Brands are an important part of consumers’ lives, and cultural aspects affect how consumers view brands. Though a great depth of research exists on branding and consumer culture, there is a lack of knowledge about Generation Y’s perceptions of clothing in Sweden, and specifically for men, across many countries. Different people purchase branded clothing for varied reasons and possess diverse needs that branded clothing may meet. Therefore, this study focuses on determining the perception of clothing and brands that Swedish men of Generation Y hold and examines the role branded clothing plays in their lives, in hopes of creating new knowledge within the chosen topic area.

Consumer brand preference is an essential step to understand consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. Brand preferences reveal the type of attributes a brand possesses, to strengthen its position and increase its market share. Moreover, it forms a critical input in developing a company’s successful brand strategy, and gives insight for product development. However, the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Experiential marketing also considers both, the rational and irrational assumptions of consumer behaviour. The technological advancement helped increasing the similarities between the brands attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek the brand that creates experience; intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional, and creative way. Companies’ competitiveness in such market has, therefore become increasingly difficult. Their survival requires building their competitive advantage by delivering memorable experiences, which would influence consumers’ brand preferences, and consequently stimulate consumers’ purchase decisions. In the marketing literature, the traditional models are uni-dimensional, and addressing the brand preferences by consumers’ cognitive judgement of brand attributes on a rational basis. The role of experience is limited to the impact of its type on shifting preference level. Most of prior studies are partial and focusing on one or two antecedents of brand preferences. In addition to these drawbacks, the studies also ignore consequences determining the consumer purchase decisions. Based on these limitations in the literature, a lack of understanding of how consumers develop their brand preferences was identified. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experiences determine brand preferences and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intentions. In this model, the brand knowledge is defined by attribute-based beliefs, referring to consumers’ salient beliefs about the brand intrinsic cues, and non-attribute beliefs, reflected in the price, appearance, brand personality, and self-congruity. Therefore, the relative importance of brand knowledge factors contributing to brand preference is determined. Furthermore, the model addresses the interactions between the brand knowledge and brand experience in shaping brand preference. Thus, addressing how the experiences reflect embedded value in the brand offerings influencing consumer preferences. To achieve the aim of this study, a sequential mixed-method methodology combining both qualitative and quantitative research was adopted. The aim of the first qualitative phase is exploratory, using focus groups, to refine the proposed model and generate items for questionnaire development. The second phase, quantitative research, is the survey conducted using self-administrated questionnaires. The structural equation modelling (AMOS) software is used to analyse the data. The findings confirm that brand knowledge and brand experience are key sources of brand preferences. In addition, all the factors of brand knowledge have a direct positive impact on brand preferences. However, the role of brand personality on brand preference is realised through brand experience. The findings also support that the impacts of the general brand attributes and appearance on brand preference are partially mediated by brand experience. Furthermore, brand preference positively impacts repurchase intentions. The ultimate contribution of this study stems from revealing that both cognitive information processing and experiential responses form the bases of developing brand preferences, which form the link to future psychological reactions. Methodologically, the study measures the multi-dimensional constructs, brand experience and brand personality, at the aggregate level. In addition, it validates the “big-five personality” as a measure of brand personality. Pragmatically, the study suggests three levels for building brands of technological products to win consumer preferences. At the first level lies the brand functional attributes, at the second level, are the brand symbolic attributes reflected in the imagery associations and aesthetic appearance while at the third level is the brand experience. Noteworthy, these experiences are private in nature and cannot be commoditised. This model extends the notion of brand experience on preference development and can be extended in future research to build long-term consumer-brand relationship.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Chihyung Ok / This study attempted to investigate antecedents and consequences of consumers’ utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward restaurant brands and to examine the effects of brand prestige on brand preference and word-of-mouth intention with customer involvement as a moderator. In study 1, to investigate the antecedents and consequences of consumer attitudes toward restaurant brands in the full-service restaurant, this study proposed, based on existing theoretical premises, significant interrelationships among three service qualities (i.e., physical environment quality, interactional quality, and outcome quality). This study also hypothesized that these service qualities predict consumers’ utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward restaurant brands. Finally, this study examined the effects of consumer attitudes toward restaurant brands in forming brand preference and relative customer share of visits. A theoretical model was proposed and then tested with data collected from 318 casual and 303 fine dining restaurant patrons. The results of data analysis indicated significant interrelationships among three service qualities in both casual and fine dining restaurants. In addition, interactional and outcome qualities had significant effects on utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward restaurant brands in the casual dining restaurant. In the fine dining segment, interactional quality significantly influenced both utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward restaurant brands, while physical environment and outcome qualities had positive impacts only on hedonic attitude toward the restaurant’s brand. Finally, utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward restaurant brands enhanced brand preference, and in turn, brand preference increased relative customer share of visits in both casual and fine dining restaurants. The purpose of study 2 was to examine the effects of brand prestige on brand preference and word-of-mouth with customer involvement as a moderator in the fine dining restaurant segment. Based on a thorough literature review, this study hypothesized that brand prestige would have positive effects on brand preference and word-of-mouth and that brand preference would have a positive relationship with word-of-mouth. Finally, this study examined the moderating role of customer involvement in the relationships between (1) brand prestige and brand preference, (2) brand prestige and word-of-mouth, and (3) brand preference and word-of-mouth. A total of 293 questionnaire responses were used to empirically test the proposed relationships in fine dining restaurants. This study found that brand prestige has significant effects on brand preference and word-of-mouth. In addition, brand preference had a positive relationship with word-of-mouth. However, customer involvement as a moderator was not supported.

To determine the amount of importance audiologists place on various items related to their selection of a preferred hearing aid brand manufacturer. Three hundred forty-three hearing aid-dispensing audiologists rated a total of 32 randomized items by survey methodology. Principle component analysis identified seven orthogonal statistical factors of importance. In rank order, these factors were Aptitude of the Brand, Image, Cost, Sales and Speed of Delivery, Exposure, Colleague Recommendations, and Contracts and Incentives. While it was hypothesized that differences among audiologists in the importance ratings of these factors would dictate their preference for a given brand, that was not our finding. Specifically, mean ratings for the six most important factors did not differ among audiologists preferring different brands. A statistically significant difference among audiologists preferring different brands was present, however, for one factor: Contracts and Incentives. Its assigned importance, though, was always lower than that for the other six factors. Although most audiologists have a preferred hearing aid brand, differences in the perceived importance of common factors attributed to brands do not largely determine preference for a particular brand.

Personality and brand factors were examined to determine if consumers of certain personality dimensions would be more favorable toward specific brand factors of three major sports media companies: Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Fox Sports News. College-age sports news followers were tested to ascertain personality, brand evaluation, and media usage. Findings disclosed associations of personality dimension and brand preference, for example, “Agreeable” participants favored ESPN branding. Participants scoring low on “Extroversion” favored the Sports Illustrated brand. Other findings included an association between “Agreeableness” and TV; and frequent digital media users favored ESPN. Findings have implications for integrating personality research in marketing strategies that target college-age consumers.

This thesis aims to investigate the cola market situation in Thailand and the possibility of a local brand to compete with global brands. Due to the high value of this market, every cola company wants to get the biggest piece of the market share pie. Moreover, there is a situation regarding a global cola brand Pepsi falling into the trouble in terms of logistics and distribution channels after having been separated from its local partner company. In addition, Pepsi’s ex-partner company has launched a new cola brand into the market, a completely separate operation without any ties to Pepsi. As a result, the cola market in Thailand now has witnessed fierce competition and it attracts many players in the beverage industry to take part. Therefore, this research is designed to understand the brand preference, brand substitution, brand loyalty, taste preference, and relation between several factors from customers’ perspective to answer the possibility of a local brand competing with global brands, as well as to investigate the general cola market situation.   Information was collected by questionnaire which was answered by 420 participants, 51 percent of which were female and 49 percent were male. The results of the questionnaire found that their brand preference is actually in an opposite direction with the current cola market share, due to the effect of cola brand substitution in the market. Moreover, the research found that taste preference and gender have an influence on brand preference, while frequency of drinking and other demographics do not have any effect on brand preference

Title: Purchasing Intentions of Young Thai Male towards Men's Skin Care Products Problem: Men concern more about their image than ever before. This behavior is becoming a new trend in cosmetic market. Moreover, Thailand is one of the fast growing cosmetics industry, particularly male skin care market within countries in Asia-Pacific region. However, most of the literatures have just studied on women cosmetic products. There are a few studies within male cosmetic market, despite the demands of cosmetic products are increasing among men as well as women. Purpose: This study aims to discuss the relationships between dimension of brand equity, overall brand equity, brand preference and purchase intention of men‟s skin care products among young Thai male in Bangkok. The study measures the equity of brand and identifies the impact of brand equity on brand preference and purchase intentions. Research Question: How does brand equity associate with purchasing intention of young Thai male towards skin care products? Method: Quantitative research method interpreted by the authors is applied in this research. A questionnaire-based survey is used as a tool to collect the data and the specific variables used in this paper: the dimension of brand equity, overall brand equity, brand preference, and purchase intention. Both primary and secondary types of data collection were used for this research. Conclusion: The results reveal that each dimension of brand equity, which consists of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association, and perceive quality have a significant impact on overall brand equity. However, brand loyalty and perceive quality have a bigger impact on brand equity than brand association and brand awareness. The impact of brand equity in itsIIconsequences supported the direct positive impact on brand preference and purchase intention. This predicate that brands with higher levels of brand equity would generate higher levels of customer brand preference. Moreover, the customers, who have high level of brand preference indicated that they have more willingness to continually purchase the specific men‟s skin care brand and this can build higher purchase intention. Last but not least, this current research also figure out that using celebrity may not be the most effective strategy to stimulate consumer purchasing intentions toward men‟s skin care product among young Thai males in Bangkok.

Problem Discussion: The rapid development of the smartphone market led formerly well-established brands to subdue to new entrants. Understanding what drives brand preferences within the dynamic smartphone market is key to formulating marketing efforts that influence purchase intentions. Research Objective: To qualitatively explore how a brand's equity drives Uppsala University students brand preferences within the Swedish smartphone market. Furthermore, to suggest how to increase the level of brand preference that may lead to increased purchase intentions for smartphones. Research Question: a) What are the drivers of brand preferences for Uppsala University students within the Swedish smartphone market? b) How do these brand preferences influence purchase intentions? Method: A qualitative approach is adopted through conducting semi- structured interviews with Uppsala University students. The empirical findings are set against a theoretical framework in order to identify drivers of brand preferences and how they influence purchase intentions. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the Swedish smartphone market appears to be functionally oriented. Perceived quality emerges as the main driver of brand preferences.

Today, in a world of consumption where almost everything is branded, every consumer has a brand that they love, a so called lovemarks. Nowadays, it takes more than just a commercial to make consumers stay committed to a brand. Consumers need to relate on a more personal level. There lies a deep rooted love, consistent over long periods of time, making the luxury brand consumer’s one the most loyal consumers in the world. Consequently, it is the consumers that decide what a lovemarks is, and why they go back to repurchasing that brand again, a kind of on-going romance between consumer-brand.   The purpose of this dissertation is to explore why consumers develop emotional attachment and loyalty towards brands, leading to a long-lasting, devoted relationship between the consumer and the brand. The aim is to find out elements that are needed to love a brand consistently. The outcome of this study will provide a better look into the consumer’s attitude towards lovemark brands.   A qualitative study has been performed on consumer attitudes towards their lovemarks brand, and the language they use when describing their motive to stay loyal to their brand of preference. Furthermore, the view of what elements are needed for them develop emotional attachment towards that brand is explored.   The conclusion of this dissertation is that in order for consumers to develop loyalty and emotional attachment to brands, they need the elements of emotion, quality, trust, image, timeless fashion, and tradition. These elements combined, make the ultimate consumer that many brands want to have.

Aim: This study aims to investigate the factors that influence consumers' brand preferences for instant foods focusing on the graduate-level students of Sweden and Bangladesh. Methodology: The research applied a qualitative approach. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with ten graduate-level students from Sweden and Bangladesh. The collected primary data were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis by comparing with the literature reviewed within distinct themes. Findings and Conclusion: The main findings of the study are (1) culture, and religious values have a significant influence on Bangladeshi consumers compared to consumers in Sweden; (2) Quality plays a predominant role in determining instant food brands in both countries as it can have a direct effect on the health; (3) Eye-catchy packaging creates fascination among consumers' about a brand in both countries; (4) Price is considered as a critical factor due to limited purchasing power of Bangladeshi consumers'; whereas in Sweden, consumers' are ready to compromise with the price if they could get a superior quality. Theoretical implications: This study has developed a theoretical model that shows the effect of culture, marketing communication, brand elements, price of the brand, brand image and brand availability on consumers' brand preferences in Bangladesh and Sweden. The findings divulge the quality and packaging of a brand could play a tremendously important role in consumers' brand preferences apart from other factors. Managerial implications: The study could help managers to be accustomed to cultural values through standardization and adaptation. The research could add insights for the managers while setting the price of a brand as it has considered as a critical factor. Appropriate quality assurance is sufficiently necessary, which was reflected by the current study and will help managers while determining quality. Limitations: Only two countries were included in the study, which is considered as a limitation and challenging to apply in other countries due to cultural differences. The focused group was graduate-level students who are also a shortcoming, and it could therefore not be generalized to have implications for consumers of other age group and occupation. Suggestions for future research: A quantitative study with a more significant number of respondents in more than two countries is suggested for future research. Future research can also be carried out by consumers buying preference on other food items. Keywords: Brand preference, Instant foods, Cultural influence, Sweden, Bangladesh.