The Corporate Social Responsibility in Lidl’s Communication Campaigns in Croatia and the UK

Authors

Martina Topic, Leeds Beckett UniversityFollow
Ralph Tench, Leeds Beckett University

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to investigate whether Lidl uses CSR communication in their Advertising and Communication Campaigns in two different business contexts, and if so, how. The paper built upon existing analyses of CSR Communication by analysing Lidl’s websites in both countries, and went step forward and analysed TV adverts of the company in both countries as well. The analysis discovered importance of the social context in using CSR to promote business, as well as a different communication management strategy where Lidl does not communicate with UK public as extensively as with the Croatian public due to different views on the CSR communication. An in-depth analysis of TV adverts of Lidl in Croatia and the UK using their YouTube channel with all promoted TV adverts, as well as official websites of Lidl in both countries was conducted. The findings were analysed using the qualitative method of thematic, contextual analysis. The findings reveal that CSR is used as an argument to foster sales and consumer trust in Croatia but not in the UK. The communication management strategy is different in two countries due to different views of the public about CSR Communication, and Lidl's Communication strategy is designed accordingly.

Keywords

Retail, Lidl, Corporate Social Responsibility, Croatia, UK

Author Bio(s)

Martina Topić holds a PhD in Sociology (University of Zagreb, 2013), Postgraduate diploma in Media and Globalization (City University London, 2007), Master’s degree in Journalism (University of Zagreb, 2003) and Master’s degree in Political science (University of Zagreb, 2003). She has worked as a journalist for print media in Croatia, Slovenia and Italy (2003-2009), research fellow at the University of Zagreb (2007-2013), and as a researcher on two large international projects ‘UNESCO Media development Indicators’ (2007-2008) and ‘FP7 Identities and Modernities in Europe’ (2009-2012). Since July 2014, she works at the Leeds Beckett University where she is teaching Research Methods at several postgraduate programmes; Integrated Marketing Communications; Communication, Ethics and Regulation; and Business Journalism. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: Martina Topić at, M.Topic@leedsbecket.ac.uk.

Ralph Tench is a Professor of Communications Education and holds Faculty of Business and Law management responsibility for 100 PhD students as Director of PhD programmes, Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University. He has examined PhD’s in the UK and Europe and is an external examiner for six UK universities. He is a visiting professor at the University of Salzburg and has presented his research at academic and practitioner conferences around the world. Prior to returning to the university sector Ralph was a national news and sports journalist and consultancy director. He is a Board Director for EUPRERA (European Public Relations Research and Education Association) and is the past Head of the Scientific Committee for the Association’s annual congress. He sits on the editorial board for 6 academic journals. He is a member of the Institute for Leadership, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations as well as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: Ralph Tench at, R.Tench@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.

Publication Date

2-22-2016

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2233

Recommended APA Citation

Topic, M., & Tench, R. (2016). The Corporate Social Responsibility in Lidl’s Communication Campaigns in Croatia and the UK. The Qualitative Report, 21(2), 351-376. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2233