Purpose – A recent marketing trend is sending short message service (SMS) apparel advertisements to capture young adult consumers’ attention. These targeted consumers are reluctant to view SMS advertisements due to perceived irrelevant advertising content. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumer vanity trait and perceived SMS apparel advertising values for 291 college-aged Generation Y consumers (aged between 18 and 24) from the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The study opted for a quantitative, correlational design to investigate the relationships among vanity traits and perceived SMS apparel advertising values. An internet-based survey collected vanity trait attributes, perceived SMS apparel advertising values, and demographics from the participant. Correlation and multiple regression analyses tested the degree of association and measured the strength of predictive relationships among the said variables. Findings – Empirical findings of this study reveal a positive, predictive relationship between vanity traits and perceived SMS apparel advertising values. Symbols of success is the most dominant vanity trait for males and ethnic minorities. Research limitations/implications – Excluded from the present study was investigating the relationship between personality and consumer vanity trait. Personality evolves with the individual’s worldview and lived experience. It would be interesting to explore achievement-vanity through the consumers’ life story. Practical implications – Consumer adoption and abandonment of the latest fashion trends can occur quickly. The timing of an SMS apparel advertising campaign and advertising content relevancy are critical to initiate the targeted consumers’ interest. Originality/value – This paper sheds some lights on the contribution of psychological predispositions to apparel consumption-related situations for consumers.

Demand for international K-12 schools in India is growing, and this is causing competition between them. The purpose of this paper was to explore the branding strategies that private international school leaders in India use to enhance the school brand. Case study method was used where fifteen participants were interviewed from an international school in Southern part of India. Interviews were conducted with five school leaders, five teachers, and five parents using a semi-structured interview method with open-ended questions related to branding strategies. Brand-oriented organizations have internal approaches to developing their brand based on vision, mission, and values. As education is an intangible product, both internal branding and external branding are required to win the trust of parents. Various information technology tools including social media can help to devise personalized communication channels to tell the school’s story to the stakeholders. The inherent limitation with a case study method is that it is not generalizable. Branding as a process has been discussed for higher education institutions but not the K-12 sector, especially from the Indian perspective. The empirical evidence presented in this paper may help K-12 schools, especially in India to understand how to enhance the school brand.

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