Customer Perception About Celebrity Endorsement in Television Advertising for Retail Brands

-- Varsha Jain, Mari Sudha and Aarzoo Daswani

The retail sector is one of the fastest moving sectors in India. Its target audience is mainly youth who constitute 50% of the Indian population. Retail brands need to be positioned for this segment, and one of the strategies used is celebrity endorsement. Television Audience Measurement (TAM) Media Research found a 49% growth in celebrity advertising in 2007. There are many studies that have been conducted on celebrity endorsements, but there is no study which has been done exclusively to understand the perception of consumers about celebrity advertising for retail brands. The present study aims to mitigate this gap in the existing literature. For the present study, the survey method, using a structured questionnaire, was employed on a sample of 186 respondents. The findings of the study revealed that customers prefer female celebrities over male celebrities. The preference for celebrities was more for sensory products than cerebral products. Customers want celebrities to entertain them as well as give information pertaining to the products in the advertisements. The factors that customers perceived to be important in selecting the celebrities for retail brands were proficiency, reliability, pleasantness, elegance, distinctiveness, approachability and non-controversial.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Understanding Consumer Perception of Brand Personality

-- Anuja Pandey

The ever-changing marketing dynamics and increased competitive scenario have amplified the role of brands to a great extent. Brand marketers seek ways to achieve growth while reducing the cost of new product introduction as well as the risk of new product failure. A popular way of launching new products has therefore been to leverage the brand equity of an existing brand into a new sector, market or product category. Brand extension today is an important strategic tool to rejuvenate and revitalize an existing brand. The success of brand extension depends on the strength of the parent brand personality and its brand equity. A strong brand equity is related to distinct brand personality. Before going for any brand extension, it is important to understand the parent brand personalities and thereafter attaching the desirable brand personalities to the extended brand. This paper aims at identifying the parent brand personalities as perceived by the consumer. To understand brand personality, Jennifer Aaker's Brand Personality Scale (BPS) has been used. The validity of the scale is examined using factor analysis. Descriptive research, using stratified random sampling, is undertaken. The study also aims at identifying the distinct brand personality of the proposed brand and suggests the brand extension categories and strategies, with special reference to the brand `Dove'.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Consumer Attitude Towards Brand Extensions: An Integrative Model from the Indian Perspective

-- Sheena

Towards the late 1990s, world over, marketing professionals were witnessing some uncanny trends: their influence within the organizations had been decreasing; common marketing strategies earned decreasing returns; and companies were finding it increasingly difficult to retain talent in marketing jobs. India started witnessing drastic changes in lifestyles of large sections of the population. The Indian market today is teeming with different products that it has become necessary to customize products by the companies according to consumer demands. As introducing new brands has become a risky venture, brand extensions have become increasingly popular. The paper attempts to bring out a model of the factors influencing the formation of brand extension attitudes based on the dominant cognitive hypothesis. The key elements of the model are: 1) Characteristics of the parent brand; 2) Experience with the parent brand; 3) Characteristics of extension category; 4) Relationship between parent brand and its extension; and 5) Perception of fit. The variables that moderate and control the above-mentioned processes are identified and classified into three groups: 1) Individual factors; 2) External factors; and 3) Extension making strategy. This paper tries to bring out the loopholes of the past research, thus resulting in an integrative model which shall prove useful for future research.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

``Made in Italy'' in China: From Country of Origin to Country Concept Branding

-- Salvatore Snaiderbaur

Chinese consumers recognize in Italian products a high added value and, in some cases, consider them preferable to other products. The success around the world of items ``Made in Italy'' is mostly due to the Italian brand's ability to transfer a certain sense of product quality in concert with values and experiences of beauty, elegance, tradition, luxury, and life quality. In a context, in which the Chinese consumer grows in appreciating products made in China, items made in Italy will have to evolve and consolidate more as an "Italian Country Concept", transferring, when possible, the manufacture to China and fostering the brand intangible components. Many among the affirmed brands are tending in the direction of this conceptual transition, and maintaining the distinguished Italian style has achieved internationally recognized connotations and stylistic characteristics recognized all around the world. The paper analyzes the main success components of the Italian brand and the opportunity for further growth in the Chinese market. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative data that will provide a basis for further analysis and research.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Opportunity for Luxury Brands in China

-- Ronald Jean Degen

Given the size and scale of the Chinese market, for an international luxury brand to continue or become successful, it must win in China. Chinese yuppies are driving the demand, buying everything from expensive watches to imported cars. Those that are able to gain and maintain a preferential share of these affluent Chinese consumers will be able to sustain their global image and compete in equal terms with the future emerging Chinese luxury brands. The reason why affluent Chinese men and women buy Rolex watches and Louis Vuitton bags is not simply because of the Swiss craftsmanship or French design. Their motivation to buy these luxury brands has its roots in the more complex Confucian values and demand for social recognition, and the growing influence of Western values. For this reason, it is important to understand the roots and changes of the culture and values that determine the buying behavior of the modern affluent Chinese consumer.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Brand Evaluation and Purchase Intention: The Impact of COO of Luxury Cars on Indian Metro Customers

-- Jyothsna Priyadarsini K and Goodwin D R

Customers give importance to a brand based on the place of its origin. The construct `Country of Origin' (COO) is defined in the marketing literature as the country where a brand or product is made (Tse and Gorn, 1993; and Elliott and Cameron, 1994). The mounting cross-border trade and rapid globalization are drawing the attention of the researchers to explore the role of COO and its impact on various management activities, specifically the cross-national consumer behavior. Inspired by the intellectual conclusions of the researchers, a research was outlined to investigate the impact of COO of luxury cars on Indian metro customers, including customer's perception of the COO of luxury cars, how the luxury car brands are evaluated based on its COO and so on. The experiment tests the relationship between the brand's COO and consumers' purchase decisions.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Corporate Brand as Co-Driver: A Framework for More Transparent Corporate Brand Leverage

-- Henrik Uggla and Per Åsberg

As the corporate brand becomes linked to other brands and other entities, a coherent corporate brand architecture becomes a crucial component in a firm's overall marketing strategy, as it provides a structure to leverage the corporate brand in different product market contexts. This paper discusses how a corporate brand can develop a more expansive brand architecture through image-transfer to and from brands and other entities in the internal brand hierarchy and surrounding brand network.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

An Empirical Study on Brand Awareness and the Factors Influencing Brand Loyalty Towards Hair Shampoos

-- Lalit Mohan Kathuria and Bhupinder Jit

Branding is one of the most important factors influencing a product's success or failure in the market and it can have a significant influence on the perception of the general public towards the company owning the brand. Brand loyalty not only represents the brand of the company but also the company itself. This study has been conducted to know the brand awareness and brand loyalty of consumers towards hair shampoos. The study highlights that the major sources of awareness for hair shampoos are television advertisements, and friends and relatives. The study further highlights that the important factors influencing brand loyalty towards hair shampoos are product quality (dandruff removal, shine and silkiness, and ingredients), availability of the preferred brand and brand image.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.