The effects of affective and utilitarian brand relationships on brand consideration

Abstract

Most consumer brand relationship research concentrates on understanding the relationship between the consumer and the brand, and very little research investigates the consequences of those relationships. Given the plethora of brands on the market, each competing for the attention of the consumer and the opportunity to build a relationship with the consumer, understanding the effects of consumer-brand relationships (CBR) provides vital information to the brand manager about the types of brand relationships to attract and engage. This study looks at this under-researched area and investigates the effects of CBR on consideration and brand equity in the context of fast food and banking in Hong Kong. The results suggest that utilitarian brand relationships are best as they are likely to increase the chances of the brand being included in the consideration set, increase perceptions of brand uniqueness and a consumer\u27s propensity to pay more. These novel results are surprising given the amount of attention dedicated to affective brand relationships, brand love, and the building of emotional brands and/or brand connections in recent literature. These surprising results may help brand managers develop strategies to limit the number of brands in consideration set or to be first choice when purchasing

Are brand benefits perceived differently in less developed economies? A scale development and validation

“…That is why brand positioning must serve the needs and preferences of consumers, offering them the right value proposition based on the market (Armstrong and Kotler 2015;Bhat and Reddy 1998;Sheth 2011). In developed economies, international competition is so fierce that consumers are looking for more trustworthy relationships with brands and thus are more emotionally engaged with them (Granitz and Forman 2015;Leung et al 2014;Wee and Ming 2003). In emerging economies, since consumers have been absent from the global market, they are then less experienced and might behave more rationally than their counterparts in developed economies (Zarantanello et al 2013).…”

The Role of Consumer-Brand Experiences and Relationship in Contributing to Brand Equity for Services

“…To go along with the previous findings, this study examined two service categories (fast food vs. banking services) that represented different relationship forms as explained in the section on research method below. Following the study by Leung et al (2014), this research also conceived consumer-brand relationship as a second order construct consisting of an affective dimension (measured by love/passion, self-connection and interdependence) and a utilitarian dimension (measured by commitment, intimacy and brand partner quality).…”

“…For example, Asworth et al (2009) indicated that utilitarian brand attributes may contribute to strong consumer-brand relationships. Leung et. al.…”

“…Measures for consumer-brand relationship and brand equity were developed from the literature. Consumer brand relationship was conceived as a second order construct comprising a utilitarian and an affective dimension (Leung et al 2014). Following the works of Fournier (1998), three indicators were used to measure the utilitarian dimension (i.e.…”

“…The objective of the present research is to investigate how brand experiences affect brand equity for services via the mediating role of consumer-brand relationship. The consumer-brand relationship is conceived as a second order construct comprising affective relationship and utilitarian relationship (Leung et al 2014) and hypothesized as a mediating variable that connects the branding efforts (measured by brand experiences) and the branding outcomes (measured by brand equity). A conceptual model is developed to depict the relationships among brand experiences, brand relationship and brand equity.…”