Naslov
The Creation of Brand Meaning

Autori
First, Ivana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
4th International Conference An Enterprise Odyssey : Tourism - Governance and Entrepreneurship : Proceedings / Galetić, Lovorka ; Čavlek, Nevenka - Zagreb : Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2008, 1439-1447

ISBN
978-953-6025-23-7

Skup
International Conference An Enterprise Odysseey: Tourism - Governance and Entrepreneurship (4 ; 2008)

Mjesto i datum
Cavtat, Hrvatska, 11.06.2008. - 14.06.2008

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
branding; brand meaning; consumer needs; benefits

Sažetak
Brand meaning is not a clearly defined concept in the literature. Less is clear how a brand acquires a meaning. For a long time brand managers and advertising agencies were believed to be the brand meaning creators. It is today obvious that companies do their best to impress consumers. However, only those companies that offer consumers the benefit that the latter recognise as valuable and meaningful, succeed. Obviously, the stronger the brand, the more benefit for consumers. So, the question arises: which benefits consumers recognise as meaningful? More concretely, which benefits Coca – cola provides, so that it is so much more than syrup with soda? In attempt to answers these questions, conceptual analysis is conducted. It aims at highlighting the importance of consumer needs and brand benefits in meaningful brands creation process. Benefits, being the first pillar of the conceptual model, are defined as what consumers think the product or service can do for them (Keller, 1993). This study identifies four key brand benefits categorised according to the needs consumer may fulfil by consuming brands. These are: quality guarantee (Kapferer, 2004 ; Keller, 2003 ; Lim and O’ Cass, 2001) ; community belonging (Kapferer, 2004, Cova and Pace, 2006, McAlexander, Schouten, and Koenig, 2002 ; Muniz and O’ Guinn, 2001) ; creating one’ s self identity, personalising one’ s choice, (Kapferer, 2004 ; Tungate, 2005 ; Escalas and Bettman, 2003 ; Fournier, 1998) and self fulfilment (Kapferer, 2004, Klein, 2000). Needs, being the second pillar of the conceptual model, are defined as desires motivating people to behave in a certain way to achieve satisfaction (Maslow, 1943 ; Raiklin and Uyar, 1996). Marketers have the task to discover and satisfy these needs (Kotler et al., 1999), before someone else will. This study applies Maslow’ s (1943) hierarchy of needs classifying them from the most essential physiological needs, through safety, social, and esteem needs to the most advanced self-actualization needs. The central premise of this research is that brand benefits consumers extract from a brand consumption process are based on consumer needs. Four sub-premises build the conceptual model, proposing that (1) for consumers who express higher safety needs, a brand will provide higher benefit of quality guarantee than for consumers who express lower safety needs, (2) for consumers who express higher social needs, a brand will provide higher benefit of community belonging than for consumers who express lower social needs, (3) for consumers who express higher esteem needs, a brand will provide higher benefit of identity creation than for consumers who express lower esteem needs, and (4) for consumers who express higher self-actualization needs, a brand will provide higher benefit of self-fulfilment than for consumers who express lower self-actualization need. The exposed conceptual model suggests that consumers vary on their needs and brand benefits realisation, which results in a consumer specific brand meaning. This finding is aimed at drawing brand managers’ attention to the possibility of running into unintended positioning caused by differences in consumer interpretation of brand stories, elements and symbols. Further research should be directed in three possible alleys. Firstly, the proposed model should be empirically tested. Secondly, a study into what exactly brand meaning is would be necessary. Finally, a study that would introduce culture as antecedent of dominant consumer need would also be very useful for practitioners in the nowadays globalised world.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

Napomena
ISBN CD-a 978-953-6025-24-4

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