Satisfying customers is no longer sufficient for being successful in today’s business environment. A number of studies suggest that more and more marketers aim to create emotional bonds between their brands and their consumers in order to enhance brand loyalty and the organisation’s profitability. Emotional brand attachment plays an important role in marketing, particularly, in the cosmetics industry. Thus, the overall aim of this research is to investigate how emotional brand attachment affects brand loyalty in the skin care market in the UK and in Germany with a special focus on Nivea and Dove. Furthermore, the study focuses on a number of other research objectives, such as to find out what communications and branding strategies Dove and Nivea use and compare them in order to find out which brand is more successful in establishing brand loyalty and why. Other objectives are to evaluate whether addressing the consumer’s actual or ideal self is more effective, to investigate what other factors impact brand loyalty and to what extent they moderate the effects of emotional brand attachment and to see if the impact of emotional brand attachment on brand loyalty differs in the German and the UK market. In order to examine these research questions a number of hypotheses have been stated. The study is based both on primary and secondary research using qualitative research methods. The secondary research involves the analysis of written documents, and other sources of secondary data with the purpose to get an overview on the research topic and to investigate those research objectives that cannot solely be covered by the primary research. For the primary research two focus groups were conducted, one in the UK and one in Germany. The results of the groups were used to test the hypotheses and to draw conclusions from these findings in order to answer the research questions and to give recommendations for further academic research in this area and to help marketing managers to develop communications and branding strategies that boost brand loyalty. The study has come to the result that both brands effectively use emotional branding strategies to create brand loyalty and that emotions such as happiness, security, safety, reassurance and trust are essential for creating brand loyalty in the skin care market. It was also found out that addressing the consumer’s actual self rather than the ideal self is more important for building emotional bonds and loyalty.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Research Aims and Objectives
3. Literature Review
3.1 Brand Loyalty
3.2 The Role of Emotions in the Decision-Making Process
3.3 Emotional Brand Attachment
3.4 The Relationship Between Emotional Attachment and Loyalty
4. Research Methodology
4.1 Research Strategy
4.2 Reserach Process
4.3 Research Type
4.4 Research Method
5. Research Results
5.1 Results of the Focus Groups
5.1.1 Focus Group UK
5.1.2 Focus Group Germany
5.1.3 Outcome of both focus groups
5.2 Analysis of Social Media Activities (Facebook)
5.2.1 Dove
5.2.2 Nivea
6. Research Discussion
7. Research Conclusion
8. Recommendations
Research Objectives and Key Topics
The primary aim of this dissertation is to investigate how emotional brand attachment influences brand loyalty within the skin care market, specifically comparing consumer perceptions in Germany and the UK through the lens of Nivea and Dove.
- The role of emotional branding in modern marketing strategies.
- Comparing communication and branding approaches of Nivea and Dove.
- The impact of "actual" versus "ideal" self-perception on brand loyalty.
- Analyzing the connection between emotional stimuli and consumer decision-making.
- Evaluating how social media activities reflect and drive emotional brand attachment.
Excerpt from the Book
The Role of Emotions in the Decision-Making Process
The human decision making process not rational as it has been assumed for a long time – it is rather based on emotions. If a consumer prefers a specific brand over another is regulated by the subconscious mind. According to (Felix, 2008) consumer buying decisions are 95 percent influenced by emotions. Even though research by Grundey (2008) contradicts this finding by stating that consumers’ buying behaviour is affected by both rational and emotional factors in equal measure, there are other studies which have found out that the way how people act and decide is based on emotional reactions and stimulations in their environment. According to Scheibe (2011) the consumer’s decision-making process is affected by personal preferences, fears and objectives as well as illusions which differ from consumer to consumer.
Bittner & Schwarz (2010) state that the main reason for this is the human brain’s ability to link and evaluate every stimulus and information it receives with a specific emotion. This way information are coded (linked with positive and negative associations) and saved as memories in different parts of the brain (Bittner & Schwarz, 2010). According to Raab, Gernsheimer & Schindler (2009) emotions can be developed in two different ways: On the one hand emotions are triggered by a stimulus, i.e. an experience; on the other hand they are provoked by memories of a past experience. Research by Scheibe (2011) suggests that people can influence their emotions consciously or subconsciously in order to maintain or increase their personal well-being. Thus, the decision to buy a certain brand is influenced by the consumer’s need for maximizing positive emotions and minimizing negative ones (Mellers & McGraw, 2001). Scheier & Held (2006) state that every human emotion is motivated and evoked by an objective or a personal motive which drives the way people act and decide. Hence, emotions and motives are closely interlinked with each other.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Introduces the shift from rational to emotion-driven marketing strategies and outlines the significance of the skin care sector.
2. Research Aims and Objectives: Defines the core research question regarding emotional brand attachment and establishes the eight primary objectives of the study.
3. Literature Review: Synthesizes existing academic research on brand loyalty, the neuroscientific basis of emotional decision-making, and the theoretical frameworks of brand attachment.
4. Research Methodology: Details the qualitative research approach, including the rationale for using focus groups and social media content analysis to gather consumer insights.
5. Research Results: Presents the findings from the UK and German focus groups, along with a comparative analysis of Nivea and Dove’s Facebook engagement strategies.
6. Research Discussion: Evaluates the study findings against the established hypotheses, highlighting the importance of consumer trust and personal relevance in loyalty building.
7. Research Conclusion: Summarizes the key insights, confirming that emotional branding significantly drives loyalty, with Nivea benefiting from legacy and Dove from modern value-based campaigns.
8. Recommendations: Suggests future research directions and advises marketing managers on utilizing emotional appeals to foster long-term customer relationships.
Keywords
Emotional Branding, Brand Loyalty, Skin Care Market, Nivea, Dove, Consumer Behavior, Brand Attachment, Qualitative Research, Focus Groups, Social Media Marketing, Self-Congruence, Consumer Psychology, Marketing Strategy, Emotional Connection, Brand Identity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this dissertation?
The research investigates how emotional brand attachment impacts brand loyalty in the cosmetics industry, using the skin care giants Nivea and Dove as case studies in the UK and German markets.
What are the central themes of the research?
Key themes include the psychological basis of decision-making, the effectiveness of emotional branding strategies, and how cultural differences influence consumer response to brand personality.
What is the primary research goal?
The study aims to determine the extent to which emotional attachment facilitates brand loyalty and to identify which communication strategies are most effective at establishing these deep-seated customer relationships.
Which methodology is employed?
The research adopts a qualitative methodology, primarily utilizing focus group discussions with female consumers and conducting a content analysis of the brands' social media activities on Facebook.
What is covered in the main body of the work?
The work covers a thorough literature review, a detailed methodology section, the presentation of empirical findings from group interviews, and a comprehensive discussion of how these results relate to existing branding theories.
What defines the core research findings?
The research identifies that while both brands successfully leverage emotions, Nivea excels through associations with family, tradition, and trust, whereas Dove gains loyalty by addressing the "actual self" of modern women.
How does the "actual self" versus "ideal self" concept impact the brands?
The study concludes that Dove’s "Campaign for Real Beauty" resonates significantly by targeting the consumer's actual self, reducing the social pressure associated with unrealistic beauty standards.
Are there notable differences between the UK and German consumers?
While both groups are generally loyal, the research identifies marginal cultural variations in how they perceive brand personality and how they react to specific advertising themes related to youth and aging.
- Quote paper
- Jennifer Sonntag (Author), 2012, The impact of emotional branding on brand loyalty in the skin care market, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/337830
