Progress 09/30/05 to 10/01/10
Outputs
Despite the importance of fabric properties or the fit of a garment, in reality many items of apparel are purchased (or not) because of the meaning the brand conveys to a customer. This project develops a better understanding of how this "brand personality" can affect brand equity - the net value-added of a product that differentiates it from similar garments in the marketplace. We employ a web-based visual system to assess how consumers cognitively process a set of apparel brands.
Impacts
In the apparel industry the linkage of brand personalities with visual images is pervasive (ranging from depictions of social types like the American cowboy to scenes like cityscapes) yet at the same time ad hoc and often left to the discretion of individual art directors. Our research program will enable us to systematically and empirically construct a visual lexicon of brand personality that can link the meanings evoked by a standardized set of images with apparel brands. The method we are developing will allow us to generate a visual meaning map for each apparel brand we study. We will analyze these meaning maps to gauge the consistency of meanings among consumers and relate them to financial and market measures of brand performance. Visual meaning maps can also inform brand managers how best to visually depict the intended meanings of their brands.
Publications
- Fournier, Susan G., Michael R. Solomon, and Basil G. Englis, Brand Resonance, in ed. Bernd Schmitt, Handbook on Brand and Experience Management, Elgar Publishing, 2007, in press.
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Progress 01/01/06 to 10/01/06
Outputs
We have completed a small pilot study and we have written a theoretical paper outlining our approach to brand meaning that has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming book on branding strategy (Fournier, Solomon, and Englis 2007). We have also had a related paper accepted for presentation at The Thought Leaders International Conference on Brand Management to be held in the U.K. in Spring 2007. Our pilot study explored whether respondents could readily and consistently associate visual imagery with specific conveyed meanings and identify the meanings associated with those images. We focused upon the meanings associated with three brands of jeans with distinct market positions (Diesel, Levis and Wrangler). As a point of comparison we also examined sets of non-textile brands with distinctive positions (Microsoft/Apple; Coke/Pepsi/ Jones Soda, BMW/Ford/Hummer; Nike/Reebok). We selected the following meaning dimensions for this pilot study: Gender (masculine,
feminine); Social Class (lower, middle, upper); Values (belonging, excitement, all-American, warm relationships, self-fulfillment, luxurious, respected by others, fun, cool, security, self-respect, accomplishment, sexy); Historic Period (1940s or earlier, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Today, Future); Age (Childhood, Adolescence, Young Adult, Middle Age, Elderly); Ethnicity (Anglo/Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American, Asian). We selected visual stimuli from a large online database of stock photography (Corbis), using its search engine to fit images to a subset of the brand meaning dimensions we have developed (cf. Fournier, Solomon and Englis 2007). We selected 45 photographs to represent all of the meaning dimensions and their sub-categories - as designated by the Corbis search engine. These designations thus possess external validity because these are the semantic categories art directors and other professionals specify when they search for corresponding advertising depictions.
The study was conducted in a group setting. The 45 images were sequentially projected onto a large screen via a computer projection system; respondents were given 45 seconds to look at each picture. The photographs were pictures of a variety of everyday items, such as people, buildings, social settings, and landscapes. Respondents checked any and all meaning associations the image elicited and also indicated which brands they associated with each of the images they viewed.
Impacts
In the apparel industry the linkage of brand personalities with visual images is pervasive (ranging from depictions of social types like the American cowboy to scenes like cityscapes) yet at the same time ad hoc and often left to the discretion of individual art directors. Our research program will enable us to systematically and empirically construct a visual lexicon of brand personality that can link the meanings evoked by a standardized set of images with apparel brands. The method we are developing will allow us to generate a visual meaning map for each apparel brand we study. We will analyze these meaning maps to gauge the consistency of meanings among consumers and relate them to financial and market measures of brand performance. Visual meaning maps can also inform brand managers how best to visually depict the intended meanings of their brands.
Publications
- Fournier, Susan G., Michael R. Solomon, and Basil G. Englis, Brand Resonance, in ed. Bernd Schmitt, Handbook on Brand and Experience Management, Elgar Publishing, 2007, in press.
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