Consumer responses to marketing activities: the role of brand concepts

Brands are faced not only with the decision of what to advertise, but also where to place their advertisements. Incorporating different brand concepts (i.e., abstract brand meanings), my dissertation investigates when and why different brands are helped or harmed by the placement or content of their marketing communications. My first essay examines message placement, delineating how consumers respond to heritage brands’ social media engagement. While prior research has demonstrated many positive consequences of brands’ social media use, the role of brand concept has remained unexplored. I propose and demonstrate in six studies, including two field datasets, that for heritage brands, engaging in social media leads to less favorable brand evaluations (i.e., brand dilution). This is because social media represents openness to change values, which are perceived to be inconsistent with the tradition values that heritage brands embody. Supporting the proposed role of inconsistency, this brand dilution effect is mitigated when heritage brands emphasize relatedness, a concept that better aligns with tradition values, and when they encourage dialecticism (i.e., acceptance of inconsistencies). By examining heritage brands, I identify both the cause and the solution for brand dilution stemming from social media engagement. My second essay examines message content by outlining the role of brand warmth in consumer responses to scarcity appeals (e.g., “only 10 available”). Prior research has examined the effect of scarcity appeals on promoted products, but their effect on the advertising brands has yet to be examined. I propose and demonstrate in four studies that using scarcity appeals leads to more positive brand evaluations, including higher behavioral intentions and more favorable attitudes, for high-warmth (vs. low-warmth) brands. This is because high-warmth brands are perceived to be well-intentioned, making the use of scarcity appeals feel less manipulative to consumers. Supporting the proposed mechanism, perceived good intentions mediate the effect of brand warmth on brand evaluations, and preventing consumers from inferring better intentions by priming the belief that scarcity appeals are profit-driven eliminates the observed effect. My work thus outlines a unique outcome of scarcity appeals, where such appeals can benefit warm brands.Ph.DIncludes bibliographical references