Editorial

Citation

Veloutsou, F.G.a.C. (2014), "Editorial", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 23 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-02-2014-0504

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Product & Brand Management, Volume 23, Issue 2

The Journal of Product & Brand Management has been published since 1992 and it is currently in its 23rd volume. Over the past 22 years it has secured its position as one of the leading journals in the field of product and brand management thanks to the excellent leadership of its previous editors-in-chief, Michelle Morganosky and Richard Leventhal; to which we owe our immense gratitude. We are also very thankful for the continuing support and leadership that Rajneesh Suri provides in managing the submissions and review process of the pricing strategy and practice articles. During the summer of 2013 we were honoured with the invitation to become the new editors of the journal; a co-editorship was chosen by Emerald to help increase its reach and internationality. We have been working for the journal since October 2013 and it has proven to be an exciting and rewarding challenge for both of us. We have high expectations for the journal’s future and hope to count on your support, both in terms of word-of-mouth and by sending us your best work to be considered for publication.

Together, we have over 30 years of combined research experience in the area of brand management. We are, and have been, heavily involved with the organisation of various academic conferences and conference tracks on brand management, including the annual Global Brand Conference (organised by the Academy of Marketing), the Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference, the World Marketing Congress (organised by the Academy of Marketing Science), the Thought Leaders in Brand Management Conference, the Academy of Marketing Brand, Corporate Identity and Reputation Special Interest Group Annual International Colloquium, and the Cross-Cultural Research Conference. Over the years we have also guest edited special issues on brand management in various journals, including the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Brand Management, and the Journal of Product and Brand Management.

Our first task as editors was to tap into our international network of academic experts in brand management to create a Senior Advisory Board and reinforce the existing Editorial Review Board of the Journal. We are immensely grateful for the overwhelming response and support we received from everyone who is now part of what we like to refer as "the branding dream team". Without their guidance and support our task as editors would be impossible.

The current issue has in total 11 contributions; four papers on product and brand management, two papers on pricing strategy and practice, one case study, and four book reviews.

Using data collected from 800 consumers in Brazil, Fetscherin, Boulanger, Gonçalves Filho, and Souki are examining the consequences of brand love in four product categories (soft drinks, mobile phones, shoes, and cars). Their findings suggest that brand love is positively related with brand loyalty, purchase intention, and word of mouth, while brand loyalty is a good predictor of purchase intention and word of mouth. Their findings do not vary across product categories. Based on these results, the authors argue that consumer brand relationships are not product category specific, but note that these relationships will vary in terms of strength between product categories.

Anselmsson, Bondesson, and Johansson analyse factors that could motivate consumers to pay a price premium for, and become loyal to, brands in three product categories (bacon, frozen ready meals, and rice). Their results indicate that, for all product categories, uniqueness is the only factor that is significant and awareness is the only factor that is not significant for both consumer willingness to pay price premiums and building loyalty. For all the other factors under investigation (perceived quality, country of origin, corporate social responsibility, and social image) the statistical significance of the relationship seems to vary depending on the product category and the dependent variable.

Veg-Sala and Roux analyse 12 luxury brands from the jewellery and fashion product categories, with different countries of origin, which might consider doing brand extensions and explore the extension potential of these brands. Using a structural semiotic approach, they categorise the brand narratives of each of these brands in three types of contracts:

1. delimitation;

2. determination; and

3. mastery.

They identify three types of brands in terms of their extension potential: high extendibility brands, low extendibility brands, and high extendibility brands that have risks of diluting their brand value.

Rindell, Strandvik, and Wilén, focus on the role that consumers’ ethical concerns play in their tendency to avoid certain brands. Using data collected from 15 active members of non-governmental ethical concerned organizations, they discover that ethical concerns may lead to rather stable and persistent rejections of brands. They argue that consumers may become sensitive to corporate actions and communications that relate to their ethical concerns, and will react to a company’s inconsistent behaviour. Consumers may also engage in trade-offs among their ethical concerns when other brands do not fulfil all of their concerns. Brand avoidance among others is characterised by persistency (persistent vs temporary) and explicitness (explicit vs latent).

Larson, Reicher, and Johnsen, use choice-based conjoint analysis to test price threshold effects in the demand of high-involvement services for small telecommunications businesses, namely wired telephone service, broadband Internet, and cellular telephone service. Their results suggest that there is a very strong positive impact of nine-ending and zero-ending prices on the demand for a common bundle of all of the telecommunications services under investigation at all price levels.

Using Hofstede’s framework to operationalize national culture, Sivakumar examines the role of national culture and inter-tier price competition in a global context. He proposes that the extent of asymmetry favouring high tier brands over low tier brands depends on national culture dimensions.

In the book review section, Atkins reviews Cohen’s book Drucker on Marketing: Lessons from the World’s Most Influential Business Thinker. Lantos reviews Crane’s book Marketing for Entrepreneurs (Second Edition). Parsons reviews Springer and Carson’s book Pioneers of Digital. Finally, Kirk reviews Mazzalovo’s book Brand Aesthetics.

Francisco Guzmán and Cleopatra Veloutsou