Consumer-Brand Relationships - Essay Example

? Consumer-brand relationships AFFILIATION: Introduction to Consumer-brand relationship In today’s dynamic and competitive environment, the companies are compelled to do investments in avenues that will support them in attracting and retaining the customers along with nurturing the brand relationships with them so that they are able to create a distinctive image in the market. Since the competition has intensified in all industries and the environment has become highly competitive, it has become important for the companies to maintain relevance with their customers and avoid any kind of commoditization. It is believed by Belaid and Behi (2010) and Keller and Lehmann (2006) that in such kind of business environment, the only way to compete is to develop a strong brand that has a complete holistic view. When the concept of branding is applied in the marketing strategies, there is a huge possibility that an effective consumer-brand relationship is created. The marketing experts have realised that the customers have become more informed and have easy access to a wide range of choices and the only way to get competitive advantage in the respective market is to strengthen the consumer-brand relationship which means getting the customers emotionally involved with the brand (Bengtsson, Bardhi & Venkatramann, 2010). It is stated by Frank et al. (2010) that the companies that will ensure that they create a highly gripping, pleasurable, consistent and compelling experience of brand for their customers which will enable it to get the top ranking in the market. However, the companies that strive to strengthen their brand just to obtain monetary benefits or don’t take account of the customer’s preferences are often unable to create a healthy relationship with their customers. In some cases such as Saturn cars or Tylenol by Johnson & Johnson, negative consumer-brand relationships were created and the brands had to do extensive efforts to regain their position in the customer’s minds (Frank et al., 2010). Therefore, it is important for the organisations to realise the importance of consumer-brand relationship so that they are able to develop positive emotional attachment with their customers (Chang & Chieng, 2006). Theoretical perspectives of Consumer-brand relationships Brand has been defined by many researchers in different ways as there is no concrete definition for this terminology. The most easiest and raw description of a brand is “awareness about a product or service offering” (Thomson, MacInnis & Park, 2005). According to Carlson, Donavan and Cumiskey (2009), a firm has to promote its brand which comprises of creating a name, broadcasting it to the target market and then implementing it on its corporate identity or the set of service or product offerings; the brand is the key element that highlights the presence of a company and its product or service in the market. Every organisation has to market its brand so that it can create a brand identity which is the set of associations that consumers develop about a certain brand (Bauer, Heinrich & Martin, 2007). For instance, Disney World is considered to be the best place for fun, adventure and enjoyment; it is the destination that everyone wants to go to have the spectacular experience of their lives with family and friends. Disney World has further strengthened its brand image by making valuable additions in its service offerings so that it can meet the changing demands of its consumers. In order to create a good and effective consumer-brand relationship, the marketing managers of a company have to use the logos, taglines, product attributes and other aspects in the marketing activities to differentiate the brand from its competitors (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). The basic requirement of strengthening the brand-consumer relationship is to give the most sensational brand experience to the customers by using all available sources such as promotional events, advertising, Websites and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs; all activities need to be aligned with the brand identity that the company wants to create so that the consumers can easily develop an association with the brand (Frank et al., 2010). For developing a good consumer-brand relationship, the company needs to first set a vision so that it has an idea about the brand identity that it wants to create; the brand identity is one of the important aspects that help in creating the best branding experience for the consumers (Wang & Musa, 2011). Along with brand identity, there are some basic factors that need to be taken into account so that the desired relationship is created; the main aim of this relationship is to develop an emotional attachment of the customer with a brand so that it can get distinctive mind share of the customer. The two major constituents that make up a consumer-brand relationship are trust and commitment with the brand; both of these elements get developed with the passage of time when consumers have some kind of interaction or experience with the brand. As the consumers have good experience with a product or service when it is consumed, it creates a positive effect on them and it gets strengthened when a consistent level of quality is delivered to them (Frank et al., 2010). Aaker (1994) mentioned in its Saturn case study that the brand had to do extensive efforts to create a strong consumer-brand relationship as it had to face many challenges that were encountered during the awareness and interest creation phases. According to Roger Smith, chairman of GM is 1995; Saturn was the key to the company’s long-term survival, success and competitiveness in terms of domestic product (Aaker, 1994). Saturn was able to create its image as the strongest brand in its first two years of operations i.e. 1995-1997. GM was able to achieve such distinctive position in the market as it focused on developing a world-class car along with a competent team of experts who worked outside the GM fold; the aim of this team was to sell the company not only by an excellent quality car but by designing a unique retailing strategy, having a consistent communication mix and developing cordial relations with the customers. Aaker (1994) has emphasised that the key to gaining trust of the customers is to be easily accessible by them, provide them complete information about the product, develop good relationship with them by providing them consistent level of service and handling all their problems quickly. The consumer-brand relationship is largely determined by the factors that make up the customer perception about a brand (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003). Since the companies comprise of various stakeholders, it is crucial for them to first take everyone on board within the organisation that customers are the most important people and everything will be done to satisfy them so that their trust and commitment can be gained. When the customers start trusting a company, they become brand loyal and it is hard for them to switch to other brands (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). Since a cordial consumer-brand relationship is developed when a customer perceives it to be meaningful, it is vital for the company to identify the conditions under which the consumers will create a committed, strong and worthwhile relationship with the company. It has been stated by Bhattacharya and Sen (2003) that two theories such as organisational identification and social identity can support a company to develop an effective relationship with the consumers. It is important to have alignment between the identification perception of both a consumer and the company so that the result of a relationship is positive and strong. The brand personality is perceived to be the best option for creating a distinctive image and relationship with the consumers. Brand personality is defined as a set of associations (human-like attributes) that the consumers have with the brand (Aaker, Benet-Martinez & Garolera, 2001). For instance, Cadbury is perceived to have attributes as fun-filled, lively, captivating, indulgent, fascinating, exceptional, confident and friendly; these entire factors combine to give a personality to the products and services offered by the brand. In order to have much deeper relationship with the customers, the company has even developed a Cadbury World where the chocolate lovers can have fascinating time of their lives. In addition to the brand personality, there is a concept of brand equity which is the holistic view of the brand; it is dependent on the customer’s perception about the brand and it comprises of four key elements i.e. brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand personality and perceived quality (Pappu, Quester & Cooksey, 2005). All of these factors help in determining the brand equity of a brand. Even in the clothing industry, brand perception is created by means of advertising so that the consumers are able to develop a sense of association with the brand. Every top ranked clothing brand has developed its personality on certain factors such as Levi’s has created an image around attributes like adventurous, lively and extravagant; Nike is defined as luxurious, easy to wear and statement of style brand and Puma has a personality of vibrant, sports enthusiastic and fun loving (Azevedo & Farhangmehr, 2005). When consumers develop a brand personality or have an association with a brand, the element of trust is developed which ensures that the consumers will believe in whatever the brand has to offer. However, a company has to ensure that it offers the product or service that is compatible with the requirements of the consumers and it is vital that the right perception about the offerings is created in the consumer’s mind. In order to create an appropriate brand image, Kuenzel and Halliday (2008) and Mang et al. (2003) argued that in the symbols of consumption like commercials of brands, consumers have different opinions because the company embeds some other meaning and the consumers perceive it to be differently. According to Keunzel and Halliday (2008), the meaning of the symbols may serve for representation and institutionalisation of a culture’s set of values and beliefs. For instance, Japanese and Americans have same perceptions about brand personality such as excitement, competence and sophistication; however, Americans are more open and rugged than Japanese who have a conservative approach and love peace and harmony. With these perceptions about a brand, the people belonging to these two cultures will view the company’s offering entirely different from one another and the image created will be representation of their cultural beliefs and values. It was found in the study of Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Aleman (2005) that customer loyalty is an important element to gain the trust and commitment of the consumers. Brand loyalty is created only when the customers are satisfied with the quality, features and price along with other key essentials that is being offered by a brand. Almost all the customers trust specific brands for their usage as they know that the quality will be compatible with their needs and they will get value for their money. According to Mang et al. (2003), value for money is one of the influencing factors that impact the perception about a brand. For example, when a customer pays a high price for a good brand, then he/she wants to be assured that the quality will be of excellent level and the product will last for long. In order to ensure that the customers are satisfied and content with their purchasing decision, some of the companies are offering loyalty programs that have been exclusively designed for their customers. In the airline, telecommunication and banking industries, the consumers are looking for various attractive loyalty programs that enhance their brand experience; it indirectly allows the companies to develop a strong and trustworthy relationship with the consumers (Azevedo & Farhangmehr, 2005). For instance, Malaysian Airlines is offering frequent mileage loyalty program for its business class travellers so that the consumers can take advantage of various promotional offers that are done by the company and ensure that their travelling experience every time is of top quality and they are willing to experience easy travelling round the year. Once a company is successful in gaining its target market’s trust, it can grow with prosperity in such a tough and competitive environment (Wang & Musa, 2011). From the studies of Belaid and Behi (2010), Kuenzel and Halliday (2008) and Pappu, Quester and Cooksey (2005), it is evident that the consumer-brand relationship constitutes an extensive range of efforts as every customer has his/her own set of perceptions about a brand. The brand image that is created by a consumer is dependent on many factors such as the person’s own personality, cultural values, beliefs and norms, message communicated in the advertisements, mediums used to reach the customers, perception about quality level, value for money and consistency in the offering and most importantly, company’s capability of fulfilling the promise. One of the recent developments in the field of relationship marketing is the Value-Congruity Model of Relationships (VCR model) that studies the concepts of self-identity and individual’s value; both of these constructs help in identifying the factors that marketing experts need to incorporate in their marketing efforts which will help them in developing an emotional attachment with their consumers (Kaul, Khokley & Koshy, 2006). It has been found in the study of Bengtsson, Bardhi and Venkatramann (2010) that a strong association between the consumer brand ownership and perceived congruity along with relationship between brand-image and self-image help in determining the consumer’s perception about a brand. The latest trend in the market these days for creating effective and enhancing brand-consumer relationship is the social media. Almost every organisation is making use of this medium to reach their customers and enhance their experience via various online mediums such as blogs, social networking sites, article directories, advertisement placements on top-ranked websites, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) activities, discussion forums and many more (Mogelhoj, 2011). It is vital for every organisation that wants to develop an emotional bond that it gives its customers the best online experience. It is rightly stated by Azevedo and Farhangmehr (2005) that the best communication initiatives are important for every firm as they help in the creation of a profitable and strong relationship with the customer; with the passage of time, the brand-consumer relationship gets nourished when the brand continues to deliver the consistent level of services and products to its customers. Although the relationship between a company and its customer has changed significantly but its value has not been altered at all as the customers have trust in the brand offerings (Magin et al., 2003). There are various studies done to study the concept of consumer-brand relationship as some of the researchers have studied using the Social Exchange Theory to identify the sociological factors that impact the extent of relationship that a consumer has with a brand (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). While, others have studied it by using either interpersonal relationship theory or metaphor theory; the main aim of all these researchers was to understand the key elements that help in developing an effective and ever lasting relationship between a brand and the customer. One thing that is commonly found in all the studies is that the relationship that a consumer has with a brand varies a lot. For instance, Levi’s will be viewed as a statement of style by some consumers, some will create an image of rigidness, other might view it as casual wear and some others can consider it a luxury brand. Therefore, there is no single way of defining the relationship; but it is possible to develop a brand personality as it helps in communicating the right message to the target market (Belaid & Behi, 2010). When the brand personality is developed in accordance with the demand of the target market, it is assured that it will be able to create a distinctive image in the customer’s minds (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003). The key of developing a strong consumer-brand personality is to first gather information about the features that the customers are looking for in the brands; once the factors important are identified, the next thing to consider is the association that a customer would be willing to develop with the brand. It is important for a company to develop its brand in accordance with the consumer’s perception about a brand so that it is able to develop a strong attachment with the customers and develop a deep relationship with the customers (Keunzel & Halliday, 2008). Since relationship marketing is defined as “the interaction that takes place in networks of various relationships”; however, in the context of social media, a consumer has a relationship network that comprises of both people and brands. Even in the Business to Consumer organisations, there are many brands and the consumers are most likely to value the product that they buy and not the company; it shows that consumers develop an attachment and perception about the brand without considering the efforts of the corporation (Mogelhoj, 2011). However, in service industry, the consumers look at the brand from a company’s perspective such as its offerings, the experience and professionals of staff providing the services, packages offered for their requirements and level of service provided to the consumers; all of these factors combine to create a brand-consumer relationship (Keunzel & Halliday, 2008). An organisation that wants to get the customers emotionally involved with its product or service offering will have to ensure that it gives them the best brand experience. In recent times, some of the organisations are organising events, seminars, fun-filled activities days, celebrating Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, arranging workshops and conducting many Public Relations activities such as Press Releases, Conferences, Public events and etc. so that they give an exciting and sensational experience to the consumers which they can cherish for a long-time (Kaul, Khokley & Koshy, 2006). These kind of marketing activities have proven to be beneficial for most of the organisations as they have been able to reap their benefits by gaining trust and commitment of the customers. When the consumer-brand relationship is created in a highly effective and strategic way, it ensures that an organisation will be able to survive and grow in its respective industry. It has been found in many studies that every aspect of brand should be well-integrated so that the best message is communicated to the consumers and it will result in brand loyalty (Aaker, Benet-Martinez & Garolera, 2001; Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003) customer trust (Chang & Chieng, 2006; Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Aleman, 2001), brand association (Azevedo & Farhangmehr, 2005; Kuenzel & Halliday, 2008) and customer satisfaction (Bengtsson, Bardhi, & Venkatramann, 2010). Key elements for consumer-brand relationship The key elements for creating an excellent consumer-brand relationship is creation of a coherent and sound brand experience, developing a distinctive brand identity, identifying the customer value proposition, listening to the customers and strengthening the relationship with the passage of time (Chang & Chieng, 2006). In order to create a consistent brand experience, the foremost thing to determine is the customer value proposition which means understanding the customer perspective about the brand. Since a company exists to meet the needs of its target market, it is important for it to ensure that it develops its brand on the elements that are of importance to the consumers (Frank et al., 2010). The value proposition is defined as the set of a brand’s emotional, self-expressive and functional benefits that are delivered with superiority in comparison to its competitors. For instance, Louis Vuitton is considered as a luxury brand and it has emphasized the identity by endorsing the products with celebrities and promoting it as an exclusive brand; the consumers owning Louis Vuitton products are aware of the fact that the brand will offer them high quality products and will make a statement about their stylish and charismatic personality along with belongingness to the elite class (Hwang & Kandampully, 2012). However, the companies have to ensure that they deliver consistent product or service offering quality along with an excellent brand experience so that a consumer’s relationship with the brand lasts for a long period (Frank et al., 2010). For instance, when Saturn was launched by GM with the aim of offering high quality cars at affordable prices, it successfully created its brand identity, fulfilled customer value proposition and even developed a good consumer-brand relationship but the problem was that it did not listen to the customer’s complaints; as a result, the sales of the company went down and the brand had to be eradicated from the market. When a pleasant and superior consumer-brand relationship is developed, it enhances the trust that the consumers have on the brand, helps consumers in developing a brand association and even the brand loyalty is created. It is important for the companies to identify the touch points that the consumers will have with the company’s product or service offering so that they can be given an experience that is beyond excellence and they definitely develop an association with the respective brand (Wang & Musa, 2011). In order to create a distinctive image in the market, the marketing experts have to realise that they don’t get lured into creating a brand identity that the company wants to aspire; in fact, they need to make sure that they have good amount of information about the customer’s perspective because it is at the customer’s discretion to develop an image and association with the brand. The consumer-brand relationship should be developed in a highly effective and strategic way so that it can be beneficial for the company and consumers for a long period of time. Importance of Consumer-brand relationships in Airline Industry In the business world, the aviation or airline industry has been considered as amongst the most intangible service sector that has been playing a significant role in the economies worldwide. According to Flint (2010), cited by Wang and Musa (2011), the global aviation industry is predicted to generate revenue of about US$545 billion in the year 2010 (the expected amount is of the entire aviation industry globally) and it is believed to have increased by 13% from the preceding year i.e. 2009. In the last few years, the aviation industry has undergone drastic changes that have impacted the revenue of many airline companies worldwide; although most of these factors are uncontrollable but their impact has caused drastic implications in the airline industry (Frank et al., 2010). One of the major unfortunate incidents in the aviation industry was the terrorist attack in 2001 on New York’s World Trade Centre; this event had severe impact on the airline industry as people had become fearsome and they were reluctant to do travelling even in their favourite airlines (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). Other things that have impacted the airline industry are occurrences of SARS along with mouth and foot diseases, increase in fuel prices and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The economic recession in 2008-2009 impacted the airline industry especially the consumers of business travelling market and it even increased the demand for low cost airlines. As a result of various deregulation policies worldwide, the low cost airlines are gaining popularity and becoming the preferred choice of most of the travellers (Wang & Musa, 2011). According to Thomson, MacInnis and Park (2005), the customer satisfaction is an important determinant to identify the success of a company; it even provides insight about the factors that are given more importance than others and ensure that the company makes changes in its offering to meet the demands of the consumers. In order to develop a good association with the brands, the airline industry is now focusing on giving a superb and high travelling experience to the customers so that they trust the airline company and they are willing to use the services of their favourite airline (Bengtsson, Bardhi & Venkatramann, 2010). In the service industry, there are nine elements that the companies have to consider so that they are able to gain a competitive edge in the market; all of these factors will help a company to get distinctive position in their customer’s minds and ensure that an effective and cordial relationship with the target market is created. The important set of elements comprise of a sensational feeling about the brand, price offers, core service quality, reputation in the market, word-of-mouth scenario, professionalism and level of service provided by the employees, service cape, advertising activities and publicity about the brand (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). All of the top ranked airline companies are ensuring that they develop an effective and healthy consumer-brand relationship so that they are able to create a distinctive image in the market and are able to maintain their existing market share. Some of the activities that are being done by leading air carriers such as British Airlines, Southwest Airlines, US Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways and others comprise of offering customised services to the customers, providing easy online ticketing so that they can make reservation and do check-in online at their convenience and providing them the opportunities of saving huge amount of money by offering various attractive packages (Wang & Musa, 2011). Cathay Pacific Airways Cathay Pacific is among the well-known and most popular global airline companies that have made a mark in the market by introducing the concept of Internet in travelling industry. It is a Hong-Kong based company that has been offering its services to worldwide destinations to meet the demands of its customers’ travelling requirements (Cathay Pacific, 2012). It is among those airlines that launched some of the most successful and highly recognised example of the consumer’s e-commerce need. Since 1997, the brand has become one of the strongest promoters of e-business that is developed around the concept of “Business to Employee”; it has provided its staff members with various online tools so that they can perform their tasks efficiently and smoothly. In order to strengthen its relationship with the customers, it decided to first gain the employee’s support and then developed effective mechanisms to gain the customer’s trust and loyalty. According to Cathay Pacific (2012), it aims to invest in those services that will create value for the customers and ensure that they are provided with a consistent and excellent quality of services by enhancing its productivity and reducing the costs of IT. The company has ensured that it has a strong influence on its e-business so that it can provide an excellent and compelling service to its target market that is compatible with their requirements. The main challenges that are faced in the airline industry are that the operational information is dynamic and ensuring that the customers are given latest information is a challenging task. The customers are looking for up-to-date information about the flight schedules and fares; if the information is not updated on a frequent basis, then the customers can switch to other brands. In order to keep them loyal to the brand, the companies have to undertake marketing activities and sales promotions to attract the customers and provide them an excellent service (Frank et al., 2010). In order to respond proactively to the demands of the travellers, Cathay Pacific developed an appealing and compelling website that provided real time information to the travellers that helped their consumers in making the travelling plans according to their preferences. The visitors of the website are provided various options such as various dimensions of worldwide ports, time zones of every country, different language option to understand the website content and informing the travellers about the latest offers available by the company so that they can make a wise and appropriate decision. The key elements that have helped Cathay Pacific in getting a distinctive position in the market from its competitors are reliable and secured website for effective transactions, updated and accurate information, instant alerts to the travellers about changes in the flight schedules and providing various customised packages to the loyal customers. Almost all the customers of Cathay Pacific are satisfied with the experience that is created by the highly dynamic and well-groomed staff of the company (Cathay Pacific, 2012). Cathay Pacific’s experience can be defined as “a beautiful, sensational and empathetic travelling feeling that is developed with perfection especially for the current vague economic times.” It is believed that only this airline allows the consumers to enjoy the sensation of ever chanting travelling experience that is filled with fun and adventure; the success of leading brands lies in their ability of connecting to the emotional side of the consumers. The airline is tapping strategically to the emotional bond generation so that the travelling experience of the consumers is enhanced. It has used its website to create a unique and innovative experience for branding and connecting more with the customers. The journey of a customer on the website starts with emotional recollection of past experiences along with aspirations and dreams and then move into the functional attributes such as preparation, booking and eagerness; this entire emotional journey of excitement and inspiration along with functional elements of journey get more simplified as all the features are easy to understand and use. Cathay Pacific has tried to develop an emotional connection with the consumer via its website so that people are engaged on the site and understand every stage of their travel. The main idea behind this strategy of consumer-brand relationship is to get involved with the consumers and attract them by providing them an exceptional travelling experience so that they can get value for their money and develop an association with the brand. Conclusion In order to develop an effective and strong consumer-brand relationship in the airline industry, it is important for the company to touch the emotional side of the consumers by offering them the service that exceeds their expectations. In addition to providing exceptional travelling experience, they need to be given complete information about the flight schedules and fares and should be informed about any delays and cancellations of the flights so that they can take action accordingly. All leading brands ensure that they reach the heart of their consumers by offering them the value proposition that is compatible with their needs. 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