Citation
(2015), "Executive summary of “Brand love in progress – the interdependence of brand love antecedents in consideration of relationship duration”", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 24 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2015-939
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Executive summary of “Brand love in progress – the interdependence of brand love antecedents in consideration of relationship duration”
Article Type: Executive summary and implications for managers and executives From: Journal of Product & Brand Management, Volume 24, Issue 6
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefits of the material present.
Brand love has been the subject of considerable research attention. That it reflects “passionate feeling” toward a brand reflects a consensus among various scholars. High levels of brand love can positively impact on the likelihood of brand loyalty, willingness to pay a price premium and favorable word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendation.
Many parallels are drawn between brand love and the intense feelings which characterize close interpersonal relationships. One reason is that consumers will emotionally bond with only a few products and brands at most. In both contexts, strong affective feelings provide the foundation for relationships to become more intimate and enduring. But certain differences are apparent between the brand love construct and feelings that humans can develop toward each other. For instance, relations between people are “bidirectional”, whereas love for an object or brand flows in just one way.
Brand love is often associated with brand liking, with an assumption that the latter is a lower-intensity “pre-stage” of love. Some analysts believe that love itself can vary in strength. Passion is regarded as a key component of love relationships between people and suggestive of relationship strength. Indications are that this factor is equally important in a brand love context.
Consumption of brands is one way that people express themselves and define who they are. This is achieved by incorporating certain characteristics of their chosen brand into their own identity. Brands, therefore, enable both self-expression and provide scope for users to distinguish themselves from others in their social surroundings. Through consumption, people can define both their inner-self and their social identity. One probability is that emotional connection toward a brand heightens the more it is perceived as helping to define the individual concerned.
Products and brands are also chosen for the value they offer the user. Value is a complex phenomenon that is often measured as the difference between benefits and costs. Among the various conceptualizations of value is the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic value. In this context, the former reflects value generated through the functional capabilities of a brand. Appreciation of a brand “for its own sake” is one way that intrinsic value has been described. Such value is said to generate positive feelings like pleasure, enjoyment and excitement, so is, thus, considered hedonic in nature. The view of several researchers is that products with the capacity to provide hedonic value could trigger strong emotional reactions in consumers which might lead to brand love.
The capacity for affective aspects to elicit strong emotional feelings is widely documented. This makes it easy to overlook the functional benefits a brand can offer. Research has found that brand love also encompasses a considerable rational basis, meaning that factors like performance superiority can significantly impact on relationship intensity. It is even claimed that the absence of positive utilitarian attributes can impede development of an emotional connection. High performance standards generate consumer satisfaction, which has been noted as an antecedent of stronger emotional reactions.
Another suggestion is that brand characteristics can positively relate to brand love. The premise of this is based on distinctiveness of a brand’s attributes. It is purported that consumers incorporate such attributes into their self-concept and the increased value makes it easier to “mirror themselves” through the brand. Passionate feelings toward the brand are thus likelier to emerge as a consequence of this closer identification.
Certain perspectives advocate that consumer–brand relationships are comparable with interpersonal relationships in the sense of being dynamic. Love relationships between people typically involve intense passion at the outset, with the arousal driven mainly by physical attraction. Such feelings peak and then diminish in time, and passionate love is gradually replaced by a love based more on companionship. Emphasis shifts toward “rational aspects” of the relationship. It is purported that similar patterns will exist for brand love, with variables having different significance as the relationship matures.
To examine these issues further, Huber et al. conducted an empirical study in Germany involving 145 subjects almost equally divided by gender and aged between 14 and 59. A core aim was to capture the different intensity levels of passionate brand love and participants were invited to answer questions pertaining to one of two brands within the category they felt most familiar with. Pretesting had determined the choice of automotive brand BMW and Beck’s beer brand due to the capacity of both to serve hedonic and utilitarian purposes.
Data analysis revealed that:
Consumers feel passionate love for a brand when it reflects their inner-self.
Brand love is less strong for the brand’s enhancement of the consumer’s social-self.
Inner-self becomes more influential in creating passionate feelings toward the brand as the relationship increases in duration.
As relationship length grows, the significance of social-self diminishes.
Development of passionate feeling toward a brand is positively influenced by hedonic brand value.
The capacity of hedonic brand value to generate brand love remains stable over the course of a relationship.
The impact of hedonic benefits on brand love remains constant for the inner-self but gradually recedes with respect to the social-self.
Functional value of the brand’s products helps prompt passionate reactions to a specific brand by strengthening the identity connection between consumer and brand.
The impact of utilitarian benefits on both inner-self and social-self strengthens with relationship duration. This illustrates the growing importance of these aspects as drivers of enduring relationships.
Huber et al. conclude that social appeal of a brand is more important in originally attracting the consumer. With time, the consumer perceives the brand more in terms of “self-confirmation” as opposed to furthering their links with the social environment. The authors additionally note the importance of hedonic aspects like enjoyment and fun throughout the relationship but assert that their social significance resides mainly in the relationship’s initial stages.
Marketers are reminded that emotional branding can be effective in both short and longer terms. However, the authors warn against ignoring a brand’s core functional assets in their communication activities. Concentrating on hedonic aspects alone does not reflect the sense of realism that typifies later-stage relationships. Focusing on functional aspects is alleged to be easier in sectors where partnership duration can be determined. Mobile-phone and e-commerce are cited as examples. In other situations, firms should be guided by product life cycles and focus on hedonic elements initially and then performance-related aspects later in the cycle. Informing consumers of functional advantages within advertising is seen as another way of helping to sustain their feelings toward the brand.
In the opinion of Huber et al., it is also important to be more “customer-oriented” when developing brand personality. The aim here should be to create a personality or image which resonates with the inner-self of consumers rather than symbolizing social-status. Displaying real people as spokespersons within intimate contexts to stimulate consumer imagination might help attain this objective.
Additional work could explore different product and brand categories and dimensions of perceived value additional to hedonic and utilitarian. Other love dimensions labeled as intimacy and commitment might be examined too, along with comparison of products essentially associated with either private or public consumption.
To read the full article, enter 10.1108/JPBM-08-2014-0682 into your search engine.
(A précis of the article “Brand love in progress – the interdependence of brand love antecedents in consideration of relationship duration”. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)