This research study is focused on the buying behaviour of modern consumers. The literature indicates that modern consumers are sophisticated, discerning and are less loyal to a particular brand than they used to be. Consumers today are more concerned with buying a product that not only meets their needs but also provides them with pleasurable experiences. There are many ways to explain buyer behaviour; however for this thesis storytelling, dream theory, and "Lovemarks" have been used to examine the usefulness of the selected theories to the visual communication design industry. The research has focussed on an homogeneous product (bottled water) as a vehicle to establish whether all the plans and strategies in recently published literature can be trusted and be used for design strategies for planning a marketing campaign. The reason for doing this is to establish some new knowledge that could contribute to the design industry in terms of criteria for branding, marketing and design strategy in visual communication design. An extensive secondary research of the literature has been made to inform this study. Primary information has also been gathered by using carefully designed and comprehensive materials involving professional interviews, and a major case study of bottled water has been conducted, which includes a field study, focus groups and surveys. Information and raw data generated by the research have been analysed either quantitatively or qualitatively. The result generated by this study is not conclusive, however, pointing to the fact that the buying behaviour of consumers is complex and variable. There was also little agreement among the professional interviewees in terms of the role of human behaviour and its application in the design campaign.

Consumer perceived value is an important concept in marketing and plays a significant role in purchase decision-making. Consumer perceived value can be markedly influenced by product cues. The current research investigates the impact of extrinsic cues (country-of-origin, brand name, store name and price) on consumer perception of product quality, sacrifice and value developed by Teas and Agarwal (2000). Since little research has examined the generalisability of Teas and Agarwal's (2000) work in less economically developed countries, this research is conducted in a Chinese population.The relationships among four manipulated extrinsic cues, perceived sacrifice, quality and value are tested. Since Teas and Agarwal (2000) did not investigate the mediation affects of perceived sacrifice in the relationship between perceived quality and perceived value, this will be also explored as an additional study for this paper. Thus, the current research expands on previous work on perceived customer value by examining the mediation affects.After the conceptual model of Teas and Agarwal (2000) has been examined, the findings support hypothesized linkages between each of the four extrinsic cues and perceived quality, price and perceived quality, perceived quality and perceived value, perceived sacrifice and perceived value. The results show that perceived sacrifice mediates the relationship between perceived quality and value. The results also indicate that the linkages between the extrinsic cues and perceived value are mediated by perceived quality but are not mediated by perceived sacrifice. Although the results show that one hypothesized mediation affect is not supported, the overall structure of the model is supported across countries.The findings are similar to the study of Teas and Agarwal (2000) which suggests that Chinese and Western consumer behaviours are alike in most situations. For example, brand building is a critical cue to the desired success because it can promote perceptions from both quality and value perspectives. However, this research found that Chinese consumers use product evaluation cues in a different way from Western consumers. The major difference is that, if the price is lower than the reasonable average price-level, Chinese consumers may consider the product to be a big bargain with perceived high quality. This may suggest that marketing managers can use discount and price promotions in China. Therefore, discussions and managerial implications of this research provide advice for managers to formulate appropriate strategies.

The battle of the brands is being waged in an ever increasingly competitive and global business environment, a battle which generates the largest body of academic and professional literature in the field of marketing communication. Although much of the ground has been repeatedly ploughed, the literature conveys an impression that the &quotBrand" is perceived to lack clarity and agreement on its definition, strategic deployment and evaluation measures and that the overall concept of the brand is fraught with complexity and confusion. This thesis attempts to categorize and frame these impressions using content analysis to systematically unpack and analyze the layers of meaning embedded in the literature. The output from this study will inform the development of a simplified brand schema representing both sides of the brand equation, consumer and manager, recognition of which holds significant implications for the custodial guidance of this most vital business asset.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Dept. of Psychology) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-163). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-105). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-105). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-111).

Motivation: Various brand equity measures have been proposed in extant literature. Few researches have explored the theoretical similarities, differences and relationship between different brand equity measures. In the thesis, I will explore two types of brand equity measures, namely customer mind-set measures and product-market performance measures. In particular, I will look at: 1) the correlation between the two types of measures; 2) which measure reflects the underlying brand equity construct better; 3) the impacts of marketing mix elements on the two types measures respectively; and 4) the prediction relationship between customer mind-set measure and product-market performance measure. / Theoretical Framework: My main theoretical framework will be brand equity literature. I draw upon the Brand Value Chain framework (Keller & Lehmann, 2(03) to explore the conceptual differences between two types of brand equity measurements, namely customer mind-set and product-market performance measurements. Furthermore, I also use Keller's (1993) Customer-Based Brand Equity concept to explore how specific marketing activities impact the brand equity theoretically. / Data and Methodology: This thesis measures brand equity by two methods: customer mind-set (Keller, 1993) and revenue premium (Ailawadi, Lehmann, & Neslin, 2(03). I use two types of data in the empirical analyses. Survey data, procured from a consumer-packaged product company 1, is used to measure customer mind-set brand equity. This unique data consists of proprietary equity scan surveys on 11 brands from 2004 -- 2006 in the United States. The measurement model of brand equity is rooted in Keller's customer-based brand equity concept (1993). The measurements include brand awareness, brand performance, brand image, brand judgment, brand feelings and brand resonance (Keller, 2(01). The second data is from commercial sources, including IRI and TNS, for the specific brands and time periods corresponding to the survey data and includes revenue premium, price, sales, distribution, promotion, and advertising information. Various techniques are employed for analyses including descriptive and reliability analyses, correlation analyses, multiple-regression, and cross-validation. / Contribution: The contribution ofthis thesis is threefold. Firstly, it sheds light on the underlying theory and relationship between two types of brand equity measurements and provides empirical test of the theory. Secondly, it provides a systematic exploration of the impact of marketing mix elements on brand equity using real market data and two different measurements. Third, it offers very practical guidance for managers on how to choose a specific brand equity measures and how to track the brand equity measures over time for their brands. / 1Because a confidential agreement with this company, the company name, brands name as well as product category will be disguised in the thesis.

The thesis focuses on the branding phenomenon in its relationship with territory. Owners of global brands seek to defend a set of positive associations that goes beyond the concept of trademark per se. In that undertaking, the territorial limitation of trademark rights is perceived as an impediment to a worldwide protection of the branded myth. / The thesis analyses the branding phenomenon and the territoriality principle of trademark law. It also depicts the methods currently employed by trademark owners to circumvent national legislations. The thesis supports alternative approaches, which successfully combine branding and territorial values. / Eventually, the conflict of applying domestic law to "universal" trademarks can be solved by an adequate use of the global branding notion and through the establishment or strengthening of relevant regional blocks.