Journal of Product & Brand Management

Park, Jihye; Kim, Arim

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-04-2019-2335

This study aims to examine the following issues: whether consumers use a dog’s facial expressions and gaze on a product’s packaging to interpret the emotions of a dog and evaluate product quality and how owner identification with the dog moderates the effect of a dog’s facial expressions on product evaluations.Design/methodology/approachA field study and three lab experiments were conducted to examine the moderating roles of a dog’s gaze on the product package (Study 1) and owner–dog identification (Study 2) in the effect of facial expressions of a dog on product evaluations.FindingsResults showed that the facial expressions of a dog presented on the product package influenced the perceived mood of a dog and product quality evaluation. The effects of the facial expressions were strengthened when the dog looked at the front. Furthermore, those who were more likely to identify with their dog tended to be more responsive to the dog with a smiling face and evaluated the product quality more positively than those who were less likely to identify with their dog.Practical implicationsMarketing practitioners in the pet industry can use the findings of this study to select and place an appropriate pet image on the product package. Happy facial expressions and the direct gaze of a pet can influence positive evaluations of a product and, as a result, increase the purchase intention. Product managers also can place words, phrases or images on the product package that highlight a dog as an inseparable part of the owner’s everyday life and as a representation of his/her identity. Emphasizing the owner’s dog as an extension of him/herself or a part of his/her identities can encourage the active processing of a dog’s facial expressions on the product package and the positive evaluation of a product.Originality/valueThe present work adds valuable empirical findings to the limited marketing literature for the pet-related industry. The results of the experiments showed how consumers process the facial expressions and gaze of a dog and use them to infer the quality of a product. Furthermore, the findings extend prior literature reporting that dog owners with a greater identification are more likely to humanize their pet dogs and develop empathetic abilities.

Wang, Ye; Chen, Huan

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-05-2019-2368

This paper aims to examine the influence of different self-presentation strategies (cultural, personal and informational posts) and interactivity on luxury brands’ social media advertising.Design/methodology/approachThree pre-tests and a main experiment collected responses from 459 Chinese participants in total.FindingsCultural posts significantly influenced brand attitudes, interest and purchase intention, and the effects were mediated by perceived reinforcement of the brand’s social media account. Informational posts added to perceived informativeness of the brand’s social media account, but were more likely to trigger a perception that the brand was conservative and distancing itself from consumers. Interactivity increased perceived closeness and reduced perceived inactiveness and conservativeness of the brand’s social media account and subsequently improved brand attitudes. Perception of brand’s social media accountfully mediated the effects of self-presentation strategies and interactivity on brand attitudes, interest and purchase intention.Research limitations/implicationsSelf-presentation transfers desirable brand associations to luxury brands, reinforces brand image, and subsequently influences responses to luxury brands. Interactivity largely influences relational perceptions and brand attitudes.Practical implicationsCurating content about brand heritage and culture creates a social media self-presentation that is effective and influential on consumers. Brand and product information satisfies informational needs. Interactivity maintains customer relationship.Originality/valueA theoretical model of luxury brands’ advertising was generated from the findings.

Gilal, Naeem Gul; Gilal, Faheem Gul; Zhang, Jing; Gilal, Rukhsana Gul; Gong, Zhenxing; Gilal, Waseem Gul

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-03-2019-2315

This study aims to investigate a randomized 3 (endorser type: celebrity vs CEO vs expert) × 2 (product type: hedonic vs utility) between-respondents factorial experiment to inspect the effects of the endorsers and product types on consumers’ engagement in BRM through brand-relationship variables [i.e. self-brand connection (SBC), perceived product attachment (PPA) and source credibility (SC)]. Marketing in a digital era is witnessing a rising trend of “brand resurrection as revolution” led by consumer power. The successful revitalization of various dead brands provides some new opportunities for companies to engage millennial consumers in brand resurrection movements (BRM) through the right choice of brand endorsers. The new-found love of companies for the revitalization of long-forgotten brands has attracted considerable interest among scholars and marketing practitioners. Despite the brand resurrection’s high practical relevance, little is known in marketing research about how to revive failing brands back to life.Design/methodology/approachUsing source credibility theory (SCT) as a lens, this study conducted two studies (i.e. Study 1, N = 300; Study 2, N = 300) and builds on an analysis of data from Pakistani millennials. The hypotheses were inspected using both structural equation modeling and SPSS’s PROCESS macro.FindingsThrough two studies, the authors find that the match between endorser types and product types affects customer motivation to engage in BRM via SBC, PPA and SC (i.e. attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise).[AQ2] The results showed that for utilitarian products, both SBC and PPA mediate the link between endorser types and BRM, but for hedonic products, PPA does not play a role. Similarly, the authors’ results indicate that for hedonic products, attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise mediate the link between endorser types and BRM, but for utilitarian products, trustworthiness does not play a role.Practical implicationsThe results of this research will help marketing managers devise effective brand endorsers strategies in reviving failing brands. Specifically, this endeavor highlights that understanding brand advertisements merely in terms of celebrity endorsement restricts the full potential that brand advertisements could have and also that a comprehensive understanding must include expert and chief executive officers (CEO) endorsers. Therefore, one of the central contributions of this research is the introduction of expert and CEO endorsers and the evidence that both celebrity (i.e. celebrity and CEO) and non-celebrity endorsers (i.e. experts) have an impact on consumers’ motivation to engage in BRM.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first endeavors of its kind to empirically explore consumer attitude/motivation behind participation in reviving failing brands. The significance of this work is underscored by the fact that numerous dead brands are being brought back by companies because of consumer–brand co-creation movements.

Lei, Shaohui; Wang, Xianqing; Peng, Leiqing; Guo, Yulang

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-11-2019-2654

Customization, as a crucial way to meet the heterogeneous demand of individuals, exists two fundamental and competing motivations, namely, assimilation and uniqueness. Based on optimal distinctiveness theory, this paper aims to validate the interactive effect of self-expressive customization types (i.e. customization to express individual identity and customization to express a shared identity) and self-construal on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium (WPP).Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted to provide empirical support for all proposed hypotheses. The first study (n = 151) uses a hypothetical scenario of a basketball game to test the interaction effect of self-expressive customization and self-construal. The second study (n = 184) assumes a scenario of designing a t-shirt or a uniform to examined the moderated mediating role of consumer-product identification.FindingsThe results reveal that independent (vs interdependent) self-construal will have stronger consumer-product identification for customization to express an individual identity (vs customization to express a shared identity), thus generating a higher WPP. Also, perceived task difficulty is the boundary condition of the research model.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes insightful contributions to the customization literature by strengthening the identity signals of customization and exploring the psychological mechanism and the boundary conditions.Originality/valueThis research is one of the first few empirical studies to examine the impact of self-expressive customization on consumers’ WPP via the identification with the focal object. This paper not only expands the literature of self-expressive customization but also provides a new research direction for the research of person-object interaction in marketing.

Wiedmann, Klaus-Peter; von Mettenheim, Walter

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-06-2019-2442

The importance of influencer marketing is constantly growing. However, little empirical research has examined influencers’ success requirements. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring whether the requirements of influencers’ attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness are relevant for online influencer campaigns. An entry-level luxury fashion brand is the focus of the experiment.Design/methodology/approachA total of 288 participants completed an online survey evaluating the profiles of influencers who varied in terms of the three abovementioned requirements. The impacts of these requirements on brand image, brand satisfaction and brand trust as well as purchase intention and price premium were tested via structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results show that the most important requirement is trustworthiness, followed by attractiveness; surprisingly, the relevance of expertise is virtually nil.Research limitations/implicationsTo date, practitioners are still struggling with the success requirements of influencer marketing. They have focused on traditional advertising models and numeric requirements such as the amount of followers. However, regarding merely these requirements can result in wrong decisions. Considering the two requirements, attractiveness and trustworthiness, in a stronger way can provide a remedy to this struggle. In future research, the relevance of the requirements in different involvement conditions and for non-attractiveness-related products might be investigated.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the success requirements that are directly related to influencers (e.g. attractiveness) rather than numeric requirements of their profiles (e.g. page rank) and the impacts of those requirements on brand image, brand satisfaction and brand trust as well as purchase intention and price premium. It adapts the Source-Credibility Model for influencers and shows that its requirements interact in a unique way that is counterintuitive and different from other endorser types such as celebrities or salespersons.

Vernuccio, Maria; Patrizi, Michela; Pastore, Alberto

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-08-2019-2490

By adopting a managerial perspective, this study aims to deepen how the strategic role of brand voice is conceived in the design of in-car name-brand voice assistants (NBVAs), how the brand experience based on NBVAs is designed and how the NBVA brand experience might influence customer brand engagement (CBE). The ultimate aim is to develop an interpretative theoretical framework for developing voice-based branding through NBVAs.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach with the analysis of a single in-depth case study is followed: the NBVA developed in-house by Mercedes, which was the first NBVA launched in the automotive market.FindingsIn the design of the NBVA, a key role was assigned to the brand voice in developing the brand’s anthropomorphic profile. Driving safety, consistency with the corporate identity, human-like interaction, dynamic personalisation and connectivity emerged as the strategic criteria for designing the NBVA brand experience, which was oriented towards the pursuit of multiple CBE dimensions.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the qualitative empirical contribution of this study differs from statistical generalisations, the research insights are analytically generalisable. The insights emerging from the study could guide future research on voice-based branding.Practical implicationsThe results may be a useful conceptual reference for managers involved in designing brand voice and brand experience based on NBVAs.Originality/valueThis study is the first empirical contribution to the marketing literature about voice-based branding in an innovative experiential field, a topic that, thus, far has been poorly analysed.

Mas, Lluis; Bolls, Paul; Rodero, Emma; Barreda-Ángeles, Miguel; Churchill, Ashley

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-05-2019-2370

The purpose of this study is to determine how sonic logo’s acoustic features (intensity, pitch and pace) based on melodic tunes with no voice orient the response of consumers, attract attention, elicit levels of pleasantness and calmness and transmit brand personality traits.Design/methodology/approachA within-subject experimental factorial design is applied to measure emotional arousal (indexed as electrodermal activity) and enhancement on perceptual processing (indexed as heart rate), as well as self-reported factors, namely, calmness/excitement, pleasantness and brand personality scales.FindingsResults show a significant increase on electrodermal activity associated with fast-paced sonic logos and a decrease in heart rate in slow-paced long sonic logos. Also, fade-up, pitch-ascending fast sonic logos are defined as more exciting and descending-pitch sonic logos as more pleasant.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of sonic logos with no voice does limit its implications. Besides, the use of three variables simultaneously with 18 versions of sonic logos in a laboratory setting may have driven participants to fatigue; hence, findings should be cautiously applied.Practical implicationsFirst, sonic logos are best processed in a fade-up form. Second, fast pace is recommended to orient response, whereas slow pace is recommended to transmit calmness. Practitioners may opt for fast-paced sonic logos if the design is new or played in a noisy environment and opt for slow-paced sonic logos in already highly recognized sound designs.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to combine psychophysiological measures and self-reported scales in a laboratory experiment on how sonic logo’s acoustic features orient response, transmit emotions and personality traits.

Paswan, Audhesh K.; Guzmán, Francisco; Pei, Zhi

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-07-2019-2476

The fundamental question asked in this study is – should all firms engage in innovation and branding activities to the same extent to achieve their goals? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question, a strategic typology that integrates branding and innovation (BI) from an organizational ambidexterity perspective is proposed.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds theory by proposing a typology. Integrating the literature on BI, organizational ambidexterity and resource/knowledge-based view of firms, this study posits that to create a value proposition, a firm could choose to engage in innovation and branding activities in a variety of ways depending on their dominant strategic orientation along two dimensions of ambidexterity.FindingsThe four proposed typical branding-innovation orientations are low innovation × low branding; low innovation × high branding; high innovation × low branding; and high innovation × high branding.Practical implicationsA firm should choose its dominant strategic orientation depending on conditions such as market, consumers, needs and demand and resources.Originality/valueBy framing the innovation-branding paradox within an organizational ambidexterity framework, the proposed typology helps integrate two complementary and yet conflicting organizational functions by shifting the focus from an operational to a strategic level.

Chen, Yu-Shan Athena

2021 Journal of Product & Brand Management

doi: 10.1108/jpbm-07-2019-2466

The purpose of this study is to identify conditions under which consumers prefer matte packages and those under which they prefer glossy packages and to extend the findings to the context of consumer evaluations.Design/methodology/approachA series of four experiments-conducted across a diverse range of settings and consumers (through lab experiments and field studies) and using different types of products (mobile phones, invitation cards, wrappers and coffee packs)- examined the effects of matte and glossy packaging finishes on consumer evaluations (i.e. preferences, attitudes and purchase intentions). This paper further developed moderated mediation models to illustrate the mechanisms underlying the examined effects.FindingsPeople with warmth and competence focus favored matte and glossy packaging, respectively. In addition, the warmth (competence) focus enhanced the positive influence of matte (glossy) packaging on brand sincerity (competence), leading to more favorable consumer evaluations (i.e. brand attitudes, product attitudes and purchase intentions).Practical implicationsThis study provides managers with insights into conferring desired impressions of sincerity (competence) upon a brand and methods of attracting certain warmth focused (competence focused) consumers by using matte (glossy) packaging finishes.Originality/valueThis is the study to systematically investigate the effect of packaging finishes on brand impressions and consumer evaluations.