While existing literature describes strong brand relationships along several dimensions, this research sheds light on the identity perspective of brand relationships through the lens of consumer identity fusion, aiming to understand the extent to which consumers incorporate brands into their self-perceptions. Specifically, this research investigates the nature and effects of consumer identity fusion and its motivational consequences following brand transgressions. Study One examines whether consumer identity fusion out-predicts brand identification in estimating the tendency for consumers to endorse pro-relationship behavior with regard to minor or severe transgressions. The results show that highly fused consumers are more likely to undertake constructive coping strategies and are less likely to engage in destructive coping strategies than are weakly fused consumers. The fusion × perceived severity interaction effect is found only for the exit coping strategy. Study Two assesses how consumer identity fusion influences consumers’ responses to personal-related versus societal-related brand transgressions. The findings demonstrate that the effect of consumer identity fusion is stronger than that of brand identification across different behavioral outcomes; it has a greater effect on participants’ relationship-serving responses to personal-related transgressions than to societal-related brand transgressions. However, the fusion × brand transgression types interaction effect is found only for exit responses. Finally, Study Three incorporates an additional self-affirmation manipulation to determine the interplay of consumers’ personal and social identities, aiming to disentangle the source of the motivational machinery needed for consumers’ pro-relationship behaviors. The findings underscore that highly fused consumers in the affirmation condition are less likely to exit the brand relationship than those in the no affirmation condition when facing personal-related brand transgressions, even though self-affirmation should reduce the negative effect of brand transgressions. Nevertheless, the expected relationships are not found for consumers’ change in brand evaluation and other behavioral measures. The findings of this research together suggest that consumer identity fusion is applicable for understanding connections between consumers and the brand relationship partner in consumer-brand relationships. Implications of these findings and directions for refinement and future research are discussed. / text

With a strong level of engagement through media, social networks expand communication territory in a manner that traditional media lacks the ability to, with the distinctive features of “participation” and “sharing.” With increasing engagement and penetration, social networks shed light on new channels of communication apart from traditional marketing norms and provide standards of adapting the rising power of their use. Marketing practices of Korean car markets is a typical example of integration of social media because the market contains fierce competition among brands. A difference in social media marketing appears between brands developing new products series with enough resources to do so and brands with suffering financial difficulties. Utilization of social media, one of the most powerful message delivery tools, is a barometer to estimate effective marketing implementation. Facebook messages conveyed by select automobile companies can be classified and compared to verify differences and commonalities regarding the structure of four brand equity factors raised by David Aaker: awareness, loyalty, quality and associated image. The results revealed that local brands and imported brands have focused on different equity categories and each brand has a different marketing emphasis. The imported brands are more focused on brand awareness and perceived quality as opposed to Korean local brands and their focus on loyalty. BMW delivers names of individual cars with new technology but Mercedes-Benz advertises their brand heritage in Facebook. / text

This study examines brand customization in advergames and its effects on brand memory, game enjoyment, and attitudes gamers form toward the embedded brand. This study also tests for interactions between individuals’ locus of control and brand customization on the measured variables. A 2(customization) x 2(locus of control) experimental design was used. Subjects (N=60) were invited to a laboratory and the car racing game Gran Turismo 3™ was used as the advergame. Participants completed a questionnaire before and after treatment exposure, t-tests were calculated to test the hypotheses, and ANOVAs were run to examine all research questions. Findings suggest that individuals who customize the brand during gameplay recall the brand almost four times as much as individuals who don’t customize the brand. Results also reveal that subjects under the no customization condition negatively described the brand twice as much as subjects under the customization condition. Furthermore, a significant interaction between individuals’ locus of control and brand customization on brand recall was detected. There were no significant differences in attitude toward the brand and game enjoyment due to brand customization. Finally, the data didn’t demonstrate significant interactions between individuals’ locus of control and brand customization for game enjoyment and brand attitude. / text

Στην υπερπροσφορά των προϊόντων και υπηρεσιών, το σύγχρονο μάρκετινγκ προσφέρει ένα καθοριστικό εργαλείο με το οποίο ενισχύεται η εικόνα των προϊόντων, συμβάλλοντας στην τόνωση της σχέσης μεταξύ της επωνυμίας και του καταναλωτή, γνωστό ως «προσωπικότητα της επωνυμίας» (brand personality). Η έννοια αυτή έχει προσελκύσει τα τελευταία χρόνια το επιστημονικό ενδιαφέρον των επαγγελματιών του αθλητικού μάρκετινγκ σε μία προσπάθεια διαφοροποίησης των αθλητικών ομάδων. Η έννοια της προσωπικότητας της επωνυμίας των αθλητικών ομάδων, σύμφωνα με την βιβλιογραφία, είναι πολύπλοκη, δύσκολο να ορισθεί λόγω της φύσης της και δύσκολο να μετρηθεί λόγω της αδυναμίας δημιουργίας ενός αξιόπιστου και έγκυρου εργαλείου μέτρησης. Στόχος της παρούσας μελέτης ήταν να εξετάσει την εφαρμογή της εγκυρότητας και αξιοπιστίας του μοντέλου των Blank, Koenigstorfer & Baumgartner (2013) για την προσωπικότητας της επωνυμίας των ποδοσφαιρικών ομάδων της ελληνικής Super League. Επιπλέον, έγινε προσπάθεια εντοπισμού των ενδεχόμενων ομοιοτήτων και διαφορών ως προς τα χαρακτηριστικά της προσωπικότητας της επωνυμίας μεταξύ των άμεσων ανταγωνιστριών ομάδων της ελληνικής Super League. Τέλος, διερευνήθηκε ο βαθμός στον οποίο η προσωπικότητα της επωνυμίας επηρεάζει την καταναλωτική συμπεριφορά των φιλάθλων των ομάδων της ελληνικής Super League. Για τους παραπάνω λόγους πραγματοποιήθηκε έρευνα με την χρήση ερωτηματολογίων σε δείγμα 799 ατόμων. Τα κύρια συμπεράσματα της έρευνας ήταν η εγκυρότητα και αξιοπιστία της κλίμακας μέτρησης των Blank et al. για την προσωπικότητας της επωνυμίας της αγαπημένης ποδοσφαιρικής ομάδας της ελληνικής Super League, η οποία συγκροτείται από 3 βασικές διαστάσεις και της προσωπικότητας της επωνυμίας της σημαντικότερης αντιπάλου της ελληνικής Super League, η οποία αποτελείται από 2 διαστάσεις. / In the oversupply of products and services, modern marketing offers a crucial tool that enhances the image of the product, helping to boost the relationship between the brand and the consumer, known as “brand personality”. This concept has attracted in recent years the scientific interest of professionals in the sports marketing in an effort to diversify the sports teams. The concept of brand personality of sports teams, according to the literature, is complex, difficult to define because of its nature and difficult to quantify because of the inability to create a reliable and valid measurement tool. The aim of this study was to examine the application of the validity and reliability of the model of Blank, Koenigstorfer & Baumgartner (2013) for the brand personality of football teams in Greek Super League. In addition, an attempt was made to identify potential similarities and differences in the brand personality traits between direct rival teams of Greek Super League. Finally, the extent to which the brand personality influences the consumer behavior of Greek Super League team’s supporters is investigated. For these reasons, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire to a sample of 799 individuals. The main conclusions of the research was the validity and reliability of the measurement scale of Blan et al. (2013) of the brand personality of the favorite football team in the Greek Super League, which is composed of three basic dimensions of brand personality and the scale of brand personality of the most important rival in Greek Super League, which consists of two basic dimensions.

Denna uppsats har berört hur ett företagsförvärv kan gå till men även hur ett företag med många underliggande varumärken hanterar sin varumärkesportfölj. Som företag kan man öka sin tillväxt och lönsamhet på lite olika sätt, bland annat genom att expandera sin verksamhet. För att expandera kan man till exempel introducera en ny produkt eller nytt varumärke men även att köpa upp ett redan etablerat varumärke. Det var det sista alternativet som Unilever valde när de förvärvade det amerikanska premiumglassföretaget Ben & Jerry’s. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka varför stora företag köper upp mindre och nischade företag. Vi har valt att fokusera på Unilevers uppköp av det amerikanska glassföretaget Ben & Jerry’s och tar även reda på vilka fördelar de båda vann på uppköpet samt hur Unilever hanterar sin varumärkesportfölj. Frågorna som vi har utgått ifrån lyder: Varför köpte det stora företaget Unilever upp det mindre och nischade varumärket Ben & Jerry’s och vilka fördelar fick respektive företag vid sammanslagningen? Hur hanterar ett företag de olika varumärkena? Efter att vi analyserat hur uppköpet mellan Unilever och Ben & Jerry’s gått till, tillsammans med teorierna om ämnet kom vi fram till följande. Det är viktigt att som företag ha en god bild av innehållet i sin varumärkesportfölj. Detta för att optimera samarbetet mellan varumärkena men även för att se vilka segment som saknas. Vid ett förvärv av ett nytt varumärke, i avsikt att komplettera varumärkesportföljen, måste det större företaget behandla det varsamt. Varumärket kan bli framgångsrikt just för att de besitter unik kompetens och får därför inte krossas av storföretagets jakt på lönsamhet. Ännu en slutsats vi kom fram till är att om båda företagen har något att vinna på förvärvet så ökar chansen att det blir lyckat. Det kan handla om att komma över ny kunskap om till exempel kundsegment eller tillgång till nya marknader.

Problematization: Studies  indicate  that there  is  a  lack  of  strong  brands  among  the  Swedish mobile  network  operators.  Problems  of  retaining  customers  are  common  among  the  big operators. Few studies on brand equity for intangible products have been done.   Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate which factors  influence  brand equity in the Swedish service sector of mobile network operators.   Theory: This  paper is  limited  to  one  aspect  of  brand  equity,  namely  customer  based  brand equity. Common  constructs of  customer  based  brand  equity are:  brand  awareness,  brand associations, brand loyalty, and perceived quality.    Methodology: The  data  was  collected  with  self-administered  delivery  and  collection questionnaires, which were distributed among university students.   Data: 400 questionnaires were handed out and 363 responses were valid.   Results  and  Conclusion: This  study  indicates  the  importance  of  brand  associations,  brand loyalty, and brand trust for establishing customer based brand equity among the Swedish mobile network operators.

Titel: Hur står sig de billigare substituten emot premium produkter? Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Giancarlo Mancuso & John Gustafsson Handledare: Jonas Kågström Datum: 2012 – Maj Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att vi vill undersöka hur de billigare substituten står sig emot premium produkter genom att ställa de emot varandra i ett blindtest föreslagits av tidigare forskning Ogenyi Ejye (1994). Vi vill veta om det finns en stor skillnad mellan de billigare varianterna och de premier produkterna enligt tidigare gjord forskning. Metod: Vi har utfört ett experiment i form av ett blindtest där vi sätter fyra olika Cola sorter emot varandra. Under genomförandet av experimentet har vi använt oss utav enkäter för att samla in data. Detsamma gäller för vår webb undersökning. Resultat & slutsats: Det vi kom fram till i vår undersökning är att varumärken påverkar oss konsumenter både positivt och negativt. Vi kan tydligt se i det blinda testet att det inte skiljer sig så mycket mellan premier produkterna och de billigare substituten när det kommer till smaken. Men i det visuella testet kan vi se en tydlig skillnad mellan de olika sorterna. Vidare visade vår undersökning att det genomsnittliga priset som våra deltagare var villiga att betala för de olika produkterna ligger över det faktiska priset i både det visuella och det blinda testet. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: En intressant vidare forskning skulle vara att ta samma deltagare och genomföra två olika experiment på dem. Den ena skulle vara ett blindtest där deltagarna är omedvetna om vad det är de dricker och det andra skulle vara ett visuella test där deltagarna är medvetna om vilket varumärke det är de dricker, därefter jämföra resultatet. En annan vidare forskning i detta sammanhang skulle vara att undersöka WTA(Willingness To Accept) för att se vilket pris man som konsument skulle vara villig att betala.  Uppsatsens bidrag: Det vi kom fram till är att skillnaden mellan de olika Cola sorter inte är så stora när man tar bort varumärket. Det är ett bevis på att de billiga substituten börjar matcha det premium produkterna i form av smak preferenser. Vi ser också hur viktigt det är att skapa ett starkt varumärke. Nyckelord: Brand, Brand Equity, Willingess to Pay, Consumer price perception, Pricepremium / Title: How do the cheaper substitutes withstand the premium products? Level: Degree in Business Administration Author: Giancarlo Mancuso & John Gustafsson Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: Maj – 2012 Aim: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how cheaper substitutes hold up to premium products by comparing them to each other in a blind test suggested by previous research Ogenyi Ejye (1994). We want to know if there is a major difference between the cheaper versions and the premium products in accordance with previous research. Method: The research had been done in the form of a blind test. Four different Cola varieties and have been compared against each other using a survey to collect data. This form of testing applied to our online survey as well. Result & Conclusions: The conclusion of our study is that brands do affect us as consumers, both in a positive and negative way. We could clearly see that in the blind test between the premium products and the cheaper substitutes there was not much of a difference in taste. In the visual test we could clearly see a difference between the products. Furthermore this research has shown that our participants are willing to pay more than the actual retail price for this product in both the visual and blind test. Suggestions for future research: It would be interesting with further research to take the same participants and perform two different experiments on them. One could be a blind test and the second could be in a visual test. During which the participants are aware of what they taste to see if there would be a major difference between the results. It would also be interesting to see research done using WTA (Willingness to Accept) in this context.  Contribution of the thesis: Our research has shown that there is not a great difference between the tastes of the products. It has given further proof that the cheaper substitute products are delivering almost the same quality as the premium product, which shows how important it is to build strong brand equity. Key words: Brand, Brand Equity, Willingness to Pay, Consumer price perception, Price premium

The orgin of brand value creation is consumer attitudes towards the brand, and the result of owning powerfull brand is the increased shareholders value. In vast majority of cases these two aspects are analysed sepatately, however, we see a need of looking at that as undivided. This is due to the fact that brand value does not depend only on the consumer’s behaviour. It has much to do with a market situation and the owners’ behaviour, therefore, it is crucial to conceptualize brand value creation process and develop adequate quantitative methods of measuring brand value.

This investigation probes the perceptions of consumers as well as marketers with regard to the branding of fast moving consumer goods in South African retail chain stores. While much research has been conducted on branding, this investigation will focus on the extent to which marketers’ perceptions and consumers’ perceptions converge with a view to maximizing the mutual benefits to be derived from marketing strategies within a contemporary South African environment. The extent to which South African marketers’ perceptions and consumers’ perceptions converge to promote brand equity is postulated in the brand equity optimization model. The research commenced with an exhaustive literature survey followed by an empirical survey. The fieldwork for this survey was conducted nationally among the three major retail groups in South Africa and among consumers living in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The findings from the literature survey indicate that both local and international companies have realized the potential of investing resources in brand building activities. These findings have provided evidence to suggest that building brand equity for fast moving consumer goods impacts positively on the sales and the popularity of these products. The findings of the empirical research illustrates that the typical South African consumer has become brand conscious and brand building activities encourage them to purchase these products. The findings from the consumer survey were supported by the investigation conducted among retail chain stores who agreed that building brand equity results in increased sales and the popularity of the products concerned. Consumers have a preference for manufacturer branded products but house brands are selected primarily because they are cheaper. Manufacturer brands are viewed by consumers as having the most innovative packaging, excellent promotional support and consistently good quality while retail chain stores believe that manufacturer brands lead the way in terms of brand building activities, packaging innovation, promotional support and quality. The results of both surveys illustrate that retail chain stores and consumers share similar viewpoints with regards to the branding, packaging, pricing, promotions and quality attributes of fast moving consumer goods in terms of optimizing brand equity. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2007.

This research investigates the role of brands in the advertising of beauty products. This study was conducted at tertiary institutions in the Durban Metropolitan Area. Since, students are believed to constitute a large market for consumer goods, especially beauty products, the study also seeks to determine consumption patterns and preferences of brands of beauty products by students at tertiary institutions. Using a survey-based study, the results of the survey highlights the importance of the branding of beauty products in promoting sales, loyalty and preference for various brands. The findings suggest that marketers' should continue to provide information to consumers about their beauty products, so that their benefits and functions are constantly emphasized, without exaggerating the claims of the brands. It has also emerged that detailed instructions on the use of beauty products and the frequency of their use be clearly indicated on their labels. This study has also revealed that brands of beauty products entrench the image of the company through its truthful advertising. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.