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The purposes of the study were (1) to examine whether directional dominance between co-existing athlete brands and sponsor brands exists; (2) to explore whether directional dominance influences consumers' memory interference; and (3) to test whether brand interference interacts with directional dominance among brands to influence consumer evaluation and behaviors under multiple endorsement and sponsorship portfolios.

The research is a 3 (directional dominance: symmetric dominance vs. asymmetric dominance with existing vs. asymmetric dominance with newly endorsed brand) x 2 (brand memory interference: interference vs. no interference) between-subjects factorial design.

The results indicate that (1) directional dominance influenced consumer brand interference, and directional dominance interacted with brand interference on (2) brand evaluation and (3) purchase intention in multiple brand portfolios.

Considering that conventional single-sponsor sponsorship or single-endorser endorsement portfolios are increasingly rare, research on concurrent circumstances of multiple endorsers and multiple endorsed brands in multiple brand portfolios was necessary. By expanding and reconceptualizing the context of brand networks, this study provides empirical evidence on how the dominance and directionality between endorser and (existing and newly) endorsed brands—an athlete endorser's strong pre-existing association with an existing endorsed brand in particular—influenced consumer brand interference and the brand evaluation in multiple brand portfolios.

This study aims to increase the understanding of the emergence of a values-based (VB) premium private label (PL) brand reputation within a multiple-tier PL brand portfolio in retailing.

By building on the research on PLs, brand image, brand reputation and consumer values, this study creates a conceptual foundation for the emergence of VB PL brand reputation within a multiple-tier brand portfolio among consumers and examines the emergence of such reputation empirically using interpretive exploratory qualitative laddering interviews in the context of fast-moving consumer goods.

The findings of this study illustrate that the VB reputations of the premium PL product brand and the PL brand store intertwine, ultimately relating to two terminal values: pleasure and doing good. These reputations differ remarkably from the VB reputations of the economy PL brand and the umbrella brand of the retail chain (not doing good and financial security).

This study explains the emergence of VB brand reputation within a multiple-tier brand portfolio and introduces the use of the laddering technique in such research.

This study reminds brand managers to carefully design the relevant brand strategy for brands and their relationships under a brand umbrella.

Although much is known about PL brands and brand reputation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study might be the first to increase the understanding of how a VB premium PL brand reputation emerges and accumulates from brand images within a multiple-tier brand portfolio.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to appreciate and understand why brands are an essential asset to the company and how they can enhance business value, understand the factors needed to grow brands in the growth stages and evaluate the choices that start-up companies have to grow their brand in competitive and growing markets.

Mamaearth was born as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2016 by a couple who could not find chemical-free, safe products for their child. The company that introduced as a baby-care brand soon consolidated itself to play in the space of personal care category (targeting millennials), and by 2020, it was earning majority of its revenue from skincare. It started by leveraging the power of social media space and online commerce and slowly moved to be a national brand with offline footprint and mass-media communication. In its growth journey, it acquired many brands and launched a few to cater to the specialized needs of its target audience. As the company grew, attracted impressive investors and started clocking profits, it aspired for an initial public offering (IPO). Varun and Ghazal Alagh, the founders of Mamaearth, knew that to refloat an IPO and to grow the company further, they needed to redefine their portfolio and marketing strategy. They had a choice to either invest in building a broader portfolio – organically or inorganically – or expand across geographies. Both were an option, albeit expensive, which could cost Mamaearth its profitability.

This case is intended for discussion in undergraduate and graduate management courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This chapter analyzes the corporate branding of Sol Meliá, the 12th largest hotel chain in the world. It illustrates how branding has been moving upwards and becoming the core of the company's organizational structure and corporate strategy. The case shows that the company's branding process represents a high level of research and analysis, a strong relationship between brand strategy and financial management, and an increased involvement of customers and employees. The evaluation of the company's brand equity provides a new powerful tool to structure the company's long-term strategy and to strengthen its position in the marketplace. Furthermore, Sol Meliá's branding strategy illustrates a change toward an open-networking innovation culture.

The purpose of this paper is to examine luxury fashion retailers’ ownership structures at their internationalisation strategies in Hong Kong and mainland China.

This study adopts a pragmatic mixed methods approach, comprising a quantitative mail survey and ten qualitative executive interviews.

This study found that group-owned luxury fashion retailers usually encounter fewer difficulties when internationalising into mainland China than their individually owned counterparts because of parenting advantage, particularly functional and service support. However, the success of some individually owned brands has demonstrated that branding strategies, management culture, international experience, financial power and local partners’ know-how are as important as parent company support and although the luxury market in mainland China has become developed, many foreign luxury fashion retailers still enter Hong Kong prior to mainland China. However, in relation to post-entry management and expansion strategies, the importance of Hong Kong has weakened because the emergence of capital cities, the growth of the middle class and fewer political restrictions.

The research findings are generated in the context of Hong Kong and mainland China, they are therefore limited in explaining luxury fashion retailers’ internationalisation strategies in other markets. Despite the challenge of the sample size, 63 out of 130 survey respondents (48.5 per cent response rate) and ten interview participants are felt to be sufficient to represent the market.

This research can be used by practitioners when assessing appropriate entry strategies to the Chinese luxury fashion market.

This is a pioneering study of the Chinese luxury market from the perspective of international retail strategies. It differentiates between Greater China (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and mainland China, and examines the impact of luxury fashion retailers’ ownership structures on their internationalisation strategies.

This study aims to investigate ways in which hotel loyalty programs can be designed to enhance customer’s identification with a hotel brand and develop a sustainable customer-brand relationship.

The study adopted a cross-sectional design survey questionnaire for data collection and used structural equation modeling data analysis to test the conceptual model.

The three loyalty program experiences proposed (member-to-member similarity, memorable loyalty program experience and loyalty program social benefits) exerted significant positive effects on customer-brand identification (CBI), which, in turn, influences customer-brand relationship elements, including trust, commitment and switching resistance.

This study expands the scope of CBI literature, which previously focused substantially on brand level experiences, by being the first to explore a new set of CBI antecedents with a focus on loyalty program experiences. Furthermore, the current study’s findings delineate specific strategies to uphold the social and experiential aspects of loyalty programs that can develop sustainable customer-brand relationships.

Marketing management, brand management, brand loyalty, brand consumer behavior.

MBA program or the Executive Education program.

Anubhav Jain, Marketing Head of Digamber Industries, is concerned about the national launch of Surya Gold tea. The brand had been doing well in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh, India) with almost 20 per cent market share. However, market reports suggested that retailers primarily pushed the brand and consumers had little loyalty for Surya Gold. Owing to lower repeat purchases, Jain had to spend large amount of money on consumer acquisition. For the national launch, a large base of loyal consumers was critical for business growth. He understood brand loyalty but found it a difficult proposition to relate from consumers' perspective. Market consultants were hired to conduct a qualitative research based on Susan Fournier's work on consumer-brand relationships. The case gives an account of conversations with professed lovers of tea to understand consumer behavior toward tea, including why people drink tea, how they choose their brands and what makes them re-buy or change brands. The case makes certain propositions around brand loyalty, which Jain had to decode to understand tea consumers in India, how brand loyalty develops and changes over time, and hence, how should he plan his marketing strategy. The case attempts to help students critique traditional definitions of brand loyalty, understand and evaluate the concept from consumers' perspective and highlight its importance in marketing strategy planning by explaining evolution, various types and intensity of brand loyalty.

The broad objective of the case is to strengthen participants' understanding of brand loyalty concept and also appreciate the importance and role of brands in consumer's life. The case can be used for MBA or executive education in brand management or consumer behavior courses. The specific objectives of this case are to help students appreciate the variations in brand loyalty across consumers and critically assess the traditional definition of loyalty, highlight the connection between the consumer personality and the brand attributes, help them understand how the concept of brand loyalty and brand relationship affects consumers' attitude and behavior, help students understand as to why brand loyalty develops and how it can be maintained and expose students to qualitative unstructured data and give them an experience of using it for managerial use.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes enclosed.

This study aims to use product attributes and retail display information to develop cross‐national segments.

The study uses consumers' choice in wine stores to develop segments of consumers, based on the relative importance of 13 factors consumers use for the retail purchase of wine. Data are collected from 11 countries, using seven languages on five continents. Best worst scaling (BWS) and latent class analysis were used to develop the clusters.

A three‐cluster structure provides a straightforward and robust segmentation across the 11 countries. This model fits better than one based on 11 single country segments. The three segments reveal different ways in which consumers choose wines: cognitive‐based, assurance‐based, and in‐store promotion‐based.

The samples are convenience‐based and do not represent the population of wine drinkers in each country. Choice criteria, including retail communications, can be used to develop useful and robust segments cross‐nationally.

The three segments found in this study provide clear guidelines for wine marketers depending on whether they work for small or large wine companies. The use of choice attributes and BWS show the utility of this method in cross‐national research.

This research demonstrates that product attributes and retail communication devices like labels and displays can be used for cross‐national segmentation. Applying BWS and Latent Class Clustering to choice criteria leads to clear, usable, and robust segmentation across a wide range of cultures and product use histories.

In new product development (NPD), the early phase is considered to be one of the greatest opportunities for improving the overall process, where intensive collaboration between marketing and R&D is essential. Nevertheless, previous studies indicate the difficulties of creating a thorough concept during the early phase. This paper aims to contribute to understanding why concept creation is difficult during the early phase of NPD.

This case study involves a single company, and is based on a combination of participant observations and interviews. The participant observations are based on an ethnographic method and the interviews on a hermeneutic approach.

The findings suggest that the difficulties in creating a strong concept during the early phase are related to the negative conflicts arising between marketing and R&D. The underlying cause of such conflicts can further be related to the strong interdependencies existing between the functions. Achieving a better understanding of the interdependencies and the different functional views may reduce the negative conflicts which otherwise tend to become barriers to the far‐reaching integration needed to develop a thorough concept.

As this study is based on a single case, further research is needed in this field in other industries.

Cooperation between functions, as advised in the literature, is not enough and needs to be expanded to cover perspective making and perspective taking in order to move away from the many non‐productive conflicts arising during the early phase as well as create thorough concepts.

This paper bridges different bodies of theories related to concept creation and identifies a gap in the existing theories concerning NPD and the early phase.

The paper attempts to examine the effect of multiple brand alliances using a portfolio diversification approach.

The paper reports the findings of a four‐level, single factor design study in which 149 randomly assigned participants were exposed to a product concept description for a new product in conjunction with: no ally (control), one ally, three homogeneous allies, and three heterogeneous allies.

Results support previous findings in the literature with regard to the effect of a single brand alliance. However, no support was found for the proposition that consumer evaluations of an unknown focal brand, when three well‐known heterogeneous allies are present, will be higher than when either one well‐known ally is present or three well‐known homogeneous allies are present.

Consistent with previous published research and despite diversifying the brand allies; it is impossible to conclude that multiple brand allies provide increased evaluations, relative to a single ally, for a previously unknown brand. More research is necessary regarding when and why multiple allies might be beneficial.

As the use of multiple brand alliances proliferates in the marketplace, it is important to understand the effect of such strategies on consumers' evaluations. The paper contributes to this growing body of research by investigating the effect of multiple brand alliances using a portfolio diversification approach.