Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy, & Pervan: Strategic Brand Management, 2nd edition Chapter 2: Emotion and Brands

What is emotion?
Reaction triad
Psychological arousal, motor expression, and subjective feeling The full impact of emotions are only realized when they are sensed and become feelings

Emotions can be primary or secondary/social

Primary
Surprise, anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and joy

Secondary
Emotion through experience - social construction

Emotion and consumer choice

Emotion can be a primary influence on the development of preferences and sometimes actually precedes cognition Mittals (1988) affect choice model
Emotion- based choice is holistic, self- focused and not capable of being verbalized.

Expressive products involve the judge directly

Social perspectives on emotion

Many important aspects of emotion are social. The meaning of emotion may be constructed by social interaction leading to an understanding of accepted behaviour and value patterns
This explains culture and sub culture differences.

Emotional response
We can predict emotional responses when we assume that some are grounded in mechanisms which are not voluntary and are under only limited human control
The law of concern
Emotional response events which support or challenge our preferred sense of self

The law of apparent reality

The importance of seeing and feeling

The law of closure

Emotions tend to be absolute in their judgements

The law of the lightest load

The tendency to seek to minimize negative emotion

A conceptual model of emotiondriven choice

See Fig 2.1. Symbolic consumption
Once a brands ability to satisfy mere physical need is transcended, we enter the realm of the symbolic meaning of goods

Preference formation
Self illusion
Imagination and fantasy can overwhelm reason

Self focus
Our assessment is more about us than it is about what is being assessed

A conceptual model of emotiondriven choice

Holistic perception
We reach an overall evaluation which need not be traceable back to some component attributes

Non verbal imagery

Imagery has a potency unavailable to the more restricted channel of language

Refusal of other tastes

Preference may involve a negative emotional response

Justification of emotion-driven choice

Post hoc rationalization Guilt, anxiety, and regret Hindsight bias and biased information search

Figure 2.1

A conceptual model of emotiondriven choice

The process of emotion- driven choice
Non-linear Once the non- rational preference is formed it tends to drive out further rational evaluation as the emotional responses overwhelm objective evidence and dominate consumer behaviour

Emotions and trust

Trust requires a move from reliance on rational cognitions to reliance on emotion and sentiment and a developing intimacy which leads to an investment of emotion in the person.
Low levels of perceived risk
Familiarity

At higher levels of perceived risk

Confidence is required

High levels of perceived risk

Trust becomes necessary

See Fig. 2.2., 2.3, 2.4

Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Emotional brand associations

The emotional significance of a brand will influence how much attention is paid to it, and how much someone will elaborate upon its significance. Emotional associations with brands will determine what information is potentially available for recall when making brand choice decisions. See Tables 2.1, 2.2.

Table 2.1

Table 2.2