IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zag/market/v31y2019i1p97-121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insights from Brand Associations: Alcohol Brands and Automotive Brands in the Mind of the Consumer

Author

Listed:
  • László Kovács

    (Eötvös Loránd University, Savaria University Centre)

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how the analysis of brand associations can help to elaborate the cognitive position of a brand. The paper compares brand associations of Hungarian consumers in two product categories, automobiles and alcoholic drinks, in two datasets. Design/Methodology/Approach – To obtain a detailed picture of a brand’s position in the mind of consumers, free brand associations to 10 alcohol and 13 automotive brands were collected, the associations were categorized, and their frequency and distribution analyzed. K-means clustering was used to identify similarities. Associations within and across product categories are compared, and shifts in associative structures are described. Findings and implications – The paper shows that associative structures differ across product categories. The two datasets (collected in 2011-2012 and 2015-2016) highlight that brand associations and thus a brand’s image change over time and that change is not only due to marketing communication – rather, media news and personal experiences also lead to change. Results confirm that positive and negative associations are likely to be connected to each brand; however, Fetscherin and Henrich’s (2014) matrix is just partly proved by associations. Finally, it is shown that strong associations can be generated by means of marketing communication, and consistent communication over the years is a prerequisite for creating strong associations. Limitations – Brand associations are only able to show the current position of brand names in a special cultural/linguistic and temporal context: thus, the present paper describes the associations for brands in Hungary and in Hungarian in the years 2011-2012 and 2015-2016. Originality – The paper compares associative structures of Hungarian consumers across and within product categories in two different datasets and shows that associative structures change over time.

Suggested Citation

  • László Kovács, 2019. "Insights from Brand Associations: Alcohol Brands and Automotive Brands in the Mind of the Consumer," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 31(1), pages 97-121.
    • Handle: RePEc:zag:market:v:31:y:2019:i:1:p:97-121
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/323069
    Download Restriction: None
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Akira Utsumi, 2015. "A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-34, August.
    2. East, Robert & Hammond, Kathy & Lomax, Wendy, 2008. "Measuring the impact of positive and negative word of mouth on brand purchase probability," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 215-224.
    3. Ernest Cyril de Run & Hiram Ting, 2013. "Generational cohorts and their attitudes toward advertising," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 25(2), pages 143-160.
    4. Philip Kotler & Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2006. "B2B Brand Management," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-44729-0, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Baxendale, Shane & Macdonald, Emma K. & Wilson, Hugh N., 2015. "The Impact of Different Touchpoints on Brand Consideration," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 235-253.
    2. Niklas Bondesson, 2012. "Brand Image Antecedents of Loyalty and Price Premium in Business Markets," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 1(1), pages 32-47, March.
    3. Philp, Matthew & Ashworth, Laurence, 2020. "I should have known better!: When firm-caused failure leads to self-image concerns and reduces negative word-of-mouth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 283-293.
    4. Wilson, Jeremy M. & Grammich, Clifford A., 2020. "Brand protection across the enterprise: Toward a total-business solution," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 363-376.
    5. Homburg, Christian & Klarmann, Martin & Schmitt, Jens, 2010. "Brand awareness in business markets: When is it related to firm performance?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 201-212.
    6. East, Robert & Uncles, Mark D. & Romaniuk, Jenni & Hand, Chris, 2014. "The decay of positive and negative word of mouth after product experience," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 350-355.
    7. Glynn, Mark S., 2012. "Primer in B2B brand-building strategies with a reader practicum," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 666-675.
    8. Rasoul Azadi & BAHRAM YOUSEFI & HOSSEIN EYDI, 2016. "The Impact of the sponsorship in the Sport in promoting brand equity of sportswear industry," International Journal of Business and Management, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 4(2), pages 19-32, May.
    9. Nguyen, Cathy & Romaniuk, Jenni, 2013. "Factors moderating the impact of word of mouth for TV and film broadcasts," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 25-29.
    10. Kocaman, Barış & Gelper, Sarah & Langerak, Fred, 2023. "Till the cloud do us part: Technological disruption and brand retention in the enterprise software industry," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 316-341.
    11. Yap, Kenneth B. & Soetarto, Budi & Sweeney, Jillian C., 2013. "The relationship between electronic word-of-mouth motivations and message characteristics: The sender’s perspective," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 66-74.
    12. Fenfang Lin & Wai-Sum Siu, 2020. "Exploring brand management strategies in Chinese manufacturing industry," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(1), pages 48-76, January.
    13. Claus, Bart & Geyskens, Kelly & Millet, Kobe & Dewitte, Siegfried, 2012. "The referral backfire effect: The identity-threatening nature of referral failure," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 370-379.
    14. Worm, Stefan & Srivastava, Rajendra K., 2014. "Impact of component supplier branding on profitability," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 409-424.
    15. Heejae Shin & Wirawan Dahana, 2017. "Asymmetric Persuasive Effects of Gain- and Loss-related Messages in Electronic Word of Mouth," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 1-82, November.
    16. Agnieszka Zablocki & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Michael J. Houston, 2019. "How valence, volume and variance of online reviews influence brand attitudes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77, June.
    17. Popovici Veronica & Muhcină Silvia & Popovici Alina Lavinia, 2018. "Traditional versus Online Marketing for B2B Organizations: Where the Line Blurs," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(1), pages 382-387, July.
    18. Zeng, Guojun & Cao, Xinning & Lin, Zhibin & Xiao, Sarah H., 2020. "When online reviews meet virtual reality: Effects on consumer hotel booking," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Agag, Gomaa & Ali Durrani, Baseer & Hassan Abdelmoety, Ziad & Mostafa Daher, Maya & Eid, Riyad, 2024. "Understanding the link between net promoter score and e-WOM behaviour on social media: The role of national culture," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    20. Malek Simon Grimm & Ralf Wagner, 2024. "Challenging the linearity assumption of intra-brand image confusion," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(2), pages 355-374, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zag:market:v:31:y:2019:i:1:p:97-121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tanja Komarac (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fefzghr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.