Crazy little thing called brand love! Exploring the influence of brand love on brand equity

Consumer-brand relationships have become more elaborate with consumers not only liking, but loving brands. Several researchers have defined the meaning of brand love using different dimensions (Batra, Ahuvia, & Bagozzi, 2012; Carrol & Ahuvia, 2006). For the current study, the seven brand love dimensions of Batra et al. (2012) are used, and the influence of these dimensions on brand equity is analyzed. There are three brand equity dimensions that are considered for this study. These are, brand awareness, brand image, and brand loyalty. Product category was used as a moderator in the study. A pre-test was conducted to select a collection of products for the main study. The conclusion from the pre-test was that for both hedonic and utilitarian, three product categories would be used. For the main study, a questionnaire was developed in order to measure the level of brand love and brand equity. There were 506 respondents that participated in the study. The analysis of the main study showed that the statistical dimensionality of the brand love dimensions is not consistent with the original brand love dimensions. However it was chosen to continue the analysis with the original brand love dimensions. The factor analysis also showed that brand image consisted of two dimensions. The literature used for brand equity supported this analysis. Therefore, for the continuing of the study, brand image was split into brand quality and brand association. Furthermore, analyses were conducted on the influence of the brand love dimension on brand equity. The results show that there is a significant influence of various brand love dimensions on brand equity. All of the brand equity dimensions are influenced by the brand love dimension, long-term relationship. Further results show that several brand love dimensions have a negative influence on brand equity. The moderator product category showed to have no significant influence. However, the analysis did show that hedonic and utilitarian play a role in the influence of brand love on brand equity. Hedonic products seem to have more influence in the relation between brand love and brand equity than utilitarian products. In the final chapter a recommendation was given based on the results. The recommendation consists of using the brand love dimension to get higher brand equity. An example of such a recommendation is to create positive emotional connection by associating a brand with a charity or other sort of event in order to create more brand association.