Brand romance: a complementary approach to explain emotional attachment toward brands

Abstract

Purpose -This research aims to explain consumer attraction to brands when stimulation needs are paramount using the perspective of the Self-Expansion Model. In doing so, it seeks to identiy brand romance -a more proximal construct to brand loyalty and aims to offer a complementary perspective to understand emotional attachment to brands. Design/methodology/approach -A series of four studies developed and validated a three-factor, 12-item measurement scale for brand romance using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Reliability, convergent, criterion, discriminant and nomological validities were established. Findings -Brand romance is a reliable, valid, and a more proximal construct that explains loyalty significantly better than attitudes. Research limitations/implications -Student subjects constitute the sample and the findings are cautiously generalizable to adult populations. Future research should focus on teasing out product category effects, extending generalizability to other product categories and integrating the Attachment Theory perspective with the study's findings to offer a more comprehensive explanation for loyalty. Practical implications -Consumers are likely to remain loyal to brands to which they are attracted. The brand romance construct captures this attraction. Marketers need to infuse their brands with novel perspectives, resources and identities on a continuous basis to satisfy stimulation needs and keep the attraction strong. This involves creating new brand associations that help the brand to stay relevant. Originality/value -To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to apply the Self-expansion Model to brand relationships. The research contributes a unique perspective in explaining emotional attachment to brands brought on by stimulation needs. It fills a gap in the emotional attachment literature and provides marketers with a tool to monitor consumers' attraction to brands.

Making the brand appealing: advertising strategies and consumers’ attitude towards UK retail bank brands

“…Moreover, the study explored creative features in the advertisements, and emotional appeals presented in the advertisements were explored to understand how 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 The findings from this study support previous findings that an emotional attachment is often considered to enhance attitudinal loyalty to the brand and is considered to be a progression beyond a positive attitude (Patwardhan and Balasubramanian, 2011). In most cases, when participants can relate to the advertisements, they develop an emotional connection with the advertisements, so they want to engage and see what the bank has to offer that is different from others.…”

Markanin Benli̇ği̇ İfade Etmesi̇ Ve Sosyal Görünürlüğünün Marka Aşki İle İli̇şki̇si̇

“…Fournier (1998) (Bergkvist & Bech-Larsen, 2010;Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005;Robert, 2005;Patwardhan & Balasubramanian, 2011;Fetscherin, 2014;Bıçakçıoğlu, İpek & Bayraktaroğlu, 2016). Kang (2105) marka aşkının markaya yönelik tutum ve davranışları etkilediğini tespit etmiştir.…”

O PAPEL DA EXCITAÇÃO NO ENGAJAMENTO DE DEFENSORES DA MARCA: SUAS REAÇÕES A NOTÍCIAS POSITIVAS E NEGATIVAS NO AMBIENTE VIRTUAL DOI - 10.5752/P.1984-6606.2015v15n40p117

“…O romance com a marca seria um construto com três dimensões: excitação, prazer e dominância. O romance também determina uma relação de atração com a marca, mas pode, ou não, levar a um amor à marca -se a novidade declina, e o relacionamento se torna mais familiar e previsível, a atração pode se enfraquecer (PATWARDHAN;BALASUBRAMANIAN, 2013 -Uma hipotética denúncia de uso de mão de obra infantil pela empresa e envolvimento no desmatamento da Amazônia; -Uma hipotética promoção especial.…”