Consumer Brand Relations - Literature review Example

Consumer Brand Relations Abstract Marketing and advertising prove challenging to both managers and advertisers with the intense market competition that exists among brands in the global markets. The emergence of several businesses and firms, internationally dealing with similar brands make a challenging to gain market dominance for most companies. The integration of strategies that increase customer loyalty towards their brands of preference is of sound importance in gaining market dominance. This creates the central role of consumer brand relations in expanding market dominance. Referred to as the connection depicted between consumers and their brands of preference, the relationship is central in initiating consumer loyalty. Several constructs initiate, maintain and prolong the consumer-product relationship. Consumer Brand Relations The relationship between consumers and brands is one of the most influential forces in marketing. This explains the vast literature on the importance, concepts and nature of the consumer brand relationship. This review of literature explains the conceptualization and significance of consumer brand relationship, as envisioned by different authors. According to Patterson and O’Malley (2006), the relationship that exists between brands and consumers emanates from the acceptance of various ideals that brands posses and that are beneficial to the consumers. The concept of consumer relationship with particular brands emanates from the intrinsic satisfaction that consumers’ gain and the fulfillment of self. There is a notable increase in literature on brand-consumer relationship over the past decade as noted by Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.10). The high number of publications on brand-consumer relationship reiterates the considerable importance of the concept of relationship in branding. In the view of Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.10), the concept of consumer behavior can well be understood through the exploration of brand consumer relations. Brand management is among the main considerations in promoting relationship marketing that depends on stable consumer relationships. Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.12) explains the concept of brand relationship to surpass the mere identification of a brand with a producing company but the attachment of trusts, by consumers, to a brand. Regarding the relationship, the role of brand personality is invaluable in developing the trust that consumers have towards a brand. The existence of the relationship is a factor that is dependent on the extent of the growth of the brand, itself, and the increasing level of attractiveness associated with the brand. The concept of the relationship is that it develops overtime through improvement in features that brands bear and their appeal to consumers. There are diverse types and levels of the relationship between brands and consumers, as Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.12) outlines. They explain the explicit interrelatedness between interpersonal relations and the concept of relationship between brands and loyalty of consumers. Such relations include the characters as love and passion that individuals attach to interpersonal relations and brand loyalty. The expression of self-connection with a brand and the extent of its initiation of satisfaction constitute one of the determinants of strong consumer brand relations, according to Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.13). Interdependence that consumers perceive to gain from a brand is among the major determinants of strong brand consumer relations. Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.13) identify intimacy as one of the greatest constructs related to strong consumer brand relations. This refers to the extent of knowledge that consumers have on the functionality of a brand. Another construct of a strong relationship between consumers and brands is the brand partner quality that entails the attribute that consumers attribute to their preferred brands. Brand personality is the attribute that consumers attach to a brand because of their personalities. This is because brand personalities include emotional manifestation that consumers have to a brand. Consumption trends also follow communal considerations as opposed to individual. Social collectives are virtual communities that display peculiar consumption trends, according to Patterson and O’Malley (2006, p.15). MacInnis, Park and Priester, 2009, p. 6, outline that consumer-brand relationship is indispensable in expressing identity of a brand. Through consumer identity creation, the relationship creates an exchange worth for the brands. A group of consumers would prefer a brand to another because of the engagement it gets from identifying with it, for instance. Brands may also develop along levels and criteria of community attributes or social affiliations. The attachment that consumers have towards brands dictates their level of loyalty. Consumers attached to particular brands tend to sacrifice to pay the most to get premium value (Thomson, MacInnis & Park 2005, p.77). The consumer-brand relations, therefore, is essential in promoting close attachment of the consumers towards products. The extent to which consumers offer to pay for a high-price brand depends on the attachment they have towards the brand. Attachment towards a brand creates a brand attitude among consumers. With high attachment to a brand, a consumer is most likely to express high satisfaction. Satisfaction that a consumer achieves from attachment towards a brand increases the brand’s market demand. Consumer-brand relationship involves involvement that defines recognition to the brand. Sweeney and Chew define brand as the recognition or symbol associated with a good or service and differentiates it from other brands of related characteristics (Sweeney & Chew 2002, p. 26). Besides serving as a form of identification or product differentiation, brands serve as one of the marketing principles. Brand also serves to create a relationship between the company or business’ marketing strategies and the perceptions that consumers attach to the product or service. This attributes the relationship between consumers’ preference and the brand of a service or product. A succinct understanding of the consumer-brand relationship is a vital marketing knowledge, according to Sweeney and Chew, 2002. It assists marketers to integrate the demands of the market and achieve their marketing goals. Marketers who understand the consumer-brand correlation work to improve their brand value to achieve their marketing goals. Brand managers perceive consumer-brand relationship as central in their success. Advertisers also recognize the influential role of consumer-brand relationship in initiating brand loyalty. The relationship between consumers and particular brands is important in increasing the consumer base and, therefore, sales volume. The relationship is equally important in gaining market share and determining a product’s market positioning. The relationship also serves to reassure consumers of brand quality. Farhat and Khan (2011, p. 4), define consumer loyalty as the connection between a consumer’s attitude towards a product and tendency of repeated consumption. Among the factors that dictate the willingness of the consumer to go for a product is the brand. A product’s brand and its relationship with the consumer, therefore, play a great role in maintaining consumer loyalty. Marketers tend to strive at creating long-term consumer-brand relationship to boost the brand sales in the market. The competitive market demands that advertisers and marketers improve on consumer-brand relations. Brand personality, for instance, is a considerable factor that marketers must improve to withstand the high competition in global market, today. Brand personality is the collection of human uniqueness that a brand holds. It is instrumental in enhancing consumer-brand relationship that is instrumental increasing the sales level of products or services. Brand personality creates a sense of satisfaction, among consumers, and strengthens the consumer-brand relationship. Brand marketing also uses the consumer-brand relationship to increase the dominance of a product in the market. Consumer-brand relationship, therefore, plays a central role in increasing the market dominance of brand and its sales volume, as well. Brand personality and loyalty are essential brand-consumer relationship rationale that marketers should consider developing. Companies have the opportunity to apply the use of brands to support the relationship that they have with their customers in the market, courtesy of the consumer-brand bond. Veloutsou (2007, p.9), explains the bond between consumers and brands as existent in two main dimensions. Transactional marketing is vital in enhancing the consumer brand relationship. The other dimension of the bond is the relationship marketing. Companies use a blend of diverse marketing services but the most applicable form of marketing that initiates customer loyalty is relational marketing. Companies tend to improve their focus on the demand of consumers and to maintain their existing customer-base. This is achievable when companies device innovative and creative ways to advance to ways of reaching their customers by strengthening the customers’ relationship with the company brands. The consumer relationship with brands, therefore, is a central marketing tool. Intensified relationship marketing increases the consumer relationship with the company brand. It is central for companies to develop and maintain long-term relationship that consumers have with their brands (Veloutsou 2007, p.22). In ensuring customer loyalty, customers should communicate attributes of a brand that are of high relevance to the consumer and best suits the consumers’ feelings. Brand identity is essential, as well, to protect the perception that consumers have towards a brand and increase its dominance in the market. According to Aggarwal (2004, p. 87), it is through interpersonal norms of consumers that they base their assessment of their relationship with particular brands. Aggarwal identifies two distinct relationship types that consumers have towards brands as exchange and communal. In this view, brand relationships are key marketing strategies in any competition. The relationship metaphor, according to Aggarwal (2004, p.100), is of sound importance in explaining the interactions that consumers have with their brands. The establishment of communal relationship is important for marketers in an attempt to create the consumer brand relations. The most appropriate reward for customers is not financial tokens. Building strong relationship with consumers is one of the greatest rewards that companies can give to their customers, contrary to other initiatives as discounts. Service delivery efficiency is important for the enhancement of the relationship between consumers and brands in the market (Aggarwal 2004, p.101). Aaker, Fournier and Brasel (2004, p.1) recognize the scarcity of literature that brings out the specifications of the factors that contribute to a long-term relationship between consumers and their brands of preference. The factors that initiate the relationship also remain unexplained in many circumstances. In their view, the strength of a relationship between consumers and brands can be explained by consideration of the duration and extent of impact that it has on the consumers. Managers and marketers, therefore, should evaluate the strength of the relationship though its impact on the loyalty of consumers. The influence of personalities on the relationship between consumers and brands is expressly influential. Personality traits, according to Aaker, Fournier and Brasel (2004, p.2), have a bearing on initiating a strong relationship. Brand personality is a key construct of the relationship, as well. Aaker, Fournier and Brasel (2004, p.8) identify conventional constructs of the relationship between consumers and demands as commitment, intimacy and satisfaction. Self-connection and the partner quality are vital constructs of the bond between consumers and brands in a competitive market. Vasco and Dom (2006) outline the foundations that contribute to the emergence of the relationship that tend to exist between consumers and their brands of preference. They recognize the relationship between consumers and brands as a fundamental basis of research in most occasions. They refer to relationship marketing as a synergy of several traditions from diverse means. They refer to relationship marketing as a blend of initiatives that have the main objectives of creating relational exchanges. It integrates the relationship with consumers for the purposes of maintaining active connections. Hunt, Arnett and Madhavaram (2006, p. 74), note the prominence of relationship marketing. They highlight several diverse factors that contribute to the development of relationship marketing including the trends that firms adopt in the competitive markets, today. Firms tend to improve on their service orientations as being a central factor that contributes to customer loyalty and improve the loyalty of consumers and increase their market share. The relationship depicted between consumers and brands, according to Vasco and Dom (2006), exists in most relationship marketing strategies that firms apply. Firms tend to specialize in the services that they are most suited to provide and effective have competition in the market. In their avenues of adapting to advances in market trends, firms use the consumer behavior relationship to improve their market dominance. The concept of consumer brand relationship in the market is a highly influential marketing strategy that every manager, marketer and advertiser can never undermine. From available literature, there are diverse constructs that promote the relationship between brands and consumer preferences. The level of satisfaction is central in initiating a strong consumer brand relationship. Self-connection, as a construct of the relationship, works to bind consumers towards their brands of preference. Brand personality is of inevitable importance as a construct of the relationship between consumers and brands. The ability to identity and appreciate the relationship that exists between brands and consumers is a success factor for marketers and advertisers. The conceptualization and understanding of factors that promote and strengthen these relationships is fundamental for professionals to study the market and improve market dominance. References Aaker, J., Fournier, S & Brasel, S 2004, ‘When good brands do bad’, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 31, June, pp. 1-16. Aggarwal, P 2004, ‘The effects of brand relationship norms on consumer attitudes and behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 31, June, pp. 87-101. Farhat, R & Khan, M 2011, Importance of Brand Personality To Customer Loyalty: A Conceptual Study, New Media and Mass Communication, vol 1, pp. 4-11. Hunt, S., Arnett, D & Madhavaram, S 2006, "The explanatory foundations of relationship marketing theory", Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 21, 2, pp. 72- 87. MacInnis, D., Park, W & Priester, J 2009, Handbook of Brand Relationships, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk: NY. Patterson, M & O’Malley, L 2006, Brands, Consumers And Relationships: A Review, Irish Marketing Review, vol.18, no. 1 & 2, pp. 10-20. Sweeney, J & Chew, M 2002, “Understanding Consumer-Service Brand Relationships: A Case Study Approach”, Australasian Marketing Journal, vol.10, no.2, pp. 26- 43. Thomson, M., MacInnis, D & Park, C 2005, “The Ties That Bind: Measuring the Strength of Consumers’ Emotional Attachments to Brands”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol.15, no.1, pp.77–91. Vasco, E & Dom, W 2006, "Research in relationship marketing: antecedents, traditions and integration", European Journal of Marketing, vol. 40, no. 3-4, pp. 275-291. Veloutsou, C 2007, “Identifying the Dimensions of the Product-Brand and Consumer Relationship”, Journal of Marketing Management, vol.23, no.1-2, pp.7-26. Read More