Brand Personality

Brand Personality
Sensitive management of a brand’s archetypal image is critical to the well
being of a brand and key to reversing the tide of ebbing brand loyalty.
Cognitive scientists  say all our store  of personal
knowledge   is   ultimately    traceable    to   brain-
mediated  models  of  the  self,  and  of  the  self  in
relationship  to  other things. We use  these models
as  metaphors  to  help  us  understand  what  exists
independently  of  us.  Consciousness  then,  is  a
sensation of the self.
To illustrate,  images represented by  the  words
up  and  down  draw  from  our  earliest  spatial
experiences.   As   infants,   help  comes   to  us
mostly  from above—mother  reaching down  to
feed us,    play  with us,  and  to  take  us  out of
our   cribs   into   her   arms.   These   early   life
experiences become metaphors that contribute
to  a  more positive  bias  to  the concept  of  up
than   the   concept   of   down.   When   we   are
happy,  we are  up.  When we  are sad,  we are
down.  When  sales  are  strong,  they  are  up.
When sales are weak, they are down. We place
God up in the heavens, and  the Devil down in
Hell.  Thus,  cognitive  scientists  propose  that
immaterial  thought  in  our  minds  is  linked  to
the material substance of our bodies.
We    have    had    uneasiness    about    the
relationship   between   mind   and   body   ever
since  Rene  Descartes  put   them  asunder  in
formulating modern scientific methodology. In
Descartes’    schemata,   pure   mind   had   no
connection with  the body.  Mind was  a  misty
realm with no temporal foundation, and came
to  be  widely  known   in  philosophy  as   the
“ghost  in  the  machine.”  It  had  no  corporeal
substance.  Descartes  argued  that  only  when
the mind operates  independently of  emotions
can    mental    output    be    trusted.    So,    he
separated   body   from   mind,   emotion   from
reason. Reason was raised up in human affairs,
while emotion was put down.
Descartes’  Error
In    his    book,    Descartes’    Error,    Antonio
Damasio  reports  intriguing  results  from  over
two decades  of research into the operations of
reason    and     emotion    that     have    major
implications  for  both  customer  research  and
marketing  practice.  Damasio,  who  heads  up
(not  down)  the  neurology  department  at  the
University  of  Iowa, studies  patients  who  are
rather like Star Trek’s Mr. Spock. Brain  trauma
has  robbed them of  their emotional capacities
while  leaving  reasoning  abilities  fully  intact.
Despite     normal    comprehension,     memory
acuity   and   reasoning   abilities,   Damasio’s
patients  have  a  hard  time  making  decisions
about  matters  in  which  they  have  a  stake  in
the outcome. Their brains cannot  form models
of self and the relationship of self to the world
beyond  their  bodies.  They  cannot  cognitively
connect  themselves with  others.  Their lack  of
emotionality  deprives  them  of  a  connectable
self.
Marketers   should   not   be   surprised   that
Damasio’s  patients  cannot  form relationships
with    brands.     Most    seasoned     marketers
already  know   that  customers’  relationships
with  brands   have  emotional  underpinnings.
Customer relationships with  brands  are never
based  on  reason, yet few  organizations strive
to understand the emotional dynamics of their
customers’ relationships with their brands.
Carl Jung’s Ideas Gain Credibility
For   many   decades,   the   ideas   of   Swiss
psychologist Carl Jung were out at the edges of
mainstream    behavioral   science.    His   most
influential    contribution    to    the    study    of
behavior was probably his construct of basic
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 1
personality types  that  became the foundation
of  the widely  used Meyers-Briggs  personality
assessment.   But  relatively   few  behaviorists
gave   serious   attention   to   Jung’s   idea   that
people come into the world bearing archetypes.
Archetypes  are not  pictures and  sounds or
other sensory images stored  in brain cells like
a  song  stored  on  tape  or  undeveloped  film
stored   in   a   camera.   In   Damasio’s   terms,
archetypes   are   modeled   in   the   brain   as
dispositions  in clusters  of  dispositional  neurons.
Like  a  violin’s  strings disposed  to  acoustically
respond to the stimulus of the violinist’s bow,
the brain  contains  myriad clusters  of  neurons
that are disposed to respond to given stimuli.
We  arrive in  this  world  with vast  numbers
of  clusters of dispositional  neurons. When we
are hungry as infants, clusters  of dispositional
neurons  that   are  already  organized   in  our
brains   prompt  us   to  cry.   When  hunger   is
relieved   with   food,   inherited   dispositional
neurons prompt us to please mother with coos
and smiles. In so pleasing mother, we reinforce
her caring for us. We trigger the flow of  mood
uplifting  oxytocin—sometimes  called  the  love
chemical—which  mother  can  get  more  of  by
giving  us  more  care.  Pictures  of  infants  in
family  photo  albums  and  also  in  advertising
can  trigger  oxytocin,  although  in  much  lower
amounts.
As  we develop from infancy, we constantly
add   to  the  count   of  dispositional  neurons
through  the  experiences  we  have  and  their
memorization. But underlying all dispositional
neurons  acquired  by experience  are  those  we
are  born  with,  including  those  that  represent
Jung’s  archetypes,  awaiting  some  future  time
to   be    aroused.   A    marketer    could   view
dispositional  neurons as  “hot  buttons,”  some
of  which can trigger predisposed responses  to
the contents of the marketer’s message.
Archetypal “Hot Buttons”
In   another   web   site   article,   Listening   to
Customers, we describe a customer relationship
methodology  called  Developmental
Relationship     Marketing     or     DRM.     The
foundations of  DRM are  based  on archetypal
structures    that     predispose    attributes    of
behavior.  A  fundamental  premise  of  DRM  is
that  marketers should strive  to  key into these
archetypal  “hot  buttons”  in  every  marketing
campaign to arouse interest among the greatest
number of customers.
However,      more       commonly,      product
messages mainly key into superficial attributes
of     customers,    attributes     that     are     not
archetypal.  This  narrows  a  product’s  market
to    customers   with    those   attributes.    The
broader  approach  of  keying  into  archetypes
enlarges   a  product’s   market  to   encompass
everyone    with   a    need   for    the   product,
regardless        of       individual,        superficial
distinctions.  In  this  respect,  DRM  raises  this
counterintuitive proposition:
Relationship  marketing,   especially  in
its  application  to  mass  marketing,  is
more  effective  when  based on  customer
commonalities  rather  than on  customer
differences  as  argued  by  proponents  of
traditional   relationship  or   one-to-one
marketing.
That  is  not to say  that  customer differences
do  not  have  a  role  in  relationship  marketing.
They     do.     In     fact,      keying     marketing
communications   to   customer   differences   is
essential      to     building     strong,     enduring
relationships  with   customers.  However,  the
foundations    of    relationship    or    one-to-one
marketing   should   reflect   universal   human
properties.
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 2
Coca-Cola  has  been particularly effective in
building    relationships   with    customers   by
connecting  with  their  commonalities.  In  the
1970s,   Coke  introduced  a  new  theme  song
with the words,  “I’d like to build the world a
home  and  furnish  it  with  love/Grow  apple
trees  and  honeybees  and  snow  white  turtle
doves.”  The  images  invoked  by  those  words
key    to    archetypal   desires—every    normal
person   has   them.   The   song   enjoyed   such
popular success that it ran for six years.
Michelin     also     connects     to     universal
commonalities  with its  depiction of  a  smiling
infant  sitting  in  a  tire  or  in  cherubic  ascent
against   a    blue   sky.    Invoking   the   Infant
archetype  (a  link  to  the  future  that  must  be
safeguarded   for   the  good   of   the   species),
Michelin’s  product   messages  spell  “safety”
without the word ever being used. It paves the
way  for  an  array  of  motivating  responses,
such as,  “I  want  to  protect  my  family,”  or “I
want to show that  I am a responsible person.”
Those thoughts may not rise in consciousness,
but they work in the background to help shape
customers’ archetypal reactions to Michelin ads.
Power Brands Project Strong,
Unambiguous  Archetypal  Images
Growing   interest   in   archetypes   signals   a
major  transformation  in  marketers’  attitudes
about  the misty regions behind the curtains of
consciousness.  Everyone  is  looking  for  new
answers.    Increasing    disappointment    with
traditional customer research is causing greater
tolerance  of  nontraditional ideas  and  making
it  more acceptable to  talk  about archetypes in
mainstream business.
In  their trailblazing  book, The  Hero and  The
Outlaw,  Margaret  Mark  and  Carol  Pearson
assert   that   12   archetypes   dominate   brand
genre.  They  base  their  claim  on  an  extensive
quantitative  analysis  of  brand  archetypes  in
which  they  identified  major  archetypes  and
examples of  brands that  invoke them (Exhibit
1 contains a sampling).
Archetypes and Their Primary Functions in People’s Lives Exhibit 1
Oprah’s Book Club Understand their world Sage
Levi’s Maintain  independence Explorer
Ivory Retain or renew faith Innocent
Calgon Affect  transformation Magician
Harley-Davidson Break the rules Outlaw
Nike Act  courageously Hero
Hallmark Find and give love Lover
Wendy’s Be OK just as they are Regular Guy/Gal
Miller Lite Have a good time Jester
American Express Exert control Ruler
AT & T (Ma Bell) Care for others Caregiver
Williams-Sonoma Craft something new Creator
Brand Example Helps  People Archetype
Source: The Hero and the Outlaw by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson, McGraw-Hill, 2001
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 3
In  another  web  site  article,  Speaking  with
Customers,   we   discuss   how   storytelling   is
becoming  the  heart  of  marketing.  Archetypes
play critical  roles in a storyteller’s tale. Stories
with  characters  that  have  weak  archetypal
definition  lack  dimension  and  will  likely  not
command   much   of  an   audience.   Similarly,
brands  with  weak  archetypal  definition  are
less  likely  to  have  strong  relationships  with
customers.Reflecting  the  idea  that  archetypes
help  us  find  meaning  in  what  we  encounter,
Mark   and   Pearson   call   brand   husbandry
meaning  management.  Product  messages  are
about  managing  the   meanings  of  products,
including their connections to customers in the
deeper    zones    of     their    existence    where
archetypes    exist    and    function.    Sensitive
management of  a  brand’s  archetypal  image is
critical to the well being of a brand, as a recent
Coke ad campaign demonstrates.
Coke’s  core archetype  is  the  Innocent. Red,
white and blue, all  things true. (Remember the
tagline,  “It’s  the  real  thing.”)  In  late  2000,
Coke  left  the  Innocent  archetype  reservation,
so  to  speak.  Looking  to  move  into  Pepsi’s
youth   market,   Coke   ran   several   edgy   TV
commercials   showing   people  throwing   ugly
tantrums  after  asking  for  a  Coke  and  being
told     Coke     was     not     available.     These
commercials   could   have  worked   for   Pepsi
with  its  Jester  archetype  image.  But  not  for
Coke. Coke  fans  around the  country phoned,
mailed  and  emailed  their   outrage  over  the
compromise    of   Coke,    the   Innocent.    The
spontaneity   of  negative   response  indicated
that  the commercials irritated something deep
within people’s psyches.  It struck them wrong
in  their gut.    The  meaning of  Coke’s Innocent
archetypal  image  was  not  well  managed  in
this case.
Coke’s     recent     experience     with     edgy
commercials    argues    a    critical    truth    in
marketing     that     has     not     been     widely
understood  and  appreciated—customers  own
brands, not  companies. Companies are only the
trustees of the brands they create for customer
consumption,    materially    and     perceptually.
When  a  company  changes  or  compromises  a
brand’s  persona,  it  invites  negative  reactions
from  customers who  have  identified with  the
persona of that brand.
While  Mark  and  Pearson  correctly  observe
that  a  brand  does  best  by  being  identifiable
with  a  single,  unambiguous  core  archetype,
product messages can also associate the brand
with  other  archetypes.  Done  in  a  way  that
does    not    compromise    the    brand’s    core
archetype,  this  will  broaden  market  appeal.
Brands, like people should not be held to some
rigid  expression of  persona.  As  social  beings,
we  continuously  shift  from  one  persona  to
another    in    our   interactions    with    others.
Healthy   brands   do   the   same,   frequently
through  surrogates—human  and  even  animal
and  cartoon characters  in broadcast  and print
advertising.  However, care  needs  to  be  taken
to   avoid   surrogates   who   conflict   with   a
brand’s  core  archetype,  as  happened  in  the
Coke example above.
Wild About Harry
The    California-based    HMO,    PacifiCare,
whose Medicare customers are primarily mid-
middle    class    and    a    bit    lower,   ran    an
astonishingly   successful   commercial   for   its
Medicare   brand,   Secure   Horizons.   In   the
commercial, a character  named Harry projects
the  Sage  archetype,  as  he  tends  his  plants
while   talking   about   how   Secure   Horizons
made it possible to give his wife topnotch care
with  a  minimum  of  financial  and  emotional
distress. Another Harry commercial was made
with similar success. Customers were just wild
about Harry.
The   success  of   this  customer-to-customer
approach    in    getting    its    message    across
inspired PacifiCare to develop several new TV
commercials   with   different   actors.   In   one
commercial, the  starring character  delivered a
similar  message  about  Secure  Horizons  as  he
handled   an   ornate   clock   from   his   clock
collection.   In   another   commercial,   the   star
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 4
character  was  involved  with  a  horse.  When
both commercials failed expectations, we were
asked to analyze them for why.
The  personas   of  the  clock   hobbyist  and
horse  enthusiast  did  not  reflect  PacifiCare’s
core  market.  Harry’s  persona  was  more  in
sync  with  Secure  Horizon’s  core  market.  He
had  an  unhoned earthiness  and  an  authentic
personality  with  a  hint  of  benign  blue  collar
demeanor.     Harry     was     a     huggie     bear
personality  the  market  liked—no,  loved.  The
other  two  characters  were  too  refined.  Harry
was lovable, the other characters respectable.
The     importance     of     matching     actors’
personas  to customers seems so obvious as to
not  warrant  discussion.  Yet,   as   Mark  and
Pearson  observe  in  The  Hero  and  the  Outlaw,
creators  of  marketing  messages  routinely  fail
to   do   so.  This   supports   the   idea  that   if
creators  of  marketing  messages  had  a  better
understanding    of    human   behavior,    many
disappointing  results  in  marketing  could  be
avoided.
Archetypes  need   to  be  chosen   and  their
meanings     managed     with     sensitivity     to
customers’ season of life. As examples  of such
sensitivity,  Harley Davidson’s  “Outlaw”  and
Nike’s  “Hero”  clearly are  expressed  in  terms
of the behavioral proclivities in late Spring and
throughout   Summer.   On   the   other   hand,
Hallmark’s   Lover   has   been   developed   to
appeal  to  customers  in  every  season  of  life.
Keeping in  mind that  brand stories  with their
archetypal  characters  help customers  process
their  lives,  it  is  critically  important  that  the
primary  survival  focus  and  story  themes  of
each  season  of  life  be  taken  into  account  in
managing   archetypal   meanings.   To   repeat
those   survival   focuses   and   story   themes,
which are described in more detail in Speaking
with Customers:
Irony Reconciliation (making sense of life) Winter
Tragic
Romantic
Comedic
Story Theme
Play (learning)
Work-play (search for meaning) Fall
Work (becoming somebody) Summer
Spring
Primary Survival Focus Season
The  primary  survival  focus  of  each  season
provides   clues   as   to   content   of   product
messages,  while  the  story  theme  of  a  season
gives   guidance    for   the   style    of   content
presentation.   It   is   not   uncommon   for   a
product   message   to   use   an   inappropriate
message  voice  for  otherwise  sound  content.  A
hotel    television    commercial    that    yielded
unhappy  results  is  an  example.  The  content
was    sound:    a    waiting    staff    and    hotel
ambiance   would  help   relieve  the   stress  of
business  travel.  But  the  message  voice  was
wrong.   The  depiction   of  an   irate  business
traveler on his way  to  the hotel, blocked on a
narrow  road  by  the  car  of  an  elderly  couple
squabbling    as    their    vehicle    crept    along,
offended  seniors, a significant clientele for the
hotel. People don’t lose their sense of humor in
Winter,  but  they  do  have  humor  preferences
that   don’t   always   coincide   with   those   of
young      people      who      create      television
commercials.  Most  people  in  the  Winter  of
their  lives  generally do  not  appreciate  humor
that  makes  a  person  or  class  of  people  look
silly or stupid.  This is also  true for many who
are in the Fall of their lives. The kinder, gentler
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 5
edge  that  commonly  emerges  in  the  Fall  and
Winter   of  life   changes  what   is  considered
funny.
The Brand Personality Book: Insurance
Against  Marketing  Blunders
Advertising  blunders  happen,  but  a  brand
personality   book   can   significantly   reduce
chances  of  that  happening.  Large  companies
take  great pains to  protect  their logos through
detailed   instructions   in   manuals   of   logo
presentation,       but       rarely       give       such
institutionalized   attention   to   protection   of
brand image in marketing communications. As
a   result,   product   messages   often   contain
conflicting personality images.
A  brand   personality  book   is  a   book  of
personality sketches. It defines the personality
attributes  of a  brand’s core archetypes and  of
the complimentary  archetypal  characters  that
may be projected into the marketplace through
surrogates.  The  character  sketches  should  be
developed  with keen  sensitivity to  variations
in    worldviews,     needs    and     motivations
between the four seasons  of  life. For example,
if  a  brand’s  core  archetype  is  the  Hero,  the
Hero  could  be  suitably  projected  into  youth
markets  with  narcissistic  overtones  to  imply
that   the   brand  can   augment   a   customer’s
social  standing. Nike does this  as  well as any
one does.
However, when the Hero represents a brand
with  a  strong  customer  base  in later  Summer
and older markets, it may be more effective to
project   the   Hero  with   altruistic   overtones.
Coke’s famous  “Mean Joe  Green” commercial
in   which   sports    bad    boy   Joe   Green   is
humanized by a small  boy’s offer of a  Coke is
a  compelling example  of  a  Hero presentation
with altruistic overtones.
Conducting   an   historical   assessment   of
personality    attributes    can     help    in    the
development  of   a  brand   personality  book.
This ensures continuity between  the past  and
the  present  should  a  decision  be  made  to
change  a  brand’s  personality  to  any  degree.
Often,  when  a  brand  appears  to  be  losing its
edge in  the marketplace, the agency  of  record
is  fired, and  a  new one brought in that feels  it
must  redefine  the  brand.  The  existing  brand
persona and  customers who identified with it
are  often  ignored  in  new  research  that  the
agency  uses  to  justify  a  new  brand  persona.
Miller  Lite  played  out  this  scenario  a  few
years  ago   when  it   launched  its   “Dick  the
copywriter” campaign  in which  it  lampooned
advertising.     The  campaign  hued   to  Miller
Lite’s  Jester  archetype,  but  went  too  far  into
the   realm   of   silliness,   and   worse,   into   a
farcical   regard   for   advertising   itself.   Sales
continued to fall.
Customer     research     will    obviously     be
necessary  to  learn  how  customers  currently
perceive the brand’s  personality. The research
may indicate a need to make changes in brand
personality along the lines of  what  Starbuck’s
Scott Bedbury meant when he said,   “A brand
is  a  metaphorical story  that’s  evolving  all  the
time.”  In  some  cases,  it  may  be  advisable  to
return  to  an  earlier personality  profile  as  the
Jack-in-the-Box brand  did  a  few years  ago to
rebuild sales after the company served tainted
hamburger meat to customers.
Developing  a  brand personality  book  is  an
exercise    in   applied    psychology.   Someone
should  manage  the  project  who  has  a  sound
footing in behavior. The advertising agency for
any   major   brand   has   a   team   of   account
planners   who  are   suited  for   managing  the
development   of  a   brand  personality   book.
Generally    speaking,    independent    research
houses that  specialize in quantitative research
are   not   the   best  candidates   for   the   task,
although  the  project  may  justify  quantitative
research.
Account planners, by tradition, tend to have
a  stronger  behavioral  orientation  than  most
quantitative     researchers.     Many     account
planners   are   now   drawing   extensively   on
anthropological research techniques to observe
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 6
attributes of customers’ behavior that may not
be revealed by their direct testimony. In fact, it
would   be   worthwhile   to   add    a   cultural
anthropologist   to   the  team   developing   the
brand  personality   book.  The  services   of  a
Jungian   analyst   should  also   be   considered
because of  his or her intimate familiarity with
archetypes and Jungian personality types.
A  brand personality book can be invaluable
in   managing   the   meanings  of   a   brand   by
decreasing  the  influence  of  raw  opinion  on
marketing  decisions.  It  contains  benchmarks
against  which  every  campaign  and  product
message  can  be  assessed.   Movie  producers
have directors of  continuity to  make sure that
everything   hangs   together   in   a   film.   The
“continuing  metaphorical  story  of  a  brand”
should  be  given  similar  attention.  The  brand
personality  book  is  a  tool  to  help  maintain
continuity in a brand’s story  because it makes
it  more difficult  to  stray  from the  archetypal
reservation  without  solid  evidence  for  doing
so.
Why Brand Loyalty is Falling and What To
Do About It
Failure   to    appreciate    the   psychological
dimensions     of     brand     connections    with
customers’ psyches  may well be be one of  the
biggest  factors  in  the widely  reported decline
in  brand  loyalty.  Broad  consensus  once  held
that  promoting  product features  and  benefits
was  key  to  getting  customers  to  distinguish
between   brands.  It   has  now   become  more
difficult to distinguish brands by their features
and  benefits because  brands  within  the same
general    price     range    usually     have    few
differences.
Some  observers  think  product  parity  has
eroded  the importance  of  branding  products.
Most  companies  and  their customers  will not
be well served by  embracing this  view. Brand
loyalty has fallen largely because marketers, in
an  era in which product features and  benefits
have  become   less  influential   on  customers’
decisions,      have      not      developed      new
approaches      for      presenting     brands      to
customers. So, if product features and benefits
are not enough to bond a customer to a brand,
what  will?  What  is  the key to  halting decline
in brand loyalty?
Customers   are   attracted   to   brands   with
interesting  personalities,  the  same  way  they
are    attracted    to    people   with    interesting
personalities.    Steve    Jobs    brought    Apple
Computer back  from its deathbed  by focusing
on  the  personalities  of  the  company  and  its
products.    The    tagline    “Think    different”
aligned    the    company    with    breakthrough
thought  that  reflected  its  Outlaw  archetype.
Repackaging Apple  computers in fruit colored
cases   made   the  product  the   most  visually
engaging computer on the market.
Arguments  have been  waged for  years over
whether or not customers identify with brands
as  personalities.  New  insights  into  how  the
brain     works     and     research     by     media
communication  researchers  Byron Reeves  and
Clifford  Nass,   published  in  their   book  the
Media   Equation,   goes    far   to   resolve    the
argument.    It    can    now    be    stated    with
confidence    that    brands,    like    any    other
inanimate   object,   are   personalities.   People
react  to  brands  using  the  same  social  rules
they use in reacting to each other.
Across  12 years  of  research, which included
brain      scans      and      other     sophisticated
techniques,  Reeves  and  Nass  learned  that  at
the  deeper levels  of  brain functioning,  people
respond to depictions of reality using the same
rules they  use in  responding to  actual  reality.
To  the  brain,  in  its  preconscious  activities,
“People  presented  in media  are  perceived  as
actually  present,”  they  write.  This holds  true
for  what  is  happening  in  the  environment  of
people     shown     in    media.     A     depicted
thunderstorm  is  a  real  thunderstorm—not  to
the conscious mind of  course, but certainly to
the more primitive levels of the brain.
To   better  appreciate   how  the   brain  and
conscious  mind  can  differ  as  to  what  is  real
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 7
and  what  is  not  real,  think  about  how  you
react  while watching an  intense action  film or
mystery  thriller.  While  your  conscious  mind
tells you it is  only a  movie, your brain pumps
out  adrenalin,  ratchets  up  your  heart  beat,
dries  up  saliva  flow,   changes  your  muscle
tone—all  of  which  are  ancient,  predisposed
responses to danger. Your primitive brain does
not   know  that   what  is   happening  on   the
screen  is  not  a  threat,  so  it  reorganizes  your
body chemistry to prepare for fight or flight.
Reeves    and    Nass’s    work    leads    to    a
conclusion  of  great  significance  in  marketing:
people  do  not  consciously anthropomorphize
inanimate   objects.   Inanimate   objects   enter
consciousness      already      bearing      human
attributes.  The  brain  divines  those  attributes
before it brings awareness of an object into the
conscious  mind.  Keeping  in  mind  the  earlier
discussion about  how  all  personal knowledge
is  traceable to  metaphors drawn from our self
awareness,  it  is  completely  logical  that  the
brain  sees  inanimate  objects  in  terms  of  our
self-aware humanness. In other words, the
only  way  we  can  relate to  a  brand  is  by  our
brain    reacting   to    it   as    though   it    were
human—like ourselves.
The issue of product parity aside, promoting
product features and benefits worked better in
the past when markets were youth-dominated.
As  discussed  in  our  website  article, The  New
Customer Majority, young  minds operate  more
objectively;   therefore    promoting   the   more
measurable aspects of  features and  benefits in
the  past  was  more  effective than  it  is  today.
Adults  in  the  Fall  and  Winter  of  their  lives
dominate   today’s   customer   universe.   They
have  developed  into   more  subjective,  more
qualitative,   and  more   relationship  sensitive
customers. They have no compelling interest in
staying in relationships with  brands  that  lack
interesting personalities. The present condition
of  declining brand loyalty was  predictable for
that  reason.  The  remedy  for  declining  brand
loyalty    begins    with    giving    brands    more
interesting personalities.
u u u
David Wolfe is a principal of Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC and author of Serving The Ageless
Market, McGraw-Hill, 1990. His latest book, The New Customer Majority, will be published by
Dearborn in 2003.
© 2002 Booth Morgan Consulting, LLC Page 8

Influence of Brand Name on Consumer Decision in Car Choice

    
  



Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE)
Department of Business Administration
Masters: Thesis
Spring: 2008
Supervisor:  Per Nilsson
Author:  Tanveer Hasan







Influence of Brand Name on Consumer Decision
 in Car Choice




















  LIST OF CONTENTS
  





First, I like to thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to come to Umea and completing the
Master degree, I like to thank my grand mother, my parents and my brothers and sisters with
whom prayers I could manage to accomplish this academic work. I like to specially thank my
younger  brother  for  his  understanding  and  constant  support  during  my  stay  in  Umeå.
Especially the helping hand my supervisor Per Nilsson lent to me through out the thesis. And
of course the encouragement from my friends which fueled my zeal.


Umeå, February 2008
Tanveer Hasan



































  LIST OF CONTENTS
  
Page

1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Background of the Problem ......................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Question ........................................................................................................ 5
1.3 Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 5
1.4 Demarcations ............................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Limitations  .................................................................................................................. 5

2. Research Philosophy ...................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Choice of subject .......................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Preconceptions ............................................................................................................. 6
2.3 Perspective ................................................................................................................... 7
2.4 Secondary Sources collections...................................................................................... 8
2.5 Literature Search and review ........................................................................................ 8
2.6 Evaluation of written sources ....................................................................................... 8
2.7 Scientific Ideals ............................................................................................................ 8
2.8 Scientific Approach .................................................................................................... 10

3. Theoretical Frame ......................................................................................................... 11
3.1.1 Brand Equity ........................................................................................................... 11
3.1.2 Brand Loyalty ......................................................................................................... 14
3.1.3 Name Awareness ..................................................................................................... 14
3.1.4 Perceived Quality .................................................................................................... 15
3.1.5 Brand Association ................................................................................................... 16
3.1.5 Propriety brand assets .............................................................................................. 16
3.2 Emotional branding .................................................................................................... 17
3.2.1 Pricing Strategy ....................................................................................................... 17
3.2.2 Brand Name ............................................................................................................ 18
3.2.3 Logos and Symbols ................................................................................................. 19
3.2.4 Experience .............................................................................................................. 19
3.2.5 Self-esteem.............................................................................................................. 20


  LIST OF CONTENTS
  
Page

3.3 Consumer Behavior .................................................................................................... 21
3.3.1 Complex buying behavior ....................................................................................... 21
3.3.2 Dissonance reducing buying behavior ..................................................................... 22
3.3.3 Habitual buying behavior ........................................................................................ 22
3.3.4 Variety seeking buying behavior ............................................................................. 22
3.4. Consumer decision making ....................................................................................... 23
3.4.1 Decision Rules ........................................................................................................ 23
3.4.2 Non compensatory decision rule .............................................................................. 24
3.4.3 Compensatory decision rule..................................................................................... 24
3.4.4 Social Class ............................................................................................................. 25
3.4.5 Conspicuous consumption ....................................................................................... 26
3.4.6 Purchase Intention ................................................................................................... 26

4. COURSE OF ACTION ....................................................................................... 27
4.1 Survey on the automobile brands ................................................................................ 27
4.2 Questionnaire design .................................................................................................. 28
4.3 Method for data collecting .......................................................................................... 28
4.4 The Survey ................................................................................................................. 29
4.5 Selection Frame ......................................................................................................... 29
4.6 Gathering the empirical data ....................................................................................... 30
4.7 Data Processing of the primary source ........................................................................ 30
4.8 Evaluation of the sources............................................................................................ 30

5. Empirical FINDINGS.......................................................................................... 31
5.1 Respondent’s demographic information Empirical analysis and result ........................ 31
5.2 Ownership of specific car brand ................................................................................. 33
5.3 Information search before buying ............................................................................... 34
5.4 Purchase Decision ...................................................................................................... 34
5.5 Most important attribute considered before buying ..................................................... 35
5.6 Number of brands car consider before buying ............................................................ 36


  LIST OF CONTENTS
  
Page

5.7 Opinion seeking ......................................................................................................... 36
5.8 Information search about well known brand ............................................................... 37
5.9 Consideration lesser known brand .............................................................................. 38
5.10 Quality consideration  .............................................................................................. 38
5.11 Branded products have better quality ........................................................................ 39
5.12 Brands signify the status ........................................................................................... 39
5.13 Branded products define social class ........................................................................ 40
5.14 Importance of brand name relative to desired attribute .............................................. 41
5.15 Preferences of branded products ............................................................................... 41
5.16 Lesser known brand is not always inferior quality .................................................... 42
5.17 Importance of brand logo ......................................................................................... 42
5.18 Enhancement of self esteem through brand ............................................................... 43
5.19 Ranking of car .......................................................................................................... 43

6. Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 45
6.1 Brand Equity .............................................................................................................. 45
6.2 Brand Loyalty ............................................................................................................ 45
6.3 Perceived quality and brand association ..................................................................... 46
6.4 Brand awareness ........................................................................................................ 47
6.5 Emotional Branding ................................................................................................... 48
6.6 Brand name and symbol of the brand.......................................................................... 48
6.7 Experience ................................................................................................................. 49
6.8 Self esteem ................................................................................................................. 49
6.9 Price strategy.............................................................................................................. 50
6.10 Consumer behavior .................................................................................................. 50
6.11 Decision making ...................................................................................................... 51
6.12 Social class............................................................................................................... 52
6.13 Concluding discussion .............................................................................................. 53
7. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 54
7.1 Scope for further research .......................................................................................... 56


  LIST OF CONTENTS
  
Page

8. CREDIBILITY CRITERIA ...................................................................................... 57
8.1 Validity  ..................................................................................................................... 57
8.2 Reliability .................................................................................................................. 57
8.3 Generalizability .......................................................................................................... 58

LIST OF REFERENCES ....................................................................................... 59
APPENDIX (Survey Questions) .................................................................................. 63
Key  Words:  Branding,  Brand  Equity,  Emotional  Branding,  Consumer  Decision  making,
Consumer Behavior.






  
    























  
ABSTRACT

In the present developing and modern day world, consumerism has dominated all the aspects
of life. The  life  in the society  follows the pattern of the  capitalist culture where the  human
values have a different measure, ‘you are known by what you have not by what you are’. This
naturally  leads  to  the life  in  a  society  where everyone  wants  to  have  a unique place  in  the
society, by possessing the things which sets them apart from the rest of people in the society.

In present society and living way, the Brands not only represent the symbol of the company or
product but to a larger extent define the  general  life of a person. What the person uses can
reflect  his  taste  of  life,  his status  in  the  society,  his  economic  background  and many  other
things. This makes a deep connection between the company and its brand, with the consumer.
In this two way relation both are dependent on each other for various different reasons.
  
In today’s time customers are very deeply connected to the brands. When they purchase any
product like a car, mobile, items of daily need, brand name influence the consumer’s choice.
Some customers purchase the specific branded things just due to the brand name. Customers
believe that brand name is a symbol of quality.

I found this interesting and wanted to find out whether brand name influences the consumer
choice when they go for purchasing any product. I chose to for the specific product because
this is one of the products which got my attention because of many reasons. Initially the car
production  was  dominated  by  few  companies and one or  two  countries.  With  the time,  the
market started to grow and once considered to be luxurious commodity, cars became a need
rather than a choice. This increased the demand and with that many more companies entered
the  arena  to  have  their  share  of  profit  and  exploit  the  growing  market.  This  made  the
companies to put more efforts and money to creating brand awareness of their product.

With the Huge sum of money and effort invested by the companies to create the awareness of
their brand in the market, many questions arise; does this really affect the purchasing decision
of the customer? Does the brand awareness somehow influence the sale of the product? Etc.

On the basis of these questions, I formulated my problem as follows:

The purpose of this thesis is to create deeper consideration of what influence a brand name
can have, when people go for purchasing, choose the products between different brands in
automobile industry. Further I want to identify, if there is a connection between brands and
the consumer decision making process.

I conducted this study based on theories and surveys. I analyzed the result of the survey  in
order to be able to draw conclusions and find answers to my problem.

I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  when  consumer  purchases  a  car,  brand  names  influence  his
choice. Customers choose the well known branded car among other brands which are new or
not so known.

The study shows that branded cars have a great place in consumer mind, when customers go
for purchasing  a  car,  they  prefer  to  purchase  a  well  known  branded  car.  Customers do  not
want to try new or unknown branded cars because they have no much information about the
lesser known brand. Usually, people purchase well known branded cars because they might

  
have heard before about brands or they have some information about them from other sources.
This makes customer feel more comfortable during the time of decision making as they are
not so confident about the knowledge they have gathered about the other brands.

The consumers are very conscious about branded and unbranded cars because they have the
view  that  branded  cars  are  more  reliable  than  unbranded  car.  This  study  also  explains  that
customers trust the branded cars’ quality. Before purchasing a car people do not consider the
lesser known brand car, as people are very attached to some specific brands. Some people are
loyal to specific brands, over time they  want to purchase the same branded car because the
specific brand has satisfied the customer’s needs and in turn has gained the trust in the brand
name.

I feel that the purpose of this study has been fulfilled to some extant. The theory describe that
brand name has a power, which attracts the customers towards branded products. The reason
is  that  customer  gets  special  connection  with  specific brands product  and become  the loyal
with brand.

































  INTRODUCTION
1

1. Introduction

This  introductory  section  essentially  focuses  on  the  background  of  my  study.  This  chapter
also discusses the reasons that  I  found on this subject, to be relevant to study. The chapter
begins  with  the  background  of  the  problem  to  be  studied  which  eventually  leads  to  the
problem definition and my purpose of study.

1.1 Background of the problem

“A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them, intended to identify
the goods and service of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of
competition” 1 .

Brand  is  a  combination  of  name,  symbol  and  design.  Brands  represent  the  customer’s
perceptions  and  opinion  about  performance  of  the  product.  The  powerful  brand  is  which
resides in the mind of the consumer. Brands differ in the amount of power and worth they
have  in  the  market  place.  Some  brands  are  usually  unknown  to  the  customers  in  the
marketplace while on the other hand some brands show very high degree of awareness. The
brands with high awareness have a high level of acceptability and customers do not refuse to
buy such brands as they enjoy the brand performance. Some brands commend high level of
brand loyalty. 2    

The brand history tells us how the people have used the brand as a mark of identification. In
the earlier times the brand mark was used to differentiate the goods of one producer to others.
The word brand has its origin from the Old Norse word “brandr” which means “to burn”. In
the initial phase, the brand was used as a mark of identification on the animals. 3  

The  history  of  branding  goes  back  when  people  utilized burned  mark  on  cattle  in  order  to
identify  the  quality. 4  Branding  concepts  have  been  used  for  centuries  around  the  world  in
different  forms.  The  original  inspiration  for  branding  came  for  craftsmen  and  others  to
recognize the fruits and their labors, so that the customers could easily identify them. Further
more branding and trade marks, was applied in past ancient pottery and stonemasons marks,
which was utilized to mark handcrafted goods to recognize their source. 5








__________________________
1  Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, p.03
2  Kotler, Wong, Saunders, Armstrong, Principle of Marketing, Fourth European Edition, p.555
3  Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, p.03
4  Bengtsson  Anders,  Consumer  and  Mixed  Brands-  on  The  Polysemy  of  Brand  Meaning,
Lund Business Press, 2002, p.4
5  Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, First Edition, p.25


  INTRODUCTION
    
  2  


Every  brand  differs  in  names  or  symbols  like  logo,  trade  mark,  design  and  packing.  The
products are recognized through these elements and thus make it possible to differentiate one
product from the other. A brand is a signal to protect the customer from similar brand names
and protect the producer from the competitors. 6  

Brands  also  have  a  symbolic  value  which  helps  the  people  to  choose  the  best  product
according  to  their  need  and  satisfaction.  Usually  people  do  not  buy  certain  brands  just  for
design and requirement, but also in an attempt to enhance their self esteem in the  society. 7
Some brands have very strong position in the market as they are more consumer friendly and
customer purchases these branded products on trust and without any hesitation.

Brand names present many things about a product and give number of information about it to
the customers and also tell the customer or potential buyer what the product means to them.
Further more it represents the customers’ convenient summary like their feelings, knowledge
and experiences with the brand. More over customer do not spend much time to do find out
about  the  product.  When  customer  considers  about  the  purchase  they  evaluate  the  product
immediately by reconstructed product from memory and cued by the brand name. 8    

Most of the customers prefer to buy a branded product because they  know this product has
been  developed  by  maintaining  the  protocols,  like  from  the  health  and  environmental
prospective,  quality  etc. Most  successful  companies  prefer  customer preferences  and obtain
customers input through marketing research. Some companies introduce a latest technology in
new product according to customers demand and requirements e.g. introduction of camera in
cell phone, cell phone  holder, charger  in current  edition of branded cars etc. They also use
latest machinery for improving the product quality, shape, design, use of computer graphics in
labelling of the products etc.

A  brand  has  a  value;  this  depends  on  the  quality  of  its  products  in  the  market  and  the
satisfaction or content of the customer in its products and services. This provides the trust of
the customers in the brand. If customers trust a brand quality it makes a positive connection to
the brand and customers will have a reason to become a loyal to the brand. Loyalty and trust
of the customers is very important for a company because it reduces the chance of attack from
competitors.
9







__________________________
6  David A. Aaker, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on The Value of a Brand Name, p.07  
7  De Chernatory Leslie & Mc Donald Malcolm H.B, Creating Powerful Brands: The Strategic
Root  to  Success  in  Consumer,  Industrial  and  Service  Markets,  Oxford,  Butterworth
Heinemann, 1992, p.140
8  Flemmming  Hansen  and  Lars  Bech  Christensen,  Branding  and  advertising,  Copenhagen
business school press,(2003)  p.13
9  Aaker David A. Building Strong Brands, Simon & Schuster, New York 1996 pp.21-22

  INTRODUCTION
    
  3  

Brands play vital role in the decision making processes of the customer. 10  It is important for
companies to find out customer’s decision process and pinpoint the criteria, which customers
apply while making decision. 11  How brand names influence the customer purchase decision?
Why customers purchase a particular brand also implies how customers decide what to buy.
Customers  follow  the  sequence  of  steps  in  decision  process  to purchase  a  specific product.
They start realizing a requirement of product, get information, identify & evaluate alternative
products  and  finally  decide  to  purchase  a  product  from  a  specific  brand.  When  customers
purchase  particular  brand  frequently,  he  or  she  uses  his  or  her  past  experience  about  that
brand product regarding performance, quality and aesthetic appeal. 12
    
Companies  are  recognized  through  their  brand  and  it  is  most  valuable  asset  for  survival.
Customers  have  many  brand  choices  but  they  have  less  time  to  make  a  choice.  The  brand
speciality helps the customer in decision making to purchase a right product with less risk and
according  to  set  expectations.  Brand  name  is  a  promise  to  customer  by  maintaining  and
enhancing the strength over time. 13  Successful brand should be the representative of various
elements together including design, packing, quality, style etc. Customers want to see all the
elements in brand product according to his need.

“A product is something that is made in a factory, a brand is something that is bought by a
customer.  A  product  can  be  copied  by  a  competitor,  a  brand  is  unique.  A  product  can  be
quickly outdated, a successful brand is timeless” 14 .  

In  today’s  business  environment,  companies  must  work  harder  than  ever  before  to  achieve
some degree of differentiation in their products. Many companies have sought to achieve this
differentiation by branding their products, simply putting the company’s name on a product. 13
The market is flooded with new and old brands and intensity of brand war is increasing day
by day. The popularity of a brand is a tool for survival and success of company in the market.
In  this  respect  companies  offer  different  packages  to  customers  with  the  use  of  different
resource weapons in this competition war for raising awareness among the customers about
the branded product.







__________________________
10  Srinivasan & Fukawa, Industrial Global Brand Leadership: A Capabilities View,
IndustrialMarketing Management, Vol 36 (2007) p.1082 cited by Bendixen et al., 2004;
Michell et al., 2001
11  David W. Cravens, Nigel F. Piercy, Strategic Marketing, Eight Edition, p.79
12  Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, p.02
13  David A. Aaker, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on The Value of a Brand Name, p.01  
14  Daniel H. Mc Quiston, Successful branding of a Commodity Product: The Case of RAEX
LASER Steel, Industrial Marketing Management Vol 33 (2004), p.345


  INTRODUCTION
    
  4  
In this  increasable competitive market, companies are attempting to gain better position for
them   by   becoming   more   customer-oriented. 15  Companies   are   facing   wider   range   of
competitors  who  offer  a  similar  product  to  same  customers  at  different  prices.  Companies
have to plan efficient and competitive marketing strategies proper distribution channels and
marketing strategies. Competition is increasing rapidly between the same products offered by
different companies. Competitive advantage can be achieved by designing a superior product
and offering more benefits to customers. 16

“Today  in  a  competitive  market,  the  question  is  about  the  survival  of  the  company  in  the
market. But the answer depends on companies to survive by packing, design, price, quality,
distribution  channel  and  other  means.  The  proper  strategic  planning  is  needed  to  achieve
revenue,  sales,  quality  and  market  share.  A  good  strategy  differentiates  company  brand  to
other competitor’s brands. The intention to offer marketing package for consumer benefits by
a marketer is to win the competition by creating new and decisive consumer value.”  17
.

The company’s reputation has an important influence on the consumer buying processes. This
reputation  is  different  due  to  the  company’s  product  and  specific  influence  of  the  brand’s
image. 18  The successful Company always provides the customers greater value of satisfaction
than its competitor and adapt to the needs of the customers. 19  In this increasing competition
market,  company  cannot  sell  the  brand  unless  it  understands  the  customers’  requirements.
Companies  make  a  strong  relationship  with  customers  through  development  of  a  customer
friendly brand. Competition creates a new value for consumer.  

The  flourishing  companies  have  to  identify  their  customer’s  need.  In  this  extremely
aggressive and full of competition, market place, it is not enough for company to reach the
certain  level of sales and customer satisfaction at same time. The company must be able to
identify  and  apply  the  most  successful  resources  to  communicate  it  with  market  and
consumers. A company  has to consider not only  the market performance of its product but
also of its competitor’s product and at the same time keep the track of the changing attitude of
customer in changed situations.








__________________________
15   Hartmann & Apaolaza, Managing customer Loyalty in Liberalized Residential Energy    
Markets:   The impact of Energy Branding Energy Policy Vol 35 (2007) p.2661
16  Kotler,Wong, Saunders, Armstrong, Principle of Marketing, Fourth European Edition,
p.494
17  William M. Welibacher, Brand Marketing, Building Winning Brand Strategies That Deliver
        Value And Customer Satisfaction, 1993 p.130
18  Cretu &. Brodie, The influence Of Brand Image and Company Reputation Where
Manufacturers Market to Small Firms: A Customer Value Perspective, Industrial Marketing
Management Vol 36 (2007) p.230
19  Kotler, Wong, Saunders, Armstrong, Principle of Marketing, Fourth European Edition, p.90

  INTRODUCTION
    
  5  

1.2 Research Question

What is the Influence of brand name on consumer decision in car choice?


1.3 Purpose

To gain an  efficient  knowledge through this thesis about consumer decision and analysis at
the  time  of  purchase.  In  order  to  investigate  the  influence,  brand  name  can  have  on
consumer’s decision, I want to ascertain any connection between the two.

1.4 Demarcations

For  this  study  I  have  chosen  three  multinational  automobile  companies.  In  my  opinion
through these companies’ products I can get the required information. I have selected Honda,
Suzuki  and  Toyota  for  my  study.  These  companies  are  offering  wide  range  of  different
models of cars in the automobile market.


1.5 Limitations

Karachi is one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in Pakistan, both in terms of economy
and population. Here majority of people are educated and it is easy to find many customers
who owns the product of my chosen automobile products. The above reasons made this place,
Karachi,  most  suitable  place  for  this  study,  so  I  conducted  my  survey  there.  Initially
respondents were limited in size and composition. The data collection was restricted within
the city of Karachi in Pakistan. Sampling can have some biased, because it was not possible
practically to go to different places for survey. Due to the time restrictions and busy schedule,
many people in certain class may have been left out or neglected the request for answering the
survey  questionnaire.  The  feeling  of  insecurity  due  to  some  unknown  reasons  may  have
prompted the people to alter some information.
















  RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY  
    
  6  
2. Research Philosophy

The basic aim of this chapter is to present a brief analysis about the subject and I have tried to
focus on the pros and cons of the  subject. I also focused on the theoretical concepts of the
subject and tried to mould its flow, keeping in mind the scientific and practical approach of
the system. Later some literary research and theoretical concepts are also defined.

2.1 Choice of subject

Having had an intention to build my professional career in the ever-changing and challenging
field  of  Marketing,  I  got  myself  enrolled  into  the  Masters  program  in  Marketing  at  Umea
School  of  Business.  As  a  part  of  my  marketing  program,  I  studied  several  courses
encompassing  consumer  behaviour,  Consumer  Analysis  and  other  fascinatingly  educative
courses  like  International  Marketing,  Executive  Decision  Making  and  so  forth.  In  my
consideration,  of  all  courses  Consumer  Behaviour  was  the  most  interesting  course  as
understanding   consumer   behaviour   is   the   key   to   success   in   today’s   ever-increasing
competition  among  companies  across  the  globe.  Having  studied  Consumer  Behaviour,  the
horizon of my knowledge about consumer behaviour was widened and at the same time I was
immensely inspired to do research on Consumer Behaviour.

The reason I selected the topic is mainly because it is directly related to consumer behaviour.
Consumers  prefer  one  brand  over  another,  mainly  because  of  their  behaviour  and  attitude
towards the product and so forth.                    
 
Before writing the thesis some questions came in my mind. Why companies are recognized
through  brand.  As  a  consumer  I  realized  many  times  that  I  prefer  to buy  a brand products.
What  is  the  specialty  of  brand  products?  If  we  see  different  product  segments  almost  all
products belonging to different brands, it becomes very interesting to know how brand names
influence the decision of the customer.

When  I  was  conducting  my  survey  work,  I  met  different  people  and  I  observed  their
behaviour,  feelings  and  emotions  about  branded  products.  When  it  came  to  the  specific
automobile brand products, it became very interesting to know that how people are connected
with branded products and how the brand name influences their decision.

2.2 Preconceptions

Usually we get information and knowledge during our life. This depends on our judgment and
beliefs.  As  things  like  education,  work  and  other  factors  have  a  continuous  influence  on
human  life.  I  think  human  judgment  and  beliefs  change  over  time.  I  try  to  make  it
considerable  for  the  readers  how  we  undertake  the  approach  problem.  I  define  here  short
presentation of preconception which is very helpful for the reader to understand the concept
of preconception.  







  RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY  
    
  7  

People  do  not  come  with  preconceptions  in  this  world.  The  preconception  develops
throughout our lifetime and this is affected by our social and educational background and by
our practical experience. 20

Currently I am a student at the Umea School of Business and my major focus is on marketing
aspects.  During  my  study  period  in  Umea  I  did  different  courses  which  were  related  to
consumer  behaviour  and  concept  of  branding.  Throughout  my  education  I  read  different
books and articles and the knowledge I gathered became very useful for me to understand the
consumer behaviour and their decisions and choices.

My previous education background is also connected with field of marketing and consumer
behaviour.  Further  my  bachelor  project  was  also  related  to  consumer  behaviour  and  their
buying  habits.  I  was  motivated  for  this  study  because  I  have  experienced  how  brand
influences on consumer choice.  

I had worked as a marketing officer in two different companies of Pakistan. Being a marketer
I  understood  the  consumer  behaviour,  their  buying  habits  and  importance  of  brand  name.
During my job I conducted different surveys of the consumer market and I noted the direct
influence  of  brand  name  on  consumer  choice.  I  decided  to  work  on  consumer  behaviour
which is connected to brand products and consumer choice that’s why I chose this topic for
my master thesis.  


2.3 Perspective

I think that this is a fundamental issue for companies that how brands name can influence the
customer’s  choice,  the  result  of  this  study  will  be  very  helpful  for  the  companies  to
understand the consumer behaviour and their decision choices.  

I  tried  to  explain  in  this  thesis  two different  types of perspective,  first  from the  customers’
perspective and second from the company’s perspective. This thesis can be very useful for a
company, I include in this study consumer behaviour and try to find out the influence brand
name can have on consumer decision. Whatever will be the outcome of this research survey,
this information is very helpful for companies to understand the consumer behaviour and their
decisions. Companies can use this information when dealing with customers. More over this
thesis  also  explains  the  customers’  problems  which  they  face  while  purchasing  the  brand
products.                                                      









__________________________
20  Marina Papanastassiu and Natalie Rouhani, Too Old For a Brand, 2006 p05 Citied by
Johansson Lindfors Maj Britt 1993 p. 25
  RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY  
    
  8  

My opinion is that through this study we can understand the consumer problem and help the
companies to resolve these types of issues. I can add further ideas for the companies which
are very help them to see this problem from the customer’s point of view.          

2.4 Secondary Sources collections

The result of the research is very much reliant on the primary sources, I gathered the structure
from the interview, further there are many different type of secondary sources it required to
understand the concepts, theories, definitions, and empirical results.  I utilized many books,
articles,  journals,  research  literature and  old  thesis  as  secondary  sources.  More  over  I  used
literatures  from  the  90s  and  later.  I  also  used  internet  as  a  secondary  source.  I  have  used
official web pages and internet sites, as a source for Honda, Toyota, and Suzuki companies
information.  Moreover  I  used  the  policies  of  specific  automobile  companies  which  I  have
received through company web sites.

2.5 Literature search and review

When I have started my thesis, it was very difficult for me to gather information. Because I
knew  branding  and  consumer  behaviour  is  a  very  big  field.  The  main  sources  of  my
information  for  this  work  were  books,  literatures  and  the  database  for  research  articles
(ALBUM)  from  University  of  Umea. Besides  this  I  have  gone  through  online  journals  and
article which gave additional pace to my work.

2.6 Evaluation of written sources

In my opinion, the articles I  have  found and used in my thesis as a reference are authentic
because it has been written by experts and renowned people in the field of marketing. These
theories, books and articles, are accepted in whole of the academic world and are widely used
as a reference. Moreover many marketing managers and researchers apply these theories as a
marketing tool. Therefore I can trust this information as reliable to be utilized in my thesis.

During my thesis I tried my best that I utilize recent information include in my study, because
recently published information is most reliable, authentic and trustable. I understand branding
and consumer behaviour are the fields that gets updated continuously. We cannot relay much
on  the  old  material.  Some  articles  I  found  in  my  studies  which  were  very  old  so  I  did  not
include these articles  in my  study. Some places  I used old articles when realized I have no
other option.

2.7 Scientific Ideals

When researcher conduct the research she or he has to keep in mind what research philosophy
should be undertake. Therefore we know the research philosophy  its identify as a scientific
ideals,  because  its  interpret  over  the  study’s  methodology.  Whatever  result  comes,  the
researcher explains the reader, what ideal researchers chosen for this study with this believe it
the best for the study. There are three types of scientific ideals positivism, interpretivism and
Realism.



  RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY  
    
  9  


 The  positivistic  ideal    attempt   to  reproduce  the  veracity  in  as  much  as possible objective
way. 21  If  the  research  philosophy  replicate  the  positivism  then  the  researcher  perhaps
implement the philosophical attitude of the natural scientist. Researcher will choose working
with recognizable  social  certainty  and  the  finish  of  such research  may  be  low  for  example
generalizations very close to those created by the physical and natural scientist. 22  The purpose
of positivistic scientific ideal is that describes and investigates the cause and effect relation.
To be proficient and make simpler is an essential goal. The researchers examine the veracity
and collecting the facts. This is helpful to make easier to observe the pattern and reliabilities
in the reality, therefore this can guide to general conclusion. 23

Interpretivism  is  an  epistemology  that  activist  the  essential  for  the  researcher  to  realize  the
human  role  as  a  social  actor.  This  highlights  the  difference  between  designing  researches
among people relatively objects like truck and computers. 24  The interpretivism observation the
world and human being are not in same ways than just how one can examine, but the reality is
that they are not being examined objectively but subjectively. 25  

Interpretivism  can be explained  as  “A theoretical  point of  view  that  advocates  the  study  of
direct  experience  taken  at  face  value,  and  one  who  sees  behavior  as  determined  by  the
phenomena of experience rather than by external, objective and physically describe reality” 26
.

The  third  philosophy  usually  identify  to  Realism  is  an  epistemological  position.  This  is
narrating to scientific enquiry. The real meaning of realism is that whatever our senses explain
us as actuality is the truth, that objectives have an existence independent of the human mind.
The realism theory is that the reality is relatively independent from the human mind. 27

I  decided  to  choose positivism  for  this  study.  I  think  this  is  the best and  suitable scientific
ideals, because in this ideal I have many options and opinions. Therefore I have to accumulate
the study that exemplify with common views of the customers. I attempt the result that can be
more useful and generalized for this specific study.






__________________________
21  Remenyi et al, (1998), Doing Research In Business And Management, An Introduction to
Process And Method, p.32, cited by Saunders et al (2007), p.103
22   Saunders et al. 2007, Research Method for Business Student, Fourth Edition, p.103
23   Khan  and  Rahaman,  2007,  Impact  of  Micro  Finance  on  Living  Standard,  p.15  Cited  by
Lundahl,Ulf, Skarvad, Per Hugo (1999), p.39
24  Saunders et al. 2007, Research Method for Business Student, Fourth Edition, p.106
25  Remenyi, 1998, Doing Research in Business and Management, An Introduction to Process
and Method, p.32
26  Cohen and Manion (1987), Cited by Remenyi et al. (1988), p.34
27  Saunders et al. 2007, Research Methods for Business Student, Fourth Edition, p.104                                    

  RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY  
    
  10  

2.8 Scientific Approach

With a view to reach a solution to a problem we can make use of either inductive reasoning or
deductive reasoning. When researchers reason from the specific to the general, they capitalize
on  inductive  reasoning.  Conversely,  deductive  reasoning  is  used  when  researchers  use  the
more abstract and general ideas to return to specific, that is, to make predictions about future
observation.  Researchers  are  applying  the  rational  process  of  induction  and  deduction
constantly.  If  a  researcher  begins  with  empirical  observation  and  consequently  infers
constructs is deemed to be doing research using inductive reasoning. In deductive reasoning,
on  the  contrary,  researchers  use  constructs  as  the  basis  to  make  predictions  about  new,
specific observation. So as to build and validate conceptual models researchers must use both
inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. 28    


Generally  speaking,  all  scientific  theories  involve  both  induction  and  deduction.  However,
they  often  vary  in  the  extent,  to  which  they  lay  emphasis  on  one  or  the  other.  Inductive
theories  are  those  theories  that  emphasize  induction.  Inductive  remain  very  close  to  the
empirical  data.  Inductive  theorists  follow  the  data  and  draw  a  conclusion. 29   The  deductive
theory that is more traditional and formalized theory stresses deductions from constructs. 30  

In  my  consideration,  the  most  appropriate  scientific  approach  for  my  study  is  using  both
inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Having said this, I will put more emphasis on
deduction. The underlying reason for more emphasis on deduction is because I will apply a
wide  spectrum  of  existing  theories  pertinent  to  my  topic  as  the  basis  to  forecast  about  the
future and for reaching a conclusion.    



















__________________________
 28 Anthony M. Graziano and Michael L. Raulin Research Methods, Sixth Edition, pp.35-36
29  Ibid, pp.37-38
30  Ibid, p.39
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  11  
3. THEORETICAL FRAME      

In  this  chapter,  I  endeavor  to  present  the  theories  pertaining  to  my  topic.  I  also  gave  my
explanations and comments on the theories. Furthermore, I tried to explain the pertinence of
the theories I am going to discuss. As I have decided to focus on brand and the nexus between
brand  and  consumer  preferences,  the  theories  are  based  on  them.  The  chapter  starts  with
presenting a flow chart which depicts how I have divided and explained theories on branding
and consumer behavior.














The reason I have developed the flow chart is because so that the readers can go through the
construction  of  the  chapter  with  ease.  The  theories  that  I  have  presented  here  have  been
divided  into  different  parts  according  to  their  pertinence.  I  started  with  brand  equity,  and
continued with emotional branding and consumer behavior. In the last part of the flow chart, I
mainly tried to expound different theories on consumer decision.  

3.1.1 Brand Equity

There  are  different  views  about  brand  equity  that  prevail.  Most observers  define  the  brand
equity in term of marketing impact that exceptionally attribute to a brand. Brand equity relates
to the information that usually gets different result from marketing of a product. 31

David W. Cravens in his book “Strategic Marketing” has narrated the following description of
Brand Equity

“Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol
that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that
firm’s customers” 32
.  





_________________________
31  Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, p.42
32  David W. Cravens, Strategic Marketing, Eight Edition, p.276


Brand Equity
Brand Loyalty
Name Awareness
Perceived Quality
Brand Association
Proprietary Brand
Assets
Consumer Decision
Making
Decision Rules
Non Compensatory
Decision rule
Compensatory
Decision rule
Social Class
Conspicuous
consumption
Purchase Intention
Consumer Behavior
Complex Buying
Behavior
Dissonance reducing
buying behavior
Habitual Buying
Behavior
Variety Seeking
Consumer Behavior


Emotional Branding
Pricing Strategies
Brand Name
Logos and Symbol
Experience
Self Esteem


  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  12  

Above explained definition shows that the assets and liabilities have a connection with brand
name or symbol so if some changes are introduced in the name or symbol, these may affect
assets and liabilities. The changes can be so influential or effective that few of these factors
have to be moved out of the brand. Aaker has developed and compiled a group of these assets
and liabilities in following five categories to make them easier to understand.

“Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol
that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and / or to that
firm’s customers. For assets or liabilities to underlie brand equity they must be linked to the
name and / or symbol of the brand. If the brands name or symbol should change, some or all
of the assets or liabilities could be affected and even lost, although some might be shifted to a
new  name and symbol. The assets and liabilities on which brand equity  is based will differ
from context to context. However, they can be usefully grouped into five categories” 33 .

1.  Brand Loyalty
2.  Name awareness
3.  Perceived quality
4.  Brand association
5.  Propriety brand assets
 
Brand equity  is  a  valuable asset  for a company,  which they want to, put in their brands. A
power full brand enjoys a high level of customer brand awareness and loyalty. Company can
have  a  competitive  advantage  through  high  brand  equity. 34   Growing  and recognizing  brand
are  valuable  and  financial  assets  for  a  company,  recognised  by  the  financial  market.  The
financial  value  of  brand  depends  on  brand  strength;  investing  in  product  quality  and  in
advertising can further strengthen it. 35
.    

Brand equity provides a great value for customers; brand equity assets help the customers to
capture and process the brand and store large  number of information about it. Brand equity
can help to develop marketing programs and attract the new and maintain the loyalty and faith
of old customers. 36  The customer based brand equity arises when customer is well acquainted
with the brand name and keeps some favorable, strong and unique about brand association in
memory. 37




_________________________
33  Aaker  A  David,  1991,  Managing  Brand  Equity,  Capitalizing  On  The  Value  Of  a  Brand
Name, New York Free Press (1991) pp.15-16  
34  Kotler, Wong, Saunders, Armstrong, Principle of Marketing, Fourth European Edition,
p.556
35  Pekka Tuominen, Understanding Brand Equity, p.08 Cited by Barwise, 1995, pp.94-95
36  Aaker  A  David,  1991,  Managing  Brand  Equity,  Capitalizing  On  The  Value  Of  a  Brand
Name, New York Free Press (1991) pp.16-18  
    37  Kevin  Lane  Keller,  Conceptualizing  Measuring  and  Managing  Customer  Based  Brand
Equity, Journal of Marketing Vol 57, January 1993, p.02


  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  13  
The  brand  awareness,  brand  loyalty,  perceived  quality  and  brand  association  are  the  core
assets for the brand equity. These are important assets for building strong brand equity helps
in  increasing  the  brand  awareness  in  the  market.  The  perceived  quality  and  its  association
with  the  brand  name  can  effect  the  customer’s  satisfaction  and  gives  him  the  reason  to
purchase.  This  results  in  the  high  brand  loyalty  among  the  customer  and  greater  share  in
market. 38

Brand  equity  also  involves  the  value  added  of  product  through  customer  relations  and
perceptions for the specific brand name. 39  Brand equity assets can be described as a way of
adding or subtracting value for customers. Brand equity helps the consumers construe process
and hold information pertaining to brands. Brand equity may also influence customers’ level
of confidence in the decision making process. 40  

When a company promotes a product of a recognized brand name in the market, company can
save the  promotion  cost,  which  can  be  utilized  in  the  expansion of  pricing  strategy.  Brand
equity is very helpful to penetrate in new market without much effort. Thus a known brand
naturally creates a  greater space for itself in the  shelves than unknown brand. Brand equity
supports  the  company  in  facing  the  competition.  If  a  brand  has  a  strong  position  in  the
segment,  another  brand  will  find  a  very  difficult  to  compete  in  the  same  segment  as  they
already correlate various characteristics with the recognised brand. 41

Customer  based  brands  with  a  positive  equity,  get  more  or  less,  a  favourable  customer
response  towards  the  product, price  and  promotion  of  the  brand.  They  perform  the  similar
marketing  mix  elements.  Customer  attributes  the  fictitiously  known  or unknown  version  of
the product. Customer based brand equity will flourish when brand is well known and posses
some  favourable,  well-built  and  unique  reputation  in  memory.  Favourable  response  always
represents positive customers based brand equity. Companies can progress and have greater
profit by improving revenues and lower production and marketing cost. 42  









_________________________
38   Cheng Husi Chen, Using Free Association to Examine the Relationship between the
Characteristics of Brand Association and Brand Equity. MCB University Press, Vol 10,
(2001) pp. 439-440
39   Lisa Wood, Brands And Brand Equity: Definition And Management, MCB university
Press, Vol 38, Issue 09, (2000) p.663
40  Aaker A David, 1991, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing On The Value Of a Brand
Name, New York Free Press (1991) pp.6-18  
41  Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006, Too Old for a Brand, p.13, Cited by Aaker, Capitalizing
on the Value of a Brand Name, p.18
42  Pekka Tuominen, Understanding Brand Equity, pp.08-09, Cited by Keller 1995, p.8


  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  14  
3.1.2 Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty shows customer preferences to purchase a particular brand; customers believe
that the brand offers the enjoyable features, images, or standard of quality at the right price.
This  belief  and  faith  of  the  customer  becomes  a  base  for  new  buying  habits.  Initially
customers will purchase a brand for trial, after being satisfied, customers will keep on buying
the  product  from  the  certain  brand. 43  Brand  loyalty  represents  an  encouraging  approach
towards a brand resulting in regular purchase of the brand over time. 44

Brand loyalty is shape of continue purchasing a conscious to regular buying the same brand. 45
Brand Loyalty reflects the ratio of regular buyers to the satisfied buyers who like the product
This  is  more  useful  in  marketing  the  product  to  existing  customers  because  of  good  brand
loyalty it will cost less effort and money, than to attract new ones. 46  When loyal customers see
any  lack  attachment  to  brand  attribute,  then  he  or she  immediately  transferred  to the  other
brand products that offer a better deal. The reason for buying a same product from a familiar
brand saves the time and reduces the perceived risk. 47

“The brand loyalty of the customer base is often the core of brand equity. If customers are
indifferent to the brand and, in fact buy with respect to features, price and convince with little
concern to the brand name there is likely little equity. If on the other hand, they continue to
purchase  the  brand  even  in  the  face  of  competitors  with  superior  features,  price,  and
convenience, substantial value exists in the brand and perhaps in its symbol and slogan.” 48
.

This  is  very  interesting  for  my  study,  especially  when  I  tried  to  find  out  about  this  in  my
survey, how people become a more loyal with specific brands and why people choose certain
branded cars. As mentioned above, there are many attributes in the car which helps them to
get loyal customers. It can be that the same brand is being used by the family for generations.

3.1.3 Name awareness

“Brand awareness is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a
member of a certain product category  so he can  establish  a  link between product class and
brand is involved” 49 .

This is the second category of the brand equity.  Brand name  awareness plays an  important
role  in  decision making  of  a  consumer;  if  customer had  already  heard  the brand name,  the
customer  would  feel  more  comfortable  at  the  time  of  making  decision.  Customers  do  not
prefer to buy an unknown brand. Therefore companies’ strong brand name is a wining track
as customers choose their brand over unknown brand. 50    
_______________
43   www.extension.iastate.edu/AgDM/wholefarm/html/c5-54.htmltime17.50, Dated 3.01.08
44  Pekka Tuominen, Understanding Brand Equity, p.17, Cited by Assael 1992, pp. 87-89
45  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Eight Edition, P.293
46  Pekka Tuominen, Understanding brand Equity, pp. 17-18, Cited by Aaker 1992, p.30
47  Jose  M.M.  Bloemer,  Hans  D.P.  Kasper,  The  Complex  Relationship  between  Consumer
Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty, Journal of Economic Psychology Vol 16 (1995), pp.313-314
48  Aaker A David, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing On The Value Of A Brand Name,
New York Free Press (1991), p.39
49  Ibid, p.61
50  Ibid p19
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  15  
People  generally  tend  to  buy  brands  that  they  are  familiar  with  and  on  which  they  have
confidence. To be able to get the loyalty and awareness of the consumer brand awareness is a
must, for which unknown brand has to face the tough  competition from the brands already
having a place in the market. 51  

A well- known brand has a good opportunity, whenever a need of the some items arise, the
customer  will  not  like  to  take  a  chance  and  prefer  to  purchase  name  aware  brand  first.
Customer  use  product  on  trial  basis,  after  satisfaction  of  the  brand  quality,  it  will  use  it
regularly. To promote brand name awareness is quite expensive and should be done through
mass advertising.Generally people chose the well known branded cars. I find this interesting
for my study and I strive to find it out. People chose well known branded cars above unknown
branded cars because they are well aware about the brands, its reputation in market and have
the direct or indirect experience about the product.

3.1.4 Perceived Quality

"If a customer expects a bad level of quality and receives it, he/she will reduce his/her level of
preference for the brand" 52 .

It  is  an  essential  characteristic  for  every  brand;  perceived  quality  defines  a  customer’s
perception   and   the   product’s   quality   or   superiority.   The   perceived   quality   provides
fundamental  reason  to  purchase.  It  also  influences  brand  integration  and  exclusion  to
consideration  set  before  final  selection.  A  perceived  quality  provides  greater  beneficial
opportunity of charging a premium price. The premium raises profit and gives a resource to
reinvest in the brand. Perceived quality will enable a strong brand to extend further and will
get a greater success possibility than a weak brand. 53  
  
Mostly customers prefer to buy products from a well known and familiar brand, rather than
opting  for  the  unknown  and  new  brand.  Sometimes  they  do  not  want  to  take  a  chance  by
trying to go for a new brand. 54  Perceived quality of a brand influences the decision making
process  of  a  consumer.  It  also  directly  influences  the  brand  loyalty  of  the  consumers.
Perceived  quality  has  a  greater  influence  in  a  customer’s  purchasing  process  and  in  brand
loyalty.  This  influence  is  very  important  when  customers  are  in  a  condition,  which  makes
them unable to make an analysis of the quality.  Perceived quality can be used as a helping
tool when company intends to utilize a pricing strategy with premium price and further extend
a  brand  in  several  markets. 55   All  customers  are  conscious  about  the  product  quality.  The
majority of people prefer to go for well known brands car which have a high reputation in the
market for the different attributes of the quality. There are many quality attributes which the
customer looks for, like the mileage, safety, design etc.
_______________
51  Wayned Hoyer, Steven P. Brown, Effects of Brand Awareness on Choice for a Common ,
Repeat-Purchase Product, Journal of Consumer Research Vol 17, September (1990)
pp.141-142
52  Rust,  Inman,  Jia,  Zahorik,  What  Do  You  Know  about  Customer  Perceived  Quality,  The
Role of Customers Expectation Distributions, Marketing Science, Vol.18, 1999, p.78
53   Pekka Tuominen, Understanding Brand Equity, p. 20, Cited by Aaker 1991, pp. 85-86
54  Ajay Kalra, & B.P.S. Murthi, Preyas Desai, When Old Is Gold: The Role of Business
Longevity in Risky Situations, Journal of Marketing Vol. 72, January (2008), p.96
55  Aaker A David, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New
York Free Press (1991),p.19
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  16  

3.1.5 Brand Association

“Keller pointed out that the favorability,  strength, and uniqueness of brand associations  are
the dimensions distinguishing brand knowledge that play an important role in determining the
differential  response  that  makes  up  brand  equity,  especially  in  high  involvement  decision
settings”
56 .

There are values of a brand that are not as visible as other brands. These values can be based
on the association of the brand with certain factors or personalities that provides confidence
and credibility among the customers. This Association can be made through famous people,
who represent the brand, and their well known personality and life style. For example cars can
be associated with the lifestyle or fame of the celebrities and their association with particular
brand.   A company tries to associate certain attribute to their brand, which makes it harder for
the new brands to enter the market. Some brands can be associated with other attributes, like
good  service;  competitors  trying  to  compete  with  this  attribute,  can  be  extremely  difficult
because of the established trust and faith of the customer in the market. 57

Many brand associations include product attributes and consumer benefits that offer a specific
explanation to customers purchase and utilize the specific brand. Brand symbolizes a base for
purchase  decision  and  brand  loyalty  for  example  customer  use  Toyota,  Honda  and  Suzuki
brand  cars  because  they  provide  a  good  service  after  sale  and  make  the  spare  parts  easily
available. 58

3.1.6 Propriety brand assets

“A competitor is someone who wants to take business away from you” 59 .

In  the  previous  categories  we  have  discussed  more  about  how  the  customer  perceives  and
respond to the brand. This  fifth and final category of brand equity will focus on assets  like
trademarks and channel relationship.

A propriety brand asset is most valuable for company assets in the shape of trademark; that
cannot be copied easily. A trademark provides the protection to companies, their brand name
or symbol. It is not easy for other companies to use their names because majority of customers
identify  the  brand  product  through  trademark  design.  Companies  have  to  make  further
protection  to  their  brand.  The  patent  is  very  helpful  tool  for  company.  It  can  stop  the
competitors to copy the product. A brand can control distribution channel through history of
the brand performance. 60  
________________
56  Cheng Hsui Chen, Using The Free Association to Examine The Relationship Between
Characteristics Of Brand Association  And Brand Equity, Journal of Product & Brand
Management, Vol 10, No 7, 2001, p.440
57  Aaker A  David,  Managing  Brand  Equity,  Capitalizing  On  The  Value  Of  a  Brand  Name,
New York Free Press (1991), pp.20-21
58   Ibid, p.112      
59   Jeff Falk, Product  Protection: Battle Of  The Brands, Allured Publishing Corporation,
April 2006, Vol 174, Issue 04, p.38
60  Aaker A David, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New
York Free Press (1991), p.21
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  17  

3.2 Emotional Branding

At present, some successful companies are said to have built relationships with consumer by
attractively  engaging  them  in  a  personal  communication  that  responds  to  their  needs.
Marketers have done so by connecting with customers and creating strong emotional bonds
with their brands. 61        

Emotional branding include part of branding but it is quite difficult than regular branding to
measure, it is only when companies perform to accomplish their jobs but how they do it, how
they do it, how they come cross to the customers and perform their jobs, if they are friendly
and reliable. 62

When  companies  want  to  know  what  consumer  feels  about  them,  they  have  to  build  a
personal communication with the customers. This is the good way in a company can consider
itself because customer perception is very important for companies. However a company can
learn a  lot by  listing to its  customer views. 63  It  is essential for companies to correspond by
their product by relating to their customers emotionally; otherwise product can be a product
and become a brand image in the customer’s minds. 64          

Usually branding  starts  when company  design a  product  with  great  feature  and  capabilities
better  than  what  their  competitors  are  offering.  The  company  then  has  a  “position”  in  a
product  distinct  category  against  competitors.  The  problem  increases  when  neither  of  the
groups has made  efforts  to  create  emotional  bond between  the  customers  and  the company
and  its  product.  Emotional  branding  is  the  fine  approach  that  clarifies  the  values  of  the
company to the customers. 65  

3.2.1 Pricing Strategy

Through out my study I have gone through many article and theories about price strategy and
it is important and is very sensitive tool for companies, because products success or failure in
market  to  some  extent  depends  on  product  price.  The  price  strategy  is  a  challenge  for
companies because of deregulation, strong global competition, and conservative buyers, slow
progress in market. 66  



________________
61  Making the Emotional Connection, Brand Week, January 2001, Vol. 42, Issue5, P.23
62  Green Don, Emotional Branding Makes the Difference, Paperboard Packaging, June 2003,
Vol. 88, Issue 6, Pg12
63  Travis Daryi, (with help from Harry), Emotional Branding- How Successful Brands Gain
The Irrational Edge, p.39
64   Papanastassiu  and  Rouhani,  2006,  Too  Old  for  a  Brand,  p.16,  Cited  by  Travis  Daryl
pp.39&174  
65  Marken  G.A,  Emotional  Branding,  How  Successful  Brands  the  Irrational  Edge,  Public
Relations Quarterly, Summer 2003, Vol. 48, Issue2, p.12
66   David W. Cravens, Nigel F. Piercy, Strategic Marketing, Eight Edition, p.39


  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  18  

Price is one of the important elements for the companies to generate a profit, and this is also
very useful to create brand awareness and built a positive relationship with the customer. The
pricing policy can make connection with consumer’s mind to the applicable price rank or the
brand level category, and relates it to price instability or variance. The price strategy tells how
consumers  categorize  the  brand  price  like  low,  medium,  high  price,  how  companies  or
consumers consider this price like frequently or infrequently discounted. Generally consumers
assign the status brand according to price level. 67  

Successful brands always get a greater space in customers’ mind. Price strategy is one of the
important  elements  to  help  the  brand  product  become  a  successful  brand.  When  there  are
several brand product in the market then attract the customers towards a particular brand in
their  respect  price  strategy  plays  an  important  role.  Sometimes  customer  knows  the  brand
name well but do not agree to the product price because other brand products are available in
market with lower price. 68  

Price strategy should be designed carefully and must consider the competitive brand product
price  and  product  performance.  Customer  always  wants  to  buy  a  product  in  cheap  price,
otherwise customer can move to other brand products.  

3.2.2 Brand Name

“The name of a brand is the fundamental indicator of the brand. The name of the brand is the
basis  for  raising  awareness  of  the  brand  and  Communication  efforts.  Often  even  more
important is the fact that it can generate association which serves to describe the brand”  69 .

The brand name is very significant choice because some time it captures the central theme or
key association of a product in a very condensed and reasonable fashion. Brand names can be
extremely successful means of communication. 70  Some companies assign their product with a
brand name that in reality has nothing to do with the emotional experience but is catchy and a
name that people can easily memorize. The core base of naming a brand is that it should be
unique, can be easily discriminated from other names, easy to remember and are attractive to
customers. 71

In  my  opinion  people  have  strong  connection  to  brands  and  brands  name.  Brand  name
influences the customer decision in car choice.  When people intend to purchase a  car, they
have many brand names to choose from, but usually people purchase a car with preference to
brand name and company reputation in market because of trust and pervious experience.



_______________________
67  Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, p.248
68   Travis Daryi, (with help from Harry), Emotional Branding- How Successful Brands Gain
The Irrational Edge, pp.78-79
69  Aaker A David, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New
York Free Press (1991), p.187
70   Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, p.182
71  Papanastassiu  and  Rouhani,  2006,  Too  Old  for  a  Brand,  p.17,  Cited  by  Travis  Daryi,
Emotional Branding pp. 152-153
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  19  

Brand name shows the source of the product. A brand aware consumer can differentiate the
product from its competitor. If brand name is superior customer can pay the high price of the
brand product because customers trust the brand name. 72  Brand name differentiates the goods
and services of one seller from another. It helps consumers in identifying products that might
benefit them. Along with this it also communicates about the quality of the product. Besides
consumers, sellers also benefit from brand name. The brand name provides legal protection
for unique product features that otherwise might be copied by competitors.

3.2.3 Logos and symbols

“Symbols with all that represent a brand, a tagline, a character, a visual metaphor, a logo, a
colour,  a  gesture,  a  musical  note,  a package,  or  a  program.  The  symbol  is  a  part  of  brand
equity and functions as a tool for maintenance” 73 .

Logos  and  symbols  have  a  long  history  which  shows  brand  identification  of  the  company.
There  are  different  types  of  logos,  which  are  unique  from  corporate  names  or  trademarks.
Logos and symbol are easy way to recognize a product. It is a greater success if symbol and
logos became a linked in memory to corresponding brand name and product to increase brand
recall.  Customers  may  perhaps  identify  definite  symbols  but  be  unable  to  link  them  any
particular  brand  or  product. 74   Logos  helps  companies  to  develop  the  brand  equity  through
raised  brand  identification  and  brand  loyalty.  Logos  are  very  important  assets,  companies
spend enormous time and money to promote brand logos and symbols. 75

Logos and symbol are successful way to get a better place in customer mind. If customers find
something  that  is  easily  identifiable  preferably  in  a  positive  way,  customers  feel  more
comfortable with them. If there is not much difference among brands, then logos and symbols
can be a very effective way of differentiating the brands from each other. Moreover, logos can
also be used to make the potential consumers aware of the origin and ownership of the brand.
Moreover  logos  and  symbols  help  the  brand  owners  to  build  brand  equity  through  raising
brand awareness.    

3.2.4 Experience

It  is  very  interesting  to  analyze  that  how  customer’s  experience  can  influence  the  brand
decision in the market.  I have included this view on consumers because I want to find out it
when I will conduct my survey. So the customers view becomes very valuable in this regard.




_______________________
72  Marjit, Beladi and Kabiraj, Brand Name Collaboration And Optimal Tariff, Economic
Modelling Vol 24 (2007) p.637
73  Aker A. David & Joachimsthaler Erich, Brand Leadership, New York Free Press 2000, p.54
74  Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition, pp.193-195
75  Leif E. Hem and Nina M. Iversen, How to Develop a Destination Brand Logo:
A Qualitative and Quantitative Approach, Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism,
Vol. 4, No. 2, 2004, pp.86-87 Cited by Keller 2003 and Anson 1998, Van Riel et al, 2001

  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  20  
All brands create feelings; some brands are designed to give customers more experience in the
true sense of the word than other brands. The most powerful brand goes beyond the traditional
means to steal customers’ heart away and take on special meaning to customers through their
product.  With  time  and  experience,  consumers  learn  about  the  brands,  they  find  out  which
brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not. 76  Customers have used a same branded car
for many  years, because customers have good experience company brands product. It is not
easy to explain what brand product gives when customer uses them.

3.2.5 Self Esteem

I  think  that  self  esteem  always  effect  when  the  customers’  purchases  make  and  the  basic
reason of behind the purchase.  However  it  is  very interesting to investigate this issue. This
may have deep effect on customer’s brand choice.          

Self-esteem refers to person’s self-concept. When people have a bad self-esteem it shows that
they  will  not  perform  well  and  they  think  that  when  they  will  do  a  certain  work  and  they
might be rejected or fail. 77  When self esteem advertising is done, there are attempts to change
product attribute by motivating a positive feeling about the self. One approach of doing this is
to challenge the customer self esteem and then it shows a product with a linkage of that can
provide a solution. 78  

The self concept refers to the beliefs, a person has about his attribute and how these qualities
are  evaluated,  with  overall  positive  self  concept  and  outlook.  This  can  be  the  professional
identity which gives the personal identity also. Relating the self esteem to market the product
and advertising it, attempts to stimulate positive feelings about the self. This can be done by
exploiting the self esteem of person by relating  it to the people with well  known esteem or
high personalities and then provoking your desire to reach that through the product. 79
 
Usually people have some pre-conceptions about themselves, which is the image of ideal self
and also reflects the person’s desire how he would like to be. When the person tries to think
about himself  he tries to compare it to the people who are well  known in society and have
high image in the society. It is a very basic and natural tendency of a human being to look into
his self esteem and personality by comparing it to others. This gives a good reason to exploit
this weakness  and  tendency  of  a  customer  and tap  him  by  posing  the  idealized  image of  a
happy, famous and attractive person, who happens to be using their products. 80

Even though this theory I will try to present in a general way. Further more I want to apply
this theory to my research work through car user customers to find out their feeling and views
about this matter.  



_______________________
76  Travis Daryi, Emotional Branding- How Successful Brands Gain The Irrational Edge, p.79
77  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Buying, Having and Being, p.157
78  Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006, Too Old for a Brand, p.19, Cited by Solomon Michael
p.157
79  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Buying, Having and Being, pp.156-157
80  Ibid, p.157

  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  21  

3.3 Consumer Behavior.

The Consumer behaviour study involves how an individual or groups select, purchase, use or
dispose  of  products,  services  ideas,  or  experience  to  satisfy  their  need  and  desires. 81   The
consumer   environment   influences   how   the   consumers   feel,   consider   and   act.   The
environmental features are, for instance, comments taken from other customers, advertising,
packing, price, and product appearance etc. 82

The  consumer  behaviour  is  related  to  the  physical  action  of  a  consumer,  which  can  be
measured directly. Frequency of visiting stores or shopping malls can be measured. To select
a  specific  store  then  to  go  there  is  very  difficult  to  choose  and  observe  directly.  Where
different types of behaviour can be measured including a shopping pattern in stores. This kind
of measurement is  very  hard. The behaviour can be analyzed in different ways, by offering
lower price, better service and good quality. 83

Consumer  behavior  mainly  sheds  light  on  how  consumers  decides  to  spend  their  various
resources like time, money etc. on various products so as to meet their needs and requirement.
Consumer  behavior  encompasses  study  of  what,  when,  why  and  where  the  consumers  will
buy their products. It also focuses on how often the consumers use the products. Furthermore,
it  also  sheds  light  on  how  the  consumers  evaluate  the  products  after  the  purchase  and  the
effect of evaluations on their future purchases. 84  

To give an example of how consumer behavior evolves while buying a car, he will start with
recognizing  his or her need for a car. Then come the  information collecting and processing
stage. After making up his mind to buy one specific brand, for instance Skoda, the consumer
makes the purchase. In the post-purchase stage, the  consumer evaluates the performance of
the  car  against  the  expectations  he  or  she  had  before  buying  the  car.  In  this  stage,  the
consumer is either satisfied or dissatisfied. So, it is evident from the last example that study of
consumer behavior involves lot of things.    

3.3.1 Complex Buying Behavior

Complex behavior can be defined when consumers are highly involved for making a purchase
decision.  Complex  buying  behavior  calls  for  high  level  of  involvement  on  the  part  of  the
consumer. In case of high involvement, consumers distinguish salient differences among the
competing  brands.  Consumers’  are  highly  involved  in  case  of  expensive  and  highly  self
expressive products. The consumer engages  in extensive  information to search  and to learn
about  product  category  so  as  to  be  able  a  good  purchase  decision.  For  example,  when  a
consumer decides to buy a car, he seeks information about the available brands and compares
his collected information about each brand and finally makes up his mind. 85    

_______________________
81  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Buying, Having and Being, p.07
82  Peter.J.Paul & Olson Jerry C, Consumer Behavior & Marketing Strategy, Boston, Mc Gra-
Hill Irwin, 2005, p.5
83  Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006, Too Old for a Brand, pp.22-23, Cited by Peter.J.Paul &
Olson Jerry C, p.24
84  Schiffman   Kanuk, Consumer Behaviour, Eight Edition. P.08
85  Kotler, Wong, Saunders, Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, Forth Edition pp. 276-277
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  22  


3.3.2 Dissonance reducing buying behavior

In  case  of  dissonance  reducing  buying  behavior  the  level  of  consumer  involvement  is  also
high. Consumers typically undergo dissonance reducing buying behavior in case of costly and
infrequent  purchase.  In  this  type  of  consumer  behavior  the  consumers  find  it  difficult  to
differentiate  among  the  brands.  For  example  consumer  buying  carpet  may  come  across  of
dissonance reducing buying behavior, as carpets are usually expensive and self-expressive. In
case of carpets, consumers may deem most of the available carpet brands in the market within
a  certain  price  range  to  be  of  the  same  quality.    Consumers  may  respond  primarily  to  a
relatively  better  price.  After  the  purchase   consumer  might  experience  post  purchase
dissonance (after sales discomfort). 86
 
3.3.3 Habitual Buying Behavior

In case of habitual Buying Behavior, consumers´ level of involvement is low. This means that
consumers  don’t  search  much  information  among  the  available  brands  and  they  don’t  find
significant  differences  among  the  brands.  An  example  of  low-involvement  product  is
toothpaste. The level of consumer involvement in this sort of product category is very low. In
case of habitual buying behavior, consumers merely go to the store to buy the product without
a high level of involvement. If the consumers keep buying for the same brand over and over
again, it becomes their habit. It is as if that the consumers have developed a brand loyalty for
that specific brand rather they buy the product out of habit. Generally  speaking, consumers
are usually lowly involved when the product is cheap. 87

The  level  of  consumer’s  involvement  is  also  low  in  case  of  products  that  are  frequently
purchased. Consumers do not usually seek  information much pertaining to available brands
before  making  purchase  decision.  The  consumers  don’t  assess  different  attributes  of  the
available  brands  and  make  purchase  decision  as  to  which  brand  to  buy.  Consumers  glean
information  relating  to  various  brands  and  their  attributes  through  watching  television  or
reading newspapers. 88  

3.3.4 Variety Seeking Buying Behavior

In  case  of  variety  seeking  buying  behavior  the  level  of  consumer  involvement  is  low,  but
consumers  perceive  significant  differences  among  the  brands.  In  variety  seeking  buying
behavior,  consumers  very  often  switch  from  one  brand  to  another.  As  an  example  we  can
think  of  confectionery,  consumers  might  have  beliefs  about  a  brand  and  choose  a  brand
without  much  evaluation.  But  they  evaluate  that  product  at  the  time  of  consumption.  But
when  the  consumer  goes  shopping  next  time,  he  or  she  may  go  for  another  brand  either
because of boredom or simply to test a different brand. Brand switching happens not because
the consumer is dissatisfied but because of variety. 89  


________________
86  Kotler, Wong, Saunders, Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, Forth Edition p.277
87  Ibid, p.278
88  Ibid, pp.-308-309& 317
89  Ibid, p.278
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  23  
3.4 Consumer Decision making

The consumer decision making process defines different steps when a consumer goes through
to purchase a product. If customer wants to make a purchase  he or she takes a sequence of
steps in order to do complete this purchase. Problem recognition includes when consumer feel
a significant difference between the current state and ideal so consumer thinks there is some
problem  to be  solved.  The  problem  may be small  or big. In  the  second  step,  the  consumer
seeks information about the product. The extent of information search relies on the level of
consumer  involvement.  In  case  of  expensive  products,  the  level  of  involvement  is  high.
Conversely, in case of relatively cheap products the level of involvement is usually low. In the
third  step,  the  consumer  evaluates  the  different  attributes  of  the  brands.  Consumer  may
consider the product attributes and compare brand products. In the final step consumer makes
his choice about a product. 90

It’s  true  that  a  consumer  may  not  necessarily  go  through all  the decision  making  steps  for
every purchase he or she makes. At times, consumer makes his or her decision automatically
and the decision may be based on heuristics or mental shortcuts. Other times, in case of high-
involvement  products  consumer  may  take  a  long  time  before  reaching  a  final  purchase
decision.  It  depends  on  consumers’  importance  of  the  products  like  purchase  of  a  car  or
home. 91  More  over  consumers  try  to  make  an  estimated  brand  universe  on  the  basis  of
available information about the brands, and to make an estimated the utility function on the
basis of past consumption experience. 92

This is another interesting to find out customer’s decision making process through my study.
When  people  go  for  purchasing  a  car,  they  go  through  different  steps  before  reaching  a
decision  for  a  final  purchase,  like  search  information  about  the  cars,  evaluate  the  cars
attributes, get to know the experience of different people in their vicinity .

3.4.1 Decision Rules

“Consumer  considers  sets  of  product  attributes  by  using  different  rules,  depending  on  the
complexity of the decision and the importance of the decision to them. People rely on a short
cut to make a choice. In other cases though, they put more effort and thought into carefully
weighing alternatives before they come to decision”  93 .

The consumer applies a decision rule to the attributes and alternatives chosen. A decision rule
can be explained as a strategy used by the consumer when selecting from the alternatives. If a
purchase decision is habitual, a simplistic decision rule is likely to be applied. The consumer
may simply decide to buy the same brand as last time. The complexity of the decision rule
depends much on the level of involvement and the perceived importance of the outcome of
the  purchase  decision.  There  is  clear  division  between  more  complex  rules,  which  are
compensatory and non compensatory. 94
________________
90  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition, pp. 304-305
91  Ibid, p.305
92  Davies, Cline, A Consumer Behavior Approach to Modeling Monopolistic Competition,
Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol 26, 2005, p.801, Cited by Biehal & Chakravarti,
1986; Kardes et al.,1993; Shocker et al., 1991)
93  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition, p.330
94  Johanna Bjorch & Erik Jarnsjo, To Buy or Not to Buy, 1999, p.24
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  24  


3.4.2 Non Compensatory Decision rule

“When a non compensatory decision rule is applied it means that a weak performance in one
aspect will not be compensated by a strong performance in another” 95 .

Non Compensatory Decision rule can be defined as a decision making process in which the
consumer eliminate all product options that do not fulfill his basic desired attributes. As far as
the  Non  Compensatory  Decision  rule  is  concerned,  a  product  with  a  low  standing  on  one
attribute can not make up by being better on another attribute. To put it differently, consumers
simply eliminate all available options that do not have some requisite attribute desired by him.
When  consumers  are  less  acquainted  with  a  product  category  they  usually  resort  to  non
Compensatory Decision rule. It’s also true that when the consumers are inclined to engage in
complicated  information  processing  they  turn  to  non  Compensatory  Decision  rule  to  make
their purchase decision. 96  Non compensatory decision rules are divided into three categories.
Lexicographic rule, Elimination by aspects rule and Conjunctive rule.

When it comes to lexicographic decision rule, consumer opts for the brand that is the based on
the most important attribute desired by the consumer. If two or more brands are equally good
on the most important attribute, then the consumer makes a comparison among the brands on
the  basis  of  second  most  important  attribute.  This  process  goes  on  until  the  consumer  can
make his purchase decision. 97  

Elimination by aspects rule, the buyer evaluates brands on the most important attribute in case
of  elimination  by  aspects  rule.  In  elimination  by  aspects  rule  the  consumer  might  have
particular cutoffs. In “Conjunctive rule”, these two rules lexicographic rule and elimination by
aspects  rule,  the  consumer  compares  the  attributes  of  different  brands.  But  in  the  case  of
conjunctive rule, the consumer makes his decision by comparing brands. 98    
 

3.4.3 Compensatory Decision rule

“If a compensatory rule is used a perceived strength of one attribute will compensate or even
eliminate the weakness of another” 99 .

As far as the compensatory decision rule is concerned, consumers tend to be more involved in
the  purchase.  The  consumers  are  keen  to  put  additional  endeavor  to  reflect  on  the  entire
picture  in  a  more  meticulous  manner. 100   It  identifies  two  types  of  compensatory  decision
rules, simple additive rule and weighted additive rule.


________________
95  Ibid, p.25
96  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition, p.331
97  Ibid, p.331
98  Ibid, pp.331-332
99  Johanna Bjorch, Erik Jarnsjo, To Buy or Not to Buy, 1999, p.24
100  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition, p.332
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  25  
In  simple  additive  rule,  the  consumer  just  opts  for  the  brand  with  the  biggest  number  of
positive  attributes  desired  by  the  consumer.  When  the  consumers  have  limited  ability  or
motivation to engage in complex processing, the consumers tend to use simple additive rule to
make their purchase decision. One of the shortcomings of simple additive rule is that a few of
these  attributes  might  become  insignificant.   When  it  comes  to  make  a  purchase  decision,
weighted  additive  rule  is  more  complicated  than  simple  additive  rule.  When  customer  goes
through the weighted additive rule, he takes a decision considering the relative significance of
positive attributes. 101

“The fishbein model and ajzen model, states that the consumer total perception of a product
attributes is weighted by the salience of these attributes. The consumer’s attitude toward the
actual product will be based on the conclusions drawn from this weighting” 102 .

3.4.4 Social Class

Social class is an invisible stratification of the inhabitants of the society into different groups
based on some traits of the people. Inhabitants in a society can be divided into different social
classes according to their income level, occupation, education and so forth. 103  Social class of a
person  is  determined  by  a  wide  variety  of  set  of  variables  including  income,  family
background and occupation. 104

A person’s social class can be defined by what he or she does with money.  The consumption
choice of a person also determines the person’s position in society. Every social class varies
from  each  other  because  of  having  its  own  traits  that  set  it  apart  from  other  class.  Social
classes vary in costumes, language patterns and many other activities and preferences. People
belonging  to  the  working  class  usually  assess  products  in  terms  of  utility.  This  class  of
consumer will possibly never buy a product on an experimental basis. 105  Social class is very
important  source  to  know  which  social  class  person  belong.  Mostly  people  have  different
preference and choices from others. 106
 
People of a certain social class will also have different choices and preferences for different
products. Members of a specific class will also vary in taste. For example, lower middle class
consumers will usually have a strong inclination for T shirts, caps. People form higher social
class  will  have  preferences  for  reputed  branded  products  as  they  buy  products  not  only  to
satisfy their needs but also to say who they are through the products. 107

The  people’s  choice  and  preference  shows  their  social  class  in  the  society.  People  used
different branded cars that defines and reflects their social class. When I conducted my survey
I considered more deeply that how branded cars define the person’s social class.
_______________
101  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition, p. 332
102  Johanna Bjorch, Erik Jarnsjo, To Buy or Not to Buy, 1999, p.24, Cited by Solomon
Michael, Consumer Behavior
103  Hawkins Best Coney, Consumer Behavior, International Edition p.131
104  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition p. 456
105  Sophia Gregori & Anna Heden, Grocery Shopping Behaviour, p. 21, Cited by Kotler,
Marketing Management, 9 th  Edition, p.173  
106  Stephens, Sarah and Townsend, Choice as an Act of Meaning: The Case of Social Class,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 93, Issue 5, November 2007, p.814
107  Schiffman   Kanuk, Consumer Behaviour, Eight Edition, pp.398-399
  THEORETICAL FRAME  
  26  

3.4.5 Conspicuous Consumption

Conspicuous Consumption can be defined as the way of consumption by the people who have
the financial ability to afford expensive brands not only just to consume the products but also
to show off with the view to inspire envy among others. People of higher class usually go for
a wide array of status symbols for consuming conspicuously. 108  Conspicuous consumption is
related to the person’s social class, generally the  upper class consumer would purchase and
display exclusive items to show-off their wealth and power. They purchase expensive branded
products like cars, latest electronics even if it is not necessary for them to purchase. 109

3.4.6 Purchase Intention

The purchase intention shows customers preference to purchase the product, whose image is
very  close  to  customer. Moreover  customers are well  aware  of  certain brand  name  through
advertising, from their past experience or information form their friends and relatives. 110

The intention of a consumer to purchase a particular brand can be defined as his willingness
to buy that brand. After being exposed to a TV commercial, a consumer might be interested
about the product but being just interested in a product does not mean that the consumer has
the intention to buy the product.























_____________________
108  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition p.474
109  Hoyer, Maclnnis, consumer Behaviour, Third Edition, p.341
110  Lefa Teng, A Comparison of Two Types of Price Discounts in Shifting Consumers
Attitudes And Purchase Intentions, Journal of Business Research 2008, p.02
  COURSE OF ACTION  
  27  

4. Course of Action

This  chapter  describes  the  procedure  of  collecting  the  data  for  this  study.  Initially  I  will
present the method used in this study to gather data. This will lead me to an explanation of the
survey followed by the selection frame for this study. After that, I have described the process
of gathering the empirical data and the data processing of the primary  sources. Finally, the
evaluation of the sources is presented which rounds off this chapter.  

4.1 Survey on the automobile brands

I decided to conduct my survey in Pakistan. The purpose of my study was to explore and find
to  what  extent  the  image  of  brands  influences  the  potential  consumers  in  their  decision
making  process  before  making  a  final  purchase.  With  a  view  to  being  able  to  find  this,  I
decided  to  conduct  my  study  encompassing  a  few  well-known  brands  that  have  attained
outstanding  brand  image.  I  selected  three  multinational  automobile  companies  namely
Toyota, Honda and Suzuki. All these brands are reputed in Pakistan for excellent products and
they have a good market share. Customers trust these companies’ product. Moreover there is
great competition between the products of these companies.  In my opinion these are the best
companies suitable for my study.

Toyota motor company operates with three main objectives, to provide customers with high-
grade  products  and  attain  customer  satisfaction  through  offering  the  best  option  to  them,
improvement of market leadership and giving first priority to customer preferences. Which is
why,  Toyota  developed  a  separate  customer  relationship  department  so  as  to  cater  to  the
customers’  need,  avoid  and  reduce  those  things  that  negatively  affect  the  environment,
implement  with  all  related  legal,  regulatory  requirements  which  are  concerned  about
environment protection. 111

Honda Atlas cars, aim to provide an excellent and regular services to its customers so as to
keep its customers level of satisfaction high. Sometimes company holds a service campaign to
provide a better service facility to its customers. This is helpful to build customer confidence
which  eventually  helps  the  company  to  bolster  its  bottom  line.  After  sale,  company  offers
better  service  and  makes  available  the  spare  parts  at  the  competitive  price  to  increase  the
customer satisfaction. 112
 
Pak Suzuki’s main objective is to provide the customers with a different range of cars. The
company, at the time of manufacturing, considers the customer needs. The company aims to
maintain  the  international  standard  and offer  its  customer  cheap  price  products.  After  sales
service provided by Suzuki is also another reason for the satisfaction of its customers. 113  





________________
111  Toyota Pakistan Official Website (www.toyota-indus.com) Time 14.00, dated 04.01.08
112  Honda Pakistan Official Website (Honda.com.pk) Time 16.00, dated 03.01.08
113  Suzuki Pakistan Official Website (www.paksuzuki.com.pk) Time 10.00, dated 03.01.08

  COURSE OF ACTION  
  28  
There are many reasons for which these brands are successful in Pakistan market. Because of
high  brand  awareness,  good  quality,  easy  availability  of  car  parts,  good  service  after  sale,
service  centers  all  big  cities,  reasonable  price  and  customer  trust.  Furthermore,  companies
manufacture  the  product  according  to  its  customer  needs  for  example  Toyota,  Honda  and
Suzuki introduced CNG kits in new models, which is environment friendly and cheap.

4.2 Questionnaire Design

My designed questionnaire is very close to the background of my study, which I want to know
through  this  survey  about  consumer  behavior,  consumer  decision,  brand  loyalty,  brand
awareness, brand quality, social class price strategy, brand name and customer experience etc.
The same sequence of questions was presented to all interviewees with similar incentive. My
designed questionnaire structure was based on multiple choice questions, so that he or she can
select from many alternatives provided to them.

I tried to design this type of questionnaire in my survey which is related to respondent’s real
life experience. Therefore respondents select the best answers without any hesitation. I utilize
easy and daily use English words or vocabulary in my survey. I designed my survey questions
keeping in mind the people who own a car.

4.3 Method for collecting data

There  are  two  types  of  methods  that  researchers  can  employee  when  collecting  data  for  a
study. These are called qualitative and quantitative methods.

The reason of qualitative research is to know what is in a consumer’s mind. It can be done to
admittance and take a rough idea about customer’s perspective. It assists the researcher to be
oriented to the variety and complexity of consumer’s activities and concern .   The Qualitative
data is collected for various reasons. It is very helpful to know things which researchers can
find out through Qualitative data analysis. Researchers can directly measure practical things
which  are  impossible  otherwise,  like  respondents  feeling  about  specific  product  or  brand,
thoughts, intensions and behavior. 114

The  quantitative  data  analysis  also  plays  an  important  role  in  the  research,  this  is  leading
method  used  mainly  in  business  and  economics.  The  quantitative  data  is  utilized  very
commonly  in  research  and  now  it  has  become  an  important  part  in  research  analysis.
Quantitative  research  is  mainly  utilized  as  a  synonym  for  any  data  analysis  collection
technique for example questionnaire, data analysis produced through graphs and statistics that
create or utilizes numerical data. 115  The quantitative data refers to all type of such data that
can be used for all type of research strategies for the products. 116  

________________
114  Aaker, Kumar, Day, Marketing Research, Eight Edition P.189
115  Saunder,  Lewis  &  Thornhill  Research  Methods  for  Business  Students,  Fourth  Edition,
p.145
116  Ibid, p.406




  COURSE OF ACTION  
  29  

In  my  opinion  it  is  very  useful  for  my  study,  if  I  gather  information  through  a  qualitative
method for this study. The main reason of this study is to identify that what influence brand
name  can  have  on  a  consumer decision.  This  enabled  me to  analyze  the  opinion  of  a large
number of people. Therefore I decided to use a qualitative research method as a tool for this
study, to reach the truthful conclusion in this topic.

4.4 The survey

“Survey  gathers  information  by  asking  participants  about  their  experience,  attitudes  or
knowledge.  Survey  instruments  can  be  used  in  virtually  and  type  of  research,  from  case
studies through experimental studies” 117 .

The  survey  is  conducted  for  gathering  a  data  for  specific  purpose,  generally  researchers
conduct different surveys for different purposes to identify the nature presented conditions. 118
Survey does not consume long time while on the other hand interviews can take longer time.
It is easier for a researcher in less time to find answers to all questions by following the same
sequence  to  all  of  the  respondents,  therefore  the  respondent  be  more  straightforward  when
answering the questions. 119  

I  included many  theories  in my  study which  are  related to the consumer’s decision and  his
behavior, brand equity and emotional branding etc. I decided to utilize the theoretical part as a
foundation for my survey, then I designed a questionnaire from the different theories, and I
tried  to  put  the  questions  in  same  sequence  as  the  theories  laze  in,  to  make  the  summary
easier. After that I arranged the questions for the respondents to feel easier.

4.5 Selection Frame

The individuals whom we interviewed are usually called population. When employing a small
part  of  the  total  population,  the  correct  denomination  is  called  sample.  The  research  is
designed  in  a  right  way;  the  sample  selection  can  be  seen  as  a  depiction  of  the  total
population, although of a smaller size. 120

During the research some respondents did not give the correct answers of some questions due
to several reasons. We called this internal missing. The larger number of respondents failed to
answer many questions due to some risk insecurity. It was not possible to completely correct
these internal missing from the study.


________________
117  Graziano & Raulin, Research Methods, Sixth Edition, p.321, Cited by Schuman & Kalton
1985
118  Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion & Keith Morrision, Research Methods in Education,
p.205
119  Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006, Too Old for a Brand, p.26, Cited by Bryman Alan  &
Bell Emma 2005, p.11
120  Papanastassiu  and  Rouhani,  2006, Too  Old  for a  Brand,p.27,  Cited by  Ejlertsson  Goran
1996, pp.16-17

  COURSE OF ACTION  
  30  
When  I  conducted  my  survey,  due  to  the  lack  of  time,  the  first  objective  was  to  get  more
respondents in the limited time. So I conducted the survey to people in the shopping malls, car
showrooms and streets. After receiving a positive response, I visited different offices. I had
chosen Karachi for my study because it is a large, industrialized and prosperous city with high
population  which  gives  the  great  opportunity  for  people  to  have  a  wide  range  of  different
brand cars.

4.6 Gathering the Empirical data

I have already explained why I conducted my survey in Karachi. In the beginning of survey, I
thought  it  was  not  difficult  to  collect the  data from the  people but when  I  started  it  then  I
realized that it is a quite difficult job because some people did not want to fill the survey form
due  to  shortage  of  time.  Initially  I  have  chosen  wrong  time  of  the  day  to  collect  the
information but later changing the time of day made the task easier. My aim for this study was
to conduct approximately 100 surveys, which were thought to be enough for my study if filled
out  correctly.  After  completing  the decided  surveys  quantity,  I  conducted  more  10  surveys
due to incorrectly filled or missing some information. The 110 surveys were enough for my
study if some may be filled out incorrectly. I found that people are really attached with brand
name which influences their decision.

When I approached the people, I had to explain them the reason for collecting this data. After
that I requested them to participate as it would take them approximately 10-15 minutes. I did
not  try  to  influence  respondent’s  choice  of  answers.  If  they  had  any  query  related  to  my
designed questions I briefed them deeply without involvement in answers.


4.7 Data Processing of the primary sources

Having conducted the survey  next step was to analyze the respondent’s views and answers.
For the data analysis I used SPSS software. I created different crosstab and frequency tables
which I utilized to show the associations and as  portrayal of questions in the  survey.  I also
created different diagrams and tables about the statistics to find a clearer overview.

4.8 Evaluation of the sources

I designed total 23 questions for my survey which included approximately four pages, which
would take approximately 10-15 minutes, to fill out this survey questionnaire.

I tried to construct the questionnaire very simple and easy, while designing the questionnaire I
considered the all questions carefully so that any question does not have a negative impact on
the respondents. I think questions should be of lower validity. The main aim was to design a
questionnaire  so  that  respondents  feel  easy  to  choose  the  appropriate  answer.  When  I
conducted  my  survey  I  did  not  feel  the  uneasiness  of  the  people  while  they  filled  out  the
answers.

While  designing  a  survey,  researchers  face  different  problem  like  the  respondents  do  not
answers  the  questions  honestly  or  they  filled  out  without  thinking.  This  can  be  a  difficult
situation when doing the analysis. I provided them as much as time they required for a filling
out a survey questionnaire. I believe that all the respondents who took part in my survey were
honest in their views.  
  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
  31  

5. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

This chapter provides the empirical findings that I have gathered for my study. In the chapter,
I  used  diagrams  to  make  the  connection  between  the  text  and  study  conducted  clearer.
Furthermore,  it  shows  the  demographic  information  of  the  respondent  and  the  statistical
analysis of the information collected from the respondents.


Demographic Information of the respondents

Table-1 shows the demographic information of the respondents. The first table provides the
gender information which shows that 64% of the respondents were male and 34% respondents
were  female.  The  survey  shows  majority  of  the  respondents  were  male.  I  think  the  main
reason  for  this  is  because  more  men  drive  a  car  than  female  in  Pakistan.  I  selected  the
respondents randomly without any bias. I selected cases  for my  survey who own  car that’s
why ownership of car is100%.

Furthermore  the  table  provides the  respondents  age-group  information.  The  first  age  group
(25 to 35  years) accounted for 32% and next 36 to 45-years-age-group accounted for 26%,
the  46  to 55-years-age-group  were 24%  and  the 56  to 65  years-age-group were  14%  and
above 65 years age group respondents were 4%. I have already explained that I selected the
cases at random.

The table explains the respondents’ income. It is very important variable. Most of researchers
include this variable in their survey. My analysis shows that 19% respondents’ annual income
are 1,00,000 and 26% respondents annual income is between 1,01,000 to 2,00,000 and 22%
respondents  earn  annually  between  2,01,000  to  3,00,000  and    20%  respondents’  annual
income is between 3,01,000 to 4,00,000 and 7% respondents’ earning annually 40,10,000 to
5,00,000  and  6%  respondents  earning  annually  more  than  5,00,000.  (All  amounts  are  in
Pakistani  Rupees).  All  respondents  have  a  different  brand  car,  matching  their  individual
income level.

In the  table-1, the demographic  variable occupation  indicates that  21% respondents are in
private service  and  28%  respondents  run  their  own  business  and  19%  respondents  work  in
government  offices  and  16%  respondents  are  university  teachers  and  9%  respondents  are
doctors and 3% respondents are lawyers and 4% respondents are belong to other occupation.













  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  32  




Variables


Measuring
Group

Frequency

Percentage %

Gender
Male  64  64
Female  36  36
Total  100  100
Ownership of
car
Yes  100  100
No  0  0
Total  100  100


Age (group)
25 to 35  32  32
36 to 45  26  26
46 to 55  24  24
56 to 65  14  14
More  04  04
Total  100  100


Income





1,00,000  19  19
1,01,000 – 2,00,000  26  26
2,01,000 – 3,00,000  22  22
3,01,000 – 4,00,000  20  20
4,01,000 – 5,00,000  07  07
More than  06  06
Total  100  100




Occupation
Private Service  21  21
Business  28  28
Government job  19  19
University Teacher  16  16
Doctor  09  09
Lawyer  03  03
Others  04  04
Total  100  100

Table 01: Demographic information of the respondents








  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  33  


Question  2-  The  following  bar  diagram  depicts  the  results  of  questions  asked  the
respondents about the specific brand of the car they own.

Ownership of  specific brand car
others mazada Volvo Suzuki Honda Hyundai Toyota
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
Ownership of  specific brand car


Figure 01: owner ship of specific brand car.


After  having asked the respondents which brand car they own, I  gave them  seven different
brand car names which include nearly all the available brands in Pakistan market. 24% cases
replied to have Toyota brand car and 18% respondents are running Honda brand car and 8%
respondents owned Mazda brand car. 12% respondents replied to have Hyundai brand car and
7% respondents owned other companies branded cars.

The majority of respondents which is 31% answered to have own Suzuki brand cars. This is
the highest percent of brand car user in survey. In terms of ownership of specific car brand,
Suzuki is followed by Toyota  



Question  3-  The  table  below  shows  the  result  of  the  question  about  the  extent  of
information search the cases of the survey did before buying their preferred
brand.  


  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  34  
Information search before buying

  Frequency  Percent
Extensive Information
Search

22

22
Compared only few brands  20  20
Limited information search  17  17
No information search  41  41
Total  100  100

Table 02: Extended information search before buying

The table-2 shows the extent of the information search before buying a car. 22% respondents
searched information extensively before buying a car. 20% of the cases compared few brands
before finally making their purchase decision. The survey shows that 17% respondents were
engaged  in  limited  information  search  before  making  their  final  choice.  However,  41%
respondents did not search any information before buying a car. According to the result of the
survey, it can be inferred that most potential buyers usually engage in information at least to
an extent.  

Question 4- The diagram below portrays the result of the question that was asked the        
respondents as to the purchase decision making process.


Purchase Decision
Purchase Decision
others Friend Decision Family Decision Ow n Decision
Percent
40
30
20
10
0

Figure 2: Purchase Decision

The  objective  of  this  question  was  to  find  out  whether  the  purchase  decision  was  the
respondents own individual decision or a collective decision. As we can see in the above bar
diagram that the majority of the respondents replied that when they purchased a car that was
their own decision and relatively a fewer respondents answered that the purchase decision was
their  joint  family  decision and  the  lowest  number  of  respondents  replied  to  have  consulted
with  their  fried  before  buying,  this  is  followed  by  the  “others”  which  signifies  that  the
respondents  sought  others  namely  co-workers  etc.  suggestions  before  making  buying
decision.
  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  35  


Question 5- The following table depicts that results of the question which is related to
the most important attribute the respondents considered for making their
buying decision.  



Most important attribute considered before buying



Price of the product
Frequency  Percent
30  30
Quality of the product   19  19
Both Price and Quality  06  06
The brand name of the
product
34  34
Design of the product  07  07
Other attributes   04  04
Total  100  100

Table 03: Most important attribute for considering buying


Regarding which most important aspect the respondents considered when  he or she made a
purchase decision. The purchase decision of a potential buyer is  influenced by a number of
factors namely  past  experience,  brand, quality  and price.  The  majority  of respondents  34%
answered when they purchased a car they considered the well  known brand name and 30%
respondents replied they considered the car price and 19% said they considered the car quality
and 7% respondent considered the car design and 8% considered the price and quality and 4%
considered the other attributes.



Question  6-  The  under-mentioned  diagram  shows  the  information  produced  by  the
survey of the question as to the number of brands the respondents took into
consideration before finally making up their mind.    


  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  36  
Number brands consider before buying
Number brands consider before buying
six five Four three tw o
Percent
40
30
20
10
0

Figure 3: Number of brands car before buying


After  having  asked  this  question  I  wanted  to  find  out  how  many  cars  the  respondents
considered  when  they  purchased  car.  The  large  number  of  respondents  which  is  32%
answered they considered three different cars before purchasing and 26% respondents replied
they  considered two different cars and 17% respondents considered four cars whereas 13%
respondents considered five cars and 12% respondents considered six cars.

                                                

Question 7- The  table  below  shows  the result  of  the  question  related  to the  extent  the
respondents sought information from others.  

Opinion Seeking



Yes, I did
Frequency  Percent

44  44
No, I did not  20  20
Yes, I did some times  27  27
Never  9  9
Total  100  100

Table 04: Opinion seeking from others




  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  37  

By asking this question I wanted to find out when customers buy a car whether they seek any
opinion from others or not. The table shows that 44% respondents replied “yes, I did” which
is the  largest followed by 20% respondents who replied “No, I did not” and 27% answered
“Yes, I did some times” and 9% answered “Never” which means they never seek any opinion
from others.

Question 8- The  diagram  below  depicts  the results  of  the  question as  to whether  they
sought  attributes  information  of  the  brands  he  or  she  was  not  previously
aware of.

Information search about well known brand
Information search about well known brand
Never yes, i did not much No, i did not yes, i did
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0

Figure 4: Information search about well known brand



This question is related to the customers’ information to search about attribute of car brands
he or she was not aware of before buying. The survey result shows that 42% respondents
“yes,  I  did”  information  searched  about  attribute  of  unknown  brand  car  and  17%
respondents “No, I did not” and 34% respondent replied “Yes, I did but not much” and 7%
answered  “Never”  which  means  they  never  searched  information  about  attribute  of
unknown brand car.



Question  9-  The  diagram  below  portrays  result  of  the  question  as  to  whether  the
respondents  took  the  lesser  known  brands  into  consideration  before
making their final buying decision.




  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  38  


Consideration lesser known brand


Yes, I did
Frequency  Percent
20  20
No, I did not  44  44
Yes, I did but not much  19  19
Never  17  17
Total  100  100

Table 05: Consideration lesser known brand


This  is  very  interesting  question  for  me  regarding  lesser  known  brand  car  consideration  I
asked  the  respondents  whether  they  considered  the  lesser  known  brand  cars  alongside  well
known brand car. I found more than 44% respondent answered “No, I did not” which means
the  respondents  mainly  considered  only  the  brands  that  were  in  their  evoked  set.  20%
respondents replied “Yes, I did” and 19% respondents answered “Yes, I did but not much”
and 17% replied “Never” which means they only considered the brands in their consideration
set.

Question 10- The diagram below shows the information of the question regarding the
quality perception of the consumers between well known brand and lesser
known brands.  


Quality consideration between well known brand or lessor known
brand
Not necessarily Most frequently Sometimes Always
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Quality consideration between well known brand or lessor known
brand

Figure 5: Quality consideration


  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  39  


It  is a  very  important question regarding the quality perception of consumers between well
know  branded  cars  and  lesser  known  brand  car. In  my  view  this  question  is  very  close  to
brand name impact on consumer decision making. When I asked this question to respondent I
got 48% respondents answered “Always” it means customer understand well known brand car
always better quality  to lesser  known  brand  and 14%  respondents  replied  “sometimes”  and
23% answered “Most frequently” and 15% answered “Not necessarily”.



Question 11- The table below shows the perception of the consumers as to the quality of
the well known branded products.


Branded products have better quality


Yes, I agree
Frequency  Percent
47  47
No, I don’t agree  9  9
I agree, but it’s not
always true
26  26
It is not necessary  18  18
Total  100  100

Table 06: Branded products have better quality

When it comes to the question regarding a brand product quality it is more interesting for me
as  I  wanted  to  find  out  respondents  what  their  views  about  brand  product  quality.  The
majority 47% answered “Yes, I agree” and 9% respondents replied “No, I don’t agree” and
26% respondents views “I agree, but it’s not always true” and 18% respondents answered “It
is not necessary”.

Question 12- This question is related to the opinion of the respondents whether using a
                      well known brand signifies a status symbol.  


Brands signify the status



Yes, I agree
Frequency

Percent
34  34
No, I don’t agree  17  17
Not necessarily  28  28
I agree, but it’s not always
true
21  21
Total  100  100

Table 07: Brands signify the status
  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  40  



I endeavored to find out through this question whether a well known brand car is a status of
symbol.  The  majority,  34%  of  respondents  answered  “Yes,  I  agree”  and  17%  respondents
replied  “No,  I  don’t  agree”  and  28%  respondents  views  that  “Not  necessarily”  and  21%
respondents “I agree, but it’s not always true”.



Question 13- This question is related to the opinion of the respondents whether using a
well known brand signifies the social status of the consumer.  


Brands defining social class




Yes, I agree
Frequency

Percent
34  34
No, I don’t agree  14  14
Not necessarily  23  23
I agree, but it’s not always
true
29  29
Total  100  100


Table 08: Brands defining social class


I also found it interesting that respondents considered the branded products signify their social
class. As many as 34% respondents views that “Yes, I agree” and 29% respondents replied
that “Yes, I agree but it is not always true” and 23% answered “Not necessary” and 14%
respondents “No, I don’t agree”.  



Question  14-  The  objective  of  the  question  was  to  find  out  to  what  extent  the  brand
name is more important than the desired attributes of the product.










  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  41  
Importance of brand name relative to desired attribute
not always not at all important important to an extent very important
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
Importance of brand name relative to desired attribute

Figure 6: importance of brand name to desired attribute


I wanted to find out the importance of brand name to customers over the desired attributes of
a product. As many as 40% respondents views that brand name relative to desired attribute is
“Very  important”  and  23%  respondents  “Important  to  an  extent”  and  19%  respondents
answered “Not at all important” and 18% respondent replied “Not always”.


Question 15- This question is related to how often the respondents prefer a well known
branded product.
.
Preferences of branded products



Some times
Frequency  Percent

19  19
Always  46  46
Frequently  19  19
Never  16  16
Total  100  100

Table 09: Preferences of branded products


To find out people always go brand products, I asked this question for respondents all brand
products not any specific brand products. The majority 46% replied to me they “Always” go
towards brand products and 19% respondents answered they go “some times” and 19% views
they go “Frequently” and 16% answered “Never” go.
  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  42  


Question  16-  The  following  table  shows  the  results  of  the  question  pertaining  to  the
quality perception of the lesser known brands.



Lesser known are not always inferior quality



Yes, I agree
Frequency  Percent

34  34  
No, I don’t agree  23  23
Frequently  28  28
Never  15  15
Total  100  100

Table 10: Lesser known are not always inferior quality

After having asked the respondents about the lesser known brand means inferior quality, the
majority 34% of respondent’s views that “Yes I gree” and 23% respondents answered “No, I
don’t agree” and 28% replied “Frequently” and 15% respondents views that “Never”.


Question  17-  This  question  is  regarding  well  known  brand  logo  as  a  symbol  of
customers’ status.
Importance of brand logo
It is not necessary Yes, I agree, but not
always true
No, I don't agree Yes, I agree
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
Importance of brand logo

Figure 7: importance of brand logo

  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  43  

Reasoning  for  asking  this  question  to  respondents  what  customer  views  regarding  a  well
known brand logo shows their status. As many  as customer answered to this question 39%
respondents “Yes,  I agree”  brand logo shows the user status and 20% respondents “Not, I
don’t agree ” and 26% “yes, I agree but not always true ” and 15% respondent replied “It is
not necessary”.


Question 18- This question is related to whether the brand image enhances a customer’s
self esteem.


Enhancement of self esteem through brand



Yes, I agree
Frequency  Percent

34

34
No, I don’t agree   19  19
Yes,   I   agree   but   not
always true
26  26
It is not necessary  21  21
Total  100  100

Table 11: Enhancement of self esteem



After having asked the respondent about the enhancement of self esteem, it is interesting to
find out how people themselves feel. In my view this was difficult for respondent to answer
this question. The majority 34% respondents views “Yes, I agree” brand image increase the
self esteem and19% respondents answered “No, I do not agree” and 26% respondents replied
“Yes, I agree but not always true” and 21% respondents views “It is not necessary”.

Question 19- This question is related to customer ranks five brands car.

Ranking of Car



BMW
Frequency  Percent

28  28
Mercedes  21  21
Toyota  17  17
Honda  14  14
Suzuki  11  10
Others  09  09
Total  100  100

Table 12: ranking of Car

  EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

  44  
The  above  table  demonstrates  that  customer  kept  the  BMW  as  their  first  choice  and  then
Mercedes. As many as 28% respondents view BMW rank is first and 21% respondents replied
Mercedes rank is second and 17% answered Toyota rank is third and 14% respondents view
Honda rank is fourth and 11%  respondents Honda rank is fifth and others 9%.










































  ANALYSIS

  45  
6. Analysis

This chapter presents the empirical findings and shows its connection with the theory, which
lies,  and  is  the  base  for  this  thesis.  The  different  parts  follow  the  structure  of  both  the
theoretical frame and the empirical findings.  

Through this survey I wanted to consider the influence of brand name on consumer decision
in  car  choice.  Brand  name  plays  an  important  role  in  customer’s  choice  when  they  go  for
purchasing  a  car.  The  result  of  the  survey  is  very  positive  and  shows  that  brand  names
influence the customer’s choice in the automobile car industry.

6.1 Brand equity

I have explained in my theoretical frame that brand is a set of brand assets and liabilities that
are connected with a brand. These connections are related to brand name and symbol and add
or subtract from the value provided by a product to company and for the customers. Brand
equity factors are very deeply connected to the brand name and symbol. When brand name or
symbol is changed, this affects all assets and liabilities. David Aaker explained five factors of
brand equity. These factors are:

1.  Brand loyalty
2.  Name awareness
3.  Perceived Quality
4.  Brand Association in addition to perceived quality
5.  Other property brand assets- patents, trademarks, channel relationships etc.

These factors involve add and subtract value for customers. Brand equity help customers to
construe  process  and  store  the  mass  quantities  information  which  is  related  to  customer’s
specific  product  and  brands.  This  also  affects  the  customer  confidence  and  their  purchase
decision like past use experience or familiarity with brand name and its characteristics. 121

6.2 Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty shows customer preferences to purchase a particular brand; customers believe
that the brand offers the enjoyable features, images, or standard of quality at the right price. 122
Brand  loyalty  represents  an  encouraging  approach  towards  a  brand  resulting  in  regular
purchase of the brand over time. 123  Brand loyalty is shape of continue purchasing a conscious
to regular buying the same brand. 124





_______________
121 Aaker A David, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New
York Free Press (1991) p.16  
122  www.extension.iastate.edu/AgDM/wholefarm/html/c5-54.htmltime17.50, dated 3.01.08
123  Pekka Tuominen, Understanding Brand Equity, p.17, Cited by Assael 1992, pp. 87-89
124  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Eight Edition, P.293

  ANALYSIS

  46  



41%  of  the  respondents  replied  that  they  are  loyal  to  the  specific  branded  cars.  Customers
trust a brand and become more loyal with the previous positive experience.  

The survey results illustrate the brand loyalty. Most of the people are loyal with the specific
branded cars, over time they purchase the  same  branded car because the specific brand has
satisfied the customer’s needs and in turn has gained the trust in the brand name. The study
also  explains  the  customer’s  preferences  to  purchase  a  particular  branded  car  in  shape  of
regular  purchasing.  Some  people  are  even  using  the  same  branded  cars  for  generations.
Customers  believe  that  the  brands  offer  them  standard  of  quality  and  right  price  of  the
product.  The  results  also  indicate  that  most  of  the  people  are  loyal  with  the  well  known
branded cars.

6.3 Perceived Quality and brand association

Perceived  quality  defines  a  customer’s  perception  and  the  product’s  quality  or  superiority
which provides the fundamental reason to the customers to purchase.   Mostly customers prefer
to buy products from a well known and familiar brand, rather than opting and taking a chance
by going for the unknown or new brand. 125  The brand association creates a positive attitude
and feeling that makes a connection of the customer with the brand, especially when it comes
to decision making. 126

48%  of the  respondents  had  the  views  that  well  known branded  cars  have  superior  quality
over the lesser known or new branded cars, which influences their decision making process.

The survey results show the relation, regarding perceived quality, between well known brands
and lesser known branded car. Customers believe that well known branded cars have a better
quality  from  the  lesser  known  brands.  The  reason  is  that  branded  cars  get  well  placed  in
customer’s  mind  and  gain  their  trust  through  their  quality  service.  When  people  intend  to
purchase a car, firstly they consider the well known branded cars. Moreover result defines that
most of the people choose the product within the branded car. Customers may have previous
experience about the well known brands and lesser known brands in regard to car quality, and
they rely more on the quality of branded cars as compare to lesser known brands.

People often purchase a familiar brand because they feel more comfortable and secure while
buying a specific brand as they are aware and familiar with the brand name and reasonable
trust in the reliability and quality. This can be an essential factor when it comes to the actual
purchase decision. 127


________________
125  Pekka Tuominen, Understanding Brand Equity, p. 20, Cited by Aaker 1991, pp. 85-86
126  Ajay Kalra, & B.P.S. Murthi, When Old Is Gold: The Role of Business Longevity in Risky
Situations, Journal of Marketing Vol. 72, January (2008), p.96
127  Aaker A David, Managing Brand Equity, Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New
York Free Press (1991) pp.20 & 111


  ANALYSIS

  47  


People often purchase a familiar brand because they feel more comfortable and secure while
buying a specific brand as they are aware and familiar with the brand name and reasonable
trust in the reliability and quality. This can be an essential factor when it comes to the actual
purchase decision. 128

When  I  found  out  people’s  perception  about  the  branded  car  quality,  this  became  clear
through my survey that 47% respondent’s were of opinion that branded car always come in
better quality and service.  

The survey results very deeply connected with the above explained theory People’s opinion
about the branded car quality is that, it is better to purchase the branded car because they have
preconceived  view  that  they  always  comes  in  better  quality.  When  people  have  not  much
information  about  the  companies  and  their  products,  in  this  situation,  they  would  like  to
purchase  a  branded  product  because  they  have  much  information  before  hand  about  the
branded cars. The result shows that branded cars build the customer’s confidence and when
they purchase the branded cars they feel more comfortable safe with the product.

6.4 Brand Awareness

Brand name awareness plays an important role in decision making of a consumer. If customer
had already heard the brand name, the customer would have idea about the product this makes
him  feel  more  comfortable  at  the  time  of  making  decision,  which  is  not  the  case  with  an
unknown  brand.  Therefore  companies’  strong  brand  name  is  a  wining  track  as  customers
choose their brand over the other brand. 129  People generally tend to buy brands that they are
familiar with and on which they have confidence. 130  

The 44% of the total respondents were of view, regarding brand awareness, that when they go
for  purchasing,  they  choose  the  well  known  brands  product  because  they  have  good
information about the well known brands as compare lesser known brands.

The  result  goes  along  with  the theory  about  the  brand  awareness that,  when  people  go  for
purchasing a car they do not consider the lesser known brands because they do not have much
information  about  them.  Usually,  people  purchase  well  known  branded  cars  because  they
might have heard before about brands or they have some information about them from other
sources. This makes customer feel more comfortable during the time of decision making as
they are not so confident about the knowledge they can  gather about the other brands. This
usually  makes  the people  not  to  take  a  chance  and  thus  they  prefer to  go  for  the  trust  and
confidence they already have.

________________
128  Aaker  A  David,  1991,  Managing  Brand  Equity,  Capitalizing  on  the  Value  of  a  Brand
Name, New York Free Press (1991) p.19  
129  Ibid, p.19
130  Wayned Hoyer, Steven p. Brown, Effects of Brand Awareness on Choice for a Common ,
Repeat-Purchase Product, Journal of Consumer research Vol 17, September (1990),
pp.141-142


  ANALYSIS

  48  

6.5 Emotional Branding

A  company  that  can  connect  with  the  customer  through  an  emotional  level  and  it  is  more
possible to succeed. This does not only involve if a company really does this job but also how
they choose to do it and the way to approach the customers. 131

6.6 Brand Name and symbol of the brand

Brand name shows the source of the product. A brand aware consumer can differentiate the
product from its competitor. If the brand name is superior then the customer is ready to pay
the  high  price,  due  to  the  trust  in  the  brand  name.  A  brand  name  has  an  influence  on  the
customer choice. 132  

With the 40% replied made it clear that brand name is very important for customers because
people have more confidence in a brand name and feel comfortable while purchasing them.

The results of the survey are  very positive, regarding a brand name; this  is  very helpful for
customers to chose the right product and protect them from other competitors brands. It also
influences the customer purchase decision as customers trust the particular brand name. Most
of  the  customers  purchase  the  well  known  branded  car  due  to  brand  name  because  they
believe  that brand  name  is  a  symbol  of quality.  Further  result shows  that  if  brand  name  is
superior in the market then the customer is ready to pay higher price for it. Different People
have different branded cars. They have different reasons to purchase a specific brand car. The
main  reason  customer trusts  the  brand  name  is  that,  it  tries  its  best  to  keep the  customer’s
confidence.

The  symbol  or  logo  makes  it  able  for  the  customers  to  remember  the  company  and  its
products. This is very helpful for the companies in creating a place in the customers mind for
its products and gets emotionally connected with the certain brand name and symbol . 133

39% respondents were of the view that the symbol of the brand is very important for them to
recognize the brand source.

The survey result defines that brand logo is a very valuable assets. In automobile car industry
brand symbol is the identification of each of the brand.  Majority of the customer recognize
the branded car through brand logo or symbol because all brands cars can look alike when it
comes  to  shape  and  colors.  Sometimes  it  is  not  easy  for  the  customers  to  identify  the  car
manufacturing company. In this respect the brand logo creates a difference and customers can
easily recognize the brand through symbol. People remember the brand name through brand
logo and it also creates brand awareness. People have emotional connection with well known
brand logo and it also defined the customer’s life style and status in the society.

________________
131  Making the Emotional Connection, Brand Week, January 2001, Vol 42, Issue 5, p.23
132  Marjit, Beladi and Kabiraj, Brand Name Collaboration and OptimalTtariff, Economic
Modelling Vol 24 (2007) p.637
133  Papanastassiu  and  Rouhani,  2006,  Too  Old  for  a  Brand,  p.17,  Cited  by  Travis  Daryi,
Emotional Branding

  ANALYSIS

  49  


6.7 Experience

All brands create feelings; some brands are designed to give customers more experience in the
true sense of the word than other brands. The most powerful brand goes beyond the traditional
and conservative means to steal customers’ attention. 134  Most brands take on special meaning
to customers because of past experience. They find out which brands satisfy their needs and
which ones do not. 135  

The result from our survey describes the experience of the customer about the branded car.
People use different branded cars, these give the customers different feelings and experience
about  the  brand  quality  and  performance.  The  results  describe  that  some  brands  have  very
strong position according to customer’s perceptions and have good space in consumer mind.
Usually people, before purchasing a car, consider the product experience, if experience was
good about the specific branded car then customer continue the purchase the  same branded
car.  The study  shows  that the  customers  experience  highly  effect their  purchasing decision
and  choices.  Some  people  are  using  same  branded  car  for  many  years,  they  had  good
experience about the brand quality and in near future also they want to purchase same brand
car.

6.8 Self esteem

A brand product gives a positive feeling to customer that reflects the customer feelings in him
or  her  self.  People  purchase  products  to  help  them  show  a  certain  image  of  themselves  to
other people. Most  of people  have  different  views  about his  /  her  attributes  is  called  a  self
concept.  The  self  esteem  to  market  the  product  and  advertising  it,  attempts  to  stimulate
positive feelings about the self. 136

As many as 34% respondents clearly explained that to a certain extent purchase products in
order to enhance self esteem.

The  study  result  shows  the  connection  between  the  above  mentioned  theory  about  the  self
esteem. Customers purchase a different branded product so it can enhance a customer’s self
esteem through purchasing a certain brand, and its help them to get certain positive feeling.
People purchase  products  which  help them to  show  a  certain  image  of  themselves  to  other
people. They believe brand image is very important to enhance the self esteem.




_______________
134   Travis Daryi, Emotional Branding- How Successful Brands Gain the Irrational Edge, p.79
135  Kevin  Lane  Keller,  Strategic  Brand  Management,  Building,  Measuring,  and  Managing
Brand Equity, Second Edition, p.09
136  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Buying, Having and Being, pp.156-157




  ANALYSIS

  50  

6.9 Price strategy

Price  strategy  is  one  of  the  important  elements  which  help  the  brand  product  become  a
successful brand. When there are several brand product in the market then to attract customers
towards a particular brand, price strategy plays an important role. Sometimes customer knows
the brand name well but do not agree to the product price because other brand products are
available in market with lower price. 137  

The  30% respondents  views  that  price  is  very  important  factor  for  choosing  a  brand,  when
they purchase a product.

The  study results show  that,  car  price  is  very  important  issue  from  the customer’s point  of
view. Usually customers ignore the car due to the high price so they chose a car among other
brands. When people go for purchasing a car they compare the different car prices. They have
many choices of cars that are available at different prices. Car price play an important role to
make successful brand in the market. Some brands are very famous in the market and among
the people because of their low price. Some times customers ignore the well known brand car
and  move  to  the  lower  price  car  due  to  the  cost  factor.  Further  the  results  show  that  the
automobile  car  companies  should  design  the  price  strategy   carefully  because  in  the
developing country like Pakistan, majority of the customers come from economically middle
class which fixes its budget in a certain range before going for a purchase.

6.10 Consumer Behavior
 
The  consumer  behavior  study  is  related  to  how  customers  select,  purchase  and  uses  the
products. 138  The consumer environment influences how the consumers feel, consider and act.
The  environmental  features  are,  for  instance,  comments  taken  from  other  customers,
advertising, packing, price, product appearance etc. 139

The overall  study results define that in the consumer behavior, several  factors can make an
impact the consumer’s different actions. One factor can be a consumer environment, in this
factor  various  things  like  advertisement,  comments  to  other  consumers, packing,  price  and
product appearance can be considered. These are all external factors in the environment that
can  influence  the  consumer’s  choice.  These  factors  can  be  subcultures,  social  class,  stores,
advertisement, family social stimuli and other things that can affect the consumption, feelings,
thoughts  or  acts.  If  marketers’  analyze  the  above  mentioned  factors,  they  can  influence  a
consumer’s purchase behavior. It can be done in many ways like best price and best quality. If
markets are able to influence a consumer, they have to first analyze a consumer behavior.



________________
137  Travis Daryi, (with help from Harry), Emotional Branding- How Successful Brands Gain
the Irrational Edge, pp.78-79
138  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Buying, Having and Being, p.07
139  Peter.J.Paul & Olson Jerry C, Consumer Behavior & Marketing Strategy, Boston,  
McGra- Hill Irwin, 2005, p.05


  ANALYSIS

  51  


According  to  the  kotler  theory  when  people  go  for purchasing  products,  they use  a  buying
behavior. He  explained  four behaviors,  complex  buying  behavior,  and  dissonance  reducing
buying behavior, habitual buying behavior and variety seeking behavior. I just compare them
from my study results. 140

The  results  describe  the  different  consumer  buying  behavior,  when  customers  go  for
purchasing a car they used different buying behavior. Some customers are highly involve  for
purchasing decision and they search for an extensive information about different branded cars
before  making  a  good  purchase.  Some  consider  the  better  price  and  quality  car  and  some
customers  do  not  search  any  information  the  purchase  a  same  brand  again  and  again  they
develop a habit for the specific brand. Some customers keep switching to one brand to other.

6.11 Decision making

The consumer seeks information about the product. The extent of information search relies on
the level of consumer involvement. In case of expensive products, the level of involvement is
high.  Conversely,  in  case  of  relatively  cheap  products  the  level  of  involvement  is  usually
low. 141

The 22% respondents replied that before purchasing a car they gather extensive information
about the different branded cars before they can reach the final purchase.

The survey result shows the link with the mentioned theory about information search about
the  different  branded  cars.  When  people  intend  to  purchase  a  car,  before  reaching  a  final
decision,  they  search  information  about  the  different  branded  cars.  Some  times  people  get
sufficient  information  about  the  branded  car  this  information  is  very  helpful  in  customers’
decision making. Further results define that people are  highly involved in purchasing a car,
they try to gather maximum extent of information about the different branded cars.  

When customers gather the  information  about the different branded products, they evaluate
and compare the different branded products. Consumer may consider the different products’
attributes and compare them to other brands. 142  

The  32%  respondents  replied  that  they  evaluated  the  different  branded  cars  attributes  with
other brands before reaching a final decision.

The survey results are very similar to the defined theory that when people intend to purchase a
car before making a final decision, they consider the different branded cars. Customers have
many choices, so they evaluate the different attributes of a car from one brand to other brands,
like  price,  color,  quality,  design  etc.  After  comparing  the  different  attributes customers  are
able to choose the car which suits them best.


________________
140  Kotler, Wong, Saunders, Armstrong,   Principles of Marketing, Forth Edition pp.276-277
141  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition, pp. 304-305
142  Ibid, pp. 304-305

  ANALYSIS

  52  

6.12 Social class

The  society  is  divided  into  different  social  classes.  People  usually  belong  to  certain  social
class. Every person has different choices, tastes and preferences for different products which
are influenced to a certain extant by the class he belongs to. 143

The 34% respondents clearly defined that branded products define the user social class in the
society. They purchase the product with the belief that it defines their social class.

The  study result shows that branded cars define  the people social  class. People are divided
into   different   social   class.   Every   social   class   recognizes   the   person’s   choice   and
consumptions.  People  believe  that  which  branded  cars  they  use,  defines  their  social  class.
Some branded cars are very expensive and every person can  not afford them. When person
uses  the  expensive  branded  cars,  it  defines  the  person’s  social  class  in  the  society.  Every
social class  has different choices and preferences for different products and even they  have
different tastes and life style.

The consumption choice of a person also determines the person’s position in society. 144  Every
person  chooses  to  spend  time  and  money  how  they  values  and  tastes  are  reflected  in
consumption choices. 145  Every person choices of products, services and activities that define a
lifestyle. 146  

With the 34% respondents preferred to purchase a well known branded car as it defines their
status within the society,

The consumption and the choice of an individual defines his or her status in the society, as
certain brands or products become the status symbol and makes the person look different from
others. Usually, people purchase the different branded cars believing that it defines their status
in the society. Brands like BMW and Mercedes are very expensive and are not common in the
society.  Peoples  use  these  branded  cars  just  to  define  their  status  in  the  society  because
practically many roads are not even suitable to drive such branded cars.

More over  the  result  of this  study describes  that  people’s  perception about  the  well  known
brand is very strong. Most of the people prefer to purchase well known brands because they
have  captured  the  people’s  minds  through  publicity  and  advertisement,  through  the  well
known personalities in various fields, like sports, entertainment industry etc. When customers
go for purchasing a product, they do not consider the lesser known brand but they prefer the
well known brand because of the association of these brands with their respected and favorite
personalities. In the perspective of my study, this result comes to the conclusion that Suzuki
car motors have big market share in Pakistan. But surprisingly and in contrast to the above
result, according to my survey, the people ranked Suzuki on the fifth position.

________________
143  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition p.456
144  Schiffman   Kanuk, Consumer Behaviour, Eight Edition. Pp. 398-399
145  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition   p.227
146  Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Seventh Edition p.208


  ANALYSIS

  53  

6.13 Concluding discussion

The study describes that well known branded cars are very famous among the people because
customers trust  the  brand  name.  This  also indicates  that  people  often  purchase  well  known
brand cars since they are aware of the brand performance or perhaps they have a good past
experience about the brands car. This makes customer’s become loyal with the specific brand.
Brand offers superior quality of the service up to the customer’s expectation and satisfaction.

Further  more, people  are  much  attached  to the  branded products,  as  majority  of  the  people
purchase the branded products with the belief that brands show their status and life style in the
society.  The  study  shows  that  how  automobile  brands  companies  become  successful  by
getting close to the customers and designing their cars according to the customers needs. For
getting close to customer and to make an impact of their product, they participate and sponsor
different games and campaigns for raising awareness and design different research programs
to know customers needs and wants.


































  CONCLUSION
  54  
7. Conclusion

This chapter shows the conclusion that I have drawn from the result of my study. Through
studying theories and conducting the study.

In the initial stage of this thesis  I tried to explain the fact that brand is  very  important to a
customer and it affects the customer’s decision. The majority of customers today choose the
branded products and they trust the brand name and its quality. Therefore I decided to conduct
a study to find out the answer, that how brand name influences the customer decision.  

During  my  thesis  I  studied  different  theories,  I  performed  a  survey  containing  certain
questions regarding these issues. I tried to find out some information that would guide me to
get some answers. On the basis of these theories and my own empirical findings, I came to
conclusions  about  the  information  that  I  have  gathered.  Further  I  wanted  to  find  out  how
brand names influence the customer’s decision in the automobile industry, when customers go
for purchasing car.

In my survey, I tried to cover parts of the theoretical frame. I found enough information that
enabled to me analysis this study. When I conducted my survey I realized that brand names
really  influence  the  consumer  decision  not  only  in  automobile  industry,  but  also  in  other
product segments.

”The purpose of this thesis is to create a deeper consideration what kind of influence a brand
name  when  people  go  for  purchasing  a  car  and  choose  between  different  brands  in  the
automobile  industry.  More  over  I  want  to  identify  there  is  any  connection  between  brands
name and the consumer decision.”

Now these days customers have a good knowledge about the brands products, they trust the
well known brand name because branded products are offering them good quality what they
expect from the brands. Most of the customers are loyal with some specific brands. Customers
have high awareness about the known brands as compared to an unknown brand. Well known
brand companies maintain the standard of quality, that’s why brand name effect the customer
choice furthermore these companies are very near to the customer’s needs.

Most of the people purchase cars due to the brand name, they know brand names means good
quality and they  choose the well  known brand cars with  confidence. Customers have many
choices in the automobile industry. So when customers intend to purchase a car, brand name
influences the customer’s decision. Customers consider many things about the cars, one of the
prominent among them is the brand name. In this competitive market, brand name is an asset
for a company and it can be used as an affective marketing tool. Every brand name has  its
own reputation in the customer’s mind. People in my survey, have given some ranks to the
different brands cars due to its quality and price.  

 





  CONCLUSION
  55  


I  have  explained  in  the  empirical  finding,  that  a  positive  experience  with  the  brand  will
develop  the  customer’s  trust  in  the  company  brand  and  will  also  have  them  as  a  loyal
customer.  I  also  found  out,  from  my  study,  that  well  known  brands  are  more popular  than
unknown brand. Customers prefer to purchase a  well  known brand product, he  had already
heard of rather than going for the product they do not know much about. Branded products
have found good place in customers mind and they have positive past experience about them.    

In this competitive market it is a hard task for companies to create a well known brand that is
popular. It requires more efforts, but they can achieve this goal if they gain a lot from it. It
will  make  the  customers  to  have  trust  the  brand  name  more  and  result  of  that  customer
become  a  more loyal to  that  brand. In  my  opinion many  companies  do not understand  the
importance  of  the  creating  a  well  known  brand  name.  Companies  create  brand  awareness
about the brand as customers will began to recognize the brand name, therefore get a place in
consumer mind for future purchase.

When  customers  have  an  emotional  connection  with  the  brand,  he  or  she  will  have  more
confidence on the brand and it is more possible that customers will become loyal. In order to
create an emotional connection to the customers, the company logo or name is an easy way to
get  the  customer’s  recognize  and  understand  the  brand  products.  When  customers  go  for
purchasing, he or she can easily identify the product through brand name or logo.

When people intend to purchase products, before purchasing a product customers take some
steps,  these  steps  are  very  helpful  to  customers  to  decide  which  brand  product  should  be
purchased.  But  it  is  not  necessary  that  customer  will  take  all  steps  for  every  purchase,  it
depends  on  the  customer’s  involvement  and  how  much  importance  customers  give  to
purchase. In this regard customers gather some information about the different brand products
and compare them to each others. Then they evaluate the different products’ attributes before
making a final purchase.

Brand has power! It defines the customer’s social class or status in the society. When people
use the branded products, it shows the user status or class. People from different classes have
different preferences and choices than each others. Some brand products belong to different
social  classes  because  every  class’  person  can  not  afford  the  same  brands  products.  When
person use these brand products it defines his or her social class and status in the society.  

People are getting more aware and up to date regarding branded cars. Now they have more
knowledge about the automobile car market. The study also describes that many people watch
TV,  read  the  news  paper,  magazines  and  use  the  internet  for  regular  basic  for  update
information  about  the  different  branded  products.  People’s  perceptions  are  very  strong
regarding branded cars. People are very close to the branded products and brand name and it
influences their choice.






  
  CONCLUSION
  56  


SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The  current  study  was  based  on  the  automobile  car  industry  only  in  one  city  of  Pakistan,
Karachi. Therefore, the result can not be generalized to other smaller or much different cities
of Pakistan. I think further research can be done on a large scale with large sample size not
only in automobile industry, but also covering other products or in other cities with respect to
the same car industry.

I  found  some  interesting  facts,  among  them  one  is  that  well  known  brand  name  is  more
popular than the unknown brands. People have a high awareness about the well known brand.
Majority of customers prefer to purchase a well known brand products. Therefore customers
do not want to take any risk to purchase unknown brands. Even if study shows that people’s
first  preference  is  to  purchase  a  branded  products  but  I  can  not  apply  this  result  to  other
studies. Further research can be conducted in this area for finding the broad answers that this
result can be used for all studies.
















 










  CREDIBILITY CRITERIA
  57  


8. Credibility Criteria

This chapter shows the three factors of the credibility criteria that are utilized to control this
study. The three criteria are Validity, reliability and ability to generalizability.

8.1 Validity

Validity  is  concerned  with  whether  the  findings  are  really  about  what  they  appear  to  be
about. 147  The  attitude  measure  can  said  to  be  valid,  when  you  can  differentiate  between
attitude scores and it reflects the difference among objects about the characteristic, which are
being measured. 148  It can be highly related to the outcome of the research or right answers to
the research questions and to what extant these results or outcomes are valid. 149

When  I  look  at  my  study  and  process  of  conducting,  in  my  view  that  my  study  is  valid  I
gathered information from the previous studies like articles and text books etc. This all cover
the  area  of  my  study.  The  theoretical  framework  is  an  indication  of  previous  studies.  The
design of my questionnaire was based on the theoretical framework in order to find a accurate
result  for  my research  question.  The  validity  of  few  questions,  included  in  the  survey,  was
complicated to confirm than other questions because of abstraction. I do not think that this is
something which had impacted the validity.

Moreover  the  respondents  for  this  study  were  chosen as  objectively  as  possible  and  on  the
extensive range. While conducting the survey, I selected the respondents randomly. This has
contributed in designing my  empirical finding  applicable and valid for this study. Further I
reached the empirical  saturation through the  number of my respondents and the questions I
have formulated to make my study valid.

8.2 Reliability

Reliability is easier to measure and receives comparatively emphasis. The reliability method
can be confidential according to whether they measure immovability of result over time and
internal reliability  items  in an attitude scale. 150  Reliability presents the extent to which data
collection techniques and analysis procedures will relent and have reliable findings. It can be
evaluated by posting the following three questions. 151

1.  Will the measurers yield the similar results on other occasions?
2.  Will same consideration be achieved by other observers?
3.  Is there transparency in how raw data has been utilized to describe the conclusions?

________________
147  Saunder, Lewis & Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, p.149
148  Aaker, Kumar, Day, Marketing Research, Eight Edition, P.303
149  Khan  and  Rahaman,  2007,  Impact of  Micro  Finance on  Living  Standard, p.78  Cited by
Remenyi et al. Doing Research in Business and Management
150  Aaker, Kumar, Day, Marketing Research, Eight Edition, P.304
151  Saunder, Lewis & Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, p.149



58



I interviewed the people who own a car because I designed my survey questions keeping in
mind  the  car  holders.  I  redesigned  some  survey  questions  when  respondents  faced  some
problems, I made the questions more understandable and easier. Wherever  I  felt  I used my
mother tongue to translate questionnaire when respondent’s English is not good and they had
any confusion about the questions. In my opinion the data collected for this study is authentic
and  through  this  data  the  results  I  obtained  were  consistent  with  most  of  previous  reliable
sources.

8.3 Generalizability

Generalizability is a basic criterion for estimating quantitative research because it is a mean to
assure the person when he reads the research report, the results from it should be universally
acceptable. 152  Generalizability   involves   the   simplicity   of   scale   administration   and
interpretation in different research situations. The generalizability is multiple item sales and it
can be used in extensive variety of data collection modes, further it can be applied to get data
from broad individuals under the conditions that can be interpreted. 153

I have tried to reach generalization in a best way on the basis of my study. In my opinion the
information  and  results  in  this  thesis  are  general  and  transferable  with  other  studies  and
research. I have chosen the random sampling technique, from one city (Karachi) for my study.
During my survey I kept in mind the availability of sources and time constraint. Therefore I
targeted those people who have a car for the reason that result will be more generalized. My
research  was  not  limited  or  one  particular  brand  or  product.  I  chose  three  multinational
companies  brand  products  for  my  study.  In  my  view  the  study  is  very  useful  for  many
companies  and  they  can  implement  these  results  to  built  strategies  and  understand  the
importance of influence band name can have on the consumer’s decision.















________________
152 Auerbach, Carl F, Silverstein, Louise B, Qualitative Data: an  Introduction to Coding  and
Analysis, New York University Press, 2003, p.80
153 Aaker, Kumar, Day, Marketing Research, Eight Edition P.304

59



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Kotler,  Wong,  Saunders,  Armstrong,  Principle  of  Marketing,  Fourth  European  edition,
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Kevin  Lane  Keller,  Strategic  Brand  Management,  Second  Edition,  Pearson  Education  Inc,
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Leon G.Schiffman, Leslie Lazar   Kanuk, Consumer Behaviour, Eight edition, Pearson Prentice
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Peter.J.Paul & Olson Jerry C, Consumer Behavior & Marketing Strategy, Boston, McGraw-
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Pekka  Tuominen,  Understanding  brand  Equity,  Turku  School  of  Economics  and  Business
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Management, An Introduction to Process and method, SAGE Publications Limited, London,
UK, 1998



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Solomon Michael R, Consumer Behaviour, Buying, Having and being, Upper Saddle River,
N.J, Prentice Hall, 2005

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irrational edge, Roseville, Prima Venture, 2000


William  M.  Welibacher,  Brand  Marketing,  Building  winning  brand  strategies  that  deliver
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root to success in consumer, industrial and service markets, Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann,
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Web Sources

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/AgDM/wholefarm/html/c5-54.htmltime

Honda Pakistan official website (Honda.com.pk)

Suzuki Pakistan official website (www.paksuzuki.com.pk)  

Toyota Pakistan official website (www.toyota-indus.com)
































63

SURVEY ON BRANDS


Influence of brand name on consumer decision in the Automobile market


I am studying Master Program at Umea University Business School (USBE), Umea, Sweden.
I  have  designed  the  following  questionnaire  for  the  purpose  of  my  thesis  work,  which  is
related to the Influence of brand name on consumer decision. In this survey questions, you as
a respondent will be completely anonymous and you do not have to mention  your name or
any other personal information.


Influence of brand name on consumer decision in the Automobile market


1.  Do you have a car?

  Yes         No

2.  Which brand car do you have?

 Toyota

 Hyundai

 Honda

 Suzuki

 Volvo

 Mazda

 Others…………….

3.  Did you do a lot of information search for buying a car or you just compared the
car brands you are aware of?
        
   I did extensive information search among all available brands  
      
              I compared only among the brands in my considerations set
        
               Yes, I did but not much

               No, I did not






64

4.  When you bought the car, was it your own decision or a collective decision?


 It was my own decision

 It was a joint family decision  

 It was my friend decision

   Others ----------------

5.  What is the most important attribute you considered when you bought the car?

  Price        Quality        Price and Quality
    
 A well-known name     Design        Others

6.  When you bought the car, how many car brands did you consider?’

     2              3       4  
  
     5            6    

7.  Did you seek any opinion as to which brand car to buy from others?

  Yes, I did             No, I did not          Yes, I did some times

                 Never

8.  Did you search attribute information about the car brands you were not
previously aware of?

  Yes, I did             No, I did not                       I did, but not much

                 Never  

9.  Did you consider any lesser-known brand car?

  Yes, I did               No, I did not  

  Yes, I did, but not much           Never

10. Do you believe that a well-known branded car is always better in quality than a
lesser-known brand?

 Always              Sometimes

  Most frequently      Not necessarily  



65

11. Do you agree with the following statement “ Its safe to buy a branded product as
they always come with better quality”  

  Yes, I agree           No, I don’t agree          

  I agree, but it’s not always true       It is not necessary

12.  Do you think that a well-known branded car is a status symbol?

  Yes, I agree           No, I don’t agree        

  Not necessarily          I agree, but it’s not always true    

13. Do you believe that using a branded product signifies social class?  

  Yes, I agree           No, I don’t agree        

  Not necessarily       I agree, but its not always true    

  
14. How important was the brand name to you alongside your desired attributes?

  Very important       Important to an extent
  

  Not at all important        Not always  

15. Do you always go for the well known branded products?

  Sometimes                  Always        

  Frequently                  Never  

16. Do you agree with the following point: “A lesser-known brand does not
necessarily mean inferior quality?”

  Yes, I agree           No, I don’t agree

  Frequently             Never  

17. Do you believe that logo of a well-known brand is important as it tells who you
are?  

  Yes, I agree           No, I don’t  agree        

  Yes, I do, but not always          It is not necessary






66



18.  Do you think the brand image enhances your self esteem?

  Yes, I agree           No, I don’t  agree

  Yes, I do, but not always          It is not necessary

19. Would you rank five brand cars?

1. --------------------

2 ---------------------
                  
3. ---------------------
  
4. ---------------------

5. ---------------------

20. What is your gender?

  Male         Female

21.  What is your age group?

  25-35       36-45          46-55
  
  56-65      More --------

22. What is your income per annum?

  100 000                  101 000 - 200 000
        

  201 000-300 000       301 000 – 400 000
        

  401 000 – 500 000      More than ---------------
        
23 What is your occupation?

  Private Service       Business
        
  Government Service       University teacher      

  Doctor         lawyer      

  Others ----------------

Thank you completing the questionnaire