associative networks

International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2

187© 2011 The Market Research Society

DOI: 10.2501/IJMR-53-2-187-208

Associative networksA new approach to market segmentation

Céline Brandt and Charles Pahud de MortangesHEC-ULg Management School – University of LiegeChristian BluemelhuberSolvay Brussels School of Economics and ManagementAllard C.R. van RielInstitute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen

This.paper.aims.to.expand.the.domain.of.brand.image.perception.measurement.by. providing. a. method. for. eliciting. brand. associative. networks. and. comparing.it. with. traditional. brand. image. measurement. methods .. This. paper. then. argues.that. these. networks. may. differ. from. one. individual. to. another,. depending. on.the.cultural.background.and/or.the.experience.with.the.brand ..Accordingly,. the.authors.introduce.a.methodology.of.clustering.consumers.with.similar.perceptions.into.distinct. segments,.which. can.be. targeted.differently ..Using.picture. analysis.and.metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques,.Lipton’s.Ice.Tea.brand.associations.are.extracted.and.utilised.as.an. input. for. the.creation.of.160. individual.associative.networks .These. networks. are. first. aggregated. to. measure. the. brand. reputation.and.subsequently.clustered.into.six.segments ..This.paper.provides.clear.arguments.for.using.associative.networks.as.the.preferred.method.to.capture.the.complete.brand. image .. The. paper. discusses. implications. of. perceptual. segmentation. for.image.management,.brand.positioning,.perceptual.competition.analysis.and.brand.communication .

Introduction

Following.the.majority.of.cognitive.psychologists,.brand.researchers.believe.that. brand. information. is. organised. as. a. network. in. consumer. memory.(Collins.&.Quillian.1969;.Collins.&.Loftus.1975;.Tversky.1977) .. Such.networks,. which. consist. of. associations. like. product. features,. logos. and.usage. situations,. and.associative. links. (Solomon.2006),. show. the.unique.value. of. branded. goods. and. services. to. consumers. (Aaker. 1996) .. The.

Received.(in.revised.form):.29.April.2010

Associative networks

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graphical.representation.of.such.a.brand.memory.is.called.a.brand.concept.map.(BCM).(Roedder.John et al ..2005) .

Although. BCMs. have. been. discussed. in. the. marketing. literature. since.the. 1990s. (Higie. Coulter. &. Zaltman. 1994;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996;.Elliot. et al. 2003;. Carbonara. &. Scozzi. 2006),. mapping. methods. and.their.applications.are.still.in.their.infancy ..They.were.developed.not.only.to. analyse,. but. also. to. manage. brand. identity. and. brand. knowledge ..This. requires. improved. methods. that. illustrate. the. ‘real’. brand. as. being.perceived.by.the.customer,.and.that.are.easy.to.use ..Important.ideas.and.techniques. have. been. suggested. by. Roedder. John et al .. (2006),. and. by.Henderson.et al..(1998),.who.pioneered.quantitative.mapping.techniques.and.showed.the.link.to.brand.equity .

Our.paper.follows.this.important.research,.and.adds.one.interesting.and.important.aspect:.we.try.to.broaden.the.scope.of.using.BCM.techniques,.using. it. to.segment. the.market ..Based.on.studies. that.have.discussed. the.influences.of.brand.experience.(Bird.et al. 1970;.Ross et al ..1971;.Ginter.&. Bass. 1972;. Barwise. &. Ehrenberg. 1985;. Alba. &. Marmorstein. 1987;.Gaeth et al .. 1997;. Brengman. et al. 2001;. Anchor. &. Kourilova. 2009),.gender. (Bird et al .. 1970;.Bailey.2005;.Mitchell. et al. 2005;. Sawyerr.&.Strauss.2005;.Wolin.&.Korgaonkar.2005;.Bain.&.Rice.2006),. personal.involvement. (Jacoby. et al. 1978;. Clarke. &. Belk. 1979;. Bolfing. 1988;.Brengman et al .. 2001). and. brand. awareness. (Brengman et al .. 2001). on.brand.perception,.and.have.shown.that.different.subgroups.of.consumers.may.have.different.brand.perceptions,.we.will. introduce. a. segmentation.technique.that.uses.brand.perceptions.as.its.main.criteria .

Literature review

Brand image measurement techniques

In.the.literature,.qualitative.and.quantitative.methods.are.used.to.measure.brand.image.perception .

Several. qualitative. techniques. have. been. developed. to. elicit. brand.associations .. These. are. defined. as. ‘all. brand-related. thoughts,. feelings,.perceptions,. images,. experiences,. beliefs,. attitudes. that. become. linked.to. the. brand. node’. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2006,. p .. 745) .. Marketers. use. free association tasks,.asking.respondents.what.comes.to.mind.when.they.think.of. a. certain. brand. (Gree. &. Srinivasan. 1990) .. Projective techniques,. like.comparison.tasks.(Vriens.&.Frazier.2003).or.interpretation.tasks,.are.used.when.consumers.are.reluctant.to.express.their.feelings ..Brand personality,


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i .e ..‘the.specific.mix.of.human.traits.that.may.be.attributed.to.a.particular.brand’. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2006,. p .. 745), is. also. used. to. measure. brand.image.through.open-ended.questions.(Swait et al ..1993).or.ratings.of.the.‘Big.Five’,.a.scale.of.five.factors.developed.by.Aaker.(1997).to.assess.the.brand’s.personality ..Multidimensional.scaling.is.also.used.to.understand.the.beliefs.about.a.brand.and.the.dimensions.that.underline.these.perceptions ..However,.contrary.to.cognitive.network.theories.describing.each.concept.with.nodes.and.links,.all.these.techniques.do.not.consider.the.brand.image.as.a.network,.and.focus.instead.on.the.dyadic.relationship.of.an.attribute.with.a.brand ..Therefore,.these.measurement.methods.do.not.emphasise.which.attributes. are.directly.or. indirectly. linked. to. the.brand,.which. attributes.are.core.associations.and.non-core.associations,.and.which.associations.are.linked.together.and.therefore.interdependent.(Roedder.John et al ..2005) ..Cognitive.network.theories.assume.that.the.structure.of.the.elicited.map.reveals.the.inherent.relationships.between.the.associations.and.the.brand.as. represented. in. a. person’s. memory. (Joiner. 1998) .. According. to. the.spreading.activation.theory.(Anderson.1983),.recall.of.information.is.made.through.the.activation.of.one.node.and.this.activation.spreads.from.that.node.to.other.nodes.connected.to.it.in.memory ..The.spread.of.activation.depends.on.the.distance.and.the.strengths.of.the.link.(Anderson.1983) .

Promising.in.this.regard.are.the.existing.qualitative.mapping.techniques,.based. on. cognitive. network. theory,. where. attributes. are. either. directly.elicited. from. the. consumer. (consumer. mapping). or. produced. using.analytical.methods.(analytical.mapping) ..An.example.is.Zaltman.Metaphor.Elicitation.Technique.(ZMET).(Zaltman.1997),.which.uses.multiple.verbal.and. non-verbal. qualitative. attribute. elicitation. methods. to. emphasise.subconscious. attributes .. Using. qualitative. concept. maps,. associations. are.elicited.and.mapped.at.the.same.time,.allowing.great.flexibility.in.the.data.collection.and.efficient.use.of. time ..However,. the.variety.of.associations.elicited. does. not. permit. any. aggregation. procedure,. which. requires.standardisation .. Quantitative. mapping. techniques. are. potentially. more.effective.in.this.regard .

While. qualitative. techniques. only. uncover. the. types. of. beliefs. making.up. the. brand. image,. quantitative. techniques. focus. on. their. contribution.to. brand. equity. through. measurement. of. strengths,. favourability. and.uniqueness. (Keller. 2003a) .. If. we. focus. on. the. associations,. the. strength.of. brand. associations. is. obtained. through. the. rating. of. several. brands.(Kardes. 2002) ..As. a. uniqueness.measure,.brand sensitivity,.measured. by.the.number.of.persons.who.recognise.the.brand,.is.considered.as.a.proxy.for. brand. uniqueness. (Kapferer. &. Laurent. 1988) .. Several. brands. can.


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also.be.represented.in.the.multidimensional.space.using.multidimensional scaling. (MDS),. which. is. a. tool. that. transforms. similarity. measures. into.distances .

However,. like. most. of. the. qualitative. measures,. these. quantitative.measures. focus. on. the. dyadic. relationship. between. the. brand. and. an.attribute,. without. taking. into. account. the. network. nature. of. the. brand.image .. Thus,. if. we. want. to. know. if. the. attributes. are. core. or. not,. or.which.attributes.are.first-.or.second-order.attributes,.or.the.types.of.link.between.attributes,.a.network.technique.would.fit.better ..In.view.of.these.impediments,.a.new.qualitative.method.of.measuring.brand.image.has.been.developed,.based.on.knowledge.structures. in.psychology ..This.approach,.first. proposed. by. Roedder. John et al .. (2005),. pioneered. a. valid. and.reliable. quantitative. mapping. technique,. namely brand concept mapping (BCM),. which. offers. structure. at. each. stage,. ease. of. administration. and.aggregation.procedures,.no.need.for.special.expertise,.and.flexibility.in.the.collection.method ..However,.this.technique.is.still.in.its.infancy.and.needs.to.be.broadened ..There.is.a.clear.lack.of.empirical.research.on.quantitative.concept.mapping.techniques.and.their.applications.in.branding .

Associative network theories

Based.on.the.fundamental.ideas.of.Collins.and.Quillian.(1969).and.Collins.and.Loftus.(1975),.we.assume.that.the.structure.of.a.concept.map.reveals.the. inherent. content. (concepts. and. their. associations). and. relationships.(links.between.concepts.and.associations).represented.in.a.person’s.mind.(Joiner.1998) .

Researchers.that.have.used.this.technique.in.marketing.(Bird et al ..1970;.Pohlman.&.Mudd.1973;.Green.&.Devita.1977;.Boivin.1986;.Dobni.&.Zinkhan.1990;.MacKay.&.Easley.1996;.Elliot et al ..2003;.Carbonara.&.Scozzi. 2006). apply. methods. that. either. (1). ask. consumers. to. construct.the.network.(consumer.mapping).or.(2).use.analytical.methods,.to.build.a.network.of.brand.associations.that.were.elicited.from.consumers.(network.analysis) .

The.best-known.technique.designed.to.understand.cognitive.structures.or. mental. models. is. the. ZMET. (1994),. which. combines. visual. and.narrative.aspects,.and.consists.of.three.steps,.namely.elicitation,.mapping.and. aggregation .. During. the. elicitation. stage,. 15. persons. are. recruited.and. the. topic. is. introduced ..Then,.participants. collect.12.pictures. about.the. topic. to. prepare. a. two-hour. interview. that. will. take. place. ten. days.later .. During. this. interview,. participants. will. be. asked. to. tell. stories.


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about.the.pictures.and.to.sort.the.pictures ..As.a.result,.constructs.will.be.elicited. using. the. repertory. grid. method. and. laddering. process .. During.the.mapping.stage,.respondents.are.asked.to.create.a.map.illustrating.the.connections. among. important. constructs ..Finally,.during. the. aggregation.stage,.data.are.codified.and.constructs.are.chosen.regarding.how.frequently.they.are.mentioned ..ZMET’s.main.strength.is.its.ability.to.reveal.personal.feelings,. irrationality,. illogical. behaviour. and. repressed. attitudes,. which.are.hard.to.obtain.through.conventional. interview.techniques.(Pellemans.1999) ..On.the.other.hand,.the.ZMET,.and.especially.its.elicitation.stage,.is.very.labour-intensive ..Interviewers.must.be.thoroughly.trained.in.cognitive.psychology,.while. respondents.must.be.willing.and.able. to.participate. in.two.interviews.and.in.the.creation.of.the.brand.concept.map ..Up.to.now,.those.maps,.which.are.the.main.outcome.of.studies.using.ZMET,.have.been.analysed.qualitatively .

Henderson et al .. (1998). and.Roedder. John et al .. (2005).were. among.the.first.to.develop.quantitative.tools.that.capture.the.brand.image ..Those.methods.are.easier.to.administer,.with.fewer.labour-intensive.processes.in.the.elicitation.and.aggregation.stage,.and.procedures.that.do.not.require.specialised.expertise.and.training.for.interviewers ..Roedder.John’s.method.enables. firms. to. capitalise. on. existing. brand. research. (replacing. the.classical. elicitation. stage). and. allow. data. collection. from. larger. sample.sizes. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005) .. The. main. weakness. of. these. methods.(compared.with.ZMET),.however,.is.the.emphasis.on.the.conscious.parts.of.brand.evaluation ..Therefore,.we.suggest.combining.the.strengths.of.the.quantitative.methods.with.the.elicitation.stage.of.ZMET.(picture.analysis.and.metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques),.which.enables. the.researcher.to.elicit.also.‘hidden’,.unconscious.information .

Market segmentation in terms of brand image perception

Market. segmentation. and. product. positioning. are. major. strategic. issues.in. companies ..Traditionally,. consumers. are. grouped. into. segments. based.on. demographic,. behavioural. or. psychographic. data. (Kotler. &. Keller.2005) .. Once. subgroups. have. been. identified,. managers. can. improve.their. marketing. efforts. by. more. closely. approximating. the. need. of.each. subgroup .. However,. recently,. some. authors. have. suggested. that.consumers.may.differ.in.their.brand.image.perceptions.depending.on.their.culture,. or. subculture. (Gonzales-Arce. 1975;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996),.and. their. experience.with. the.brand. (Alba.&.Marmorstein.1987;.Keller.&.Staelin.1987;.Brengman et al ..2001;.Law.2002) ..Only.a. few.authors.


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(Gonzales-Arce. 1975;. Gensch. 1978;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996;. Buchta.et al. 2000). have. investigated. market. segmentation. in. terms. of. brand.perception,.comparing.perceptions.of.several.brands.on.a.limited.number.of.dimensions ..However,.these.methods.(multidimensional.scaling).do.not.take.into.account.all.the.brand.associations.and.the.connections.between.them . Considering.the.implications.for.positioning,.image,.communication.strategies,.brand.equity.management.and.perceptual.competition.analysis,.we.propose.to.further.expand.and.advance.the.BCM.method.and.cluster.the.network.data.to.reveal.segments.with.different.brand.perceptions .

Methodology

We. will. present. our. methodology. by. applying. it. to. one. special. case:.Lipton. Ice. Tea .. We. have. chosen. that. brand. for. three. reasons .. First,. it.is. a. well-known. brand. with. a. wide. variety. of. associations. and. distinct.user.segments ..Second,.we.had.direct.access.to.proprietary.data.from.the.producer.of.Lipton.Ice.Tea.(Unilever) ..Finally,.Lipton.Ice.Tea.seemed.to.be.heterogeneously.perceived.in.the.Belgian.market.(according.to.the.Lipton.brand.manager) .

For.using.the.segmentation.in.terms.of.brand.perception,.we.developed.a.five-step.process,.which.is.summarised.in.Figure.1 .

Step 1: selection of the associations

Individuals.are.asked.to.create.individual.brand.maps ..They.are.provided.with.cards.that.contain.brand.attributes/brand.associations.and.are.asked.in. a. first. step. the. following. question:. ‘Considering. the. brand. and. the.associations.listed.on.the.cards,.what.comes.to.mind.when.you.think.about.this.brand?’.Respondents.are.allowed.to.select.as.many.cards.as.they.wish .

The.associations.are.selected.through.two.different.sources:.an.internal.source.and.an.external.source ..As.an.internal.source,.the.brand.manager.provided. us. with. an. initial. list. of. associations. that. ensured. we. covered.the.associations.coming.from.past.research.and.consistent.with.the.brand.positioning ..Since.brand.associations.are.evolving,.we.also.used.an.external.source.(consumers) ..Given.the.continuous.evolution.of.brand.attributes,.we.then.updated.this.list.using.the.ZMET.elicitation.process.(picture.analysis.and. metaphor-based. elicitation. techniques) .. The. goal. was. to. also. elicit.personal.feelings,.irrationality,.illogical.behaviour.and.repressed.attitudes ..We. should. add. that. alternative. elicitation. sources. may. be. considered,.such.as.brainstorming.sessions.or.insights.from.other.research . A.total.of.


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25. students. participated. in. that.ZMET. study ..As.we. reached. theoretical.saturation. after. the. 15th. interview,. this. number. should. be. sufficient.(Zaltman.&.Coulter.1995) .

The. respondents. were. asked. to. collect. 12. pictures. that. express. their.brand.knowledge.and.brand.feelings,.from.magazines.or.from.the.internet ..Then,.the.respondents.explained.the.reasons.why.they.selected.them ..From.these. validations. the. interviewer. completed. the. list. of. brand. attributes.by. assigning. abstract. associations. to. consumer. quotes .. The. following.example.illustrates.this.process:

Respondent.12:.‘I.chose.this.picture.of.a.river.with.a.cascade.because.I.think.that.Ice.Tea.has.to.be.consumed.very.cold .’

Researcher:.Attribute:.freshness,.ice.cubes

Based.on.the.pre-tests,.we.obtained.a.final.list.of.32.attributes,.as.shown.in.Table.1,.that.were.used.in.the.BCM.construction.process .

Step 2: mapping

Having. selected. those. associations. (cards). that. represent. the. brand,. the.160. respondents. (see. Table. 2. for. the. sample. description). are. shown.

Figure 1 BCM segmentation: five-step process

• Internal perspective: brand associations listed by the brand manager based on brand position and past market research

• External perspective: brand associations elicited by consumers with ZMET

Step 1: Selection of the associations

• Core associations: frequency of mention and number of interconnections with other associations

• First-order associations: frequency of first-order mention and position in the interconnections

Step 3: Codi�cation and aggregation

Step 4: Clustering based on complete linkage method

Step 5: Make clusters vivid, for example through BCM

Step 2: Mapping


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one.brand.concept.map. for.another.brand.as.an.example. to.explain. the.construction.process,.and.especially.the.different.links.that.could.appear ..We.used. a.BCM.for. the.Volkswagen.Beetle. (Roedder. John et al .. 2006) ..The. respondents.ascertain. that. some.attributes.are.directly. linked. to. the.brand. (like. ‘German. car’. or. ‘easy. to. park’),. while. others. are. linked. to.each. other. (like. ‘neat. colours’. and. ‘lime. green. or. silver’,. meaning. that.because. of. their. lime. green. and. silver. colours. Volkswagen. Beetles. have.neat.colours),.and.that.BCMs.contain.different.types.of.link.between.the.brand.and. the.attributes,.as.well.as.between.attributes. (single,.double.or.triple.links),.which.indicates.how.strong.the.associations.are,.with.a.triple.link. meaning. ‘very. strong’ .. After. this. ‘respondent. learning. process’,. the.

Table 1 Complete list of attributes

1 Sport, move, mountain bike, clubhouse, fitness, adventure, sensation, effort 2 Wellness, harmony, equilibrium 3 Family, children 4 Fruits, exotic 5 Nature, green, veggies, flowers, plant, leaf 6 Freshness, ice cubes 7 Overweight, obesity 8 Thirst-quenching 9 Sun, heat, beach, swimming pool, holiday, deck chair, sand, scorching heat10 Light, diet, silhouette, figure11 Lemon, yellow12 Break, free time13 Sugar14 Relaxation15 High price16 Soft drink17 Terrace, outdoor, restaurant, between friends, social18 Energy, revitalising, active19 Aperitif, cocktails20 At any time21 Carafe22 Glass ‘balloon’23 Indigestible24 Waste, pollution25 Marketing, advertising, packaging26 Addictive, antidepressant27 Additive, sweetener28 Sparkling29 Peace, rest30 Hedonic31 Cool, fun, trendy, contemporary32 Good quality


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respondents. are. asked. to. create. a. personal. concept. map,. using. the. pre-selected.associations/cards,.a.blank.poster.containing.the.brand.name.in.the.centre.and.single,.double.and.triple.lines.to.connect.the.cards.(all.provided.by.the.researchers) ..Respondents.stick.the.cards.with.the.attributes.on.the.poster.and.connect.them.with.single,.double.and.triple.links .

In.our.Lipton.Ice.Tea.study.we.collected.BCMs.from.160.respondents ..We. used. quotas. of. age,. gender,. income. and. experience. with. the. brand.(see. Table. 2. for. sample. description. and. demographics) .. All. respondents.confirmed. that. they. understood. the. procedure. and. had. no. problem.following.it .

In. the. end,. the. interviewer. asked. the. respondents. to. describe. prior.experiences.with.the.brand.(user.or.non-user).and.to.provide.us.with.his/her. demographics .. The. BCM. construction. and. interviews. lasted. 15–30.minutes.on.average .

Step 3: codification and aggregation

In.a.second.step,.the.individual.BCMs.have.to.be.aggregated.in.order.to.show.the.general.perception.of.the.brand ..Figure.2.shows.the.aggregated.BCM.for.Lipton.Ice.Tea.in.Belgium .

Therefore.two.independent.coders.(inter-coder.agreement.98%).coded:

•. the.presence.or.the.absence.of.each.of.the.32.attributes•. the.types.of.links.between.associations,.and.between.the.brand.and.the.

associations.(single,.double.and.triple)

Table 2 Sample description

Frequency % Frequency %

Age<20 12 820–24 30 1925–29 37 2330–39 30 1940–49 24 15>50 27 17

Users/non-usersusers 92 54Non-users 68 40

SexMale 70 44Female 90 56

Income<10,000 57 3610,000–20,000 11 720,000–30,000 37 2330,000–40,000 38 24>40,000 15 9


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•. the. level. at. which. each. attribute. was. placed. on. the. map. (1. means.directly. linked. to. the. brand,. 2. means. linked. to. an. attribute. that. is.linked.to.the.brand.…),.and

•. the. associations. linked. above. and. below. each. brand. association. on.the.BCM .

First,.we.had.to.decide.which.attributes.would.be.‘core’.in.our.aggregated.BCM. and. used. the. following. measures. for. this. purpose:. ‘the. frequency.of. mention’. and. ‘the. number. of. interconnections’ .. The. first. measure. is.calculated. by. dividing. the. number. of. times. an. attribute. is. cited. in. the.individual. BCM. by. the. total. amount. of. individual. BCM .. The. latter.one. counts. the. number. of. times. the. attribute. is. linked. to. all. the. other.associations .. Adhering. to. previous. content. studies. of. brand. attributes,.beliefs. and. values. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005),. we. used. a. 50%. cut-off.measure. to. decide. whether. or. not. one. attribute. should. appear. on. the.aggregated. BCM,. resulting. in. a. brand. map. containing. ten. core. brand.associations .

Then,.we.had.to.decide.which.of.the.core.associations.would.be.directly.linked.to.the.brand ..Two.measures.were.used,.namely.the.frequency.and.the.ratio.of.first-order.mentioning ..The.first.measures.the.number.of.times.an.association.is.directly.linked.to.the.brand ..The.second.is.the.frequency.of.first-order.mentions.divided.by.the.frequency.of.total.mentioning ..Finally,.the.type.of.positions,.superordinate.or.subordinate,.indicates.if.most.linked.associations.appear.below.it.(superordinate).or.above.it.(subordinate) ..We.considered.these.attributes.as.first-order.attributes.whose.frequency.of.first-

Figure 2 Model: Lipton Ice Tea brand map

Pleasure,relaxation

Terrace, outdoor,restaurant, between

friends, social

Sugar

Fruits, exotic

Freshness,ice cubes Soft drink Sparkling

Overweight,obesity

Cool, fun, trendy,contemporary

Ice Tea

Thirst-quenching

Marketing,advertising,packaging

Nature, green, veggies,flowers, plant, leaf

Sun, heat, beach, swimming pool, holiday,

deck chair, sand,scorching heat


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order.mention. is.higher. than.50%,. and.whose.number.of. superordinate.connections.is.higher.than.the.number.of.subordinate.connections .

The. third. step. involves. an. analysis. of. the. associations’. links. in. order.to. consign. the. remaining. core. brand. attributes .. Towards. that. end,. the.frequency. of. links. between. associations. (for. example,. ‘thirst-quenching’.was. frequently. connected. above. ‘freshness’. and. ‘ice. cube’). is. examined ..We. incorporated. certain. non-core. brand. associations. that. are. frequently.linked. to. core. associations. to. show. which. non-core. brand. associations.drive. consumer.perception.of. core. associations ..We. linked. them. to. core.associations,.taking.the.average.link.used.in.the.individual.brand.maps .

Most. of. the. core. associations. were. consistent. with. the. Lipton. Ice.Tea. advertising. messages,. such. as. ‘nature’,. ‘fruits’,. ‘thirst-quenching’,.‘freshness’,. ‘sun’,. ‘pleasure’,. ‘contemporary’. and. ‘terrace’ .. But. we. also.found. attributes. –. like. ‘sugar’. –. that. do. not. correspond. to. the. brand’s.positioning .. Another. example. of. non-company-driven. beliefs. is. the.perception. of. Lipton. as. a. ‘soft. drink’,. which. is. in. sharp. contrast. to. the.intended.‘fruit. juice’.perception ..We.elicited.three.attributes.with.double.links,. namely. ‘thirst-quenching’,. ‘sun’. and. ‘terrace’ .. Those. attributes.have. the. strongest. links. with. the. brand. and. all. three. correspond. to. the.positioning. and. communication. messages .. The. two. non-core. brand.associations,. which. drive. consumer. perception. of. the. core. associations.‘sugar’. and. ‘cool,. fun. and. contemporary’,. are. respectively. ‘obesity’. and.‘marketing’ ..Of. course,. those.negative. associations. can. also. affect. brand.equity,.for.example,.through.brand.dilution.(Pullig.et al. 2006).(confusion.in. consumers’. minds. regarding. the. features. connected. to. the. brand.(Henderson et al ..1998)).or.the.creation.of.a.Doppelgänger.brand.image.(Thompson. et al. 2006). (disparaging. images. and. stories. about. a. brand.that. are. circulated. in.popular. culture.by. a. loosely.organised.network.of.consumers,.anti-brand.activists,.bloggers.and.opinion.leaders.in.the.news.and.entertainment.media.(Thompson et al ..2006)) .

To.test.the.reliability.of.our.aggregation,.we.randomly.split.all.individual.BCMs.into.two.groups,.produced.an.aggregate.map.for.each.of.the.groups,.and. then. evaluated. the. degree. of. consistency. between. both. consensus.maps.(see.Figure.3) ..The.first.aggregate.brand.map.had.ten.core.attributes,.while. the.second.one.had.only.nine ..Seven.attributes.are.shared.by.both.aggregated. BCMs. (six. first-link. associations. with. three. attributes. in.common) ..Comparing.both.brand.maps.based.on.the.presence.of.each.of.the. possible. 32. brand. associations,. we. obtained. a. significant. chi-square.(chi-square.=.16 .7;.p.=.0 .00<0 .05;.N.=.32).and.thus.a.high.correlation.between. the. two. brand. maps. (contingency. coefficient. =. 0 .586) .. Using.


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a. first. link. association. criterion,. we. also. obtained. a. significant. chi-square.(chi-square.=.4 .7;.p.=.0 .03<0 .05;.N.=.32).and.thus.a.sufficient.correlation.between.the.two.brand.maps.(contingency.coefficient.=.0 .4) ..The.high.degree.of.consistency.between.both.brand.maps.should.signify.a.high.reliability .

To.test.the.nomological.validity,.we.split.the.individual.brand.maps.into.two.categories.that.should.differ.in.a.predictable.way.(users.and.non-users) ..As.the.aggregated.map.for.the.‘users’.group.has.a.more.complex.structure.with.more.brand.associations.(ten.core.brand.attributes.for.the.‘users’.and.eight.for.the.‘non-users’),.more.interconnections.between.associations.and.more. triple. double. links. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005). than. the. non-user-group.map,.we.can.confirm.a.high.level.of.nomological.validity,.as.shown.in.Table.3 .

Our. nomological. validity. analysis. elicited. different. perceptions. of. Ice.Tea. based. on. consumption. and. buying. behaviour .. That. leads. us. to. our.

Figure 3 Split-half reliability test

Lipton Ice Tea

Lipton Ice Tea

Half 2

Half 1

Thirst-quenching

Thirst-quenching

Relax

Relax

Terrace

Terrace

Contemporary

Contemporary

Overweight

Freshness

Freshness

Soft drink

Soft drink

Sugar

Lemon

Marketing

Plants

Plants

Fruits

Fruits

Sun

Sun


199

next.research.question:.‘Is.it.possible.to.link.BCM.with.cluster.analysis.in.order.to.effectively.and.efficiently.segment.consumers.according.to.their.perceptions.of.a.brand?’

Step 4: clustering

We.clustered.our.individual.brand.maps.based.on.the.absence/presence.of.the. 32. brand. associations. to. group. objects. based. on. the. attributes. they.possess ..Following.Everitt.et al.’s. (2001) suggestion,.we.used. ‘Sokal. and.Sneath. 4’. as. a. distance. measure. and. the. ‘complete. linkage. method’. (or.further. neighbour). to. cluster. binary. variables .. By. plotting. the. distance.coefficients. (slope. variation),. and.by.using. the.measure.of.heterogeneity.change,.profile.diagrams.and.the.independent-samples.T-tests,.we.decided.how.many.clusters.to.keep.in.the.analysis .

For.the.brand.Lipton.Ice.Tea,.we.discovered.a.six-cluster.solution.that.is.described.and. labelled.by.using.mean.scores,. the.profile.diagrams.and.the. independent-sample. T-tests .. The. clusters. differ. especially. in. usage.situations,. in. the. brand. evaluation. and. in. the.perception. as. soft. vs. fruit.drink .

Step 5: make clusters vivid

Traditionally,. managers. have. used. demographics,. behavioural. variables.or,.more. recently,. customer. lifetime.value. (CLV). to. segment. the.market ..By. applying. BCM. segmentation,. we. create. clusters. with. different. brand.perception. in. terms. of. brand. usage. (when?. how?),. brand. features. (e .g ..

Table 3 Nomological validity tests

Users Non-users

Total number of beliefs 11.54 (–5.09) 10.35 (–3.32)Total number of first-level associations 6.51 (–2.46) 6.41 (–2.59)Total number of second- and third-level associations 5.03 (–5.19) 3.94 (–3.24)Total number of links 15.39 (–4.8) 13.91 (4.52)Total number of first-order links 10.30 (–3.82) 9.35 (–3.65)Total number of second- and third-order links 5.24 (–3.64) 4.55 (–3.8)Total number of triple lines 1.05 (–1.29) 0.84 (–0.89)Total number of double lines 2.25* (–1.43) 1.60* (–1.32)Total number of single lines 7.89 (–2.5) 8.12 (–3.64)

* Values that are significantly different from each other for an α = 0.05 (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z)Standard deviation in parenthesis


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sweet,.expensive).or.other.brand.associations.(e .g ..family) ..To.interpret.and.profile.our.six.segments,.we.created.an.aggregated.BCM.for.each.of.the.six.clusters ..The.results.are.described.in.Figure.4 .

Cluster.1.(‘after.sports’).considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.refreshing.beverage.that.can.be.drunk.especially.after.sports,.or.relaxing.outdoors.on.a.terrace .

Cluster.2.(‘sunny’).considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.beverage.that.is.mostly.drunk.when.the.weather.is.sunny ..This.segment.enjoys.the.freshness.and.the.fruity.side.of.Ice.Tea ..They.also.link.Ice.Tea.to.relaxation .

Figure 4 Aggregated BCM for the six segments

CLUSTER 2: Sunny

CLUSTER 4: Fruit juice

CLUSTER 6: Light and healthy

CLUSTER 1: After sports

CLUSTER 3: Sweet and expensive

CLUSTER 5: Quality at any time

Thirst-quenching

Thirst-quenching

Thirst-quenching

Thirst-quenchingThirst-quenching

Relax

Relaxation

Relaxation

Terrace

Terrace

Terrace

At any time

Contemporary

BreakSport

Obesity

Overweight

Wellness

Antidepressant Fruits

Freshness

Freshness

Freshness

Freshness

Freshness

Wellness

Indigestible

SparklingWasteAdditive

Additive

High price

Addictive

Sugar

Sugar

FamilyGood quality

Sugar

Fruits

Fruits

Break

Energy

Energy

Nature

NatureLemon

Light

Quality

Family

Contemporary

Sun

Sun

Sun

Lipton Ice Tea

Lipton Ice Tea

Lipton Ice Tea

Lipton Ice Tea

Lipton Ice Tea

Lipton Ice Tea


201

Cluster.3.(‘sweet.and.expensive’).has.a.negative.perception.of.Ice.Tea ..This. group. considers. Ice. Tea. as. a. soft. drink,. full. of. sugar. that. causes.obesity ..Customers.of.that.segment.also.criticise.the.price.of.the.beverage.and.the.presence.of.additives,.like.aspartame.(a.sweetener) ..This.group.also.considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.contemporary,.fresh,.sparkling.soft.drink,.associated.with.sunny.weather .

Cluster.4.(‘fruit. juice’).considers.Ice.Tea.especially. linked.to.freshness,.lemon. and. other. fruits .. Of. this. cluster,. 70%. find. it. especially. linked. to.(tea).plants,.but.50%.also.consider.it.as.very.sweet .

Cluster. 5. (‘quality. at. any. time’). considers. Ice. Tea. as. a. contemporary.beverage. that. can. be. drunk. at. any. time .. This. is. a. quality. beverage,. but.with.a.risk.of.causing.excess.weight.when.consumption.is.excessive ..This.cluster.also.emphasises.the.healthy.side.of.Ice.Tea .

Cluster. 6. (‘light. and. healthy’). emphasises. the. healthy. side. of. Ice. Tea ..This.cluster.mentioned.the.quality.of.the.beverage,.the.link.with.fruits.and.plants,.and.the.energy.contribution ..This.group.also.recognises.the.link.to.freshness,.sun,.relaxation.and.lemon .

Conclusions and theoretical implications

Implications for brand image measurement

This. paper. demonstrates. the. usefulness,. reliability. and. validity. of. the.brand.concept.mapping.(BCM).methodology ..Furthermore,.our.approach.enhances. the. elicitation. stage. of. BCM. by. adding. picture. analysis. and.metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques.to.obtain.a.complete.and.up-to-date.list.of.attributes ..Our. study.augments. the. range.of.BCM.applications.by.employing.it.as.a.segmentation.tool ..Finally,.BCM.is.a.way.of.measuring.brand.image,.but.also.attitude.and.usage ..Therefore,.BCM.could.possibly.replace,.or.at.the.very.least.complement.classical.research.on.attitude.and.brand.usage.(visual.instead.of.figures) .

Managerial implications and applications for the information presented in the article

Implications for image and reputation management

From. a. managerial. point. of. view,. this. study. identifies. the. different.perceptions. of. Lipton. Ice. Tea .. When. the. aggregated. brand. map. is.compared. to. the. intended. brand. positioning. (by. the. company),. we. find.


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the. core. attributes. of. the. consensus. map. consistent. with. the. intended.positioning.of.Lipton. Ice.Tea ..A. single.exception. is. the.attribute. ‘sugar’ ..The.two.negative.non-core.brand.associations,. ‘obesity’.and. ‘marketing’,.need.to.be.carefully.scrutinised .

Implications for segmentation

Traditionally,.companies.have.segmented.their.potential.customers.on.the.basis. of. similar. sets. of. needs. and. wants. that. should. affect. consumption.habits .. Most. marketers. use. consumer. characteristics. and. customer.response. to. translate. these. sets.of.needs,.or.wants,. into.effective.market.segments .

We. suggested. a. method. that. is. not. just. based. on. (more. general).needs. and. wants,. but. more. specifically. on. different. brand. perceptions ..This. method. clusters. customers. with. similar. perceptions. as. expressed.through.BCMs ..Naturally,.these.clusters.can.then.be.linked.with.classical.segmentation. variables,. like. brand. experience,. personal. involvement.or. brand. awareness .. The. cluster. descriptions. provide. managers. with.information. about. the. different. consumption. habits. of. these. subgroups.and. their. consequences. in. terms. of. brand. perception .. Brand. managers.can,. therefore,. more. easily. identify. which. subgroups. are. commercially.attractive. for. the. company. (cluster. number. 3. is. excluded) .. We. suggest.using.this.method.when.the.brand.is.heterogeneously.perceived.and.when.classical.segmentation.variables.do.not.lead.to.successful.results .

Implications for brand positioning

On.the.basis.of.the.brand.concept.map,.brand.managers.can.(re-)evaluate.their.brand.identity.by.comparing.consumers’.perceptions.with.the.brand’s.positioning .

If. certain. brand. perceptions. are. inconsistent. with. the. intended.positioning,. corrective. action. could. be. taken. to. either. modify. these.perceptions.(if.possible),.or.to.reconsider.the.brand’s.points.of.parity.and.points.of.difference .

Another. opportunity. would. be. to. create. different. positioning. to.incorporate.the.variations.in.the.brand.image.perception.and.overcome.the.differences.due.to.the.culture,.brand.experience.or.product.involvement ..Given. the. profiles. of. specific. segments. and. their. consumption. habits,.managers.can.adapt.brand.elements,. such.as.product.benefits,.packaging.


203

and.other.aspects.of.integrated.marketing.communication,.to.reinforce.the.brand.image.perception.and.build.brand.equity.segment.by.segment .

Implications for brand communication

Due.to.selective.distortion,.consumers.pay.more.attention.to.communication.messages. that. are. in. accordance. with. their. previously. acquired. beliefs.stored. in.the. long-term.memory ..Therefore,. the.creative.content.and.the.communication. messages. should. be. adapted. depending. on. the. segments.and.its.brand.image.perception .

Implications for brand equity management

Another. implication. for. brand. management. could. be. an. adaptation. of.the. brand. architecture .. When. some. clusters. describe. Lipton. Ice. Tea. as.‘light. and. healthy’,.while. others. perceive. it. as. ‘sweet’,.we. could. assume.that.consumers.have.different.versions. (line.extensions). in.mind ..A.clear.architecture. is.needed,. to.align.extensions.with.specific.associations,.and.on.the.other.hand.create.more.general.associations,.that.could.be.shared.by.all.consumers/versions ..We.suggest.examining.brand.equity.components.at.the.corporate.level.(Unilever),.at.the.brand.level.(Lipton.Ice.Tea),.but.also.at.the.line.extension.level .

Implications for competition analysis

Managers. must. take. into. account. that. certain. products. are. considered.as.competitive.products.by. some.segments.and.not.by.others ..Marketers.need. to. adapt. their. competitive. strategy. in. light. of. these. differences. in.perception .

Limitations and future research directions

The.sample.size.(160).disallowed.the.use.of.latent.cluster.analysis.and.led.to.relatively.small.clusters ..However,.the.aim.of.the.study.was.to.present.a.technique.that.is.appropriate.for.solving.certain.types.of.problems.rather.than.to.draw.any.general.inferences.as.to.how.consumers.perceive.Lipton.Ice.Tea ..To.pursue.this.other.goal,.a.replication.with.a.larger.sample.size.would.be.necessary .


204

For.Lipton.Ice.Tea,.a.five-cluster.solution.is.suggested ..From.a.managerial.point.of.view,. it.would.have.been.easier.to.have.fewer.segments.(two.or.three) .

Regarding.the.effect.on.buying.behaviour,.the.uniqueness.of.the.brand.associations.will.have.a.positive.effect.on.purchase.choices.(Keller.2003b) ..However,.Ajzen.(1988).showed.that.perception.is.only.one.component.of.attitude ..The.brand.map.should.therefore.be.interpreted.from.a.contingent.perspective.to.show.the.effects.on.buying.behaviour .

Finally,. although. this. methodology. produces. some. interesting. results,.it. still. constitutes. a. complex. (and. costly). process. for. companies. (large.number.of.interviews.and.codification.process).wishing.to.explore.brand.image.issues .

As. future. research. directions,. we. suggest. the. application. of. the. BCM.methodology. to. other. managerial. issues. such. as. evaluation. of. the.effectiveness.of. co-branding. strategies,.brand.extensions,. advertising.and.other.promotional. tools ..The.BCM.technique.could.also.be.useful.when.applied.to.brand.perception.issues.such.as.brand.confusion,.brand.dilution.(Pullig et al .. 2006). and. Doppelgänger. brand. image. (Thompson et al ..2006) .

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About the authors

Céline.Brandt. is.marketing.assistant.and.postdoctoral. fellow.at. the.HEC.School.of.Management.of.the.University.of.Liège.(Belgium) ..Her.research.focuses. are. in. the. area. of. product. and. corporate. brand. reputation,.branding,. networks. in. marketing. and. consumer. behavior .. Céline. Brandt.is. the. author. of. various. communications. and. a. doctoral. dissertation. in.marketing ..Her.doctoral. thesis.deals.with.the.measurement.of. individual.brand.image.perception.and.brand.reputation.using.associative.networks .

Charles. Pahud. de. Mortanges. received. his. BA. (Economics). from. the.University.of.California.and.his.MBA.from.the.California.State.University ...His.PhD.(Economics).is.from.the.University.of.Groningen ..Currently,.he.is.a.full.professor.of.marketing.at.the.HEC.School.of.Management.of.the.University.of.Liege.(Belgium) ..His.research.interests.are.primarily.in.brand.management.and.brand.valuation .

Christian. Bluemelhuber. is. the. InBev. Baillet. Latour. Professor.d’Euromarketing. at. the. Solvay. Brussels. School. of. Economics. and.Management. (Université. Libre. de. Bruxelles) .. His. research. is. devoted.to. the. interpretation. of. consumer. behaviour,. services. and. branding.experiences,. visual. techniques,. and. integrating. European. perspectives.into. the. marketing. landscape .. More. information. on. Christian’s. work. is.available.on.his.website.http://www .bluemelhuber .de .

Allard. van. Riel. is. a. full. professor. of. marketing. and. director. of. the.Institute.for.Management.Research.of.the.Radboud.University.in.Nijmegen,.the.Netherlands ..He.holds.a.PhD.in.Service.Innovation.Management.from.Maastricht.University ..Between.2004.and.2009.he.held.the.Arcelor-Mittal.Chair. in.Innovation.Strategy.and.Management.at.the.University.of.Liège.in. Belgium .. His. research. interests. include. cognitive. aspects. of. decision-making. under. complexity. and. uncertainty,. specifically. in. innovation.management,. and. service. operations. and. marketing. management .. He.published. in. the. Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing,. and. International Journal of Service Industry Management ..He. is.currently.focusing.on.responsible.decision-making. in.health.care.innovation ..

Address. correspondence. to:. Céline. Brandt,. HEC. Université. de. Liège,.Department.of.Marketing,.Boulevard.du.Rectorat.7,.Liege,.4000,.Belgium .

Email:.celine .brandt@ulg .ac .be

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