Key Criteria for Brand ResponsesAlt

Key Criteria for Brand Responses
Although different types of customer responses—both “head” and “heart”—are
possible, ultimately what matters is how positive these responses are. Additionally,
it is important that they are accessible and readily come to mind when consumers
think of the brand. Brand judgments and feelings can favorably impact consumer
behavior only if consumers internalize or think of positive responses in their
encounters with the brand.
Brand Relationships
Brand Resonance. The final step of the model, brand relationships, focuses upon
the ultimate relationship and level of identification that the customer has with the
brand. Brand resonance refers to the nature of the relationship that customers have
with the brand and the extent to which they feel that they are “in synch” with the
brand. Brand resonance is characterized in terms of intensity or the depth of the
psychological bond that customers have with the brand as well as the level of activ-
ity engendered by this loyalty (e.g., repeat purchase rates, the extent to which cus-
tomers seek out brand information, events, other loyal customers, and so on).
Specifically, brand resonance can be broken down into four categories:
1. Behavioral loyalty. The first dimension of brand resonance is behavioral loyalty in
terms of repeat purchases and the amount, or share, of category volume attributed
to the brand. In other words, how often do customers purchase a brand and how
much do they purchase? For bottom-line profit results, the brand must generate
sufficient purchase frequencies and volumes.
2. Attitudinal attachment. Behavioral loyalty is necessary but not sufficient for reso-
nance to occur. Some customers may buy out of necessity—for example, because
the brand is the only product being stocked or readily accessible, or the only one
they can afford to buy, and so on. To create resonance, a strong personal attach-
ment is also necessary. Customers must go beyond simply having a positive atti-
tude to view the brand as being something special in a broader context. For exam-
ple, customers with a great deal of attitudinal attachment to a brand may state that
they “love” the brand, describe it as one of their favorite possessions, or view it as a
“little pleasure” that they look forward to.
3. Sense of community. The brand may also take on broader meaning to the cus-
tomer in terms of a sense of community. Identification with a brand community
may reflect an important social phenomenon whereby customers feel a kinship or
affiliation with other people associated with the brand. These connections may
involve fellow brand users or customers or, instead, employees or representatives of
the company.
4. Active engagement. Finally, perhaps the strongest affirmation of brand loyalty occurs
when customers are willing to invest time, energy, money, or other resources into the
brand beyond those expended during purchase or consumption of the brand. For exam-
ple, customers may choose to join a club centered on a brand, receive updates, and
exchange correspondence with other brand users or formal or informal representa-
tives of the brand itself. They may choose to visit brand-related websites, partici-
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pate in chat rooms, and so forth. In this case, customers themselves become brand
evangelists and ambassadors on behalf of the brand, communicate about the
brand, and strengthen the brand ties of others. Strong attitudinal attachment or
sense of community are typically necessary for active engagement with the brand
to occur.