Lovemarks Campus

Hans Villarica from ‘The Atlantic’ interviews Susan Fournier, Associate Professor in Marketing and Dean’s Research Fellow at Boston University, on her seminal research on brand relationship theory and why it’s not just a metaphor.

This paper highlights the implications for brand managers of intimate consumer-brand relationships, and explores the effects of different types of relationships on consumers’ satisfaction levels.

When consumers adopt a brand name and use it to refer to all products within its category, a brand becomes a genericized term and risks losing trademark over its name. How does a company keep its hard earned brand equity when its name becomes the top-of-mind term for a product category?

Cause marketing is a way that brands can create Intimacy with consumers and engage people in its values and social network. It’s an opportunity for many brands to humanize themselves and display characteristics of authenticity, commitment and empathy. Overtime, a brand or product may even become a purchaser’s first choice due to its affiliation with a cause.

This article looks at how “emotional brand values need to be communicated effectively both within the organisation as well as externally through the industrial sales force” in order for B2B businesses to connect emotionally with customers. A model is proposed.

This article finds that “product scent is more effective than ambient scent at enhancing memory for product information. The results suggest that, although ambient scent has received the bulk of attention from researchers and managers in recent years, greater focus on product scent is warranted.”

This paper addresses how neuroscientific approaches, like fMRI, enable the investigation of brand-related and economic behavior amongst consumers. One example it provides is how viewing logos of luxury brands activate “brain activity associated with self-centered cognitions.”

Storytelling has been long known to be an effective tool to engage and connect with people. To give you a sense of some innovative approaches in storytelling, here is a selection of methods used by brands in different markets to extend the reach, participation and emotional connection they have with consumers.

A brand must deliver on Performance, Trust and Reputation in addition to the more creative elements of Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy if it is to develop lasting and meaningful relationships with consumers. Without Respect, a brand is just a Fad or Commodity on the Love / Respect Axis.

Do expensive wines really taste better? According to a study (2008) by the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, wine tastes better if people think it’s expensive. Hugh Johnson, a wine writer for The Sunday Times said that the same type of reaction is common for people viewing designer label clothing.

Brands permeate consumer culture. Yet, despite their ubiquitous presence, one of the societally most relevant and fundamental questions of brand existence remains among the most difficult to capture: Can brands make us happy?

“Using brands like Starbucks and The Bodyshop and Home Depot as examples, ‘Citizen Brand’ reveals how companies can create strong and deep partnerships with people in America and across the globe by enriching their lives in creative and truly relevant ways.”

“The book shows how awareness is generated, how people put meanings to brands, and the importance of memory, emotion and language. It also discusses the use of brand research, not just as a separate academic area, but as an important part of the brand representation process.”

An article on Kevin Roberts’ recent lecture at Syracuse University. Roberts discusses subjects such as brand loyalty, the importance of positive attitudes, the economy, and the meaning of True Blue. He emphasises business sustainability and discusses Wal-Mart’s sustainable initiatives.