The impact of exposure to a cause-related marketing campaign on the perception of corporate brand's personality

Globalizacija, homogenizacija proizvoda, otežano postizanje uvjerljive proizvodne diferencijacije i konkurentske prednosti primoralo je poduzeća da se, umjesto na pozicioniranje isključivo svojih proizvoda, fokusiraju na izgradnju korporativne marke i njezine osobnosti. Osobnost korporativne marke predstavlja ono što poduzeće jest, korporativne vrijednosti koje njeguje i način na koji se predstavlja potrošačima. Svakim svojim postupkom poduzeće može graditi osobnost, pa tako i aktivnostima društveno odgovornog poslovanja. Potrošači, investitori i ostale interesne skupine imaju sve veća očekivanja od poduzeća, a između ostalog se to očituje i u očekivanju da poduzeće svojim djelovanjem promiče društvenu dobrobit. Kao jedna od aktivnosti društveno odgovornog poslovanja pojavljuje se i marketing općeg dobra, pri čemu poduzeće potpomaže određeni društveni cilj doniranjem definiranog postotka od prihoda od prodaje. Cilj ovoga diplomskog rada je istražiti kakav utjecaj kampanje marketinga općeg dobra imaju na potrošačevu percepciju osobnosti marke. U tu svrhu provedeno je primarno istraživanje u obliku anketnog upitnika. Od ispitanika je zatraženo da prije i nakon izloženosti kampanji marketinga općeg dobra ocijene osobnost marki Konzum i Dukat, temeljem skale sastavljene od 42 atributa osobnosti koju predlaže J. L. Aaker. Temeljem dobivenih rezultata, a sukladno radu J. L Aaker, formirane su dimenzije kojima ispitanici opisuju osobnost navedenih marki. Potom je napravljena usporedba atributa i dimenzija izlučenih prije i nakon izloženosti kampanji, kako bi se utvrdio eventualni utjecaj kampanje marketinga općeg dobra na percepciju osobnosti marke.Due to globalization, product homogenization, difficulty to achieve convincing product differentiation and competitive advantage companies are forced to focus on building corporate brand and its personality instead of focusing only on their products. The personality of a corporate brand defines what a company stands for, the corporate values it nurtures, and the way it presents itself to consumers. With each action the company can build its personality, including corporate social responsibility acitivites. Consumers, investors and other interest groups have growing expectations of companies. Among other things, it is expected of company to promote social welfare through its actions. An example of corporate social responsibility are cause-related marketing activities. With such activities company supports a certain social goal by donating a defined percentage of sales revenue. This paper aims to investigate the impact of cause-related marketing campaigns on consumer perception of brand personality. For this purpose, a primary research was conducted in a form of survey. Respondents were asked to evaluate the personalities of corporate brands Konzum and Dukat before and after exposure to a cause-related marketing campaign. For that purpose, the scale consisting of 42 personality attributes, proposed by J. L. Aaker, was used. In accordance with the work of J. L. Aaker, the results were grouped in dimensions which explain personalities of these two brands. After that, attributes and dimensions which were extracted before and after the exposure to campaign were compared, in order to determine if cause-related marketing campaigns had an impact on the perception of corporate brands' personalities