M31

Consumer Behaviour

Critically discuss the role of culture in forming

Consumer-Brand Relationships. Critically analyse
using example/s from industry

Name: Maham Taseer Qureshi

SD: 5955945
Word Count: 2576

Culture and Consumer Brand Relationship

Abstract
This study discusses culture, brand personalities, consumer brand relationship and explains
how consumer brand relationship are influenced by cultures from across the world. At
present its important for the companies to understand the sensitivity of how important it is
to understand the culture of the market they are entering or operating in. culture consists of
norms beliefs values and principles of a particular society which is important to the consumers
who belong to that society. Their culture also has an impact on the choices they make and
decisions they take, thus it is important for the companies to adapt and change their brand
according to the market they want to operate in.

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Contents
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4

Importance of Culture in Consumer Behaviour ......................................................................... 6

Importance of Brand Personality and Consumer Brand Relationship ....................................... 7

Role of culture in forming Consumer Brand Relationship ......................................................... 9

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 12

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 13

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Culture and Consumer Brand Relationship

Introduction
This study talks about important concepts of marketing such as culture, brand and consumer
brand relationship. Furthermore it discusses how culture plays its role in forming a relation
between a consumer and brand.

Culture assists people in defining themselves, conforming to the shared values of the society
and in contributing to the society. Therefore Culture is a combination of roles, norms, beliefs,
customs, rituals, behaviours and artifacts common to all the members living in a society.
Society is defined by sociologists as interaction of people in a way to share a common
philosophy (Harcourt, 2009).

Branding literature defines brand as organisation or products name, logo or trademark.

Brands are universal as they touch everyones life in one way or the other. Branding has
become an important topic in marketing due to the modern trend of consumption of brands
and conspicuous consumption (Maurya, 2012). American Marketing Association (AMA)
defines brand as: A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them,
intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of seller and differentiate
them from those of competition (Quelhas, 2014, p. 3).

Consumer Brand Relationship fundamentally means the relationship that a consumer have
with a brand. At present consumers humanize brands in their mind and this results in them
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developing a relationship with the brand. Today consumers relationship with brands is like
their relation with people and is no different to them. There are some brands that a consumer
cares about, others exist in their lives only because they need them and then there are few
brands consumer falls in love with. This recent trend in marketing has encouraged the
marketers to study and understand the difference between the relationships a consumer has
with different brands (Mulvey, 2012).

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Importance of Culture in Consumer Behaviour

Cultural values affect almost everything in life. They consist of behaviour patterns that are
common to all members of a particular group or society. The values tend to affect consumer
behaviour as well as influence the choices when making a purchase. An individuals cultural
values are influenced by societal culture, regional sub culture and family values. Moreover,
an individual experiences benefits and restrictions from its culture from the beginning of its
existence and these restrictions and benefits have major influence on consumers purchase
decisions (Nayeem, 2012).

(Reyhan, 2011) And his colleagues in their study point out that the reality is very different to
what the marketers believed before that consumers would increasingly resemble each other
and make similar choices while making a purchase. Therefore companies today have to
overcome huge economic and social boundaries in order to operate in international market
understanding cultures, traditional beliefs, habits and customs of different countries. At
present, the world is getting smaller and is looked at as a global village where many different
cultures are blending in together. However, when looked closely, every culture is different
from one another. Therefore companies in the modern time have to adjust to the culture they
are entering in.

For example, Mc Donalds which is one of the biggest fast food chain has its strategy Think
Global, Act Local. As it is operating in different parts of the world Mc Donalds think globally
as a company but acts locally when operating in a specific region or a market and customizes
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its products and marketing strategies according to the local community. At a global level
McDonalds offers Mc Chicken Burger in all its market and sells it globally however it also
introduces different other products based on the market its operating in such as: Mc Aloo
Tikki in India for the people who are vegetarian, Beef Burgers in Pakistan based on the choices
of people living there and Mc Arabia in Middle East giving it an Arabic touch for the taste of
people living in that region (Vignali, 2001).

Importance of Brand Personality and Consumer Brand Relationship

Brand personality is an important concept for understanding the relationship of consumers
and brands in the modern era today. (Kang, 2013) And his peer explains in his study that brand
personality is a prerequisite for consumer brand relationship and that it is a direct result of a
firms communication about its brand. There are human characteristics in brands due to
which consumer today humanize them in their minds and this helps the brand to play a
fundamental role in consumers lives. They further explain that brand personality has five
dimensions; (1) Sincerity, which is represented by characteristics such as honesty, real and
down to earth. (2) Excitement, which is represented by characteristics such as creative,
imaginary and contemporary (3) Competence which is represented by characteristics such as
secure, intelligent and confident (4) Sophistication which is represented by characteristics
such as charming, upper class and glamourous and (5) Ruggedness which is represented by
characteristics such as tough, masculine and outdoorsy.

According to (Matzler, et al., 2011) today consumers do not buy products only because of
their functional attributes rather they are now understood more than their utilitarian benefit
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and they are bought because of the symbol they are and social meaning that they carry. The
researches have shown that the consumers buy products because of the meaning associated
to it and they want to be associated with the same meaning. Certain products available in the
market are only bought because of the status or symbol they behold and consumers express
their personality through them.

For Example weight watchers, an important brand for consumers who are conscious about
their weight does not sell weight loss solutions only, rather it is selling empathy and
empowerment. It shows strong and bold brand personality in its advertisement by using
dominant colours; black white, red and grey and the celebrity uses role strong word such as
Believe (Anon., 2012).

The success of a brand is based on unique brand personalities as consumers develop strong
brand connection once they have perceived the brand personality. Thus brand personality
should be created in a way that it is consistent and stays long-term. Also brand personalities
should meet customers requirements and they should be different from the competitive
brands. The customers should be able to relate to the brand and its personality in order to
develop a connection. Brands may be treated as human beings by consumers because they
have their own human like personalities. To increase brand loyalty and maintain a strong
consumer brand relationship it is important for the consumers to not only relate to the brand
personality but also associate their own personality traits with the personality of the brand
(Lin, 2010).

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Culture and Consumer Brand Relationship

Role of culture in forming Consumer Brand Relationship

Consumer behaviour is shaped by culture as an individuals values, beliefs, norms and
principals have an impact on their behaviour. Thus consumer brand relationship is influenced
by the cultures (Sen, et al., 2014).

Another study explains two brand positioning strategies; Global Consumer Culture Positioning
(GCCP) and Local Consumer Culture Positioning (LCCP). GCCP is defined as One that identifies
the brand as a symbol of a given global culture (Gammoh, et al., 2011, p. 49) while LCCP is
defined as A strategy that associates the brand with local cultural meanings, reflected the
local cultures norms and identities, is portrayed as consumed by local people in the national
culture, and/or is depicted as locally produced for local people (Gammoh, et al., 2011, p. 49).

For example English language is the main language used in the international business, the
internet and mass media. Advertisements use English language to convey modernism and
internationalism to the consumers today. Thus English, because it is used globally carries
GCCP Identity. Another example, spokesperson such as Michael Jordon who is known
worldwide and is a part of global culture provides a brand a global image. On the other hand
a locally known Indian spokesperson, in a local ad promoting a product such as curry powder
will convey a local image when aired in India (Gammoh, et al., 2011).

(Herbig, 2000) In his study agrees with the above concept and explains that in order to win
brand loyalty from multi-cultural consumers advertisers should customize and tailor the
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brands image to reflect individual cultures. Creating or maintaining a global brand is directly
dependent on the contemporary status of the brand. It is sometimes difficult to implement a
single global brand name if the company has used a different brand name in different
countries for the same product. In addition to this a single global brand name is discouraged
when the same product is adjusted to the local tastes and cultures of the different countries.

For example Mitsubishi originally launched a line of car named as Pajero 4WD. However when
this line was launched in Spain the company changed the brand name to Montero as it faced
difficulties with its existing brand name because Pajero in Spanish is a crude slang word (Jung,
2014).

Rexona deodorant is another brand which is a Unilever product and is sold in different
countries with different brand names. It is sold as Sure in Ireland and UK, Rexena in Japan,
Degree in Canada and USA and by the name of Shield in South Africa. However what is
common among all these is the sign of Tick (Nwobodo, 2014).

Mr Clean household is a Procter and gamble cleaning product sold in different countries
under different brand names. It is known as Don Limpo in Spain, Mister Proper in Slovakia,
Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Middle East, Hungry, Russia and Ukraine. Mr Clean is also known
as Maestro Limpio, Mastro Lindo, Meister Proper, Maneer Proper, Pan Proper, Monsieur Net
and Monseiur Propre in other parts of the world (Santoso, 2007).

Burger King when decided to enter into Australian market realised that the name Burger
King has already been taken and trade marked by a local take away fast food shop. The parent
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company after going through different names decided to name the brand as Hungry Jack. It
was named after Jack Cowman, the businessman who launched the brand in Australia (David,
2013).

As every culture have different beliefs and values it is important for the companies to also
consider this whilst they are advertising because consumers from different backgrounds will
interpret them differently. Thus (Schiffman, 2002) discusses about rhetorical theory in his
study and suggests that an advertisement is designed keeping in mind how the viewers of the
ad will react. The creative advertising team, in terms of common experience and shared
cultural knowledge must relate to the viewers. In order to measure difference between
various cultures dependence on the understanding of the local advertisers may lead to
inaccurate and wrong information regarding the suitability of multinational advertising
companies.

(Botelho, 2010) And his colleague investigates in their study the relationship of national
culture with consumers decision making style and explains that decision making process of a
consumer while making a purchase is affected by cultural differences. In their study they have
used Hofstedes culture dimensions on consumers. they continue to explain that due to
globalisation the world may have become a global village but people from around the world
from different nations have their own unique habits, tastes, values, norms and beliefs rooted
in their national cultures and thus in them. They identified that countrys culture play a vital
role in underlying systematic differences in how consumers behave while they shop.

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Conclusion
Globalisations has made everyone come close and the world is getting smaller and is known
as a global village sharing a global culture. However, it consists of different sub cultures as
countries and regions are different in terms of their beliefs, values and practices. Culture
influences behaviours of consumers and thus consumers perceptions and decision making
process varies across the world. It is important for the companies to consider this when
creating or position their brand so that they can offer customized and tailored to products to
every country based on their needs, requirements, choices or tastes. Brands are sometimes
required to use different brand names of the same product in different markets. Companies
should also be careful whilst advertising and promoting their products because they have to
change how they market their brand in different countries.

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Gammoh, B., Koh, A. & Okoroafo, S., 2011. Consumer Culture Brand Positioning Strategies:
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Kang, H. J. a. M. S., 2013. The Effect of Brand Peronality on Brand relationship, Attitude and
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Santoso, A., 2007. neatorama. [Online]
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