Qualitative Market Research: An International JournalBrand love in emerging market: a qualitative investigationAbhigyan Sarkar

Article information:To cite this document:Abhigyan Sarkar , (2014),"Brand love in emerging market: a qualitative investigation", Qualitative MarketResearch: An International Journal, Vol. 17 Iss 4 pp. 481 - 494Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/QMR-03-2013-0015

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Brand love in emerging market:a qualitative investigation

Abhigyan SarkarDepartment of Marketing, IBS Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

AbstractPurpose – The purpose of this article to explore the nature of brand love, the antecedents andconsequences of brand love and the obstacles to brand love in the context of Asian market. Brand loveis an emerging concept in the domain of consumer psychology. It has been regarded as the motivatingforce behind contemporary hedonic consumption. Yet little qualitative exploration has been done tounderstand brand love especially in the context of emerging Asian market.Design/methodology/approach – This article is grounded in consumers’ everyday experiences ofloving particular brands. Semi-structured depth interviews have been conducted.Findings – Based on the findings of the depth interviews, a conceptual framework has been developedshowing the antecedents and consequences of brand love. This study also throws light on the specificpsychological phenomenon of the emerging market consumers. The findings form the basis for adiscussion of the theoretical and practical implications of brand love in the context of emergingeconomy.Originality/value – Value of this article lies in developing a grounded theory of brand love in thecontext of emerging Asian market.

Keywords Brand love, Sustainable marketing, Brand nostalgia, Brand surrealism

Paper type Reasearch paper

IntroductionFor decades, researchers have studied brand attitude and developed several usefulconcepts, like customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. In the past few years, consumerresearchers have shown increasing interest in consumers’ emotion for brands. Thestudy of consumer behavior has evolved from the early domain of rational choice andclassical decision theory to irrational buying. Researchers have begun focusing onplayful, sensory and emotional consumption responses. Consumption is being viewedas a flow of fantasies, feelings and fun, what is called experiential view of consumption(Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982a, 1982b). Brand love is an emerging concept in thedomain of this experiential consumption. First, investigations of brand love constructwere made by Shimp and Madden (1988) who advocated the structural analogy betweeninterpersonal love and love for consumption objects. Consumers interact withthousands of brands in their lives. However, they develop intense emotional bonding toa very few of these objects. However, there is possibility that consumers can developstrong emotional connection with branded consumption objects, as attachment theory(Bowlby, 1979) suggests that individual’s emotional attachment to an object predicts thequality of individual’s interaction with the object. For example, individuals’ emotionalbonding with a brand might predict their willingness to make financial sacrifices tomaintain proximity with it. Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) conceptualized brand love asemotional and passionate feelings for a trade name. Batra et al. (2012) state that brand

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available atwww.emeraldinsight.com/1352-2752.htm

Brand love inemerging market

481

Received 19 March 2013Revised 6 September 2013

Accepted 16 December 2013

Qualitative Market Research: AnInternational Journal

Vol. 17 No. 4, 2014pp. 481-494

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited1352-2752

DOI 10.1108/QMR-03-2013-0015

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love includes multiple cognitions, emotions and behaviors organized into a mentalprototype. Bergkvist and Bech-larsen (2010) define brand love as affection for brand.Thomson et al. (2005) developed emotional brand attachment construct which isconceptually very closer to brand love. Majority of the prior studies conceptualizestructural analogy between interpersonal and brand love. However, few researchers areof different views. Bengtsson (2003) expressed considerable concern regarding theparallelism of brand love theory to human relationship theory. The present study addsto the understanding of brand love and the extent to which brand love is similar tointerpersonal love in the context of emerging economy by using qualitative techniques.

Prior perspectives on brand loveProgress in consumer research has generated divergent views of brand love. Accordingto consumer culture theory, the real world of a consumer is neither transparentlyrational nor unified (Arnould and Thompson, 2005). Brand love pertains to thisirrational view of consumption, where the consumer constructs multiple realities usingconsumption experiences. Bergkvist and Bech-Larsen (2010) define brand love as deeplyfelt affection for a brand. Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) define brand love as passionate andemotional feelings for a trade name. These studies regard brand love as a pure emotionaland irrational relationship concept. In a seminal article on brand love, Batra et al. (2012)conceptualize various components of brand love: self-brand integration, passion-drivenbehavior, positive emotional connection, long-term relationship, anticipated separationdistress, attitude valence and attitude strength. The attitude valence component denotesthe comparison of particular brand with an ideal brand which is rational evaluation. Inself-brand integration, the individual evaluates the degree to which the brand imagematches with his/her self-image which is also rational evaluation. This shows thatbrand love is not a pure irrational concept, rather it is a blending of rationality andirrationality. The rational part consists of cognitive thinking and evaluation. However,the question arises whether rational evaluation is a component of brand love or it acts asan antecedent of brand love. To realize the potential of brand love concept, it isimportant to understand various factors associated with the overall feelings of brandlove. Though prior research (Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006; Bergkvist and Bech-Larsen,2010) identified several antecedents and outcomes of brand love, few deep emotionalfactors remained unaddressed by these overt behavioral studies. Batra et al. (2012)conducted a preliminary qualitative study in the context of developed country.Assuming that consumer’s feelings vary widely based on the level of economy, aqualitative exploration of brand love concept was very much needed in the context ofdeveloping or emerging economy.

Another important research question is to what extent brand love is structurallyanalogous to interpersonal love? Can an individual love a brand like another humanentity? The qualitative studies conducted by Batra et al. (2012, p. 12) conclude that “thisdoes not mean that it is inappropriate to use the interpersonal relationship literature asa source of hypotheses, or even as supporting evidence, for research on consumer-brandrelationships”. Sternberg (1986, 1997) conceptualizes three components of interpersonallove: intimacy, passion and decision/commitment. Shimp and Madden (1988) state thatthe interpersonal love components described by Sternberg (1986, 1997) are present in thecontext of consumer– object relationships. Intimacy is the feeling of liking largelyderived from emotion. Passion is largely derived from motivation and comprises

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various sources of arousal. Decision refers to the recognition of love in the short-termand commitment is the intention to maintain the love in the long-term. In the context ofpresent study, decision component is not much focused on, as it is assumed thatconsumers are able to consciously recognize their love for particular brands at least inthe short-term.

Interpersonal love relationships contain the reciprocity aspect. According to fewresearchers (Shimp and Madden, 1988), this reciprocity is absent in case of consumer–object relationships. However, in this era of interactive marketing and customerrelationship management, the companies are responding promptly and empatheticallyto the customers establishing the reciprocity.

Relationship between love and loyaltySternberg (1986, 1997) states that love components (intimacy, passion and commitment)are highly correlated with each other, and at the same time any component can bepresent or absent in a relationship, irrespective of the presence of the remainingcomponents. This proposition seems to be unrealistic, as the author did not propose anysequence of occurrence of the mental processes. Oliver (1999) proposes that individual’sloyalty toward any consumption object is developed through a phase by phase process.According to Oliver (1999), four phases of object loyalty development, namely,cognitive, affective, conative and action, are developed in the given sequence. Cognitiveloyalty refers to favorable brand perception developed based on alternative brandattributes evaluation. Affective loyalty is the feeling of liking for the brand which islargely equivalent to Sternberg’s (1986, 1997) intimacy. Because, intimacy is equivalentto liking in consumption context which is largely derived from emotion (Shimp andMadden, 1988). According to Oliver (1999), conative loyalty is the strong motivation torebuy. This conative loyalty is equivalent to Sternberg’s (1986, 1997) passion which islargely derived from motivation. Therefore, affection and conation are equivalent tointimacy and passion, respectively. Finally, conative loyal individual will be action loyalif he/she can overcome various switching obstacles (Oliver, 1999). According toSternberg (1986, 1997) romantic love is characterized by the presence of intimacy andpassion without the presence of commitment, whereas commitment is defined as theintention to maintain love in the long-term. Therefore, commitment should be regardedas a conative or motivational element overlapped with passion. However, Sternberg(1986, 1997) conceptualizes commitment as a cognitive element. In the context of presentanalysis, main emphasis is on romantic love consisting of intimacy and passion. Basedon the cognitive–affective– conative framework given by Oliver (1999), it is proposedthat favorable brand cognition leads to romantic brand love, and romantic brand loveleads to action loyalty if the switching obstacles are overcome. According to Holbrookand Hirschman (1982), conscious cognition controls our rational thinking andsub-conscious cognition controls our irrational responses, like emotional arousals.Hence, it is proposed that romantic brand love is generated in sub-conscious mind afterthe initial brand attribute information is processed in conscious mind.

Limitations of the extant brand love researchPrior studies identified several factors associated with brand love (Carroll and Ahuvia,2006; Bergkvist and Bech-Larsen, 2010; Batra et al., 2012). These prior studies put mainemphasis on quantitative validation of brand love and related constructs, rather than

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qualitative exploration. Though Batra et al. (2012) and Carroll and Ahuvia (2006)conducted qualitative pretests, the scopes of such pretests were limited in the context ofthe complete studies. Moreover, these studies were conducted in the context ofdeveloped countries only and did not include developing economies. Till now,inadequate qualitative works have been conducted on Asian markets and consumers(Eckhardt and Dholakia, 2013). The phenomenological account of consumers’experienced brand love – exploration of deeply rooted psychological factors associatedwith brand love – is strikingly absent in the prior studies. However, the better way toexplore mental events surrounding any consumption act should include introspectivereports, rather than overt behavioral measures (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982a). Thepresent article attempts to fill this research gap by using a qualitative technique toexplore brand love in the context of emerging economy.

MethodologySemi-structured depth interviews were conducted for collecting data. The interviewswere conducted by the author and a group of MBA students trained in both qualitativeresearch techniques and consumer behavior subject through attending regularacademic sessions. Each respondent completed one interview. Average duration of theinterviews conducted was about one hour and ten minutes. All the conversations werevideo recorded for further analysis. The respondents were asked to describe whetherthey had love-like feelings for any brand, irrespective of direct usage, what were thereasons for loving a brand and what could they do to maintain proximity with the lovedbrands. The data were collected in urban and sub-urban environments in north andsouth India (NI and SI, respectively). The respondents were both students andnon-students. In total, 600 respondents were interviewed. It was possible to contact sucha large sample, as a group of 20 post-graduate students of qualitative market researchcontacted the respondents across the country as a part of their project assignments.Therefore, on average, each interviewer covered 30 respondents. In total, 342respondents were from NI. The number of males (M) and the number of females (F) wereapproximately equal. India is a land known for its cultural diversity and NI and SI differsignificantly in terms of various cultural dimensions. This has broadened the scope ofthe data. Majority of the respondents were young and below 25 years of age. Given thatthe valuation of consumption as main source of fulfillment is negatively correlated withage and reaches the peak in mid-20s (Belk, 1985; Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene, 1981), ayouthful sample was considered to be more appropriate for studying a topic like brandlove, but also led to a pre-dominance of certain categories of consumption objects overothers.

The author was aware of the problem of cueing the informants directly on brand love.However, when cued on brand love, almost all informants responded immediately andtalked about the loved brands. They also freely associated love with other relevantexpressions, like bodily sensations, intimacy and arousal. Data analyses wereconducted iteratively followed by several meetings and comparisons. The initial longlist of themes obtained from the interviews was narrowed down to a set of broaderdimensions using jointly constructed categories of meaning. Interviews were analyzedby comparing frequencies of responses. Intercoder reliability was assessed. Aproportional reduction in the loss statistic of 0.86 confirmed coding reliability (Rust andCooil, 1994). All depth interviews were analyzed using grounded theory approach

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(Strauss and Corbin, 1994, p. 283), combined with methods proposed by McCracken(1988). Initial categories were identified using open coding. Axial coding was used toidentify key phenomenon and to establish the relationships between causal antecedents,key phenomenon and consequences. Selective coding was used to integrate therelationships between categories at the dimensional level and move from description toconceptualization following the story lines. The complex coding process was conductedin parallel by ten other researchers and the consistency in interpretation was maintainedby making frequent discussions. Brand love was identified as key phenomenon. Theconceptual framework developed based on the overall analysis shows the causalantecedents and consequences of brand love.

Overall, it was found that 92 per cent of the respondents claimed to love somethingother than persons and 82 per cent expressed their feelings for at least one brand asbeing loved in the literal sense of the word.

Findings I: the nature of brand loveInformants were asked whether they had love-like feelings for any brand irrespective ofthe direct usage. They were asked to express their feelings in their own words. Brandlove is experienced by our respondents as a blend of liking and intense passion forbrands. Normally the affair starts with liking various brand stimuli, like advertisementsor word-of-mouth. Over time, the passion for the brand is aroused by sustained liking.From the descriptions provided by the respondents, one can differentiate liking frompassion. Liking is the starting phase characterized by warm feelings for the brand.Liking starts developing as the individual is exposed to brand stimuli perceived asfavorable. Liking gets intensified and transformed into passion when the person findsthe brand very attractive and distinct from the others. If liking is warm, passion is hot.One female informant explained:

I started using Revlon (cosmetics) when I was studying in ninth standard in school. I startedusing it, as I saw my best friend using it. Over time I realized that it became a part of my life.I could not attend any function or party without applying it. I can remember one incident. Thatwas the night of annual function in my MBA College. I was not finding my favorite Revlon lipcolor. I was so distressed. Finally I managed one of the same brand from my friend. Till nowthat passion is continuing (NI-F-316).

In the initial days, the respondent’s feeling was mere liking. Overtime, liking gottransformed into passion as the dependency on the brand increased. Another malerespondent explained:

I started going to HardRock Café since the second year of my graduation. Initially my visit wasirregular, as I could not manage pocket money at every week end. Over time I started feelingreally upset at the week end if I could not manage to go. Now the college days are over, I amestablished in my career and I don’t have the financial limitation. However, the problem now isdifferent. I am a sales manager. I am so busy with my daily business. However, at everyweekend I try to manage time. If I can’t, I feel really upset (SI-M-10).

Passion is a more intense feeling for the object. It is so intense that it creates mentaldistress in case of any actual or anticipated separation from the brand. The studyconducted by Thomson et al. (2005) also shows that passion leads to separation distress.Separation distress drives the person to maintain proximity with the brand. Intimacyand passion are the components of romantic interpersonal love (Sternberg, 1986, 1997).

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Therefore, brand love is structurally analogous to interpersonal love and romantic innature.

While explaining their feelings for loved brands, the informants frequently used fewterms like, addiction, obsessiveness, madness and losing oneself. For example, one maleinformant said, “I forget the rest of the world when I ride my Harley (Harley Davidsonbike). It is a sick addiction. I can’t help it”. Thus, the attractiveness of the loved objectbecomes irresistible (Falk, 1994).

Our informants described a deep sense of trust, reliability and dependability inrelation to the loved brands. Few examples are:

I love Apollo Munich health insurance. I am a policy holder and it has always reimbursed myhospitalization expenditures timely. I can depend on it (NI-M-66).

I trust Life Insurance Corporation of India. My parents and grandparents also trusted it. Ipurchased insurance policies from this company and I strongly believe that after my death itwill definitely provide economic support to my family (SI-M-123).

Bengtsson (2003) states that a brand cannot be an active partner in the relationshipdyad. However, a different picture is observed in the present study. Individuals perceivebrands as active partners, develop trust in them and expect reciprocal behaviors fromthem.

Brand love comes alive in a social context. It is observed that the underlyingmotivation behind the object-focused love is having social relationships with otherpeople. One male informant says, “Every weekend I go to HardRock Café. It is not onlyconsuming alcohol that I enjoy, I love boozing with my friends”. One female informantexplains, “I love any apparel from Benetton. They are so colorful. My friends say that Ilook gorgeous wearing them”. Thus, love for brand facilitates social relationships, asconsumption objectifies sociability (Miller, 1998).

The explanations given by the informants show that the feelings of interpersonallove are highly analogous to brand love with few exceptions. Ideally, in case ofinterpersonal marital love, one partner is expected to love only another at a time.However, multiple interpersonal relationships are also observed. In many societies,there is a social constraint on loving more than one at a time. However, in case of brands,there is no such social constraint on switching. Therefore, an individual can freely lovemore than one brand within the same or in different product categories. However, it isobserved that if the individual deeply loves one brand then he/she normally sticks tothat brand in that product category for longer. In the present study, few informants havementioned their love for more than one brand in a product category. Sternberg (1986,1997) conceptualized interpersonal love considering different types of relationshipsincluding best friend of same sex rather than considering only marital loves betweenopposite sex partners. Analysis of the descriptions given by the informants in thepresent study points out that brand love has high similarity with love between goodfriends who give mental support to each other. The terms used by the informants inconnection to the loved brands include relieving from bad mood or stress, gettinghappiness and very good time pass. Therefore, a loved brand is a good friend of itscustomers. We can get the examples of such brand positioning in business world. Forexample, Eureka Forbes positions itself as a friend for life. However, this type of lovelasts till one partner perceives another as a good friend.

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Findings II: antecedents of brand loveThe informants were asked to describe the reasons behind loving a brand. Severalantecedents of brand love have been identified from the descriptions given by them.

Marketing strategy-related factor – sustainable marketingMany of our respondents mentioned environmental and societal marketing as thereasons for loving particular brands. Informants such as these explained:

I like Body shop. I think that the company is committed to green marketing and social welfare.It does significant amount of charity (SI-M-189).

I always like and support those companies which do some good to society or environment. Ilike GE (General Electric) for its Ecomagination initiative. I appreciate the efforts put byHitachi to reduce the annual carbon emissions. These companies will always get supporterslike me till they continue doing well to society (NI-F-406).

One college student explained:

Most of the time I intend to buy ITC branded notebook. ITC pays a percentage of profit tocharitable trusts. I feel happy to be a part of it (NI-F-508).

Today, companies are creating better brand images by practicing in sustainablemarketing which includes “socially and environmentally responsible marketingactions” (Kotler et al., 2010, p. 490). Love is necessarily viewed in a social context andemotional feelings for brands are closely related to the sense of social belongingness.In the study conducted by Brakus et al. (2009), factor analysis revealed strongoverlapping of affective and social brand experience items. Cognitiveself-categorization of social identity is positively related to brand love (Bergkvistand Bech-Larsen, 2010).

However, an interesting finding emerged from the analysis. The informants whofavored brands engaged in sustainable marketing did not use terms expressing deeppassion for the brands. They used the terms like liking, appreciation and intentionto be a part of it. The informants felt a kind of mental satisfaction after being a partof the marketers’ sustainable marketing initiative. Being a part of it could not giverise to deep passion or separation distress. However, liking for the companiesadopting sustainable marketing was present which had the potential to getconverted into intense passion in future. Most probably, unlike the consumers indeveloped countries, the developing country consumers are not so deeply concernedabout environmentalism.

Brand-related factor – brand surrealismWhile experiencing certain brands, the individual gets engaged in multisensoryimagery where the person imagines several things or images (Holbrook and Hirschman,1982b). The images are sometimes constructed based on historic recollections or theycan be complete fantasy. Few, but not all, experiential brands have the ability to makethe consumer the creators of such imageries. This is revealed in the descriptions givenby few of my informants. One busy corporate executive says:

When I consume it (Teachers premium whisky) I feel out of the world. I forget my daily routine.I cherish my childhood memories. I can visualize my old home in countryside where I spent mychildhood and few faces whom I lost while travelling the passage of time (SI-M-205).

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One young male college student explains:

When I ride on it (Pulsar motorbike) I feel like real hero. I know that the girls look at me andaspire to be with me (NI-M-226).

Another male informant describes his fantasy imagery (Holbrook and Hirschman,1982b), while explaining his relationship with the David Beckham perfume:

After applying it I feel like swimming in a sea of nude women (SI-M-247).

Individuals feel out of the (real) world when they consume particular brands. Theycontinue using those brands to get the special feelings. A large group of respondents hasstated it as the prime reason behind brand usage. The brands mentioned by this groupof respondents are all highly hedonic brands with rich subjective meanings (Holbrookand Hirschman, 1982b). According to Encarta World English Dictionary, surreal meansdream-like qualities. A surrealistic brand is having perceived dream-like qualities thatcan make the consumer forgetting the monotony of real world by dreaming severalthings beyond reality. Thus, surrealistic brands enrich romantic brand love by theirbasic qualities. According to Campbell (1987 p. 205), the spirit of modern consumerismrefers to a longing to experience pleasures enjoyed in imagination which is characterizedby “dissatisfaction with real life and an eagerness for new experiences”. This longing forunrealistic pleasure is satisfied by romantically loving a novel consumption object. Thedescriptions given by the informants reveal that in a developing economy generally lifeis full of struggle and in this context surrealistic brands can command much love byoffering pleasurable fulfillment. Surrealism is derived from the subjective brandmeanings that supplement tangible brand attributes (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982b)consciously created by the marketers through novel brand positioning. Marketingcommunication plays a critical role in creating brand surrealism.

Pleasures derived from brand surrealism are often subject to the social sense ofmorality, as brand love takes place in a social context. Indulging in some kinds ofsurrealistic consumption experiences is seen to involve socially unacceptableconsequences, including immorality. One informant explained:

I love watching the pictures of nude models in Playboy magazine. I keep them in my privatedrawer. I enjoy them when I am alone. I don’t share my enjoyment with my friends or familymembers. They may think that I am a pervert (NI-M-171).

Context specific factor – nostalgic marketing stimuliIt has been discussed that brand imageries can be based on some past events or historicrecollections (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982b). This phenomenon can give rise tonostalgic brand love. Nostalgia occurs when the individual feels a bittersweet emotion(a mix of happiness and sadness) prompted by the brand-related stimuli, as the stimuliremind the person about any memory from the past (Baker and Kennedy, 1994; Belk,1990). Many descriptions like below are given by the informants:

Every year I buy the special Durga Puja (a great festival celebrated by the North Indians every yearin which they worship goddess Durga) edition of Desh (a well circulated literary magazinepublished in Bengali language). Since my childhood I had seen my father to buy the Durga pujaedition of this magazine every year. It contains a good number of poems, short stories and novelswritten by eminent Bengali authors. After crossing the age of 40 when I read them now, I can reliveand experience those Durga puja days of my childhood celebrated with my family (NI-M-291).

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Analysis of the descriptions reveals that the individual’s love for a past memory getschannelized toward the brand because the perceived brand meaning is associated withthe past memory. It is the responsibility of the marketer to establish the association. It isan indirect kind of brand love, as the actual love is directed toward the past event. Thebrand would not be loved any more if the association is lost. Indian culture is highlycollectivist, and collective nostalgia (Baker and Kennedy, 1994) is mostly observedsurrounding various social festivals. Brand surrealism and nostalgia are closely related,yet conceptually different. Brand surrealism can be based on historic recollections and/or fantasy imagery. Nostalgic feelings occur only when surrealistic brand experiencesare based on historic recollection.

Product-related factor – product hedonismAny product carries both hedonic and utilitarian shopping attitudes (Batra and Ahtola,1990). From the descriptions given by the respondents, it is observed that loved brandsare mostly located in high hedonic and less utilitarian product categories, like café,alcoholic beverage, perfume, stylist bike, fashion apparel and resorts. It is obvious thathigh surrealistic brands are mostly loved and belong to high hedonic product categories.On the other hand, it is difficult to create brand surrealism in a high utilitarian productcategory. The study conducted by Carroll and Ahuvia (2006) also shows that producthedonism positively influences brand love.

Findings III: outcomes of brand loveThe informants were asked to describe their behavior with respect to the loved brandsin terms of what they could do to maintain proximity with the loved brands.

Impulse buyingAnalysis of the descriptions reveals some degree of impulsiveness in therespondents’ consumption behavior with the loved brands. Few descriptions aregiven below:

Whenever I see McDonald I can’t stop myself from eating. It’s a great fun (SI-M-167).

I can’t live without Black Dog (whisky). I can’t imagine my evenings without it (NI-M-177).

My financial condition was tight when I purchased my favorite Pulsar (bike) by takingloan. My family members strongly opposed it. However, I was determined to buy. Everyday I used to look at standing outside the showroom. I used to watch it intensely on thetelevision screen. It became my passion to possess it (NI-M-205).

Separation distress is the factor that can turns the individual brand lover into impulsebuyer. The brand lover finds the brand consumption extremely pleasurable giving riseto a powerful urge to buy without considering the future implications of the purchase(Podoshen and Andrzejewski, 2012). Impulse buying results from the competitionbetween the urge to seek pleasure from brand consumption and the willpower to resistthe temporary urge (Hoch and Loewenstein, 1991). Though the marketers can earnshort-term profit by stimulating impulse buying through marketing communication,impulse buying tends to produce negative consequences in future, like post-purchasedissatisfaction (Rook and Fisher, 1995). Our informants have described suchdissatisfaction:

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In my college days I used to spend a lot of money while shopping in Shopper Stop (retailer).Over time, I did the cost-benefit analysis and realized that it was just waste of money. ShopperStop sells many mediocre products at premium prices (NI-FM-157).

I was a blind fan of McDonald. However, I was a fool. It (eating at McDonald) is not healthy. Ihave grown fat. Now, I have stopped going to McDonald (SI-M-109).

Active engagementIndividuals who expressed their love for particular brands also stated that they investmuch time and money to stay connected with the brands. Accounts such as these reveal:

love Sony. All the electronic gadgets that I use are from Sony. I regularly visit companywebsite and keep updated news about any new model launched by Sony (NI-M-207).

Levi’s is my dream brand in jeans. I frequently visit the store to check the newly arrivedcollections (SI-FM-249).

The Oxford book store is my dream place. I go there, sit there for hours and read. It is a greatpleasure checking out the newly arrived best sellers while taking snacks in a fine evening. Imust say that this book store makes my evenings (NI-FM-295).

According to Keller (2001, p. 19), “customers with a great deal of attitudinal attachmentto a brand may state they love it”. Therefore, love is an attitudinal attachment andpositively influences consumer’s active engagement with the loved brand. Activeengagement is the state where the consumer is willing to spend resources in addition tothose expended during actual purchase or consumption, and strong attitudinalattachment is the necessary prerequisite for active engagement (Keller, 2001). Activeengagement includes repurchase or action loyalty.

Findings IV: obstacles to brand loveObstacles are situational influences and competitors’ marketing efforts that hinderaction loyalty or repurchase (Oliver, 1999). The nature of obstacle varies acrosseconomies. One objective of this study was to analyze the obstacles operating in thecontext of an emerging economy. During interviews, the informants were also askedwhether they made the purchase of the loved brands. In case of non-purchase, they wereasked to explain the reasons. Few explanations are given below:

Though I aspire to buy Harley Davidson and I really love this brand, it is too costly for me(SI-M-127).

I like to use Dove soap. It is very good for my skin. However, my budget does not permit me touse this type of costly soap on regular basis (NI-F-102).

Most of the times I prefer to wear Levis jeans. However, this does not mean that I don’t likeWrangler or Killer (NI-M-209).

When my budget permits I drink Teachers Scotch whisky. I really love it. However,considering my budget constraint I consume other brands in several occasions (SI-M-293).

Analysis of the descriptions reveals that in case of many informants, brand attitude is atcognitive phase and fails to reach romantic love phase. According to Oliver (1999),

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cognitive preference is based on functionality and cost– benefit analysis and, therefore,more susceptible to failings on these grounds. The main reason behind this is that manycustomers in the emerging economies are price-sensitive. The prices of manyexperiential brands originated in developed countries are very high in comparison to theaverage purchasing power of emerging market consumers. Cognitive dissatisfactionleads to weak brand love, as brand love is based on cognition. As a result, multi-brandloyalty (Oliver, 1999) is developed according to purchase convenience which gives riseto an industry having many brands, each having small market share. Thus,cost-structure of the industry and price sensitivity prevailing in emerging markets oftencreate problems for foreign brands to command love on a large market. However, manyconsumers can love particular brands even without using the brand and aspire to buythem in future, as consumer– brand relationship can be developed based on variousbrand stimuli, like brand advertisements, in addition to satisfactory brand usage (Shimpand Madden, 1988).

Based on the findings of the study, a conceptual framework is developed. Theframework shows the predictor dimensions of brand love and the outcomes of brandlove. Each arrow in the framework flows from predictor to outcome. This frameworkcan be generally applicable in the context of any economy. However, the strength ofrelationships will vary across economies (Figure I).

Discussion and conclusionsBrand love is a powerful consumption emotion and primarily positive. However, brandlove is cognitively based and not blind. At a lower level, love is equivalent to liking. Ata higher level, love takes the form of powerful passion. Individuals generally recognizethe balance between irrational love and resources to be expended to achieve the lovedobject. Present study reveals the criticality of several antecedents of brand love in thecontext of emerging economy. Engagement of a brand in sustainable marketing

Brand Love

ImpulseBuying

Ac�veEngagement

ProductHedonism

SustainableMarke�ng

Surrealis�cBrandExperiences

NostalgicBrandExperiences Figure I.

Predictor dimensions ofbrand love and the

outcomes of brand love

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practices is viewed favorably and can improve brand likability. Brand surrealism is animportant factor that can stimulate irrational brand love. Many consumers indeveloping countries are tired of daily life struggle and are passionate for those brandswhich can help them escape from reality. Surrealistic brand imageries based onbittersweet historic recollections stimulate nostalgic brand love. Brand love is mostlyfound in highly hedonic product categories. Prior research viewed brand love mostlyfrom a positive perspective. Without ignoring the fact that brand love is primarily apositive feeling, present study shows that intense brand love can lead to impulse buyingwhich can produce negative consequences in the long-term. The study also reveals thata true brand lover gets actively engaged in brand-related activities and willingly spendsextra resources (time, money and mental energy) in addition to that spent during actualbrand consumption.

Marketing communication and brand positioning strategy play the most significantrole in creating a loved brand. Brand surrealism can be created by using themes in theadvertisements that romanticize the target consumers. It is easier to create surrealisticbrands in high hedonic goods and services. It is more challenging to create brand love ina high utilitarian product category. Because, most of the consumers buy utilitarianproducts like floor cleaner on the basis of cognitive value judgment where individualmind does not reach the state of deep passion. However, intelligently designedmarketing communication can stimulate romantic love for utilitarian brands also.Though romantic brand love is irrational, it is based on cognitive evaluation offunctional brand attributes and cost– benefit analysis. Largely in developing markets,the consumers are price-sensitive. Therefore, obstacles are significantly strong at thecognitive level which does not allow the consumer mind to proceed to the next level ofromantic love. To avoid the obstacles, the firm must carefully target the appropriatesegments, so that the target consumers’ cognitive satisfaction with the brand is high.Niche marketing strategy might be appropriate in some cases because a much focusedsegmentation is required to create a lovable brand. Overall, the analysis supportsFournier’s (1998, p. 361) notion that committed consumer– brand relationships “needconstant relationship work and continued reaffirmation against marketplacealternatives”.

Research needs to be conducted regarding the obstacles. Many obstacles aresituational. They vary across countries and across industries. The nature of obstaclespresent in developed markets is largely different from that of emerging markets. Torecognize the obstacles, it is of prime importance to understand consumer idiosyncrasiespresent in specific markets. Qualitative and introspective methods can do this betterthan overt behavioral research methods.

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About the authorDr Abhigyan Sarkar completed his PhD in marketing management from ICFAI UniversityDehradun in 2012. At present the author is working as Assistant Professor at IBS Hyderabad (Aconstituent of IFHE University), India. His research interests include consumer-brandrelationship, brand love, brand sacralization. Articles authored by him have appeared in reputedjournals like Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Journalof Customer Behavior, The Marketing Review and Qualitative Market Research: An InternationalJournal. He served as adhoc reviewer for Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal,Management Research Review and Journal of Customer Behavior. Abhigyan Sarkar can becontacted at: abhigyansarkar_2003@yahoo.co.in

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