Insights from Brand Associations: Alcohol Brands and Automotive Brands in the Mind of the Consumer

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to show how the analysis of brand associations can help to elaborate the cognitive position of a brand. The paper compares brand associations of Hungarian consumers in two product categories, automobiles and alcoholic drinks, in two datasets. Design/Methodology/Approach-To obtain a detailed picture of a brand's position in the mind of consumers, free brand associations to 10 alcohol and 13 automotive brands were collected, the associations were categorized, and their frequency and distribution analyzed. K-means clustering was used to identify similarities. Associations within and across product categories are compared, and shifts in associative structures are described. Findings and implications-The paper shows that associative structures diff er across product categories. The two datasets (collected in 2011-2012 and 2015-2016) highlight that brand associations and thus a brand's image change over time and that change is not only due to marketing communication-rather, media news and personal experiences also lead to change. Results confi rm that positive and negative associations are likely to be connected to each brand; however, Fetscherin and Sažetak Svrha-Svrha je rada pokazati kako analiza asocijacija na marku može pomoći pri kognitivnom pozicioniranju marke. U radu se uspoređuju asocijacije na marku mađarskih potrošača u dvjema kategorijama proizvoda, automobila i alkoholnih pića,i to u dva skupa podataka. Metodološki pristup-Za dobivanje detaljne slike pozicija maraka u svijesti potrošača prikupljene su slobodne, nevezane asocijacije za 10 maraka alkoholnih pića i 13 maraka automobila. One su kategorizirane te su analizirane frekvencija i distribucija. Za utvrđivanje sličnosti korištena je K-mean klasterska analiza. Asocijacije su uspoređene unutar i između kategorija proizvoda te su opisani pomaci unutar struktura asocijacija. Rezultati i implikacije-Rad pokazuje da se strukture asocijacija razlikuju po kategorijama proizvoda. Dva skupa podataka (prikupljena u razdobljima od 2011. do 2012. i od 2015. do 2016.) pokazuju da se asocijacije na marku, a time i imidž marke, mijenjaju tijekom vremena, a to se ne događa samo zbog marketinške komunikacije-vijesti iz medija i osobno iskustvo također dovode do promjena. Rezultati pokazuju da su pozitivne i negativne asocijacije vjerojatno povezane sa svakom markom. No Fetscherinova i Henrichova (2014) matrica samo je djelomično dokazana asocijacijama. Može se zaključiti

Brands, networks, communities: How brand names are wired in the mind

“…In the case of Ferrari, the connection to the color red is part of the brand's marketing strategy [105]. The strong connectedness of the brand to the color red was also shown in a different association experiment, where the examined car brands all evoked the association car in the first place, with the exception of Ferrari, where the strongest association was red [106].…”