Marketing When Fournier Refers to a Brand,

Marketing

When Fournier refers to a brand, she is reflecting that the brand is more permanent than the individual product. The brand association that a consumer forms begins with a product, but can be transferred from one product to another over time. Products that are extensions of the brand or improvements upon the original product, are essentially new products for the consumer, but the brand is not. Therefore, it is primarily the brand for which consumers have an attachment, rather than the specific product.

When consumers have a relationship with a brand, this reflects that consumers can develop brand associations that are relatively sophisticated. These brand associations can sometimes be taken on an emotional context, complete with attachment that goes beyond rationality. From a strictly rational point-of-view, consumers would purchase the highest utility product from a functional standpoint. However, if the consumer has a relationship with a brand, that can influence the consumer's perception of utility and therefore impact on the purchase decision. Thus, marketers seek to build brand relationships with consumers. The trick is to develop the two-way relationship, and this is typically done by convincing the consumer to give the brand specific attributes. Sometimes this is done by personifying the brand (i.e. The Geico gecko) and sometimes this is done by specifically highlighting brand attributes that the consumer will find appealing and that act as approximations of human traits (i.e. Ford trucks are reliable).

2. It is possible for consumers to form a relationship with an insurance brand. The insurance brand is often formed through interactions with the insurance company's representatives, who compete against each to form the best relationship with the consumer. While the consumer may initially form a relationship with the one representative, it is unlikely that over the long run the consumer will only have a relationship with one member of that organization. Thus, the relationship with the insurance company tends to carry over even when the representative changes and even when the policy changes (purchasing homeowner's insurance with your life insurance company, for example).

In addition, insurance companies have in recent years begun to extend the brand relationship approach to include marketing characters as the initial point of brand relationship formation. Examples of this would include the Geico gecko or the lady from Progressive. Consumers form positive relationships with the brand based on their positive feelings about the character. These relationships and positive sentiments can then characterize their interactions with the company as a whole. In insurance, Geico is focused mainly on automobiles, but auto insurance is a highly competitive business and it can be difficult for consumers to effectively parse through the different options to find the coverage that is the best value for them. Thus, Geico seeks to build a brand relationship, so that the consumer will purchase whatever product the company offers. This has only been moderately effective to this point, but the intent of the strategy is to build such relationships over the long run.

Automobiles represent an even more clear-cut example of a product with which consumers form a brand association. In this, there is a strong element of forming a relationship with an individual product, as consumers are often attached to their automobiles in ways that go beyond the pragmatic usefulness of the auto. This relationship can often carry over to the next automobile, or to secondary automobiles. Ford fosters this type of brand relationship, in particular with their pickup trucks. Ford markets their trucks as a family of products, under the brand of Ford Trucks. This encourages consumers to form a relationship with Ford Trucks rather than any one truck in particular. In turn, this encourages consumers to purchase other Ford trucks when they need a new one, even if that truck is less than the ideal choice. The purchase in such a situation is based more on the brand relationship than the product itself.

3. I do not believe that customers have relationships with all brands. In part, brand relationships are based on the degree of differentiation that each product and each brand has. There are instances when consumers have a relatively low perception of brand differentiation, and almost no perception of differentiation with respect to the underlying product. Dairy products are a good example of this. Consumers may have brand relationships with yoghurt or cheese, but they seldom have brand relationships with milk. One gallon jug of 2% milk is virtually distinguishable from another, and seldom do consumers have any attachment to a particular brand, at least not to the point where they would change their shopping habits to accommodate that relationship.