1,720,989 research outputs found
Brand architecture change: When the corporate brand steps out of the shadow
No full textBrand architecture is usually described as a static picture. Several big companies recently change their brand architecture: from a house of brand to a sort of branded house. The present research investigates corporate CBBE when the corporate unveils its presence behind already well-known single product brands. An experimental design conducted within a sample of 374 Italian consumers on real-existing brands shows that the number of brands and the variety of product category affect consumer perceived corporate CBBE through the mediation of brand portfolio consistency (fit). Results validate a moderated mediation model that suggests relevant implications for brand portfolio management
From the House of Brand to the Branded House: The Effects of a Brand Portfolio Shift on Consumers’ Choice.
No full textThe aim of the study is to investigate the effects on consumer evaluations and behaviours of the shift in the brand architecture strategy from an house of brands approach to a branded house one in which the corporate brand is prominent next to the single product brands
Unveiling the corporate brand: the role of portfolio composition
No full textPurpose: This paper aims to investigate the effects on corporate brand equity when a company moves from a house of brand strategy to a branded house. In fact, recently, most of large companies (Procter & Gamble, Unilever) are managing this swift in order to simplify and optimize their efforts. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 433 consumers participated in a between-subject experimental design completing a questionnaire. Each respondent was exposed to one of eight hypothetical scenarios with real-existing brands. A moderated-mediation model was tested. Findings: The number of individual brands interacts with the variety of product categories within the portfolio to define its internal consistency which, in turn, exerts a significant mediation effect on corporate brand equity. Research limitations/implications: The study supports the mental accounting process (subtyping vs bookkeeping), demonstrating how this psychological framework is applicable within brand management. Practical implications: The study unveils a strong dichotomy: consumers award very small portfolios focused on a single product category or, conversely, they appreciate a wide and highly diversified brand portfolio. No chances for intermediate and hybrid solutions. Findings demonstrate that a brand architecture shift might be a flexible opportunity to manage an on-going diversification strategy. Originality/value: The study is the first to analyse the importance of internal consistency within a brand portfolio in case of a shift in the portfolio strategy. Moreover, it investigates the effects since the first announcement of a linkage between the individual brands and the corporate one
Co-branding strategy for Cause Related Marketing activities: the role of brand awareness on consumers’ perception
No full textThe present paper proposes a branding perspective for a specific kind of social marketing program: Cause-related marketing activities. The aim is to verify the separate and joint effect of brand awareness of two partners in a co-branded cause related program success. The intent is to understand which partner is most important to be aware in consumer mind to improve consumers’ attitude and trust and to feed their willingness to pay and to buy for the cause-related product. The study consists of an experimental 2 (profit brand awareness: high; low) x2 (no profit brand awareness: high; low) between subject design. Results have shown a significant interaction between the awareness of the for-profit and non-profit brand in defining consumer attitude and willingness to pay for the cause related product and a main effect of the awareness of the non-profit brand on purchase likelihood and on trust in cause related marketing program
The role of brand prominence disparity in co-branded cause related marketing programs: Luxury vs non-luxury brand positioning
No full textIntroduction
Nowadays more and more companies around the world consider the necessity to define their roles in society and apply social, ethical and responsible standards to their brand management strategy (Wymer & Sargeant, 2006). Cause related marketing (CRM) represents a brand ethics orientation and it is an important tool for activating relationship between non-profit organization, company and consumers (Kotler & Lee 2005).
We define CRM as a strategic partnership between a for-profit brand and a charitable organization that produces a promotional marketing campaign; a specific proportion of the profits earned from sales of a firm’s products or services get donated to the designated charitable cause (Boenigk & Schuchardt, 2013).
A growing trend in CRM campaigns involves the luxury brand segment. For example, Bulgari and Save the Children ran a prominent “Rewrite the Future” campaign that raised more than $7.4m for education programs in 2011 thanks to the sales of a dedicated ring. Another well-known is the special edition Sukey bag by Gucci to support UNICEF’s “Schools for Africa” initiative. As these examples suggest, partnering with highly admired luxury brands (Phau & Prendergast, 2000; Ko & Megehee, 2012) offers compelling reasons for the rising popularity of CRM luxury campaigns among charities (Bennett & Ali- Choudhury, 2009). Moreover Hagtvedt and Patrick’s results (2015) show in a retailing context that an association with a charity at the point of sale can increase consumers’ intention to purchase a luxury brand and can facilitate upselling to a luxury store. Although, empirical research on CRM (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Gupta and Pirsch, 2006) lacks to investigate luxury offerings deeply and none of the above-mentioned research has compared a CRM campaign promoted by a luxury brand with the same CRM activity managed by a brand positioned in a different (lower) segment.
Hoeffler and Keller (2002) suggest that a co-branding strategy is the most appropriate way to develop CRM activity effective for both brand partners (Michel & Rieunier 2010). Following this suggestion, Baghi and Gabrielli (2013a) investigated the role of brand awareness in co-branded CRM program in shaping consumers’ willingness to buy and to pay for the CRM product.
The current study contributes to this debate in several ways. Firstly, we explore the effect of CRM in a luxury versus a non-luxury brand positioning (within the same product category). Secondly, we go further the previous research focused on brand awareness (Baghi & Gabrielli (2013b), and we investigate the influence of the different visual prominence (Han, Nunes & Dreze, 2010) of the for-profit and the non-profit brand on consumers’ responses toward a CRM program.
Theoretical background and hypothesis
Brand prominence is the extent to which a product has visible markings that help consumers to recognize the brand, in other words it is “the conspicuousness of a brand’s mark or logo on a product” (Han et al., 2010, p. 15). Manufacturers can produce a product with “loud” or conspicuous branding or tone it down to “quiet” or discreet branding. Following Han and colleagues approach (2010) a “loud” brand prominence means that the brand logo is very well showed up on the product while a “quiet” brand prominence entails that the brand is hidden or unobtrusive on the physical appearance of the product. Han et al. (2010) demonstrate that brand prominence plays an important role within luxury context as the consumers seek to display the brand name to others (self expressive function; Cheah, Phau, Chong & Shimul, 2015c; Koschate-Fischer, Stefan & Hoyer, 2012). In the domain of CRM, brand prominence could play a crucial role because the signalling function of the two brand partners is different: the non-profit brand may express the social engagement while the for-profit one may express consumers’ personality traits (Knight & Kim, 2007). The intent is to analyse the influence of brand prominence on consumers’ attitude and behaviours toward a CRM co-branded products in two different positioning: luxury and non-luxury. The ultimate aim of the present study is to verify if in a CRM activity it is advisable that one brand has more prominence than the other one (brand prominence disparity) and eventually which one is important to be the most prominent on the CRM product. Moreover the intent is to consider two different contexts in which the for-profit brand should have different value proposition and meaning: luxury and non-luxury. The hypotheses are the followings:
H1 Consumers’ attitude toward the CRM product is different in the presence of brand prominence disparity
H2 Consumers’ willingness to buy the CRM product is different in the presence of brand prominence disparity
H3 Brand prominence disparity and the brand positioning (luxury vs non-luxury) have an interaction effect on consumers’ attitude toward the CRM product
H4 Brand prominence disparity and the brand positioning (luxury vs non-luxury) have an interaction effect on consumers’ willingness to buy the CRM product.
Methodology
A sample of 150 students of an Italian public university voluntarily participated in the research (59% female, mean age 24). The student sample was appropriate because we present a product that they can frequently buy (chocolate). The participants were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions (between-subject design) in a 2 (luxury vs non-luxury) x 3 (brand prominence disparity: for-profit “loud” and non-profit “quiet” vs for-profit “quiet” and non-profit “loud” or “equal” for-profit and non-profit brand prominence) experiment.
The product selected for the main study was a chocolate box in a luxury or in a value-for-money (Wiedmann, Hennings & Siebels, 2009) version. A pre-test was conducted to select a luxury (Ladurée), a value (Pernigotti) for-profit brands and a non-profit brand (Save the Children) with similar brand awareness and brand like. Participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which they were asked to imagine being in a purchase situation; they were presented with a picture of a co-branded CRM Ladurée (or Pernigotti) chocolate box involved in a Save the Children’s campaign to support children in need in the war zones. It was said that 5% of the sale revenue of the product will be donated to support the campaign. Also the price of the product was indicated and it was in line with the average market price.
Participants were asked to rate their attitude toward the CRM product (4 items on a 7-point Likert scale; Voss, Spangenberg & Grohmann, 2003) and to evaluate their intention to buy in terms of the probability to purchase that product in a everyday life shopping situation (2 items on a 7-point Likert scale; Robinson, Irmak & Jayachandran, 2012). As control check of the manipulation, participants were also asked to rate their perception of the visual prominence of the brands (2 items on a 7-point Likert scale Han, et al, 2010); the luxury feature of the for-profit brands (3 items on a 7-point Likert scale Vigneron, & Johnson, 2004) and the brand awareness of the for-profit and non-profit brands involved in the CRM campaign (2 items on a 7-point Likert scale; Aaker 2006).
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Findings
Manipulation checks: All the manipulation check’s results were in line with our expectations in terms of brand prominence, luxury perception and brand awareness.
Attitude: ANOVA analysis showed a main effect of the brand prominence disparity on attitude toward the CRM product (for-profit “loud” Mattitude = 5.48 vs non-profit “loud” Mattitude= 4.52 vs equal Mattitude = 5.00; F (1, 149) = 9.38; p < .05). H1 is supported. Results showed also an interaction effect between brand prominence disparity and brand positioning on attitude (F (1, 149) = 6.63; p < .05; see descriptive table 2). H3 is supported.
Willingness to buy: ANOVA analysis showed a main effect of the brand prominence disparity on willingness to buy the product (“loud” for-profit brand Mwtb = 4.84 vs “loud” non-profit brand Mwtb = 3.89 vs equal Mwtb = 4.21; F (1, 149) = 2.47; p < .05). H2 is supported. Results showed also an interaction effect between brand prominence disparity and brand positioning on willingness to buy (F (1, 149) = 4.47; p < .05-see descriptive table 2). H4 is supported.
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Discussion
The present study is devoted to comprehend if consumers’ intention to participate to a CRM, buying a co-branded product, is conditioned by a different prominence of the for-profit or the non-profit brand on the packaging, and which brand is the most important to be visually prominent in a luxury CRM co-branded product in comparison with a non-luxury co-branded product. Results confirm the hypothesis: findings show that a brand prominence discrepancy between the for-profit brand and the non-profit one on the packaging of a CRM co-branded product has a role in defining consumer behaviours.
Managerial implications
The present findings suggest important managerial implications. First of all marketing practitioners have to consider that, if they want to carry on social causes by their product, they have to carefully manage strategic branding decisions. In particular, if the CRM product is positioned on a luxury segment, the brand that should be more prominent to appease consumer’s attitude and purchase intention is the for-profit one, while in the case of value for money CRM product the different levels of brand prominence seem not to influence consumers’ attitude and intention to buy. Also for non-profit organization a branding strategy seems to become more and more important. The results of this study suggest that the non-profit brand has a weak signalling ability, that is an important evidence for non-profit organization that have rightly taken into consideration the importance to build a strong and meaningful brands.
Originality and limitations
The study contributes further to research on brand prominence (Han, et al 2010) revealing its potential in promoting responsible consumption decisions. Moreover the present study enlarges the brand prominence analysis to the co-branding strategy adopting a relative concept, highlighting the importance of a different brand prominence between the two brands involved.. Finally, the study is the first investigation of CRM activities within a luxury positioning compared to a non-luxury positioning for the same product category.
This study is only a starting point in CRM activities branding comprehension. We investigated only one product: chocolate. Further studies could extend the research field to different product categories and/or to different co-branding strategies
Il ruolo della Brand Community nella definizione dell’immagine di marca
No full textFrom the firm point of view, a brand community is defined as a “structured set of relationship among people who are keen of a brand” (Mc Alexander et al. 2002). From the consumers’ perspective, a brand community belongs to the experiential context expressing a network of relations, between the consumers and the brand, in which the individual is immersed. This varied network of experiences could become an important source of influence on consumers perception of the brand. (Franke, Shah, 2003). The central hypothesis of the present research is that the most relevant effect of the information and experiences happening within a brand community should influence the network of informative elements and mental associations that the consumers link to the brand (Keller, 1993). How can the experience within a brand community help to reinforce and stimulate strong, favourable and unique (Keller, 1993) associations related to the brand? A brand community is only a communication channel or it can become a concrete tool to build brand image? The members and the non members of the community have a different perception of the same brand? The aim of the present study is to reveal the Nutella mental band map that is structured in Nutellaville users’ mind and These are the main questions this research project would like to find an answer through the analysis of the image of a brand, such as “Nutella”, which boasts a crowded and animated brand community: “Nutellaville”. The aim of the present study is to reveal the Nutella mental band map that is structured in Nutellaville users’ mind and and compare it with the Nutella map of consumers who do not attend and experienced the community. To reach this goal authors have chosen to adopt the Brand Concept Map (Roedder et al, 2006) methodology because it allows to map the mental associations related to a brand conciliating the depth of the qualitative research with the capability to obtain solid aggregate constructions. The comparison between the two Nutella concept maps shied light on the influences of taking part in Nutellaville on the brand image perception. Results of the present research offer interesting insights on community experiences nature and their role in defining brand associations
How to choose the endorser: An experimental analysis on the effects of fit and notoriety
Full text linkThe present study is focused on the endorser topic following two different paths: firstly, proposing an extension of the theoretical match-up model, enlarge it through two other potential types of consistency: the typicality fit and the imagery fit. Secondly, the present study aims verifies the applicability of the same framework to the emerging situation with a brand linked to a not well-known endorser (internal as the
founder or external as a web influencer).
An experimental 3*2 (fit typology*high/low notoriety) between subject analysis was conducted in the food service domain. It showed some interesting considerations.From a theoretical point of view, the first relevant finding is that endorsement might be assimilated to a co-branding strategy, confirming the match-up model as an effective theoretical framework in this domain as well, with significant differences among the three fit typologies investigated. The typicality fit reveals to be the less effective in increasing attitude and other behavioural effects on consumers in
spite of the large adoption of this kind of fit by companies. Instead, the imagery fit, seems to be the most impactful in terms of positive word of mouth activation and viral communication activities, at the same level at the categorical one. Moreover, the categorical fit induces the wider range of positive effect on the dependent variables (attitudes, willingness to pay and willingness to buy).
Another interesting contribution is that the presence of an appropriate fit (in particular the categorical one) is able to compensate the absence of endorser notoriety and, on the average, the usage of a very popular endorser from the same domain of the brand is not necessary more effective in comparison with a not well-known endorser form the same domain. This result is the peak of the present research from a
managerial point of view, as it leads to consider the opportunity to support the emerging practices by which companies turn to not well-known people (disclosing the founder, or presenting some workers, or adopting a common consumer as an
influencer). The endorser not well-known, but presented with an adequate story-telling might be the best choice: less onerous and more effective than a big unrelated celebrity
How culture belonging shapes negative emotion during product-harm crisis and influences consumers’ purchase intention of the faulty brand
No full textThe aim of the paper is to investigate consumer responses to different typology of product-harm crisis (PHC), performance-related vs values-related crisis, in terms of negative emotion arousal and purchase intention. Moreover, the intent is to introduce the cultural belonging (collectivistic vs individualistic) as a moderator variable of this mechanism. This study tests on a sample of 220 Italian and Asian consumers a model of moderated mediation that explains under what circumstances (crisis typology) the negative emotions mediate people intention to buy the faulty brand and how this mechanism is moderated by cultural belonging. The study extends current understanding on how people react to PHC and introduces the role of cultural dimension in predicting consumers’ responses toward a faulty brand or firm
The role of betrayal in the response to value and performance brand crisis
No full textPrevious research on brand crisis has introduced the difference between a values-related crisis and a performance-related crisis. Across two experimental studies, we extend current research by demonstrating how self-brand connectedness increases people’s negative behavioural reactions when the brand is involved in a values-related crisis while it protects the brand when it is involved in a performance-related misdeed. We test these mechanisms introducing the mediating role of brand betrayal, the moderation of the personal relevance of the crisis domain (Study 1) and the moderation of the cause of the self-brand connectedness (Study 2). Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that, through the mediation of perceived brand betrayal, a strong connectedness between the consumer and the brand may aggravate behavioural reactions to relevant misdeed in values-related domain especially when the cause of the strong relationship is induced by a central trait of consumer’s identity
Nanozyme-Cellulose Hydrogel Composites Enabling Cascade Catalysis for the Colorimetric Detection of Glucose
Full text linkCatalytic cascades obtained from the combination of nanozymes, which are nanomaterials with enzyme-like activity, and natural enzymes have drawn much attention for biosensing and biomedical applications. A key consideration in the development of cascade reaction systems is the integration of nanozymes with enzymes to boost the overall catalytic performance. Here, we report an efficient one-pot approach for the preparation of an enzyme-nanozyme hydrogel composite for cascade catalysis. Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by using mild synthetic conditions in a cellulose-based hydrogel network in the presence of glucose oxidase (GOx), resulting in the simultaneous immobilization of PB NPs and active GOx in the hydrogel. This integrated system not only displays peroxidase-like activity relative to the PB NPs but also reveals an enhanced cascade catalytic performance for the colorimetric detection of glucose due to the proximity effect of the enzyme-nanozyme system within the hydrogel matrix. Compared to the analogue mixture with GOx in solution, the composite hydrogel shows enhanced glucose detection and improved stability. The developed colorimetric assay was successfully applied for the analysis of glucose in human serum samples, demonstrating its potential in clinical diagnosis. The versatility of this one-pot protocol holds promise for the development of different multienzyme systems, leading to efficient cascade catalysis for sensing applications
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