Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2006), "Editorial", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 15 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm.2006.09615gaa.001

Editorial

A brand is but one element of a consumer’s decision-making process. Yet, the choice of a brand to be selected is quite a complex process. As much as we would like to think that we know and understand the consumer, it is ultimately the consumer who makes the final choice. What may affect the decision to purchase a particular brand? The list may be quite lengthy and may include such factors as: product styling, price, features/services available, prior experiences with that brand, value-related considerations, an individual’s personality and demographics. The task for marketers today is to not only collect all relevant data pertaining to this process, but to be able to come up with an effective marketing strategy that will yield a message that will be listened to and positively acted upon by the consumer, in terms of product purchase and continued usage.

Chan investigates young people’s perceptions of the desirability of brands and brand ownership in Hong Kong. The author studied children aged 13 to 19, employing drawings and open-ended questions in her efforts. Analysis of the drawings and interviews indicated that there were significant differences in young people’s perceptions of someone with or without a lot of branded goods in terms of type of possessions, leisure activities, observable qualities and personality traits. Marketers can use this information in their efforts at targeting young Chinese consumers.

Matzler, Bidmon and Grabner-Krauter study how affective responses to brands may be of central importance to brand management, as such responses strongly drive brand loyalty. The authors investigate the role of two personality traits as antecedents of hedonic value sought by the consumer and brand affect. The authors found that both extraversion and openness are positively related to hedonic product value, and that personality traits influence brand affect, which in turn drives both attitudinal and purchase loyalty.

Durmusoglu, Calantone and Sambamurthy study the relationship between a firm’s investment in information technology and new product development and whether this situation can yield the expected benefits from this situation. Their finding reveal that IT departments and NPD team leaders share similar understanding regarding the role of IT in NPD because shared understanding enhances innovativeness. However, there is a need to strike a balance between these two efforts.

Jensen and Hansen sought to measure relative attitude as a latent two-dimensional second-order factor, and investigate the relationship between relative attitudes and repeat purchasing. The authors show that consumers with a high relative attitude are less prone to seek brand variety, are more resistant to an out-of-stock situations, less responsive to a competitor’s offer and consequently more likely to keep loyal to their usual brand. Furthermore, the authors also suggest that marketers try to increase a consumers’ purchase involvement and clearly differentiate their brand from their competitors.

In this issue you will also find a most interesting case as it relates to the pharmaceutical industry, the section on Beyond Product’s Brand Management, Book Reviews, and of course the section on Pricing Strategy And Practice.

Richard C. Leventhal