Emotional Branding: Playing with the Senses

A. Structure

Danksagung

B. Illustrations including tables

C. Abbreviations

1. Aim and Objective

2. Methodology

3. Abstract

4. Introduction

5. Brand / Branding
5.1. Definition Brand
5.2. Definition Branding
5.3. Brand Image and Identity
5.4. Brand Equity

6. Changes in the buying behavior
6.1. Generations
6.1.1. Baby Boomers
6.1.2. Generation X
6.1.3. Generation Y
6.2. Problem of decreasing brand loyalty - the ‘Smart Shopper’ and hybrid buying behavior
6.3. Necessity of a positive relationship experience between consumer and brand
6.4. From Branding to Emotional Branding

7. Emotional Branding
7.1. Definition
7.2. Instruments
7.2.1. Communication via Experiences
7.2.2. Digital Storytelling

8. Emotional Branding Concept
8.1. Individualizing and differentiating
8.2. Brand’s Positioning
8.2.1. Definition of the brand’s core values
8.2.2. Auditory - Sounds that fascinate
8.2.2.1. Acoustic Branding
8.2.2.2. The Working Model
8.2.2.3. Acoustic Transfer Interface
8.2.2.4. Sound Identity
8.2.2.5. Transformation
8.2.3. Visual - Colors that charm
8.2.3.1. Colors and senses’ associations
8.2.3.2. Colors and Scents
8.2.3.3. Colors and Tastes
8.2.4. Olfactory - Smells that entice
8.2.5. Gustatory - Tastes that allure
8.2.6. Haptic – Touches that tantalize
8.2.6.1. Kinesthetic - Shapes that affect
8.2.7. Typography
8.3. Brand Elements
8.3.1. Brand Name
8.3.2. Logo - Symbols that enchant
8.3.3. Packaging
8.3.4. Tag Line
8.3.5. Brand Personality
8.3.5.1. Trigger / Character / Testimonials
8.3.6. Brand Association
8.3.7. E-motions

9. Conclusion
9.1. Critical reflection
9.1.1. Negative emotions
9.2. Final Statement

D. Appendix

E. Bibliography

a. Monographs

b. Articles

c. Internet

Danksagung

Für meine Eltern, Alfred und Christine Max

Ich danke allen, die durch ihre Unterstützung zu dieser Diplomarbeit beigetragen haben

Ulrike Max Stralsund, 26. Februar

B. Illustrations including tables

Ill. 1: ‘Brands’

Ill. 2: ‘Brand Identity and Image’

Ill. 3: ‘Hybrid shopping behavior’

Ill. 4: ‘Buying decision’

Ill. 5: ‘Coke’

Ill. 6: ‘beatcrazy’

Ill. 7: ‘Definition of brand’s core values’

Ill. 8: ‘Telekom Sound’

Ill. 9: ‘The Working Model’

Ill. 10: ‘Brand value’

Ill. 11: ‘Pleasure Associations’

Ill. 12: ‘Beck’s and Krombacher’

Ill. 13: ‘Brand Portfolio’

Ill. 14: ‘The meanings of color’

Ill. 15: ‘Perception of colors and senses’ associations’

Ill. 16: ‘Colors and Scents’

Ill. 17: ‘Colors and Tastes’

Ill. 18: ‘Scent Quadrate’

Ill. 19: ‘Sense language for smell’

Ill. 20: ‘Taste perception and age’

Ill. 21: ‘Pleasure to touch’

Ill. 22: ‘iBook’

Ill. 23: ‘Absolut bottle’

Ill. 24: ‘Fonts and Associations’

Ill. 25: ‘Brand name development’

Ill. 26: ‘Criterions for the assessment of brand names’

Ill. 27: ‘Role of the logo (brand based)’

Ill. 28: ‘Brands’

Ill. 29: ‘Logo strategies compared with logo characteristics’

Ill. 30: ‘How are you?’

Ill. 31: ‘Promi Hit list Germany’

Ill. 32: ‘Absolut web pages’

Ill. 33: ‘The Beck’s experience’

Ill. 34: ‘Pros and cons of Emotional Branding’

C. Abbreviations

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

1. Aim and Objective

The objective of this work is to show the significance of Emotional Branding as a marketing, brand design, and communication instrument based on the changed business situation and demanding customer needs. The five basic senses: taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell shall be explained and set into relation to the brand elements.

A lot of marketers discuss about Emotional Branding as the future approach without exactly knowing what this term contains. The aim of this diploma thesis is the development of a conceptual approach in form of a guideline with the key components to emotionalize brands, to give them a face and a character in order to reach the overall aim: the identification of customers with the brand.

2. Methodology

The initial step for this diploma thesis was the research in order to find right information, because the different Branding types are often-discussed themes. The research was based on monographs, articles and the Internet. Hence Emotional Branding is a quite new theme in Branding, just limited information could be found directly for the theme. So the research had to be concentrated on the single senses and single elements and put together afterwards to develop as the final step a guideline for Emotional Branding.

3. Abstract

The first part of this work provides the basic knowledge. It explains and defines in addition to the basic terms ‘brand’ and ‘branding’, terms like ‘brand image’, ‘brand identity’ and ‘brand equity’.

The second part describes the changes in buying behavior, the changing needs and different perceptions of today’s customers. The three main generations are explained to demonstrate the need for Emotional Branding as a new kind of branding tool. Additionally the explanations to hybrid buying behavior and smart shopping will show the necessity of a positive brand experience and the change from Branding to Emotional Branding. It gives a definition of Emotional Branding and a short introduction to the instruments that can be used to support the brand elements, which are closer explained in the main part.

The traditional marketing searches for new ideas. The aim is clear. Excitement and experiences shall go along with attractive brand worlds. But how to emotionalize communication? The third and main part shows in form of a guideline how to create an incomparable brand image with the help of tones, colors, scents etc. in combination with the brand elements. In this context successful strong brands that were able to find their way into the consumers’ psyche and built up strong emotional relationships will be taken as examples.

Finally the last part is a critical reflection of the brands playing with the consumers’ senses in order to influence their everyday life. Moreover points are outlined that should be considered to support the successful use of Emotional Branding.

4. Introduction

“Over the last fifty years the economic base has changed from production to consumption. It has gravitated from the sphere of rationality to the realm of desire: from the objective to the subjective, to the realm of psychology.”^[1]

What can brands learn from Darwin, Brands have to live, Emotions make the success; that could be headlines of just some articles dealing with the difficult situation of the brand during the last year.

Deregulated, saturated markets and a hard competition in attracting the attention of the ‘Smart Shopper’, define the current situation. Products and services become interchangeable or differences are hardly recognizable. Every year more than 16,000 new brands are developed; in Germany more than 6,000 brands enter the market. All this brands search for an unmistakable definition, a clear brand image.

The customer shows up as a price-conscious bargain hunter that ignores conservative advertising methods. Brand loyalty? Not really. The customer prefers to play with the codes and shows its sovereignty while moving in different scenes and milieus. Studies show, that customers are not fixed on specific, strong brands. Constant psychosocial needs do not play a significant role by choosing a brand. It is no longer the question “Which brand do I need to be respected?” Today customers asked themselves “Which brand could fit to me and my mood, today?” That is the reason for the trend to communicate the product in connection with attractive experiences and emotions as known from everyday life and personal dreams.

In this hypercompetitive marketplace, where goods and services alone are not longer enough to attract a new market or even to maintain existing markets or clients, the emotional aspect of brands and products will become the key difference between consumers’ ultimate choice and the price that they are willing to pay. Emotional means how a brand engages consumers on the level of the senses and emotions; how a brand comes to live for people and forges a deeper, lasting connection. The additional benefit of the emotional conveyance of experiences as attribute for values like freedom, individuality and independence come more and more to the fore while the functional and technical product characteristics in this high developed industrial era become trivial self-evident truth.

In the competitive marketplace, companies that do not take their identity seriously tend to get lost in the shuffle. Any number of companies could be named that have not invested in their brands, and what happened is that they lost their leverage in the marketplace. These companies are not able to charge as much for their product, and consumers do often not select them because they are not top of mind in awareness. They do not stand for something distinctive, so customers move on to something else.

Emotional Branding uses the five human senses: taste touch, sound, sight and smell to influence the buying behavior and reaches therefore a new level of brand design and communication. If well planned it causes positive emotions, pictures and inner experiences that are going to be connected with the brand on the irrational level.

5. Brand / Branding

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Ill. 1: ‘Brands’, source: BusinessWeek, Interbrand, “The best global brands”, http://63.111.41.5/interbrand/test/html/events/businessweek_2001_final.pdf

The changing role of brands is best described in the following clipping of the article in BusinessWeek magazine from August 2001: “A belief in the power of brands and brand management has spread far beyond the traditional consumer-goods marketers who invented the discipline. For companies in almost every industry, brands are important in a way they never were before. Why? For one thing, customers for everything from soda pop to software now have a staggering number of choices. And the Net can bring the full array to any computer screen with a click of the mouse. Without trusted brand names as touchstones, shopping for almost anything would be overwhelming. Meanwhile, in a global economy, corporations must reach customers in markets far from their home base. A strong brand acts as an ambassador when companies enter new markets or offer new products. It also shapes corporate strategy, helping to define which initiatives fit within the brand concept and which do not. That’s why companies that once measured their worth strictly in terms of tangibles such as factories, inventory, and cash have realized that a vibrant brand, with its implicit promise of quality, is an equally important asset. A brand has the power to command a premium price among customers and a premium stock price among investors. It can boost earnings and cushion cyclical downturns.”^[2]

5.1. Definition Brand

Kotler defines the brand term as follows: “A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.”^[3] This definition includes next to the brand products all commercial and non-commercial accomplishments like raw materials, semi finished products and services, but not the more intangible assets of a brand.

Nilson goes little further by saying, “The brand is the means by which you can differentiate your offering from that of everyone else, it is the way to signal that this is the product that has all the advantages the customer is looking for.”^[4] Both Nilson and Kotler define brands as a differentiation tool based on the obvious brand characteristics. But brands have undergone a sea change over the past decades. Today they have a great variety of functions – emotional, social, and communicative – in addition to their more traditional ones like consumer orientation, sales promotions and the characteristics concerning origin, quality promise and legal protection. Linxweiler defines the brand in this context as follows “In modern marketing it is often talked about a brand approach with the view on the effect. This approach describes the brand over the notion imagery and the subjective perception of the consumers. Consequently everything, the relevant target group considers to be a brand, has to be marked as brand.”^[5] This approach includes in the brand’s consideration, the psychological and sociological aspects like emotions, motivation, attitude and consumer behavior in the social surrounding. To shorten the description:

BRAND = product/performance + meaning for the consumer

From the marketing point of view the brand term could be formulated as follows (deduced from brand success factors): The brand characterizes itself as a with ‘meaning’ loaded product or performance with a clear, attractive and terse brand imagery, that is able to reach a as high as possible value of satisfaction, sympathy, trust and brand loyalty, with the help of appropriate marketing activities.

The interpretation of A. Buck, C. Hermann and F. G. Kurzhals in their book “brand aesthetics 2000” goes into the same direction and: “With regard to consumers, brands are cognitive aid. They filter the enormous amount of consumer information down to manageable dimensions and simplify purchasing decisions. Apart from their functional use to consumers, they also have less tangible benefits. They instill confidence for purchasing decisions and increase self-confidence through brand identification.”^[6] The consumers and their wishes come more and more to the foreground and combined with that the more intangible assets of a brand, driven by emotions.

Marconi hits the nail squarely on the head in just one sentence: “People buy products, but which product they buy and how they make their buying decision has a lot to do with how they feel about the brand.”^[7] “Brands matter because of their ability to communicate meaning. Brands communicate a rich set of messages and allow us to feel that we can relate to the underlying offer, be it a product (such as Coca-Cola), service (such as McKinsey) or even a company (such as GE). The effect of the brand is to give the underlying asset an appeal over and above what can be explained by the functional benefits it offers. Coca-Cola offers not only refreshment, but also a promise of ‘the real thing’. McKinsey offers not just rigor, but the promise of corporate reassurance. GE offers not just quality products and services, but the promise of ‘bringing the good things to life’.”^[8]

The capability of a brand to give the product meaning is significant since humans like to have meaning in what they make. Brands give consumers the possibility to add bit significance to their actions. Easy decisions – for example the perfume consumers wear or the soft drink they prefer – are seen as possibilities for consumers to express themselves and to add a symbolic sense to a daily functional decision.

Brand’s capability to build the base for a relationship and set up a group of shared objectives characterizes a crucial element in creating the kind of surrounding in which the capacity of this new economy can be put into effect. Coca-Cola is obviously one of the ultimate brands – it made of sweet, sugar water ‘the real thing’.

However the term ‘brand’ is defined, you can proceed on the assumption that it does not give the right or wrong brand-term. In the end the definition depends on the advisability of its use and the respective scientific approach.

5.2. Definition Branding

“The definitions of branding vary from the naming process (e.g. Gotta, 1994) to a holistic communication concept for a company (e.g. Gregory, 1997; Will, 1999).”^[9] Gotta defines “professional branding as the combination of a mixture of rational and irrational values, that can be identically represented in Germany, Europe or worldwide by the developing brand names that are capable of being copyrighted by trademark law.”^[10] The definition of Murphy, head of the British brand agency ‘Interbrand’, goes beyond naming: “modern, sophisticated branding concerned increasingly with a brand’s Gestalt, with assembling together and maintaining a mix of values, both tangible and intangible, which are relevant to consumers and which meaningfully and appropriately distinguish one supplier’s brand from that of another... The ingredients in a brand constitute the product itself, the packaging, the brand name, the promotion, the advertising and the overall presentation. The brand is therefore a synthesis of all elements, physical, aesthetic, rational and emotional. The end result must be not only appropriate but differentiated from the brands of competitors – the consumer has to have a reason to choose one brand over all others.”^[11] Kotler supports Murphy’s point of view in his book ‘Marketing Management’ with the following definition of branding: “If a company treats a brand only as a name, it misses the point of branding. The challenge in branding is to develop a deep set of meanings for the brand.”^[12]

Scott Bedbury, former director of advertising for Nike and Starbucks described the development of branding in an interview as follows: “Ten years ago, the average person thought of branding as that creative thing you do with the name of a product. Or it meant designing a new wrapper. Or maybe it was the print or television advertising that relayed the brand message. But that was a simpler time, when there were far fewer media vehicles and less competition in most product categories. Today, branding is everything – and I mean everything. Brands are the sum totals of all the images that people have in their heads about a particular company and a particular mark. Brands absorb everything around them.”^[13]

“A successful branding program is based on the concept of singularity. It creates in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no product on the market quite like your product.”^[14] A branding program should therefore be designed to differentiate. “On the one hand it is used to describe the graphical or ‘artistic’ execution of a brand identity, i.e. the shape and form of the logo, the design of corporate literature and letter heads etc., and on the other hand the term refers to the building of values represented by the brands.”^[15] “Branding is the process of transforming functional assets into relationship assets. The starting point of the branding process is the recognition of the need to supply an emotional logic to supplement the business logic. Branding adopts the viewpoint of the customer. It reassures the customer that their basic functional requirements will be met and then goes on to provide them with the basis for a perceived relationship. This is the psychology of branding – recognizing that the value consumers attach to certain things has as much to do with how they make them feel as with the functional benefits they deliver.”^[16]

One of the mistakes in branding is to suppose that the brand is just an instrument to communicate the manufacturer’s message. Instead it is the instrument to carry the consumer’s meaning. It means to understand the relationship a company or brand has with its consumers and to recognize the characteristics of a product, a service or a company, which resonate for the company’s audience. It is about the consumers and not about the company. “Branding is the social amplification of benefit. Branding uses these same human mechanisms to accentuate the benefits of certain attributes of products, services and companies. Just as a danger’s underlying risks may be small, a brand’s attributes may not be that important when measured in a purely objective sense. But this does not prevent them acquiring huge perceived significance. ”^[17]

Branding imitates the consumer’s perception of a brand, product or company and views activities through the lens of consumer’s perspective. It is the consumer’s meaning that decides what the brand is and what creates the basis for a relationships and therefore Branding is everything that creates the right connection and image of a brand in consumers’ and competitors’ eyes.

5.3. Brand Image and Identity

The following overview shows and explains the importance the communication system of brand identity and brand image:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Ill. 2: ‘Brand Identity and Image’source: Cf. Linxweiler, R., Marken-Design: Marken entwickeln, Markenstrategien erfolgreich umsetzen, p. 67

The left part of the overview reflects the brand from the company’s conceptual point of view that is comprehensively represented by the brand identity. “The brand identity consists of six levels: brand core values (level one), brand philosophy as sense and value level (level two), brand strategy and positioning (level three), brand design as object level and brand behavior as the behavior level (level four), brand culture (level five) and brand identity as interaction and development level.”^[18] The right side of the above illustration represents the consumer’s perception and valuation of the brand structure. So brand identity is the internal and brand image the external picture of the brand. The receiver gets an imagination of a brand from available existing and saved information and assesses the impression based on its personal values. These values, from extensive-rational to intuitive-emotional, can be e.g. the subjective importance of brands influenced by situational circumstances, the brand’s relevance or the brand’s ability to satisfy certain needs compared to other brands. Ideally brand identity and brand image correspond with each other. That happens when all elements are received and understood by the consumers as the company communicated them. The brand is the more differentiated and clear perceived the more consistent, more continuous and clearer the six levels of the brand identity are communicated. The different conception levels can cause deficits in the brand image. The basis of the brand identity is the brand philosophy (level two), which reflects the visions, ideas and conviction of the brand transported by “brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations, and a brand personality.”^[19] “That means the brand philosophy includes the objectives, the way the brand follows relating to the positioning, the physical development, the kind of market presence, the product expansion and the geographic development, etc.”^[20]. Basis for the brand philosophy is the definition of the brand core values as foundation of all motivations and therefore for all drivers of buying actions. These are the starting points for the brand conception and design. The brand core values are the values or combinations of them that are directly relevant for the perception and preferences of a brand. They should represent the by the consumer required and esteemed values. It is one of the basic tasks and starting point of the branding process to create and define the core values of a brand. Finally the example of Coca-Cola shows how important a fitting brand image is. Coca-Cola tried to change the image, to become ‘younger’, but they had to recognize that their image is so deep anchored in the customers’ minds that changes are perceived as a defect in the well-known brand picture. That is why changes in the brand image and identity have to be well reasoned and planned in corporation with the brand core values considering the already existing consumer’ perception of the brand.

5.4. Brand Equity

Charles L. Decker defines in his book ‘Das Beste ist nie genug: Die 99 Erfolgsregeln von Proctor & Gamble’ the brand equity as the quotient of the subjective benefit and the price. That means the consumer is willing to pay more for the product the higher the personal or subjective value is. The higher the subjective quality of the product or brand, the higher is the price the consumer is willing to pay. In addition the better the image of the brand is the higher will be the value of the brand – the brand equity. “It has to be distinguished between the finance-oriented and the consumer-oriented point of view concerning the value of a brand. While the finance-oriented consideration brings the economic value of the immaterial asset ‘brand’ to the foreground, revolves the consumer-oriented consideration round the consumers’ perception of the brand.”^[21] The economic aspect applies to the profit of the company, that unequivocal is traced back on the brand as a trademark and that the owner of the brand could not reach without the brand. There is the problem to differ the brand from the real physical product. From the consumer-oriented point the associations and ideas that the consumer connects with the brand are of interest. That leads to a determined esteem for the respective brand. The consumers’ perception and assessment of the brand is the real source of the brand equity.

“Essential determinants for the brand equity are:

- Name recognition of the brand
- The perceived quality, that is considered as the image of a brand
- The associations, that are connected to the brand
- The brand loyalty
- Additional advantages of the brand like patents or brand rights

These determinants are connected to each other. Quality e.g. correlates directly with the perceived quality.”^[22]

For example “Coca-Cola’s brand equity amounts to US$ 68.95 billion while the stock value is approximately US$ 113.40 billion or BMW with a brand equity of US$ 13.86 and a stock value of US$ 22.22 (source: Interbrand, July 2001)”^[23] (see Appendix A). “And Philip Morris paid for the company Kraft and its brands Philadelphia, Miracel Whip and Scheibletten the fourfold of Kraft’s net assets and Nestlé took over Rowntree and its successful brands Smarties, Kitkat, After Eight, Rolo, Quality Street for the fivefold book value.”^[24] With this kind of operation the finance-oriented brand-term is obviously in the foreground.

For brand management and control, the financial-oriented consideration of brand equity is less usable. Here the consumer-oriented understanding of brand equity counts, that means the way the consumers perceive the brand and how it is linked in their heads. But on the other hand the way consumer think about a brand is important for the brand equity, because it influences the brand’s reputation and therefore the value of the brand.

6. Changes in the buying behavior

As consumers move through their life cycle, more or less predictable changes in their values, lifestyles, and consumption patterns occur. A 6-year-old has an absolutely different set of needs and wishes than a 22-year-old, who in turns has other needs than a 56-year-old. Moreover the purchasing environment changes as well in a variety of ways and provides a consistently growing mass of information.

6.1. Generations

Three major consuming populations inhabit the retail landscape today:

- The Baby Boomers (37 – 56 years old)
- The Generation Xers (25 – 36 years old)
- The Generation Yers (6 – 24 years old)^[25].

These three major population segments simply do not use the same language. “Baby Boomers respond to cues of achievement, status, and performance, while Gen Xers value imagination, creativity and relationships, and Gen Y responds to fun, interactivity and experiences.”^[26] In the past, companies disproportionately gave their undivided attention of their promotions to the young consumers, based on the belief that consumers captivated early in life would stay loyal for a long period of time. This could be an expensive mistake if applied to Gen X and Gen Y. The love affair with the brands has fallen on difficult times. Consumers want the company’s attention and care. If a company takes its consumers for granted, they will lose it.

6.1.1. Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers is the term for the generation of people born between 1946 until 1964.

The specific prosperity and concerns of the Baby Boomers require a particular sensibility and awareness from the brands’ side. This age group will not give up to the strains of growing age. On the contrary they will revive and reshape what is the meaning of being ‘mature’. That means this generation is not becoming older, they just reach the mature youthfulness. Brands have to think about how their customers see their age, and what kind of products will make possible the best of those emotions. Considering both halves of the Baby Boomers generation – the wish to escape and the desire for more quiet life while staying agile and active – is essential for the twenty-first century businesses. Products and promotions must sensibly care about both sides of this age group’s mentality. Patronizing branding strategies that at the same time contain lightening the Boomers into inevitable elder obscurity will fail. The solution is dynamic and meaningful aging. The advantage of mature age with none of the shortcomings.

Garden, seeing the world, a vacation home somewhere in the South Sea – all these has been prospering with the Baby Boomers because they offer what this generation perceives as the hope for quality of life. This taste for simplicity is useful information in the hands of clever marketers. It is not enough for a brand to say, “I sell technical equipment. They are great and they are fairly priced, that is why our product will sell.” Brands must enlarge their consciousness to the characteristic values around the products and image that are open to steady repositioning and enrichment. A technology brand containing the mentioned attributes will make out the capacity for this technology to ease life and increase leisure time. It will obviously and thoroughly illustrate the product’s potential to process certain tasks fast and unproblematic, and at the same time freeing up consumer’s time to enjoy the pleasing sides of life.

That kind of approaches gives companies the ability to highlight both the real, substantial, and psychologically oriented characteristics of their products. In order to be successful, companies have to handle these psychic identities with care. Besides, who really cares for example how much RAM its computer has as long as it gets the job done.

6.1.2. Generation X

This generation (born between 1965 and 1976) early got to know that life is not perfect, their sobering youth provided a fertile atmosphere for fostering their take-control, independent-minded, pragmatic mentality which, aided by a flourishing economy, has effectively weaken all comparisons to 1991’s discouraged and dejected term ‘slacker’ used by Douglas Coupland’s in his novel Generation X. Significant for this generation is the strong engagement in the process of building careers, increasing of property and it views the family life with circumspection and care. They are freely adapting family life and their own life to their needs. Possession is seen as a sign of individuality, rather than a status symbol. Brands that recognize the spirit, energy and power of today’s Gen X will be able to create a long-lasting relationship with this age group that is ready for some long missed respect. Just brands with the agility to be adopted by selective and individualized tastes will find in the Gen Xs a functionality, which, by its unpredictability, is extremely exciting.

This generation is influenced by unstable job situation and they are more likely to change the company if another company offers better job that provides “variety and enhances their own skills set while allowing them to learn.”^[27] That means this age group is not willing to sacrifice their personality on the corporate identity’s altar. Campaigns, which aim the Gen X, should strongly think about nontraditional approaches, but that does not mean that established media should be written off. It is no longer enough to tell how good and affordable the products are, how they improve the life and how all those wonderful ingredients would brighten the consumers boring lives. This generation wants to know, what is in for them and brands were asked to find a homogenous mixture, a relationship basis between themselves and the consumer.

Today “Generation X is evolving into Generation lu‘X’e as they break all of the rules and define the new economy. They are trading up to show they can afford it now! While sensible Boomers would ‘prolong’ acquiring the badges that signify success until they had actually achieved a certain status – live-for-today Xers have demonstrated the opposite by donning the badges of success early and demonstrated that they are ever poised for such a state.”^[28] That is one of the reasons for such increased consumer activity at both high quality retail luxury brands and mass merchants. Adjectives like hip and cool, original, flashy, sexy or cynical, interactive and real are more and more used in this context.

It is in the DNA of the Generation X. They are the easiest age group to forget again, as the aging Baby Boomer generation steals the limelight and defines new what it means to become older, and as Generation X gives a new meaning to what it stands for to be young and to discover a new, fast changing world. But Gen X has gotten the attention, seized the mind, and forced to change the way of speaking about the product to sell. This age group is doubtless the most persistent generation yet. They reject to follow any road map and can turn on a penny to acquire a new tactic or skill set to win with.

6.1.3. Generation Y

Although still evolving, the emotional palette and passions of the generation of the people that have been born between 1977 and 1994 are entirely unequaled and offer fascinating possibilities for Branding especially Branding forms that try to aim the emotional stage.

Targeting at this generation is very difficult because this age group has a tendency to refuse to accept the ‘mainstream’, and as soon as a brand becomes famous it is in risk of falling into their displeasure. Consequently, brands must find the thin line between prominent exposure and the danger of overexposure. “This latchkey kids have grown up with an unparalleled access to information coupled with an absence of omnipresent supervision”^[29] also called the warp-speed generation, because they are going much faster and doing more than the previous generations. This generation has less free time than any age group before and they are much more adept to using the new technologies. When companies try to reach this group, advertising campaigns need to be brief and direct, without ceremony. Brands that undervalue the sophistication and awareness of the world of this age group will fail.

To get the awareness of this generation companies have to make their brand present, accessible and available. A mistake is to cram it into the public and not to know when to temper the brand’s omnipresence hence a little piece of exclusivity is all the time good. Moreover companies should never talk depreciatory about this group of consumers as ‘kids’.

Another name for this generation and the people that are born afterwards is the ‘Visual Generation’. “The reason: the growing up generation is like no generation before visually formed and says goodbye to the complex and complicated communication structures. This ‘Visual Generation’ prefers a simple, fast and integral communication in comic style. Stimuli are as important as information. The youth flees into unreal worlds e.g. surfing in the Internet in yet unknown dimensions. The media is already able to build up real substitute worlds. The borders between real experiences and virtual adventures become blurred.”^[30]

Important to notice for brand managers is, that the aim of Generation X and Generation Y is more and more to underline their own personality and be different to others. The most important question is, does it fit to me and to what do I want to stand for.

6.2. Problem of decreasing brand loyalty - the ‘Smart Shopper’ and hybrid buying behavior

Changing buying behavior (smart shopping and hybrid buying behavior), information overload and variety seeking are just some examples for the changes in consumer behavior and in business surrounding. The pressure of competition on the world market is constantly increasing and customers are better informed than ever before. Smart shoppers discovered that expensive brand images can be bought at a lower price level if they start to haggle. The adjective ‘smart’ can be defined in this consent as follows:

S selfish

M market-/brand-oriented

A astute

R rigorous

T tactless^[31]

The result is a downward price trend. To stop this trend, companies have to think about their strategy to reach and assure the customer. Freedom, individuality and adventure are top points of the current value scale of live principles. The exotic and the exceptional have a strong attraction for the consumer. Consume has to guarantee a pleasure gain to satisfy the desire for the new, the foreign, the emotional feeling.

“Smart Shopping means the phenomenon, that consumers are brand-oriented, but they try to buy brand products for the minimum price. This segment of consumers is continuous growing. Reactions of producers and business for this type of consumers are for example new ways of selling like Factory Outlets, Off Price Stores and Factory Outlet Center.”^[32]

Hybrid buying behavior means that one and the same person buys in one situation ‘bargains’ and in the next situation luxury brands. It is also called the ‘Porsche-driving ALDI-buyer’. Students were asked about their price-willingness (e.g. “I’m willing to pay more for competent advising and service when I buy sport shoes!”) and their brand preferences (e.g. “When I buy sport shoes I prefer well-known brands.”) in the product branches sport shoes and stereo systems.^[33] Four segments of those two dimensions could be identified by the means of cluster analysis. The confrontation of the type of consumer per individual makes the identification of the hybrid shopper possible. The following matrix shows the confrontation. For this two-product-case 50% (red) of the test persons could be characterized as hybrid shoppers.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Ill. 3: ‘Hybrid shopping behavior’, source: Cf. Baumgarth, C., “Markenpolitik: Markenwirkungen – Markenführung - Markenforschung”, p. 14

The increasing number of Smart and Hybrid Shoppers makes it more and more important to find ways to increase consumer loyalty for a brand. Moreover “it costs four-to-six times more to convert a customer than it does to retain one; keeping a customer costs only about one-fifth as much as attracting a new one; and companies can boost profits up to 100 percent by retaining just 5 percent more of their customers.”^[34] Emotional Branding is one possibility.

6.3. Necessity of a positive relationship experience between consumer and brand

If a brand has made a mark once, companies are learning they can bring it back years later, in the name of ‘revival branding’. Playing on consumers’ sense of nostalgia, companies are reincarnating brands destined to tug at the heartstrings, particularly those of baby boomers, flashing them back to their youth. Take for example the new VW Beetle. No one remembers the negative points of the original cars e.g. lights that did not work, the cars were drafty and broke and the seats were stiff. But today everybody says, the Beetle was great, because all the positive experiences with the brand or the product are stored somewhere in the mind while negative memories tend to fade.

The term ‘emotional logic’ is in the heart or center of branding. Technological development and the civilization are changing at fast growing speed but people are almost the same as they have been for times long past. John Goodchild and Clive Callow write in their book ‘Brands: Visions and Values’: “We are social beings and we like to derive a sense of meaning and belonging from our actions. Classical economic theory may like to assume that humans are rational economic agents intent on maximizing the satisfaction of functional needs, but branding recognizes that humans generally make decisions on the basis of three questions not just one:

- Is this what I need?
- How will this make me feel?
- Who am I dealing with?

This perspective means acknowledging the existence of what I call emotional logic. Rational logic answers the first of these three questions, but emotional logic is what answers the other two. Rational logic merely asks whether something makes sense on an intellectual and functional level. Emotional logic is more visceral. It asks, is this true to me? And it gives our actions psychological coherence.”^[35] The human heart has its own logic, and that is different from what is called rational logic.

The decreasing efficiency of the communication channels makes it even more important to give the respective consumers the possibility of a positive experience with the brand to reach their irrational edge. The number of communication channels is increasing. “For example the number of TV and Radio stations increased between 1994 and 1999 by 35.4% or 14.6% respectively.”^[36] But the efficiency of the single contact and the quality of communication decreases, because of the growing information overload that cannot be digested. “This decreased efficiency of communication is in Germany for example assessed at 98%. That means only 2% of the offered information are received by the potential buyer.”^[37] That leads to the conclusion to use the human senses to increase the unconscious perception of a brand.

6.4. From Branding to Emotional Branding

“In order to avoid the dramatic price wars, which affect all commodity products suffering from the lack of strong image, corporations need to deliver messages about their products, which are tighter and more potent.”^[38] Sterling Group found out that some “brands stand out from all others because they have an unusually passionate relationship with their customers e.g. Apple computers, Aveda, Levi's, Nike and Starbucks.”^[39]

But what is the difference between one jeans or another, between a particular sneaker and its competitor? “In this ocean of offerings, all fighting for the consumer’s money, the emotional connection is what makes all-important, essential difference. The emotional element is what gives both the foundation and fuel for future business strategies – consumer-driven strategies.”^[40]

That means there has to be the development:

- “From consumers to people (consumer buy, people live)
- From product to experience (products fulfill needs, experience fulfill desires)
- From honesty to trust (honesty is expected, trust is engaging and intimate, it needs to be earned)
- From quality to preference (quality for a right price is a given today, preference creates the sale)
- From communication to dialogue (communication is telling, dialogue is sharing)
- From notoriety to aspiration (being known does not mean that you are also loved)
- From identity to personality (identity is recognition, personality is about character and charisma)
- From function to feel (the functionality of a product is about practical or superficial qualities only, sensorial design is about experiences)
- From ubiquity to presence (ubiquity is seen, emotional presence is felt)
- From service to relationship (service is selling, relationship is acknowledgement).”^[41]

Sterling Group found that the connections to these brands are “visceral, based on a holistic emotional experience consumers had with the company and its products. These brands had become a part of the user's life. The connection for each is based on a gut-level idea and not just a functional benefit such as convenience.”^[42]

7. Emotional Branding

“Your mind may see BMW as a flashy extravagance and Mercedes Benz a rich snob. But it might also see BMW as a thrill on wheels and Mercedes as a paragon of technology and prestige. Just as it does with people, your mind has likes and dislikes that go from weak to violent. Some are highly conscious and others linger in the background until triggered by some kind of stimulus.”^[43] “You might have a rational reason for choosing one brand over another, but even these reasons translate into emotional preference. They simply help us rationalize emotional choices to others and ourselves. We often had to admit it, but emotions rule the roost we call the mind.”^[44] Emotions are the bond between consumers and brands. Decisive for the success are credibility, harmony, integrity and authenticity. Successful brands are not overloaded with images and emotions and consider always the brand’s core values.

The overload of information and products, that no longer can be differentiated because of quality issues requires a new way of thinking about how to reach the irrational edge of the consumers, how to create an emotional connection, how to decrease hybrid buying behavior and how to bind smart shoppers. To establish and retain a brand successfully on the market, the brand has to become rational and emotional charged. With emotions the brand gets higher contact chances and an unmistakable image and this makes it easier to communicate the values of the brand. The following overview shows the way the buying decision makes and where Emotional Branding can have its effects:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Ill. 4: ‘Buying decision’, source: Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, p. 144

From the beginning the brand has more or less influence on the decision which product will be bought. If the consumer feels the lack of something, which can be driven by a physical, need e.g. hunger or because of the personality and the ‘picture’ other people shall have of the respective person, it is going to fulfill this needs. That means that the consumer has to feel good with the bought brand otherwise he or she would not have decided for this brand. This decision process is all about emotions. Emotional Branding is about the human senses and how they can be stimulated by a brand.

But which sense causes which emotions and how to use them in relation to the brand? Harvest Consulting Group calls it BrandSense™ or Multi-Sensory Branding, Marc Gobé head of d/g* worldwide and author of ‘Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people’ talks about Sense® and Saatchi & Saatchi named it Lovemarks, but all this theories deal with the five senses and how to use them in order to establish an emotional bond between consumers and a brand: Emotional Branding.

7.1. Definition

There are just a limited number of existing definitions of Emotional Branding in the literature, because it is one of the latest trends in the branding business. Marc Gobé, author of ‘Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people’ and head of d/g* worldwide defines Emotional Branding as “the art of accessing, with intelligence and sensitivity, the true power behind human emotions. It brings a layer of credibility and personality to a brand by connecting powerfully with people on a personal and holistic level. Emotional Branding is based on that unique trust that is established with an audience. It elevates purchases based on the need to realm a desire. The commitment to a product or an institution, the pride we feel upon receiving a wonderful gift of a brand we love or of having a positive shopping experience in an inspiring environment – these feelings are the core of Emotional Branding.”^[45] It “is about building relationship; it is about giving the brand and product long-term value. It is about sensorial experiences, designs that make you feel the product; designs that make you buy the product.”^[46] To reach the audience and to move them emotionally the development of themes, dreams, ideas and experience-worlds stands in the foreground.

Not directly talking about Emotional Branding “Scott Bedbury, former director of advertising for Nike and Starbucks, was making a similar point about rational and emotional logic (though he does not use the terms) when he said: “I’m a firm believer that the bedrock of any great brand is a great product. But that’s not enough. At Nike, we chastised anybody who tried to promote the brand solely on the basis of our technology – even though we thought that our technology was the best out there... God help any company that thinks its product is better, whiter, brighter, or faster than anyone else’s and then just stops there – because plenty of customers just see parity where you might see better performance. That means that the real branding challenge is to peel back the layer of the customer – to get to his heart, his soul, to a place where he does not even think consciously.”^[47]

“It is a mistake to believe that rational and emotional logic are at odds with one another. As Scott Bedbury suggests, the goal is to unite the best functional performance with the best emotional augmentation. This leads to what consider the single most important equation in branding. Invented by Doug Hamilton, formerly creative director of the brand consultancy Wolff Olins, it says:

p + p = b

Or, in words, a proposition plus personality equals a brand. Brands communicate with both the rational and the emotional dimensions of our decision-making. They appeal to both head and heart, and so they provide the basis for a relationship that is intellectually satisfying and emotionally compelling. The mark of a true brand is that it takes us beyond a position of “I’ll buy that” to one of “I’ll buy into that”.”^[48]

Emotional Branding is a holistic way of understanding, deconstructing and building a brand by taking into account how, and where, it impresses each of the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. “Every brand strives to impress its audience. Companies spend inordinate amounts of money to create or alter two things: recognition and perception. Recognition and perception, in turn, can only be perceived through one of five senses. All knowledge, in fact, is taken in through the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and nervous system. That information is stored differently in the mind: some of it is sent straight to long-term memory, while other units of information attach themselves to nodes along pathways of constructed associations – leading to other memories, emotions, feelings, etc.”^[49] Barring divine brand intervention, everything consumers know about the brand begins with recognition and perception through the five senses. Emotional Branding means presenting a cohesive and comprehensive sensory experience that can create an image that will have more staying power in the minds of your customers and prospects. “Emotional Branding includes to identify the target group’ ideals and to build a personality around the brand that fits the target audience, and to attach correct and effective sensory associations”^[50] to the brand by mean of the five senses: sight, touch, taste, sound, smell.

7.2. Instruments

Companies had to learn that it is no longer enough just to have a good product. It is also important to position a product as a brand and give them the possibility to experience the brand.

Classical advertising is not enough for successful communication with the target group. The so-called ‘bellow-the-line’ activities earn more and more power and acceptance. Sponsoring, Event Marketing and Communication via Experiences play an important role. Aims are activities that directly deal with the core value of the brand. Where classical advertising reaches the limits because of increasing stimulus satiation and ad-avoidance Emotional Branding starts. The experience-oriented presentation of brands in culture, sports, fashion, music and movies makes brands to the embodiment of the customer’s philosophy (weltanschauung). Like Hubert G. Feil (president of the professional association for sponsoring and special ads) says: “Emotional Branding influences and designs directly the DNA of brands.”^[51]

Sponsoring, Digital Storytelling, Event Marketing, and Communication via Experiences are well-tried instruments with the emotional set up of brands. Engagements in sport and culture are dominating. The facets in this area are nearly inexhaustible and with a professional developed sponsorship portfolio companies use the manifold and different images. The new American marketing term ‘Live Communication’ is nothing else than integrated brand communication with experience-oriented Sponsoring and Event Marketing. In this context Digital Storytelling and Communication via Experiences are exemplary explained.

7.2.1. Communication via Experiences

There have never been more techniques, ways or approaches to reach consumers and there have never before been so many persons involved in creating and delivering consumer experiences. Today, brands get the possibility on more levels than ever to get onto the monitors, high streets, papers, pockets, radios and most important into the mind of the customers, to tickle eyes, ears, fingers and noses, to trigger joy, pleasure, frustration and anger. There are much more messages than ever trying to influence consumers every day. The demand for consumers’ attention is increasingly competitive. Marketers’ seem to find always new ideas for new channels (e.g. SMS, Internet, WAP, call centers etc.) in order to get some cut through to touch customers. Companies expect the consumers to handle the growing number of increasingly sophisticated brand landscapes. In return consumers expect more and more of the companies they favor with their attention.

With communication via experience, “users experience attribute emotions directly. For example, when customers test drive a car or eat a restaurant meal, their direct experience influences their feelings towards that vehicle or establishment.”^[52] Consumers are searching for experiences that opens them the possibility to realize their wishes or dreams and to achieve their wanted lifestyle. Howard Schulz of Starbucks applied it to selling coffee and Amazon.com is implementing it in the online environment – to create loyal customers by delivering service experiences that create value for customers away from the products or services alone.

“The American psychologist Abraham Maslow conceived his theory of motivation more than 50 years ago. Maslow believed that humans evolve through five stages of motivation: firstly, the physical need for food and shelter; secondly, the need for long-term security and protection; then the social need for a mate, friends and family. Only when these needs are answered, do the ego needs for achievement and recognition become dominant. For many people of Maslow’s generation and as well for the Baby Boomers generation, moving up this hierarchy of needs was a life long struggle. Today, most young people take meeting the physical needs for granted, and their ego needs become their starting point. Wearing a pair of Nike sports shoes is much more about making a statement than it is about protecting the feet. For increasing numbers of consumers, Maslow’s needs for achievement and recognition have become the drivers. Maslow called it ‘self-actualization,’ the desire to fulfill one’s potential. For many people in developed societies, income levels are such that people have the freedom and choice to pursue their desired lifestyle. Self-actualization is their most deeply felt need.”^[53]

How does that all relate to brands and branding? In the beginning of the twentieth century brands were simply means for identifying goods. The need for safety and security created brands that, over time, became proxies for quality and dependability. So Levi’s became synonymous with jeans, Mercedes Benz with safety cars, and so on. “As consumers became more affluent and motivated by ego needs, brands became more aspirational and visible signs of success. They were worn like badges. Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, BMW’s global head of Marketing, talks about ‘wearing a lifestyle’. For many consumers in the 1990s, driving a BMW was as much about making a statement about who they were as was wearing a pair of Armani jeans or Nike cross-trainers.”^[54] Delivering experiences, “in today’s increasingly complex brand landscapes, is vital for enhancing brand awareness, creating value and building stronger relationships with customers.”^[55]

“In today’s economy, brands go beyond even this; they say something about what is important to the consumers, about their values and their lifestyle. The Body Shop, First Direct, Four Seasons Hotels, Virgin, Coca-Cola, Amazon.com, Nike and Starbucks are all brands that have intentionally created products and services aimed at particular consumers and their lifestyles. Brands have moved from being names of products to badges of success to means of enjoying the kind of life consumers wish for themselves. Howard Schultz believes that the advantage Starbucks has over other brands is that “our customers see themselves inside our company, inside our brand because they are part of the Starbucks experience”.”^[56]

Another brand that used this communication tool is Saturn cars in the USA. They had technical problems with one type of car, mainly bought by women. But to create an experience in combination with the recall activities, they invited all users of this car type to come to the different authorized repairers. There they organized a barbecue to shorten the time of waiting while the car was repaired and gave them so the possibility to exchange experience. The result was that the car became a kind of mythos, because consumer felt in love with their car and the connected experiences. On the other hand Saturn got more personal information about their consumers, which helped them to understand the wishes, and needs of their clientele and increased the consumer loyalty.

So to make the brand an experience creates certain memories and bonds between a brand and the consumers. Companies that are successful in creating pleasant brand experiences will increase the positive word-of-mouth effect.

7.2.2. Digital Storytelling

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Ill. 5: ‘Coke’ source: Atchley, D., Client: Coca-Cola, http://www.adobe.com/motion/gallery/atchley/image6.html, n.d.

From the earliest days of life, stories accompany us, cause a variety of emotions, encourage our fantasy, reflect daily experiences and “before the written word, they were the only way of communicating history.”^[57] To reach the consumers new ways of communication have to be created. Digital Storytelling is the modern extension of experiences. It allows moving between the worlds of corporate advertising and art. Companies like Coca-Cola are seeking for new ways to strengthen their relationship and to create meaningful connections with their consumers. One example represents the image. It symbolizes the Coca-Cola bottle as object of human desire in form of the forbidden fruit at the tree of knowledge with the cunning snake in the background. The image was created by Joe Singer, lead animator of D. Atchley Productions, Inc. on the ‘World of Coca-Cola’ project, “a digital storytelling theater in Las Vegas. The theater features several 2- to 3-minute video vignettes. Lots of stories are rotated, so every time the theater is visited, there are new tales to view. After exiting the theater, there are computers available for the consumers to type in their own Coca-Cola memories.”^[58] That provides the possibility to reproduce the consumer memories and the knowledge about the consumers’ perceptions about the brand Coca-Cola into brand stories. “This approach succeeds because stories of customers sharing their brand experiences and the connected emotions are more authentic and interactive than any print ad could be.”^[59] A convincing company story establishes a connection between consumers and company. It is a critical online brand-building tool, because stories inspire and provide insight; they appeal to the emotions and the intellect. “Every business, no matter its size, has a story that can deepen customer relationship and distinguish it from competitors”^[60] and even if there is no existing story, the consumers’ experiences like in the Coca-Cola case can be used in order to create emotional stories around a brand and evoke a personal response from the

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Ill. 6: ‘beatcrazy’ source: ABSOLUT, http://www.absolut.com/, February 16, 2002

consumer with e.g. telling their stories for greater identification with the brand. A second example for a brand using Digital Storytelling is Absolut Vodka. On a part of their web page named Absolut Pictures they create stories around the brand like ‘beatcrazy’ and ‘Hey Stranger’^[61] in form of certain short movies where the Absolut bottle is shown casually in the background. Or another movie about the way of Absolut Vodka, while never taking themselves really serious. In addition visitors get the possibility to create short movies together with Absolut. So Absolut gets to know what the consumers think about the brand and how they feel about it. Absolut creates a form of dialogue with interested Internet users.

[...]

^[1] Herbert Muschamp, “Seducive Objects with a Sly Sting”, New York Times, July 2, 1999, p. 5

^[2] BusinessWeek, Interbrand, “The best global brands”, http://63.111.41.5/interbrand/test/html/events/businessweek_2001_final.pdf, August 6, 2001

^[3] Kotler, P., “Marketing Management”, Ninth Edition, Prentice Hall Inc., 1997, p. 443

^[4] Nilson, T. H., “Competitive Branding”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 1999, p. 47

^[5] Cf. Linxweiler, R., “Marken-Design: Marken entwickeln, Markenstrategien erfolgreich umsetzen”, Gabler Verlag, 1999, p. 55f

^[6] Buck, A., Herrmann, C., Kurzhals, F. G., “brand aesthetics 2000”, Verlag form GmbH, 1999, p. 37

^[7] Marconi, J., “The Brand Marketing Book”, NTC Business Books, 2000, p. xi

^[8] Goodchild, J., Callow, C., “Brands: Visions and Values”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2001, p. 21

^[9] Cf. Einwiller, S., “Zur Integration von Corporate und Product Branding”, http://www.businessmedia.org/businessmedia/businessmedia.nsf/7081b15745c6b360c12564ec0052e1c1/0ada4fb033a10aa1c125667b00511227/$FILE/Zur+Integration+von+Corporate+und+Product+Branding.pdf, 1999, p. 7

^[10] Cf. Gotta, M. “Branding” in M. Bruhn (ed.), “Handbuch Markenartikel Band 2”, Schäffer-Poeschel, 1994, p. 775

^[11] Murphy, J., “What is Branding?” in S. Hart, J. Murphy, (ed.), “Brands – The new wealth creators”, New York University Press, 1998

^[12] Kotler, P., “Marketing Management”, Ninth Edition, Prentice Hall Inc., 1997, p. 443

^[13] Kalin, S., “Brand new branding”, http://www.darwinmag.com/read/070101/brand.html, July 2000

^[14] Ries, A., Ries, L., “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, HarperCollins Publishers 1999, p. 7

^[15] Nilson, T. H., “Competitive Branding”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 1999, p. 49

^[16] Goodchild, J., Callow, C., “Brands: Visions and Values”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2001, p. 38

^[17] Goodchild, J., Callow, C., “Brands: Visions and Values”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2001, p. 40

^[18] Cf. Linxweiler, R., “Marken-Design: Marken entwickeln, Markenstrategien erfolgreich umsetzen”, Gabler, 1999, p. 67

^[19] BrandSolutions, Inc., “A short introduction to branding”, http://www.brand.com/intro.htm, 2000

^[20] Cf. Linxweiler, R., “Marken-Design: Marken entwickeln, Markenstrategien erfolgreich umsetzen”, Gabler, 1999, p. 68

^[21] Cf. Prof. Sander, M., “Unfassbares Vermögen” in Werben & Verkaufen, 42/2001, p. 146

^[22] Cf. Prof. Sander, M., “Unfassbares Vermögen” in Werben & Verkaufen, 42/2001, p. 146

^[23] Cf. Huber, W., “Der neue Wert der Marke” in Werben & Verkaufen 39/2001, p. 27f

^[24] Cf. Prof. Sander, M., “Unfassbares Vermögen” in Werben & Verkaufen, 42/2001, p. 146

^[25] Cf. Mowen, J. C., Minor, M. S., “Consumer behavior: a framework”, Prentice Hall, Inc., 2001, p. 287ff

^[26] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. 3

^[27] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. 14

^[28] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. 19

^[29] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. 22

^[30] Cf. Prof. Dr. Esch, F.-R., “Kommunikation 2005 – die neue Macht der Markenbilder” in absatzwirtschaft 4/2001

^[31] Cf. Verweyen, A., “Keine Angst vor dem Smart Shopper: was Verkäufer über feilschende Kunden wissen müssen”, Campus Verlag, 1998, p. 36ff

^[32] Cf. Baumgarth, C., “Markenpolitik: Markenwirkungen – Markenführung – Markenforschung”, Gabler Verlag, 2001, p. 13

^[33] Cf. Baumgarth, C., “Markenpolitik: Markenwirkungen – Markenführung – Markenforschung, Gabler Verlag, 2001, p. 14

^[34] Travis, D., “Emotional Branding: How successful brands gain the irrational edge”, Prima Venture, 2001, p. 28

^[35] Goodchild, J., Callow, C., “Brands: Visions and Values”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2001, p. 24

^[36] Cf. Baumgarth, C., “Markenpolitik: Markenwirkungen – Markenführung – Markenforschung, Gabler Verlag, 2001, p. 12

^[37] Cf. Baumgarth, C., “Markenpolitik: Markenwirkungen – Markenführung – Markenforschung, Gabler Verlag, 2001, p. 14

^[38] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. xxvi

^[39] Cf. Williams, S., They’ve changed the rules for brand building – anyone paying attention?, http://gosterling.com/ne_20010612_simon.php, n.d.

^[40] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. xxvi

^[41] ibid.

^[42] Cf. Williams, S., They’ve changed the rules for brand building – anyone paying attention?, http://gosterling.com/ne_20010612_simon.php, n.d.

^[43] Travis, D., “Emotional Branding: How successful brands gain the irrational edge”, Prima Venture, 2001, p. 15

^[44] Travis, D., “Emotional Branding: How successful brands gain the irrational edge”, Prima Venture, 2001, p. 10

^[45] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. vii

^[46] Gobé, M., “Emotional Branding; the new paradigm for connecting brands to people”, Allworth Press, 2001, p. ix

^[47] Goodchild, J., Callow, C., “Brands: Visions and Values”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2001, p. 24f

^[48] Goodchild, J., Callow, C., “Brands: Visions and Values”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2001, p. 24f

^[49] Harvest Consulting Group, “BrandSense™ - Building brands with sensory experiences”, http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/BrandSense.pdf, n.d., p. 3

^[50] Cf. Harvest Consulting Group, “BrandSense™ - Building brands with sensory experiences”, http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/BrandSense.pdf, n.d., p. 9

^[51] Cf. :paradise media, “Gebe der Marke Gefühle und sie wird sich verkaufen”, http://www.eventbusiness.de/emc01/emcpress/01_pressinfo08_embrand01.htm, October 2001

^[52] “Graphics: Branding and Usability”, http://www.northstarhosting.com/article/graphicdesign.shtm, December 2001

^[53] Smith, S., “Experiencing the brand – Branding the experience”, http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/FebUK.pdf, February 2001

^[54] Smith, S., “Experiencing the brand – Branding the experience”, http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/FebUK.pdf, February 2001

^[55] Basini, J. S. M., “Developing Integrated Multiple Channel Brand Experiences”, http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/Developing_Integrated_Multi.pdf, June 2001

^[56] Cf. Smith, S., “Experiencing the brand – Branding the experience”, http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/FebUK.pdf, February 2001

^[57] Cf. Story, D., “Emotional Branding Through Digital Storytelling”, http://www.webreview.com/1999/06_25/strategists/06_25_99_10.shtml, June 25, 1999

^[58] Cf. Story, D., “Emotional Branding Through Digital Storytelling”, http://www.webreview.com/1999/06_25/strategists/06_25_99_10.shtml, June 25, 1999

^[59] Cf. LePla, J., “Tell Your Story, Build Your Brand”, http://www.workz.com/content/2062.asp, December 18, 2000

^[60] Cf. LePla, J., “Tell Your Story, Build Your Brand”, http://www.workz.com/content/2062.asp, December 18, 2000

^[61] ABSOLUTÒ, : http://www.absolut.com/, February 14, 2002