Search results

The purpose of this article is to explore the corporate brand‐web associated with the TOYOTA F1 Racing Team in order to exemplify existing theoretical discussions of the brand‐web concept and contribute to insights towards developing understanding of the structure of the corporate brand‐web and brand relationships.

A case study analysis of the TOYOTA F1 Racing Team, focusing on brand relationships associated with different levels of sponsorship is presented. The case study analysis is based on desk research.

The corporate brand‐web of the TOYOTA F1 Racing Team is presented. This portfolio of corporate brands and their relationships can be regarded as a corporate brand meta‐architecture. The study also offers taxonomy of different types of sponsorship‐based brand relationships, and identifies and discusses two key aspects of the relationships between brands, title sponsorship, and network relationships between the corporate brands in the brand‐web.

This article contributes to understanding of the corporate brand‐web and brand relationships in the sponsorship context and demonstrates the complexity of multiple brand relationships, and the need for researchers and practitioners to understand and manage their corporate brand architecture.

This study aims to examine the outcomes of consumer perceptions of event social responsibility (ESR) for a sponsored community event and its sponsor portfolio (i.e. group of sponsoring companies). It integrates a new antecedent and new moderators of ESR with extant findings to provide a comprehensive model that is theoretically grounded in social identity theory, congruency theory and image and affect transfer.

The authors test the theoretical framework via a field study of attendees (n = 879) at a sponsored, large-scale sporting event that provided ESR through health and wellness education and activities. A field study is especially appropriate because of the experiential nature of sponsored events and ESR.

Fan identification with the sport is an antecedent of ESR, and motivation to attend the event’s supporting activities moderates the relationship between fan identification and ESR. High event-sponsor fit strengthens the relationship between ESR and word-of-mouth and between ESR and sponsor patronage.

This study illuminates the role of ESR as a key driver of outcomes for events and for their sponsor portfolio. Future research should investigate ESR in contexts other than sport and use longitudinal data that include actual purchases. It should further examine the construct of sponsor portfolio because so many events have multiple sponsors

Event sponsorship offers an attractive platform for brands to demonstrate good corporate citizenship; therefore, marketers should consider ESR as a key criterion when selecting events to sponsor. Marketers should sponsor events with high event-sponsor portfolio fit to enhance the outcomes related to ESR for both sponsors and events. This research generally underscores the importance of creating auxiliary, interactive experiences for event attendees.

ESR entails that events should contribute or give back to the local communities and organizations in a charitable way to both help give back socially and to maximize success as measured by electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and sponsor patronage toward brands sponsoring the event.

This research identifies a new antecedent and new moderators of ESR and integrates them with extant findings to create a comprehensive, theoretically grounded model. It investigates outcomes for both the event and its sponsor portfolio, in contrast to the scholarship that tends to focus on the (title) sponsor.

The evolution of private labels (PL) is a recent trend in the retail industry: many retailers now manage a PL portfolio that includes multiple value propositions, as well as various brand name strategies. Little research has been done, however, on how this combination of PL strategies conditions the results of the retailer that manages them. This study aims to examine the formation of PL brand equity and its effect on store loyalty for retailers with differently tiered PL programs (a “better” program with standard PL vs a full PL quality spectrum with economy, standard and premium PLs) and different PL naming strategies (store-banner name or stand-alone brand name).

A survey (N = 644) was used to test the model in the context of the consumer goods retail industry. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group structural equation modelling techniques were used to assess the proposed model.

The results show differences in the formation of PL loyalty based on whether the retailer has a tiered PL program. In portfolios with economy, standard and premium PLs, PL associations have a stronger effect than PL awareness in the formation of PL loyalty. Portfolios with a standard PL show balanced effects of PL associations and PL awareness on PL loyalty formation. As to the positive effect of PL brand equity on store loyalty, this study also shows a stronger effect of PL brand equity on store loyalty in chains that choose to use their store banner name in their PLs.

Retailers that manage multi-tier PL portfolios (as opposed to those that commercialise a standard PL) can increase loyalty to the PL portfolio significantly by constructing highly differentiated images of their economy, standard and premium PLs to ensure that consumers truly perceive the different value propositions of their PL tiers. As to PL naming strategy, the authors recommend that retailers that use the same retail chain name for one or several of their PLs invest in their corporate reputation to strengthen the brand equity achieved by their PLs and thus increase loyalty to the retail chain. Retailers must perform specific communication and advertising campaigns for PLs with the stand-alone brand name.

Today, any reference to PLs as a whole is overly simplistic, but no research has assessed empirically differences in the influences of a multi-tiered vs a standard PL program on the PL loyalty formation for PL portfolios. Nor has any empirical research incorporated the influence of PL naming strategy on store loyalty. This study fills these gaps, integrating into the same model two significant moderating variables of retailers’ strategy: their PL tier strategy and their PL naming strategy.

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of brand components (CBBE, brand fit, brand image, brand reputation, brand familiarity) on consumers brand portfolio attitude via perceived risk (for two main portfolio strategies).

The study used a structured questionnaire to collect primary data from 636 consumers who made purchases from companies using house of brand (318) and branded house strategy (318). By conducting reliability and validity analysis, the model of this study was tested with confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis methods, using structural equation modeling.

According to the results of the path analysis, the effects of CBBE and brand reputation on brand attitude were confirmed for both house of brand and branded house strategy. Moreover, the full and partial mediating effect of perceived risk was proven in the relationships.

One of the limitations of the study is determining a portfolio of brands for each strategy and collecting data for these brands. In addition, since the number of consumers using brand portfolios could not be reached in the study, data could be collected using the purposeful convenience sampling method. For this reason, it is thought that research conducted with the data obtained through systematic sampling methods can yield more reliable results.

Managers of companies with a brand portfolio should work on a main strategy that enhances CBBE and brand reputation regardless of the strategy they use. After these two variables, the variable that portfolio managers need to address is brand fit.

It will offer different perspectives in terms of understanding which portfolio strategy is needed, and which predecessors and outputs can be produced. Also, the findings of the research will produce important results to reduce the perceived risks of consumers and increase their positive attitudes toward brand portfolios.

The purpose of this study is to understand how a large service organisation with a brand portfolio manages its corporate brand relative to its portfolio of product brands.

The authors use an interpretivist research paradigm to investigate four research questions concerning the relative roles of corporate and product brands, the role of the CEO, the structures and capabilities that support the development of brand equity (including the role of the marketing function) and the role of employees in building corporate brand equity. A case study design was used, and the Tsogo Sun, one of the largest hotel and casino organisations in Africa, was the focus of the investigation.

The findings highlight the important role of both the CEO and the marketing department in optimising brand equity and managing across corporate and product brands. Employees were found to play a critical role and the need to clarify their relative roles as both recipients and expressors of brand identity across corporate and product brands emerged as an important theme.

Although the corporate brand has received much attention in recent years, much of literature remains conceptual. In addition to responding to calls for empirical research, the paper also contributes to deepening understanding about how to manage a corporate brand alongside a number of product brands.

The purpose of this study is to examine branding consistency for wine labels. The front label on wine bottles is important for identifying the brand and aiding purchase. Many brands are part of brand families, with the sub-brands linked to the overall brand family. This research provides an overview of how the front label varies across product portfolios of wine brands, noting the importance placed on branding elements and the level of consistency in their use across the brand portfolio.

The authors propose and test a new method to measure branding consistency on labels from the same brand family. Two coding frameworks were created. The first recorded the incidence of brand elements and wine attributes. The second coded wine labels within a company’s portfolio based on the consistency of various brand elements. A total of 3,000 branding elements and wine attributes from 300 wine labels were examined across 60 wine brands from a list of Australian wineries.

Grape variety, brand name and region are used across >90% of wine labels. Branding is presented more prominently than wine attributes. Sub-brand, region, price and variety did not influence branding consistency. Logo presence, logo image on label and colour elements contribute to the greatest variation in branding consistency across a product portfolio.

This study proposes and tests a novel method to measure branding consistency on wine labels and explores the extent to which consistent branding is used across product portfolios. Descriptive research is the first step to theory building. This study provides industry norms for attribute use and a measure of branding consistency for product portfolios giving valuable descriptive knowledge.

While there is a growing body of literature about corporate branding, studies of corporate branding in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are limited despite the important role they play in many economies. The purpose of this paper is to explore how managers perceive the significance and challenge of corporate brand building and management within a state-owned organisation.

A qualitative and interpretative research paradigm was used in the form of a case study design. This study focusses on the South African Broadcasting Corporation where executives and managers responsible for corporate branding decisions were interviewed.

Findings highlight the specific purposes, decision making factors, stakeholders and brand portfolio of an SOE corporate brand.

Corporate brands help build brand identity and point out that a SOEs' corporate brand identity is dual in nature. The duality of mission, stakeholders and decision making, triggers brand challenges, namely, unclear corporate identity and fragmented corporate brand strategies, which must be carefully orchestrated over time and across stakeholders.

This study highlights the issues state-run enterprises face in building and managing a corporate brand and proposes an original model for SOEs' corporate brand development process.

The purpose of this paper is to identify areas and issues for management to consider in balancing specialization and commonalization in large manufacturing corporations with multiple brands from a strategic R&D and manufacturing point of view.

Three global manufacturing corporations from the automotive sector are used as a strategic sample composing three sequential clinical research projects. The data come from complementary data-gathering methods combining documents and interviews and workshops with top executives, project leaders, platform managers and product brand managers, thus enabling triangulation.

The study shows that managing manufacturing corporations with multiple brands is not just on a scale between full specialization and full commonalization but instead has its own logic of categorizations and portfolio formations. In order to develop the value of the brand portfolio, management must simultaneously embrace and address a number of highly integrated corporate values and highly differentiated brand company values.

This study contributes primarily by relating economy of scale in relation to the need for differentiation of products and brands that have different values, customers and market positions. A model for balancing commonalization and specialization provides several opportunities for further research and development; however, generalizations are issue and context specific.

The critical issues in balancing how to deal with specialization and commonalization in a company with multiple brands are explored and summarized in a framework for the practitioner to use in analyzing a real situation.

Previous literature focuses on the maximization of synergies within one brand, missing the specific dynamics of large manufacturing corporations with many entities, such as individual products and brands. This paper adds knowledge regarding how to balance synergies from commonalization with important objectives to preserve the specialization and distinctiveness of each product brand.

The paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of brand portfolio management by examining the brand portfolio strategies of four leading cosmetics companies. The research focuses on two questions: what reasons lead companies to develop, or not, a brand portfolio strategy, and how brand portfolio management can create a higher and stronger level of competitive advantage that is harder to grasp and imitate.

The paper utilises an exploratory approach by means of case studies. Data were collected from the following companies: L'Oréal, Clarins, Estée Lauder and Wella. The research involved in‐depth interviews with 33 company directors.

The research results show that an aggregation of brands is not in and of itself a brand portfolio. The juxtaposition of brands is one of the elements, but not the sole element, necessary for the development of a brand portfolio, which is a combination of a brand ensemble and key factors born out of organisational savoir‐faire.

The results validate the existence of a link between brand portfolios and competitive advantage, a link based on the existence of four key factors identified in the research.

A model is proposed to assist managers in better understanding and controlling brand regrouping, because the research illustrates the benefits for a company that executes well‐coordinated brand management.

This research fits into the complex context of strategic/marketing relationships and broadens the field of brand analysis, notably its strategic dimension. The contribution of this research is to show how a brand portfolio can create a stronger and higher level of competitive advantage, which is more difficult to copy.