Brand Identity and Image in B2B Factory Automation Context

The goal of this thesis is to study how a solution-oriented business-to-business company can utilize its brand as a strategic asset by using the concepts of brand identity and brand image. The study analyses the intended brand message (identity) contrasting it with the customer perceptions (image) to reveal points of parity and congruence. The study uses a case company as an example and discusses the benefits of brand management as well. Internally, brands can be studied by performing a set of interviews amongst top and middle management. The interviews need to consider the various elements of branding from associations to differentiation and value creation. Customers’ perceptions can be reliably studied via online survey designed to compare the intended brand message with customers’ experiences. From the perspective of industrial management the incentive for brand development lies in both monetary and managerial benefits. In literature the four essential benefits of B2B branding are risk dilution, efficiency of communications, strategic direction and price premiums. As a result, suggestive models for brand identity and image were devised and compared. The Case Company perceives itself as a technically oriented open-integrator, with a strong focus on reliability and customer service. Customers agree with the picture in general, but there are some points of parity as well: they are quite satisfied with the company and perceive it as reliable and providing the promised value. The problematic areas revolve around customer interaction and maintaining the leadership position. The results confirm previous findings in B2B branding theory, where the reliability and credibility of the supplier are in major role. The results also suggest a holistic, corporate approach on branding.

Creating a Branding Process Model for Living Area Brands - Developing and managing a new living area brand

The objective of this thesis is to understand how to create and develop a successful place brand and how to manage it systematically. The thesis thoroughly explains the phenomenon of place brands and place branding and presents different sub-categories of place branding. The theoretical part of the thesis provides a wide overview on the prevailing literature of place branding, place brand development and place brand management, which form the basis of the thesis’ theoretical framework. The theoretical evidence is gathered from a case living area. The living area is developed by one construction company, which has a significant role in the construction industry in Finland. The empirical evidence is gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews by interviewing the new living area’s carefully selected stakeholder groups. Afterwards the empirical data is analyzed and reflected to the theoretical findings. After examining the case living area, the thesis will present a new living area branding process model based on prevailing theories and empirical findings.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of an organization in the field of brand perception using a computer agent-based simulation system

Este proyecto de investigación busca usar un sistema de cómputo basado en modelación por agentes para medir la percepción de marca de una organización en una población heterogénea. Se espera proporcionar información que permita dar soluciones a una organización acerca del comportamiento de sus consumidores y la asociada percepción de marca. El propósito de este sistema es el de modelar el proceso de percepción-razonamiento-acción para simular un proceso de razonamiento como el resultado de una acumulación de percepciones que resultan en las acciones del consumidor. Este resultado definirá la aceptación de marca o el rechazo del consumidor hacia la empresa. Se realizó un proceso de recolección información acerca de una organización específica en el campo de marketing. Después de compilar y procesar la información obtenida de la empresa, el análisis de la percepción de marca es aplicado mediante procesos de simulación. Los resultados del experimento son emitidos a la organización mediante un informe basado en conclusiones y recomendaciones a nivel de marketing para mejorar la percepción de marca por parte de los consumidores.

Measuring perceived brand luxury: an evaluation of the BLI scale

This paper investigates the psychometric properties of Vigneron and Johnson's Brand Luxury Index scale. The authors developed the scale using data collected from a student sample in Australia. To validate the scale, the study reported in this paper uses data collected from Taiwanese luxury consumers. The scale was initially subjected to reliability analysis yielding low α values for two of its five proposed dimensions. Exploratory and confirmatory factors analyses were subsequently performed to examine the dimensionality of brand luxury. Discriminant and convergent validity tests highlight the need for further research into the dimensionality of the construct. Although the scale represents a good initial contribution to understanding brand luxury, in view of consumers' emerging shopping patterns, further investigation is warranted to establish the psychometric properties of the scale and its equivalence across cultures.

Brand Awareness among Customers : A case study of ICA-Kvantum

This research paper has been prepared by Bachelor students from Dalarna University in Borlänge. The project is centered on a case study of ICA – Kvantum and its brand awareness among customers. The purpose of this study is to find out that which measures can help ICA-Kvantum to create brand awareness among its current and potential customers by looking in to the importance of information of its offerings and use of effective communication tools to convey this information. Further, to recommend them what they need to do, to increase brand awareness among their customers with the help of managerial implications. The research question was formulated as what actions could be seen effective for ICA-Kvantum to maintain or improve brand awareness among its current and potential customers.The project was created with the help of theoretical concepts of brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, consumer decision model, integrated marketing communication approach and strategic planning process. These theories were applied in this thesis in order to find out the most effective communication measures to maintain or improve brand awareness among current and potential customers of ICA-Kvantum.The primary and secondary data was collected. Primary data was gathered through the survey among ICA-Kvantum customers in the front of the store in Borlänge. The personal interview with manager was conducted in the office of ICA-Kvantum store located in Borlänge. Secondary data was gathered from textbooks, academic journals, theses and websites.The empirical findings have been presented in detail and then analyzed with the help of theoretical concepts. The analysis and further results from survey and interview focused on importance of information, marketing communication tools, brand awareness and loyalty, perceived quality and implementation of strategic planning process. Moreover, the main weaknesses and strengths of ICA-Kvantun have been evaluated. The conclusion including short summary of analysis and its results have been provided at the end. Each weakness of issues related to brand awareness i.e. importance of information, effectiveness of marketing communication tools and strengths and weaknesses of ICA-Kvantum discussed in the paper, has been pointed out along with solutions and managerial implications.

Go/no-go criteria during grocery brand development

Past research into new product screening criteria have largely centered on industrial new products. This study investigates the criteria that managers use for screening and evaluating new grocery products or brands. Theory suggests that the branding, promotional, and trade needs of grocery brands mean that screening criteria for grocery product development will differ from those applied to industrial goods. Our methodology departs from earlier research in gathering information on the accept/reject criteria during new product development rather than examining the reasons for success and failure after launch. The results endorse many findings from the extant literature on new product development. However, we highlight a set of factors that new product managers regard as important to the go/no-go decision in new grocery product or brand development that differs significantly from previous studies. From a research perspective, our study findings make an important contribution to the field by developing measurement scales for addressing NPD in the grocery sector.

How screening criteria change during brand development

Purpose - Despite the increasing sophistication of new product development (NPD) research, the reliance on traditional approaches to studying NPD has left several areas in need of further research. The authors propose addressing some of these gaps, especially the limited focus on consumer brands, evaluation criteria used across different project-review points in the NPD process, and the distinction between "kills", "successes", and "failures". Moreover, they propose investigating how screening criteria change across project-review points, using real-time NPD projects. Design/methodology/approach - A postal survey generated 172 usable questionnaires from a sample of European, North American, Far Eastern and Australian consumer packaged-goods firms, providing data on 314 new product projects covering different development and post-commercialization review points. Findings - The results confirm that acceptance-rejection criteria vary through the NPD process. However, financial criteria dominate across all the project-review points. Initial screening is coarse, focusing predominantly on financial criteria. Fit with organizational, product, brand, promotional, and market requirements dominate in the detailed screen and pre-development evaluation points. At pre-launch, decision-makers focus on product, brand, and promotional criteria. Commercial fit, production synergies, and reliability of the firm's market intelligence are significant discriminators in the post-launch review. Moreover, the importance of marketing and channel issues makes the criteria for screening brands different from those of industrial markets. Originality/value - The study, although largely descriptive and involves a relatively small sample of consumer goods firms, offers new insights into NPD project evaluation behavior. Future, larger-scale investigations covering a broader spectrum of consumer product sectors are needed to validate our results and to explain the reasons behind managers' decisions. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Ownership effects in consumers' brand extension evaluations

In this paper, we examine how brand ownership status affects consumers’ evaluation of brand extensions, using an experiment. In evaluating both brand extension and parent brands, brand owners differ from both nonowners and nonusers of a brand's product category in important ways. While the functional similarity between a brand and its extension impacts on all three groups’ brand extensions, its effects on nonowners and nonusers are more significant than those on brand owners. For brand owners, the most important consideration in their evaluation of brand extensions seems to be the image consistency between a brand and its extensions. Furthermore, there is an interaction effect between brand image consistency and product similarity for brand owners, whereas this effect is nonexistent for nonowners and nonusers.

Consumer engagement with self-expressive brands:brand love and WOM outcomes

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes of consumers who engage with brands through Facebook "likes". It explores the extent to which these brands are self-expressive and examines the relationship between brand "liking" and brand outcomes. Brand outcomes include brand love and advocacy, where advocacy incorporates WOM and brand acceptance. Design/methodology/approach: Findings are presented from a survey of Facebook users who engage with a brand by "liking" it. Findings: Brands "liked" are expressive of the inner or social self. The study identifies a positive relationship between the self-expressive nature of brands "liked" and brand love. Consumers who engage with inner self-expressive brands are more likely to offer WOM for that brand. By contrast, consumers who engage with socially self-expressive brands are more likely to accept wrongdoing from a brand. Research limitations/implications: The research is exploratory and is limited to consumers who are engaged with a brand through "liking" it on the Facebook social network. Practical implications: The study offers suggestions for managers seeking to enhance brand engagement through Facebook "liking", and to encourage positive brand outcomes (such as WOM) among consumers already engaged with a brand on Facebook. Originality/value: This paper provides new insights into consumer brand engagement evidenced through Facebook "liking". It charts the relationship between "liked" self-expressive brands and brand love. Distinctions are drawn between brand outcomes among consumers who "like" for socially self-expressive reasons, and consumers who are brand engaged by "liking" to express their inner selves. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

A taxonomy of measures for consumer-based brand equity:drawing on the views of managers in Europe

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the components of consumer-based brand equity from the perspective of experts in brand management in the UK, Germany and Greece. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with senior brand consultants and managers, five in the UK, five in Germany and five in Greece. Findings: The findings suggested four categories of measures which can be used to define brand equity. These are the consumers' understanding of brand characteristics; consumers' brand evaluation; consumers' affective response towards the brand; and consumers' behaviour towards the brand. Specific dimensions are identified as indicators of each category. Research limitations/implications: Although the focus of this study is Europe, data were only collected from the UK, Germany and Greece, countries representing three of the five European cultural clusters. The resultant taxonomy adds to the fragmented literature on brand equity measurement by proposing four categories to gauge brand equity. Practical implications: The suggested taxonomy provides indicators of a framework managers could use when assessing brand equity. Originality/value: There is little agreement on what constitutes brand equity and therefore measures of brand equity are fragmented. To date, the views of practicing managers have not been taken into account in research. This paper draws on the views of practitioners and academics to suggest a taxonomy of categories of measures for brand equity. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

B2B service brand identity and brand performance:an empirical investigation in the UK’s B2B IT services sector

Purpose – This paper aims to apply the business-to-business (B2B) Service Brand Identity (SBI) scale to empirically assess the influence of service brand identity on brand performance for the first time. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data collected from 421 senior marketing executives, this paper applies the B2B SBI and structural equation modeling to fulfill the above purpose. Findings – Brand personality and human resource initiatives have a positive and significant influence on brand performance. Corporate visual identity, in addition to an employee and client focus, has an insignificant impact on performance. Consistent communications have a negative and significant influence on brand performance. Research limitations/implications – Data were only collected from executives in the UK. This research would benefit from replicative studies. Practical implications – This research empirically establishes the brand management activities that drive brand performance. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study to assess the influence service brand identity has on brand performance.