Shared landscapes

Abstract

PurposeThis paper argues for the recognition of regional-consumers’ perceptions of growing food in the landscape. This paper aims to explore the hidden value of observed landscapes and lived “lifescapes” as unformulated brand experiences, particularly those relevant to regional meat. These inform the brand identity construct following Kapferer’s (1997) brand identity framework. It is the local consumers’ gaze, which is of interest, as this lives and digests the place. As an often unconscious experience, it must be recognised, articulated and formalised into a brand to enable authentic communications of place meaning to visitors.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 20 soft-laddering interviews and hierarchical value maps identified the most frequent connections made by local residents for the Cumbrian fells. The cognitions and rationalisations used by residents in considering their lamb choices are revealed using this method and understanding of these linkages feeds into the development of brand identity (Kapferer, 1997). Gengler et al. (1995) offer a guide on means-end chain (MEC) data analysis, which was used in processing the data.FindingsMEC findings showed that people experience places populated with flocks of sheep/local meat in production and perceive its qualities and characteristics as influenced by terroir conditions, by season and their own relationship with the landscape and with the local community. In essence, they experience the brand of these “products” prior to their status as products (Kapferer, 2007; Jacobsen, 2012). The revealed limitations of both servicescape and of attribute-related literature are discussed relative to the timing of the visual impact experienced by local consumers.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a summary of the brand identity for Herdwick lamb (HL), which has emerged from the research process (Figure 2). This example may be useful in discussions with practitioners involved in HL brand development.Originality/valueThe opportunity to reveal local residents’ experiences of “pre-products” in the landscape is discussed as a source of latent and authentic brand relationships.