STUDY TASK 6 - Consumer Brand Relationships

Consumer brand relationships, or CBRs, are one of many aspects of branding, as proposed by Keller and Lehmann (2004). There are multiple factors that influence one's relationship to a brand, Fouiner (1998) investigated the relationship customers have between each other and how that would affect the customer brand relationship. The relationship a customer has in their personal life ultimately affects the relationship they have with a brand, as they may no longer identify with the overall message, or identify even stronger as their own relationships develop (Fouiner, 1998). These relationship shifts need to be monitored by the brand itself, if a brand understands its customers and keeps a positive relation with those who consider themselves to have ‘brand loyalty’, the brand will be able to target specific groups within their audience, this is considered to be 'brand positioning’ (Keller and Lehmann 2004). Brand loyalty is a strong example of a beneficial consumer brand relationship, there is behavioural loyalty, where the consumer feels a sense of consistency within the brand so will repeat purchases (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001), and attitudinal brand loyalty, where the consumer has an emotional connection to the brand and so will not only repeat purchases but buy more often (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001). The idea of brands considering their audience is another aspect of customer brand relationships that needs to be considered, branding is for more than the person designing it, it has to be able to articulate a feeling, product, emotion etc (Lean Branding, Laura Busche, 2014). However the idea that brands are more than a tangible product is something to be considered, the dynamic between brand and consumer is altered as the consumers take comfort in the idea that brands are not just passive products but immersive, social groups of like-minded individuals (Fouiner 1998).