Mrugank V. Thakor

Brand origin: conceptualization and review

Argues that, although researchers have studied several aspects of brands which may affect consumer purchasing processes, one significant characteristic of many brands ‐ the origin cues that they contain ‐ has received little or no attention. Reviews current research in the country‐of‐origin area related to branding, as well as the work done by other researchers on brand personality and brand image. Distinguishes brand origin from country of origin, and shows how this concept could be valuable in resolving a methodological problem with some country‐of‐origin studies. Surveys ways in which brand origin is used in practice, both implicitly and explicitly, and discusses the relationship between brand origin and the concept of the global brand. Finally, highlights potential problems associated with the use of brand origin, draws managerial implications relating to its use, and suggests areas where research is needed.

Effect of perceived brand origin associations on consumer perceptions of quality

Reviews recent work in the country of origin and brand name literatures regarding the formation of perceptions regarding perceived brand origin. Based on this review, presents six hypotheses concerning such perceptions, including their effect on consumers’ ratings of quality. Using real brands in two experiments, finds support for several of our hypotheses relating to the effects of country of component source, country of manufacture, and country of corporate ownership. In particular, finds that country of manufacture had no effect on product quality evaluations when country of corporate ownership was also present.

What is a professional service? A conceptual review and bi‐national investigation

Although interest in the marketing of professional services has grown steadily, there is still confusion over which services should be considered professional. Perceptions are important for marketing practitioners because consumers are likely to respond differently to stimuli such as advertising or price promotions depending on how they perceive the occupation engaged in such activities, and they may also be more price sensitive when occupations are not regarded as professions. Understanding how consumers determine which occupations are “professions” should also help practitioners to effectively manage their occupations’ images. In addition, such an understanding should help researchers to judge whether results obtained with respect to one service should be expected to extend to other services, and to ensure that services picked for inclusion in future studies are truly those likely to be perceived as professional. This study uses a US and a Canadian sample to survey consumer perceptions of the profession...

Foreign Branding and Its Effects on Product Perceptions and Attitudes: A Replication and Extension in A Multicultural Setting

A recent contribution to research on country-of-origin (COO) effects on product evaluations was made by Leclerc, Schmitt and Dube-Riox (1994) who found that foreign branding - spelling out or pronouncing a brand name in a foreign language - influences consumers’ perceptions and attitudes. This study attempted to replicate and extend their findings using similar stimuli and 266 undergraduate students (146 male, 120 female) from a major Canadian university.Only partial support was found for a foreign branding effect, though there were significant gender effects, e.g. with respect to liking for the brand name. Overall, the findings suggest that while foreign branding-affects product evaluations more than COO, the uni-cultural or multi-cultural nature of the research context is influential in determining which brands are seen as ‘foreign’.

Music-brand congruency in highand low-cognition radio advertising

Many radio commercials use background music to accompany a message. This research examines how brand-congruent music (i.e. music that ‘fits’ the brand) will affect ‘Attitude towards the Ad’ (AAd) and ‘Attitude towards the Brand’ (ABrand), specifically when used with different types of ad copy that are more or less demanding of cognitive resources (high-cognition vs low-cognition advertising copy). In high-cognition ads, congruent music results in a more positive AAd and ABrand compared to incongruent music or no music. However, this effect is not found with low-cognition ads, where AAd (and ABrand) are similar for all three conditions of congruent music, incongruent music and no music.