Seminario para optar al título de Ingeniero Comercial, Mención Administración de Empresas / Las marcas propias han tomado protagonismo en Chile en los principales retailers, por lo que se invierten muchos recursos en el desarrollo de las mismas. Esto lleva a preguntarse hasta qué punto es importante la prominencia de marca en las marcas propias para los clientes, para conocer cuál es el alcance que puede tener una marca en su nivel de prominencia en los productos, y cuáles son las preferencias de foreign branding para estas marcas, para poder desarrollarlas en el idioma más apropiado. Para ello, se estudió el comportamiento en la preferencia de prominencia de marca y foreign branding de las marcas propias para dos grupos, que fueron derivados del estudio realizado por Han, Nunes & Drèze (2010): Patricios y No Patricios. El grupo de los Patricios son clientes que no consideran que las marcas les entreguen estatus, por lo que para marcas de lujo prefieren una prominencia de marca baja. El grupo de los No Patricios son clientes que consideran que las marcas les entregan estatus, por lo que para marcas de lujo prefieren una prominencia de marca alta. Además, de acuerdo al estudio de Olavarrieta, Manzur y Friedmann (2009), el uso de marcas de idioma extranjero es relevante y genera diferencias en cómo evalúan los consumidores las marcas, siendo el inglés un idioma preferido tanto para productos utilitarios y hedónicos, y el francés un mejor idioma para crear una marca de productos hedónicos, por lo que se realizó un estudio para saber si estos comportamientos se repetirían para marcas propias en Chile. Se concluyó que no existe evidencia significativa para determinar una correlación entre el grupo (Patricio – No Patricio) y la preferencia de prominencia de marca para marcas propias, sin embargo se puede ver que en general existe una preferencia por baja prominencia de marca en marcas propias, dado que éstas, al no ser de lujo o reconocidas, no entregan estatus, por lo que los clientes prefieren que no se den a conocer. Existe también, en orden de mayor a menor preferencia, una predilección por marcas propias en idioma inglés, luego en español y finalmente en francés. Esto permite comprender dónde invertir los recursos para potenciar las marcas propias.

Background: Since the early 1990s, the market for luxury goods has been growing at an unprecedented pace (Granot et al., 2013). Formerly exclusively targeting the richest of the rich, nowadays luxury products are aiming at a broader and considerably younger customer base, the Generation Y (Truong, 2010). Current studies suggest that luxury goods consumption is driven by a need to signal prestige (Grotts & Widner-Johnson, 2013; Nelissen & Meijers, 2011). However, this need can only be fulfilled when a signal is interpreted in the intended way. Nelissen & Meijers (2011) among others believe that a reliable signal can yield “fitness benefits”. Although researchers agree on the outcome of the signaling game, there appears to be no consensus on “what” a product should look like in order to serve as a reliable signal. Purpose: This thesis investigates the impact of brand prominence on perceived “fitness benefits” among Generation Y consumers in the context of luxury fashion clothing. Method: To meet the purpose of this thesis a quantitative study was conducted. The data was collected through a social experiment among students at Högskolan i Jönköping. The participants were randomly presented with one of three visual cues, capturing Brand Prominence by a person wearing t-shirts with differently sized brand logos. An oral survey was then conducted by which the attributed social "fitness" of the depicted person was assessed. Conclusion: The overall results of this study suggest that Brand Prominence has not as much impact on Generation Y consumers than suggested by previous research. Empirical evidence is provided that the signaling process is not as straight forward as proposed by Nelissen & Meijers (2011) or Veblen (1899). The signaling process among Generation Y consumers is (a) influenced by the recipient’s characteristics and (b) by the subtlety of the signal. Furthermore, current studies suggest in accordance with the obtained results a shift form Luxury Consumption to the phenomenon of Luxury Experience. This implies the necessity for luxury manufacturers to adapt to new levels of complexity created by a demographically and geographically heterogeneous consumer landscape, characterized by a new way of Costly Signaling.

Given its ever-increasing popularity, marketers are keen on exploring the benefits of using Twitter to create branded relationships with consumers. Central to the idea of consumer-brand relationships is the concept of commitment, which requires investment of direct resources, such as time, on the part of the consumer. The present research examines the relationship between time spent per login on Twitter and consumer-brand relationships through the constructs of brand relationship quality and brand attachment. Brand relationship quality is considered using four measures: enrichment, satisfaction, harmony, and trustworthiness. The concept of brand attachment is divided into measures of brand-self connection and brand prominence. Despite marketers’ efforts to keep consumers on Twitter for longer periods of time, results from this study were inconclusive, showing signs of little to no correlation between time and the tested variables. However, due to the limitations of this study, future research is necessary to improve the statistical quality of the findings. / text