Consumer brand preference is an essential step towards understanding consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. However, the study of brand preference has been limited to traditional marketing focusing on functional attributes to maximise utility. But now the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Technological advancements have helped to increase the similarities between brand attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek out brands that create experiences; that intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional and creative way. This study seeks to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experience determine brand preference and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intention. Accordingly, exploratory focus group discussions are employed followed by a survey of mobile phone users in Egypt. The findings provide insights into the relative importance of consumer perceptions on different brand knowledge factors in shaping brand preferences. It also demonstrates the significance of consumers' experiential responses towards brands in developing their brand preferences that in turn influence brand repurchase intention. The model therefore offers managers a new perspective for building strong brands able to gain consumer preferences. ARTICLE HISTORY

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This research is mainly concerned with identifying the mediating role of customer engagement (CE) between marketer and user-generated content and repurchase intentions in online airline service communities. Additionally, this research explores the significance of differences between the customers' perceptions towards the generated content evaluation according to content generator (marketer/user) and identifies the relatively importance of both marketer and user-generated content influence on CE in online airline service communities. To accomplish these objectives, a random cluster sample of 351 valid internet users was selected. The research findings indicated that user-generated content (UGC) is more influential than marketer-generated content (MGC) on CE and its dimensions. The findings also reveal that CE significantly mediates the relationship between both marketer and user-generated content and repurchase intentions. The findings improve both academicians' studies and marketers' practices within the online airline service community.

The actual behavioural engagement of consumers with social media brand-related content is measured by three activities; consumption, contribution and creation. This type of engagement is considered the true practical indicator of the success of brand presence on social media. The study aims to uncover the drivers of consumer behavioural engagement identified by the key characteristics of social media context. Accordingly, quality dimensions and perceived usefulness of the brand hosting media channel are adopted from the IT use and acceptance models. Data is collected using self-administrated questionnaire from a sample of 366 respondents in the UK. Structural Equation Modeling-V.26 was used to analyse the data. The results support the significant role of cognitive absorption in explaining how perceptions of social media quality dimensions are shaped to motivate consumer engagement behaviour. The findings enrich the extant literature of consumer engagement; additionally, several practical insights can be drawn related to the design of social media marketing strategy.