64: 1-21. 

Pinke-Sziva Ivett – Keller Krisztina – Kovács László 2024. Smart positioning: how smart technologies can increase the attractiveness of heritage tourism destinations? The case of a small-scale Hungarian heritage city. Journal of Heritage Tourism. 19(5): 762–780.


2023

Kovács L. – Szőke V. (szerk.) 2023. A zöld üzleti gondolkodás és a zöld marketing lehetőségei és kihívásai. Szombathely: Savaria University Press.

Kovács L. (szerk.) 2023. Márkanevek: marketing és nyelvészet határán. Budapest: Tinta.

Kovács László – Szőke Viktória (szerk.) 2022. Két év új normalitás: A koronavírus-járvány (Covid19) gazdasági és társadalmi hatásai. Szombathely: Savaria University Press.

Balaban, Eylül – Kovács, László 2023. The Perception of the Turkish Students of the Study Destination Budapest. Journal of Tourism and Development. 41. 167-185.
 

2022

Kovács László – Szőke Viktória (szerk.) 2022. Két év új normalitás: A koronavírus-járvány (Covid19) gazdasági és társadalmi hatásai. Szombathely: Savaria University Press.

Kovács László 2022. Markennamen als sprachliche und kulturelle Identitätsträger. Linguistisches Treffen in Wroclaw. 22/2: 73-86. 

Lénárt István – Lakner Zoltán – Kovács László – Kasza Gyula 2022. Consumers across cultures: a comparative study about consumers’ role in food safety related academic literature. British Food Journal. 124/12: 4610-4625. 

Kovács László – Bóta András – Hajdu László – Krész Miklós 2022. Brands, networks, communities: How brand names are wired in the mind. PLoS ONE 17(8): e0273192.

Németh Tamás – Kovács László 2022. Elektromos autók fogyasztói megítélése Magyarországon – elméleti megfontolások és egy kérdőíves felmérés eredményei. International Journal of Engineering and Management Sciences 7/2. 1-23.

Keller Krisztina – Tóth-Kaszás Nikoletta – Kovács László – Knausz Lívia 2022. Másképp látják-e a különböző generációk egy magyar középváros élhetőségét? Valóság. 2022/6: 78-95.

Kovács László 2022. Márkanevek: a márkakukatás és a nyelvtudomány metszéspontjában Magyar Nyelvőr.146/1: 60-70.

Ziegler, Zsolt (2022). Utilizing Transparency Illusion to Enhance Employee Sincerity. International Journal of Organizational Diversity 22(2): 37-49.


2021

Kovács László – Endrődy Orsolya – Lénárt István 2021. Brand names in the mind of Hungarian, Russian, and Laotian kindergarten children: evidence from word association experiments. Hungarian Education Research Journal. 11/4. 413-425.

Kovács László – Zsarnóczky Martin – Keller Krisztina – Tóth-Kaszás Nikoletta 2021. Idősek városképe – egy városmárka-asszociációs kutatás korcsoportspecifikus eredményei. Tér és Társadalom. 35/1. 113-135


2020

Kovács László (szerk.) 2020. Globális kihívás – lokális válaszok. A koronavírus (Covid19) gazdasági és társadalmi összefüggései és hatásai. Szombathely: Savaria University Press. (elektronikus kötet)

Kovács László (szerk.) 2020. Határterületek 2019. Szombathely: Savaria University Press. 

Kovács László – Németh Tamás 2020. Országeredet-hatás vagy országeredet-hatások? Az országeredet-hatás összefüggéseinek vizsgálata az Opel márka példáján. Marketing & Menedzsment. 54/3. 59-70.

Kovács László – Keller Krisztina – Tóth-Kaszás Nikoletta – Knausz Lívia 2020. Nagykanizsa mint márka – középiskolások körében végzett városmárkaasszociációs vizsgálatok eredményei. Vezetéstudomány. 51/3. 17-29.

Ziegler Zsolt 2020. Newcomb Dilemma in Development Management. Információs Társadalom 20/4. 7-18.


2019

Kovács László – Székely Klára (szerk.) 2019. Ipar 4.0. Szombathely: Savaria University Press.

Kovács László 2019. Márkák, asszociációk és fogyasztás – változások a társadalom átalakulásának tükrében. Alkalmazott Nyelvtudomány. 19/1. 1-17.

Kovács László 2019. Insights from Brand Associations: Alcohol Brands and Automotive Brands in the Mind of the Consumer. Market – Trziste. 31/1. 97-121.

Kovács László 2019. Márkanevek és fonetikai hasonlóságon alapuló asszociációk szóasszociációs adatbázisokban. Beszédkutatás. 27: 344-360.

Zemplén Gábor – Ziegler Zsolt – Csordás Hédi Virág 2019. A meggyőzéstechnika alapjai In: Zemplén Gábor – Danka István (szerk.) Meggyőzéstechnika. Budapest: Akadémiai. 12-62.

Ziegler Zsolt – Csordás Hédi 2019. Particularist Understanding of CSR Marketing Visual Arguments. In: Giovanni, Scarafile (ed.) Interdisciplinarity and Controversies. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 53-74.