Private label personality: applying brand personality to private label brands

Private label brands (PLBs) are an important facet of the retail offering within the supermarket sector. Although research has focused on the risk factors of private label purchasing, there has been little research that explores the brand management of private labels including the development of a brand personality. In this study, we investigate how the Aaker brand personality scale applies to a PLB available in two different retail chains and examine its effect on customer attitudes towards private label quality. A factor analysis of these brand personality measurement items shows that five dimensions, confidence (a new dimension), sincerity, ruggedness, excitement and competence are relevant for PLBs. Although much of the original Aaker scale was included in the analysis, one factor, sophistication, was not evident. A regression analysis shows that all private label personality dimensions influenced the private label quality measure with the confidence and sincerity dimensions having the greatest impact.     

Profiling consumers of own brands and national brands using human personality

Traditional methods of market segmentation based on demographic variables have shown mixed results in differentiating between those who are more likely to buy own brand products and those who prefer national brands. Taking advantage of the emerging convergence in human personality research on the Big Five dimensions, we focus on the potential of human personality as a method of identifying different customer segments. Two types of own brands are considered, those labelled with the retailer's corporate name and those labelled with a name independent of the retailer. Two product categories are included, cola as an example of a low-involvement product and cosmetics as an example of a high-involvement product. The personality profiles of buyers of these and the leading national brands in each category are compared. Stepwise regression is used to identify those aspects of shopper personality that predict purchase rates of all products. Individuals who are more ‘open to experience’ report higher purchases of corporately named products, while individuals who are more ‘extrovert’ report higher purchases of national brands. Those reporting higher rates of purchase for own brands with independent names tend to be more ‘agreeable’ and ‘extrovert’. The positioning of the three types of brands against the 5 dimensions of human personality is illustrated using correspondence analysis. The clear potential to use human personality to segment and profile markets for own brands and national brands is discussed.     

Feedback effects of brand extensions on the brand image of global brands: a comparison between Spain and Norway

Abstract

Global brands often attempt to increase their sales through the launch of brand extensions. Such a strategy may, however, dilute existing brand beliefs at an international level, as two sets of data from Norway and Spain indicate. This paper illuminates how the attitude towards a brand extension affects the image of a parent brand. The extension attitude is mainly determined by the degree of perceived fit between the extension and the parent brand image. In the Spanish sample, it is also determined by the degree of familiarity with the parent brand and the perceived fit at the product category level. After analysing these relationships, the paper focuses on the moderating role of two dimensions of consumer innovativeness: hedonist innovativeness (tied to need for stimulation) and social innovativeness (tied to need for uniqueness). Finally, the cultural orientation of the origin country is analysed as a moderating factor.     

Store brands and retail differentiation: the influence of store image and store brand attitude on store own brand perceptions

Store's own brands can provide important opportunities for retail differentiation if they are considered by consumers to be uniquely associated with store image. A survey of shoppers measured attitudes toward individual stores’ images and store brand perceptions, as well as general attitudes toward store brands. A regression analysis demonstrates a positive relationship between consumers’ perceptions of individual store own brands and their associated store's image dimensions and attitudes toward store brands in general.     

The role of brand strength,type, image and product-category fit in retail brand collaborations

Retailer brand collaborations are an underexploited way for retailers to expand product lines and target new segments relatively quickly and cheaply, yet little work has explored the area and the influence of important factors in the image inheritance process remains unknown. Using data from two experiments involving 240 subjects, we examine the role of brand type, brand strength and the fit between parent and brand collaboration product categories to show that a new retail product's image inherits more characteristics from a symbolic parent brand (even when the brand is weak) and when there are higher degrees of parent retailer-image fit. However, fit between the new retail collaboration's product category and that of the parent brands is only important for functional brands. The results help retailers decide which partner to choose to maximize image inheritance.     

A study of antecedents and outcomes of social media WOM towards luxury brand purchase intention

This research develops a conceptualized model that illuminates the role of luxury perceptions in explaining consumer engagement in social media WOM and luxury purchase intention. It also explores the moderating effects of consumer demographic characteristics and perceived social status. The proposed model is validated by using SEM in AMOS against 282 samples, and chi-square difference test is applied to test the moderating effects. The findings demonstrate that social media WOM positively influences consumer luxury purchase intention. Perceived quality highly influences functional and social value, and social media WOM is strongly influenced by personal and functional value. This research 1) highlights the powerful role of social media WOM in enhancing luxury brands purchase intention, 2) extends current body of knowledge of the social media WOM and its focal antecedents, and 3) shows how consumer characteristics (e.g., age, gender, income, education, perceived social status) are important for developing customized marketing strategy to promote luxury brands on SNS. Overall, this study helps firms to understand which aspect of luxury brands to be emphasized to initiate consumers into social media WOM, which in turn, influences purchase intention.     

Building strong brands in Asia: selecting the visual components of image to maximize brand strength

Asian brands have often struggled to develop quality images. The visual aspects of branding have received little attention on how they might be used to strengthen brand perceptions in Asia. Guidelines for designing visual brand stimuli are developed using evaluations of logos in China and Singapore. There is a significant relationship between design and the responses companies seek, including positive affect, perceptions of quality, recognition, consensus in meaning, and feng shui. How designs are perceived, and their effect on consumer responses, were similar between China and Singapore. Companies are encouraged to leverage design to strengthen their brands. In particular, they should select logo designs that are elaborate, natural, and harmonious as these created positive affect and quality perceptions, clear meaning, true recognition, and feng shui. Many of these relationships hold in the United Sates as well, implying that the visual aspects of brand strategies may accomplish companies' goals across international borders.     

The antecedents of customer loyalty: A moderated mediation model of customer relationship management quality and brand image

This study examines the mediating role of customer relationship management (CRM) quality to better explain the effects of service evaluation variables (service quality, customer satisfaction and customer value) on customer loyalty. The study also investigates the moderating effect of brand image on these mediated relationships. The mediating role of CRM quality on the relationship between the service evaluation variables and customer loyalty is supported. Further, it is found that the indirect effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty via CRM quality is stronger when perceived brand image is high than when it is low. The results have implications for relationship managers, brand managers and scholars who use service evaluation and relational metrics to predict customer loyalty.     

Examining consumer experience in using m-banking apps: A study of its antecedents and outcomes

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents and outcomes of consumer experience (CX) with mobile banking (m-banking) apps. To understand the linkage of CX with other constructs, data collection was done using a structured questionnaire through an online survey. A sample of 473 respondents were analysed using structural equation modeling by testing the proposed hypotheses in AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) version 22.0. The findings revealed that convenience, trust, and social influence play a significant role in enhancing CX with the m-banking app use. Apps attributes was found to be relatively less important and no relationship was found between customer support and CX. Customer loyalty and customer intention to continue using the m-banking apps were observed as significant outcome variables. This study will contribute to the growing literature on CX and will guide managers in recognizing the importance of CX in designing appropriate strategies for the promotion of m-banking and engaging their customers in a developing country context.     

Functional brand qualities and perceived value: The mediating role of brand experience and brand personality

Brand experience and brand personality have become two important theoretical constructs in the branding literature. However, research on the antecedents of these two constructs has been focused on intangible brand characteristics and qualities, underestimating the role of functional features. This study aims to overcome this gap by postulating that two key functional brand qualities, quality and innovativeness, help shape brand experience and personality, which, we ultimately predict, contribute to perceived value. Investments in quality and innovation have grown substantially, but how they materialize in benefits for customers and firms remains unclear. Accordingly, this study provides insights into how firms can engender the characteristics of their offer to build brands that are perceived by consumers as generating a valued brand experience and personality. The results from two samples provide broad support to the proposed model. Both brand quality and innovativeness contribute to brand experience and personality. Moreover, we observe that both brand experience and personality relate to perceived value. Finally, we also determined that brand personality and experience partially mediate the relationship between brand innovativeness and quality and perceived value. Hence, these results provide relevant implications for both theory and the practice of brand management.     

Brand personality: A meta-analytic review of antecedents and consequences

This article presents a meta-analysis on brand personality (BP) by investigating the antecedents and consequences of the BP dimensions of sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness, as suggested by Aaker (Journal of Marketing Research 34:347–356, 1997). The authors synthesize the results from 76 independent samples in 56 studies. The meta-analysis finds several new empirical generalizations about BP. First, the key drivers of BP are communication with hedonic benefit claims, branding activities, a brand’s country-of-origin, and consumer personalities. Second, the study finds that the effects of BP are stronger for mature brands than for brands in the early life cycle stages. Third, sincerity and competence have the strongest influence on brand success variables (e.g., brand attitude, image, commitment, purchase intention), while excitement and ruggedness have the weakest influence on brand attitude and brand commitment.     

Advertising and brand attitudes: Evidence from 575 brands over five years

Quantitative Marketing and Economics - Little is known about how different types of advertising affect brand attitudes. We investigate the relationships between three brand attitude variables...     

Transnational organization and symbolic production: Creating and managing a global brand

In recent years, there has been sustained debate pertaining to how global markets should be conceptualized, enacted, and addressed. The purpose of this study was to expose the pivotal managerial thought processes and practices of senior managers at Guinness and the actions of symblic workers involved in the reconciliation of trends toward increasing global cultural convergence and a need for local cultural differentiation within the “global culture industry.” Our findings reveal the strategic processes and mechanisms involved in the creation of a series of polysemic, multi‐vocal texts positioned to allow multi‐level interpretation of the brand in ways that permit simultaneous engagement with, and negation of, local idiosyncrasies.     

Making an exciting brand big: Brand personality,logo size and brand evaluation

This research examines how brand personality (excitement) and logo size used in product design (big versus small) interacts in affecting consumer brand evaluation. We first demonstrate that combining a big logo and a high-excitement brand (versus a small logo combined with a high-excitement brand) leads to high processing fluency, further resulting in more favourable brand evaluation (Study 1). We then determine the consumption situation as a moderator of such an interaction effect: the influence of the big logo and high-excitement-brand combination on brand evaluation is significantly weakened in a private consumption situation (a T-shirt worn at home) compared to a public consumption situation (a T-shirt worn outside, Study 2a), and becomes insignificant for a private product category (slippers, Study 2b).     

Seeing brands as humans: Development and validation of a brand anthropomorphism scale

Brand anthropomorphism is recognised as an important construct in marketing, yet it lacks clarity in operationalisation and valid measurement. The objective of this research, therefore, is to develop and validate the brand anthropomorphism scale (BASC). Brand anthropomorphism is defined as the perception of brand as an entity that has analogical human-like features, mental and emotional states that people believe to be distinctively human. It is conceptualised as a multidimensional superordinate construct. Across six studies (N = 1666), this research develops a valid and reliable measure of brand anthropomorphism that has psychometric properties for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The results indicate that brand anthropomorphism is a valid predictor of outcomes such as brand trust and brand commitment. Finally, in support of incremental validity, it is identified that the BASC explains variance in brand trust and brand commitment above and beyond the measure of brand anthropomorphism commonly employed in the literature. Theoretical implications for research and implications for practice are also discussed.     

Examining the effects of authenticity fit and association fit: A digital human avatar endorsement model

In recent years, the extensive use of digital human avatar (DHA) endorsement has emerged. DHA endorsement often entails the use of real products, e.g., wearing real clothes, which raises the issue of the fit between a “fake” virtual image and a real product. Whether consumers feel a positive attitude toward this kind of fit is the basis of whether DHA endorsement can be successful. Accordingly, based on cue consistency theory, we infer that consumers generate positive attitudes toward DHA endorsement when there is a fit between a DHA and a real product. We therefore developed a DHA endorsement model to explain the antecedents and consequences of avatar-product fit, decomposing fit type into authenticity fit and association fit. Two tests were used to verify this model. Their results show that authenticity fit and association fit have significant positive impacts on consumer attitudes toward DHA endorsement. Furthermore, the influences of these two paths vary by product. For hedonic products, authenticity fit has a greater impact on attitudes; for utilitarian products, association fit is a more influential factor.     

Managing higher education brands with an emerging brand architecture: the role of shared values and competing brand identities

ABSTRACT

Corporate branding is a strategic issue for universities as the global higher education (HE) marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive and there is pressure to differentiate. Yet it is unclear how universities develop and manage brand strategies, and whether they draw upon any meaningful connections to the multiple stakeholders and sub-cultures engaged with a university’s brand. Using qualitative data gathered from an education faculty within an established UK university, this study found the faculty and university had competing brand identities and images. A strong faculty brand emerged co-created through the shared teacher related values of staff and external partners. This study contributes to the brand strategy literature by applying branding concepts to the under-researched HE context and proposing a new, more nuanced brand architecture model not yet reported in the branding literature which more accurately reflects the management of sub and corporate HE brands.     

Examining the antecedents of trust and rapport in services: Discovering new interrelationships

A study was designed to examine the relationship between rapport and trust in a service context, and to gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to these relational constructs.Consistent with the literature, both expertise and dependability were directly related to trust of the service provider. However, familiarity, which had previously been found to be directly related to trust, was found to be indirectly related through rapport, which was related to trust. All four hypotheses examining the antecedents of rapport were supported. The research suggests that building rapport may be an important intermediate step in building customer trust.     

How advertising claims affect brand preferences and category–brand associations: The role of regulatory fit

Two experiments examined whether selfregulatory goals addressed in advertising claims influence product preferences and category– brand associations. Experiment 1 provided evidence for the hypothesis that the fit between an advertising claim and consumers' regulatory focus has an impact on product preferences. Participants were more likely to prefer products presented in an advertisement with a claim compatible with the experimentally induced focus. Experiment 2 demonstrated that regulatory focus also has an impact on category– brand associations. Category–brand associations were stronger when the claim of a target brand was compatible with the regulatory focus at the time category–brand associations were measured. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The brand architecture of grocery retailers: Setting material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice

This article discusses how the brand architecture of grocery retailers set material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice, thus limiting consumer sovereignty. The article first discusses previous work on store atmospherics, servicescapes and brand architecture. It is argued that work based on these concepts has taken an internal management perspective on how retailers can manipulate aspects of the retail setting to serve their own interests. Then, we develop an alternative conceptualisation of retailer brand architecture that takes into account that consumers (and other constituents) are active co-constructors of material and symbolic aspects of retail settings. It is discussed how consumers participate in constructing retailer brand architecture and how this concept differs from previous research. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.