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Imagine how you would react if you learned that your favorite singer was recording new music in a style far from that which you have come to love. Perhaps you would disapprove. Then you might react like many Porsche consumers did when they learned that “their” brand would start producing sports utility vehicles. They are not without peers. In fact, how would you respond if a favored brand would launch, say, a chain of coffee shops? Some people would resist such an idea. These scenarios illustrate how strong consumer-brand bonds may complicate attempts to extend brands into new businesses. The research presented in the thesis explores this connection, towards a better understanding of the stakes facing both companies and consumers. It is an inquiry into tensions of extensions. The thesis comprises four published studies. Three explore how consumers with close ties to a brand react to brand extension. They acknowledge that consumers who come close to a brand potentially become stakeholders with opinions on efforts to change the products and marketing of that brand. They suggest that the implications of combining brand extension and strong consumer bonds can be substantial. The fourth study considers how the financial implications in particular can be analyzed and communicated within organizations. The findings show how brand extension can be an important event in a longer relationship with core consumers. This perspective is easily obscured when concentrating only on the perceptions of “the average consumer”. The thesis highlights symbolic and experiential aspects. It offers a closer look at such things as consumer identity, emotional reactions, and expression of criticism, and the findings should inform communication strategies and decision-making related to brand extensions. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2008. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser</p>

Conflicts can occur in a variety of brand-relationship contexts, whether pertaining to poor service or product failure or to companies’ violations in regard to moral or legal issues. Though addressing relationship conflicts has become a pervasive issue in brand-relationship research, little is known about factors influencing consumer responses to conflicts. The goal of this research was to address this issue by exploring how consumers utilize their emotional intelligence in coping with problems when conflicts arise. For this purpose, two experiments were performed in this study. The first experiment showed that consumer emotional intelligence (CEI) was critical in predicting coping responses. When encountering conflicts in relationships, consumers who were highly capable in CEI were more likely to direct their emotions positively and productively, and they were less likely to exit the relationships than were those low in CEI. The second experiment further investigated a moderator and mediator of the association identified in the first study. The study demonstrated that the type of conflict moderated the effect of CEI on coping behaviors; the CEI effect on intention to exit the relationship was more pronounced when a conflict had directly caused problems for individual consumers (vs. to society as a whole). The results further demonstrated that consumers’ appraisals of a company’s intention in regard to conflicts mediated the association between CEI and coping responses. Specifically, low-CEI consumers were more likely to attribute negative intentions to the company; therefore, they were more likely to exit the relationship than were high-CEI consumers. This research demonstrated that CEI is an important construct in explaining why some consumers react destructively to relationship conflicts whereas others do not. Findings of this research provide a greater understanding of the role of individual differences in the maintenance and dissolution of brand relationships. / text

Consumer researchers have long accepted that consumption can serve as a tool in the creation, maintenance, and expression of consumers' identities. And brands, in particular, may be important to the consumer self, even potentially serving as relationship partners. This dissertation explores how brands that are important to consumers may impact their identities at a cognitive level. Specifically, I apply Aron et al.'s (1991) "including others in the self" paradigm from interpersonal relationship research, which finds that people's cognitive representations of close others overlap the psychological self, to studying the impact of brands on the self. I provide evidence that consumers' mental representations of loved brands, which may be perceived as relationship partners, overlap the psychological self in memory. I refer to this as self-brand overlap. I also consider the relevance of disliked brands to the consumer self, providing evidence that consumers' mental representations of disliked brands are dissociated from the psychological self in memory. I refer to this as self-brand dissociation.In two studies I demonstrate and replicate the self-brand overlap and dissociation effects. And, study 2 further explores these constructs, providing evidence that self-brand overlap and dissociation are the cognitive representations of positive and negative, respectively, consumer-brand relationships. This dissertation also includes three further studies that aim to identify boundary conditions of these effects. However, no conclusive support is found for a role of any of the explored moderators. Specifically, studies 3 through 5 find the self-brand dissociation effect in every condition, in every study, suggesting that self-brand dissociation is impervious to the boundary conditions examined. Evidence for the self-brand overlap effect, which was demonstrated in both studies 1 and 2, however, is mixed in each of these 3 later studies. Potential reasons for this lack of concrete replication are offered.

In their continuous search for improved explanations of why consumers engage with certain brands more than with others, academics and managers have placed significant importance on self-brand congruence theory, which suggests that consumers are drawn to brands with characteristics that align with their own characteristics. Although this theory has been extensively investigated and supported by previous research, it has hitherto been assumed that the alignment of characteristics exhibits a similarity configuration, that is, consumers are drawn to brands with traits that mirror their own traits. By adopting a relational view of consumer-brand interactions and drawing from the literature on interpersonal relationships, specifically from theories of interpersonal attraction, the thesis explores the possibility that besides similarity, self-brand personality alignment may also exhibit a complementarity configuration, whereby consumers are drawn to brands with traits that complement their own. Using a two-phase empirical study of mixed methods [in-depth interviews and online survey (n=206)], the thesis first explores the structure of consumers’ perceptions of their own personalities and those of their favourite brands using Exploratory Factor Analysis. Results reveal that although brand personality has the same five factor structure as human personality, the composition of dimensions is distinct. The patterns of alignment between the two sets of traits are then examined through Canonical Correlation Analysis, which reveals the existence of both similarity and complementarity configurations in self-brand personality alignment. A new method for measuring the magnitude of self-brand personality alignment is then devised, which captures both configurations. The predictive power of this new measure is then compared against existing, similarity-based measures for a range of desirable brand behaviours, using Discriminant Analysis and Linear Regression. Results indicate the new measure performs well, especially for emotionally-related brand behaviours.

Background: Social media changed the way of communication between brands and consumers and further enables people to become famous and create their own celebrity brand. Hence, celebrity brands are a new phenomenon, rarely studied by past research but becoming more important in the context of consumer-brand-relationships. Those relationships are similar to interpersonal ones, which are also highly affected by emotions. Negative emotions are perceived to have a higher impact on the relationship and are reflected in consumer behavior, for example, in avoiding the brand. Purpose: Besides the behavioral outcomes of negative emotions toward celebrity brands, the study strives to examine the reasons for negative emotions. Additionally, the purpose of the study is to investigate possible neutralization actions that celebrity brands can undertake to alleviate the negative emotions of consumers. Method: The study followed an exploratory research design. The qualitative data collection was done by conducting semi-structured interviews. Participants were selected based on the criterion of having negative emotions toward a celebrity brand and using social media. In total, 16 interviews were conducted. Conclusion: Negative emotions were either elicited by characteristics or behaviors of the celebrity. Whereas characteristics, e.g. attractiveness, are difficult to influence for celebrities, unfavorable behaviors, e.g. greed and violence, that trigger negative consumer emotions are preventable by the celebrities. The consumers start avoiding, unfollowing, and spreading negative word-of-mouth about the celebrity if they feel negatively toward the brand. To neutralize negative emotions, the celebrity brands are recommended to engage in building authenticity, trust, acceptance, attachment, and adding value to society. However, due to the consumers unfollowing the celebrity, the biggest challenge for celebrity brands is to address neutralization actions in a noticeable way for consumers.

The rise in the popularity of digital communication and social media platforms has increased the speed of information exchange among customers, and enabled them to instantaneously voice their thoughts and opinions about brands. This trend however has created certain challenges for marketers since they could no longer exert the sole control over the identities of their brands. Past research has confirmed that social interaction plays a key role in development of strong relationships among individuals (e.g. Nahapiet and Ghosal, 1998; Lobschat et al., 2013). In branding context, social interactions and the benefits derived from them establish a brand’s social value, and contribute to the formation of solid customer-brand relationships. As an attempt to better capture a brands’ social value, Lobschat et al. (2013) recently introduced the concept of social currency. Their findings reveal the importance of social currency as a key antecedent to several components of brand equity such as perceived quality, brand loyalty, and brand trust. Due to the newness of the social currency construct, however, its relationship with many other key variables of consumer behavior has not been much verified yet. In particular, there has been very little investigation of the potential links between social currency and the two emerging paradigms of experiential and transformational branding. Accordingly, the current study explores the role of brand’s social currency in providing experiential and transformational benefits in the context of cosmetics consumption. It further investigates the roles of brand experience and customer transformation in shaping greater customer attachment towards the brand. To test these relationships, the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method is applied. In total, 373 participants took part in this study. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed, and participants were invited to report on their consumption of their favorite cosmetic brands. Findings confirm that the various dimensions of social currency lead to experiential and transformational benefits in different ways. Results further suggest that both experiential and transformational benefits contribute to the enhancement of customer-brand relationships. Theoretical and managerial contributions are discussed.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the status of brand loyalty to art festivals with reference to Klein Karoo national Arts Festival (KKNK). This was achieved by firstly analysing and discussing the role of branding in tourism marketing. Secondly, a literature study was conducted to analyse the concept brand loyalty. Thirdly, the results of the empirical research were discussed and finally the conclusions were drawn from the research and recommendations were made with regard to visitors’ loyalty to the KKNK. Literature indicated that when marketing a tourism product or service it involves a complex bundle of value, which is intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable. Therefore the tourist’s experience with the product is important to keep in mind. Every tourist counts in the tourism industry therefore knowledge related to the needs and wants of the tourists. This can be determined by market research that is designed to collect, analyse, interpret and report information. The marketer can use this information to create a marketing mix, however, in the tourism and hospitality industry the four P’s (price, promotion, product, place) are extended with more P’s, namely people, physical environment, processes, packaging, participation, productservice mix, presentation mix and communication mix. The tourism product or festival should be positioned in the minds of the tourists and this cannot be achieved without branding the product. The brand name is used to identify and differentiate the product from its competitors. It also creates meaning for the tourist and establishes a competitive position in the minds of the tourist. Brand loyalty should be an important marketing goal of the tourism product because it reduces a brand’s vulnerability to competitors’ action and create a committed relationship with the tourists that insure lifelong visiting behaviour among tourists or positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Brand loyalty is build on six levels which can also be utilised to determine the visitors loyalty towards the brand and to assist the marketer on focussing on areas which should be improved to achieve a higher level of loyalty. The aim of the marketer should be to achieve the highest level of brand loyalty namely Resonance. For the purpose of this study the visitors’ profile and the current status of brand loyalty, were measured by means of a questionnaire and the objective of the questionnaire was to determine how loyal the visitors were to the KKNK. The questionnaires were distributed among the visitors at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, in April 2009. Availability sampling was used to collect the data based on the fact that the respondents were conveniently available on the festival grounds and at show venues and willing to complete the questionnaires. A total of 422 questionnaires were completed during the festival. The factor analysis determined that Brand Feelings were the loyalty level that was rated the highest by the respondents to the KKNK. Therefore it was determined that the visitors’ loyalty to KKNK is currently at the fifth loyalty level and will have the most influence on the visitors when deciding to visit or recommend the KKNK. This is expected for a festival that is 15 years old however, the organisers of the KKNK can continue to improve the visitors loyalty until they reach the sixth and highest, loyalty level. This study contributes to the limited available literature on brand loyalty to arts festivals. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the status of brand loyalty to art festivals with reference to Klein Karoo national Arts Festival (KKNK). This was achieved by firstly analysing and discussing the role of branding in tourism marketing. Secondly, a literature study was conducted to analyse the concept brand loyalty. Thirdly, the results of the empirical research were discussed and finally the conclusions were drawn from the research and recommendations were made with regard to visitors’ loyalty to the KKNK. Literature indicated that when marketing a tourism product or service it involves a complex bundle of value, which is intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable. Therefore the tourist’s experience with the product is important to keep in mind. Every tourist counts in the tourism industry therefore knowledge related to the needs and wants of the tourists. This can be determined by market research that is designed to collect, analyse, interpret and report information. The marketer can use this information to create a marketing mix, however, in the tourism and hospitality industry the four P’s (price, promotion, product, place) are extended with more P’s, namely people, physical environment, processes, packaging, participation, productservice mix, presentation mix and communication mix. The tourism product or festival should be positioned in the minds of the tourists and this cannot be achieved without branding the product. The brand name is used to identify and differentiate the product from its competitors. It also creates meaning for the tourist and establishes a competitive position in the minds of the tourist. Brand loyalty should be an important marketing goal of the tourism product because it reduces a brand’s vulnerability to competitors’ action and create a committed relationship with the tourists that insure lifelong visiting behaviour among tourists or positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Brand loyalty is build on six levels which can also be utilised to determine the visitors loyalty towards the brand and to assist the marketer on focussing on areas which should be improved to achieve a higher level of loyalty. The aim of the marketer should be to achieve the highest level of brand loyalty namely Resonance. For the purpose of this study the visitors’ profile and the current status of brand loyalty, were measured by means of a questionnaire and the objective of the questionnaire was to determine how loyal the visitors were to the KKNK. The questionnaires were distributed among the visitors at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, in April 2009. Availability sampling was used to collect the data based on the fact that the respondents were conveniently available on the festival grounds and at show venues and willing to complete the questionnaires. A total of 422 questionnaires were completed during the festival. The factor analysis determined that Brand Feelings were the loyalty level that was rated the highest by the respondents to the KKNK. Therefore it was determined that the visitors’ loyalty to KKNK is currently at the fifth loyalty level and will have the most influence on the visitors when deciding to visit or recommend the KKNK. This is expected for a festival that is 15 years old however, the organisers of the KKNK can continue to improve the visitors loyalty until they reach the sixth and highest, loyalty level. This study contributes to the limited available literature on brand loyalty to arts festivals. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Brand loyalty has been studied extensively in consumer-brand relationship literature. However, the negative side of these relationships has not been studied to the same degree. This paper starts with Court et al.’s (2009) loyalty loop as part of the consumer decision journey and proposes that consumers may stop being loyal to a brand due to various circumstances.The authors propose a negative view of the loyalty loop, the disloyalty loop, exist, in which consumers become disloyal. Furthermore, the authors conducted this study in order to find out if this relationship exists, the disloyalty loop, within the framework of social media platforms, i.e. applications who allow communication among users over the Internet. These platforms should not solely be seen as online communication tools, but as brands themselves.Semi-structured interviews with social media users were conducted showing that consumers can navigate between the loyalty and disloyalty loops, and even exit the brand relationship completely. These findings indicate that consumers’ brand loyalty should not be taken for granted, and service failures may cause them to reduce their patronage, abandon the brand, and even influence other consumers negatively through word-of-mouth.