What are the Building Blocks of Customer Brand Loyalty in Department Stores? A Multi-Level Mediation Analysis

Building customer brand loyalty through branding strategies to sustain competitiveness in the retail industry has gathered momentum among researchers. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of brand personality and consumer brand identification on customer brand loyalty via the mediating variables of perceived service quality, perceived value, brand trust, brand commitment, and word-of-mouth communication among Malaysian department stores' customers. Using a self-structured questionnaire, 381 usable responses are considered for data analysis by applying a covariance-based structural equation modeling approach. The results of exploratory factor analysis show that sincerity, followed by sophistication and competence, are the most significant dimensions used to predict brand personality in department stores. The outcomes also reveal that brand personality indirectly influences customer brand loyalty via consumer brand identification. Furthermore, perceived service quality, perceived value, brand trust, word-of-mouth communication, and brand commitment mediate the effects of consumer brand identification on brand loyalty. Finally, the proposed competing model implies that the indirect impact of brand personality and consumer brand identification is inevitable in building department stores' brand loyalty.     

Rewards that undermine customer loyalty? A motivational approach to loyalty programs

Guided by the framework of self‐determination theory (SDT), this study examined the effects of external rewards on undermining customers’ intrinsic motivation to engage in a retail loyalty program. Two experiments revealed that participants who received a salient, controlling reward (i.e., a promise of reward with an explicit requirement and deadline, without options of choice) reported lower intrinsic motivation to use the loyalty program than participants who received a nonsalient, autonomy‐supportive reward (i.e., a promise of reward with a less explicit requirement and no deadline, with options of choice). However, the undermined intrinsic motivation of those who received the salient, controlling reward was enhanced when they were given verbal feedback acknowledging their potential negative feelings associated with using the loyalty program. These findings provide important practical implications for designing a more effective loyalty program.     

Understanding value-creating practices in social media-based brand communities

For service providers hosting social media-based brand communities, understanding the use of value-creating practices enables them to enhance their customers’ brand community experiences and facilitate value. Yet, extant social media-based brand community research neglects to examine the uses of practices in commonly occurring, direct service provider customer interactions that may be value co-creative. Thus, for a more holistic view of value creation, and informed by service logic, this study applies netnography to observe participants’ uses of practices in two social media-based cause brand communities, in both direct and indirect interactions. The findings reveal that participants predominantly employ practices in direct interactions and act as value co-creators. The findings extend empirical evidence into value-creating practices in social media-based brand communities. They also highlight how cause organisations should plan their uses of practices to facilitate the types of value-creating interactions they seek (i.e. direct and value co-creating, or indirect and independently value creating).     

How long does celebrity meaning transfer last? Delayed effects and the moderating roles of brand experience,celebrity liking,and age

Extending previous research on celebrity endorsements, the study investigates whether the meaning of celebrities is transferred to endorsed brands and how transfer effects develop over time. Additionally, the moderating roles of brand experience, celebrity liking, and consumers’ age are investigated. The hypothesized effects are modeled using a propositional learning approach with an experimental repeated-measures design (panel data). Results confirm the assumed meaning transfer effect. In addition, the effects appear to be substantially stronger after about a week indicating some type of sleeper effect. Furthermore, the effects increase with increasing brand experience and celebrity liking. Adolescent consumers are not differently affected when compared to adults and controlled for the differing levels of brand experience. Results are discussed in light of propositional learning theory. Future areas of research are proposed.     

The effects of schema congruity on consumer response to celebrity advertising

The trend of celebrity-branded products is on the rise, creating a new domain in which to explore the match-up hypothesis. Moving beyond the celebrity as an endorser, but rather, a brand promoting a brand extension, this article examines how perceived congruence between a celebrity's image and the brand image of products they have developed is related to attitudinal and behavioral measures of advertising effectiveness. Employing a 2 × 3 full factorial design, congruence between the celebrity's image and the brand's image was varied (less vs. more congruent), along with the use of the celebrity's image (present, absent, non-celebrity models) to determine how schema congruity influences consumer's response to celebrity advertising. The results of a multivariate analysis of covariance analysis indicating lower levels of congruence between the celebrity's image and the brand's image led to greater advertising effectiveness compared to higher levels of congruence. Specifically, the means of the attitudinal dependent variables in the less congruent condition were significantly higher than the means in the more congruent condition. These effects were more pronounced when a celebrity's image was featured in the advertisement compared to when it was not featured. The implication of the findings suggests that moderate violations in the consumer's celebrity schema may improve advertising effectiveness.     

‘We’ are more likely to endorse than ‘I’: the effects of self-construal and brand symbolism on consumers’ online brand endorsements

Recent research increasingly highlights that consumers engage in online brand endorsements (e.g. Facebook likes) to signal their identity, but has failed to explain why different consumers use this type of signaling to differing degrees. This paper addresses this gap by looking at a culturally constructed individual difference variable, namely self-construal. Self-construal, which can be independent or interdependent, refers to the extent that people define themselves in terms of the relations they have with others. In four studies, this research shows that consumers’ self-construal is related to their intention to endorse brands online. In particular, high levels of interdependent self-construal positively affect consumers’ intention to endorse brands online (Studies 1A & 1B). This effect is mediated by an increased perception of brands’ symbolic value (Study 2). Moreover, this positivity bias toward symbolic brand cues is conditional upon consumers’ brand attitude (Study 3). These findings demonstrate that consumers’ identity plays a central role in their brand perception and brand-related social media use.     

The role of customization,brand trust,and privacy concerns in advergaming

This study investigates the effects of advergame customization features and trust in the brand advertised in the advergame on players’ brand attitude and personal information disclosure. Moreover, we examine to what extent players’ privacy concerns moderate these effects. Drawing on self-determination theory and uncertainty reduction theory, we developed and tested a game with varying levels of customization features and brand trust. Results show that customization possibilities and brand trust may have a positive influence on advergame persuasion outcomes, but this influence is strongly conditioned by consumers’ privacy concerns. When privacy concerns are low, a game containing customization features leads to a more positive brand attitude. However, when privacy concerns are high, the effect becomes negative. Additionally, we find that different levels of privacy concerns do not affect players’ responses toward high trust brands, but toward low trust brands. For low trust brands, players with high privacy concerns show more negative game responses than players with low concerns. These findings set the boundaries for several theoretical and practical implications regarding advergame effectiveness.     

Uncovering the power of natural endorsements: a comparison with celebrity-endorsed advertising and product placements

ABSTRACT

Despite the vast literature on celebrity endorsements in advertising, research to date has not assessed whether and how celebrity-brand associations created via traditional endorsements or product placements compare to more natural associations that emerge from real-life celebrity images through social media. This experiment systematically compares the impact of different brand-celebrity associations on consumer perceptions of the celebrity's credibility and their responses to a new brand associated with that celebrity. The results reveal that, unlike more commercial brand associations, natural brand-celebrity associations can yield strong brand effects without eroding the celebrity's credibility. The findings are especially insightful given increasing numbers of natural brand-celebrity associations in social media.     

When ambush marketing is beneficial to sponsorship awareness: creating sponsor distinctiveness using exclusivity and brand juxtaposition

ABSTRACT

Ambush marketing is a contentious practice whereby brands communicate an association with an event without being an official sponsor. Those involved in sponsorship commonly try to limit it by restricting ambusher activity in event contexts. We introduce theoretical ideas around distinctiveness to explain that sponsors may actually fare better in terms of awareness outcomes when ambushers are present in the event context, if they strategically use ambusher presence to highlight their own distinctive sponsor status. Across two experiments we show that sponsor distinctiveness can be achieved by communicating sponsorship exclusivity in ambusher presence, and by facilitating juxtaposition of sponsor and ambusher messages. Results include increased recall to sponsor cues, and reduced recall to ambusher cues. The findings suggest ambusher restrictions may sometimes be counter-productive.     

Consumer Responses to Slice-of-Life Versus Slice-of-Death Advertising Appeals: Exploring the Role of Polysemy,Branding, and Culture

Prior research has not verified the theoretical or practical value of slice-of-life and slice-of-death advertising appeals in relation to advertising and branding constructs like advertising polysemy and consumer-based brand equity. The authors make conceptual, measurement, and managerial contributions to this research issue dealing with slice of life versus death advertising appeals. Across three studies, the authors measure, evaluate, compare, and contrast slice-of-life and slice-of-death (SOL/D) advertising appeals across British and American cultures. The authors demonstrate the interrelationships of SOL/D appeals with advertising polysemy, consumer-based brand equity, cultural differences in advertising attitudes, and purchase intentions. From a measurement perspective, the authors develop and validate parsimonious measures of slice-of-life and slice-of-death (SOL/D) advertising appeals. Furthermore, they test the assumptions that underlie these appeals for United States and British customers, and investigate how the cultural characteristic of uncertainty avoidance moderates the impact of SOL/D advertising attitudes on purchase intentions. Managerially, the research demonstrates that SOL/D appeals offer value in predicting (a) consumer-based brand equity through advertising polysemy, (b) consumers’ advertising attitudes across different cultures, (c) consumers’ intentions to purchase, and (d) advertising differences and varying consumer responses in the United States and Britain.