Symbolic Brand Research Articles

Unpacking brand loyalty in retailing: a three-dimensional approach to customer–brand relationships

PurposeDespite the numerous works on multifaceted relationships between customers and brands, such relationships remain complex and poorly understood in retailing. This research analyses the direct effects of brand images (hedonic, symbolic and functional) on three specific relationship variables (brand trust, brand attachment and brand social identification). It also investigates their indirect effects on three types of loyalty (cognitive, affective and normative) in retailing.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on quantitative research involving 417 respondents. It uses structural equation models to test relevant research hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that hedonic brand image affects brand attachment, while functional brand image influences brand trust. Symbolic brand image has similar effects on the three relationship variables (attachment, trust, identification). Moreover, the relationships between brand image dimensions and brand loyalty types are positively mediated by attachment, trust and brand identification. Therefore, the authors highlight a more complex process in customer–brand relationships than previously thought.Research limitations/implicationsThis article focusses on the cosmetic retail sector. It would be interesting to empirically test/extend the model in other industries/sectors. Future studies could also include brand attitude in their research model.Practical implicationsTo strengthen affective loyalty, retail managers should focus on both hedonic image and brand attachment (e.g. emphasise the brand personality traits that refer to both affect and hedonism). To develop normative loyalty, they should improve symbolic brand image and facilitate customer brand identification.Originality/valueThis research provides a new three-dimensional model of customer relationships with brands to account for the dynamic nature of customer loyalty in retailing. It shows how three dimensions of brand image (hedonic, functional and symbolic) affect three types of loyalty (affective, cognitive and normative) through the mediation of three specific relationship variables (brand attachment, brand trust and brand identification).

브랜드 심벌과 브랜드 네임의 일치성이 브랜드 선호도에 미치는 영향 - 제품유형과 심벌의 표현 방식에 따른 차이를 중심으로 -

브랜드 심벌과 브랜드 네임의 일치성이 브랜드 선호도에 미치는 영향 - 제품유형과 심벌의 표현 방식에 따른 차이를 중심으로 -

When does an online brand community backfire? An empirical study

Purpose Although online brand communities (OBCs) are extensively demonstrated to be an important social media tool in building brand equity, they may have backfire effects under certain conditions. Drawing from the self–brand connection theory, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of group heterogeneity on brand commitment. The mediation effect of self–brand connection and moderation effect of brand symbolism has also been examined. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a survey of 498 users from a range of OBCs. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapping method were used to test the research model. Findings The findings indicate that group heterogeneity negatively affects brand commitment in which self–brand connection plays a role of mediation. Further, the negative effect is more pronounced for high-symbolic brands than low-symbolic ones. Practical implications Brand managers are advised to note the dark side of OBCs in general and alleviate the adverse effects of group heterogeneity in particular, especially for high-symbolic brands. Originality/value Previous research pays little attention to the adverse effect of OBCs. This study enriches the literature by revealing that the backfire effect of OBCs arises when users become heterogeneous and uncovering in what situations the negative effect is stronger.

Which Visual Modality Is Important When Judging the Naturalness of the Agent (Artificial Versus Human Intelligence) Providing Recommendations in the Symbolic Consumption Context?

This study aimed to explore how the type and visual modality of a recommendation agent’s identity affect male university students’ (1) self-reported responses to agent-recommended symbolic brand in evaluating the naturalness of virtual agents, human, or artificial intelligence (AI) and (2) early event-related potential (ERP) responses between text- and face-specific scalp locations. Twenty-seven participants (M = 25.26, SD = 5.35) whose consumption was more motivated by symbolic needs (vs. functional) were instructed to perform a visual task to evaluate the naturalness of the target stimuli. As hypothesized, the subjective evaluation showed that they had lower attitudes and perceived higher unnaturalness when the symbolic brand was recommended by AI (vs. human). Based on this self-report, two epochs were segmented for the ERP analysis: human-natural and AI-unnatural. As revealed by P100 amplitude modulation on visual modality of two agents, their evaluation relied more on face image rather than text. Furthermore, this tendency was consistently observed in that of N170 amplitude when the agent identity was defined as human. However, when the agent identity was defined as AI, reversed N170 modulation was observed, indicating that participants referred more to textual information than graphical information to assess the naturalness of the agent.

Visual literacy in consumption: consumers, brand aesthetics and the curated self

Purpose This paper aims to consider the visual literacy mobilized by consumers in their use of brand aesthetics to construct and communicate a curated self. Design/methodology/approach The research surveyed a range of visual material from Instagram. Specifically, the goal was to use “compositional interpretation”, an approach to visual analysis that is not methodologically explicit but which, in itself, draws upon the visual literacy of the researcher to provide a descriptive analysis of the formal visual quality of images as distinct from their symbolic resonances. The research also incorporates 10 phenomenological-type interviews with consumers. Consistent with a phenomenological approach, informants were selected because they have “lived” the experience under investigation, in this case requiring them to be keen consumers of the Orla Kiely brand. Findings Findings indicate that consumers deploy their visual literacy in strategic visualization (imaginatively planning and coordinating artifacts with other objects in their collection, positioning and using them as part of an overall visual repertoire), composition (becoming active producers of images) and emergent design (turning design objects into display pieces, repurposing design objects or simply borrowing brand aesthetics to create designed objects of their own). Research limitations/implications This research has implications for the understanding of visual literacy within consumer culture. Engaging comprehensively with the visual compositions of consumers, this research moves beyond brand symbolism, semiotics or concepts of social status to examine the self-conscious creation of a curated self. The achievement of such a curated self depends on visual literacy and the deployment of abstract design language by consumers in the pursuit of both aesthetic satisfaction and social communication. Practical implications This research has implications for brand designers and managers in terms of how they might control or manage the use of brand aesthetics by consumers. Originality/value To date, there has been very little consumer research that explores the nature of visual literacy and even less that offers an empirical investigation of this concept within the context of brand aesthetics. The research moves beyond brand symbolism, semiotics and social status to consider the deployment of abstract visual language in communicating the curated self.

Corporate heritage brand traits and corporate heritage brand identity: the case study of John Lewis

Purpose This paper aims to study the corporate heritage brand traits and corporate heritage brand identity by concentrating on developing key dimensions for the corporate heritage brand dimensions in the retailing industry in the UK. This study advances the corporate brand heritage theory and introduces the theory of corporate heritage brand identity, which is developed from the case study of John Lewis – one of the most respected and oldest retails in the UK established in 1864. Design/methodology/approach This empirical study has adopted a theory-building case study using qualitative data. It uses semi-structured interviews that were organised and managed by John Lewis Heritage Centre in Cookham. A total of 14 participants were involved in this study. We have used Nvivo.11 software to set the main themes and codes for this study framework. Findings This study identifies Balmer’s (2013) corporate heritage brand traits that are essential to be considered for the corporate heritage brands in the retailing industry to sustain their innovativeness and competitiveness. The findings of the case study informed the four dimensions of corporate heritage brand identity, which include price, quality, symbol and design. The findings are incorporated into a theoretical framework of corporate heritage brand identity traits. Practical implications The discussed traits of this study can help brand senior management to enhance their corporate heritage reputation and sustainability through maintaining these (four) traits over their brand, and inform their brand stakeholders about their brand heritage success. Originality/value This is one of the few attempts to develop a research framework of corporate heritage brand identity. This framework suggests four dimensions of corporate heritage brand identity traits including brand price, quality, design and symbol. This is one of the first attempts to study corporate heritage branding management traits in the retailing industry sector.

Rethinking game heritage – towards reflexivity in game preservation

ABSTRACT While games and the cultures that have sprung up around them are diverse and vastly different from each other, most exhibitions dealing with them are based on a limited understanding of games that relies on symbolic brands on one hand and on the centrality of playable experiences on the other. This bias is potentially replicated by heritage institution collections starting to define how games become cultural heritage. While games research has shown that games are firmly nestled in a participatory grassroots culture, these kinds of perspectives are curiously lacking in exhibitions. By connecting previous work on critical and intangible heritage with game studies literature, this paper emphasises the importance of various productive communities for game heritage. The concepts of intangible and critical heritage suggest that the inclusion of players and communities into the game heritage process could offer a more diverse heritage discourse. But participatory practices in collector run museums tend to produce game heritage which is implicitly working towards the same kind of one-sided understanding of games that has been criticised heavily in game studies. The critical expertise of museum professionals is needed in order to start incorporating the varicoloured practices of communities into our understanding of game heritage.

브랜드개발에서 나타난 학습자 중심의 디자인 사고 연구

This study is a follow-up study of "Research on Design Thinking in Brand Design Development Process" and aims to explore the content of learner-centered design thinking, reflecting the problems of the previous research. The study conducted retrospective reporting methods among protocol analysis methods on the content of design thinking developed in brand design development process for third graders majoring in visual design. As a result, there were cases in which logical thinking was developed through the organization of data on multiple occasions in the design process, but it developed into subjective content based on personal taste and experience. Unlike when the contents of the two-background and case study were reflected in the sketch and the intended direction, only certain contents were reflected in the sketch. In the expression of 3 design, the group focused on the design process and the flow of logical evidence was more direct in the design of the brand symbol, but there was also the result expressed metaphorically by subjective individual ability. 4 Visually stimulated by sketches and CG results already made in the design sketch process and in the CG process, the characteristics of expression such as in the process of externalization in the information processing process have changed the sketch or the contents of CG work. Although this study is a limited area of brand design development among visual design areas, we observed the flow of design thinking in the entire process of production from the data survey and found that feedback and modification of self-directed design is being made in learner-oriented thinking in each process.

The symbolic meaning of luxury-lite fashion brands among younger Chinese consumers

PurposeThe purpose of this study is uncovering the connotative and symbolic meaning of “luxury-lite brands” [轻奢].Design/methodology/approachApplying mixed methods, this study conducted two studies: (1) a semiotic analysis of a focus group discussion and 10 interviews on luxury-lite brands and (2) a content analysis of 248 Weiblog posts from 10 luxury-lite brands in a two-month period.FindingsStudy 1 showed that luxury-lite brands are interpreted as foreign brands that serve people's needs for social presence, and symbolize youthfulness, tastefulness, and aspirations. Other descriptors of luxury-lite brands included unique design, and less than the best quality offered by luxury brand. Study 2 suggested brands are missing out on a wide range of stories that resonate with their core segments in their social media advertising.Practical implicationsBased on the definition of luxury-lite brands in the context of China proposed by the researchers, we recommend that managers broaden topics of stories, make more effort to create desirable symbolic brand meaning, and use social media to excite these young crowds.Originality/valueLuxury-lite brands have been a cultural sign in the Chinese market projected to grow into an over 90 billion USD business by 2025. Therefore, an insightful understanding of the masstige market of China is a must for any Western masstige brand to be successful and competitive.

Cultural equity: knowledge and outcomes aspects

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose cultural equity as a construct to better understand the characteristics that define a culturally symbolic brand and the downstream consequences for consumer behavior and nation branding in the era of globalization.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is an empirical investigation of the knowledge and outcome aspects of cultural equity with a total of 1,771 consumers located in three different countries/continents, 77 different brands as stimuli, and using a variety of measures, surveys, lab experiments, procedures and consumer contexts.FindingsCultural equity is the facet of brand equity attributed to the brand's cultural symbolism or the favorable responses by consumers to the cultural symbolism of a brand. A brand has cultural equity if it has a distinctive cultural symbolism in consumers' minds (brand knowledge aspect of cultural equity: association with the central concept that defines the culture, embodiment of culturally relevant values and embeddedness in a cultural knowledge network), and such symbolism elicits a favorable consumer response to the marketing of the brand (outcome aspect of cultural equity: favorable evaluations and strong self-brand connections).Practical implicationsThis paper offers a framework that allows marketers to develop cultural positioning strategies in hyper-competitive and globalized markets and identify ways for building and protecting their brands' cultural equity.Originality/valueThis paper advances our understanding of brands as cultural symbols by introducing cultural equity and integrates prior research on brand equity, cross-cultural differences in consumer behavior, country-of-origin effects and nation branding.

The Effects of Destination Brand Personality on Chinese tourists' Revisit Intention to Glasgow: An Examination across Gender

The aim of this research is to examine the mediating effects of self-congruity between destination brand personality, to revisit intention and heed the moderating effects of gender between self-congruity. Therefore, data were collected through a survey from 226 Chinese outbound tourists in Glasgow city, United Kingdom and was analyzed to provide evidence. Based on the results, the analysis of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using the Smart PLS 3.0 program indicated that self-congruity was mediated partially through destination brand personality and revisit intention. In tourism destination, Aaker five dimension of brand personality model was particularly adapted into practice. However, the model failed to perform an actual self-congruity to mediate all five dimensions (i.e., sincerity, excitement, competence, excitement, sophistication and ruggedness) of destination brand personality and revisit intention. The results revealed that the ideal self-congruity is a mediating effect between destination brand personality (i.e., sincerity and excitement) and revisit intention. Moreover, this study also reported that the moderating role of gender has no effects on self-congruity and revisit intention. No difference was observed between female and male Chinese tourists who rely more on destination brand personality over self-congruity when the impact of symbolic destination brand benefits on their intention to revisit Glasgow was considered. Findings further offer specific implications for both theoretical insight and marketing practice in context of tourism destinations in Glasgow.

The emotive effect of government branding on citizens' trust and its boundaries: Does the personal relevance of the policy issue matter?

AbstractRecent studies have demonstrated the potency of government branding to enhance citizens' trust in government organizations and policies. In addition, studies have pointed to the detrimental implications of this emotive effect, mainly its ability to compensate for organizations' poor functioning, and accordingly to elicit undue trust. In light of these concerns, this study explores the boundaries of governments' persuasion of citizens through branding and symbolic communications. Building on social psychology and marketing research, I hypothesize that citizens are less susceptible to persuasion by branding the more they perceive the policy issue as personally relevant. I test this expectation through a survey experiment, focused on air pollution policy in Israel, exploiting the natural variation in the perceived personal relevance between citizens residing in a polluted area in the country and others. The results indicate that even high levels of perceived personal relevance do not attenuate the effect of symbolic brand elements. This means that the boundaries of persuasion and manipulation through branding are wider than expected.

Information Construction of Brand Marketing System in the Internet Era

Brand marketing is an important marketing strategy. Through marketing, it enables customers to recognize the brand and products of the enterprise, which can greatly improve the brand awareness of the enterprise. At the same time, it improves the customer’s concern and demand for products, so as to achieve good and sustainable profit growth for the enterprise. In order to gain a good competitive advantage, an enterprise must build a high-grade marketing concept. In marketing, the marketing network is not the bigger the better, but to make full use of brand symbols, so as to build an invisible marketing network in the hearts of the public and deliver products to the hearts of consumers. Through brand marketing, consumers are willing to pay for products, and to recognize enterprises and brands. In today’s Internet era, enterprises should pay more attention to the information construction of brand marketing system, and integrate Internet thinking into brand marketing strategy, so as to further improve the marketing effect.

Consumer Engagement in Online Brand Communities: Community Values, Brand Symbolism and Social Strategies

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the kind of community value companies should provide when strengthening the relationship between customers and brands through the establishment of an online brand community, and how this kind of community value promotes customers’ sense of community engagement and willingness to spread brand reputation. The paper also discusses how an enterprise’s brand symbolism affects the relationship between community value and customers’ engagement in online brand community. This study explored the important role of brand symbolism in the establishment of an online brand community. Background: Many companies want to create online brand communities to strengthen their relationships with consumers as well as to provide better service and value to consumers, for example, Huawei’s Huafen community (club.huawei.com), Apple’s support community (support.apple.com/zh-cn), and Samsung’s Galaxy community (samsungmembers.cn). However, these brand communities may have different interests and consumer engagement about the kind of community value to offer to their customers. Methodology: This study uses data collection from questionnaire surveys to design a quantitative research method. An online questionnaire survey of mobile phone users in China was conducted to collect data on social value, cognitive value, brand symbolism, customer community engagement, and brand recommendation. The brands of mobile phone include Apple, Huawei, Samsung, OPPO, VIVO, MI, and Meizu. The researcher purchased a sample service of WJX, an online survey company (www.wjx.cn), and WJX company distributed the questionnaire to research participants. The WJX company randomly selected 240 subjects from their sample database and then sent the questionnaire link to research participants’ mobile phones. Among the 240 research participants, the researcher excluded participants who lacked online brand community experience or had invalid data to qualify for data collection. After the researcher excluded participants who did not qualify for data collection, only 203 qualified questionnaire surveys advanced to the data collection and analysis phase, which was the questionnaire recovery rate of 84.58%. For the model analysis and hypotheses testing, the researcher used statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics and AMOS 21 and Smartpls3. Contribution: This study deepens the body of literature knowledge by combining online brand community value and brand symbolic value to explore issues that companies should consider when establishing an online brand community for their products and services. This study confirms that brands with high symbolic value establish communities and strengthen social values in the online brand community rather than reducing brand symbolism. Online brand community involves a horizontal interaction (peer interaction) among peers, which can have an effect on the symbolic value of brand (social distance). Findings: First, online brand community value (both cognitive and social value) has a positive impact on customer community engagement. Second, customer community engagement has a positive impact on customers’ brand recommend intention. Third, the customer community engagement is a mediator between the online brand community value and the customer brand recommend intention. Most importantly, fourth, the symbolic value of the brand controls the relationship between community value and customer community engagement. For brands with high symbolic value, the community value should emphasize cognitive value rather than social value. For brands with a low symbolic value, the community provides cognitive or social value, which is not affected by the symbolism of the brand. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can share best practices with the corporate sectors. Brand owners can work with researchers to explore the characteristics of their online brand communities. On this basis, brand owners and researchers can jointly build and manage online brand communities. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can explore different perspectives and factors of brand symbolism that involve brand owners when establishing an online brand community to advance consumer engagement, community value, and brand symbolism. Impact on Society: Online brand community is relevant for brand owners to establish brand symbolism, community value, and customer engagement. Readers of this paper can gain an understanding that cognitive and social values are two important drivers of individual participation in online brand communities. The discussion of these two factors can give readers and brand owners the perception to gain more understanding on social and behavior activities in online brand communities. Future Research: Practitioners and researchers could follow-up in the future with a study to provide more understanding and updated research information from different perspectives of research samples and hypotheses on online brand community.

Exploring online consumer curation as user-generated content

Purpose Some consumers are engaged in online curation, a type of user-generated content, in ways that can be impactful for brands. An example of online curation includes organizing themed collections of product images on Pinterest. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework of online consumer curation, introducing this topic to the marketing literature. Design/methodology/approach Through the analysis of the business and academic literature, as well as a careful study of many examples of online consumer curation, the authors present a framework for understanding online consumer curation. Findings The actions taken by online consumer curators are similar to those of museum or art gallery curators: acquiring, selecting, organizing and displaying content for an audience. The motivations for consumers to engage in online curation include building/displaying their identities and making social connections with their online audience. One outcome possible for the audience that views the curation is gaining access to carefully selected and recommended content. Research limitations/implications As online consumer curation is a new area of research, the authors suggest several marketing- and brand-relevant propositions that can be addressed in future research. Practical implications As consumers are frequently using product images and brand symbols in their online curation, it is important for marketing academics and practitioners to understand their actions. Originality/value The aim of the paper is to present a thorough introduction to the idea of online consumer curation by outlining relevant examples, providing a framework for understanding this activity and its implications for brand management, and listing ideas for future research.

Greek Womens’ Mentality towards Fashion Brands and the Influence of Print Images

This paper presents the findings on Greek women’s viewpoints and opinions in regards to foreign fashion brands and the symbolic meanings they attach to them. Further, a greater and wider knowledge was desired on the effects of fashion magazine brand advertising in the formation to the views and symbolisms formed, through the adoption of a symbolic interactionist framework. Additionally, a greater understanding on the communication process between Greek women and fashion brands advertised in fashion magazines was also of interest, assisting in comprehending Greek women’s interpretation of print images and how these images influence fashion brand symbolism. This research provides an understanding towards the general mentality of Greek women towards foreign fashion brands, how they attach meanings to those brands and what influences this process.

Examining Drivers of Brand Community Engagement: The Moderation of Product, Brand and Consumer Characteristics

Numerous firms operate online brand communities (OBCs) in order to build a close consumer–brand relationship. To succeed in realizing this aim, firms must first sustain members’ brand community engagement. While prior studies have examined a series of drivers of brand community engagement, most of them focused on psychological and social motivations. Limited information is available about the role of product, brand and consumer characteristics in driving brand community engagement. Building on the uses and gratifications (UG) theory, the authors investigate the moderation of product complexity, brand symbolism, and extraversion in the relationship between brand community gratification and brand community engagement. With the collaboration of an online shopping site, 462 validated survey responses were collected to test our hypotheses. The results indicate that product complexity positively moderates the impact of information value on brand community engagement and brand symbolism positively moderates the effect of social value on brand community engagement. Finally, the results show that extraversion positively interacts with social value in enhancing brand community engagement. This study advances the understanding of brand community engagement.

Building nightclub brand personality via guest selection

This paper identifies that guest selection at exclusive nightclubs is a brand building process, and that the guests’ primary value to the clubs therefore is the image they bestow on the brand. The paper contributes to theory by providing empirical support for several mechanisms that have previously been stipulated in literature. It validates that companies build brand personality by controlling typical user imagery, and that for self-expressive product categories, negative user stereotypes are particularly powerful. It supports the theory of symbolic brand avoidance, as well as the notion that social rejection encourages people to elevate their perceptions of their rejecters and strengthens their predilection to affiliate with them. For practitioners, the paper shows managers in the hospitality industry that it is possible to build brands by controlling who is allowed to become a brand-user, and under which conditions this applies.

Role of consumer vanity and the mediating effect of brand consciousness in luxury consumption

Purpose There has been substantial research on luxury globally, but there is a dearth of studies empirically investigating the key relationships affecting luxury consumption. The aim of this paper is to consider the role of consumer vanity and brand consciousness and to set their relationships in context of luxury consumption. Design/methodology/approach To measure consumer vanity, brand consciousness, attitude towards luxury brands and purchase intentions, pre-established scale items were adopted. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed through luxury exhibitions and festivals in major cities of India. A sample of n = 342 luxury consumers was analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings The findings support that brand consciousness is mediating the relationship between consumer vanity and luxury consumption. Luxury consumers are primarily driven by achievement vanity. They are likely to evaluate luxury brands based on their price, fame and their ability to portray their professional achievements. They incur unreasonable costs to acquire the expensive, famous and prestigious luxury brands and conspicuously consume them to display their success and accomplishments. Research limitations/implications The study provides an in-depth explanation of how consumer vanity is leading to consumption of luxury brands. The marketers may benefit by focussing on promotion of their brand's symbols and logos than on specific product features. Originality/value This is the first empirical examination understanding the mediating effect of brand consciousness as a mediator between consumer vanity and luxury consumption.

Influences of Product Involvement and Symbolic Consumption Cues in Advertisements on Consumer Attitudes

Symbolic consumption has become pervasive in daily life; advertisements focusing on brand awareness and celebrity endorsements involve strong product symbols and serve as a persuasive advertising tool. This study employed a 2 × 2 between-subject experimental design to investigate the influence of two independent variables, namely the level of consumer product involvement (high and low levels of involvement) and types of symbolic cues (brand and celebrity symbols), on consumer attitudes toward advertisements (Aad) and brands (Ab). Four notable findings were revealed: (1) the level of participant product involvement affected their fondness for Aad and Ab; (2) symbolic cues affected participant Aad and Ab; (3) participants with a high level of product involvement exhibited more positive Aad; and (4) participants with low product involvement demonstrated more positive Ab. In the contemporary advertising market, how enterprises can enable a product to convey a certain symbolic meaning has become particularly critical, and enterprises should not ignore the influences that symbolic consumption may have on consumers. These study results serve as a reference for enterprises and advising agents for devising future product advertising strategies.