Communicating brand gender through type fonts

The marketing literature suggests that positioning a brand in terms of brand gender (i.e., brand masculinity and brand femininity) generates favorable consumer responses, yet there is little research on how brand gender perceptions arise. This research examines whether type font can be employed to create brand gender perceptions in the context of unfamiliar brands. Building on the theoretical framework of personality inferences based on static cues, three studies involving a range of type fonts, brand names, and product categories demonstrate that type font influences consumers’ perceptions of brand gender. Type font effects emerged for brand names presented in isolation (Study 1), brand names presented on signage (Study 2a), and brand names on product labels (Studies 2b and 3). Importantly, type font effects on brand gender persisted in the presence of a competing brand gender cue (i.e., brand name with gender associations), and type font and brand name influenced brand gender perceptions independently. A fourth study demonstrates that type fonts representing the brands influence consumers’ likelihood to recommend the brand. The article concludes with a discussion of theoretical and brand management implications.     

Understanding consumer's brand categorization across three countries: Application of fuzzy rule-based classification

In multi-brand situations, people categorize all known brands into subsets called consideration, hold, foggy and reject sets. This is the Brisoux–Laroche model. Traditional brand categorization models including this, assume that consumers can properly categorize each brand into these subsets. However, a brand with both perceived positive and negative attributes increases the difficulty for a consumer to decide about the placement into subsets. This study investigates consumers' brand categorization when a brand has both perceived positive and negative attributes. We propose that a brand may belong to more than one subset (decision fuzziness). Using fuzzy-rule-based classification, this is investigated across three cultures (Chinese, Japanese and Kazakhstan) and two product categories: Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and beer. The findings confirm that decision fuzziness varies across cultures. Chinese consumers have less decision fuzziness for foreign brands than for local brands in the QSR market. In general, the opposite is found to be true for Japanese and Kazakh consumers.     

Spillover effects of ingredient branded strategies on brand choice: A field study

Ingredient branding, or the use of two or more brand names on a single product, is widely seen as providing significant benefits in terms of increased product differentiation and greater market share. The association between two brand names can both enhance and dilute the brand equity of the host brand name and the ingredient brand name. This research examines the behavioral spillover effects associated with cobranded strategies across segments of consumers that vary in their prior brand commitment or loyalty. Different from previous research, this paper uses A.C. Nielsen scanner panel data to investigate the behavioral spillover effects of ingredient branded products on choice of the host and ingredient brands in a field setting. The results suggest that there is a significant behavioral spillover impact of trial of the cobranded product on the purchase probability of both the host and ingredient brands. This effect is greater among prior non-loyal users and prior non-users of the host and ingredient brands and when there is a higher degree of perceived fit between the host and ingredient brands.     

Assessing Brand Origin Recognition Accuracy and its Antecedents in a Developing Country

The aim of the present study was to examine two main questions regarding Indonesian consumers. First, what are the brand origin recognition accuracy (BORA) scores for both foreign brands and local brands among Indonesian consumers? Second, are socio-economic characteristics (education and income/spending), international experience (international travel and foreign language expertise), and demographic factors (age and gender) related to consumers’ brand origin recognition accuracy? The present research follows BORA procedures in the selection of 88 brands (44 foreign and 44 local brands). Questionnaires were distributed both offline and online, with 138 respondents participating offline and 163 people responding online. The BORA scores for both foreign and local brands among Indonesian consumers were relatively low (28.79% and 53.85%, respectively). BORA was also related to socio-economic characteristics, international experience, and age. In addition, men demonstrated higher BORA levels for foreign brands than women did. Most consumers were unable to differentiate brand origins because of the use of foreign languages for the brand names. Therefore, the foreign branding strategy of using languages of other countries (e.g., English, Chinese, Japanese, and so forth) that have positive images for particular product categories could be effectively employed in Indonesia.     

How competitor brand names affect within-brand choices

This research shows that consumers’ intra-brand choices (e.g., Mercedes C330 vs. C340) can be affected by exposure to a competitor alphanumeric brand name that forms an incidental trend with the numbers in the focal brand names (e.g., BMW320i or BMW350i). We propose and test two mechanisms. First, when no attribute information is available, the competitor brand can make the numerical trends formed by brand names salient and meaningful, and increase the preference for higher brands (e.g., Mercedes C340). Second, when attribute values are negatively correlated with brands, exposure to the competitor brand name can trigger brand-attribute magnitude tradeoffs. In five experiments, we demonstrate that our predictions hold when there are no intrinsic brand-attribute associations, and even when the competitor brand is not available for choice. We identify competitive categorization as a boundary condition and demonstrate that the effect diminishes when consumers do not categorize the nonfocal option as a competitor.     

The Pareto rule for frequently purchased packaged goods: an empirical generalization

Many markets have historically been dominated by a small number of best-selling products. The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, describes this common pattern of sales concentration. Several papers have provided empirical evidence to explain the Pareto rule, although with limited data. This article provides a comprehensive empirical investigation on the extent to which the Pareto rule holds for mass-produced and distributed brands in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry. We used a rich consumer panel dataset from A.C. Nielsen with 6 years of purchase histories from over 100,000 households. Our analysis utilizes a large number of potential factors such as brand attributes, category attributes, and consumer purchase behavior to explain variation in the Pareto ratio at the brand level across products. Our main conclusion is that the Pareto principle generally holds across a wide variety of CPG categories with the mean Pareto ratio at the brand level across product categories of .73. Several variables related to consumer purchase behavior (e.g., purchase frequency and purchase expenditure) are found to be positively correlated with the Pareto ratio. In addition, niche brands are more likely to have a higher Pareto ratio. Finally, brand/category size, promotion variables, change-of-pace brands, and market competition variables are negatively correlated with the Pareto ratio.     

Going to great lengths in the pursuit of luxury: How longer brand names can enhance the luxury perception of a brand

Brand names are a crucial part of the brand equity and marketing strategy of any company. Research suggests that companies spend considerable time and money to create suitable names for their brands and products. This paper uses the Zipf's law (or Principle of Least Effort) to analyze the perceived luxuriousness of brand names. One of the most robust laws in linguistics, Zipf's law describes the inverse relationship between a word's length and its frequency i.e., the more frequently a word is used in language, the shorter it tends to be. Zipf's law has been applied to many fields of science and in this paper, we provide evidence for the idea that because polysyllabic words (and brand names) are rare in everyday conversation, they are considered as more complex, distant, and abstract and that the use of longer brand names can enhance the perception of how luxurious a brand is (compared with shorter brand names, which are considered to be close, frequent, and concrete to consumers). Our results suggest that shorter names (mono‐syllabic) are better suited to basic brands whereas longer names (tri‐syllabic or more) are more appropriate for luxury brands.     

Retail shopping lists: Reassessment and new insights

The paper addresses consumers' shopping lists. The current study is based on a survey of 871 lists collected at retail grocery stores. Most items on shopping lists appear on the product category level rather than the brand level. The importance of the brand level varies considerably across product categories. An association between the frequency of a brand's appearance on lists and the amount of money spent on advertising the brand could not be found. A strong link between brands, prices and store names is revealed. Price in the majority of cases refers to brands rather than to product categories. The paper ends with a discussion and with suggestions for future research.     

Looking more or less alike: Determinants of perceived visual similarity between copycat and leading brands

Copycat brands try to gain acceptance from consumers by imitating the trade dress of a leading, incumbent brand, and a crucial question thus is which conditions determine the perceived similarity between a copycat and a leading brand. Two experimental studies, across different product categories and countries, reveal that, as hypothesized, the copycat strategy (copying visual attributes versus themes) and the mindset of the consumer (featural versus relational focus) interact to determine perceived similarity. Consumers in a relational mindset perceive a theme-based copycat to be more similar to a leading brand than consumers in a featural mindset do. These findings have implications for similarity theory and branding practice.     

New Brands Versus Brand Extensions, Attitudes Versus Choice: Experimental Evidence for Theory and Practice

The current study compares better-fitting and worse-fitting new brand names and brand extensions on brand attitudes and choice shares across situations that differ in terms of the amount of product information available and consumer knowledge of the target product category (which had limited effects), 35[emsp4 ]mm cameras (choice-set competitors Nikon and Minolta). While brand extensions and better-fitting brands generally enjoyed more positive brand attitudes and larger choice shares, effects were moderated by product information. When information was limited to brand name and price, the better-fitting brand extension (Sony) commanded more share than did the better-fitting new brand (Optix) which in turn commanded more share than did either the worse-fitting extension (Nike) or the worse-fitting new brand (Topix). But when information on product features was added, target brands were chosen similarly across brand names where the better-fitting new brand Optix garnered slightly (non-significantly; 5%) more share than the better-fitting extension Sony. This weak preference was reversed, however, in the attitude data where Sony was rated significantly higher in liking than Optix. Two focal conclusions emerge. First, new brands can perform as well as or better than brand extensions when consumers process product information. In this study, brand-extension advantages were confined to situations of limited information processing and better fit. Second, since branding effects differed across attitudes and choice, researchers hoping to duplicate in the laboratory the types of branding effects likely to occur in the marketplace may want to expand their traditional focus on attitudes to include choice.     

Private labels versus national brands: The effects of branding on sensory perceptions and purchase intentions

Consumers increasingly consider private labels to be as good as national brands. This research raises the question of whether national brands and private labels equally affect consumers’ sensory perceptions and purchase intentions. The results of two studies show that consumers reverse their evaluation of private labels (vs. national brands) when tasting the product in an informed (vs. blind) condition. When consumers are not aware of brand names, they indicate better taste and higher purchase intentions for private labels. However, the opposite is true when they try products in an informed condition. We discuss the implications for private labels and national brands.     

“Retail is detail! Give consumers a gift rather than a bundle”: Promotion framing and consumer product returns

Retailers often use the promotion strategy of offering supplementary products (e.g., free gift, bundle) to attract consumers and increase sales. Despite the growing literature on the promotions that are differently framed but offer economically identical values, little research has examined the link between promotion framing and consumer product returns. The current article sheds light on this relationship, hypothesizing that a free gift promotion would be superior to a bundle promotion in reducing consumer product returns. The findings suggest that a gift‐framed promotion leads to a lower product return intention than an economically equivalent bundle promotion, because consumers tend to perceive more loss from giving up the gift‐framed (vs. bundle‐framed) deal. Further, this study examines a moderating role of brand familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and shows that the merits of free gift framing on product return intention via perceived loss are amplified (attenuated) when the promoted brand is familiar (unfamiliar). Overall, the investigations of this study imply that it is better to frame a promotion as a “free gift” than a “bundle” to increase perceived loss in returning the purchase and thus to decrease consumer product returns. This strategic intervention works especially when the gift is offered by familiar brands.     

Beyond brand attitude: Individual drivers of purchase for symbolic cobranded products

Cobranding, or the use of two brand names on a single product, generally coincides with higher purchase intentions. Prior research focuses on ingredient co-branding and suggests that attitude toward both the primary and the secondary brands and congruence between the brands are important drivers of cobranded products' success. This research shows that self-congruity with the secondary brand and need for uniqueness have significant positive impacts on symbolic co-branding purchase, in addition to perceived congruence and attitude toward the primary brand. In contrast, attitude toward the secondary brand does not relate to purchase of symbolic cobranded products. Therefore, managers should rely on self-congruity, instead of attitude toward the secondary brand, when choosing a partner for symbolic cobranded products. Moreover, product category involvement enhances the impact of self-congruity on purchase intent.     

Advertisement Disclaimer Speed and Corporate Social Responsibility: “Costs” to Consumer Comprehension and Effects on Brand Trust and Purchase Intention

It is not uncommon for advertisers to present required product disclaimers quickly at the end of advertisements. We show that fast disclaimers greatly reduce consumer comprehension of product risks and benefits, creating implications for social responsibility. In addition, across two studies, we found that disclaimer speed and brand familiarity interact to predict brand trust and purchase intention, and that brand trust mediated the interactive effect of brand familiarity and disclaimer speed on purchase intention. Our results indicate that fast disclaimers actually reduce brand trust and purchase intention for unfamiliar brands, suggesting that there are both economic and social responsibility reasons to use less rapid disclaimers for unfamiliar brands. Conversely, disclaimer speed had no negative effects on brand trust and purchase intention for highly familiar brands, presenting ethical tensions between economic interests (e.g., an efficient use of advertisement time) and social responsibility. We discuss the implications of our framework for advertising ethics, for corporate social performance, and for corporate social responsibility.     

An investigation of determinants of counterfeit purchase consideration

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the determinants governing the likelihood of considering the purchase of counterfeit branded products (CBPs) in the context of non-deceptive counterfeiting. The study anticipates and explores the effects of consumer-perceived brand image (i.e., brand personality, product attributes, and benefits/consequences), perceived risk, product knowledge, product involvement, and consumer demographic variables. Focus groups generated the criteria that consumers use to evaluate the studied brands; the main study then collected data from interviews. The results show that among the tested variables, brand personality performs best in determining consideration of the CBP. In general, demographic variables and product involvement do not appear to be significantly influential. The results also provide empirical evidence for Plummer's (Plummer, J.T. How Personality Makes a Difference. Journal of Advertising Research 1985; 24 (6): 27-83 (December/January), Plummer, J.T. How Personality Makes a Difference. Journal of Advertising Research 2000; 40 (6): 79-83 (November/December)) notion of brand image components; furthermore the results also suggest that perceived risks should not be part of the benefit/consequence component of the brand image concept.     

Consumer Evaluations of Competing Brands: Perceptual versus Predictive Validity

This study applies the concepts of consumer predictive and confidence values of information to consumer evaluations of food quality. Examining hypothetical findings from a thought experiment, the study offers advances in cue utilization, predictive validity, and achievement of consumer's perceived quality and actual quality. Separately, metrics for these concepts were applied in a consumer product‐quality evaluation study of three brands of peanut butter. Actual quality was operationally defined in terms of Consumers Union ratings of the peanut butter. Using a between‐groups, posttest only experimental design, female graduate students (n = 98) tasted and rated one of three peanut butters on the basis of quality and nine product attributes. These informants received no knowledge of brand names or comparative qualities prior to the test. The analysis indicates a nonsignificant correlation between actual quality of the brands and quality as perceived by the informants. The major cues used by informants in making their qualitative judgments (cue utilization) differed from the significant dimensions associated with actual quality (predictive validity). The findings inform the suggestion for consumer training in the process of making accurate quality evaluations.     

A longitudinal examination of the effects of retailer–manufacturer brand alliances: The role of perceived fit

Abstract

One resource that has been identified as a valuable source of competitive advantage is the equity associated with an organisation's brands. Organisations devote considerable resources to developing strategies that allow them to build and/or maintain strong brand names. This study investigates brand alliances between retailers and manufacturers. The role of perceived fit between the partnering brands is explored. In addition, the study examines the influence that retailer–manufacturer brand alliances have on: retailer equity; manufacturer brand equity; the intention of consumers to frequent the stores of the retailer involved in the brand alliance (shopping intention); and the intention of consumers to purchase products from the manufacturer involved in the brand alliance (purchase intention).     

How far can luxury brands travel? Avoiding the pitfalls of luxury brand extension

Brand extensions are always tempting to marketers, and in the case of luxury brands the allure is particularly strong. While the path to luxury brand success may be partly paved with extensions, there are even more examples of brand extension disasters that litter the way. Brand extensions continue to be among the most researched and studied phenomena in marketing. When it comes to luxury brands, however, the factors that lead to successful extension have received far less attention. In this article, we consider the notion of perceived premium degree of the brand as a function of its category, and what we term the degree of adjacency between its product categories. Building on our research, which found that a luxury brand's perceived premium degree has a different impact on profitability depending on whether or not the brand is spread across adjacent product categories, we demonstrate when luxury brand extensions work—and when they fail. Perhaps most importantly, we herein introduce the premium adjacency matrix as a tool for luxury brand managers to consider in formulating extension strategies.     

Prepurchase Determinants of Brand Avoidance: The Moderating Role of Country-of-Origin Familiarity

ABSTRACT

This report provides an overview of the concept of prepurchase brand avoidance, by identifying the motivating factors in a developing nation. Additionally, the authors aim to explain the negative effect of country-of-origin familiarity leading to brand avoidance. Relationships between constructs (undesired self, negative social influence, perceived animosity, and perceived risk) were hypothesized and data were collected via an online survey, where 286 respondents provided an evaluation for the brands they avoided. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling via AMOS. To date, anti-consumption studies have taken place in developed countries where high agency and abundant choice enable brand avoidance to occur; the authors find that brand avoidance also exists in developing countries, and for all categories of brands, undesired self-congruence is the key determinant for prepurchase brand avoidance. The study did not use any particular product categories. Results need to be expanded and confirmed with other product categories in other emergent markets. Developing nations constitute the fastest growing markets in the world, and knowledge of the factors motivating brand avoidance in these contexts are a competitive advantage (e.g., undesired self is one important variable to focus on to make brands acceptable in such markets). This report provides new insights into consumer judgments of prepurchase brand avoidance in an emerging market.     

The impact of pronoun choices on consumer engagement actions: Exploring top global brands' social media communications

To enhance the understanding of consumer engagement with brand content on social media, this study examines how pronoun choices affect different types of consumer engagement (e.g., likes, comments, shares) by simultaneously exploring five different pronoun types (first-person singular, first-person plural, second person, third-person singular, and third-person plural). Furthermore, this study explores how the effects of these linguistic (pronoun) choices vary across two brand classifications: characteristics (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and offerings (goods vs. services). The proposed multivariate Poisson regression model, analyzing 15,788 unique brand posts from Facebook over an 8-month period, reveals differences in engagement due to pronoun usage across brand classifications. These results offer a deeper understanding of how the way brands talk to consumers on social media platforms influences consumers' attitudes (likes), propensity to engage with the brand (comments), and willingness to share branded content with their social networks (shares) across different brand classifications.