ICONIC BRAND: ITS COMPONENTIAL FACTORS AND IMPACTS ON BRAND COMMUNITY A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY IN SWEDEN, TAIWAN AND VIETNAM Authors: Chun Tsen Ou Le Phuoc Luong Supervisor: Vladimir Vanyushyn Students Umeå School of Business and Economics Spring semester 2012 Master thesis, two-years, 15 hp ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While doing this research, we receive help and contribution from many people. This research will not be accomplished without the help and encouragement of those people. Hence, we would like to state our gratitude and appreciation to all the people who help, support, and encourage us. First, we would like to show our great gratitude to our supervisor, Assistant Professor Vladimir Vanyushyn for the valuable suggestions and wise advices he gave us during the process.
Since we are students of Business Development Department, our supervisor’s critical marketing view and comments enhance the quality of this research. Besides, the topic of this research is new in the marketing field; there are setbacks and frustration for us in the process. Yet, because of the encouragement and motivation our supervisor gave us, we fought through the process and finish the research. In addition, we would like to thank the interviewees from Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Because of their participation, we are able to discuss and explore more on the explanation of the topic as well as the culture differences. Their ideas given through interviews are the base of our qualitative analysis. Moreover, quantitative analysis is a crucial part in this research. We got 486 accepted questionnaires in a rather short time; we appreciate our friends’ help by sending out the questionnaires as well as answering it.
Without the help of our friends and their friends, this research will never be done. Last but not least, we are thankful for all the help from the directors, lecturers, and coordinators of Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE) for the support and knowledge during our study here. The help we get is not only valuable in the research but also in our future development throughout the life. To conclude, this research will not be possible without all the help from Umeå University, our supervisor, our friends, the interviewees, as well as all the respondents of the questionnaire.
With their support, encouragements, advices and suggestions, this research is able to be completed. Chun Tsen Ou Le Phuoc Luong Page i ABSTRACT Iconic brand is a new topic in the field of branding that has started to attract researchers’ attentions; yet, it is still mostly discussed in the non-academic field. Brand community is also an evolving topic in marketing. These two new concepts are the focuses of this research.
The main subject of this research is to explore the componential factors of iconic brand and brand community and the influences of the former ones on the latter ones. Even though there are few books and articles related to iconic brand, so far no quantitative research has been conducted. Thus, in this study, quantitative method is used to explore the componential factors of iconic brand. The same method is applied to brand community as well to explore the impacts of iconic brand on brand community.
This research also accounts for a fact that cultural differences of the three countries (Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam) may affect respondents’ perceptions on the factors of iconic brand and brand community, as well as the impact levels between them. This study starts with examining the relevant literatures of branding, iconic brand, brand community, and cultural aspects of branding. Then, the hypotheses and research model are proposed based on theories. Questionnaires are distributed to Swedish, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese respondents in accordance with convenience sampling and snowball sampling.
A total collection of 486 accepted questionnaires (which includes 171 questionnaires from Sweden, 163 ones from Taiwan, and 152 ones from Vietnam) is coded and analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS. Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA) and Cronbach’s Alpha are used to test the measurement reliability and consistency. Together with them, other statistical techniques, such as ANOVA and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) are employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Semi-structured interviews are then conducted, based on the results of quantitative analysis, with six dynamic consumers from the three countries to explore further the cultural differences for the topic in Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The results show that iconic brand has three componential factors: brand personality, brand myth, and brand storytelling, while brand community has two factors: brand loyalty and emotional attachment to brand community. Also, the findings reveal that brand personality has the most positive impacts on brand loyalty while brand storytelling has the lowest positive impact on brand loyalty. Other impacts of iconic brand’s factors on brand community’s factors are positively moderate. Furthermore, both quantitative and qualitative results confirm the hypotheses of cultural differences in respondents’ perceptions (in the three countries) on iconic brand’s factors, brand community’s factors, and the positive impact levels between them.
Keywords: iconic brand, brand community, brand personality, myth, storytelling, brand loyalty, emotional attachment, cultural differences. Page ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Research objectives and questions. 7 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
The type of research. Choice of theory. Criticism of theory. 15 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW .2 Overview of branding.1 Brand and brand’s functions .1 Definition of iconic brand .2 Componential factors of iconic brand .4 Summary for componential factors of iconic brand .1 Definition of brand community .2 Benefits of brand community .3 Componential factors of brand community .2 Psychological attachment to brand community .3 Desire to contribute to brand’s success .4 Summary for componential factors of brand community .5 Impacts of iconic brand on brand community .6 Cultural aspects of branding .7 Hypotheses and Research Model.
39 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN .3 Methods of Data Collection .5 Measurements and Questionnaire Design .6 Questionnaire Pre-test .7 Methods of Data Analysis. 55 CHAPTER 5: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS .3 Factor analysis used for variables of iconic brand and brand community .1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) .2 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).4 Cronbach’s Alpha Test for Measurement Reliability.5 Impacts of the Iconic brand’s factors on the Brand community’s factors .6 Differences in Assessments of Iconic brand and Brand community among Swedish, Taiwanese and Vietnamese respondents .1 Differences in Assessments of Iconic brand’s factors among the respondents .1 Differences in Assessments of Brand personality.2 Differences in Assessments of Brand myth .3 Differences in Assessments of Brand storytelling .4 Differences in Assessments of all three Iconic brand’s factors .2 Differences in Assessment of Brand community among the respondents .1 Differences in Assessments of Brand loyalty .2 Differences in Assessments of Emotional attachment to brand community .3 Differences in Assessments of the two Brand community’s factors.3 Differences in Impacts of Iconic brand on Brand community perceived by different respondents .7 Analysis of the quantitative results with ideas of the dynamic consumers through semi- structured interviews .1 Elimination of Variables .2 SEM Result of Iconic Brand and Brand Community .3 National Comparison on factors of Iconic Brand and Brand Community .2 Overall Impacts of Iconic Brand on Brand Community .1 Brand personality has high impact on brand loyalty (0.2 Brand personality has moderate impact on emotional attachment (0.3 Brand myth has moderate impacts on brand loyalty and emotional attachment .4 Brand storytelling has low impact on brand loyalty (0.06) and moderate impact on emotional attachment (0.3 Cultural Differences of Iconic Brand and Brand Community Perceptions .4 Cross Cultural Comparison of the Iconic Brand Impacts on Brand Community .3 Contributions of the study .4 Recommendations for marketing practitioners .5 Limitations of research. KK Page vi LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Key words for search literature sources .1: Comparison of four branding models’ concepts .2: Componential factors of iconic brand .3: Componential factors of brand community.4: Hofstede’s Cultural Differences on Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam.2: Measurements used for personal information .3: Summary of contents and measurements of the questionnaire’s main part .4: Criteria in EFA used for this research.5: Criteria in Cronbach’s Alpha Test used for this research.6: Criteria for CFA and SEM model fit.1: EFA for variables of iconic brand and brand community .2: Cronbach’s Alpha Test for measurements of iconic brand and brand community .3: Scores for the variables of brand personality .4: Scores for the variables of brand myth .5: Scores of variables of brand storytelling .6: Scores of iconic brand’s three factors .7: ANOVA test for differences in mean values of iconic brand’s factors given by three groups of respondents .8: Scores of variables of brand loyalty .9: Scores of variables of emotional attachment .10: Scores of brand community’s two factors .11: ANOVA test for differences in mean values of brand community’s factors given by three groups of respondents.12: Results of hypothesis tests. 74 Page vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Indexes of five dimensions of cultural differences among Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam .2: The research structure .1: Adapted Research Onion for this study .3: Process of Deduction .4: Relationships between research types.1: Structure of Literature Review .2: Cross-cultural advertising .3: Research Model of Iconic Brand and Brand Community .1: The process of data collection and analysis .2: The process of quantitative data analysis .1: The most iconic brand according to sample respondents .2: Sample distributions of Nationality, Age, and Gender .3: CFA for variables of iconic brand and brand community .4: SEM for Iconic brand’s factors and Brand community’s factors .5: Impacts of the iconic brand’s factors on the brand community’s factors in accordance with three kinds of nationality .1: The impacts of Iconic Brand on Brand Community .2: Comparison of iconic brand’s factor scores .3 Comparison of brand community’s factor scores .4: Cross cultural impacts of Iconic Brand’s Factors on Brand Community’s Factors.
85 Page viii GLOSSARY Cultural A set of empirical strategic principles for achieving an iconic brand. In branding this model, communications are considered as the key tool for constructing customer values. Customers purchase the products to experience the communicated stories. Iconic brand A brand that achieves the status of an icon in consumers’ society at a cultural level.
An iconic brand does not only reflect people and the time they live, but also offer myths that support to resolve the society’s contradictions. More than that, an iconic brand can be a channel for consumers to express their desires and relieve the social anxiety. Brand A group of loyal consumers who exchange their opinions about the community brand in any kind of form: forums/clubs formed by customers, forums/clubs formed by companies… It can be a virtual or physical community of the brand. Brand Distinctive traits of a brand which are associated with human personality characteristics.
Myth A story which can resolve cultural contradictions and evolve with the corresponding culture. Storytelling A way of telling story that helps with brand positioning; having four elements: well-outlined story, authenticity, skepticism, and charismatic aesthetic. Page ix “Great brand is a story that’s never completely told. A brand is a metaphorical story that connects with something very deep – a fundamental appreciation of mythology.
Stories create the emotional context people need to locate themselves in a larger experience.” Scott Bedbury, Worldwide Advertising Director at Nike. Page x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Problem background It has been talked for many years that branding is the better way to generate values for companies.12) states that building a brand is a long-term project that facilitates a brand to be stable and less vulnerable. Brands like Harley-Davidson, Apple, and Coca Cola last long since they have strong brand power (Aaker, 2010, p.
The power of these brands seems to be a result of some special branding processes which make these brands unique and distinct from other brands. Thus, the question is that what makes those brands different from other brands. This question becomes the starting point of this study. While the authors of this study research on relevant literatures, the term “iconic brand” shows up.
Before mentioning about iconic brand, this study starts with the definition of a cultural icon.
