Leif E. Hem

Factors Influencing Successful Brand Extensions

Organisations frequently follow brand extension strategies. This paper investigates the impact of category similarity, brand reputation, perceived risk and consumer innovativeness on the success of brand extensions in FMCG, durable goods and services sectors. A set of hypotheses were developed and tested in a study amongst 701 consumers. The findings show that extensions into categories more similar to the original brand tend to be more readily accepted. Likewise, the reputation of the original brand is an important factor influencing the success of the extension. These findings are consistent across FMCG, durable goods and services brands. However, perceived risk about the extension category was only found to enhance acceptability of extensions for durable goods and services brands. Innovative consumers are more positively disposed towards service brand extensions than FMCG and durable goods brand extensions.

Provenance associations as core values of place umbrella brands

Purpose – The paper seeks to discuss and analyse the nature of place umbrella brands and the role such brands play in promotion of a country, a region, or a city. The purpose is also to identify some salient success criteria of provenance associations as core values of place umbrella brands.Design/methodology/approach – The study delineates a conceptual framework, which illustrates important components in place umbrella branding. It also highlights a set of criteria to aid prioritisations among prospective provenance associations that have a potential to be used as brand values of place umbrella brands.Practical implications – The paper identifies some characteristics of provenance associations, which make them more transferable across a bundle of umbrella brand partners. The generation of better marketing theory in the field of place branding will make it easier for practitioners to reach the right decisions in choice of provenance associations.Findings – It is claimed that transcendence is related to th...

How to Develop a Destination Brand Logo: A Qualitative and Quantitative Approach

This paper presents a framework that can assist destination marketers in developing destination logos. The main goal of a logo is to enhance awareness about the destination and to build a beneficial destination image. Input from three parties should be considered in the process of developing destination logos. These are (i) the logo owner, (ii) the logo developer, and (iii) the logo recipients. A normative model for testing of logos used in destination marketing is delineated, based on input from these contributors. To illustrate practical usage of the model a logo development process is presented, which is conducted by the Fjord Norway destination marketing board. This case study illustrates how the normative model can aid marketers in assessing the potential of tourism logos. Results from three empirical studies show that the destination logo in some sense should match the destinations they represent. Moreover, the results show that the design of the logo is crucial.

Can advertisements for brand extensions revitalise flagship products? An experiment

Previous research on brand extension has been much concerned with the potentially negative backfire effects of unsuccessful extensions. The present research focuses on the upward potential of positive transfer effects from successful extensions. Of special interest is positive transfer effects on flagship products, these being the products most closely related to the brand name in consumer memory. Whereas the branding literature indicates that brand extension could be a viable strategy for brands in need of revitalisation, little is known about the effect of extensions on flagship products. The study object was a real flagship product in the soft-drink category with serious image problems. Transfer effects on this flagship were studied from ads displaying either line extensions (new products in the same category) or concept extensions (new products in a new category). All extensions were profiled in such a way as to signal a more updated and favourable image than that of the flagship product. Transfer effects on the image of the flagship were measured immediately after exposure to extension advertisements and again one week later. Immediately after exposure, both line and concept extensions had positive effects on the image of the flagship product. The positive effect of concept extensions remained even after one week. When combined with previous research, the present findings suggest that ads for concept extensions have greater upward potential in terms of positive transfer effects and less downward risk in terms of dilution, than ads for line extensions.

Exploring consumer preferences for hedonic and utilitarian food attributes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the relative importance of four main attributes of food products for consumer’s choice. These are price, taste, environmental friendliness and healthfulness, tested across hedonic and utilitarian food products (milk and ice-cream). The weighting of attributes involved in food choices is a complex phenomenon, as consumers must consider contradictory requirements when making their choices. Consumers’ decision-making processes might also be influenced by food category. Some food products are mostly consumed for pleasure, whereas others are consumed because of their nutritional value. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a choice-based conjoint technique, which addresses how consumers make trade-offs across a set of product attributes. Findings – The results indicate that price and taste attributes are rated as the most important for both hedonic and utilitarian food products. However, when the authors group consumers according to their product pre...

Advertising Effects of Photos Used to Portray Nature-Based Tourism Attractions

Tourism attractions come in many forms and represent the core components of tourism destinations. Tourism attractions are often portrayed visually in adverts aiming to attract visitors. This article reports a study where a sample of potential international visitors to the tourism destination – “Fjord Norway” – evaluate photos of nature-based tourism attractions. Data was gathered and a set of scales were developed to capture the attractiveness of the nature-based tourism destination. Factor analysis revealed two underlying attractivness dimensions, which were termed “positive feelings” and “danger”. In subsequent analyses these attractivness dimensions respectively were found to be positively and negatively related to “intention to visit” the destination. Gender was found to moderate destination attractivness depending on which photos were evaluated. The findings are discussed and implications for tourism marketers are highlighted.

Lifestyle segmentation of tourists seeking nature-based experiences: the role of cultural values and travel motives

ABSTRACT The increasing globalization of markets and the criticality of reaching the right lifestyle segments make the relationship between personal motives and cultural values an important area for academic research and managerial practice. The authors seek to provide an understanding of this relationship in a tourism context, specifically in terms of the links between travel motivations and a set of cultural values – materialism, uncertainty avoidance, horizontal and vertical individualism, and horizontal and vertical collectivism. The study examined whether the importance ratings of cultural values differ across segments of tourists grouped on the basis of their travel motives. An Internet survey was used and the sample included 1546 potential tourists visiting the nature-based destination Fjord Norway. Results showed that travel motives and cultural values can serve as discriminators between lifestyle segments. The three motive segments were the nature and novelty, the status, and the relaxation segment. The segments evaluate the destination differently and vary in behavioral intentions.

Festival coordination : An exploratory study on intention to use mobile devices for coordination of a festival

In this study we focus on the use of a mobile coordination service used to coordinate Storsjoyran a music festival held yearly in Ostersund in Sweden. A description of the mobile service is given, and an empirical study focusing on users motives for using the mobile coordination service is reported. The results point to the importance of developing mobile coordination services that are perceived as enjoyable and useful to motivate usage among festival staff.

From Online to Offline Through Brand Extensions and Alliances

This paper studies the expansion of an online brand towards an offline product category through brand extensions and alliances. Specifically, it analyses the effects on the online brand image as a consequence of this expansion, and it analyses them under different conditions of image and fit. An empirical study was conducted to 407 undergraduates in a Spanish University, and data are analyzed through multivariate analysis of variance. Main results lead us to conclude that: 1 the effects of extensions and alliances are mainly negative on the online brand image, 2 the impact is focused specially on the functional and emotional dimensions of brand image 3 The effect is more negative for online brands with high image than for online brands with low image, and 4 the effect is more negative in the case of an alliance with an offline brand with low image than in the case of an alliance with an offline brand with high image or in a brand extension.