If This Brand Were a Person, or Anthropomorphism of Brands Through Packaging Stories

Maria Kniazeva,Russell W. Belk 한국마케팅과학회 2010 마케팅과학연구 Vol.20 No.3

The anthropomorphism of brands, defined as seeing human beings in brands (Puzakova, Kwak, and Rosereto, 2008) is the focus of this study. Specifically, the research objective is to understand the ways in which brands are rendered humanlike. By analyzing consumer readings of stories found on food product packages we intend to show how marketers and consumers humanize a spectrum of brands and create meanings. Our research question considers the possibility that a single brand may host multiple or single meanings, associations, and personalities for different consumers. We start by highlighting the theoretical and practical significance of our research, explain why we turn our attention to packages as vehicles of brand meaning transfer, then describe our qualitative methodology, discuss findings, and conclude with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future studies. The study was designed to directly expose consumers to potential vehicles of brand meaning transfer and then engage these consumers in free verbal reflections on their perceived meanings. Specifically, we asked participants to read non-nutritional stories on selected branded food packages, in order to elicit data about received meanings. Packaging has yet to receive due attention in consumer research (Hine, 1995). Until now, attention has focused solely on its utilitarian function and has generated a body of research that has explored the impact of nutritional information and claims on consumer perceptions of products (e.g., Loureiro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer, 2002; Mazis and Raymond, 1997; Nayga, Lipinski and Savur, 1998; Wansik, 2003). An exception is a recent study that turns its attention to non-nutritional packaging narratives and treats them as cultural productions and vehicles for mythologizing the brand (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). The next step in this stream of research is to explore how such mythologizing activity affects brand personality perception and how these perceptions relate to consumers. These are the questions that our study aimed to address. We used in-depth interviews to help overcome the limitations of quantitative studies. Our convenience sample was formed with the objective of providing demographic and psychographic diversity in order to elicit variations in consumer reflections to food packaging stories. Our informants represent middle-class residents of the US and do not exhibit extreme alternative lifestyles described by Thompson as “cultural creatives” (2004). Nine people were individually interviewed on their food consumption preferences and behavior. Participants were asked to have a look at the twelve displayed food product packages and read all the textual information on the package, after which we continued with questions that focused on the consumer interpretations of the reading material (Scott and Batra, 2003). On average, each participant reflected on 4-5 packages. Our in-depth interviews lasted one to one and a half hours each. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed, providing 140 pages of text. The products came from local grocery stores on the West Coast of the US and represented a basic range of food product categories, including snacks, canned foods, cereals, baby foods, and tea. The data were analyzed using procedures for developing grounded theory delineated by Strauss and Corbin (1998). As a result, our study does not support the notion of one brand/one personality as assumed by prior work. Thus, we reveal multiple brand personalities peacefully cohabiting in the same brand as seen by different consumers, despite marketer attempts to create more singular brand personalities. We extend Fournier’s (1998) proposition, that one’s life projects shape the intensity and nature of brand relationships. We find that these life projects also affect perceived brand personifications and meanings.

If This Brand Were a Person, or Anthropomorphism of Brands Through Packaging Stories

Kniazeva, Maria,Belk, Russell W. Korean Academy of Marketing Science 2010 마케팅과학연구 Vol.20 No.3

The anthropomorphism of brands, defined as seeing human beings in brands (Puzakova, Kwak, and Rosereto, 2008) is the focus of this study. Specifically, the research objective is to understand the ways in which brands are rendered humanlike. By analyzing consumer readings of stories found on food product packages we intend to show how marketers and consumers humanize a spectrum of brands and create meanings. Our research question considers the possibility that a single brand may host multiple or single meanings, associations, and personalities for different consumers. We start by highlighting the theoretical and practical significance of our research, explain why we turn our attention to packages as vehicles of brand meaning transfer, then describe our qualitative methodology, discuss findings, and conclude with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future studies. The study was designed to directly expose consumers to potential vehicles of brand meaning transfer and then engage these consumers in free verbal reflections on their perceived meanings. Specifically, we asked participants to read non-nutritional stories on selected branded food packages, in order to elicit data about received meanings. Packaging has yet to receive due attention in consumer research (Hine, 1995). Until now, attention has focused solely on its utilitarian function and has generated a body of research that has explored the impact of nutritional information and claims on consumer perceptions of products (e.g., Loureiro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer, 2002; Mazis and Raymond, 1997; Nayga, Lipinski and Savur, 1998; Wansik, 2003). An exception is a recent study that turns its attention to non-nutritional packaging narratives and treats them as cultural productions and vehicles for mythologizing the brand (Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). The next step in this stream of research is to explore how such mythologizing activity affects brand personality perception and how these perceptions relate to consumers. These are the questions that our study aimed to address. We used in-depth interviews to help overcome the limitations of quantitative studies. Our convenience sample was formed with the objective of providing demographic and psychographic diversity in order to elicit variations in consumer reflections to food packaging stories. Our informants represent middle-class residents of the US and do not exhibit extreme alternative lifestyles described by Thompson as "cultural creatives" (2004). Nine people were individually interviewed on their food consumption preferences and behavior. Participants were asked to have a look at the twelve displayed food product packages and read all the textual information on the package, after which we continued with questions that focused on the consumer interpretations of the reading material (Scott and Batra, 2003). On average, each participant reflected on 4-5 packages. Our in-depth interviews lasted one to one and a half hours each. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed, providing 140 pages of text. The products came from local grocery stores on the West Coast of the US and represented a basic range of food product categories, including snacks, canned foods, cereals, baby foods, and tea. The data were analyzed using procedures for developing grounded theory delineated by Strauss and Corbin (1998). As a result, our study does not support the notion of one brand/one personality as assumed by prior work. Thus, we reveal multiple brand personalities peacefully cohabiting in the same brand as seen by different consumers, despite marketer attempts to create more singular brand personalities. We extend Fournier's (1998) proposition, that one's life projects shape the intensity and nature of brand relationships. We find that these life projects also affect perceived brand personifications and meanings. While Fournier provides a conceptual framework that links together consumers’ life themes (Mick and Buhl, 本?究的焦点是品牌的?人化. 品牌?人化被定???品牌看作是人?. 具???, 本?究的目?是理解如何?品牌?人化的方法. 通?分析消?者?食品包?上的故事的??, 我???展示行?者和消?者如何?一系列品牌?人化??造意?. 我?的?究??是一?品牌?不同的消?者具有多?或?一意?, ?想, ?性的可能性. 我?首先强?了本?究在理?和??方面的重要性, 解?了?什?我??注作?品牌意???工具的包?. 然后我??述了我?量性?究方法, ??了?果. 最后??了管理方面的?示和?未??究的建?. 本?究先?消?者直接??品牌意???的工具然后??些消?者口?自由表?他?所感受到的意?. 具???, ?了?得有?感知意?的?据, 我?要求??者去????的品牌食品包?上的非??的故事. 包?在消?者?究方面??有得到足?的?注(Hine, 1995). 直到?在, ?究?是??注包?的?用功能?形成了探索??信息的影?的?究主?. (例如Lourei ro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer, 2002; Mazis and Raymond, 1997; Nayga, Lipinski and Savur, 1998; Wansik, 2003). 一?例外是最近的?究, ?注意力?向非??信息的包??明, ??其?文化?品和?品牌神?的工具(Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). 下一步就是探索?些神?活?如何影?品牌?性感知以及?些感知如何?消?者相?. ?些都是本?究所要强?的. 我?用深度????助消除量性?究的局限性. 我?的便利?本的?成具有人口??和消?心??的多?化以?到?得消?者?包?故事的不同的感知. 我?的??者是美?的中?居民, ??有表?出Thompson(2004)所描述的 "文化?造者" 的?端生活方式. 九名??者被采??于他?食品消?偏好和行?的??. 他?被要求看看12?展示的食品?品包????包?上的文字信息. 之后, 我????行?注消?者???材料的解?的??. (Scott and Batra, 2003). 平均?看, 每???者感知4-5?包?. 我?的深度??是一?一的???半?小?. 采??容被?音下????, 最后有140?的文字. ?品?在位于美?西海岸的?地食品??店, ?些?品代表了食品?品??的基本范?, 包括零食, 罐?食品, ?片, ??食品和茶. 我?使用Strauss和Corbin (1998)提出的?展?根理?的步??分析?据. ?果表明, 我?的?究不支持先前的?究所假?的一?品牌/一??性的?念. 因此我?展示了在消?者看?多?品牌?性可以在同一品牌身上?好的共存, ?管行?者???造更多?一的品牌?性. 我?延伸了Fournier's (1998) 的假?, 某人的人生??可以形成?品牌?系的强度和本?. 我????些人生??也影?感知的品牌?人化和意?. Fournier提出了把消?者人生主?(Mick和Buhl, 1992)和?人化?品的相?作用?系在一起的?念?架. 我???消?者人生??形成了把品牌?人化和品牌?消?者?有的?注相??的方式. 我?通???者??了??品牌?人化的方法. 第一?, 品牌?性通?感知的人口??, 消?心??和社??性所?造. 第二, 第二, 在我?的?究?涉及到品牌的消?者所存在的???消?者的?性被混合, 以?接到他?(品牌?朋友, 家庭成?, 隔壁?居)或??自己的品牌?性和疏?他?(品牌作?二手?推??, "一群高管".) 通??注食品?品包?, 我??明了非常具?的, 被?泛使用, 但?少深入?究的???播工具: 品牌故事. 近期的?究已??包??神?制造者. ?行?者??要?作出和?品及消???的消?者相?的文字

Qualitative approaches to life course research: Linking life story to gift giving

Yuko Minowa,Russell W. Belk 한국마케팅과학회 2020 마케팅과학연구 Vol.30 No.1

This paper presents qualitative approaches to life course research and elucidates the benefits with data. While marketing research in general has gradually embraced the interpretive paradigm, the field of life course study in marketing has not widely enriched, fortified, or complemented their quantitative investigations with interpretive studies. Thus, this paper presents qualitative methods suitable for life course research. The paper reviews recent life course studies that employ qualitative methods. Data collection, analysis, and interpretation methods are addressed. Both benefits and limitations of the qualitative methods are discussed. We demonstrate how to apply and use the qualitative data to study life course issues and topics. As an illustration, we link a qualitative study of the gift giving of mature consumers in Japan to Moschis’ Conceptual Life Course Model and discuss the paradigmatic principles of life course theory. The paper concludes with opportunities for future research.