Brand Representation Research Articles

Alternative thinking about starting points of obesity. Development of child taste preferences

Food marketers are at the epicenter of criticism for the unfolding obesity epidemic as societies consider banning advertising to children and taxing “junk” foods. While marketing's role in obesity is not well understood, there is clear evidence that children are regularly targeted with calorie-dense, nutrient-poor food. Much of the past research seeks to understand how marketing influences brand preference and child requests. The authors argue that understanding palate development offers new insights for discussion. Two studies consider whether a sugar/fat/salt (SFS) palate is linked to children's knowledge of food brands, experience with products, and advertising. In study 1, the authors develop a survey measure of taste preferences and find that a child's SFS palate (as reported by parents) relates significantly to children's self-reported food choices. Study 2 examines how knowledge of certain branded food and drinks is related to palate. Findings show that children with detailed mental representations of fast-food and soda brands – developed via advertising and experience – have higher scores on the SFS palate scale.

Moment-to-Moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing

We develop a conceptual framework about the impact that branding activity (the audiovisual representation of brands) and consumers' focused versus dispersed attention have on consumer moment-to-moment avoidance decisions during television advertising. We formalize this framework in a dynamic probit model and estimate it with Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Data on avoidance through zapping, along with eye tracking on 31 commercials for nearly 2,000 participants, are used to calibrate the model. New, simple metrics of attention dispersion are shown to strongly predict avoidance. Independent of this, central on-screen brand positions, but not brand size, further promote commercial avoidance. Based on the model estimation, we optimize the branding activity that is under marketing control for ads in the sample to reduce commercial avoidance. This reveals that brand pulsing—while keeping total brand exposure constant—decreases commercial avoidance significantly. Both numerical simulations and a controlled experiment using regular and edited commercials, respectively, provide evidence of the benefits of brand pulsing to ward off commercial avoidance. Implications for advertising management and theory are addressed.

한국과 중국의 화장품 광고표현 및 브랜드이미지 차이분석 -한/중 라네즈와 마몽드 잡지 광고를 중심으로-

This research is an in-depth study on the differences of cosmetics advertising and brand representation between Korean companies and Chinese companies. In addition, it studies the preferences of cosmetics consumption in Korea and China. To study these topics, two major methods are applied to magazine advertising analysis and consumer research. Analysis objects are the magazine advertisements of the Korean brands Mamond and Laneige, which entered the China market more than 5 years ago; the 64 advertisements are evenly split between Koreans and Chinese. The objects of the survey are 470 females between the ages 20 and 30 (237 from Korea and 233 from China). The results were as follows. First, Chinese advertisements use intense appeal in which the types of advertisement appeal are highly preferred. Second, ordinary models are highly preferred. Second, (on the nationality of the models) Chinese and Korean models are preferred in comparison to western models. Third, (as shown in the survey) Koreans and Chinese preferred magazine advertisements with headlines and copies. Four, blue colors are commonly used in the advertisements; however, the survey shows that the Chinese consumers prefer gray colors. Furthermore, from this study, there is a significant dynamic between the brand image and consumer satisfaction as well as the re-purchase intention.

How strong is the business-to-business brand in the workforce? An empirically-tested model of ‘internal brand equity’ in a business-to-business setting

In the business-to-business sector, the brand-owner's employees are increasingly playing a key role in the representation of individual and corporate brands at the interface with actual and potential customers. Consequently, ‘internal branding’ has recently emerged as an important issue in industrial markets. This article proposes and empirically validates a theoretically structured framework for the measurement of a new construct, internal brand equity, and identifies its determinants and consequences. The findings offer evidence for the powerful impact of a brand-oriented corporate culture on internal brand equity, and demonstrate its relationship to external brand equity. Conclusions are drawn for management practice and future research.

Children's brand symbolism understanding: Links to theory of mind and executive functioning

Against a background of research suggesting that brand symbolism understanding does not develop until 7 to 11 years of age, two studies investigate various aspects of preschool children's brand knowledge. While children's recognition of child-oriented brands is found to be significantly greater than their recognition of brands that are marketed primarily to teens and adults, these young children do recognize brands. In a second study, children's ability to form mental representations of brands is assessed, along with their understanding of brands as social symbols. Cognitive ability, theory of mind, and executive functioning are assessed as predictors of these brand-related outcomes. Theory of mind and executive functioning are both significant predictors of the ability to form mental representations of brands. Children's brand symbolism understanding shows a significant link with theory of mind. It is concluded that 3- to 5-year-olds have emerging knowledge of brands that are relevant in their lives. The impact of individual differences in theory of mind and executive functioning on children's brand knowledge aligns with current theories of child development. Methodological contributions and societal implications are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Understanding the influence of literacy on consumer memory: The role of pictorial elements

This research examines the relationship between literacy and consumer memory. The effects of a variety of stimuli at exposure (i.e., brand names, brand signatures, and products in usage) on memory (i.e., recognition, stem-completion tasks) were examined for a range of literacy. In a series of experiments, we find that the use of pictorial representations of brands (i.e., brand signatures) results in superior brand memory for individuals with lower literacy levels when compared to those at higher literacy levels. This effect is shown to occur not due to pictorial elements per se, but due to pictorial elements with a 1-to-1 correspondence with reality, i.e., which match the form in which they were originally encoded in memory. Moreover, this effect does not persist with stimulus-rich pictures of brands in usage, pointing to boundary conditions with the use of pictorial information.

Spatial mapping of price competition using logit-type market share models and store-level scanner-data

This paper proposes a methodology to obtain reliable spatial maps of price competition using store-level scanner data. Specifically, a procedure to obtain a symmetric matrix of similarities between brands considering their substitutability depending on price variations is proposed. The matrix is derived from a market response model where price cross-effects are split into two components. The first component accounts for the fact that price variation in one brand can have different effects to price variation in other brands (ie j → j′≠j′ → j). The second component accounts for the fact that the price of each brand can have different effects across competing brands (ie j → j′≠j → j″). The matrix is obtained by imposing symmetry on this second component of price cross-effects. The parameterization of this symmetric matrix of similarities as the distances between the spatial representations of brands allows us to obtain the positioning maps. The proposed approach is illustrated through an empirical application.

The expanding role of intangible assets of the brand

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to highlight the human representatives of the brand (brand relationship representatives), as an important enabler in achieving effective supply chain synchronization via the transfer of information on product availability and planned promotions between the brand and resellers in business‐to‐business markets, and therefore ultimately an influence in achieving customer requirements.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on integration of theories from marketing, psychology and operations management.FindingsThe findings indicate that brand representatives when linked to reseller for developing satisfaction becomes a motivating factor. This results in an effective and synchronized supply chain process for the organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe theory developed after a review of literature, should be tested using triangulation method as it will provide deeper analysis to both academic researchers and practitioners.Practical implicationsThis theoretical research tries to investigate the affects of brand representation on resellers in a business‐to‐business setting. It can support the practitioners in the planning and operational stages of their marketing communication campaigns for an effective and synchronized marketing and supply chain process.Originality/valueThe application of this paper is based on the model of brand‐reseller relationship of strong brands and contribute to the literature as theories available on the subject are limited.

Utility, cultural symbolism and emotion: A comprehensive model of brand purchase value

The current study, incorporating three theoretical approaches of economic utilitarianism, socio-cultural symbolism and emotional/affective marketing, establishes and tests the SAT-BV (Symbolic/Affective/Tradeoff Brand Purchase Value) model. As a result, empirical support is provided to the model, in which repurchase intention of the brand is directly affected by the brand purchase value with the three dimensionalities of symbolic value, affective value and tradeoff value, anteceded by perceived image, emotional experience, perceived quality and price acceptability of the brand. A holistic approach, featuring the synergistic unison of total quality management, integrated marketing communications and multiple brand representation, is recommended by the current study in pursuing comprehensive brand purchase value management that generates the holistic impact to enhance the possibility of repurchase behavior.

Capturing a rebel: modeling the Harley-Davidson brand through a motorcycle shape grammar

The potential for capturing brand identity within a shape grammar is discussed. A two-dimensional motorcycle shape grammar is presented, along with constraints that associate the resulting designs with the Harley-Davidson brand. Confirmation of the grammar's brand representation is shown through a customer-based survey.

Simultaneous positioning and segmentation analysis with topologically ordered feature maps: a tour operator example

Positioning analysis seeks spatial representations of brands. Segmentation analysis searches for perceptually or preferentially homogeneous consumer segments. While these analytical steps often are taken sequentially, the positioning and segmentation problems are interrelated and need to be treated simultaneously. Topologically ordered feature maps (self-organizing maps, SOM) are neural network models for feature extraction and classification. Extracting prototypes corresponds with finding market segments; ordering them topologically resembles a perceptual mapping exercise. SOM modeling may thus be relevant for deriving low-dimensional and parsimonious representations of multidimensional profile data. The application of SOMs is explored in a case study on tour operator images. The results simultaneously inform about the firms’ image positions and their perceptually homogeneous customer segments.

消費者の意思決定過程における製品スキーマの役割

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of prior knowledge in consumers' decision making processes. Sixty-four subjects were asked to choose the best car from among seven alternatives for a hypothetical user. Information-acquisition sequence data were analyzed. The results indicated that consumers with high knowledge searched for information by brand more than those with low knowledge, who, on the other hand, searched for information much more by attribute than by brand. These results suggest that more knowledgeable consumers employ decision strategies which generate and use representations of candidate brands, and that less knowledgeable consumers employ strategies designed to narrow down the brands in terms of attribute.

Constructing MDS Joint Spaces from Binary Choice Data: A Multidimensional Unfolding Threshold Model for Marketing Research

The authors present a new multidimensional unfolding methodology that can analyze various types of individual choice data. The model represents choice data, defined by dichotomous variables that indicate whether a particular brand was chosen or not, in terms of a joint space of consumers and brands. Explicit treatment of marketing and subject background variables is allowed through optional model reparameterizations of consumers and brands. Together with the joint space representation of both consumers and brands, these optional reparameterizations can provide information on appropriate market segmentation bases and respective product positioning strategies. The authors apply this spatial choice model to data on consumer (intended) choices for 12 residential communications devices and demonstrate how the results can be used for optimal positioning decisions.